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| Pak faces water shortage despite huge rainfall KARACHI, Mar 20: "Rain is god’s blessing. But it proved devastating for me," says Shafi, whose wife and three children......more Four
Indians attacked KATHMANDU, Feb 20: Four Indian nationals were injured when a group of hooligans attacked them with a sharp knife at....more Powerful
earthquake TOKYO, Mar 20: A powerful earthquake jolted southern Japan today, injuring at least 155 people, disrupting transport.....more Bangladesh,
China DHAKA, Mar 20: Bangladesh is likely to sign an agreement with China on the use of nuclear energy during the upcoming......more |
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China to implant chips into giant Pandas as part of protection BEIJING, Mar 20: China will identify its giant Pandas by labelling them with advanced technologies, including DNA.......more Russian
Parliament to MOSCOW, Mar 20: The members of the state Duma, Russia’s lower House of Parliament, have asked the Ministry of.....more One woman
in 7 suffers WASHINGTON, Mar 20: One woman in seven in US military academies becomes the victim of sexual assault, one in....more Thousands
protest in NEW YORK, Mar 20: Police made dozens of arrests as thousands of anti-war demonstrators, some carrying flag-draped.....more |
Pak faces water shortage despite huge rainfall KARACHI, Mar 20: "Rain is god’s blessing. But it proved devastating for me," says Shafi, whose wife and three children died when the roof of their house collapsed during Pakistan’s worst downpours for more than a decade. Life is tough in this arid country where freak rain and snow storms this winter killed more than 550 people, including the family of the grieving 38-year-old from Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border. Perhaps the only positive thing to come out of the deluge for Pakistan as a whole was some relief from the potentially crippling water shortage gripping the nation. Or was it? Not in the long term, say analysts and officials. Instead a combination of poor infrastructure and sheer mismanagement means farmers in the heavily agriculture-based economy must still look to the heavens, they add. Pakistan is planning a number of big dam projects of its own but these are causing controversy because of local disputes. "We are alarmed of the upcoming water shortage which calls for constructing some large dams in any case," Pakistan’s State Minister for Water and Power Ameer Muqam told AFP. The economy is moving towards new sectors but agriculture still makes up the largest share of Pakistan’s 67-billion-dollar gross domestic product, at 23 percent. The sector relies on irrigation water for 90 percent of its needs. (AFP) |
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Four Indians attacked in Lalitpur district of Nepal KATHMANDU, Feb 20: Four Indian nationals were injured when a group of hooligans attacked them with a sharp knife at Kopundol in Lalitpur district south of Kathmandu, police said today. Of the four Indians injured last night, one has been identified as Prabhu Mahato, a resident of Motihari in Bihar, they said adding all have been admitted to to the Patan hospital in Lalitpur district for treatment. Police have arrested one Bishal Lama from Nuwakot district for alleged involement in the attack. Three other suspects, hailing from the same district, are still at-large, police said. The four, including Lama, had been residing in Balkhu area of Kathmandu, police said adding that the reason behind the attack was still unclear. (PTI) |
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Powerful earthquake rocks
southern Japan, TOKYO, Mar 20: A powerful earthquake jolted southern Japan today, injuring at least 155 people, disrupting transport and prompting a Tsunami warning that was later canceled. Buildings swayed, and smaller aftershocks continued to rattle the region. The magnitude 7.0 quake, which hit about 70 kilometers off the coast of Kyushu island at 10:53 am (0723 ist), was centered at an "extremely shallow" depth below the ocean floor, the meteorological agency said. Officials reported water and gas main breaks, and power blackouts. Railways and high-speed bullet train service were halted after the earthquake triggered an automatic safety system, public broadcaster NHK TV reported. Telephone service in the area was jammed. About 100 residents of Genkai, a tiny island off the coast of Kyushu, evacuated their homes after buildings collapsed and roofs caved in, and village officials requested emergency help from Japanese troops, NHK said. Minutes after the quake, the meteorological agency warned of possible Tsunami waves and urged people near the sea to move to higher ground. But within an hour, the agency said there was no danger of Tsunami. "There may be some disturbance of the ocean’s surface, but we aren’t worried about Tsunami damage," the meteorological agency’s Masahiro Yamamoto told reporters. Dozens of aftershocks - one with a magnitude of 4.2 -followed the initial quake. Authorities ordered buildings in Fukuoka city, about 899 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, to be evacuated, and warned of landslides around Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures (states). (AP) |
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Bangladesh, China likely to sign nuclear energy deal DHAKA, Mar 20: Bangladesh is likely to sign an agreement with China on the use of nuclear energy during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, a media report said here today. Quoting sources in Bangladesh Prime Minister’s office, the new age newspaper said the proposed agreement was aimed at strengthening the country’s capacity to explore and exploit nuclear minerals available in coastal and hilly areas. The agreement would also pave the way for developing nuclar reactors for power generation, the sources said. The agreement is likely to be signed during Wen’s two-day visit to Bangladesh starting April 7. (PTI) |
