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Arafat very sick , foreign medics summoned RAMALLAH, WEST BANK, Oct 28: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is "very, very sick" and the ex-guerrilla who for decades symbolised a struggle . .....more Rare
fossil skeletons NEW YORK, Oct 28: In one of the most spectacular fossil finds in recent times, scientists have found fossil skeletons of a tiny human that grew no .....more Japan seeks Iraq hostage release as deadline nears TOKYO, Oct 28: A Japanese minister arrived in Jordan on Thursday to seek the release of a hostage in Iraq, less than 24 hours before a deadline set by .....more 13 killed, 23 injured in Siberia coal mine blast MOSCOW, Oct 28: At least 13 miners were killed and 23 injured in a coal mine blast in Russia’s western Siberian region of Kuzbass today, media reports said.......more |
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Iran’s clerics lean towards Kerry to ease pressure TEHRAN, Oct 28: Iranian officials like to portray US Presidential elections as a choice between bad and worse but there is little doubt they would.....more Korean nuclear talks may convene in November BEIJING, Oct 28: The six parties trying to end a crisis over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions could hold working group talks in November, diplomats .....more Heat may have killed British tourist in Australia ALICE SPRINGS, AUSTRALIA, Oct 28: A British woman could have died from heat exposure in outback Australia after she got lost while walking . ....more Reuters
historical LONDON, Oct 28: Following are some of the major events to have occurred on Oct 29 since 1900: 1923 - Turkey became a republic under its first President,....more |
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Arafat very sick , foreign medics summoned RAMALLAH, WEST BANK, Oct 28: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is "very, very sick" and the ex-guerrilla who for decades symbolised a struggle for statehood is slipping in and out of consciousness, officials and medics said today. President Arafat, 75, beloved by most of his people and reviled by many Israelis, suffered stomach pains since last week but took a dramatic turn for the worse yesterday. A team of foreign doctors sped to Ramallah to carry out tests today and Arafat’s wife headed home from France after years apart. Arafat’s slide into illness has raised fears of chaos among Palestinians, whose 4-year-old uprising for a state has stalled. But his departure from the scene could also bring changes from Israel and its US ally, who dub him an obstacle to peace. The short, stubble-bearded Palestinian icon, usually in his trademark black and white Arab headdress, has named no successor in the decade since leaving exile under interim peace accords. Palestinian leaders rushed to the battered compound where Arafat has been effectively penned by Israeli forces for more than two years, accused by Israel of fomenting violence after peace talks collapsed. Arafat denies the charge. Medical sources said Arafat suffered spells of unconsciousness and at times appeared dazed and disoriented. He was unable to eat or drink without vomiting and was hooked up to an intravenous drip, officials said. "He is really in a very, very serious condition, though we cannot say he is dying," said one senior official. Contingency plans have been made to shift arafat to a hospital for treatment as teams of US, Egyptian and Jordanian doctors converge on Ramallah. After visiting Arafat at the compound, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered, Cabinet Minister Azzam-al-Ahmad said: "He is in a stable condition, but there is no improvement. He was joking with us. He needs more medication and tests." Confidants said Arafat insisted on treatment at his shell-battered "Muqata" compound rather than going to a Palestinian or foreign hospital, fearing Israel would never allow him to return. "He simply refuses to leave," said one. Israeli officials said they would let Arafat seek treatment wherever he wanted at home or abroad, but the question of his return was "a separate issue after he recuperates". Palestinian officials repeatedly said in the past few days that the former guerrilla leader was recovering from a bout of "stomach flu". But he has not appeared in public for days, stirring speculation about the gravity of his condition. Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and other old comrades of decades of fighting for a state were summoned to Arafat’s headquarters. They made no comment as they left late yesterday. Arafat’s spokesman denied an Al-Jazeera report that he had appointed a three-man committee to act in his absence. In a sign of the seriousness of Arafat’s condition, his wife Suha was expected in Ramallah from her Paris home for the first time since the Palestinian uprising erupted. Arafat underwent a minor diagnostic procedure on Monday and Palestinian officials said an endoscopy found no serious ailment. They said he did not have stomach cancer. A senior official in US President George W Bush’s administration said the White House was monitoring reports on Arafat’s health but had no further comment. Arafat returned to territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war following 1993 interim peace accords, signed on the white house lawn, which gave palestinians a first measure of self-rule. Arafat shared a Nobel peace prize with Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, but peace talks on a final agreement for a Palestinian state collapsed in 2000. Bloodshed followed swiftly. Both Israel and the United States now refuse to deal with Arafat, accusing him of encouraging militant attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has drawn up a unilateral plan for withdrawing from Gaza and parts of the West Bank —bypassing a violence-stymied US-backed peace "road map" that would have led to a Palestinian state. But Arafat’s removal from the scene could remove one of Sharon’s main justifications for a plan that has thrown the Jewish state into political turmoil. "The claim that ‘there is no partner’, which has formed the basis of Israeli foreign policy over the past four years and justified the refusal to negotiate with the Palestinian authority, would depart together with him," said Aluf Benn of Israel’s liberal Haaretz newspaper. (AGENCIES) |
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Rare fossil skeletons of tiny humans found NEW YORK, Oct 28: In one of the most spectacular fossil finds in recent times, scientists have found fossil skeletons of a tiny human that grew no larger than a three-year-old modern child, a media report said today. The hobbit-like humans, who had skulls about the size of grapefruits, lived with Pygmy elephants and Komodo dragons on a remote island in Indonesia as recently as 13,000 years ago, National Geographic news reported. Australian and Indonesian researchers, it said, discovered bones of the miniature humans in a cave on flores, an island midway between Asia and Australia. The tiny human is believed to be an extinct Asian offshoot of homo erectus, the forerunners of home sapiens, as anatomically modern man is called. But, he should be classified as a separate species of homo, as he was entirely different from either homo erectus or homo sapiens, a report in the british science journal nature said. Scientists have determined that the first skeleton they found belongs to a species of human completely new to science. Named homo floresiensis, after the island on which it was found, the tiny human has also been dubbed by dig workers as the "hobbit," after the tiny creatures from the lord of the rings book, the report in the National Geographic news said. The original skeleton, a female, stood at just 1 meter tall, weighed about 25 kilograms and was around 30 years old at the time of her death 18,000 years ago. The skeleton, the report said, was found in the same sediment deposits on flores that have also been found to contain stone tools and the bones of dwarf elephants, giant Rodents, and Komodo dragons. Homo floresienses has been described as one of the "most spectacular discoveries in paleoanthropology in half a century" and the most extreme human ever discovered. The species inhabited flores as recently as 13,000 years ago, which means it would have lived at the same time as modern humans, scientists were quoted as saying. (PTI) |
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Japan seeks Iraq hostage release as deadline nears TOKYO, Oct 28: A Japanese minister arrived in Jordan on Thursday to seek the release of a hostage in Iraq, less than 24 hours before a deadline set by his captors, who have threatened to behead the youth unless Japan withdraws its troops. Al-Qaeda ally Abu-Musab-al-Zarqawi’s militant group said in an internet video yesterdayday that they would behead 24-year-old Shosei Koda within 48 hours if Japan did not meet its demand. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has insisted that Japan’s non-combat troops would stay in southern Iraq, a decision that won backing from Japanese media. "This is a wicked crime aimed at blocking the democratisation and reconstruction of Iraq," the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun daily said in an editorial. "It is the principle of the international community not to bow to terrorists’ threats, so it was only natural that the Prime Minister quickly declared his firm stance." Liberal media echoed that view. Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa told reporters after arriving in Amman that there had been no contact with the hostage-takers and that he would ask Iraq’s neighbours to help resolve the crisis. "I will gather and analyse as much information as possible and put in all efforts to win his release." Five Japanese civilians were taken hostage in Iraq in April and militants threatened to kill three of them unless Japan pulled out its troops. The hostages were released, but came under heavy criticism for going to Iraq despite Government warnings about the danger. Media, officials and many ordinary Japanese questioned what had prompted Koda to risk his life by travelling to Iraq. "Why did Mr Koda go to Iraq at this time? There are reports that he didn’t think it was very dangerous," said the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily. "It cannot be helped if this is called a reckless act." Media reports said Koda, who comes from Fukuoka in southern Japan, had taken a bus to Iraq from Amman last week despite being told by locals of the dangers of a foreigner entering Iraq. "I’m going to iraq for about a week on a trip," Japanese media quoted him as telling Japanese tourists in Amman. Media said the long-haired youth did not seem well prepared for a trip to a country where more than 150 foreigners have been kidnapped this year and about a third of them killed. He was not carrying a mobile phone or much cash — possibly as little as 20 dollars — and had not even booked a hotel in Baghdad. After failing to find lodgings, he was spotted roaming around one of Baghdad’s most dangerous districts, the reports said. Koda’s family said their son had gone abroad in January with plans to visit many countries, including New Zealand, but they had not been told of any trip to Iraq. "As his parents, we are hoping that our second son, who left home in high spirits, will return in high spirits," Koda’s father Masumi told reporters late yesterday. The hostage crisis poses a challenge to Koizumi, who decided to send Japanese troops to Iraq despite strong public opposition. Japan has sent about 550 non-combat troops to Samawa, 270 km south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, for humanitarian and reconstruction work. The troop dispatch has divided the Japanese public and many critics say it violates Japan’s Pacifist constitution. Four Japanese — two diplomats and two journalists — have been killed in Iraq since the start of the US-led war. A poll published by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper on Monday showed that 63 per cent of respondents opposed Japan’s plan to extend the deployment of its forces in Iraq. A decision has to be made by mid-December. (AGENCIES) |
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13 killed, 23 injured in Siberia coal mine blast MOSCOW, Oct 28: At least 13 miners were killed and 23 injured in a coal mine blast in Russia’s western Siberian region of Kuzbass today, media reports said. They said five miners were still missing from the site of the blast which is 3,000 kms east of Moscow. There were 103 miners in the shaft when the methane blast occurred in Listvyazhnaya coal mine in the town of Belov in Kemerovo during maintenance work at 5.45 Moscow time (0615 ist), Ria Novosti reported. Initial reports had put the number at 240. "Besides the injured, 67 miners were evacuated on the surface," a rescue official of the emergency situations ministry was quoted as saying by the agency. Rescue workers were searching for more survivors, reports said. Accidents are common in the Russian coal mining industry. In April this year 45 miners were killed in another Kemerevo nine and a flooded mineshaft last October trapped 11 miners underground for a week in a mine near Ukraine. (PTI) |
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Iran’s clerics lean towards Kerry to ease pressure TEHRAN, Oct 28: Iranian officials like to portray US Presidential elections as a choice between bad and worse but there is little doubt they would prefer democratic challenger John Kerry to win next week. Since President George W Bush took office the Islamic state has been dubbed an "axis of evil" member, seen US forces mass on its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan and faced concerted US accusations that it has a covert atomic arms programme. Kerry is unlikely to ease the pressure on Iran, which will remain a key US foreign policy challenge whoever wins the Nov 2 vote. But the Massachusetts senator’s emphasis on a multilateral foreign policy approach and hints he would negotiate with Iran over its nuclear programme appeal to the country’s bazaar-rooted instincts to bargain its way out of a crisis. "Logically speaking, everything points to Iran supporting Kerry," said Tehran-based political analyst Mahmoud Alinejad. "If Bush is re-elected it will be on a platform of a radical strategy to democratise the Middle East, if necessary by force. At least what Kerry has hinted at provides the possibility for Iran to get out of this deadlock, to buy some more time." Conservative strategist Amir Mohebian, who advises some of Iran’s top policymakers, agreed. "We prefer Kerry because he favours diplomatic methods rather than pressure. Iran is better off if he wins," he told . Washington broke ties with Iran in 1980 after an angry mob seized the US embassy and held 52 hostages for 444 days. Iran has tended in the past to favour the pragmatic, business-oriented style of republicans over democrats who were perceived as more