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Russia to discuss MOSCOW, Feb 20: Russia has said that proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear black market, especially Pakistan’s, would .....more Iraqis say US raid targets pious men, not Al-Qaeda BAQUBA, IRAQ, Feb 20: Anwar-al-Karawi extended his arms and showed wrists swollen from being tied for .....more Substance in red wine not always a cancer fighter SINGAPORE, Feb 20: A substance in red wine deemed effective in killing cancer cells five years ago has now been found in low amounts to obstruct ....more Army panel to probe killing of 3 in Nepal on Shivratri KATHMANDU, Feb 20: The Army has formed a high level team to investigate the incident ......more |
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Insurers Shun Thai BANGKOK, Feb 20: Insurers are refusing to give health care cover to Thai politicians because many are checking into hospitals instead of hotels ......more Indonesia
plans JAKARTA, Feb 20: The Indonesian Government is going ahead with plans to build .....more China to set up high-level group to fight AIDS BEIJING, Feb 20: China plans to set up a special high-level panel to fight the spread of AIDS in a country that experts say is one of ....more French photographer charged with molesting children in Cambodia PHNOM PENH, Feb 20: A French man has been charged by a Cambodian ....more |
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Russia to discuss nuclear black marketing with Pakistan MOSCOW, Feb 20: Russia has said that proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear black market, especially Pakistan’s, would be one of the issues to be discussed next week at the third session of Russian-Pakistani joint working group on anti-terror combat. "Pakistani nuclear proliferation has to be viewed from the perspective of new global threats and challenges and this issue will certainly figure in the talks," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Safonov told PTI, referring to the recently unearthed nuclear technology trading network OIA’s pointman on combating new global threats, who also co-Chairs US-Russian sub-group on Weapons of Mass Destruction — is reaching Islamabad on Sunday for the bilateral talks. He indicated that Moscow and Washington had been exchanging notes on the illegal nuclear proliferation from Pakistani soil and possibility of nuclear technology falling into terrorist hands. The Russian Minister is taking a high-level inter-departmental delegation to Pakistan to discuss a wide range of issues including the fight against terror outfits on Pakistani soil, Al-Qaeda and remnants of Taliban, financing of terrorists, narcotic trade, and overall situation in Afghanistan. Moscow and Islamabad have been able to narrow, "to some extent", their differences on the issue of terrorism, especially after President Pervez Musharraf’s Russia visit and talks with President Vladimir Putin in February 2003, Safonov said. "However, we cannot be fully satisfied as long as people in Russia and in that region are still being killed in terror acts," he said. Safonov, however, believes that Musharraf is beginning to take some concrete steps to root out Pak-based terror network. "There were two bids on Musharraf’s life in less than a month, this is an indication that some action is being taken by him on the ground," he said. Islamic terrorism was the most dangerous threat faced by the world community, including Islamic countries like Pakistan, he said, adding that the problem of terrorism has its roots in poverty and lack of education. "Unlike the case of northern Ireland, where terrorist organisations, upon achieving their political goals, transformed into normal political parties and joined the normal political process, the Islamic terrorism is apocalyptic. "It has no final political goal, yesterday it was Afghanistan, today it is Chechnya, tomorrow after establishing an Islamic caliphate they will start arguing who is more Muslim, who is less," Safonov said. (PTI) |
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Iraqis say US raid targets pious men, not Al-Qaeda BAQUBA, IRAQ, Feb 20: Anwar-al-Karawi extended his arms and showed wrists swollen from being tied for almost seven hours while US troops questioned suspects about possible links to Al-Qaeda. A US identity number, "319-D", was scribbled on his forehead by an American soldier, who Karawi said was apparently angry because he had asked him not to use a stick to squeeze his tied wrists. Karawi, 23, his 42-year-old carpenter father Subhi and brother Ibrahim, 17, and about two dozen neighbours spent the early hours of Wednesday in US custody at a nearby school transformed briefly into a detention centre. During much of that time they were made to face the school blackboard. "They took our names and then separated some and took their pictures. ... My father was photographed and then taken away," Karawi said. The military said the seven detained were suspected of being part of a cell with possible links to Al-Qaeda that launched attacks against US-led occupation forces. Another 15 people were also arrested