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‘Make International Financial system responsive for poverty reduction’ UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13: India has called for making the international financial system more responsive to the needs of developing countries to.....more Tribesmen fail to secure release of China hostages TANK, PAKISTAN, Oct 13: A delegation of tribesmen met the head of a group of Al-Qaeda-linked militants holding two.....more US envoy smoothes way for Karzai win in Afghan poll KABUL, Oct 13: The flashing smile, the patrician wave of the hand for the cameras as he stepped into his bullet-proof car belonged to a man who had ...more Israeli missile kills Hamas militant in Gaza: Medics GAZA, Oct 13: An Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile near a house during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip today, killing ......more |
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Thailand shows no easy war against wildlife crime BANGKOK, Oct 13: With an AK-47 assault rifle slung over his shoulder, Sompong Prajobjan roamed one of Thailand’s lush national parks for more ......more China spurns Taiwan President’s call for peace talks BEIJING, Oct 13: China rejected Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian’s call for peace talks today and said that his calls . ....more US seeking plan for NATO taking over Afghan forces BRASOV, ROMANIA, Oct 13: Washington will ask NATO to devise a blueprint by February to have the alliance take over operations in.....more Iraq asks donors to speed up rebuilding funding TOKYO, Oct 13: Iraq today urged international donors to speed up funding for reconstruction, stalled by violence and.....more |
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‘Make International Financial system responsive for poverty reduction’ UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13: India has called for making the international financial system more responsive to the needs of developing countries to enable them to meet the millennium development goals for poverty reduction. Addressing a United Nations committee yesterday, Indian delegate Raghunath Jha expressed concern that net transfer of resources to the developing countries remained negative for the seventh year in succession reaching "alarming" level of 248 billion dollars last year and net inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell to its lowest levels since 1996. Besides, official flow from multilateral development and financial institutions continued to decline. And there is a significant shortfall in the official development assistance compared with the commitment made by developed nations at the monterrey conference, he said. "The increases in Oda, thus far, are mostly reflected in debt forgiveness, crowding out the development aid," he added. Stressing that economic growth depends on the rate of investment, Jha said without achieving higher rates of growth, the developing countries would not be able to meet the millennium goals or other commitments. In this context, he said, effective surveillance to promote stability through enhanced resilience of countries to economic shocks and markets is the key crisis prevention. Another important dimension, Jha said, is the development of multilateral financial institutions’ facilities in contingent situations to help countries which are otherwise well managed but might face potential problems. "This will infuse confidence in the market and minimize the contagion risks arising out of imperfect and uncertain private market flows," he added. (PTI) |
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Tribesmen fail to secure release of China hostages TANK, PAKISTAN, Oct 13: A delegation of tribesmen met the head of a group of Al-Qaeda-linked militants holding two Chinese engineers hostage in Pakistan, but failed to secure their release, a member of the delegation said today. In the last night talks, kidnap leader Abdullah Mehsud offered to free one of two Pakistanis held with engineers wang ende and Wang Peng since Saturday in the remote south Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. But Abdullah, in a separate location from the kidnappers, insisted he would not order the freeing of the Chinese until his demands were met, said the source, who did not want to be identified. "He did not spell out the demands, but repeated a demand for safe passage for both captors and the captives to join him." A council of the same Mehsud tribe to which Abdullah belongs and which dispatched the delegation was meeting in the town of Tank near south Waziristan to consider its response, he said. Pakistani officials have said Abdullah has demanded an end to military operations in the semi-autonomous tribal region, where hundreds have died this year in battles between troops and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, and the freeing of two Uzbek militants. Mehmood Shah, the head of security in the tribal region, said on Tuesday the Government hoped for a peaceful solution to the crisis but warned that use of force could not be ruled out. The kidnappers, with explosives strapped to their bodies, have been holed up in a mud house surrounded by security forces and their tribal allies in the Chagmalai area of south Waziristan, about 330 km (200 miles) southwest of Islamabad. The engineers were working on a dam project in Pakistan for a state run Chinese firm Sino hydro corp. Abdullah, who was freed from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in March and calls himself Commander Abdullah, threatened on Monday