 |
|
Karzai
leads; counting to resume today US raids
hit Falluja at start of Ramadan
Christopher
Reeve personified ‘Superman’ in real life ‘Bride
and Prejudice’ tops UK charts |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Karzai leads; counting to resume today
Kabul, October 15 Counting was halted today for the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and will resume tomorrow. Objections by Karzai’s opponents over voting irregularities meant counting only got under way on Thursday, some five days after millions of Afghans went to the polls for the first time to pick a leader. During the few hours of counting some 34,078 votes were tallied, of which 19,367 went to Mr Karzai, giving him a 57.9 per cent share of votes counted so far, according to preliminary results posted on the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body’s website. Hot favourite to win after running an interim government put in place when US and Afghan resistance forces toppled the Taliban militia almost three years ago, Mr Karzai needs a 51 per cent mandate to avoid a run-off against his nearest rival. A member of the majority ethnic Pashtun community and seen as a guarantor of billions of dollars of western assistance needed to rebuild a country devastated by a quarter-century of war, Mr Karzai has been able to cut across ethnic divides in a nation desperate for peace and security. Vying for the second place among the 18 candidates were Mr Yunus Qanuni, from the ethnic Tajik minority, and Mr Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek general from the north, both taking close to 16 per cent. Mr Qanuni is viewed by many as a proxy for Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who once led powerful Tajik militia factions, but fell out with Mr Karzai, notably over going slow on disarmament policies.
— Reuters |
|
US raids hit Falluja at start of Ramadan Baghdad, October 15 “The status quo in certain cities in Iraq is unacceptable,’’ the US military said. US marines, soldiers and Iraqi forces stepped up security operations in and around Falluja on Thursday night to disrupt planned attacks by insurgents, it said. “This operation puts the anti-Iraqi forces in Falluja on notice,” a statement said, using the military’s term for Iraqi guerrillas and foreign militants fighting US-led forces and Iraq’s US-backed interim government. Washington and Baghdad have vowed to retake insurgent-held towns and cities ahead of nationwide elections due in January. There was no immediate word on casualties in the overnight raids, which the military said were aimed at its deadliest foe in Iraq, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi’s group said it was behind twin suicide bombings that killed five persons, three of them Americans, in the heart of Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday. Hours after the blasts, U.S. warplanes and helicopters launched fierce airstrikes on Falluja, but a Pentagon spokeswoman said she was not aware that this was the prelude to a major offensive against the bastion of Sunni insurgency. “We are continuing operations,” she said. “They are apparently hitting targets of opportunity.” The interim government has told the people of Falluja to surrender Zarqawi and other foreign militants said to be holed up in the city of 300,000 or face military action. Ramadan, observed by Iraq’s minority Sunnis from Friday, will start for a majority or Shi’ites on Saturday. — Reuters
|
|
|
Christopher Reeve personified ‘Superman’ in real life Christopher
Reeve was the most courageous human being I have ever known. I first met Chris in February, 1979. “Superman” had opened just two months earlier and Reeve was the hottest young actor in the world. I was a young producer with a little film called, “Somewhere in Time”, in development at Universal and, for various reasons, it was made clear to me by Universal that the only way they would “green light” our film was to get Reeve to play the lead. Reeve was getting $ 2 million offers at that time and the budget for the entire film was $ 4 million. His agent didn’t even want to show Reeve our script but we got it to him and he committed to playing the lead for about 25 per cent of what he was getting offered elsewhere. Reeve didn’t care much about what the business thought he “was supposed to do.” He cared about the craft of acting and he wanted to stretch himself by playing a character as diametrically different from Superman as he could find. So, he became Richard Collier in “Somewhere in Time” and, with Jane Seymour, created a timeless love story about a man who committed himself to be with the woman he loved ... through the sheer force of his own indomitable will. That’s why Reeve’s death came as such a great shock to me. I believed with every ounce of my being that his sheer will would some day have him walking again. The last time I saw him was about two years ago at his house in upstate New York. He was tremendously excited to be spending more and more time off the respirator to which he had been so tethered. He proudly showed me how he could move his finger on command and he was thrilled that he could actually spend so many precious minutes each day actually “smelling the coffee” when he was off his respirator. Tragically, his body gave out on Sunday, but not his will and certainly not the indelible imprint of his spirit. The man who portrayed ‘Superman’ on the screen actually personified that very energy in real life and it will be that image of grace, courage, and dignity that will form the legacy of Christopher Reeve. In the end, he indeed won his battle after all. I celebrate that legacy with a bow of my head to a man who now walks again ... into the majesty, power and grace that his life will symbolise forever.
— IANS |
|
‘Bride and Prejudice’ tops UK charts London, October 15 The film, produced by NRI film producer Gurinder Chadha, edged out romantic comedy ‘Wimbledon’ from the top spot to third, according to Screen International. Horror film ‘Saw’ continued in its second slot, grossing the date 3,062,930 pounds. Critics in leading London dailies had written off “Bride and Prejudice”, a Bollywood version of Jane Austen’s classic novel “Pride and Prejudice.” The common element of each review was the effusive praise for the leading lady Rai, referred to as the India’s Audrey Hepburn. Tom Cruise starrer ‘Collateral’ was at seven followed by ‘Hero,’ a martial arts extravaganza. — PTI
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Video
