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Idaho residents BOISE, IDAHO, Nov 7: Dozens of Idaho residents who claim nuclear tests conducted during the 1950s made them sick asked a panel of scientists .....more Indian doctor named world’s outstanding young person by US NGO LONDON, Nov 7: An Indian doctor at the university college here has been named the world’s outstanding young person ....more Ivory
coast warplanes ABIDJAN, Nov 7: Ivory coast warplanes killed nine French soldiers in a bombing raid yesterday during the fiercest.....more Marines
face Falluja with FALLUJA, IRAQ, Nov 7: Many of the US Marines who will face Iraq’s deadliest insurgents in an imminent assault on Falluja have. .......more |
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India-UK round table meeting postponed LONDON, Nov 7: The three-day India-UK round table meeting scheduled here could not take place due to delay in reconstituting the delegation for . .....more No Muslim olive branches as Thai PM eyes election BANGKOK, Nov 7: With a general election less than four months away, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is hardening his stance towards .....more Gunmen kill 22 police in attacks in western Iraq BAGHDAD, Nov 7: Gunmen attacked a police station in the western Iraqi town of Haditha today, took 21 policemen hostage and later shot them dead, ...more Oman to allow illegally staying Indians to leave DUBAI, Nov 7: Oman has promised to allow the illegally staying Indian expatriates to leave the country legally, Minister....more |
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Idaho residents seek compensation for nuclear tests BOISE, IDAHO, Nov 7: Dozens of Idaho residents who claim nuclear tests conducted during the 1950s made them sick asked a panel of scientists yesterday to recommend that the US Government compensate them. The group, who call themselves "the downwinders" in reference to the toxic clouds that the wind carried their way from test sites in Nevada, described how radioactive waste coated their farms and towns 50 years ago. They said they believe it caused many of them to get cancer. "My father remembers fallout on the grass like dew. We were exposed to radiation for the national security interests of the United States," said Shari Garmon, 52, who survived thyroid cancer but has contracted breast, bone and liver cancer. The US Government tested nuclear bombs in the Nevada desert during the cold war through a series of 90 above-ground tests from 1951 to 1962. Wind blew radioactive clouds hundreds of miles to the north and east, coating crops and pastures. The downwinders say residents who ate those crops and drank local cow’s milk risked bone, thyroid, gall bladder and other cancers. They argue young children were especially vulnerable because they drank more milk and had smaller thyroids. Garmon said her fate was decided on June 5, 1952, when the Government conducted one of its nuclear tests. Garmon was less than six months old. According to national cancer institute estimates, garmon received the equivalent of 10,000 chest X-rays, or about as much radiation as a person would naturally receive in 750 years, on that single day. In 1990, the US Congress passed the Radiation Compensation Exposure Act (RECRA) to compensate cancer victims presumed to be injured by testing from nuclear bombs. That measure was expanded in 2000. Now, people in 21 counties in Utah, Nevada and Arizona who have contracted any of 19 cancers can receive 50,000 dollars if they prove they lived in affected areas at the time of the testing. Residents of Idaho, however, were not covered by the law. The national academy of sciences is now reviewing their claims and preparing a recommendation to congress on whether to expand the law further to include Idaho. "Our Government knew about the harmful effects and planned to inflict this on us without our consent," said Jeannie Purkhart, who said many of her family members have had cancer and thyroid problems. "At age 17, surgeons removed my stomach, spleen and pancreas, which were ensnared in a massive tumor. I undergo surgery every four years to remove the advancing cancer." Along with testimony from the downwinders, the national academy of sciences will weigh scientific studies and historical records to make a recommendation to Congress by June. Members of Idaho’s Congressional delegation, who have been criticized for being slow to act and take up the cause of the downwinders, also attended the meeting. Some critics claim the scientific studies linking the nuclear testing to cancer in many Idaho residents are inconclusive and suggest other people who were exposed to far higher doses of radiation never developed cancer. (AGENCIES) |
