M A I N   N E W S

C’wealth summit postponed

Sydney, September 28
The Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies postponed its summit in Australia today, as the October 6 to 9 gathering fell a victim to the fallout from the suicide hijacking attacks on the USA.

A trip by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth to Australia and New Zealand suffered the same fate as the summit, which would have been the biggest gathering of world leaders since the devastating September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The FBI, deep into what has become the biggest criminal investigation in U.S. history, released the names and pictures of 19 suspected hijackers — for the first time explicitly linking some to Washington’s chief suspect Osama bin Laden.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in Brisbane, the host city for the Commonwealth summit, that the leaders of Britain, Canada and India had pulled out because of the attacks on the USA.

“It is obviously in the wake of the world reaction to September, 11’’ Mr Howard told a press conference, referring to the attacks which killed up to 6,500 people and threaten to send the world economy spinning into recession.

In the USA and elsewhere, the hunt continued for those behind the suicide hijackings.

“We believe that one or more of them do have contacts with Al Qaeda,’’ FBI Director Robert Mueller said of the 19 named as the hijackers. Al Qaeda is the group controlled by Bin Laden, the man Washington says was the mastermind behind the attacks.

The USA, which is working to rally the world behind a broad-based campaign against international terrorism, has told Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban to hand over Bin Laden and has threatened reprisals if they do not. Reuters

PM’s tour off
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 28
Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s three-nation tour to Australia, Singapore and Indonesia has been cancelled in the wake of the postponement of the Commonwealth summit in Brisbane.

Mr Vajpayee, who was scheduled to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), had planned visits to Australia and Singapore, besides making a short visit to Bali in Indonesia.