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EU decries move
on Iraq contracts PIA to resume
flights to India Pak detains two nuclear
scientists
USA to have new
entry-exit system |
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Israeli Army
kills 3 Palestinians Uzbek PM replaced
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EU decries move on Iraq contracts
Brussels, December 11 “The US decision is gratuitous and extremely unhelpful,’’ EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said in a statement. “We should be seeking to bring people together, not divide them,’’ he said. The European Commission, which conducts the bloc’s common trade policy, has said it will investigate whether the US bar on projects worth $ 18.6 billion violates World Trade Organisation rules. “At the very moment when there is a general recognition that the whole international community should work together for the reconstruction of Iraq and for a stable and prosperous democratic society there, returning to old arguments and divisions doesn’t seem particularly constructive,’’ Mr Patten said. Germany, Russia and France — which opposed the US decision to bypass the United Nations and launch war on Iraq — have reacted angrily. The decision was announced on Tuesday by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who said it was necessary to limit competition for prime Iraq contracts “for the protection of the essential security interests of the USA’’. The White House has since defended its decision as an inducement for countries willing to commit troops and provide other support in post-conflict Iraq. Mr Patten said the move vindicated the 15-nation EU’s insistence on a multilateral trust fund under the control of the United Nations and the World Bank — rather than the USA occupying power — to channel its aid to Iraq.
— Reuters |
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PIA to resume flights to India Karachi, December 11 PIA’s Marketing Director, Mr Kamran Hasan, said the airline also planned to boost its total flights to India to 12 in March, the same number it flew before the ban was imposed due to strained relations. Beginning the first week of January, the airline would operate two flights each on its Karachi-New Delhi, Karachi-Mumbai and Lahore-New Delhi routes, Mr Hasan said.
— AP |
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Pak detains two nuclear scientists
Islamabad, December 11 Director of Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) Farooq Ahmad was nabbed on Sunday last from his house by security agencies who were accompanied by foreigners, local daily The Nation reported. Since then, Mr Ahmad had not returned home, it said, adding that his arrest followed the detention of KRL Director General Yasin Chohan, who was close to Dr A.Q. Khan, considered father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Dr Khan was made to retire in 2001 by President Pervez Musharraf and since then, he worked as Presidential Adviser on Scientific Affairs. The paper said the two detained scientists were suspected to have links with the Iranian nuclear programme. “My father is on leave from the KRL and since Sunday he is in Karachi,” Mr Asim, son of Mr Ahmad, told the paper. He, however, could not explain why Mr Ahmad had been staying in Karachi and what was his contact number. He contradicted reports of his father’s arrest, saying he spoke to him two days back on telephone. The Pakistani Government, while indirectly acknowledging the detention of the scientists, described allegations of any direct cooperation between Islamabad and Tehran on the nuclear front as “baseless and malicious”.
— PTI |
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USA to have new entry-exit system for visitors Washington, December 11 The programme called “US Visit”, to be launched on January 5 next, will put in use the latest in high technology to increase security at US ports of entry, Mr Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary for Borders and Transportation in the department said in Miami yesterday. Mr Hutchinson said “US Visit” would use a biometric (fingerprint) confirmation of those holding valid visas to enter the USA. The programme would minimise the possibility of document fraud, and identify individuals who were on a terrorist watch list with the goal of preventing them from entering the country, he said. As originally approved by the US Congress before the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the programme “was designed to attack the problem of visa overstays in the United States,” said Hutchinson said. The programme will be directed at visitors from all parts of the world who wish to come into the USA.
— PTI |
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Israeli Army kills 3 Palestinians
Rafah(Gaza Strip), December 11 At least 12 Palestinians were wounded, including four children, a medical worker and several gunmen, said doctors at Rafah hospital. An Israeli military source said the troops were on a mission to detain a wanted Palestinian and returned fire towards gunmen who attacked them from several locations. Palestinian witnesses described the raid as the biggest Israeli operation in Rafah in the past two months. They said infantry and 20 armoured vehicles, including tanks, took part in the early morning raid as helicopters flew overhead. The troops besieged two houses, one belonging to a militant from the Hamas group and the other to a member of Islamic Jehad, the witnesses said. Both groups, dedicated to Israel’s destruction, have carried out suicide bombings inside the Jewish state and attacked soldiers and Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip and West Bank during a Palestinian uprising that began in September 2000. Israeli forces regularly conduct searches in the Rafah area for militants and tunnels used for smuggling weapons from Egypt.
— Reuters |
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Uzbek PM replaced Tashkent, December 11 Karimov nominated Shavkat Mirziyayev (46) at a Parliament session, and law-makers in the former Soviet republic approved the choice by a wide margin.
— AP |
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UK charity worker’s Indian jail ordeal London, December 11 Mr Stillman has been in contact with two publishers in the UK who have expressed interest in putting his life story in print. Mr Stillman (53), who also suffers from diabetes and has only one leg, was convicted of possessing cannabis after the taxi he was travelling in was stopped and searched by the Indian police in 2000. Despite strenuous denials, he was sentenced to a decade in prison, but was freed on health grounds after two years. His trial was labelled the “worst miscarriage of justice I have ever seen” by Stephen Jakobi of Fair Trials Abroad. Reports say Mr Stillman had worked in India for 25 years and founded a charity that provides education and training for the deaf. Family members say since his release a year ago, writing his memoirs has been a part of his healing process. But Mr Stillman’s parents, identified only as Roy and Monica, who live in York, said he was still suffering from his ordeal. His father told the local media: “He has suffered with post-traumatic stress and depression common with other people who have been in prison”. “He has periods where he goes away, stays with friends and writes. We think writing his memoirs will get the thing out of his system,” he added. “He is communicating more now and is taking greater interest in his own affairs,” he further said. “By nature, he is a very determined positive person and it is totally out of character for him to lose a grip on his own life, but this was the effect upon him of this incarceration,” explained Mr Stillman’s father. Mr Stillman now lives in Romsey Hampshire near his sister Elspeth, with his wife Sue and their two children, Anita and Lennie. Ms Sue has just returned from six months in India where she is co-ordinating the charity work, the reports said.
— IANS |
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