to order the killing of one of the Chinese unless they and the kidnappers were allowed to join him in a nearby area. But negotiations had continued beyond his deadlines, Pakistani officials said, adding that Abdullah had refused an offer of safe passage in return for freeing the engineers. Officials said there were four or five kidnappers, at least two of whom appeared to be Arabs, and they had threatened to blow up themselves and their hostages if any rescue attempt was made. Hundreds of foreign militants, including Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, are thought to be holed up in the tribal region, protected by Pakistani tribesmen. Abdullah was freed from Guantanamo bay with 25 others after the Pentagon said they were no longer a threat to the United States and had no intelligence value. US officials believe Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders may also be hiding somewhere along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (AGENCIES) |
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US envoy smoothes way for Karzai win in Afghan poll KABUL, Oct 13: The flashing smile, the patrician wave of the hand for the cameras as he stepped into his bullet-proof car belonged to a man who had just won Afghanistan’s Presidential election. But not for himself. US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Nicknamed "the viceroy" and familiarly known as Zal, had just helped to smoothe the path to almost certain victory for Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai after meeting his chief rival. The historic election on Saturday was nearly derailed when Karzai’s 15 opponents threatened to boycott over suspicion of irregularities, but soon most of his main challengers had fallen into line and promised to respect the result — thanks to a little word in their ear from the US envoy. "They came to him asking for advice on ways to save face," said one western official, describing the urgent consultations Khalilzad held with Yunus Qanuni, the main candidate from the ethnic Tajik minority. That was on Monday evening. Qanuni later withdrew his boycott, citing national interests. A day earlier, a visit from Khalilzad was followed by a decision by another key opponent — Mohammad Mohaqiq from the Shi’ite Muslim Hazara minority — to take back his threat to refuse to recognise the election. Yesterday, Presidential contender General Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek commander from the north, was to meet the Afghan-born Khalilzad who is the face of President George W Bush in Kabul. Most expect Karzai to win Saturday’s historic vote, although three weeks of counting only begin on Wednesday. It’s no secret that Washington wants to see Karzai endorsed as President. Khalilzad was under pressure to move quickly because Bush, on his own campaign trail, was hailing last weekend’s election as his foreign policy triumph and could not risk allegations of fraud jeopardising the success story. Khalilzad, who has a doctorate from the university of Chicago and is a former professor at Columbia and long-time republican, was appointed special envoy to Afghanistan after US forces toppled the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001. Many Afghans say Khalilzad has been engaged in political horse-trading on Karzai’s behalf, possibly carrying offers of ministerial posts or provincial governorships. "He’s put pressure on them and they won’t change their position free of charge," said one candidate, who believed the deals could backfire on Karzai. Khalilzad and Karzai go back a long time — they studied together at the American University of Beirut in the 1970s. (AGENCIES) |
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Israeli missile kills Hamas militant in Gaza: Medics GAZA, Oct 13: An Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile near a house during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip today, killing a Hamas militant, Medics said. The fighting erupted before dawn as Israeli tanks thrust deeper into the Palestinian town of Beit Lahiya as part of a two-week-old military offensive against militants firing rockets at Israeli border towns. Palestinian medics said a missile struck near a house during the battle, killing Mohammed Marouf, 22, a member of the militant Islamic group Hamas’s armed wing. Three other militants were wounded, two of them critically, they said. An Israeli military source said an air strike was carried out against a group of gunmen spotted by soldiers. It was part of Israel’s biggest offensive in Gaza since a Palestinian uprising began four years ago. The latest military campaign was launched after two Israeli toddlers were killed in a rocket strike on the town of Sderot on September 29. Since then, more than 90 Palestinians have been killed in fighting. Some 53 of them were militants and most of the rest were believed to be civilians. Three Israelis and a Thai worker have also been killed. Despite US and international pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week ordered the army to intensify the assault in a bid to smash militants ahead of a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip next year. The attack on Sderot, which sees almost daily rocket attacks by militants, has fuelled right-wing opposition to the Prime Minister’s plan to evacuate all soldiers and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005. Palestinian militants want to claim any pullout as a victory. Israel is determined to crush them first. Israel has said it will press on with its northern Gaza offensive to halt the rocket strikes. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction and is the main group behind the attacks, has vowed to continue launching rockets. (AGENCIES) |