in the same raid. But residents in the poor Yarouk neighbourhood of Baquba, 65 Km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, said those arrested were pious men with no link to insurgents. Sheikh Abdul Razak-al-Duliami, the Imam of the neighbouring Aqsa Mosque where the elder Karawi and many of the detained performed prayers, said their only crime was that they were devout Muslims. "They arrest poor simple people ... Just because they wear Islamic dress, have beards and come regularly to this Mosque. This has become their evidence for the accusation," he said. "Anyone who carries religious thinking is now a terrorist in their eyes ... They arrested by name all my worshippers who regularly come to pray at the Mosque," Dulaimi added. Dulaimi and worshippers said the arrests were stoking nationalist passions and igniting anti-American sentiment. "If they came to eliminate Islamic terrorism and it was 10 percent (of the population) it will now be 90 percent," said the Sheikh in the Austere Mosque where many Sunni fundamentalist worshippers regularly pray. Baquba is part of the so-called "Sunni triangle", an area of strong resistance to the United States., located north and west of Baghdad. US military officials have said Al-Qaeda is attempting to infiltrate Iraq and undertake attacks against their forces. The Yarouk neighbourhood on the edge of Baquba has been raided three times in less than a month. The latest raid followed an attack on a US convoy near Baquba this week. Several of those released said they were asked about men in the neighbourhood. Karawi’s family and other neighbours said the men are being followed by informants in a misguided search for Islamic fundamentalists. "They took all the pious men who are the pride of the area," Karawi said. "They are pious people who go to the Mosque. ... Those in the streets and without honour and delinquents were not arrested." (AGENCIES) |
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Substance in red wine not always a cancer fighter SINGAPORE, Feb 20: A substance in red wine deemed effective in killing cancer cells five years ago has now been found in low amounts to obstruct chemotherapy, Singapore researchers said in a report published today. Called resveratrol, the compound blocks the destruction of cancer cells being treated by anti-cancer drugs. The study findings were published in the Straits Times and the journal, cancer research. "We were all looking at resveratrol as a drug," Associate Professor Shazib , who led the study at the National University of Singapore’s faculty of medicine, was quoted as saying. "So now we know that it can have this effect, blocking cell death," he added. The same group found in 1998 that large amounts of resveratrol, ten times the amount used in the recent experiment, killed cancer cells straight away. The effect seems to depend on how much you use, said Pervaiz. A large amount and the cancer cell dies, but a little actually promotes the survival of the cell. Research must now go beyond lab mice, Pervaiz said, since the results may differ when applied to humans. Pervaiz said the findings do not mean drinking huge quantities of wine will kill cancer. "You have to drink litres and litres and litres of wine to get any sort of concentration of resveratrol in your body," he told the newspaper. (DPA) |
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Army panel to probe killing of 3 in Nepal on Shivratri KATHMANDU, Feb 20: The Army has formed a high level team to investigate the incident of killing of three people on Mugling-Narayangarh road, 130 Km from here on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said. However, no detail has been given about the probe panel. Three people, who were collecting donations from vehicles for the reconstruction of a Shiva Temple in the area, were killed when security personnel opened fire suspecting them to be Maoists. The local people said the deceased were innocent and were collecting funds for the reconstruction of the Temple by stopping vehicles passing the area as per the tradition of seeking donations on the day. "We were collecting funds for the reconstruction of a Temple washed away by heavy flood last year but we had never imagined that such a tragic blow would befall us," the Kathmandu Post quoted a girl, who was also collecting donations, as saying. Biraj Gurung, Sunil Gurung and Tirki Praja of the same family were killed and two others were seriously injured when the security forces opened fire on them Wednesday. Human rights activists have condemned the killing of innocent villagers and urged the Government to provide compensation to the bereaved family. The human rights organisations and the political parties have urged both the Government and the Maoists to stop such incidents of human rights violations. (UNI) |
