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Japanese hostage beheaded in Iraq
Laden spectre stalks Bush, Kerry
American voters not influenced by Laden
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Southall parlours do brisk business
Arafat not suffering from leukaemia: aide
No burial in Jerusalem if Arafat dies: Sharon
Musharraf’s Kashmir formula premature: PPP
Pak PM to visit India
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Japanese hostage beheaded in Iraq
Tokyo, October 31 Al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s militant group had said on Wednesday it would behead Shosei Koda (24) within 48 hours if Japan did not withdraw its troops. ‘’To our regret, we have confirmed that the body is that of Shosei Koda,’’ Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference in Tokyo after a body was found in Baghdad. ‘’The act of terrorism to take the life of a civilian is absolutely vicious and we must not tolerate such acts,’’ he said. ‘’Japan, cooperating with the international community, must continue to fight terrorism firmly.’’ Top government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters that Japanese troops would stay in Iraq, where they were on a non-combat mission that is the military’s riskiest since World War II. ‘’We intend to continue as before with our humanitarian aid work,’’ Hosoda told journalists shortly after the headless body had been confirmed to be that of Koda. Iraqi police found the body in Baghdad yesterday. A news agency pool video obtained in Baghdad showed a corpse in a white, blood-soaked shirt and the severed head of a Japanese-looking man with a thin beard. The hostage incident poses a challenge to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a close ally of US President George W. Bush. Koizumi sent troops to Iraq despite opposition from majority of voters. DUBAI: Meanwhile, Iraqi-Polish hostage Teresa Borcz Khalifa appealed to her government on Sunday, saying her life depended on the withdrawal of Polish forces from Iraq as demanded by her Iraqi captors. “I am asking for help ... from Poland and the Polish people and whoever can help me,’’ Al-Jazeera television quoted her as saying in a video which showed her sitting under the black banner of the militant Islamic group, Abu Bakr al-Seddiq Salafist Brigades, that kidnapped her last week.
— Reuters |
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Laden spectre stalks Bush, Kerry
The spectre of Osama bin Laden haunted Mr George W. Bush and Mr John Kerry and latter reacted to the Al-Qaida leader’s dramatic intervention in their contest by trying to outbid each other on who best could deal with the terror threat.
As Bin Laden’s extraordinary video message sent shockwaves across the American heartlands, and with polls showing the two candidates tied only two days before the vote, Mr George W. Bush and Mr John Kerry placed the threat of terrorism and the spectre of 9/11 at the centre of their appeals to undecided voters. As they did so, news was coming in from Iraq of the bloodiest attack on US troops in seven months. Eight US marines were killed, prompting speculation that the long-awaited assault on Fallujah was imminent. The day also saw a bomb attack on the al-Arabiyah television station offices in Baghdad, which left seven dead. More than 25 other deaths were reported elsewhere in Iraq yesterday. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr Bush told supporters: “The person that sits in the Oval Office will determine the outcome of the war on terror and the economy.” Several hundred miles to the west, in Appleton, Wisconsin, Mr Kerry vowed to “lead the world in fighting a smarter, more effective, tougher, more strategic war on terror”. Mr Kerry said: “We will make America safer.” The issue of national security and the so-called “war on terror” has always been at the heart of this election campaign. But it is the virtual presence of Bin Laden on the campaign trail - his image beamed on to the television screens of millions of Americans -that most threatens to tilt the outcome of Tuesday’s vote one way or another. It is impossible to know which candidate will benefit. Analysts said yesterday that while the 18-minute video, only sections of which was broadcast, was an uncomfortable reminder that Mr Bush had failed in his vow to take Bin Laden “dead or alive”, the Al-Qaida leader’s presence and the perceived threat he represented might cause voters to rally around the commander-in-chief. Mr Bush certainly hopes so. Without providing details, officials said he had ordered his aides to take whatever steps were necessary to guard against a new terror attack. He also sharply attacked Mr Kerry, saying that he was not equipped to protect America. “The terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people are still dangerous and they are determined,” Mr Bush told a crowd of 17,000. “The outcome of this election will set the direction of the war against terror. Senator Kerry has chosen the path of weakness and inaction. “In times of war and in hours of crisis, Senator Kerry has turned his back on ‘Pay any price’ and ‘Bear any burden’, and he’s replaced those commitments with ‘Wait and see’ and ‘Cut and run’.” Mr Bush has repeatedly cast himself as a war-time leader willing to take tough decisions. Mr Kerry, by contrast, has argued that Mr Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, costing the lives of more than 1,000 US troops and many thousands of Iraqi civilians - a recent estimate in The Lancet put the figure at 100,000 - has been a diversion from the real threat facing America. On Friday Mr Kerry seized on the new video of Bin Laden to remind Americans that in November, 2001, he was close to being captured but was allowed to escape because Mr Bush allowed Afghan fighters and not American troops to surround the Al-Qaida leader. “As Americans we are absolutely united, all of us - there are no Democrats, there are no Republicans - as Americans, we are united in our determination to destroy, capture, kill Bin Laden and all of the terrorists,” he said yesterday.
