W O R L D

Ex-Nepal PM held during protest
Kathmandu, September 4
Former Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was detained today, along with dozens of other political activists, when the police used tear gas to disperse a crowd at a pro-democracy demonstration, witnesses said.
In video: Maoists announce three-month ceasefire in Kathmandu. (28k, 56k)

Nepali Congress leader and former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala (centre) grapples with the police while trying to reach a restricted area at New Road in Kathmandu on Sunday — Reuters photo

Iran to solicit Pak’s support on N-issue
Islamabad, September 4
Iran’s new chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani arrives here on Monday for important consultations with top Pakistani leadership and to solicit Islamabad’s support against possible UN Security Council sanctions that Teheran faces over its controversial nuclear programme, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Saturday.

Rapes, killings hit Katrina victims
New Orleans, September 4
People left homeless by Hurricane Katrina told horrific stories of rape, murder and trigger-happy guards in two New Orleans centres that were set up as shelters but became places of violence and terror.

• First arrest since hurricane

US Chief Justice dead
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court William H. Rehnquist died yesterday night at his home in the Washington suburb of Arlington. He was 80.

14 perish in Paris fire
Paris, September 4
A fire killed 14 persons in a suspected arson attack in a high-rise apartment block in Paris today, the third major blaze in the French capital in just over a week, the police said.

Italian actress Monica Bellucci poses during a photo session in Venice  on Sunday. Bellucci stars in US director Terry Gilliam's latest movie The Brothers Grimm, which is being shown at the ongoing Venice film festival. 
— Reuters

	India to go ahead with gas pipeline project September 4, 2005
	Natwar vows to expand strategic ties with Iran September 3, 2005
	US dealing with one of worst natural disasters: Bush September 2, 2005
	Bush cuts short vacation as Katrina spreads devastation September 1, 2005
	Hurricane Katrina leaves 55 dead in USA August 31, 2005
	Residents flee as Hurricane Katrina moves in August 30, 2005
	Katrina upgraded to category 5 storm August 29, 2005
	Pak Senate panel seeks release of prisoners August 28, 2005
	Bid on Pervez’s life: 5 get death sentence August 27, 2005
	Pak Islamists want Sarabjit hanged August 26, 2005

Performers dance during the opening ceremony of the Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore on Sunday. The event began as a harvest moon celebration in ancient China. The event also marks the overthrow of the ethnic Mongols and their Yuan Dynasty in China. — Reuters

200 held for Bangladesh blasts
Dhaka, September 4
The Bangladesh security forces have arrested about 200 persons over last month’s wave of bombings and have tightened security amid concerns of more attacks, a government minister said today.

Pak deporting foreign students
Islamabad, September 4
As part of President Pervez Musharraf’s crackdown on extremist elements following the London terror attacks, Pakistan has started deporting hundreds of foreign students enrolled in the country’s madrassas, despite vehement protests by religious hardliners.

Ex-Nepal PM held during protest

Iran to solicit Pak’s support on N-issue
Qudssia Akhlaque
By arrangement with The Dawn

Rapes, killings hit Katrina victims

New Orleans, September 4
People left homeless by Hurricane Katrina told horrific stories of rape, murder and trigger-happy guards in two New Orleans centrs that were set up as shelters but became places of violence and terror.

Police and National Guard troops yesterday closed down the two centres, the Superdome arena and the city’s convention centre, but them penned them in outside in sweltering heat to keep them from trying to walk out of the city.

The refugees, who were waiting to be taken to sports stadiums and other huge shelters across Texas and northern Louisiana, described how the convention centre and the Superdome became lawless hellholes beset by rape and murder.

Several residents of the impromptu shantytown recounted two horrific incidents where those charged with keeping people safe had killed them instead.

In one, a young man was run down and then shot by a New Orleans police officer, in another a man seeking help was gunned down by a National Guard soldier, witnesses said.

The police here refused to discuss or confirm either incident. National Guard spokesman Lt Col Pete Schneider said: ‘’I have not heard any information of a weapon being discharged.’’

“They killed a man here last night,’’ Steve Banka, 28, told Reuters. ‘’A young lady was being raped and stabbed. And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing truck of them, and he jumped up on the truck’s windscreen and they shot him dead.’’

