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US base attacked as Afghans prepare to vote KABUL, Oct 8: Sporadic violence erupted in pockets of Afghanistan on the eve of a historic presidential election in the rugged wartorn land, highlighting .....more Labour to win election under Blair, but lose seats LONDON, Oct 8: Britain’s Tony Blair is expected to lead his Labour party to its third term in power at the next election .....more Three
bomb explosions JERUSALEM, Oct 8: At least 25 people were killed and over 120 injured in three bomb explosions that ripped ....more Troops
patrol Pakistani MULTAN, PAKISTAN, Oct 8: Troops patrolled the Pakistani city of Multan today amid fears of revenge attacks a day after a car bomb exploded at a rally of radical Sunni ......more |
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Elbaradei, environmentalist tipped for Nobel OSLO, Oct 8: Among those tipped to win the 2004 Nobel peace prize today are the UN nuclear watchdog and its leader Mohamed Elbaradei, a Kenyan environmentalist and a Russian anti-nuclear activist. .....more Afghan woman gives up gun, takes up make-up KABUL, Oct 8: An Afghan woman has given up her weapons under a UN-backed drive to disarm militia fighters .....more Woman pulled from 7th floor of destroyed Egypt hotel EILAT, ISRAEL, Oct 8: Israeli rescuers today found an elderly Israeli woman and her granddaughter alive in the ruins .....more Fifteen hurt as Bangladesh aircraft skids runway DHAKA, Oct 8: At least 15 people were injured when a Bangladesh Biman Airlines aircraft skidded off the runway after landing in the northeastern city of ...more |
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US base attacked as Afghans prepare to vote KABUL, Oct 8: Sporadic violence erupted in pockets of Afghanistan on the eve of a historic presidential election in the rugged wartorn land, highlighting the risks posed by Taliban militants who have vowed to disrupt the vote. A rocket exploded in the air above the US military compound in the capital, Kabul, before dawn, causing some damage to parked cars and providing a reminder of pledges by the Taliban and their extremist allies to disrupt the landmark election tomorrow. In the eastern city of Jalalabad, a rocket ploughed into a house, wounding a young girl and an old man, officials said. About 18,000 US-led troops are hunting Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders and helping a 42,000-strong Afghan police and military force and 8,000 NATO-led peacekeepers to provide security for the poll. President Hamid Karzai is favourite to win. Victory for the US-backed Karzai, who is from the majority Pashtun ethnic group that has traditionally ruled Afghanistan, would legitimise his rule and mark a turning point for a country shattered by more than a quarter-century of war. "I have registered but now I don’t want to vote because there is a growing feeling among people that the President is already chosen. So why bother?" said Shaziya, a 25-year-old woman in a Kabul market. Two of the 18 candidates in the fray have decided to withdraw in Karzai’s favour. One was not considered very popular but the other, Sayed Ishaq Gailani, is from one of Afghanistan’s best-known families. Karzai has always been favourite, but the move by Gailani, a fellow ethnic Pashtun, could help the incumbent to gain the 51 percent of the vote he needs to avoid a November run-off. The President vowed yesterday that the vote would be held successfully and reflect the wishes of his 28 million people. Close to 12 million Afghans have registered to vote, despite threatened Taliban reprisals. Women make up more than 40 per cent of those who have registered, organisers say. An additional 1.3 million refugees in Pakistan and Iran are also eligible. "How long can we wait for the guns to go before we have elections?" Karzai said in a BBC interview. "No election in the world is free of tension. Afghanistan is in a more serious situation because we are emerging out of war. "But because of the massive enthusiasm and will of the Afghan people to go toward this election and to build their country in a democratic way, I very much hope this election will provide a result that they will like." The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban, toppled in late 2001 by US-led forces for refusing to hand over militant ally Osama bin Laden, is running an insurgency concentrated in the south and east of the country, where security is strongest. Taliban spokesman Latif Hakimi claimed responsibility for the rocket fire in Kabul and Jalalabad, and warned of more to come. Those claims could not be independently confirmed. "We plan to carry out more attacks," Hakimi said by satellite telephone. "We claim the responsibility for all the attacks that take place today and tomorrow. Your will hear more such news." But the absence of a major strike in Kabul or other cities since campaigning began a month ago has raised hopes that the US-led forces, international peacekeepers and Afghan security forces can minimise the risks to tomorrow’s landmark poll. Karzai has fielded Vice Presidential running mates from the Tajik and Hazara ethnic minorities but faces a tough task winning votes off leaders of the Mujahideen, or holy warriors, who won respect for resisting soviet occupation and later the Taliban. In the Panjshir valley, a symbol of Afghan resistance to outsiders, his strongest rival, Yunus Qanuni, a Mujahideen and former resistance leader, staked out support among fellow Tajiks. "We the people of Panjshir hope Qanuni wins. He has been in the country throughout the years of difficulties and hardships," Abdullah Jan, a 46-year-old doctor, said in the valley 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Kabul. US President George W Bush has held up the election as a foreign policy success and a victory for democracy. Bush, who faces re-election himself next month, is hoping a smooth Afghan election could provide a model for January polls in Iraq, which has been plagued by violence since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein last year. (AGENCIES) |