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Insurers Shun Thai sick note politicians BANGKOK, Feb 20: Insurers are refusing to give health care cover to Thai politicians because many are checking into hospitals instead of hotels during trips around the country and then claiming the money back, the Parliament’s Speaker said. "Some checked into hospitals despite being well. I don’t know if it was because they did not want to pay hotel expenses or not," today’s bangkok post cited Uthai Pimchaichon as saying. "When they asked for compensation, the insurer felt it was not right and refused to pay," Uthai said. Following a complaint by one politician about poor health insurance, Uthai told Parliamentarians they only had themselves to blame because many insurers thought it was not commercially viable to offer their services to Parliament. Thai members of Parliament earn around (60,000 baht) 1,540 per month, about the same as mid-level managers in private companies, but only about half the salary of their counterparts in neighbouring impoverished Cambodia. But most still have millions of Baht at their disposal for election campaigning, political analysts say. (AGENCIES) |
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Indonesia plans nuclear power plant on crowded Java JAKARTA, Feb 20: The Indonesian Government is going ahead with plans to build the country’s first nuclear power plant in densely populated, earthquake-prone central Java, officials said today. "The first nuclear power plant should be in operation by 2016," Soedyartomo Soentono, Chief of the Indonesian National Atomic Agency (Batan) said. Soentono explained that a comprehensive feasibility study was conducted in 2001 to 2002 by a national team supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on all possible energy sources to be used for electricity power generation in the country. Based on that feasibility study’s results, the use of a nuclear power plant in the country was feasible and "could not be avoided" to support electricity supply in the Java-Bali grid. The feasibility study’s conclusion was already formally submitted by iaea to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in August of last year, he added. The plant will be built on the Muria Peninsula in central Java, which has been under study for years, Soentono said. Indonesian environmentalists have criticized the proposed plant, saying there are cheaper, safer ways of generating power since the country has abundant geothermal, coal and natural gas resources. "It’s too risky to built a nuclear power plant in crowded Java island. If anything happens, it will be a catastrophe," said Fabby Tumiwa from the Indonesian Environmental Organization (Walhi). Tumiwa also argued that building a nuclear plant would be a major risk because of the frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on the island. Java accounts for more than 60 per cent of Indonesia’s 215 million population who inhabit the 17,000 islands that comprise this sprawling archipelago nation. (DPA) |
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China to set up high-level group to fight AIDS BEIJING, Feb 20: China plans to set up a special high-level panel to fight the spread of AIDS in a country that experts say is one of the most at risk in the world from the deadly disease, official media said today. Health Minister Wu Yi would head the group that will draft policies for AIDS prevention, coordinate related health issues and mobilise public resources, the official China daily said, A plan for the committee has been submitted to the State Council, or Cabinet, and awaits final approval, it said. Beijing has been criticised for its slow response to a disease that has infected more than 840,000 people across the country. Health agencies say China could have 10 million AIDS victims by 2010 if it fails to take the scourge seriously and have said that it is one of three countries most at risk from AIDS after Africa. Executive Deputy Health Minister Gao Qiang said last year that AIDS had not been controlled and the battle faced difficult hurdles. National leaders have accorded AIDS prevention more of a priority in the last year. A total of 76 health officials were sent out across the AIDS-stricken province of Henan this week. Henan was the scene for one of China’s worst AIDS outbreaks when thousands of farmers were infected after selling their blood plasma and having HIV-infected blood pumped back into them. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. In an unprecedented public show of support by a Chinese leader for the fight against the disease, Premier Wen Jiabao Shook hands and chatted with AIDS patients at a Beijing hospital last December. Wu Yi, who is also a Vice Premier, visited Henan in December and vowed to punish anyone trying to conceal the disease. Henan is one of China’s most secretive and most populous provinces and has regularly arrested reporters trying to cover the AIDS story. Activists and experts continue to cite local cover-ups of blood bank scandals plaguing entire villages. (AGENCIES) |