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China to implant
chips into giant Pandas BEIJING, Mar 20: China will identify its giant Pandas by labelling them with advanced technologies, including DNA-based measures, to facilitate the monitoring and protection of the endangered animals. Information about pedigree, age and other basic data will be permanently incorporated into the giant pandas by ways of molecular labelling or hypodermic implantation of sensing chips, an official with the State Forestry Administration said. All the giant Pandas in captivity will be included in the project, which is to be put into operation nationwide this year. "By giving them `ID cards,’ we can prevent giant Pandas from inbreeding, thus, greatly improve their reproduction quality," the official said, adding that it may also help trace them once they are sent back to the wild. Giant pandas are considered "national gems" in China. As of the end of 2004, 163 giant Pandas live in captivity, mostly in southwest China’s Sichuan province, central China’s Shaanxi province and the Beijing zoo, and about 1,590 are at large in the wild. (PTI) |
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| Russian Parliament to probe foreign
cartoons for violence MOSCOW, Mar 20: The members of the state Duma, Russia’s lower House of Parliament, have asked the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications to closely monitor the cartoons shown on Russian television. American and other foreign cartoons require special attention as experts note that these cartoons ‘introduce antagonism’ between children and parents, lawmaker Elena Afanasyeva of the liberal democratic party said. "After having watched griffins and the simpsons, the experts found that the cartoons were crammed with violent and aggressive episodes," Afanasyeva was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. The Russian TV channels have been repeatedly criticised for ‘excessive violence and erotica’. After the fall of the Soviet system the censorship has been abolished in the country and there are no stringent rules to protect the young viewers from violence and raw sex. Most of the Russian parents are unaware of the system of parental code built in their TV sets and VCRS designed to keep a tab on what their kids watch in their absence. (PTI) |
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One woman in 7 suffers sexual
assault in WASHINGTON, Mar 20: One woman in seven in US military academies becomes the victim of sexual assault, one in every two suffering harrassment during training, according to a new Defence Ministry report. The survey, the first of its scope, related to the period 1999-2004, and was taken early 2004 in three top US military academies. Media attention has forced the Defence Ministry to adopt a new strategy to protect individuals in the armed forces. Of more than 1,900 women questioned, 262 admitted they had been subjected to sexual assault of some kind. More than 50 per cent said they had been the victims of sexual harrassment, including jokes, inappropriate gestures, or promises of better treatment in exchange for sexual favours. Very few of those women who said they were sexually assaulted lodged complaints. In almost 70 per cent of the cases, the victims said they thought they could handle the problem on their own, or, due to shame or fear of ostracism by colleagues, declined to report it. As a result of the survey, the Defence Department has adopted new rules to simplify complaint procedures for women and to ensure a more anonymous process. (AFP) |
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Thousands protest in New York on Iraq war anniversary NEW YORK, Mar 20: Police made dozens of arrests as thousands of anti-war demonstrators, some carrying flag-draped coffins, marched in New York to mark the second anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. While a crowd of several thousand people gathered for a rally in Manhattan’s central park yesterday, hundreds more took part in isolated acts of organised civil disobedience that targetted Army recruiting stations around the city. More than 300 demonstrators listened to anti-war speeches near the United Nations and then marched to times square, carrying dozens of cardboard coffins draped in black cloth or the American flag. Around 30 protestors used one coffin to symbolically block the entrance to a military recruiting station in the square, and then stopped traffic by lying down on broadway in the heart of the city’s theater district. Police moved in and arrested around two dozen protestors. "Two years on and Iraq is in even worse shape than it was," said one marcher, Arlene Ellner, a member of grandmothers against the war. "It has a Government but no clean water, no electricity, no jobs," Ellner said. "The longer the troops are there, the more people will be killed." The demonstrations, which included protests in other US cities such as Miami and San Francisco, were part of a global day of action that saw tens of thousands march through European cities denouncing the "war on terror." The US protests were far smaller than those that marked the beginning of the war, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets. (AFP) |
