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Washington, September 28 Ahead of the Fund-Bank meeting, the World Bank today placed India as the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, even as it said the country lagged behind in technology and efficiency.
Indo-Pak talks significant milestone: Russia, China
Situation back to normal in Nankana Sahib
Blair makes partial apology on Iraq
US soldiers forced to
re-enlist, probe demanded
Bush leads Kerry in opinion poll
Two Egyptian hostages freed in Iraq
EU bans hazardous chemicals used in toys |
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Two Indian vehicles burnt
as strike hits Nepal
Kathmandu, September 28 Two Indian vehicles were burnt by suspected Maoists and a bomb ripped through a bank in Nepal as the two-day strike, called by the rebels to protest the killing and arrest of their cadres by security forces, got underway today.
Hamas vows revenge after leader’s assassination
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World Bank raps India on tech laxity
Washington, September 28 In its World Development Report 2005, the World Bank said India’s gross national income was at $ 3,068 billion and per capita income at $ 2,880 by purchasing power parity. Among the South Asian economies, India’s gross national income and per capita income stood well ahead of Pakistan’s $ 306 billion and 2,060, respectively. Praiseworthy of the “improved” investment climate in India during the 1980s and 1990s, it said the share of private investment to the GDP nearly doubled. “As a result of liberalisation of the economy, private investment, as share of the GDP, grew from less than 9.0 per cent in 1981 to more than 15 per cent in 2000,” it said. “Growth increased from an average of 2.9 per cent a year in the 1970s to 5.8 per cent in the 1980s and 6.7 per cent in mid 1990s,” it added. However, the World Bank said India was held back in technology and efficiency due to the lack of proper exit policy, which sought to close down inefficient industries and lay off surplus workers. Apart from this, the report said the other factors were insistence on protecting smaller companies regardless of whether they were efficient and competitive and “snail’s pace” at which the judiciary disposes of cases. “Though investment and productivity improved in industries close to technological frontier, they failed to improve in technologically not so advanced industries,” the World Bank report said. It said the general trend was that many firms improved their total factor productivity “significantly” but “aggregate numbers have been slow to respond.”
— PTI |
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Indo-Pak talks significant milestone: Russia, China
Moscow, September 27 "The meeting of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is a significant milestone in building non-confrontational relations between the two biggest nation-states in South Asia," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said here. Russia has also expressed satisfaction over the outcome of talks between the leaders of the two countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 24 in New York. Making a 'positive' assessment of the Indo-Pak intentions to carry forward their composite dialogue, the Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued yesterday, expressed the hope that the Manmohan Singh-Pervez Musharraf meeting would help in resolving complex of issues between the two countries through talks in the spirit of Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration. BEIJING: Describing the first meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf as "very important", China
on Tuesday said it hoped that both sides would continue to make joint efforts to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue and coordination. "As for the very important meeting between Prime Minister Singh and President Musharraf, we express our welcome," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters. "It is our sincere hope that India and Pakistan will make joint efforts and that they can carry on their dialogue further to enhance mutual trust and step up bilateral ties," Kong said. "We hope they can solve their disputes through dialogue and coordination," he said.
— PTI |
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Situation back to normal in Nankana Sahib
Islamabad, September 28 The assurance was given at a meeting yesterday between government officials and representatives of the Sikh and the Muslim communities following an attack on the Gurdwara and the college on Saturday to protest a reported move to hand over the college premises to Janam Asthaan administration for its use as a guest house for visiting Sikh pilgrims. “The issue has been resolved. The government has assured the students of the Guru Nanak Government College that they won’t be displaced until a separate building is arranged for them. No more tension prevails,” Ghulam Dastgeer, a local police official, was quoted as saying by the Dawn daily. Life returned to normal in Nankana Sahib town, the birth place of Guru Nanak, after the matter was resolved at the meeting, which was also attended by nearly 300 students. “I don’t believe it was a Muslim-Sikh conflict,” Mastan Singh, an administrator of the Janam Asthaan said.
— PTI |
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Blair makes partial apology on Iraq Brighton (England), September 28 But as two more British soldiers died in Iraq and a hostage remained under threat of death, the Prime Minister’s hopes of drawing a line under two years that have wrecked his public trust ratings are far from secure. “The evidence about Saddam having biological and chemical weapons... has turned out to be wrong,” Blair said in the Labour Party’s annual conference. “I can apologise for the information that turned out to be wrong, but I can’t, sincerely at least, apologise for removing Saddam,” he said. “The world is a better place with Saddam in prison, not in power,” he said. Blair’s speech was interrupted twice by protesters, one yelling that the Prime Minister “had blood on his hands”, others opposing a planned ban on fox-hunting. They were bundled out of the hall.
