W O R L D

Blasts: investigation in full swing, UK police nabs one
London, July 12
Making a major breakthrough in last week’s bombings here, the police today arrested one person following raids on residences in Leeds in northern England and seized of a car in Luton.

G-4 moves draft resolution in UN
United Nations, July 12
The G-4 countries — India, Japan, Germany and Brazil
— have formally introduced in the United Nations General Assembly their framework resolution for the expansion of the 15-member Security Council. The resolution urged the creation of six permanent seats and four non-permanent rotating seats.

India, China flay moves to divide developing nations
Dalian (China), July 12
India and China have jointly voiced “serious concern” over attempts by some developed countries to “sub-classify” the developing nations so as to “divide” them even as WTO negotiations on key issues like agriculture and services have reached a critical stage.

US offers spy planes to Pakistan
Islamabad, July 12
In an apparent balancing act following concerns expressed by Pakistan over the recently signed 10-year defence pact between India and the US, Washington has offered to sell its Hawkeye-2000 surveillance planes to Islamabad.

This image, made available by publishers Bloomsbury in London on Tuesday, shows the cover of the latest Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowling. The book is scheduled to hit the stores on July 16.
— AP/PTI

	Lahore-Amritsar bus to start by July-end July 12, 2005
	Three Sikhs allege Malaysian cut their hair July 11, 2005
	Man being quizzed for lead to London blasts July 10, 2005
	Major US cities put on heightened alert July 9, 2005
	Traffic chaos in London July 8, 2005
	Anti-G8 demonstrators clash with police July 7, 2005
	India, Pak agree to expand economic ties July 6, 2005
	China skirts UN Security Council seat issue July 5, 2005
	Manmohan Singh, G-8 leaders to discuss issues like climate change July 4, 2005

Opposition to expansion not country-specific, says Pak PM
Islamabad, July 12
As India and other G-4 countries stepped up efforts to get permanent seats in the UN Security Council, Pakistan has claimed that its opposition to the expansion of the world body’s top organ was not “country-specific” but based on principles.

Hatred Bill cleared in Commons
London, July 12
A fresh legislation enabling the government to clamp down on expressions of religious hatred in the UK has been cleared in the House of Commons but is expected to face a rocky ride in the House of Lords.

Way for women bishops cleared
London, July 12
The General Synod of the Church of England has voted to ditch legal obstacles preventing the ordination of women as bishops, delighting church modernisers but prompting traditionalists to warn of new divisions.

Girl from Indian leper colony graduates in UK
London, July 12
An Indian girl who grew up in a remote leper colony in Bihar has overcome all odds to graduate with flying colours from the UK.

8 Hindu pilgrims die in Nepal boat capsize Kathmandu, July 12 Eight Hindu pilgrims were killed and seven others went missing after their boat capsized in the flooded Kamala river in Janakpur town of Nepal’s Dhanusha district, bordering India, the police said today. — PTI

Pak national murdered in UK London, July 12 A Pakistani man, Kamal Raza Butt, was killed in a suspected racial attack in the central English city of Nottingham, the police said today, amid fears that such assaults could increase in the wake of last week’s bombings in London. — AFP

Hate law cleared in Commons London, July 12 A fresh legislation enabling the government to clamp down on expressions of religious hatred in the UK has been cleared in the House of Commons but is expected to face a rocky ride in the House of Lords. — PTI

US actor Tom Cruise gestures to the crew from a speedboat while filming Mission Impossible III on the Tiber river in Rome on Tuesday. — Reuters

Video

Four Arab militants escape US detention centre in Bagram, Afghanistan. (28k, 56k)

 

 

 

Blasts: investigation in full swing, UK police nabs one
H.S. Rao

London, July 12
Making a major breakthrough in last week’s bombings here, the police today arrested one person following raids on residences in Leeds in northern England and seized of a car in Luton.

The police also believe that at least one of the suspected bombers died in Thursday’s blasts that killed 52 persons and injured 700 others.

“One man has been arrested in West Yorkshire and will be brought to London to be questioned,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke told a press conference here.

However, Sky News television, quoting police sources reported that all four suspected bombers died during the serial bombings in London. Three bombers died in separate Tube attacks, while another was killed in a bus blast at Tavistock Square.

The television station also said that all four suspected bombers were British citizens.

Mr Clarke said at least three of the suspected bombers came from West Yorkshire, where police carried out raids earlier in the day. The home addresses of the three suspects were among the residences raided by the police.

Mr Clarke, who heads the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist squad, said one bomber had died in the explosion between Aldgate and Liverpool Street Underground stations.

Close Circuit Television footage showed that all four suspects had arrived at King’s Cross station by 8.30 a.m. on Thursday, about 20 minutes before the blasts on three Tube trains, he said. — PTI

G-4 moves draft resolution in UN

United Nations, July 12
The G-4 countries — India, Japan, Germany and Brazil — have formally introduced in the United Nations General Assembly their framework resolution for the expansion of the 15-member Security Council.

The resolution, introduced last evening by Brazilian envoy to the United Nations Ronaldo Moto Sardenberg, urged the creation of six permanent seats and four non-permanent rotating seats. The G4 is lobbying for one permanent seat each and two for the African Union members.

