 |
Monday,
July 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
India asks China to honour fruit deal
Bush election ratings slip 2 US soldiers killed in Iraq Pervez seeks help of African Arab nations Afghan-Taliban clash: 14 killed |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Computer faults hit US student registration SARS claims 41st victim in Canada
|
|
India asks China to honour fruit deal Beijing, July 20 "We have urged them (China) to expedite implementation of the bilateral agreement signed between the two governments in February, 2000, to facilitate exports of 17 categories of Indian fresh fruits and vegetables to China," Director of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) S. Dave said. Mr Dave, who met with senior officials of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) here this week, pointed out that three years had elapsed since the two countries signed the bilateral agreement on China's accession to the WTO. "I have told them that they (the Chinese side) have to move quickly to implement the agreement in right earnest as China has so far agreed to import just one fruit (mangoes) out of a list of 17 fruits and vegetables that they had agreed to," Mr Dave said. Expressing concern over the delay on China's part to implement the agreement, Mr Dave pointed out that India had allowed three items from China — apples, pears and garlic — while China has just okayed the import of Indian mangoes after much negotiations. APEDA, Mr Dave said would be pressing the AQSIQ to speedily process the issue and not to treat each fruit and vegetable item separately. "They should take up at least five or six items from the list of 17 on a priority basis," he said, adding that India is keen to export fruits like grapes, papayas and pomegranates to China for which there is a good market in the world's most populous country. An umbrella memorandum of understanding on application of phyto-sanitary measures were signed during the visit of then Chinese premier Zhu Rongji to India in January, 2002. Under the MoU, India had identified 17 items of fruits and vegetables to be exported to China. The list includes mangoes, guavas, grapes, papayas, melons, gherkins, cucumbers, beans, aubergines, capsicums and bittergourd. However, much to the surprise of Indian officials, China decided to deal with each item separately. However, on the eve of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China last month, Beijing relented on one item from the list of 17 and the two sides signed the protocol of phyto-sanitary requirements for exporting mangoes to China.
— PTI |
|
Blair not to recall House over Kelly Seoul, July 20 Mr Blair, whose government has been rocked by the death of Ministry of Defence scientist David Kelly, said the judicial inquiry his government had ordered into the death should be allowed to run its course. “I think...recalling parliament would generate more heat than light,” he said in an interview with Sky News recorded in Japan. “I don’t think it would be appropriate.” The Prime Minister said that Kelly’s family should be allowed to grieve. The police yesterday confirmed that Kelly, whose body was found near his Oxfordshire home on Friday, had slit his wrist, leaving little doubt he had taken his own life. Mr Blair, who is on a tour of Asia, arrived in Seoul today after a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Hakone, west of Tokyo.
— Reuters Blair in Beijing Beijing, July 20 |
|
Bush election ratings slip Houston, July 20 But political opponents demanded answers from the White House over flawed intelligence used in the drive to convince the US public of an imminent danger posed by Saddam Hussein, which paved the way for war in Iraq. Mr Bush hopped his Air Force One and travelled to Houston from his Texas ranch yesterday to speak at his second fundraising dinner of a weekend that garnered $ 7 million for his 2004 election war chest. Scattered protesters greeted him at the airport, and around 100 demonstrators picketed the hotel where he spoke, some holding signs. One placard read: “He lied. GI died” referring to US combat deaths in Iraq. But Mr Bush predicted a “great national victory in November of 2004” and said his administration had freed 50 million people from tyranny. “In Afghanistan and in Iraq we gave ultimatums to terror regimes, those regimes chose defiance and those regimes are no more,” Mr Bush told cheering supporters. Meanwhile, a new opinion poll released yesterday, showed Mr Bush’s approval ratings close to their lowest point in his presidency, following US combat deaths in post-war Iraq and a stuttering US economy. Some 53 per cent of those polled by Zogby International approve of the job Mr Bush is doing, down from 58 per cent a month before. —
AFP |
|
|
2 US soldiers killed in Iraq Baghdad, July 20 The soldiers, from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, were killed in the town of Tall Afur, west of Mosul, he said. Another soldier was wounded and there were no reports of any casualties among those who attacked them. The US forces occupying Iraq have suffered almost daily attacks since they ousted Saddam Hussein in April. The latest two deaths brought to 37 the total number of troops killed by hostile action since President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1. In all, 151 US soldiers have been killed by Iraqi soldiers since they invaded on March 20, more than the 147 killed in the 1991 Gulf War. US officials have blamed hardliners loyal to Saddam, who is believed to be in hiding in Iraq and issuing taped messages urging supporters to attack the Americans.