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Indian doctor named world’s outstanding young person by US NGO LONDON, Nov 7: An Indian doctor at the university college here has been named the world’s outstanding young person for 2004 by US-based NGO junior chamber international for his "exemplary service" to medical care and education. Dr Koshy Eapen, 29, will receive a cash prize of USD 10,000 as well as a golden medallion and a plaque at an international award ceremony at Fukuoka, Japan on November 24. Eapen was chosen from 246 nominations from 107 countries for his "exemplary service to medical care and education," Fernando Sanchez-Arias, president of the 59th world Congress of the NGO, said in an official communication last night. "Koshy has been chosen for his meritorious service for the elderly in India. With his many qualifications, commitment to social needs, generosity, zeal, determination, multiple scholarships and awards, excellent academic credentials and leadership skills, he is certainly the model for young people anywhere," Sanchez-Arias said. Previous winners included former US President J F Kennedy, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, rock star Elvis Persley, software expert Linius Torvalds, management Guru Anthony Robbinsactor, Hollywood action star Jackie Chan and Sri Lankan cricketer Arjuna Ranatunga. This year Queen Rania Al-Abdullah II of Jordan has been chosen for humanitarian leadership along with Eapen. Commenting on the award, Eapen told PTI: "I am certainly thrilled to win such a prestigious award. I have committed this prize money to the educational trust I founded in India to offer further full scholarships for Indian students." Eapen, who hails from Kottayam in Kerala, said his charitable trust in India has an annual plan of Rs 30 lakhs to fully fund 50 needy medical students throughout their studies with scholarships. Eapen said more than the prize money "I feel that the subject of my research has received a larger mandate.... My work now focuses on how elderly care and policies in developed countries can be emulated at a low cost in India with the proper utilisation of the available resources." Asked about his future plans, eapen said he planned to continue learning in the UK, US and in a few other countries like Japan about how their elderly care can be adapted in India. He also planned to raise funds for the medical scholarships he had initiated in India. Eapen said he has been a recipient of full scholarships throughout his career both at school and all through medical studies. "I consider myself immensely privileged by the Cambridge Common Wealth scholarship that enabled me to study at Cambridge." Eapen had earlier been awarded the university of London excellence and achievement award, 2004, and is the first Indian doctor to be awarded a full Cambridge Common Wealth scholarship for his studies on the health care of the elderly at the University of Cambridge, UK. Besides the Cambridge Common Wealth scholarship, Eapen has won two further full scholarships at Cambridge, the prestigious Harrison Watson scholarship and the Cambridge Common Wealth/JNMT full scholarships to continue his research, in addition to the title of Cambridge Nehru Scholar there. From Cambridge, he won a very competitive and prestigious election to the university of Oxford for clinical training and is presently at university college, London. (PTI) |
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Ivory coast warplanes kill 9 French soldiers ABIDJAN, Nov 7: Ivory coast warplanes killed nine French soldiers in a bombing raid yesterday during the fiercest clashes with rebels for 18 months and France hit back by destroying most of the west African country’s small airforce. Two Sukhoi 25 fighters and three helicopters were blown up on French President Jacques Chirac’s orders after the French soldiers, working with UN troops policing a ceasefire, died with a US aid worker in the air strike on rebel-held bouake. The retaliation by former colonial power France for the ivorian air raid, which also injured 23 french soldiers, provoked an angry popular backlash. French troops came under fire in the top world Cocoa Grower’s main city of Abidjan. Thousands of stick-wielding youths poured onto the streets of the city in response to a call by a firebrand pro-Government youth leader for "popular resistance" against the French. "Are you ready to die in shame or in dignity?" Charles Ble Goude, leader of the "young patriots", said on state television. The UN Security Council demanded an immediate end to all military operations and authorised some 10,000 French and UN peacekeepers in ivory coast to use "all necessary means" to carry out their duties. Forces bombed rebel towns for the third day running on saturday, the start of an offensive to retake the north of the country which was seized by insurgents after a failed attempt to oust president laurent gbagbo in 2002. The bombing raids were the first major hostilities since a truce signed in may last year ended fighting which had killed thousands and uprooted more than a million people. Iovrian French soldiers destroyed the Sukhoi fighters and the helicopters in the capital Yamoussoukro. Sporadic gunfire rang out across Abidjan and pickup