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Ugandan rebels mutilate women workers
USA cautions EU
Bush signs in favour of life
N-knowhow to Libya: US concealed Pak role
Experts not to visit Pak N-facilities
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17 Hindus killed in Pak
Pak arrests 24 Indians
Lit UK’s richest Asian media magnate
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Ugandan rebels mutilate women workers
Gulu, Uganda, March 21 Fighters from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have stepped up attacks on civilians and troops after the most significant peace talks for a decade was stalled late last year. "In Kitgum district yesterday the rebels caught seven women and cut off their breasts and lips," said Col Walter Ochora, Chairman of Gulu district, epicentre of the 19-year conflict. The total number of injuries was not immediately clear, with one newspaper saying only three women had been mutilated, but several others abducted, in the attack in the Agoro sub-county, about 20 km north of Kitgum town. The state-owned New Vision newspaper said one of the youngest rebels, aged about 16, cut off the victims' lips. The rebels, who roam the forests and savannah of the north, are difficult to contact for comment. Leaders in northern Uganda say the cult-like LRA has conducted hundreds of similar attacks during its campaign, saying the rebels conduct the mutilations to terrorise the population. Ochora, the top government official in Gulu, warned of the threat of more attacks, saying LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti had crossed into Uganda from hideouts in southern Sudan on Sunday with 300 fighters. "They are well-armed. Over the next two weeks you will see what they are going to do, the atrocities they will commit. The rebels want to make a point through a soft target, through the population," he said.
— Reuters |
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USA cautions EU
Beijing, March 21 Addressing a press conference on the second day of her visit to China, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the planned lifting of EU’s 16-year-old arms embargo against China would be sending the wrong signal. “The lifting of an arms embargo at this time would not be the right signal and might serve to alter the balance in a place the USA in particular has security interests because after all it is the American forces here in the Pacific that play the role of security guarantor,” Ms Rice said. However, she said it was up to the 25-member EU to decide. “It is the EU’s decision. We have made our position very clear to them. What has just happened in terms of the Anti-Secession law just demonstrates the unsettled nature of some of the relationships between China and others in the region,” she said at the end of her six-nation visit to Asian countries, including India.
— PTI Talk to Dalai Lama’s envoys: Rice
THE USA today asked China’s ruling Communist Party leadership to talk to representatives of the Dalai Lama on the vexed Tibet issue and allow religious and political freedom for its 1.3 billion persons, including Tibetans. “The USA hopes that there will be improved relations with the Catholic Church, with the Dalai Lama’s representatives so that Tibetans can clearly pursue their cultural interests,” Ms Rice told reporters at the end of her talks with China’s top leadership.
— PTI |
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Bush signs in favour of life
Washington, March 21 “Today, I signed into law a Bill that will allow federal courts to hear a claim by or on behalf of Terri Schiavo for violation of her rights relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life,” Mr Bush said in a statement. “In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favour of life.” The Bill was rushed to the White House for Mr Bush’s signature after US Congress, brushing aside concerns of overstepping its constitutional bounds, gave final approval to the Bill shortly after midnight.
— AFP |
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N-knowhow to Libya: US concealed Pak role
The Bush administration, in an effort to put diplomatic pressure on North Korea, misinformed its allies that Pyongyang had sold nuclear material to Libya and failed to mention Pakistan's role in the transaction.
The US intelligence officials say the shipment of uranium hexafluoride was sent from North Korea to Pakistan, which sold the material to Libya. Washington concealed Pakistan's role as both the buyer and the seller, intelligence officials told the Washington Post which first reported the story over the weekend. Bush administration officials briefed officials from China, South Korea and Japan in late January and early February. An intelligence official said the briefings did not mention Pakistan by name but implied that the sale went through a network operated by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced father of Pakistan's nuclear programme. But the briefings gave no indication that the US intelligence believes that the material had been bought by Pakistan and transferred there from North Korea in a container owned by the Pakistani government. They also gave no indication that the uranium was then shipped via a Pakistani company to Dubai and on to Libya. Denying the Post report, the White House said that the US government "has provided allies with an accurate account of North Korea's nuclear proliferation activities." Charles L. Pritchard, who was the Bush administration's special envoy for six-party talks with North Korea until August 2003, said: "The administration is giving Pakistan a free ride when they don't deserve it and hurting US interests at the same time." A year ago, Dr Khan admitted on television to selling nuclear know-how to Iran, Libya and Iraq. Since then Pakistan has insisted that his international network has been dismantled but has refused to let the International Atomic Energy Agency or foreign intelligence agencies interview the scientist. |
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Experts not to visit Pak N-facilities
Washington, March 21 The Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 44-nation alliance that oversees global exports of materials and equipment, had announced earlier this week that it is sending a team of experts to Pakistan. The NSG represents the world's top nuclear exporters. Media reports quoted chairman of the group Richard Ekwall as saying that his team will assess whether controls are in place to prevent illicit exports of sensitive atomic technology from Pakistan. But diplomatic sources in Washington said the NSG is a regulatory organisation which deals only with civilian nuclear facilities. |
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17 Hindus killed in Pak
Quetta, March 21 The fighting in the town of Dera Bugti erupted last Thursday after the tribesmen allegedly attacked a convoy of pickup trucks carrying paramilitary troops along a mountain road. Officials have said up to 45 persons, including eight soldiers, were killed in the clashes between the Frontier Corps troops and Bugti tribesmen, who dominate Dera Bugti. It was an alarming escalation of a low-level rebellion in Baluchistan, the country’s poorest province, where tribesmen are demanding more returns from the natural gas extracted from their territory and resent the army’s moves to set up garrisons in the region. Abdul Samad Lasi, a top government administrator in the area, said today that rockets in the fighting also damaged several homes of Hindus near the temple in Dera Bugti.
— AP |
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Pak arrests 24 Indians
Islamabad, March 21 The fresh arrests took place even as Pakistan was gearing up to handover 529 Indian fishermen languishing in various jails in Karachi to the Indian authorities. Officials in Karachi said the 24 Indian fishermen had been arrested along with their boats for entering into Pakistan waters. Earlier in the day, bad weather delayed the much-expected handover of 568 Indian prisoners, including 529 fishermen, at the Wagah border from Pakistan and it was likely to take place tomorrow. |
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Lit UK’s richest Asian media magnate
London, March 21 The Sunrise Radio group comprises the eponymous London analogue station and has expanded recently with the acquisition of Star FM and Time FM. It is expected to more than double pre-tax profits to £5 million this year. The Sunrise group also owns business in India and Sri Lanka. Mr Lit’s UK wealth is valued at £ 65 million. Mr Lit, whose Sunrise group commissioned the survey, said the Asian media rich list underlined changes within the Asian community in the UK. The top 10, compiled from a British Asian rich list, includes figures from the acting, writing and film industries. Second in the list is Lord Alli, the co-founder of production company Planet 24 and chairman of media rights group Chorion, owner of the Noddy and Miss Marple characters. The Labour peer, whose wealth is valued at £ 32 million has also made a £ 100 million bid for Virgin Radio.
— UNI |
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