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Pervez hopeful of Kashmir solution
Did Pak scientist offer N-blueprint to Saddam? Ugandan rebels kill
44 refugees USA bans southeast Asian birds’ import |
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 Janet Jackson apologises for breast showLos Angeles, February 5 Pop star Justin Timberlake said he was “shocked,” “appalled and “embarrassed” that Janet Jackson’s breast was flashed to 100 million US television viewers when he ripped off her bodice on stage. Judge refuses to declare A-I witness hostile
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Pervez hopeful of Kashmir solution by year-end Islamabad, February 5 Addressing the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Assembly in Muzaffarabad to mark ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’, Mr Musharraf said the Indo-Pak dialogue process scheduled to begin later this month was expected to pick up steam after Indian elections. Contending that India’s seriousness about the dialogue could be known after the elections, he said he believed that the Kashmir issue could be resolved “most likely” by the year end. Hitting out at political “opportunists” in Pakistan who tried to raise doubts in the minds of the people that he was heading for a sell-out on Kashmir, the General said anyone compromising on Kashmir issue and missile programme would be a “traitor” and he would prefer to leave power instead of doing so. Mr Musharraf said he decided to address the Assembly instead of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to make a detailed presentation on the events leading to thaw in Indo-Pak ties and the agreement between the two countries to begin the composite dialogue process. Referring to a host of confidence-building measures (CBMs) initiated by both countries, Mr Musharraf said the CBMs would not be of much help if the dialogue on Kashmir made no progress. About his comments in an interview that Pakistan was ready to drop the demand for UN resolutions on Kashmir, he said he was quoted out of context. He said Pakistan could show flexibility on Kashmir provided the talks reached a stage where both sides could discuss solution to it. The President also referred to his four-step approach to find a solution to the Kashmir issue, which stated the two countries begin talks, admit that Kashmir is a dispute, eliminate solutions which were not acceptable to India, Pakistan and Kashmiris, and focus talks on reaching a solution acceptable to all. Both sides would have to show flexibility when they reach the final stage, he said. |
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Did Pak scientist offer N-blueprint to Saddam? Washington, February 5 A report by the Institute for Science and International Security says documents obtained by the United Nations' weapon inspectors in Iraq indicate that an effort was made by Dr Khan to sell nuclear weapon design and gas centrifuge information to Iraq. He allegedly offered to facilitate the procurement of the equipment required to build these items and provide technical assistance to Iraq. This offer is believed to have been made shortly before the start of the Gulf War in 1991. “Combined with recent information about Dr Khan and his associates’ assistance to gas centrifuge programmes in Iran, Libya and North Korea, these documents indicate that Dr Khan may also have sold
nuclear weapon designs to other countries,” the report’s authors — David Albright and Corey Hinderstein — noted. “Inevitably, these concerns also raise questions about whether Pakistani scientists transferred nuclear weapon designs to Al-Qaida or other terrorist groups”. In a public confession broadcast on the Pakistan state television, Dr Khan on Wednesday admitted to his role in providing nuclear technology, components and equipment to other countries. He absolved the government of any role in the transactions. The Washington Post reported on January 27 that Dr Khan’s middlemen allegedly also offered the Pakistani scientists’ services to Syria and Iraq. However, these offers were not accepted. This revelation about Iraq, if true, could shed light on unresolved questions about the authenticity of a set of
documents found at the farm of Hussein Kamel, Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law, after his 1995 defection. One of the documents, a one-page memo from the Iraqi intelligence service (Mukhabarat), dated October 6, 1990, and addressed to a contact person in Iraq’s main nuclear weapons programme summarises a meeting between members of the Mukhabarat and an intermediary, believed to have used the name “Malik”. This intermediary said he represented Dr Khan. “This memo states that the intermediary approached the Mukhabarat with the following offer: Khan was prepared to give Iraq project designs for a nuclear weapon and to provide assistance in enriching uranium and manufacturing a nuclear weapon. He would also arrange materials from western European countries through a company that Dr Khan owned in Dubai,” the report says. Dr Khan had allegedly requested a meeting to discuss the documents that he was willing to sell. However, the memo notes, such a meeting was not possible at that time, given the tense international atmosphere resulting from Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait. Mr Albright says the Iraqis appear not to have accepted the offer because they were concerned that it could be a sting operation. In its report to the United Nations Security Council in the late 1990s, the International Atomic Energy Agency recorded its concern over the matter. Mr Albright says: “The possibility that Pakistanis offered assistance in designing and building nuclear weapons to various countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Syria, is an extremely disturbing new development. This possibility must be investigated thoroughly.” |
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Ugandan rebels kill 44 refugees
Kampala, February 5 Catholic priest Sebat Ayala said more than 300 rebels overpowered government troops guarding the camp in one of their bloodiest attacks for months, before they were repulsed by army reinforcements. The army said at least 20 persons were confirmed killed in the attack on the camp, which lies more than 300 km north of Uganda’s capital Kampala. The attack happened less than a week after the Hague-based International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor said the ICC should open its first case within months against the rebels. Uganda has asked the court to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by the LRA, a cult-like group that has terrorised villagers in the north for more 17 years.