trucks full of soldiers cruised the streets. The French military sent three Mirage fighter jets and a supply plane to gabon as reinforcements after the clashes and ordered 300 more soldiers to ivory coast. The Ivorian army said it had not meant to bomb the base in Bouake. The pilots got out before their planes were destroyed. Henry Aussavy, French military spokesman in Abidjan, said Ivorian forces later opened fire on French troops at the airport in Abidjan. An Ivorian military source said two of their soldiers had been wounded in the clash. UN sources and an airport security official said French troops now control the international airport. Plumes of thick smoke rose from the plush cocody suburb of the city where a french school was razed as armed mobs headed towards the airport. Two-metre flames leapt into the sky from a French school in Yamoussoukro as crowds of bare-chested protesters carted away computers and smoke billowed out of the building. The French embassy said some of its citizens were being evacuated from homes in Abidjan by helicopter as gangs looted their homes. Four French policemen were airlifted from a building there before it too was burned down. France holds Gbagbo "personally responsible" for public order in the country, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said. A spokesman for Gbagbo later appealed for calm on state television and urged people not to attack foreigners pending an investigation into the bombing. UN peacekeepers stopped two army convoys trying to cross into a buffer zone on Friday that separates a Government-run south from the north. Rebel leaders have accused peacekeepers of not doing more to stop Government attacks. Rebel officials said Government troops had moved into the confidence zone and were at Sakasso, a town 40 km (25 miles) south of the main rebel base of Bouake. Ivorian military sources said their forces were only 10 km (6 miles) from Bouake. Aid workers for doctors without borders (MSF) said there had been heavy gunfire in Bouake last afternoon. The UN in Ivory coast said rebels were still in their main town. Aid workers in the rebel-held town of Danane, 27 km (17 miles) from Liberia, said they feared an imminent attack. "They have got through the confidence zone near Danane to attack us. We are pushing them back now," said Sidiki Konate, spokesman for the rebel new forces. (AGENCIES) |
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Marines face Falluja with no combat experience FALLUJA, IRAQ, Nov 7: Many of the US Marines who will face Iraq’s deadliest insurgents in an imminent assault on Falluja have plenty of high-tech weapons and training but have never seen major combat. Commanders are pinning their hopes on tough discipline, rigorous training and superior firepower to help marines win what some see as their toughest battle since the Vietnam war. "About 95 percent of my men have no major combat experience and many have none at all," said sergeant Michael Edwards, 35, a tank company master gunner. "Their performance will be based on their training, not on combat experience." Marines are poised to launch an offensive on Falluja to crush an estimated 1,000 to 6,000 Arab militant followers of Al-Qaeda ally Abu-Musab-al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein loyalists. Master sergeant Roy Meek said that commanders often find it necessary to be hard on the Marines to keep their minds focused on the battle ahead. "The only thing that will prepare them is the first bullet," Meek said. Soldiers conducted pre-combat weapons inspections yesterday and tank and infantry units held final training runs. Some fought in the 2003 war that toppled Saddam Hussein and others took part in the 1991 Gulf war over Kuwait. But the combat experience of many of the young Marines is limited to a few light arms attacks by guerrillas who have fired on their convoys near Falluja, Iraq’s biggest trouble spot, 50 km west of Baghdad. Meek said some Marines had told him they were scared and did not want to fight. "I tell them they should be scared. It is a natural instinct." Commanders say Marines had been through rigorous preparation for their push through Falluja, where insurgents are expected to use roadside explosives, suicide car bombers, rocket-propelled grenades and booby traps. Training for urban guerrilla warfare began in bases back home before the Marines arrived at a base near Falluja. "Sometimes you pass roads where you think there may be suicide bombers and it sends chills up your spine," said staff sergeant Orpheus Brown, 28, who joined the Marines in 1994 but has never been in combat. Since their arrival, weapons drills have been accompanied by briefings on local culture and the variety of anti-American groups in Falluja, from Zarqawi’s radical Arab militants to Saddam supporters with military and combat experience. "I fought in the war last year but that was just small arms fire. Now we are talking about an offensive. There could be snipers and bombs in