— Reuters
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US soldiers forced to
re-enlist, probe demanded
Washington, September 28 In a letter sent to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter yesterday, Colorado Democrat Diana DeGette asked him to find out if “White House or civilian Pentagon officials are pressuring the military to use coercive tactics to get soldiers to re-enlist, in order to maintain the force levels necessary to fight the war in Iraq and war on terror.” The request follows reports in leading Colorado newspapers that the Fort Carson-stationed veterans of the Iraq war, nearing the end of their eight-year enlistments, were being threatened with a second tour in Iraq, if they rejected overtures by the Army recruiters. “They told us if we don’t re-enlist, then we’d have to be reassigned,” The Rocky Mountain News quoted one of the targeted soldiers, a member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, as saying. “And where we’re most needed is in the units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. The paper said a Fort Carson spokesman had denied soldiers were being threatened during the recruitment drive. But it quoted the unnamed spokesman as stating, “I can only tell you what the retention officers told us. The soldiers were not being told they would go to Iraq, but they might go to Iraq.”
— AFP |
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Bush leads Kerry in opinion poll
Washington, September 28 Bush had the support of 51 per cent likely voters while Kerry had 45 per cent and independent candidate Ralph Nader received 1 per cent, the Washington Post-ABC news poll said today. Among all registered voters, Bush held a seven-point advantage, it said. Bush continued to be seen as a stronger leader and better able than Kerry to keep the USA secure from terrorist attacks, the survey said. With less than five weeks left for the Presidential elections, Kerry was seen as an unfavourable candidate as 42 per cent of the respondents said they had an unfavourable impression of him. On the handling of Iraq, a majority of the voters - 55 per cent - said they thought Bush was too reckless in making policy decisions. And once again, fewer than half of all voters said the war in Iraq was worth the cost, a clear signal that events in Iraq, perhaps even more than events on the campaign trail, ultimately may decide this election.
— PTI |
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Two Egyptian hostages freed in Iraq
Baghdad, September 28 "Two hostages... were freed Monday night from Al-Qaim (a town on the Iraq-Syria border) and another two are expected to be released today," said an Orascom spokesman. The Egyptian government has so far confirmed the release of one of the men. Four Egyptians and two Iraqis were abducted in the border town of Al-Qaim on Wednesday while two more Orascom employees were kidnapped on Thursday in Baghdad. On Friday, Egypt's Foreign Ministry confirmed that six Egyptians working for Orascom's local branch, Iraqna, had been kidnapped. The kidnappings have not been claimed by any group, but they came amid a spate of abductions of foreigners since April. Since April, nearly 150 foreigners have been kidnapped. The Egyptian Government's newspaper Al-Ahram said the captors were demanding a ransom totalling $ 3,50,000 for the six Egyptian hostages. It is believed the two Iraqi hostages have been released, although this has not been confirmed. The fate of a number of western hostages, including two women Italian aid workers, two French journalists and a British engineer, still remains shrouded in mystery.
— AFP |
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EU bans hazardous chemicals used in toys Seven years after campaigners first went into battle against hazardous chemicals being used in baby toys, ministers in Brussels have agreed on a permanent ban despite fierce lobbying from industry. The measures are designed to combat the risk to youngsters posed by phthalates, which have been linked with reproductive abnormalities, such as low sperm counts in boys and premature breast development in girls. Phthalates are used as softeners in some PVCs and, with industry reluctant to declare which products contain them, consumers have been left in the dark over the danger. Alarmed about the potential threat to children's health, the European Union put in place a limited emergency ban in December 1999. At that point the industry had said that about 70 per cent of toys in the market were already phthalate-free. But worries remain about the use of the hazardous chemicals, particularly in less well-known brands, in inflatable toys including swimming aids and paddling polls and on clothing. A Greenpeace study found last year that phthalates were contained in the printed sections of the fabrics on a range of Disney children's clothes. A Dutch Donald Duck T-shirt print had 170,036mg/kg of phthalates- more than 17 per cent by weight of the sample. Toymakers argue that children would have to suck on the toys for seven hours to be at risk. But campaigners point to studies suggesting that a potential danger exists if an item is in a child's mouth for only an hour. Members of Toy Industries of Europe, a group representing companies like Mattel Inc and Hasbro Inc, the world's top two toymakers, say that only one phthalate, DINP, is used in their products. This is regarded as a less harmful substance than others though some studies link it to liver damage. Yesterday's decision by EU ministers will widen the emergency ban from 1999 and make it permanent. The agreement came after the UK and the Netherlands — which holds the presidency of the EU — withdrew their opposition. The two governments had been the most sympathetic to the lobbying by the industry which demanded further tests on products. The new measures, which need an approval by MEPs, will mean a ban on three phthalates (called DEHP, DBP and BBP) identified as capable of causing reproductive damage, from all products intended for children. These chemicals are currently banned under the emergency measures in toys for the under-three children intended to be sucked or chewed, such as teething rings. Three others (DINP, DIDP and DNOP) will be prohibited in toys and childcare articles for children under three and which can be sucked on or chewed. Clothing will not be covered. The industry signalled yesterday that its long fight against controls is not over. Heidi Ranscombe of Toy Industries of Europe, said: “We want the wording to be tightened so toys for children under three that aren’t intended for the mouth aren’t covered.” The industry argues that the ban would cover objects like the plastic legs of wendy houses which are unlikely to be sucked by children. Jill Evans, Plaid Cymru MEP for Wales, said: “ It is absurd that it has taken seven years to get here and will take another two for this to pass into a law. It says something about the incredible lobbying power of the chemical industry.”