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French photographer charged with molesting children in Cambodia PHNOM PENH, Feb 20: A French man has been charged by a Cambodian Court for allegedly having sex with children, said an official today. Authorities arrested 62-year-old photographer Jacques Philippe Albertini Tuesday after an investigation by Phnom Penh anti-child trafficking police. Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating Judge Kong Seth told reporters that Albertini was charged today morning with Debauchery -the term used in the Cambodian legal system for Paedophilia - as five children under the age of 14 claimed he had sex with them. "When I questioned the man he denied all accusations made by the police," said Seth. "But according to police documents, he committed Debauchery." Albertini was taken to Phnom Penh’s prey sar prison for pre-trial detention, said the investigating Judge. If convicted, the Frenchman could face a sentence of up to 20 years in jail. (DPA) |
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New Zealand immigration minister quits over lie WELLINGTON, Feb 20: New Zealand Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel was sacked today after admitting she had lied about leaking a lawyer’s letter relating to the case of a 16-year-old girl from Sri Lanka who was deported earlier this week. Prime Minister Helen Clark, who rejected Dalziel’s resignation offer a day earlier, announced she had changed her mind because statements the minister made which earlier appeared to be misleading had been shown to be untrue. "I found this intolerable," Clark said. The case of the Sri Lankan girl, who made a false application for political asylum, made headlines because her lawyers said she had been sexually abused by relatives at home and her life would be endangered if she was sent back. Dalziel said a letter written by one of the lawyers outlining a media strategy to get permission for the girl to stay was evidence of a "deliberate campaign of manipulation". She said she did not know who had given the letter to a television channel, but later admitted she had approved the leak and then personally gave a copy to a newspaper. After letting Dalziel off with a dressing down, saying "she did not live up to her own high standards", Clark said she accepted her resignation "with great sadness". Customs Minister Rick Barker took over the immigration portfolio while Dalziel’s other cabinet responsibilities were also given to other ministers. (DPA) Sydney ferry crashes near Opera house SYDNEY, Feb 20: Tourists were showered with glass today when a ferry crashed into a terminal building next to the Opera house on Sydney harbour. Today’s incident, in which no one was injured, was the second ferry crash in as many days on Australia’s busiest waterway. Michael Dalton, who was waiting at the circular Quay ticket office with his family, told Australia’s ABC radio that the captain had lost control of the ferry. "Without any warning whatsoever we just looked up and saw this ferry coming," he said. "It was just sailing through and it didn’t look like it was going to stop." Sydney ferries issued a statement saying that the "master reported not having control of the vessel, so we have classified it as a control failure". Twenty-four hours earlier another Sydney ferries craft crashed into a wharf on Cockatoo island in Sydney harbour. (DPA) Japanese navy joins controversial Iraq mission TOKYO, Feb 20: Two Japanese navy ships left for Kuwait today, carrying vehicles and equipment for troops taking part in the country’s controversial mission to Iraq. Sailors waved their white caps from the decks and relatives wept on the quay as the 8,900-tonne Osumi left the port of Muroran in the northern island of Hokkaido escorted by the Destroyer Murasame, beginning the Navy’s involvement in a deployment that critics say violates Japan’s Pacifist Constitution. The two ships are expected in Kuwait early next month. Japanese troops are building a base near the southern Iraqi town of Samawa to house 600 troops, while Japanese air force personnel are based in Kuwait. The deployment of up to 1,000 military personnel is to help rebuild Iraq through activities such as purifying and distributing water, rather than to police the US-led occupation. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s decision to show support for close ally US President George W Bush by sending troops has sparked demonstrations in Japan. Last week South Korea, another close Washington ally, approved a plan to send 3,000 more troops to Iraq, making it the third-largest national contingent there, behind the United States and Britain. (AGENCIES) Dengue fever death toll hits 218 in Indonesia JAKARTA, Feb 20: The death toll from an outbreak of dengue fever rose to 218 nationwide in Indonesia today with central Java as the hardest-hit province, officials said. Health Ministry data said today a total of 9,703 cases of dengue fever were reported from 16 out of Indonesia’s 30 provinces since the disease was detected over the past month. Health officials in central Java, the hardest-hit province,today said 55 people have died from the mosquito-borne disease, out of 2,066 reported dengue fever cases. Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital of about 12 million people, has also been hit, with up to 3,403 people hospitalized and 38 deaths, city health officials said. (DPA) |
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