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US on the alert for
post-Ramzan attacks Pervez, Jamali urge countrymen to shun extremism Ensuring peace not in our hands, say Tigers Key witness was spurred to get information: defence
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Gun inventor dreams of peace The Times goes tabloid
Blast rocks Quetta
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US on the alert for post-Ramzan attacks
Washington, November 26 His caution yesterday followed a State Department warning on Friday that Al-Qaeda may be planning more “catastrophic” terror attacks in and outside the United States. “We will be vigilant during this period to see if anything is coming our way in the days ahead.” Referring to the regular threat updates and travel warnings issued to Americans around the world, Powell said Washington did not want to “cry wolf too often.” “And to represent America’s interests well and to do their jobs, they have to be out and about, they have to take their work out to the people and the countries in which they are serving.” Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that he has seen reports suggesting Arab television channels Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera have cooperated with Iraqi insurgents attacking US troops. Talking to reporters at the Pentagon yesterday, Rumsfeld said both of the Arab television stations have been in “close proximity” to attacks against coalition forces, sometimes before assualts had even occurred. Asked if US troops in Baghdad had evidence one, or both, of the Arab channels had been cooperating with insurgents, Rumsfeld replied: “The answer is yes, I’ve seen scraps of information over a sustained period of time that need to be looked at in a responsible, orderly way.” “I’m not in a position to make a final judgement on it,” the defence secretary stressed. Las Vegas: US President George W. Bush has vowed to meet “short-term security needs” in places like Iraq with military force, but said long-term US interests are best served by spreading global freedom. “We’ll deal with the short-term security needs by staying on the offensive,” the President said in a speech at a hospital here to tout a sweeping overhaul of the government’s medicare health care programme for the elderly. Speaking shortly after a series of explosions were heard in Baghdad, Bush vowed that deadly insurgent attacks on US-led forces occupying war-ravaged Iraq would not derail plans to build a prosperous democracy there. “This nation will stay the course to bring democracy and freedom to Afghanistan and Iraq. By doing so, we will not only help the long-suffering people in those countries, we will make the USA more secure and the world more peaceful,” the President said.
— AFP |
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Pervez, Jamali urge countrymen to shun extremism Islamabad, November 26 “I hope that the nation would not only keep its distance from the menace of sectarianism but would also assist the government in its eradication,” he said adding, “Let us celebrate the day of Id together and unitedly,” Musharraf said in his message. “On the occasion, the need is to rejuvenate the promise that we will continue to struggle for mutual affinity and unity among ourselves. Also, the efforts to shun the sectarianism and differences will be our top priority,” Jamali said.
— PTI |
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Ensuring peace not in our hands, say Tigers
Colombo, November 26 “Our leader Velupillai Prabhakaran told Mr Patten that it is not in the hands of the Tigers to ensure that there is no return to violence,” Tiger political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan said. “It is completely up to the Sinhalese polity to see that there is no return to war,” he told reporters in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi shortly after Mr Patten’s talks with Prabhakaran who observed his 49th birthday today. Thamilselvan was quoted in the pro-rebel tamilnet.com website as saying that Prabhakaran made it clear to Mr Patten that they remained committed to resolving the conflict peacefully. Mr Patten’s three-day visit began here yesterday with a noisy protest by the Sinhalese hardline Patriotic National Movement (PNM) which draws support from key members of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s party. Mr Patten had talks with President Kumaratunga yesterday and later told reporters that no leader he met that day objected to his travelling to the island’s north for talks with Prabhakaran. Mr Patten said he would be seeking assurances from Prabhakaran that he was committed to implementing the ceasefire brokered and put into operation since February last year by Norway. Patten’s effigy was burnt outside his hotel here yesterday by demonstrators led by Sri Lanka’s 1996 world-cup winning cricket skipper Arjuna Ranatunga who is a member of President Kumaratunga’s party.
