Seven
killed in restive Thai south
YALA, THAILAND, Dec
6: Suspected separatist
militants have killed seven people in
Thailand's Muslim-majority south, while
three soldiers were wounded in a roadside
bomb attack, police said today.
Two men
were shot and killed in a drive-by
shooting in Yala, one of three provinces
bordering Malaysia beset by separatist
violence and other unrest which has
killed more than 1,600 people since
January 2004.
Also in
Yala, three soldiers assigned to protect
local schoolteachers were injured -- one
critically -- when a bomb exploded by the
roadside.
In
Narathiwat province, a 48-year-old Muslim
was shot dead at his grocery shop by two
militants who posed as clients, police
said.
Two
Muslims including a 13-year-old boy were
shot several times in Narathiwat
yesterday and died at the scene.
Police
also confirmed that two people were
killed in a bomb that exploded last
morning outside a car showroom in Yala.
Violence
has intensified in the three southern
provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat
in the past month, despite moves by
Thailand's post-coup Government to forge
peace in the region. (AGENCIES)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spielberg
to adapt Stephen King's 'Talisman' for TV
LOS ANGELES, Dec 6: Director Steven
Spielberg will produce for television a
six-hour miniseries of the fantasy novel
"The Talisman" written jointly
by horror masters Stephen King and Peter
Straub, Variety reported.
Published
in 1983, "The Talisman" tells
the tale of a 12-year-old boy who moves
between parallel worlds, including one
full of fantastic and dangerous
werewolves, as he seeks to find a cure
for his mother's cancer.
The
production by Spielberg, Osar winner for
"Saving Private Ryan" and
"Schindler's List", is for the
TNT cable channel and should air in 2008.
Last year
Spielberg produced the 10-episode western
"Into the West" for TNT which
was a huge success despite its massive
USD 100 million budget.
A number
of books by King, the US' most successful
horror-fantasy writer, have already been
turned into hit movies, including
"Carrie", "The
Shining" and "Pet
Sematary". (AGENCIES)
‘Indo-US
nuke deal important for international
security’
WASHINGTON, Dec 6: Terming the Indo-US
nuclear deal as a "crowning
achievement" for the us, the
senators, appointed to thrash out the
language of the final legislation to
implement the deal, have said the
agreement was important for promoting
greater regional and international
security.
"This
legislation is a cornerstone of the
President’s (George W Bush) vision
for a new strategic partnership between
the United States and India that will
promote greater regional and
international stability," chairman
of the House International Relations
Committee Henry Hyde said at the start of
a manager’s meeting of the
Conference Committee of the two chambers
last evening.
In the
first formal meeting of the conferees of
the House and the Senate, Hyde announced
that the staffers are close to an
agreement.
"The
bills were not too far apart to begin
with," the Illinois Democrat said.
Hyde also
hoped that the close relationship between
India and the US will also contribute to
stability in south Asia.
"It
is our hope that this closer relationship
will contribute significantly to
stability in south Asia, the Indian Ocean
basin and the international system as a
whole" hyde said in the presence of
other senior mangers like the Chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Richard Lugar and the ranking member of
the House International Relations
Committee Tom Lantos.
"This
strategic partnership envisions expanded
cooperation across a broad range of
subjects... The cooperation in civil
nuclear energy it enables will greatly
enhance India’s capacity to produce
the energy needed by its rapidly growing
economy" Hyde added.
At the
start of the Senate Session yesterday
majority leader Bill frist announced that
the conferees will have to conclude work
on this "very important piece of
legislation" to implement the
agreement between India and the United
States.
"This
morning I talked to the Prime Minister of
India who underscored the importance of
this legislation" frist said in his
opening statement on the floor of the
Senate.
"This
legislation will also contribute to our
shared goals of strengthening global non
proliferation regimes especially by
enhancing cooperation to prevent Iran
from acquiring the capacity to produce
nuclear weapons," Hyde said.
He also
expressed confidence that the new
relationship between India and the United
States that has already begun to take
shape will endure "far into the
future".
The
civilian nuclear agreement will be called
the "Henry J Hyde United
States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy
Cooperation Act of 2006".
Announcing
this, current ranking member of the House
International Relations Committee and
incoming chair of that panel Tom Lantos
remarked "no legislation has ever
been more appropriately labelled".
Lantos
stressed that the Bill is immensely
important to world peace, global security
and economic development and that the
conference report "will advance our
common interests" with India as also
striking the right balance in law and in
preservation of Congressional
prerogatives.
Lugar,for
his part,remained hopeful that the
conferees of the House and the senate
will be able to hammer out the final
language of the legislation perhaps as
early as Wednesday or Thursday.
"We
all understand the time frame but we
understand the importance of the
relaqtionship we are forging between
India and the United States" the
Senator from Indiana remarked.
"This
is a crowning achievement for our
country, our committees, our
Congressional system. It is one of the
few conspicuous successes of any
legislative activity in this Congress,but
especially an important one given the
gravity of affairs in the world and the
importance of our friendship and
relationship with India" Lugar said.
(PTI)
|