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Labour to win election under Blair, but lose seats LONDON, Oct 8: Britain’s Tony Blair is expected to lead his Labour party to its third term in power at the next election but Labour’s majority could fall by half, a poll of political analysts shows. All 22 analysts surveyed this week said Labour will remain in power under Blair after next year’s expected poll but most said a weaker majority will make it harder for the Prime Minister to fulfil his vow of serving a full third term. "It will be a reflection of the leadership. The party will not regard it as a reflection on itself (and) it will increase the move to remove the leader," said Sydney Elliott at Queen’s university in Belfast. "I am guessing blair will leave about 2007, two years after the election," said Elliott, who expects the party to win with a majority of under 80 seats, compared with 159 currently. When the last poll was carried out in May, only 17 out of 21 analysts said Blair would stick to his pledge to run for a third term amid heavy criticism of Britain’s role in Iraq and opposition calls for his resignation. But his announcement last week that he will serve a full third term has at least ended speculation that he might resign before the next election. A separate reuters poll of UK economists showed that speculation over Blair’s departure and his possible successor was not a major factor for the sterling currency market as such an event was perceived to be too far in the future. Some political analysts said the lack of a credible opposition could yet allow Labour a large majority in the next election, Albeit on low turnout. But 10 of the 21 analysts who answered the question said Labour would win the next election with a majority of less than 80 seats, nine said between 80 and 119 and two said between 120 and 160. "Labour will get squeezed by both liberal democrats and conservatives and by SNP and plaid (nationalist parties) in Scotland and Wales respectively, but the liberal democrats will make more gains than the tories," said Colin Hay at the University of Birmingham. Most analysts saw Blair’s full-term pledge as unlikely and some said it was only made to retain credibility and stop the rumour mill about who will be next to take the top job. More reuters sk rv1544 jmu 15 58 fn 75 elections-britain-blair two last london ‘’i expect blair will want to go when iraq is sorted out but obviously that may never happen,’’ said university of salford’s steven fielding, who predicts blair will stand down about 2-1/2 years after the election, predicted for next may. ‘’if he can choose the moment of his departure it is sensible that he’ll want to go in time to give any successor the time to establish their own identity as pm before another election.’’ blair has said he intends to offer britons a referendum on a new european union constitution, probably in 2006, an ambitious task that may prove tough to win but something he is likely to want to see through before he steps down, analysts say. ‘’either he will leave in a blaze of glory having won it or will be under heavy pressure to resign,’’ said nick randall at newcastle university. Some also argued that blair will want to hold onto his job long enough to find a candidate to replace him other than chancellor of the exchequer gordon brown, who has long been mooted as the prime minister’s heir-in-waiting. Seventeen of the 21 analysts who answered the question, said brown was the most likely person to replace blair when he does finally handover the reins of his leadership. Of the others, two said labour’s leader in parliament, peter hain, would be the next premier, one had no view and one said it would certainly not be brown. ‘’he (brown) still remains the most popular of candidates and the one most likely to secure a further term,’’ said hay at the university of birmingham. ‘’the seeming tensions with blair will also do him little harm, whilst in policy terms there would be very significant continuities.’’ the majority of analysts — 18 out of 21 — said brown was likely to remain blair’s finance minister after the election. Two said he would not be and one did not know. Analysts said the risks of moving brown from his position would be higher than the potential gains. "Brown would be too fierce a competitor outside no. 11 (house in Downing Street, London, occupied by the Chancellor)," said Andrew Russell at Manchester University. Analysts said it was too early to say who would be the next Chancellor under Blair’s successor. However, election strategist Alan Milburn, former Chief Economic Adviser to the treasury ed balls and Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt were mentioned as possible candidates. (AGENCIES) |