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Thailand shows no easy war against wildlife crime BANGKOK, Oct 13: With an AK-47 assault rifle slung over his shoulder, Sompong Prajobjan roamed one of Thailand’s lush national parks for more than a decade. The ex-soldier was part of a small crew of poachers who bagged two elephants, a tiger, a couple of buffaloes and hundreds of deer in Khao Yai National Park. They captured exotic birds and stripped the forest of valuable aloewood used in perfumes. In a good month, sompong earned 50,000 baht (1,200 dollars), a very healthy income in Thailand. Evading the forestry police was easy. "They were after me several times, but they could never catch me," said Sompong, whose booty flowed into a global illegal wildlife trade that is the second greatest threat to endangered species after habitat destruction. Experts attending a UN wildlife meeting in Bangkok say the battle against the trade — sometimes worth more per kg than heroin or cocaine — is being lost due to lax enforcement. "Profits are high, the risk of detection is low and laws are very weak," said John Sellar, senior enforcement officer for cites, the convention on international trade in endangered species which regulates trade in animals and plants. But Asia now appears ready to act against a booming multi-billion trade in everything from ant-eating pangolins and snakes to African ivory and tiger skins. On Monday, 10 southeast Asian nations pledged for the first time to share intelligence, tighten borders and review weak laws. Thailand, eager to shed its image as an "exotic supermarket" and transit point for traffickers, has proposed a summit next year on a regional law enforcement network akin to interpol. Conservationists applaud the moves, but they say Thailand’s experience underscores the challenge. Bordered by Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia and home to a modern road network and international airports, Thailand is a hub for traffickers feeding the cooking pots and medicine shops of China. Thai officials say poor conservation efforts by impoverished neighbours are partly to blame. Laos only joined cites in June and its capacity to fight the trade is limited. Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti insists Bangkok is cracking down with 449 arrests and 26,000 seizures of ivory, pangolins and other illicit goods in the past year. But most arrests are of small-time poachers like Sompong who earn a fraction of the profits creamed off by major traffickers, said Steve Galster of wild aid Thailand. They could face up to four years in jail, but most are back in business after a 40,000 baht fine — a bargain for someone pocketing 50,000 dollars for a rhino horn or 100 dollars per kg for a truckload of pangolins. "No trafficker has gone to jail in the last 10 years here. It’s only the poachers," said Galster, who has tracked a regional wildlife crime ring called cobra and its suspected leader, Leuthai Tiewchareun. Wild aid says cobra — a group of well-connected Vietnamese, Lao, Thai and Malaysians who earn up to 10 million on a single shipment to China — operates with impunity. Leuthai made headlines in October 2003 when police raided his home and found more than 20 bear paws and six slaughtered tigers. Months later he was nabbed with a tiger carcass near Laos. Leuthai, currently out on bail, faces nine charges that mostly carry fines. It frustrates Thailand’s top wildlife cop. "The penalty is too low. For those who commit repeated crimes, the courts should not grant them bail. They should get at least 10 years in jail," said Major-General Swake Pinsinchai. Bangkok says it is reviewing legislation, has agreed to work with ngos and the private sector on combatting the trade and launched awareness programmes aimed at consumers. Ex-poachers are also trying to spread the word. Jailed for a month after he was finally caught, Sompong now grows mushrooms and Chrysanthemums under a wild aid programme that has cut poaching in Khao Yai by 70 percent since 1999. "I learned my lesson. I understand it was wrong," he said. And what of his old comrades in crime? "I still see them and I try to convince them to stop, but they think I’m a spy for the forestry police". Bordered by Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia and home to a modern road network and international airports, Thailand is a hub for traffickers feeding the cooking pots and medicine shops of China. Thai officials say poor conservation efforts by impoverished neighbours are partly to blame. Laos only joined cites in June and its capacity to fight the trade is limited. Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti insists Bangkok is cracking down with 449 arrests and 26,000 seizures of ivory, pangolins and other illicit goods in the past year. But most arrests are of small-time poachers like Sompong who earn a fraction of the profits creamed off by major traffickers, said Steve Galster of wild aid Thailand. They could face up to four years in jail, but most are back in business after a 40,000 baht fine — a bargain for someone pocketing 50,000 dollars for a rhino horn or 100 dollars per kg for a truckload of pangolins. "No trafficker has gone to jail in the last 10 years here. It’s only the poachers," said Galster, who has tracked a regional wildlife crime ring called cobra and its suspected leader, Leuthai Tiewchareun. Wild aid says cobra — a group of well-connected Vietnamese, Lao, Thai and