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Saturday,
August 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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UN reviews Afghan security after Iraq attack After
SARS, dengue hits Hong Kong Prevailing peace in J&K no fluke, says Mufti ‘Chemical Ali’ in US custody Iraqi guards involved in blast, says UN official
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Virus hits
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UN reviews Afghan security after Iraq attack Kabul, August 22 UN spokesman in Afghanistan Manoel de Almeida e Silva said messages had been sent to all UN field missions recommending ‘’immediate review of security arrangement in all offices’’. He said UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Lakdhar Brahimi, has said all UN agencies needed to be on their guard in a country where insecurity has already forced it to impose curbs on its movements in parts of the country. ‘’We owe it to...the organisation, to our families and to ourselves to exercise extreme caution and to remain vigilant at all times,’’ he quoted Brahimi as saying. Tuesday’s attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad was the worst in the world body’s history, killing 23 people, including UN special envoy for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Asked if the United Nations planned to beef up security in Afghanistan, Silva said that was dealt with on a case-by-case basis. “We will not panic, but we will be very responsible regarding security,’’ he said. The attack in Baghdad came during one of the bloodiest weeks in Afghanistan since a US-led force overthrew the Taliban in late 2001. More than 90 people were killed throughout the country, most of them in attacks blamed on Taliban guerrillas. The dead included two aid workers. Guerrillas fighting the US-backed government and US-led military coalition have targeted UN workers in the past, considering them Washington’s allies. The United Nations has already suspended road travel and activities in a wide area of southern and southeastern Afghanistan after guerrilla attacks in recent months, greatly restricting humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts.
— Reuters |
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After SARS, dengue hits Hong Kong Hong Kong, August 22 In the past week at least two more cases of dengue fever and one of cholera have been reported in the city and the administration has appointed a new Director of Health. So far, 28 cases of dengue fever have been reported in the city this year. The two latest cases were of two men, aged 28 and 47, who were part of a group of nine who had visited Philippines and acquired the fever there. But the patients remained in Philippines for the entire incubation period and had fully recovered before returning. However, the news of another disease emerging is directely related to tourism and local business which is still to emerge from the SARS effect. The local residents want that the laws concerning cleanliness should be made more stringent. As part of its global campaign to project Hong Kong as a favoured tourism spot, in which the administration is investing as much as HK$ 400 million, the stress is projecting the city as safer and cleaner destination, said a local official. As part of the efforts, all government departments, including education, marine, information services, environment protection, leisure and cultural services, agriculture, fisheries and conservation, labour, highways and housing, joined hands to fight the dengue virus. The Land Department went about cutting grass all over the city to ensure that there was no breeding and incubation spots for the mosquitoes and the Education Department issued letters to all schools regarding the safety measures. |
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Prevailing peace in J&K no fluke, says Mufti London, August 22 The Chief Minister said the peaceful atmosphere prevailing in the state was supported not only by the people of Jammu and Kashmir but also by the people of Pakistan and India. “So I must say this change in the situation is conducive for peace and this peaceful atmosphere is not a fluke, it is not a temporary phase. It is the will and determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.” Mr Sayeed suggested that the “walls of hatred and suspicion (existing between India and Pakistan) should be removed and the 300 km Uri-Rawalpindi road should be reopened.” Mr Abdullah suggested that a solution to the Kashmir problem lay in converting the Line of Control into a soft international border. “A soft border is essential to allow people of both sides of Kashmir to come across and facilitate the families to meet, reunite and trade. Greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir on this side, greater autonomy to Kashmir on that side of the border will help to solve the problem. “This is where the solution lies and this is what the Government of India must address internally as well as externally,” the former Minister of State for External Affairs said. Espousing the hardline, Mr Sajjad Lone warned the Mufti that he had not given the correct assessment of the situation in Kashmir. Claiming that it was the “lull before the storm”, Mr Lone said “It is deceptive and intentionally deceptive. If tourists are the way of gauging normalcy then in 1999 you had much more tourists than you have now and after that there was a violent upsurge.
— PTI |
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‘Chemical Ali’ in US custody Baghdad, August 22 Majid was a Saddam clansman who played a leading role in the violent suppression of Iraq’s Kurdish and Shi’ite Muslim rebels and its seven-month occupation of Kuwait. Known as “Chemical Ali” because of his use of poison gas to put down a decade-old Kurdish insurrection in northern Iraq in the late 1980s, Majid ordered the gassing of 5,000 Kurds in the village of Halabja. “Majid is Saddam Hussein’s hatchet man. He has been involved in some of Iraq’s worst crimes - including genocide and crimes against humanity,” the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said in January. On April 5, U.S. and British officials targeted Majid in a bomb attack in Basra. British military officials said at the time they believed they had recovered his body.
— Reuters |
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Iraqi guards involved in blast, says UN official Baghdad, August 22 “They clearly had support from Iraqi security guards inside who provided information to the planners of the attack,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “It was a well-prepared attack. The target was Sergio Vieira de Mello, that much is clear,” he said, referring to the top UN envoy in Iraq killed in Tuesday’s bombing. “They knew where Vieira de Mello’s office was and they knew they would find him in his office and they packed the vehicle with the maximum amount of explosives. The vehicle was positioned in the spot where it would make that part of the building collapse,” the official said. He said some of the Iraqi guards at Canal Hotel, the United Nations’ headquarters in Baghdad, had been hired under the toppled regime of Saddam Hussein and had links with the fallen dictator’s intelligence services.
— AFP |
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2 US soldiers killed in Iraq Baghdad, August 22 “The first was a fatality in Baghdad at 4:50 pm on Thursday,” said Sergeant Amy Abbott. The second attack killed a soldier with the Marine Expeditionary Force near Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad, said Abbott, without making it clear when the assault took place or giving any details.
— AFP |
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Virus hits
e-mail networks London/San Francisco, August 22 In the USA, Internet and e-mail service providers were blocking the virus in record numbers, while others were getting through to an untold number of unprotected computer users. Those people were complaining of hundreds, and even thousands, of e-mails with the virus in their inboxes. Internet service America Online said it blocked 23.2 million copies of the virus from reaching its customers and e-mail security provider Postini said it quarantined 3.5 million copies. MessageLabs, a British-based Internet security firm, said one in 17 e-mails sent around the world since Monday had been affected by SoBig.F. The SoBig.F virus, which first appeared on computing systems on Monday, spreads when unsuspecting computer users open file attachments in e-mails that contain such familiar headings as “Thank you,” “Re: Details” or “Re: approved.” — Reuters |
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Conjoined twins die in Pak Multan, August 22 Their mother, Salmi Bibi, took her daughters to a small, poorly equipped hospital after they developed a fever and began puking Dr Batool said.
— AP |
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