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PM praises Mauritius for backing India in UN Security Council
Montreal radio rapped for insulting
Sikhs
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India, China agree to discuss boundary
again
Pak test-fires Hatf-II missile Terri Schiavo dies, 13 days after her feeding tube was
removed
SC refuses to hear parents’ plea in Schiavo case
Chaplain John Butler Book shows his support for Terri Schiavo outside the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, on Wednesday. —Reuters
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PM praises Mauritius for backing India
Port Louis (Mauritius), March 31 "India has the will and the capacity to be a permanent member of the Security Council. Our membership will enhance its effectiveness, credibility and legitimacy" he said. Addressing the National Assembly here this afternoon, he paid compliments to the people of Mauritius for their resolute commitment to representative democracy. The Prime Minister said the remarkable success of the Mauritian democratic experience was doubly impressive, given the immense diversity of the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious character of the people. Dr Manmohan Singh said demographic and social diversity was not an obstacle to democracy but rather it was its essential counterpart. "India and Mauritius should lead the way in showing history and humankind that pluralism works, that it is the order of the day and that in embracing pluralism, we embrace global security. We live in a world where pluralism is buffeted by forces, which are inimical to peaceful coexistence and harmonious relationship within societies. "India and Mauritius, through their rich and successful experience of managing diversity and pluralism in an inclusive framework, stand out as beacons of hope for the future", he added. The Prime Minister paid glowing tributes to Sir Seewosagur Ramgoolam, whom he described as the Father of the Mauritian nation and a cherished friend of India. It was his vision that enabled the island nation to achieve remarkable progress in all fields in so short a time. He said Mauritius has demonstrated to the world that through hard work and enterprise it was possible to build a rainbow nation based on a robust democratic record, social harmony and provide respectable standards of living for its people. In this context, the Prime Minister mentioned an IMF study which described this phenomenon as the "Mauritian Miracle". Dr Manmohan Singh said India and Mauritius were inextricably knit together by abiding bonds of friendship, cultural, religious and shared historical experience. "In India, we are marking the 75th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's historic Dandi March.Whereas Mauritius celebrated its National Day on March 12. What better testimony can there be to the closeness and special bonds between our two countries?" he asked. The Prime Minister assured the National Assembly that India, as always, would stand by the side of Mauritius. He mentioned the state-of-the-art Cyber Tower that has come up in Port Louis with technical and financial help from India was an example of what India and Mauritius could build together. India would help Mauritius establish institutions of excellence, on the lines of the best technological and medical institutions in the country. He said similar collaborative ventures were possible in health, pharmaceuticals, education, professional training, finance and management and small and medium enterprises. The Prime Minister thanked Mauritius for the solidarity and support extended to the victims of tsunami in India. He said the catastrophic effects of the tidal waves once again brought into sharp focus the vulnerability of small island developing states and low-lying coastal areas to natural disasters. Earlier welcoming the Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Premnath Ramnath, described him as a great Parliamentarian
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Montreal radio rapped for insulting
Sikhs
Ottawa, March 31 The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council said the item on Montreal’s CKAC-FM was ‘’abusive and unduly discriminatory’’ and ordered the station to make a public apology. In a show broadcast in December 2003, CKAC-FM presenter Pierre Mailloux told listeners that immigrants who came to Canada should abandon their habits and traditions. “You cultural communities come from a wacko country. You live a wacko culture. Don’t bring it with you. That’s the message to convey,’’ he said. The council said while freedom of expression laws entitled Mailloux to express his opposition to wide-scale immigration, he had gone too far with his anti-Sikh comments. —
Reuters |
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India, China agree to discuss boundary
again
Beijing, March 31 "We had very good discussions during our Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said here while commenting on the two-day meeting of the 15th JWG on the India-China boundary issue. The fifth round of negotiations between the two Special Representatives will be held in New Delhi prior to the state visit of Wen, who will be in India from April 9-12, Mr Saran said. —
PTI Islamabad, March 31 “All desired technical parameters were validated,” a government statement here said. India has been informed about the test of the ballistic missile, also called ‘Abdali’. The missile has been test-fired several times in the past. As part of the usual confidence-building measures, prior notification of the test had been given to all concerned, the statement said. —