Falluja," said sergeant Jonathan Herrera, 24, of New York city. As a vehicle commander in a convoy that will accompany tanks into Falluja, he spends a lot of time studying road maps hanging on his wall. Like many Marines, including those with combat experience, he has never seen Falluja. Some had never left the United States before arriving near Falluja. "Aside from the training, I tell my men that if they believe in God they should leave their fate in his hands," said gunnery sergeant Castillo Ishmael, 34, of Hereford Pennsylvania. Private first class David Smith of Tampa, Florida said he tries not to think too much about his lack of combat experience and he has never even heard of Zarqawi. "My father was a Marine. I called him about Falluja. He said wars have changed a lot. He told me to keep my head down," said Smith. (AGENCIES) |
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India-UK round table meeting postponed LONDON, Nov 7: The three-day India-UK round table meeting scheduled here could not take place due to delay in reconstituting the delegation for the recommendary body by the the Indian Government, its co-Chairman Lord Swraj Paul said. "The meeting, scheduled for three days from October 29, has been postponed as there is some delay in choosing the Indian co-Chairman and members," Lord Paul said here last night, adding "we are looking forward to an early meeting." The round table, a recommendary body, was constituted in April 2000 by the then British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to strengthen the bilateral relationship. "One of the biggest visible successes of the round table has been the agreement on doubling air services between the two countries by Indian and British airlines," Lord Paul said. Though much progress has been made in several other areas and many Indian companies have set up their business in the UK since the turn of the century, "there are still problem areas," Lord Paul, who is also the British Ambassador for overseas business, said. "One of our key objectives has been to expose the false mutual perceptions that existed in both countries in many fields," he said. "We have shown our Indian friends how user-friendly the UK market is for all sectors and how London is the best base for Indian companies moving to IPO (Initial Public Offering). More Indian companies have floated on London Stock Exchange than in Nasdaq and New York combined," Lord Paul, the Chairman of the Caparo group, said. Another key focus of the round table has been the encouragement of mutual cooperation in the field of science and technology, Lord Paul said. "New technologies bring vital economic benefits and it is heartening to see growing cooperation in research in areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, telecommunications, information technology and alternative energy technologies," he said. The round table, comprising very senior figures from various walks of public life, makes recommendations to British Foreign Secretary and his Indian counterpart after each meeting. Its last meeting was held in Kolkata in January this year. The discussions at the round table have covered issues ranging from international security to visa policy and educational exchanges. Besides air services, it had also discussed tourism, biodiversity, cultural exchanges and legal services. Trade and investment have been an important focus of the meetings of the round table. Indo-British trade has grown by 69 per cent and the two-way trade of goods is going up by 20 per cent per annum. The UK is the largest market for Indian IT services with 12 per cent of it exports — accounting for early one billion dollars — going to that country. Britain, the third largest foreign investor in india, has nearly 10 per cent of new investment approved since 1991. (PTI) |
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No Muslim olive branches as Thai PM eyes election BANGKOK, Nov 7: With a general election less than four months away, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is hardening his stance towards unrest in the largely Muslim south, despite the recent death of nearly 80 Muslims in army custody. After numerous policy and leadership changes in 10 months of violence that has killed more than 450 people, Thaksin is falling back on military might to restore law and order against what the Government says is a Muslim separatist uprising. Shrugging off appeals for restraint by Muslim leaders and Thailand’s highly revered King, Thaksin told Thais in a weekly radio address he would instruct the army and police to work "more decisively" to deal with militants. "If you don’t trust me, don’t vote for me," he said. Appealing to a strong sense of nationalism within many Thais, he also told the senate earlier this month he would not tolerate any bid for regional autonomy by southern Muslims, who do not speak Thai or respect the administration in far-away Bangkok. "As long as I am alive, this land can’t be separated, even by one square