pro-Israel and tougher on human rights. "We haven’t seen anything good from democrats," said Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Hassan Rohani. "We should not forget that most sanctions ... Were imposed on Iran during the time of (former President Bill) Clinton," he told state television. "And we should not forget that during Bush’s era, despite his hardline and baseless rhetoric against Iran, he did not take, in practical terms, any dangerous measures against Iran." Despite his insistence that Iran favoured neither Bush nor Kerry, Rohani’s comments fuelled media speculation that Tehran still felt more comfortable with a republican in the White House. But Bush’s Presidency marked a watershed in Iranian thinking. "Going into the last election Iran strongly favoured Bush," said Siamak Namazi, managing director of Atieh Bahar consulting. Not only was Bush a republican but he was from an oil state, Texas, and his running mate Dick Cheney was linked to an oil company, Halliburton, with large business interests in Iran. "But that was before Sept 11, the emergence of the neo-conservatives and the ‘axis of evil’ speech. That stood the pro-republican theory on its head," said Namazi. Arguments that bush rid Iran of two arch foes and is a known quantity compared with Kerry hold little water, said Alinejad. "Bush did topple Saddam and the Taliban but he certainly didn’t do that as a favour for Iran." In Tehran, concern that it may be next in line for regime change after the swift military victory over Saddam Hussein has given way to growing confidence as US forces struggle to stabilise Iraq. "Even if Bush wins, an attack on Iran is not on the agenda," said Mohebian. "The cost is too high. Bush’s hands are empty." After loudly cheering pro-democracy protests last year, US officials appear to have backed away from theories that Iran’s clerical regime is ripe for collapse, analysts said. The risk that surgical strikes against Iran’s nuclear plants could unite one of the region’s least anti-US populations behind the clerical leadership is also a concern in Washington. "The US is afraid that if it bombs Iran it will reverse the process towards moderation," said Namazi. Iraq is another card held by Tehran. Although US officials frequently accuse Iran of stirring up trouble there, diplomats say Iran’s tentacles of influence in Iraq could wreak havoc if the Islamic republic ever felt really threatened. Ultimately though, analysts said, Iran’s leaders dearly want to strike a grand bargain that would yield security guarantees, recognition as a regional superpower and normalisation of ties with the country they call the "great Satan". "One of the problems with our negotiations with Iran is that the things they really want, like security guarantees, can only be given by Washington," said a European diplomat in Tehran. Any rapprochement would require a big gesture. "The stakes are getting bigger," said Namazi. "The time for small steps like wrestling-mat diplomacy is over. Bolder, more concrete moves are needed. But this is extremely difficult to do given the level of mutual mistrust." (AGENCIES) |
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Korean nuclear talks may convene in November BEIJING, Oct 28: The six parties trying to end a crisis over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions could hold working group talks in November, diplomats said today, the first sign of progress since Pyongyang stalled after the last round. "The Chinese side wants to have any form of meeting as soon as possible," said a diplomat who has been involved in the talks. "the Americans wish to have the working group meeting in November. "A plenary meeting I think will be impossible, but maybe working groups," he said, referring to the possibility of lower-level talks. China, the United States, North and South Korea, Japan and Russia agreed in June to try in September to hold a fourth round of six-way talks involving senior diplomats to try to end the north’s nuclear programmes, but the discussions never took place. China’s new lead negotiator, Wu Dawei, was quoted in the China youth daily newspaper as saying the six parties would meet near the end of November. However, he said he was not sure if it would be a plenary session, working groups or some other format. This week, US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul to try to push forward the negotiations and came under pressure from both South Korea and China to give more concessions to entice North Korea to resume talks. (AGENCIES) |
