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Thursday,
January 2, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Nine states sue Bush admn New Year honours for 20 of Indian origin
Lanka seeks deal with Tigers |
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Al-Qaida suspects granted bail
Unmanned US spy plane crashes in Pak |
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To Timbuktu and back UAE amnesty for illegal immigrants
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Nine states sue Bush admn Washington, January 1 The consortium of states — Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont — filed the lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, according to a news release yesterday. Existing rules require U.S. utilities and refineries to invest in state-of-the-art pollution controls if a plant undergoes a major expansion or modification. In November, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed rules to change the definition of “routine maintenance”, to give utilities more leeway to modify plants without triggering extra pollution-reduction requirements. Yesterday the EPA published the so-called “new source review” rules in the Federal Register, formalising some rules and starting a time clock toward finalising others. But the nine states accused the administration of gutting the Clean Air Act. “I join my colleagues in other states to challenge this assault on the Clean Air Act and continue to fight to achieve the goals that the law intended,” New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said at a press conference. The rule change will cause more acid rain, smog and respiratory ailments like asthma, he added. The EPA has defended its new rules as simply giving power plants and oil refineries more flexibility to cut emissions. The agency yesterday said it will prevail in the court challenge. “At the end of the day, the actions we have taken will be found to be clearly consistent with the Clean Air Act”, said EPA spokesman Joe Martyak. A batch of rules finalised yesterday have clear environmental benefits, Martyak said. Other regulations issued as proposed rules — including the controversial routine maintenance modifications — will be open for public comment and possible revision, he said. But the rules were roundly criticised in November by Democratic lawmakers and environmentalists. “The administration’s rules are clearly not what Congress intended when it passed the Clean Air Act”, said Senator. Hillary Clinton of New York, a Democrat. The issue is pivotal for aging coalfired utilities in the Midwest that could face hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments. Emissions from those plants drift over Northeast states because of wind patterns. The Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a utility lobbying group, called the new rules “a step in the right direction.” The National Association of Manufacturers said the new rules will bring cleaner air and boost energy supplies. They will “provide business planners with greater certainty as they work to increase production and limit air pollution in a costeffective manner”, said Jeffrey Marks, NAM’s air quality director.
Reuters |
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New Year honours for 20 of Indian origin London, January 1 Professor Maini, Head of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College, London, has been made Knight’s Bachelor for his services to rheumatology. The four British diplomats finding a mention in the honours list are Christopher John Dix, Director of Visa Services, British High Commission, New Delhi, who has been made an OBE (Order of British Empire), Albert Norman King, LVO OBE, Counsellor, British High Commission, New Delhi, (CMG) (Order of St Michael and St George), Alison Jane Burke, Personal Assistant, British High Commission, New Delhi, (MBE) (Member of the British Empire) and Amanda Jane Patker, Visa Assistant, British Deputy High Commission, Mumbai (MBE). People of Indian origin listed include Khvaja Kabiroddin Shaikh, Director of Education, Bournemouth local education authority, who has been made a CBE (Commander of British Empire) for his services to education. Winners of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) include Babu Singh Bawa, Councillor, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, for services to the community in Sandwell, Ranjit Bolt, Translator, for services to literature, and Prof Tariq Salim Durrani, Deputy Principal and Professor of Signal Processing, University of Strathclyde. Other OBE awardees include Hansa Patel Kanwal for services to young people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds, Hanif Mohamed Lalani, Chief Executive, BT Northern Ireland, for services to business in Northern Ireland, Harinder Kaur Lawley, Head, Access Development, London Metropolitan University, for services to higher education. The list includes Bhupendra Raja, Assistant Director, Department of Trade and Industry, for services to racial equality, Hari Prasad Mohanlal Shukla, for services to race relations and to community life in the North East, Joginder Singh Cheema, General Practitioner, Lambeth, London, for services to healthcare, and Om Prakash Chopra, Director, Ethnic Minority Enterprise Centre, Glasgow, for services to community relations. Besides, Ramesh Chander Dogra, Librarian, School of Oriental and African Studies, for services to South Asian Studies, Babu Govind Garala, Sub-Postmaster, for services to the community in Coventry, Jyoti Prakash Hazra, for services to community relations in Dundee, Shanti Kumar Rasaratnam, Programme Manager, United Utilities, for services to the water industry and Ishwar Dullabhbhai Tailor, for services to race relations in Preston also get OBE.
PTI |
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Lanka seeks deal with Tigers Colombo, January 1 Defence Secretary Austin Fernando said the Scandinavian team monitoring a truce between the government forces and the LTTE had called for a fresh meeting between the two sides within two weeks to discuss the issue. “I am optimistic that we can discuss these matters and reach a compromise,” Mr Fernando told reporters here. “We are all for resettling the internally displaced people, but it must be done in a systematic way.” The LTTE had insisted that the army give up the private property it is currently occupying in the northern peninsula of Jaffna and allow thousands of civilians to go back to their homes. However, he said there was a disparity in the number of homes affected and the number of people to be resettled. A military estimate for the number of homes inside the “high security zone” of the Palaly military complex was 7,200 while the District Collector had placed the figure at 15,000. The Tigers had said 29,000 homes were affected, Mr Fernando said. “What we are saying is that we should have a task force to go into the whole question, do a survey and have a systematic plan to bring back the IDP’s (internally displaced persons),” he added.