PTI |
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Terri Schiavo dies, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed
Pinellas Park, March 31 Schiavo died at the Pinellas Park Hospice where she lay for years while her husband and her parents fought over whether to let her die or not. Her death was confirmed to The Associated Press by Michael Schiavo’s attorney, George Felos, and announced to reporters outside her hospice by a family adviser. Brother Paul O’Donnell, an adviser to Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, said the parents and their two other children “were denied access at the moment of her death. They’ve been requesting, as you know, for the last hour to try to be in there and they were denied access by Michael Schiavo. They are in there now, praying at her bedside.” Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance that was believed to have been brought on an eating disorder. Court-appointed doctors ruled she was in a persistent vegetative state, with no real consciousness or chance of recovery. The feeding tube was removed with a judge’s approval on March 18 after Michael Schiavo argued that his wife told him long ago she would not want to be kept alive artificially. His in-laws disputed that, and argued that she could get better with treatment. During the seven-year legal battle, Florida lawmakers, Congress and President George W. Bush tried to intervene on behalf of her parents, but state and federal courts at all levels repeatedly ruled in favour of her husband. After the tube that supplied a nutrient solution was disconnected, protesters streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water. The Vatican likened the removal of her feeding tube to capital punishment for an innocent woman. The Schindlers pleaded for their daughter’s life, calling the removal of the tube “judicial homicide.” —
AP |
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SC refuses to hear parents’ plea in Schiavo case
Key allies of Terri Schiavo’s parents showed signs of dissension on Wednesday as two courts rejected appeals to keep the brain-damaged woman alive on her 13th day without nourishment. Late on Wednesday, the US Supreme Court declined a petition by Schiavo’s parents to have her feeding tube reinserted; it has repeatedly refused since 2000 to become involved in the case. And earlier in the day, a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta deflated supporters of her parents, who beat drums, prayed and waved posters of the Virgin Mary late into the night. "Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper,’’ wrote Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. Birch, who was nominated to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, wrote in a stinging opinion that a bill passed by Congress and signed by President Bush to shift control of the case to the federal courts amounted to lawmakers acting ``in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers’ blueprint for the governance of a free people — our Constitution.’’ As Schiavo’s parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, considered their options, several close supporters were critical of public statements by the couple’s attorney, David Gibbs, that contradicted the legal tactics and the public relations push of the Schindler family. The appeal was crafted in part by a prominent conservative activist and lawyer, Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice in Washington. Sekulow, who has taken up such causes as allowing Ten Commandments monuments in public buildings, said he collaborated with Gibbs at the request of Schiavo’s parents. Gibbs, who did not respond to interview requests, had previously said the Schindlers’ federal case was over. But he was proved wrong shortly before midnight on Tuesday, when the Schindlers filed an appeal arguing that federal courts have been applying the wrong legal standard by relying too heavily on state court findings. ``It was clear that David Gibbs said we’re done, and obviously we’re not,’’ Sekulow said in an interview. ``I don’t think that creates helpful atmospherics.’’ Sekulow’s comments are more than one lawyer questioning the statements of another. They also signal a shift in strategy. Days after the federal legal fight was declared over by Gibbs, the Schindlers filed petitions with the appeals court and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court justices did not explain their decision on Wednesday night, and it was not clear how they voted. They had turned down a similar request for an emergency order last week. — By arrangement with the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post
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Key allies of Terri Schiavo’s parents showed signs of dissension on Wednesday as two courts rejected appeals to keep the brain-damaged woman alive on her 13th day without nourishment.
Late on Wednesday, the US Supreme Court declined a petition by Schiavo’s
parents to have her feeding tube reinserted; it has repeatedly refused since
2000 to become involved in the case. And earlier in the day, a ruling by the US
Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta deflated supporters of her
parents, who beat drums, prayed and waved posters of the Virgin Mary late into
the night.