inch," he said. Thaksin, who won a landslide poll victory in 2001 and who looked set to repeat the feat early next year, has not apologised for last month’s tak bai incident, in which 78 arrested Muslims died of suffocation in the back of army trucks. A further seven died of injuries sustained when security forces opened fire with water cannon and live ammunition on a 1,500 strong protest outside a police station. The incident sparked international outrage, particularly from Muslims and Human Rights groups, a thorn in Thaksin’s side since a "war on drugs" in which more than 2,000 people died last year. But in Thailand, where most people are fed up with the almost daily attacks in the three southernmost provinces on state officials — both Buddhist and Muslim alike — the response has been very different. In the wake of the Tak Bai incident, which started with a protest and ended with 85 dead Muslims, many online newspaper readers and television viewers expressed support for the Prime Minister and the army and police. In view of such feelings from the public, who simply want a restoration of law and order as soon as possible, Thaksin is unlikely to be reaching for the olive branches. "Why would he when he knows that, given our society’s deep prejudice against the Malay Muslims, he can easily turn the victims of his policy follies into the enemies of national sovereignty?," asked Bangkok post columnist Sanitsuda Ekachai. "Besides, creating an enemy of the state is always a good political gambit when a general election draws near," Sanitsuda, also a Buddhist scholar, wrote this week. Even among Bangkok’s educated classes, who have traditionally been more liberal than the average rural thai voter on whom Thaksin has built his power base, there is little sympathy for the cause of southern Muslims. "Why were there only 85 of them killed?" Asked a Buddhist lawyer who works for an exclusive shopping mall in Bangkok. "Many more of those troublemakers should have died." Thaksin says poverty and lack of education are at the roots of unrest in the south, which was home to a low key separatist insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s. He has promised 12 billion baht ( 300 million) in regional spending as a result. Islamic scholars say they want justice, not money. "This is not about separatism. It’s about justice," said Imam Kusoh nase of a provincial Mosque in pattani province. "When justice comes, peace will return," he said. Other Muslims say the attitude of the mainly Buddhist Government to Muslims is the problem. "I think soldiers and the Government have prejudices against Muslims in general," a 17-year-old student who was arrested at the Tak Bai protest told last month. "They think we are all separatists." Security analysts also fear that uneducated and unemployed youths from a Muslim population historically noted for its moderation, may now be shunted towards Islamic militant movements, such as the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah. "It is just a continuing failure to recognise the need for sensitivity towards the Muslim population, which is very moderate," said Bob Broadfoot, managing director of Hong Kong-based political and economic risk consultancy. "It is by and large a very moderate population that is being put in a very awkward position." (AGENCIES) |
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Gunmen kill 22 police in attacks in western Iraq BAGHDAD, Nov 7: Gunmen attacked a police station in the western Iraqi town of Haditha today, took 21 policemen hostage and later shot them dead, police said. They said Brigadier Shaher-al-Jughaifi, head of security in western Iraq, was shot dead in another attack on a police station in the nearby town of Haqlaniya. Clashes erupted when a large number of gunmen stormed the main police station in Haditha, some 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Baghdad, using rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, police said. The fighting lasted about 90 minutes. Six policemen were wounded and many captured. The gunmen took captives away and killed 21 in execution-style shootings. Yesterday, four car bombs and attacks on police stations killed 34 people, most of them policemen, in the restive city of Samarra, some 100 km north of Baghdad. The attacks occurred as US forces say they are preparing for a major offensive on the Sunni Muslim cities of Falluja and Ramadi, at the epicentre of an anti-American insurgency, to flush out Islamic militants and Saddam Hussein loyalists. Insurgents bent on undermining Iraq’s US-backed interim Government frequently attack the country’s fledgling security forces. (AGENCIES) |