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Heat may have killed British tourist in Australia ALICE SPRINGS, AUSTRALIA, Oct 28: A British woman could have died from heat exposure in outback Australia after she got lost while walking back to her resort near Uluru, the iconic desert monolith once known Ayers Rock, police said today. The body of 52-year-old Ethel Hetherington was discovered by a group of aboriginal people yesterday by the side of a track 50 km southeast of Yulara, where she had been holidaying with a cousin since Oct 6. Northern Territory Police Superintendent Col Smith said it appeared Hetherington — who was last seen late on Monday at her resort — had been driven out to the Mutitjulu aboriginal community by local residents. "There is some ... Information that supports the notion that Mrs Hetherington may have driven out to Mutitjulu with some of the local residents there," Smith told Australian radio. "This is still speculation, but there is a possibility she may have decided to return to the resort and has unfortunately taken the wrong road," he said. Hetherington’s body was flown to Alice Springs, 1,300 km south of the tropical northern city of Darwin, today. An autopsy will be carried out but Smith said it was a "distinct possibility" that she had died from heat exhaustion. "On the information to hand at the moment it’s not a suspicious death in relation to cause of death," Smith said. (AGENCIES) |
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Reuters historical calendar: October 29 LONDON, Oct 28: Following are some of the major events to have occurred on Oct 29 since 1900: 1923 - Turkey became a republic under its first President, Kemal Ataturk. 1929 - Prices crashed on the New York Stock Exchange on what became known as "black Tuesday", heralding the great depression of the 1930s. 1956 - Israeli troops crossed the border with Egypt and swept into the Sinai Peninsula toward the Suez Canal. 1972 - The black September guerrilla group hijacked a German Lufthansa boeing 727 as it flew over Turkey and demanded the release of three comrades held over the killing of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic games that year. 1980 - A declaration by China’s Communist party vice-chairman Deng Xiaoping that chairman Mao Zedong had made serious political mistakes during his rule was made public. 1991 - The US space probe Galileo took the first close-up photo of an asteroid. 1997 - The UN Security Council voted to impose air and travel sanctions against Angola’s unita movement and closed its offices abroad as punishment for flouting peace accords. 1998 - South Africa’s Truth Commission report was handed over to President Nelson Mandela it held former President Pw Botha, Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the ruling African National Congress accountable for human rights violations. 1999 - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami wound up a trip to Paris, the first by an Iranian President since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with a call for global tolerance and better ties with the west. 2001 - Japan enacted a controversial bill to allow its armed forces to go abroad to back up US strikes in Afghanistan. 2002 - A state prosecutor formally accused Nicaragua’s President, Enrique Bolanos, and Vice President, Jose Rizo, of electoral fraud before the nation’s Supreme Court. It was the first time a President had been accused of a criminal offence while in office in Nicaragua. 2002 - A fire swept through the five-storey international trade centre in south Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh city, killing 61 people. It was the city’s worst fire in 27 years. 2003 - The Italian tenor Franco Corelli died aged 82. He rose to stardom in the 1950s and often sang beside Maria Callas. (AGENCIES) Japan earthquake rescuers work to free girl OJIYA, JAPAN, Oct 28: Rescuers who saved a two-year-old boy trapped by a landslide after Japan’s deadliest earthquake in a decade struggled to free his sister today but hopes were fading for her survival. The rescue of Yuta Minagawa, whose mother was also freed from the family’s van yesterday but was later pronounced dead, was a rare piece of good news for survivors of Saturday’s quake. Orange-clad members of a rescue unit worked through the night, braving aftershocks, to move huge boulders from the crumpled van where Mayu Minagawa, 3, was trapped. Media said that the girl, apparently caught under rocks, was showing no sign of life. Takako Minagawa, 39, and her children were on their way home from visiting friends when the earthquake struck, killing at least 32 people and injuring more than 3,400 in the rural Niigata region, 250 km north of Tokyo. The 6.8 magnitude earthquake was Japan’s deadliest since a quake with a reading of 7.2 killed more than 6,400 in the western city of Kobe in 1995. Photographs and stories of yuta’s dramatic rescue were carried on the front pages of most newspapers. Taken to hospital by helicopter and met by his exhausted father, yuta said: "I want to drink water," and asked for fruit. Asked what he had eaten during his four-day ordeal, he replied: "milk." Yuta was rescued by a special fire department unit set up after the Kobe earthquake, when many people perished after they were trapped in shattered buildings. The team uses high-tech gear, including instruments that can detect heartbeats and breathing from people buried under rubble. Experts said other lessons had been