The date for voting on the resolution has not been decided yet, but it is expected to take place later this month after a proposed July-23 meeting in New York between G4 foreign ministers and their counterparts from the African Union.

The draft needs a two-thirds majority in the 191-member Assembly for adoption. Mr Sardenberg, moving the resolution on behalf of G-4, rejected suggestions that the expansion of the council should be done only through consensus.

The G4 had earlier dropped their demand for veto power for all permanent members, proposing instead that the decision on the veto for the newly added members could be reviewed in 15 years.

During the first day of discussions on the draft, the G4 was strongly backed by France, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania and Bhutan.

Pakistan gave the strongest opposition to the resolution.

Islamabad is part of group of around 20 nations, which have circulated a resolution that seeks 10 new non-permanent members.

All speakers, however, have agreed on expansion as the present council reflects the power structure at the end of World War II. — UNI

India, China flay moves to divide developing nations
Anil K. Joseph

Dalian (China), July 12
India and China have jointly voiced “serious concern” over attempts by some developed countries to “sub-classify” the developing nations so as to “divide” them even as WTO negotiations on key issues like agriculture and services have reached a critical stage.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who had a “fruitful” bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Bo Xilai here late last night on the sidelines of the Dalian Informal Ministerial Meeting (IMM), said both sides viewed with “serious concern” the attempts by some developed nations to divide the developing countries.

India and China will work together in the current Doha round of world trade talks based on their shared interests and concerns in many areas of the ongoing negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA), the ministers said.

During their 50-minute meeting, last night, both Mr Kamal Nath and Mr Bo expressed their resolve to resist attempts to divide the developing nations.

Mr Bo drew the attention of the Indian Minister into attempts at “sub-classification of developing countries” by the developed nations into advanced developing countries, developing countries and the least developed countries (LDCs). — PTI

US offers spy planes to Pakistan

Islamabad, July 12
In an apparent balancing act following concerns expressed by Pakistan over the recently signed 10-year defence pact between India and the US, Washington has offered to sell its Hawkeye-2000 surveillance planes to Islamabad.

The American offer to sell the planes was made during a briefing held for top Pakistani defence officials on board US aircraft carrier Nimitz, currently anchored 171 km off the Karachi coast.

Two Hawkeye aircraft were also flown to the Pakistan Navy station PNS Mehran in Karachi yesterday for display for defence officials.

The US had earlier offered to sell surveillance aircraft, being used by the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to spy on the movements of the terrorists, to Pakistan. — PTI

Opposition to expansion not country-specific,
says Pak PM

Islamabad, July 12
As India and other G-4 countries stepped up efforts to get permanent seats in the UN Security Council, Pakistan has claimed that its opposition to the expansion of the world body’s top organ was not “country-specific” but based on principles.

Pakistan, along with Italy, formed a “Coffee Club” at the United Nations to campaign against the G-4 countries’ bid for permanent membership of the UNSC.

The UN needs reforms to reinvigorate and reinvent itself in order to play its role more effectively, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, currently touring Germany, said at a function at Bertelsmann Foundation in Berlin yesterday. — PTI

Hatred Bill cleared in Commons
H. S. Rao

London, July 12
A fresh legislation enabling the government to clamp down on expressions of religious hatred in the UK has been cleared in the House of Commons but is expected to face a rocky ride in the House of Lords.

MPs gave the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill a third reading by 301 votes to 229, a majority of 72, last night.

Shadow attorney-general Dominic Grieve said the Bill would not improve race relations. But Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said: “I believe we need to take on the hate-mongers, whether they are terrorists or extremists.” — PTI

Way for women bishops cleared

London, July 12
The General Synod of the Church of England has voted to ditch legal obstacles preventing the ordination of women as bishops, delighting church modernisers but prompting traditionalists to warn of new divisions. The synod had been debating the controversial issue since Friday as it moved towards allowing female bishops, 11 years on from the ordination of the first women priests. — AFP

Girl from Indian leper colony graduates in UK

London, July 12
An Indian girl who grew up in a remote leper colony in Bihar has overcome all odds to graduate with flying colours from the UK.

Rina (26), one of 3,000 Sunderland University students felicitated at a graduation ceremony yesterday, has perhaps faced more challenges in her young life than her fellow students.

Not content with three A-levels in Pharmacy, Rina is now concentrating on her next challenge — medical school. She also hopes to return to India to help fight the disease that devastated her family.

“To be a qualified pharmacist and to know about healing drugs is wonderful, but to be a doctor who can prescribe those drugs would be the perfect combination,” Rina was quoted as saying by The Telegraph here today.

Rina was barely seven years old when her father was afflicted by leprosy. Driven out of their village, her illiterate father was reduced to begging at Raxaul near the Nepal border, before the family found shelter at a leprosy mission in Sunderpur.

Having picked up reading and writing skills at the mission school, Rina’s life changed for the better after a chance meeting in 1994 with Lady Patsy Puttnam of Queensgate who was touring community projects in India. — PTI