Malaysians who earn up to 10 million on a single shipment to China — operates with impunity. Leuthai made headlines in October 2003 when police raided his home and found more than 20 bear paws and six slaughtered tigers. Months later he was nabbed with a tiger carcass near Laos. Leuthai, currently out on bail, faces nine charges that mostly carry fines. It frustrates Thailand’s top wildlife cop. "The penalty is too low. For those who commit repeated crimes, the courts should not grant them bail. They should get at least 10 years in jail," said Major-General Swake Pinsinchai. Bangkok says it is reviewing legislation, has agreed to work with ngos and the private sector on combatting the trade and launched awareness programmes aimed at consumers. Ex-poachers are also trying to spread the word. Jailed for a month after he was finally caught, Sompong now grows mushrooms and Chrysanthemums under a wild aid programme that has cut poaching in Khao Yai by 70 percent since 1999. "I learned my lesson. I understand it was wrong," he said. And what of his old comrades in crime? "I still see them and I try to convince them to stop, but they think I’m a spy for the forestry police". (AGENCIES) |
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China spurns Taiwan President’s call for peace talks BEIJING, Oct 13: China rejected Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian’s call for peace talks today and said that his calls for easing tensions were false. Chen called for peace talks with China in his national day speech on Sunday, but asserted that the island was a sovereign nation and not a mere province of China. "When he (Chen) said he wants to ease tensions, it is false. When he says he wants independence, it is true," a spokesman for the policymaking Taiwan affairs office told a news conference. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to attack the democratic island of 23 million if it formally declares independence. (AGENCIES) |
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US seeking plan for NATO taking over Afghan forces BRASOV, ROMANIA, Oct 13: Washington will ask NATO to devise a blueprint by February to have the alliance take over operations in Afghanistan, now split between an American force and NATO contingent, officials said yesterday. Speaking on the eve of an informal meeting of NATO defence chiefs in Romania, Nicholas burns, the US Ambassador to the Alliance, said the United States envisions the 26-nation alliance possibly taking responsibility for the entire nato mission in Afghanistan as early as next year. Burns also said the United States at the NATO ministerial meeting planned to prod European allies to help accelerate the long-promised expansion of the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, particularly in the west. The United States has about 18,000 troops in Afghanistan in operation enduring freedom, seeking to crush Taliban and Al-Qaeda remnants and hunt down fugitives including Osama bin Laden. NATO has a 9,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) peacekeeping force, focused on the capital Kabul. But the credibility of NATO’s mission has been undermined by allies’ reluctance to come up with troops and equipment. "Obviously we hope to see, at some point, integration of the NATO effort and operation enduring freedom," burns said, with NATO taking control of the combined effort. "It could be 2005. It could be 2006. It just depends on how things go," he added. Burns did not specify what impact such a move would have on US troop levels in Afghanistan, but said the United States wants NATO to direct its military leaders to develop plans on how to unify the operations under the alliance, and present them at a NATO meeting in early February in Nice, France. (AGENCIES) |
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Iraq asks donors to speed up rebuilding funding TOKYO, Oct 13: Iraq today urged international donors to speed up funding for reconstruction, stalled by violence and insurgency, and said holding elections was key to improving security. Speaking at the start of a two-day donors’ gathering, Iraqi delegates also urged creditors to forgive Baghdad’s debt of up to 125 billion as the only way to relieve Iraq of its crushing financial burden. The meeting in Tokyo brings together officials from roughly 55 organisations and countries, including some that opposed the US-led war in Iraq, to follow up last year’s meeting in Madrid at which donors pledged around 14 billion dollars. Concerns about security have made donors wary of implementing their pledges, but Iraqi delegates urged them not to falter. "Development and stability in Iraq cannot be driven forward through the barrels of guns," deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told the donors in strongly worded remarks. "Assistance and aid in the short term is the key to destroying the causes of terrorism. It is also the only way we can build a sustainable, long-term future for our people," he added. "I say, turn your pledges into firm commitments now." Salih added: "For those countries that held back on political or geopolitical grounds, we ask you should not withhold or delay your support any further." The donors meeting is the first since sovereignty was handed over to the Iraqi Interim Government in June. Among the participants in the meeting are France, Germany and Russia, all of which opposed last year’s US-led invasion and have criticised Washington’s postwar handling of Iraq. Host country Japan also urged countries that have made pledges to implement them quickly and urged potential donors to contribute