— By arrangement with The Independent, London
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Two Indian vehicles burnt
as strike hits Nepal
Kathmandu, September 28 The shutdown affected five zones in the eastern and central regions of the country, including Kathmandu, forcing the closure of schools, businesses, transport and markets. The security has been stepped up, especially along the highways, in view of the shutdown in central and eastern Nepal. The Maoists burnt two jeeps bearing Indian number plates at Thakre village in Dhading district, 75 km west of Kathmandu, this morning, the security sources said. The vehicles were coming from Pokhara to Kathmandu and were on a tour to South Asian countries, as part of the Asian People's March for Economic Sovereignty, when the rebels burnt them. The Maoists first forced 22 Indian nationals, including four journalists, three Nepalese and one Filipino to get out of the vehicles before setting them on fire, the police said. They also burnt eight Nepalese vehicles which were participating in the march.
— PTI |
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Hamas vows revenge after leader’s assassination
Hamas leaders pledged a bloody retaliation yesterday after one of its senior figures in Damascus was assassinated in an attack widely seen as a new departure in Israel’s pursuit of militant faction leaders.
Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil was killed when his car exploded as he tried to start it, outside his home in the Zaarah neighbourhood of Damascus. It is thought to be the first assassination of its kind of a Palestinian leader in Syria. Although Israel refused to confirm or deny Israeli media reports that it was behind the attack, the Palestinian Authority (PA) blamed Ariel Sharon’s government for the killing. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior adviser to the PA President Yasser Arafat, called the killing an “extremely dangerous” move and called on the international community to block repeats of what the PA claimed was an attempt by Israel to derail the peace process. Asked about Israel’s involvement, Gideon Ezra, the Israeli Internal Security Minister, told Israeli television, “I am not confirming it. I am not denying it. But I am not sorry it happened.” Mr Khalil, a founder member of the militant Palestinian faction, was believed to be in charge of Hamas’s military wing outside the Palestinian territories after being expelled from Gaza to Syria with 400 other militants in 1992. Israel Radio reported that Khalil (42) helped train Hamas’s chief bomb-maker, Yehiya Ayash, who was assassinated by Israel in January 1996 when it booby-trapped his cellular phone. But sources in Damascus said the dead man had not been actively involved in Hamas’s military operations recently. A statement by the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, hinted that the group would also hit Israeli targets abroad. “We have let hundreds of thousands of Zionists travel and move in capitals of the world in order not to be the party which transfers the struggle. But the Zionist enemy has done so and should bear the consequences of its actions,” said a statement issued in Gaza. But Hamas in Damascus suggested that there would be no such change in tactics. “There will be a response that would be decided by the movement’s leaders inside the occupied territories,” said a Hamas spokesman in the Syrian capital. Israeli authorities had vowed to hit Hamas leaders “wherever they are” after suicide bomb attacks in August in Beersheba left 16 persons dead. Mr Sharon has stepped up operations against Hamas leaders in Gaza as he prepares to go ahead with his controversial withdrawal of Jewish settlements from the area next year. The assassination comes just days after the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported that the intelligence service of an Arab state had recently passed Israel valuable information on the Hamas infrastructure in foreign
countries. — By arrangement with The Independent, London. |
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