— By arrangement with The Independent, London |
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American voters not influenced by Laden
New York, October 31 Even the undecided said the tape would not influence their decision, The New York Times reported on the basis of dozens of interviews in five key states after the broadcast of Bin Laden’s new message. Some thought Bin Laden was trying to tip Tuesday’s election toward Mr Kerry while others said he was angling for four more years for President
Bush.— PTI |
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Southall parlours do brisk business
Southall (London), Most parlour windows were stamped with fluorescent orange and green paper posters spelling out rates of beauty treatment for henna application on the hands and facial and hair-cut. Married women accompanied by their young daughters waited patiently for their turn at these parlours to get their hands decorated with breathtaking henna patterns for £5. Others who were happy with quick-fix solutions picked up easy-to-apply and easy-to-remove mehndi tattoos for a pound each. Some women were seen buying mehndi conesw from Karachi for £1.50 (approximately Rs 120) to try their hand at mehndi art and enjoy the fun. The owner of Khalsa Superstore, a Sikh from Afghanistan, said mehndi tattoos made in Mumbai were much in demand as they were safe, non-toxic, waterproof and could be applied in seconds. He said they cost only £1 and could be easily removed by nail polish remover or a good cold cream. Henna hand painters and beauticians were most sought after and the more enterprising among them went beyond the parlours to offer services at more visible spots on the streets. Veena Saffar who runs Veena’s Visage housed in the Himalaya Cinema complex on South Road had a busy day pacing up and down the shopping centre to supervise her staff work. The rates for mehndi application on the hands vary from parlour to parlour. Anju who works in Roop Ki Rani, a parlour in Broadway, says she decorated close to 50 hands. The parlour charges £2.50 for painting both hands. Shweta who runs the flmi sounding parlour with her mother Shashi Sandhu goes about the festival business in a methodical manner. She hands over clients a booklet on Moghlai henna design by Rohini Ruparel, a specialist in bridal Arabic mehndi to enable them pick up a design of their choice. A graduate in cosmetology from the London College of Fashion, Shewta says her colleagues work non-stop on Karva Chauth day. She advises clients to apply sugar, lemon and water for longer lasting decoration on the hands. Babito parlour, a stone’s throw from the Southhall railway station, attracted a large number of Indian clients on the eve of Karva Chauth. At 6.30 pm, there were no signs of the shop shutting down at 7.30 pm. The Kenya-born shop owner said the bookings for mehndi would keep them occupied all evening and they have decided to down shutters only at 10 pm. The normal timing is 10.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. The parlour was
offering a package of hari wash, blow dry, mini facial and henna application and colour for £ 18. |
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Arafat not suffering from leukaemia: aide
Clamart (France), October 31 “Arafat does not have leukaemia,” Mohammed Rashid, a close Arafat aide, said last night. “It’s been ruled out.” Results from additional tests to determine what was wrong were due on Wednesday, he said. Arafat was rushed on Friday from the West Bank to a French military hospital after being ill for two weeks with what was initially described as flu. The Palestinian leader’s symptoms included vomiting and diarrhoea. But Rashid, speaking to reporters at a Paris hotel where a contingent of Palestinian officials was staying, said Arafat was eating again yesterday. The comments from Rashid, Arafat’s financial adviser, were more definitive than those hours earlier from Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France. Addressing concerns that Arafat might have blood and bone marrow cancer, she said, “The doctors exclude, already from what they have done in terms of exams, any possibility of leukaemia.”
— AP |
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No burial in Jerusalem if Arafat dies: Sharon
Jerusalem, October 31 As the Palestinian father figure is battling for his life in hospital, Sharon said Arafat would be allowed to return to his Ramallah headquarters, but asserted he would block requests by Palestinian authorities to bury their leader in Jerusalem. “Israel had made a commitment to allow Arafat to return to the territories,” he said brushing aside a suggestion by Agriculture Minister Yisreal Katz during a cabinet meeting. About the iconic leader’s burial, he said, “So long as I am Prime Minister, Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem.” The issue can lead to major showdown with Wakf officials, who oversee the holy Muslim sites on the Temple Mount, rejecting Israel’s right to decide Arafat’s final resting place last week. “Nobody will tell us where to bury him and the final decision lies in the hands of the Palestinian people,” Wakf director, Adnan Husseini had said soon after the Palestinian veteran’s health went on the downslide. Israel and the US have shunned the Palestinian leader as a partner in peace accusing him of fomenting violence and harbouring terrorists.
— PTI |
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Musharraf’s Kashmir formula premature: PPP
Islamabad, October 31 The party “proposes confidence-building steps to defuse tensions on the pattern of the Sino-India relations and strengthening of the SAARC from a cultural to an economic framework,” a PPP spokesman said. Rejecting Musharraf’s proposal on Kashmir, the spokesman said “the PPP opposed this approach by the present regime as premature and unlikely to succeed while diluting Pakistan’s historic stand without a quid pro quo”. The party believed that New Delhi would reject the regime’s proposals. “This is exactly what New Delhi has done. The PPP showed its wisdom in making the correct analysis before New Delhi spoke,” he said.
— PTI |
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Pak PM to visit India Islamabad, October 31 Mr Aziz will travel to India and two other South Asian nations after Id-ul-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramzan, due in the third week of November. — Reuters
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In video: Bangladesh appeals for release of hostage in Iraq.