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Three bomb explosions in Egyptian tourist resorts kill 25 JERUSALEM, Oct 8: At least 25 people were killed and over 120 injured in three bomb explosions that ripped through a crowded hotel and a beach resort in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in attacks which neighbouring Israel said bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda. Two bombs exploded one after another at the luxury Hilton hotel, a favourite holiday destination for Israelis, in the Egyptian resort town of Taba late last night, killing at least 23 people vacationing at the close of a Jewish holiday, Israel Defence Forces Home Front Commander Major General Yair Nave said. However, the toll is expected to rise as more than 38 people are still missing after the devestating twin blasts. According to sources, a car laden with explosives crashed into the lobby of the hotel and exploded, bringing down a 10-storey structure, while a suicide bomber blew himself up seconds later near the hotel swimming pool. Two other blasts also occurred about two hours later in nearby resort towns of Ras Shitan and Nueiba, killing at least two people, they said. Egypt’s Interior Ministry had confirmed 12 deaths around dawn, instead of 35 that officials had said last night hours after the blast, local media reported. "According to our first information, it appears to be an international terror attack with the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda," said Israel’s Deputy Defence Minister, Zeev Boim. A senior Foreign Ministry official reportedly said that five of those killed in Taba appeared to be Israelis. Two Israelis were killed in the blast at Ras Satan, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. A previously unknown group Jamaa-al-Islamiya Al-Alamiya (world Islamist group) took responsibility for the attacks, which forced thousands of panic-stricken Israeli tourists to leave the tourist spot. Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Eli shaked said most of the casualties are likely to be Egyptians and not Israelis after talks with Egyptian Tourism Minister Ahmed El Maghraby. The Israeli Deputy Defence Minister blamed the Egyptians for their inability to determine the exact number of casualities, saying Egyptian authorities were preventing Israeli rescue workers from extricating corpses from beneath the rubble of the Taba Hilton. Some 15,000 Israelis were in Sinai at the time of the blast defying a Foreign Ministry directive that urged Israelis to shun the resorts due to fears of terror attacks. An Islamic internet site claimed that four brothers carried out the Sinai attacks to avenge Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Army radio reported. Palestinian Authority Security Adviser, Jibril Rajoub, ruled out the possibility of the involvement of Palestinian factions behind the attack. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has asked his Egyptian counterpart for permission to allow Israelis to pass through the border crossing without passport checks and to send between 20 and 30 buses to the Sinai valley to bring home the Israelis in the area, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Gideon Meir said. (PTI) |
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Troops patrol Pakistani city after blast kills 42 MULTAN, PAKISTAN, Oct 8: Troops patrolled the Pakistani city of Multan today amid fears of revenge attacks a day after a car bomb exploded at a rally of radical Sunni Muslims, killing at least 42 people. The main markets and schools remained closed and traffic was thin in the normally congested city some 425 km southwest of the capital, Islamabad. Troops and anti-terrorist police patrolled the streets throughout the night in pickup trucks mounted with machine-guns, police and residents said. "The situation is totally under control," said Multan District Police Chief Talat Mehmood Tariq. "By the grace of Allah, the situation is calm." The bomb exploded before dawn yesterday among a crowd of mourners leaving an overnight rally of several thousand people to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of Sunni Muslim militant Azam Tariq, head of the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (soldiers of Mohammad’s companions). The provincial Government announced a reward of (10 million rupees) 170,000 dollars for information leading to the arrest of those behind the attack. Tariq’s group declared two-days of mourning. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said yesterday he had advised provincial Governments to be on alert for revenge attacks during today’s prayers, a traditional time for militant bomb attacks on minority Shi’ite Muslim Mosques. He said he would advise provincial Governments to ban all religious gatherings, processions and congregations until further notice and vowed that banned militant groups such as Sipah-e-Sahaba would not be allowed to continue their activities. The attack came just days after a suicide bomber killed 30 people at a Shi’ite Muslim Mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot on October 2. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the latest attack could have been a sectarian act of revenge. But in apparent bid to head off a spiral of revenge attacks, Sherpao said the bombing had "no relevance to the sectarian divide". "I do not see the involvement of any religious group," he said. Abdul Jalil Naqvi, a leader of the main Shi’ite militant group, the banned Islami Tehrik Pakistan, denied charges by Tariq’s group that it was a Shi’ite attack. He called it a Terrorist Act aimed at inciting sectarian war. Hospital officials said at least 42 people were killed and more than 100 wounded, 30 of them seriously. Most were followers of Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been blamed for many bloody attacks on Shi’ites, who make up about 15 percent of Pakistan’s mainly Sunni population of 150 million. Sipah-e-Sahaba was one of seven militant groups Musharraf outlawed after he joined the US-led war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks. However, these have simply resurfaced under new names despite official vows to crack down on their activities. Sipah-e-Sahaba renamed itself Millat-e-Islamia (Islamic nation) after being banned. The head of the renamed group, Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, appealed to his followers to remain calm yesterday but demanded the Government track down those responsible within a week or he would call for a march on Islamabad. (AGENCIES) |