Wade Batiste, 48, recounted another tale of horror.

‘’Last night at 8 pm they shot a kid of just 16. He was just crossing the street. They ran him over, the New Orleans police did, and then they got out of the car and shot him in the head,’’ Batiste said.

A member of the family, Africa Brumfield, 32, confirmed the incident but declined to be quoted about it, saying her family did not wish to discuss it. But she spoke of general conditions here.

‘’There is rapes going on here. Women cannot go to the bathroom without men. They are raping them and slitting their throats. They keep telling us the buses are coming but they never leave,’’ she said through tears. — Reuters

First arrest since hurricane

New Orleans, September 4
The police made it's first arrest since the hurricane and flooding which was followed by wild anarchy in the city.

The prisoner who was arrested yesterday was also the first to be processed at a temporary detention centre being built at the city’s Greyhound bus station.

“It was early this afternoon, our tactical team caught him stealing,” said Johnny Creed, Chief of Operations for Louisiana public safety and corrections .Mr Johnny Creed said there had been no other arrests since the hurricane. “They haven’t been picking them up because there was no place to put them. If they collared them there was no place to go.” — AFP

US Chief Justice dead
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court William H. Rehnquist died yesterday night at his home in the Washington suburb of Arlington. He was 80.

“The Chief Justice battled thyroid cancer since being diagnosed last October and continued to perform his dues on the court until a precipitous decline in his health the past couple of days,” Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

Justice Rehnquist refused to hand over the helm of the nation’s top court despite being diagnosed with an aggressive form of thyroid cancer last year.

Justice Rehnquist was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon and took his seat on January 7, 1972. President Ronald Reagan elevated him to Chief Justice in 1986, a position in which he served until his death.

He was a strong opponent of abortion, gay rights, gun control and affirmative action for minorities. He presided over the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton following the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and led the nine-member court in a 5-4 decision on Florida ballots which handed George W. Bush the 2000 election.

President Bush learned of the death shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday, the White House said. After he was diagnosed with cancer in October, 2004, rumours swirled in Washington that the chief justice would step down. He promptly dispelled that notion in July, hours after he left a hospital where he was treated for a fever.

14 perish in Paris fire

Paris, September 4
A fire killed 14 persons in a suspected arson attack in a high-rise apartment block in Paris today, the third major blaze in the French capital in just over a week, the police said.

Two children were among the victims, most of whom were killed by smoke and fumes. At least 13 persons were hurt in the low-cost 18-storey building in the southern suburbs of the capital, a police spokesman said.

‘’The official toll is 14 dead but the toll is unfortunately going to rise,’’ he said.

Local officials said they suspected the fire was started deliberately in a letter box at the entrance of the building, and were looking for four young persons whom witnesses saw in the hallway just before the blaze started.

Many victims were choked or suffocated by the fumes in extremely high temperatures after opening their doors. — Reuters

200 held for Bangladesh blasts

Dhaka, September 4
The Bangladesh security forces have arrested about 200 persons over last month’s wave of bombings and have tightened security amid concerns of more attacks, a government minister said today.

"We don’t rule out chances of more attacks and so have been taking further measures to avert it,’’ Home (Interior) Affairs Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar told reporters after meeting senior police and intelligence officials.

No one has claimed responsibility for some 500 small-bomb explosions across the country on August 17, which killed two persons and wounded about 100.

But copies of a leaflet found at most bomb sites carried a call by banned Islamic extremist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen for the introduction of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, a Muslim democratic country. — Reuters

Pak deporting foreign students

Islamabad, September 4
As part of President Pervez Musharraf’s crackdown on extremist elements following the London terror attacks, Pakistan has started deporting hundreds of foreign students enrolled in the country’s madrassas, despite vehement protests by religious hardliners.

“While the government has started repatriating pupils to their native countries, the authorities of seminaries have sought more time for their deportation to enable the students to finish their examinations,” The Friday Times quoted Qari Mohammed Iqbal of Jamia Binoria as saying.

The Sindh authorities have so far deported 50 students. “We have arranged plane tickets for most of the 646 foreign students. The process will be complete by the middle of September,” a senior official told the paper. — UNI