— Reuters |
|
Pervez seeks help of African Arab nations Islamabad, July 20 General Musharraf hoped that Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) would use their good offices for the purpose. In an interview with Arabic daily ‘Ashraq Al-Awsat’, General Musharraf, who just concluded his tour of the three countries, hoped that these nations would extend their support to Pakistan’s endeavours to resolve the issue. The Pakistani President said he had not maintained any contacts with the Israelis. “Israel’s continued repressive policies against the Palestinians and its refusal to vacate the occupied territories rendered the recognition of Israel as unacceptable for the people of Pakistan,” he said. Observing that a new phase had started in the West Asia peace process with the announcement of the road-map for the Palestinian state, he said Pakistan was monitoring the evolving situation and consulting friendly Arab and Islamic countries.
— PTI |
|
Afghan-Taliban clash: 14 killed Islamabad, July 20 US warplanes intervened to push back the radical Islamists after they occupied four posts about 6 km, east of the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak, the Pakistani newspaper Jang reported. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency said the Taliban were evicted from Shankay Naray and other posts last night. Journalists in the Pakistani border town of Chaman said the clash took place soon after the Taliban ambush of an Afghan convoy in the Khost area on Friday in which eight Afghan soldiers were killed. Earlier in the week, suspected Taliban fighters attacked a police station in the Ghorak district of Kandahar province, killing five policemen. Remnants of the two groups have reportedly regrouped in recent weeks.
— DPA |
|
Mandela celebrates 85th birthday Johannesburg, July 20 The former South African President joined Irish rock star Bono and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu at a banquet for 1,600 persons to celebrate his July 18 birthday yesterday, marked across South Africa as a day to hail “Madiba” — the tribal name by which the anti-apartheid hero is known to millions of South Africans. Mr Mandela’s South African invitations spanned the range of his many years of political activity, stretching from fellow struggle hero and Nobel laureate Tutu to white South Africa’s last President, Mr F.W. de Klerk. International luminaries in attendance included Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, and several local pop stars and business heavyweights, as well as his cook and gardener. Written salutations came from international leaders ranging from the UK’s Queen Elizabeth to Cuba’s President Fidel Castro and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. A particularly poignant birthday message came from Wilma Verwoerd, the 13-year-old great-granddaughter of Hendrik Verwoerd, the man known as the architect of whites-only rule, who was the Prime Minister when Mr Mandela was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 1964. “You’ve changed my life for the better. You’ve taught me to love people of all races and colours,” Verwoerd wrote in a letter shown on massive video screens at the party. “Happy birthday Mr Mandela. I hope you get some nice presents.” The birthday bash had a distinctly Irish theme — rock star Bono joined an Irish band, the Corrs, on stage while Mr Clinton quoted verses by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney in praise of Mr Mandela. “You have made hope and history thrive. You have made beautiful music in all our lives. I hope our birthday present to you will be a lifetime of service, to make Africa all it can be, and to make the world the village your life deserves,” he said. The banquet was Mr Mandela’s biggest party since his 80th birthday celebrations, when he married his third wife, former Mozambican first lady Graca Machel.
— Reuters |
|
Computer faults hit US student registration New York, July 20 Campus offices that deal with foreign students are cutting back day-to-day services and working 14 hours a day, but administrators say they still are stymied in trying to load information into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Service, known as SEVIS. “The database is flawed. It couldn’t have been done worse,” said Gail Szenes, director of New York University’s Office for International Students and Scholars. Foreigners omitted from the database will face strict scrutiny before their visas are renewed, and administrators fear some students will be denied visas unfairly simply because their names are not properly registered. Worse, they say, is that some foreign students will feel compelled to turn elsewhere for higher education, creating tensions not alliances between the USA and young men and women likely to become influential leaders in their own countries. Michael Brzezinski, Director of the international students office at Purdue University, said last summer 60 students at the Indiana school were denied visas or got them late, several for minor technical reasons. He said until SEVIS was made more efficient, the trend was likely to continue.
— AP |
|
SARS claims 41st victim in Canada Montreal, July 20 Canada is one of the only two countries outside Asia to report any SARS-related deaths. All of them have been concentrated in the Toronto area, in Canada’s most populated Ontario province. The nurse who died yesterday fell ill during Canada’s first SARS outbreak in early March, according to a statement released by the Ontario health authorities. A second wave of SARS cases followed in late May and early June. Today there are fewer than 20 active cases in Canada.
— AFP |
|
Liz to wear Versace sari at wedding London, July 20 |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