PTI |
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Eve clone or hoax? Washington, January 1 DNA samples to determine if Eve is a clone of her mother were taken yesterday, after the baby’s return to her parents’ home at an unspecified location, said Brigitte Boisselier, president of Clonaid, the human cloning company founded by the Raeliens. Boisselier on Friday made the startling announcement that Eve had been born on December 26. If the claims are true, Eve will be a carbon copy of her mother, with an age difference of 31 years. Brigitte Boisselier authorised ABC television Science Editor Michael Guillen and a team of experts to test whether Eve really was cloned from the skin cells of her mother. Such tests are now standard in paternity lawsuits and in police investigations to identify suspects from samples of DNA taken at crime scenes. In Eve’s case, the procedure is just as simple. Blood samples taken from the mucus membranes inside the mouth of mother and child are enough to make a genetic profile of both. “The nuclear DNA of the somatic cell donor and baby should match” in order to be absolutely certain that cloning was performed, said William Muir, genetics professor at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana. Discovered in 1953, DNA — deoxyribonucleic acid — forms the basic material in the chromosomes of the cell nucleus, and contains the genetic code transmitting a person’s hereditary pattern. MIAMI: A Florida lawyer has asked a state court to appoint a legal guardian for the baby girl purported to be the first human clone, saying that the infant is being exploited and may have suffered birth defects. But the company that said it produced a cloned human born last week has not disclosed the infant’s whereabouts, citing concerns for her and her mother’s security. And the lawyer who filed the suit on Tuesday acknowledged the court probably would have no jurisdiction unless the child is in Florida. Attorney Bernard Siegel, acting as a private citizen, filed the dependency petition in state juvenile court in Fort Lauderdale asking that a judge appoint a legal guardian for the child and, if necessary, place her in state protective custody. “The child is a possible victim of negligent infliction of severe, permanent and possibly fatal birth defects from the cloning experiment,” Bernard Siegel said, adding that the child was being exploited. The Florida law allows anyone to file such a petition for court protection of a child if they have information that the child is in danger. AFP, Reuters |
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Al-Qaida suspects granted bail Lahore, January 1 But Dr Ahmed Javad Khawaja and his brother Naveed remained in custody under Pakistan’s National Security Act, following yesterday’s announcement by the Interior Ministry that they and three other relatives were being held for anti-state activities. Dr Khawaja and his brother were arrested on December 18 along with seven of his family members, four of whom have since been released. The court granted bail to the brothers in a criminal case in which the pair stand accused of attempted murder, possession of illegal weapons and terrorist activities. State prosecutor Rana Bakhtiar told AFP, adding that the two accused were directed to deposit a bail bond of $ 1,700 each.
AFP |
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Unmanned US spy plane crashes in Pak Karachi, January 1 He cited technical problems as the cause of the incident and dismissed speculation it may have been shot down. “It fell some 7 km from the city near the airport. There were no casualties,” he said. Police sources reported a similar accident near Jacobabad in October, but it was later denied by the Pentagon. Pakistan allows the US military to use Jacobabad air base for search and rescue operations in neighbouring Afghanistan. A conservative Islamic coalition in Afghanistan, has demanded the withdrawal of the US military from the Pakistani soil.
Reuters |
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To Timbuktu and back Timbuktu, January 1 Timbuktu is in Mali. It is on the southern rim of the Sahara and is surrounded by desert. Not much goes on there. Yet, in 1829, a young Cambridge student, Alfred Lord Tennyson, wrote a poem, “Timbuktoo” — there are several spelling variations — and won a prize for it. The fact is that once upon a time, the city was a flourishing settlement on the trade route between the sub-Sahara and North Africa. It was a city of wealthy Tuareg tribesmen. It was also a seat of Islamic learning. Its mystique grew because the facts about this glittering metropolis were known but no European had ever seen it and survived to tell the tale. Expeditions were organised to go there but they failed. Most were attacked by local tribesmen or simply prevented by the Islamic rulers from setting foot in its illustrious streets. Some explorers did actually reach Timbuktu but they were killed on the way back. No such problem awaits tourists in the 21st century, although it must be conceded that getting there is not easy. They can fly to Timbuktu but arranging domestic flights from outside Mali is difficult. It is most easily reached by an all-terrain vehicle, riverboat or camel. The boat trip along the Niger River from the Mali capital of Bamako, about 300 miles from Timbuktu, takes up to five days. Now there is little but desert around Timbuktu. The streets are full of sand. But it does have three of the oldest mosques in the world. And there is an air of faded grandeur.
DPA |
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UAE amnesty for illegal immigrants Dubai, January 1 Illegal residents will now have to leave by April 30. They face jail terms and financial penalties if they fail to do so. The UAE has a population of around three million of whom 85 per cent are foreigners. Expatriates account for more than 90 per cent of the labour force. Indians alone are estimated at more than 1.2 million and Pakistanis at more than 600,000. According to unofficial estimates quoted by the Gulf News, up to 150,000 illegal immigrants are expected to take advantage of the amnesty which is the second one to be declared since 1996. A government centre is due to open in Dubai on Saturday to help amnesty seekers, while the Indian and Pakistani diplomatic missions have promised to work overtime through the New Year to process emergency certificates and travel permits for thousands of illegal immigrants.
AFP |
MAN’S REVENGE IN WIFE’S BRA DRIVER SIGHTS MARTIANS DEMAND FOR SANTA’S LEGS DUMBEST CRIMINALS OF 2002 HORSES ARE LIKE GRASSHOPPERS COCAINE CUTS "PLEASURE CIRCUITS" |
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