to a trust fund set up by the United Nations and the World Bank, which totals just 1 billion dollars — nearly half from Japan. "In addition, I would like to call on all countries engaged in bilateral aid efforts to steadily implement their projects," Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told the meeting. (AGENCIES) Iraq militants say behead KDP spy: Web site DUBAI, Oct 13: A militant Iraqi group said it had beheaded a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) who it described as a "spy" working as a translator for the US army, according to an internet statement. The army of Ansar-al-Sunna said in a statement dated Oct 11 and posted on its web site that it "enforced God’s law by slaughtering the apostate" Luqman Hussein Mohammed who it had abducted on Oct 5. The site carried pictures of two masked gunmen standing next to the hostage. The site also posted links to a video tape of the apparent beheading but it was not possible to access them. (AGENCIES) Italy outraged as top mafia killer gets day off ROME, Oct 13: Italians were shocked yesterday to learn that Giovanni Brusca, one of the country’s most notorious mafia killers, had been allowed to leave prison for one day every six weeks because of good behaviour. The news, released by an anti-mafia group in sicily and confirmed by Brusca’s lawyer, prompted outrage from politicians as well as families of mafia victims. One lawmaker from the ruling centre-right coalition asked the Justice Minister to address Parliament on the decision, made by a parole board in Rome. Brusca, who was arrested in 1996, pushed the remote control button that set off a huge bomb that killed top anti-mafia Judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and their police escort in 1992. Although that killing was one of Italy’s worst mafia outrages, Italians were to learn after Brusca’s arrest that he had carried out an even more gruesome murder. In order to punish a former mafia boss who had turned state’s evidence, Brusca killed the man’s 13-year-old son, Giuseppe Di Matteo, and dissolved the boy’s body in acid. "We are shocked and deeply saddened by this decision by the parole board," said Carolina Lussana, a parliamentarian of the northern league, a party in the Government coalition. Brusca himself began turning state’s evidence after his arrest, admitting that he had been involved in some 100 mafia murders. This also helped his request before the parole board. "While we understand that our penal system provides benefits for good behaviour, we want the parole board to explain why they feel Brusca is no longer a dangerous man," Lussana said. There was no immediate comment from the parole board or the justice ministry. (AGENCIES) Iraq gets back its vote at UNs UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13: Iraq has regained its voice at the United Nations after the General Assembly concluded it could not pay its dues because of conditions beyond its control, UN officials said yesterday. Although Iraq regained its sovereignty in June, 15 months after the US-led invasion, Baghdad was barred from voting in the 191-nation Assembly until it paid at least 14.6 million dollar in back dues. The Assembly has now waived the rules for Iraq and 10 other countries, officials said. The others were central African republic, Comoros, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Moldova, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Tajikistan. Under UN rules, member states that fall behind in their dues can get back their votes if the Assembly finds the situation is "beyond the control of the member." The General Assembly is the main UN deliberative body, where each member normally has one vote. Even before last year’s war, Iraq had no vote because it could not afford its dues under the stringent un economic sanctions imposed on it in 1990 over Baghdad’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait. (AGENCIES) Texas man executed for gay-bashing murder HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, Oct 13: A man convicted of a gay-bashing murder nearly 11 years ago was put to death by lethal injection yesterday in the third Texas execution in the past week. Donald Aldrich, 39, was the second person to die for the murder of Nicholas west, 23, who was abducted by three men in the eastern Texas city of tyler on Nov 30, 1993. The trio drove west out of town, ordered him to strip and then shot him nine times. Aldrich was suspected of earlier anti-gay crimes and told police he hated homosexuals because his gay cousin had raped him when he was a boy, prosecutors said. One accomplice, Henry Earl Dunn, was executed for the west murder last year. The other, David Mcmillan, was convicted of aggravated robbery and kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison. In a final statement while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber, Aldrich apologized to the family of his victim. "To the west family, I would just like to apologize for your loss. I hope that you can forgive me," he said. To his own family, he said, "I love you all and i will see you on the other side." For his last meal, Aldrich requested Salad, Fried Chicken, French Fries, a cheeseburger, deviled eggs, biscuits with gravy and chocolate cake. Aldrich was the 16th person put to death this year in Texas, which leads the nation with 329 executions since 1982. Two inmates, Edward Green and Peter Miniel, both convicted of murder, were executed by lethal injections last week. Eight more executions are scheduled in Texas this year. (AGENCIES) |
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