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Twenty thousand rock at Mandela AIDS gig GEORGE (SOUTH AFRICA), Mar 20: An AIDS benefit concert organised by former South African President Nelson Mandela has attracted a crowd of 20,000 people. The concert at George in the country’s south yesterday, featuring Queen, Annie Lennox and others, was aimed at highlighting the plight of women HIV-AIDS victims in South Africa, where a massive one in five adults have been hit by the virus. It follows a previous concert in Cape Town in 2003 also organised by Mandela’s organisation 46664, so named after the former President’s prison number from his 18 years as an inmate at robben island prison under the apartheid system he helped topple. "I’m worried, the general public have done little since the last 46664 concert in Cape Town," said Mandela. Africa is home to almost two-thirds of the world’s HIV and full-blown AIDS sufferers, according to the United Nations, which reported that in 2004, 3.1 million Africans contracted the infection and 2.3 million died of AIDS. (AFP) Suspect surrenders in murder of US-born nun in Brazil BRASILIA, Feb 20: One of four suspects sought in the murder of a US-born nun who was an advocate for landless farmers has turned himself in, local media reported. Amair Feijole Da Cunha, known by the Nickname Tato, surrendered today in Altamira, in the Amazon basin state of para, according to reports. Da Cunha denied any role in the slaying of Dorothy Stang, 74, a missionary who spent decades working with the poor in para state in Brazil’s north and was on a blacklist of local landowners. Tato had been sought as a suspected go-between linking Rancher Vitalmiro Bastos De Moura, "Bida", who was suspected of paying for a hit, and two men suspected of carrying out the crime, Eduardo and Rayfran Das Neves sales. The hitmen earned 19,000 dollars in cash for the murder, according to the daily O Estado De Sao Paulo. A Government decree published on Thursday set aside 8.2 million hectares (20.3 million acres) in a region between the Xingu and Tapajos rivers where deforestation will be barred for six months. The area, about the size of Austria, will include an ecological reserve and a national park. Critics slammed President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva as a hostage to pro-environment groups. "It is the action that we have been waiting a long time for. They set up reserves, they send the Army, but it is not enough and we will have to keep putting on pressure," Marta Suely, a leader of the Transamazonian Agriculture Workers Federation (FETAG), said earlier. (AFP) Japan marks 10th anniversary of
Doomsday TOKYO, Mar 20: Government officials and railway personnel today marked the 10th anniversary of a Japanese Doomsday cult’s nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway, offering silent prayers and laying flowers at a station for the victims. At 8 am local time, about 25 officials bowed to observe a moment of silence at a subway station near Japan’s Government offices district — one of the Aum Shinrikyo cult’s targets. They doffed their caps, prayed and left bouquets at a temporary Altar for the 12 people killed and 5,000 others hospitalised in the attack. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and other Government officials later visited the station to pray before the Altar. On March 20, 1995, five members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult punctured plastic bags filled with sarin nerve gas during morning rush hour. The attack — Japan’s most shocking act of urban terrorism — shattered the country’s image as a low-crime haven, prompted a police crackdown on the cult, and led to tougher security measures at railway stations and airports. Many of the survivors still suffer from headaches and breathing problems, or are too sick to work. Tatsuhide Nojiri, who was chief of one of the railway stations attacked, said he cannot forget the horrors of that day. "Even now I remember it so vividly. Frankly, I’d rather not talk about it," said Nojiri, who stood before a memorial plaque. Thirteen Aum members, including the former leader Shoko Asahara, have been sentenced to death for the attack and other crimes. None have yet been executed. Asahara and others have appealed their sentences to higher courts. (AP) Indonesia executes 51-year-old
woman SURABAYA (INDONESIA), Mar 20: Indonesia today executed a 51-year-old housewife found gilty of murdering and mutilating three women within four years. Astini, also known as Bu Lakri, was shot by a 12-member east Java police firing squad at 1:20 am local time, said A F Darawan, chief of the special crime unit at the area’s high prosecution office. Astini’s lawyer, IDA Sapt Karo Karo, and a police doctor were among those present at the execution. A District Court convicted Astini in Surabaya, the capital of east Java province, in 196 - the same year the murders were discovered after the head of the third victim, Puji Astutik, was foud in a river near Astutik’s house in Surabaya about 80 kilometers east of the capital, Jakarta. Astini’ first victim, Rahay, was killed in 1992 and the second, Sr Astuti Wijaya, in 1993. Astini mutilated their bodies dumped them in searate places. Astini, who pleaded guilty to the murders, told the court she had been angry with the victims because they frequently came to her house collecting debts. Like many indonesians, Astini goes by a single name. Her final attemt to avoid execution failed last year, when then-President Mgawati Sukarnoputri turned down her appeal for clemency. "The execution was carried out at 1:20 wib (2350 ist yesterday), but I cannot disclose the location of the execution," Darmawan said today at a news conference. (AP) |
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