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Elbaradei, environmentalist tipped for Nobel OSLO, Oct 8: Among those tipped to win the 2004 Nobel peace prize today are the UN nuclear watchdog and its leader Mohamed Elbaradei, a Kenyan environmentalist and a Russian anti-nuclear activist. The leader of the five-member Norwegian Nobel committee, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, will name the winner of the world’s top accolade in Oslo at 0900 gmt from a record field of 194 candidates. Many tip Egyptian-born Elbaradei and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency to win the 10 million Swedish crowns (1.36 million dollar) award for their struggle to keep nuclear weapons away from terrorists or rogue states. "An award to the IAEA and Elbaradei is the closest we can get to candidates who fit today’s political climate," said Espen Barth Eide, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Even so, the iaea has had an uphill struggle in recent years with crises in North Korea, Iran and Iraq. Norwegian NRK public television, which has often predicted the winner, said the prize might go to an environmentalist in 2004. If so, candidates could be Kenyan Deputy Environment Minister Wangari Mathai, or Russia’s Alexander Nikitin, who leaked details of the nuclear fleet and dumping of radioactive waste from 1965-89, NRK said. Mathai leads a "green belt movement" that has planted 30 million trees in Africa to help protect the environment. She says decades of excess logging mean just 1.7 percent of Kenya, for instance, is covered by trees. An ex-navy captain, Nikitin was arrested in Russia in 1996 and charged with treason for leaking atomic details to Norwegian environmental group Bellona. He was eventually acquitted. A prize to Mathai would make her the first African woman to win the peace prize since it was set up in 1901, named after Swedish Philanthropist Alfred Nobel. The 2003 prize also went to a woman, Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi. NRK noted Geir Lundestad, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, said in 2001 that the award might shift in its second century to honour new types of activists such as environmentalists, rock stars, perhaps even journalists. He also said the prize should speak out "sooner rather than later" about a lack of democracy in China. NRK did not mention a single Chinese candidate for 2004. Experts have pointed to other contenders including US senator Richard Lugar and former senator Sam Nunn for work to dismantle ageing Soviet nuclear warheads and a South African AIDS treatment lobby and its leader, Zackie Achmat. "i would not bet on (winning) if I were a betting man," Achmat, who is HIV positive, told in Cape Town. He said a prize would give "enormous recognition" to HIV sufferers. According to Centrebet, an internet bookmaker, Elbaradei and the IAEA are favourites at 3.25-1, Nunn-Lugar at 3.5-1, former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix at 7.5-1, Achmat at 10-1 along with Israeli nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. (AGENCIES) |
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Afghan woman gives up gun, takes up make-up KABUL, Oct 8: An Afghan woman has given up her weapons under a UN-backed drive to disarm militia fighters and gone into the beauty business instead, a UN spokesman has said. Bubany Khair, 35, who worked for a militia in the capital, Kabul, is the first woman in the war-torn country to disarm. She has decided to run a small business selling cosmetics, said Chief UN spokesman Manoel De Almeida E Silva yesterday. He did not give more details or say if there were other women fighters due to be disarmed in the deeply conservative and male-dominated Muslim country. There are no women soldiers in the Afghan Army but some women do serve in the police and intelligence networks. The UN is running a nationwide drive aimed at disarming about 50,000 members of various irregular forces. Disarming gunmen is seen as a crucial step on Afghanistan’s path to stability after 25 years of conflict. More than 20,000 fighters have given up their guns under the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration scheme launched last year, the UN Spokesman said. (AGENCIES) |
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Woman pulled from 7th floor of destroyed Egypt hotel EILAT, ISRAEL, Oct 8: Israeli rescuers today found an elderly Israeli woman and her granddaughter alive in the ruins of an upper floor of an Egyptian hotel torn apart in a bomb blast but the grandmother died of her wounds, officials said. Emergency crews heard a cry from the seventh floor where the two women were trapped in a bathroom and rushed to pull them out. The elderly woman died of her wounds as she was being taken down. Her 24-year-old granddaughter survived. (AGENCIES) |