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Oman to allow illegally staying Indians to leave DUBAI, Nov 7: Oman has promised to allow the illegally staying Indian expatriates to leave the country legally, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed has disclosed. During his three-day visit to Muscat that ended today, he received assurances from top Omani officials that they were willing to help indians who were genuinely seeking ‘outpasses’ for exiting the country. Criticising the Indian manpower agents back home, whom he described as "unscrupulous," he said that they preyed on unsuspecting job seekers whom they sent to countries like Oman with false promises and deliberately misused the facilities given by the Sultanate. "Such agents are always misusing the facilities - like the provision for visas on arrival - and sending Indians here as job seekers instead of tourists for which the visas are originally issued," times of Oman quoted Mr Ahamed as saying. He also said Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan would be visiting Oman soon. (UNI) 4 Indian fishermen missing in Qatar DUBAI, Nov 7: Four Indian fishermen based in Al-Khor in Qatar have been reported missing as their boat remains untraced for the 11th day today. Sources in the Al-Khor fishing community told Doha’s the Peninsula newspaper that the fishermen usually returned with their catch in two to three days or a maximum of four days. The Qatari coast guard has been informed about the missing fishermen, who are from Kanyakumari in India. Despite the boat having wireless communication system there were no contacts with the fishermen three days after they left Al-Khor Jetty. (UNI) No more chicken for tigers at Chinese zoo BEIJING, Nov 7: A zoo in southern China has pulled poultry from the diets of its tigers and lions to prevent a winter outbreak of the deadly birdflu, the Xinhua news agency reported today. The move came after dozens of tigers were infected or culled in a bird flu outbreak at a zoo in Thailand last month. Lions, tigers and other meat-eating animals at the Guangzhou zoo in Guangdong province would keep to a strict regimen of beef, mutton, rabbit and no chicken for the next three months, Xinhua quoted zoo official Chen Honghan as saying. China has reported outbreaks of bird flu among poultry this year. Health experts fear the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has killed 12 people in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam this year, could mutate into a form that could be transmitted between humans. In a large bird flu outbreak in Thailand’s Sri Rache Tiger Zoo in October, 51 tigers were culled and another 32 died from eating infected raw chicken. The World Health Organisation said the deaths of the tigers had no implications for humans as tigers were not known to host the human influenza virus and thus be able to serve as a lethal genetic mixing vessel. (AGENCIES) Blast rocks police station in western Iraq BAGHDAD, Nov 7: An explosion hit a police station in the western Iraqi town of Haditha today, witnesses said. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear and there was no early word on casualties. Yesterday, four car bombs and attacks on police stations killed 34 people, most of them policemen, in the restive city of Samarra, some 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad. The attacks occurred as US forces say they are preparing for a major offensive on the Sunni Muslim cities of Falluja and Ramadi, at the epicentre of an anti-American insurgency, to flush out Islamic militants and Saddam Hussein loyalists. Insurgents bent on undermining Iraq’s US-backed interim Government frequently attack the country’s fledgling security forces. (AGENCIES) Explosion near Japan PM’s troop inspection TOKYO, Nov 7: A device exploded near a Japanese military ground today in what appeared to be a protest ahead of a ceremony at which the Prime Minister marked the 50th anniversary of Japan’s modern military, media reported today. Police later found a piece of piping, a cable and part of a shell in woods close to the Asaka training ground in Saitama, just northwest of Tokyo, Kyodo news agency said. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi went ahead with a ceremonial inspection of the troops at the ground to mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of Japan’s self-defence forces after World War two. Police were investigating the explosion as a protest, Kyodo said. The blast caused no injuries. Koizumi, a close ally of US President George W Bush, has sent about 550 troops on a reconstruction mission to southern Iraq —their riskiest deployment since World War Two - despite opposition from most Japanese. Critics say the mission violates Japan’s Pacifist constitution put in place after it was defeated in 1945. Last week’s beheading of a Japanese civilian hostage in Iraq has sparked discussion on whether to extend the mission to Iraq after its mandate expires next month. The soldiers’ work has been restricted because of deteriorating security. Left-wing groups have carried out similar small-scale attacks against Government buildings and US military sites in Japan in the past. In most cases there have been no injuries or damage. (AGENCIES) |
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