learnt from Kobe. (AGENCIES) Report demands overhaul of cancer care in England LONDON, Oct 28: Cancer care across England is poorly coordinated, funding varies widely from one area to another and doctors are not referring patients for treatment quickly enough, a Parliamentary report said. The Government has put primary care trusts in charge of spending most of England’s cancer budget but many of the local health bodies lack the experience and expertise to allocate those funds, the all party Parliamentary group on cancer said yesterday. "The inquiry has exposed a serious problem. The Government rightly says that cancer care is a national priority yet the system that’s expected to deliver it is too fragmented," said the group’s chair, Ian Gibson. The report recommended that the budget for cancer treatment and prevention should go directly to cancer networks — the groups of hospitals through which care is organised — so they can make long-term plans on how best to fight the disease. It also said family doctors should have special training to recognise cancer symptoms sooner. Charity cancerbacup, which co-authored the report, says one in three people develop cancer during their lifetime and the Government has pledged to improve cancer prevention. Health Secretary John Reid said the Government did want better training for doctors but he was not convinced the current system of funding from local boards was inadequate. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating in this because we have now got almost 1,200 more consultants, we have got hundreds, thousands of pieces of modern equipment," he told the BBC, adding cancer deaths had fallen by 12.2 percent since 1997. The report came as the government announced a new national screening programme for bowel cancer, the second biggest cancer killer in England. Reid said the Government would invest 37.5 million pounds over two years to fund a programme starting in April 2006. (AGENCIES) Highest number of scribes arrested in Nepal: RSF KATHMANDU, Oct 28: The international press freedom watchdog, reporters sans borders has said that more journalists were arrested in Nepal in 2003 than in any other country in the world. In its report, the paris-based organization said security forces arrested, detained, tortured or threatened about 100 Nepali journalists last year. The Maoists murdered one journalist and threatened dozens of others for allegedly spying for the army. Security forces detained 36 journalists and at least 12 journalists were being held by security forces by the end of 2003, the report said. At least 51 journalists were imprisoned and five journalists were kidnapped during the year, the report said. "It was a grim year for press freedom. Nepali journalists have been targeted as never before by the belligerents of a bloody civil war," the report added. The report, however, noted launching of two new terrestrial broadcast TV stations, Kantipur television and image channel in the private sector as a positive development last year. The number of community radio stations in the country reached 25 including the Karnali community radio targeting people in the remote northern region. Similarly, the Maoists also launched their own station radio Janaganatantra nepal (radio republic Nepal), in the west of the country on 7 November 2003, the report said. In its third annual worldwide index of press freedom, the RSF said press freedom was threatened most in east Asia (North Korea, Burma, China, Vietnam and Laos) and the west Asia (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Iraq). The greatest press freedom was found in northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway), which, the organization said, was a haven of peace for journalists. Nepal is ranked 160th among the 167 countries in the world mentioned in the report. India, the world’s largest democracy, ranks 120th in the media freedom index of 167 countries with Denmark on top and North Korea at the bottom. In south Asia, the restive island nation of Sri Lanka at 110 enjoys greater press freedom than other countries in the region. Pakistan, at 150, stands above the south Asian giant China (162), Bangladesh (151) and the Junta-ruled Myanmar (165) in press freedom records, the RSF said. (UNI) Student stampede kills one, injures 25 in China BEIJING, Oct 28: One child was killed and 25 injured in a crushing stampede after class at a school in a mountainous region of central China, Xinhua news agency reported today. The stampede occurred yesterday at the Lijiahe township primary and middle school in the county of Xuan’en in Hubei province, it said. Students at the front of "a people flow" suddenly fell on their way out of a building after class causing others behind them to lose their balance, Xinhua said without giving further details. The dead student was a 10-year-old fifth grader. All the injured children, ranging from second to sixth grade, were taken to hospital, it said. (AGENCIES) |
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