— Reuters |
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USA bans southeast Asian birds’ import Washington, February 5 “There is no evidence that any bird infected with avian flu has been imported to the USA, but we want to do everything possible to limit the potential threat to the American public,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement yesterday. The ban aims to prevent bird flu from spreading to the US poultry or to humans. It applies to all birds and bird products, unless they have been processed to remove the disease, from Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, China, including Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. The USA imports about 20,000 birds each year from countries dealing with the bird flu outbreak, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Imports from the affected countries were already under tight restrictions because of another bird illness known as ‘exotic newcastle disease’, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said in a statement. “However, the temporary ban puts additional safeguards in place,” she said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu could kill millions across the globe if it combined with a human influenza virus to create a highly contagious strain transmissible among humans. It says the further culling of birds, a ban on poultry imports from affected areas and improved hygiene measures are essential for containing the virus. HANOI: A 16-year-old girl died of bird flu in Vietnam, health officials said on Thursday, taking the death toll here to 12 out of 16 confirmed infections. The teenager from the southern Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang died on Tuesday at Ho Chi Minh City’s Hospital for Tropical Disease, its deputy director, Tran Tinh Hien, said. BEIJING: While asserting that there has been no cases of human infection of H5N1 strain of bird flu so far, China on Thursday said over 12 lakh poultry had been culled to prevent the further spread of the deadly virus. “There are no cases of human infections on the Chinese mainland due to the tight surveillance network established after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) last year,” Vice-Minister of Health, Wang Longde said. BANGKOK: To eat chicken or not to eat chicken? The Thai Government is hoping to convince its people to open their hearts — and mouths — to chicken through a battery of ‘’chicken eating fairs’’ on Saturday in a bid to allay fear that meat is unsafe. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will also don his chef’s hat to fry up some chicken in an event in central Bangkok that will crown the government’s efforts to lure consumers back to a meat considered a staple of the Thai diet. TAIPEI: Lawmakers munched on crispy fried chicken on Thursday as the premier assured consumers that Taiwanese poultry was free of the deadly bird flu virus that’s sweeping through other parts of Asia. To help bolster the industry, Premier Yu Shyi-kun and ruling party lawmakers nibbled on pieces of fried chicken and slurped bowls of chicken soup during a televised news conference.
— Agencies |
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Janet Jackson apologises for breast show Los Angeles, February 5 As Timberlake yesterday denied any responsibility for the incident that has sparked outrage across America, Jackson made a contrite public apology for the over-exposure that has also garnered her unprecedented publicity. The 23-year-old singer Timberlake broke his public silence on the incident, which took place during a half-time performance at Sunday’s football Super Bowl, saying that if it was a stunt, he had nothing to do with it. The all-American singer said, according to a plan devised by Jackson and her choreographer earlier Sunday, he was to pull on the bustier and expose her red lace bra, not her naked breast, covered only by an ornate nipple-cap. Jackson took the blame for the incident, which has led to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigation into whether indecency regulations had been breached. WASHINGTON:
The “wardrobe malfunction” that exposed singer Janet Jackson’s breast on live television during the Super Bowl halftime has generated more Internet traffic than the September 11 terror attacks, a survey has showed. “Janet exposing her breast during the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday night has proved to be the most-searched event in the history of Internet,” Terra Lycos said in a survey of top Internet searches on Wednesday.
— AFP |
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Judge refuses to declare A-I witness hostile Vancouver, February 5 The issue had been the main focus of the trial for more than a month. Justice Ian Bruce Josephson yesterday agreed with the prosecution that the witness lied when she claimed not to remember Bagri’s role in the attack, but added that it was not likely she would start telling the truth about what she knows about Canada’s worst act of terrorism if declared hostile.
— PTI |
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