— PTI |
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Key witness was spurred to get information: defence
Vancouver, November 26 Bill Smart told the court yesterday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) wanted the woman to talk to Satnam Kaur Reyat, wife of Inderjit Singh Reyat, to gather information for the ongoing investigation. Inderjit Singh Reyat is the only person convicted for his role in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 which killed 329 people on June 23, 1985, and for the blast the same day in which two baggage handlers died at Tokyo’s Narita airport. Smart, representing accused terrorist Ripudaman Singh Malik, quoted minutes from a November 4, 1997, meeting of the RCMP’s Air India task force to Cpl. Doug Best. “(The woman) knows something of Malik’s associates and has a trusting relationship with Ms Reyat and (the woman) said she could talk Inderjit Reyat into cooperating,” the minutes say. But, Best appearing before the court, said he did not recall ever specifically asking or having heard the woman say she could talk Ms Reyat or Mr Reyat into cooperating. He also said he didn’t record the minutes and isn’t sure he made the comment, Canadian media reported. “It might have been something I had wished but I don’t recall it,” Best told the court. The woman, can’t be named under court order, has testified against the accused Malik. Smart also quoted minutes from a second meeting of the task force on November 6, 1997, when the subject came up again: “(The woman) feels that Ms Reyat would cooperate if approached directly.” In February, Reyat was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in Air India bombing. He had already served 10-year sentence for Narita airport blast. — PTI |
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Delft (Netherlands), November 26 “What I want is to live to see that moment when there is peace and happiness on the planet,” Mikhail Kalashnikov, who created the assault rifle that bears his name, told Reuters. “I want my legacy to be the spread of peace in the world; that the murders stop, that wars stop and that politicians learn to settle their problems in a peaceful way.” Kalashnikov, 84, says that despite its proliferation in war zones around the world, he has never really viewed his invention as a killing machine, but as an instrument of peace. Nearly six decades of test-firing have left the sprightly Kalashnikov — now a decorated general — hard of hearing. But he speaks clearly and passionately of what led him to create the AK-47, literally the “utomatic Kalashnikov, 1947”. Kalashnikov says he envisioned the gun in the early years of World War-II while recovering from combat wounds as his country reeled from the Nazi onslaught in a conflict that would claim the lives of more than 25 million Soviet citizens. “I created this weapon because of Germany and the war. I was a soldier then. Soldiers need a simple and reliable weapon,” Kalashnikov, the rows of medals on his chest sparkling in the light, said in an interview. In the Dutch city of Delft for an exhibition on the AK-47, the former tank commander rejected suggestions that he or his rifle were in any way responsible for the conflicts in which it has been used. To enthusiasts, the Kalashnikov is a symbol of perfection. Sleek, light and simple, the gun has changed little since it was first manufactured and most professional soldiers who use it see no reason why it should have. The Kalashnikov is nearly impervious to sand, water and mud — unlike many analogues. It is cheap to produce and its compact size makes it easier to smuggle than many others, all of which has added to its appeal in certain circles. Kalashnikov, who lives on a pension worth less than 500 euros ($593) a month, has not earned a penny from the weapon because Soviet citizens were forbidden from patenting their inventions. He does not complain, saying instead that the Soviet — and later the Russian — state have given him ample rewards, including a modest summer cottage in the Russian countryside and a four-room apartment.
— Reuters |
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London, November 26 Its debut came barely two months after rival newspaper. The Independent broke new ground by becoming the first daily newspaper in the world to publish in two sizes with identical content. “Charity muggers’ face tough new curbs,” was the lead story on the front pages of both the big and little Times, alongside a photo of Jonny Wilkinson, the hero fly-half of the World Cup winning England rugby squad. (“Charity muggers” or “chuggers” are professional fundraisers who canvass passers-by on the street in the UK on behalf of charitable organisations.) But readers of the compact Times had to plow through 26 pages - past courts and crime news, the gossip column, the editorials and famous letters page, three full-page ads and seven half-page ones — to get to political news. Sports coverage started on the back page, with Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Inter Milan the “splash” or lead story. In an editorial, The Times - the 218-year-old jewel in global media baron Rupert Murdoch’s empire — called its tabloid version, to be sold initially in the greater London area, “another landmark in our history”. With the new format, it said, “we are offering increased convenience while maintaining the standards that lead people to chose The Times.”
— AFP |
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Blast rocks Quetta Quetta, November 26 The explosion occurred late last night in a residential district of Quetta, said Mohammed Aslam, a Quetta police official. Workers were repairing the track. Aslam said the explosion did not disrupt any trains. No one claimed responsibility for the blast which came after a homemade remote-controlled bomb exploded along a road near an army auto rpair yard in Quetta on Monday. The capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, Quetta has seen rocket attacks and small-scale bomb explosions which have rarely caused serious casualties or major damage.
— AP |
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