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Fifteen hurt as Bangladesh aircraft skids runway DHAKA, Oct 8: At least 15 people were injured when a Bangladesh Biman Airlines aircraft skidded off the runway after landing in the northeastern city of Sylhet on today, an official at the airport said. "The F-28 aircraft with over 70 passengers ran off the runway just after landing," said an immigration official at the airport, 300 km (190 miles) from the capital, Dhaka. At least 15 people were injured, he said, but did not give details. "Injured people are being carried out now. I can’t tell you anything more, everyone is busy on the scene," he said. Biman officials in Dhaka said the aircraft left the capital at 8.46 a.m. (08:16 ist) and landed 19 minutes later at Sylhet, the country’s third-biggest airport. (AGENCIES) Cites tightens Ramin controls, may save Orang-Utan BANGKOK, Oct 8: A United Nations conference adopted a proposal today to tighten controls on the trade of a commercially valuable hardwood known as Ramin, which could help save the endangered Orang-Utan ape. Environmentalists hailed the decision as a major victory in the war against illegal logging that threatens tropical rainforests across Asia, Africa and Latin America. The decision was made at a meeting in the Thai capital of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which regulates the global trade in wild flora and fauna. "Cites today has shown it has relevance in the fight against illegal logging," said Julian newman of the environmental investigation agency, which monitors the illicit trade in forest products. All species of Ramin will now be included in cites Appendix II, which means global trade in the tree, in high demand for furniture, will be subject to much tighter controls. It had been protected in Indonesia under Appendix III, which is far less stringent. About 30 species of Ramin are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Fiji. The illegal harvest of the tree is regarded as one of many threats to the survival of the "orange ape" or Orang-Utan, one of man’s closest living relatives. "After today’s vote, the future of Ramin and the species who live in these forests looks brighter," said Susan Lieberman, head of conservation group WWF international’s delegation to cites. The move could blaze a trail for more commercially valuable tree species to be listed at future cites meetings and could have huge implications for the global timber and forest products industry. (AGENCIES) Explosion at Indonesian embassy in Paris: Radio PARIS, Oct 8: An unexplained explosion occurred outside the Indonesian embassy in Paris before dawn today, injuring seven people lightly, French radio stations reported. Windows in nearby buildings were shattered by the blast in the posh 16th arrondissement in the western part of the city, they said. French police refused to comment on the news broadcast by Europe 1 and France info radios. (AGENCIES) Remember limbo? the pope has not forgotten it VATICAN CITY, Oct 8: Remember Limbo, that place where the Catholic Church teaches that babies go if they die before being baptised because they do not deserve either heaven or hell? Pope John Paul showed yesterday that he still muses about one of the more forgotten elements of catholic theology commonly associated with medieval thinking. He asked theologians to think about it harder and come up with "a more coherent and enlightened way" of describing the fate of such innocents. According to Catholic teaching, Baptism removes the original sin which has stained all souls since the fall from grace in the garden of Eden. The Pope made his comments in an address to the international theological commission, which is discussing, in the Pope’s words "the fate of babies born without baptism." Limbo, which comes from the latin word meaning "border" or "edge", is a state or place reserved for the unbaptised dead, including good people who lived before the first coming of Christ. In the divine comedy, Dante passes Limbo on his way into hell and writes: "Great grief seized on my own heart when this I heard, because some people of much worthiness I knew, who in Limbo were suspended." (AGENCIES) Rocket attack rocks Kabul on eve of Afghan vote KABUL, Oct 8: A rocket attack hit close to the US military compound and embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul today, the eve of the country’s historic Presidential election. There were no reports of casualties from two rockets. One rocket failed to explode near the media centre across from the US military base, said a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping forces in charge of security in Kabul. "All US personnel are safe and accounted for," said a US official in Washington, who asked not to be named. The blast was about 200 to 300 metres (yards) from the US embassy compound." "The all clear has sounded ... Staff have returned to their quarters," he added. Details of the second rocket were sketchy but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Journalists heard the all-clear message being given at the US base but access roads were blocked. The rockets hit just before 2300ist. Kabul and other cities have been braced for attacks from Taliban fighters and their allies in the run-up to Saturday’s Presidential election - the first time Afghans vote for their leader in a direct vote. Hours earlier two other rockets were fired near a base used by Italian troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. A correspondent at Camp Activia, the base for the 850-strong Italian contingent, said the rockets were fired at around 2200ist but missed the camp. (AGENCIES) |
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