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Two held for Bali bombings
Pakistan seeks Nuclear deal similar to India
Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus service: talks on October 25
3 share Nobel Physics Prize
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3 die in Baghdad car bomb explosion
Novel set in India sparks million-dollar
bidding bid
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Two held for Bali bombings
Kuta Beach (Indonesia), October4 At the top of the list are Malaysians Azahari-bin Husin and Noordin M. Top, fugitive leaders of the al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant Islamic network. The police says the group was behind the first Bali bombings in 2002, which killed 202 persons, and that Azahari and Top helped plan those and subsequent the deadly attacks on a luxury hotel and an embassy in Jakarta. Bali police chief Made Mangku Pastika said two persons were being questioned in connection with Saturday night’s suicide bombings at beach restaurants, which a hospital official said killed 22 persons and wounded 135. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited some of the wounded this morning. Deputy national police spokesman Soenarko Artanto said Azahari and Top were prime targets of the hunt. "Our original plan from the beginning is chasing these two masterminds. After the recent incidents, our hunt for them has been stepped up,’’ he said. Asked if he could confirm there was evidence linking the two men to the latest blasts, he said: "No, I cannot say that.’’
Official and private terrorism experts say the tactics in the blasts, including the use of suicide bombers as in other major attacks, are among the reasons they suspect the Malaysians. They also point to the coordination of the timing and selection of attack sites as evidence of extensive advance planning and involvement by Jemaah Islamiah or a similar group. A chilling video footage released by investigators this week shows a man in a black shirt and jeans strolling into a restaurant, followed almost instantly by an
explosion. The tape, and photos of three severed heads ,believed to be those of the bombers, are being widely shown by Indonesian media. A large contingent of Australian police officers arrived in Bali this week to help. Japan also sent a police counter-terrorism unit to the island, Kyodo news agency
reported. — Reuters |
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Pakistan seeks Nuclear deal similar to India
Islamabad, October 4 President Gen Pervez Musharraf had been requested by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Chairman Pervez Butt to formally seek nuclear deal from the USA and the West to meet the country’s 8,800 MW of electricity needs during the next 25 years. After the USA, the UK, Canada and France had also offered nuclear deals to India, which should also be offered to Pakistan failing which Islamabad would be constrained to look for other sources to meet its energy needs. Pakistan said it was in dire need of nuclear power plants to meet its energy target till the year 2030. “Denying Pakistan a nuclear package like that of India is a clear discrimination against a friend,” a source said, adding that the President has warned the USA and important western countries that there would be ‘‘no stability’’ in the region if India was continued to be favoured and Pakistan ignored despite being a strong ally of the international community against terrorism. The sources said that India has planned six new nuclear power plants after having assured the required nuclear cooperation by the Bush Administration, Britain, Canada and France. Pakistan has given the details to the USA and some other western countries of importing and establishing 13 nuclear power plants. Also, it said that China was helping to establish another 300 MW of power plant to help meet Islamabad’s power requirements. “The government has told the USA and the western countries that Pakistan deserves a nuclear deal because of being a matured nuclear operator and having a 33 years experience of safety,” a source said. The government also informed the USA and the western countries that Pakistan wanted to import nuclear power plants as a substitute to oil and global warming and that the whole programme would be under the active supervision of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). There are 440 nuclear power plants in the world, out of which 104 are being operated in the USA. About one trillion barrels of oil has so far been consumed in the last 125 years. “But now one trillion barrels of oil will be consumed in the next 25 years,” another source said, adding that all the latest details about oil consumption and power requirements of Pakistan had been given to the USA and the western countries. |
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Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus service: talks on Islamabad, October 4 They also agreed that a meeting of experts would be held in Islamabad on October 25 and 26 to start the Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus service at an early date. This is the first time that specific dates for holding technical-level talks on this particular bus service have been announced. They agreed that a meeting at the technical level would take place before the end of the year to discuss arrangements for operationalising the Rawalakot-Poonch bus service as early as possible and welcomed the agreement to operationalise the Amritsar-Lahore bus service next month. The Ministers held detailed and substantive discussions on the whole range of issues within the framework of the Composite Dialogue process and expressed d satisfaction over the progress in the Composite Dialogue since their last review meeting in September, 2004. A carefully-drafted Joint Statement, issued at the end of the talks, took care of the sensibilities of both sides. It said the two Foreign Ministers recalled the outcome of the discussions between the President of Pakistan and Prime Minister of India reflected in the Joint Statements of January 6, 2004, (the watershed bilateral document to which New Delhi attaches special significance) September 24, 2004, April 18, 2005 and September 14, 2005. The Pakistani side also got what it wanted with a specific reference to the Jammu and Kashmir issue. The two Ministers agreed that a technical level meeting would take place before December 2005 to discuss modalities for starting truck service on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar route for trade in permitted goods. They reiterated their commitment to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project and agreed that this would contribute significantly to the prosperity and development of their countries. The Indian side presented drafts for consideration proposing amendments to the existing agreements on visa, visits to religious shrines and new proposals for a Cultural Exchange Programme. The two sides agreed to pursue these matters under the Composite Dialogue framework. The two Ministers expressed satisfaction at the revival of the Joint Commission after a long gap of 16 years--- the inaugural session of which they presided over this afternoon--- and hoped that the Joint Commission would contribute significantly in strengthening the mutually beneficial relations and cooperation between the two countries. |
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3 share Nobel Physics Prize
Stockholm, October 4 Hall and Haensch won for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique while Glauber won for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence. “The important contributions by John Hall and Theodor Haensch have made it possible to measure frequencies with an accuracy of 15 digits,” the assembly said in its citation. “Lasers with extremely sharp colours can now be constructed and with the frequency comb technique precise readings can be made of light of all colours” it added.
— AP |
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3 die in Baghdad car bomb explosion
Baghdad, October 4 The vehicle entered the Green Zone, which houses the USA and British embassies and the Iraqi Government, by an entrance used by Iraqi employees, journalists and others to enter the complex. The police said the car exploded as it was being searched at a checkpoint inside the zone. The attack came on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which has been marked by surges in violence in the past. Those killed today were two Iraqi soldiers and a civilian, the police said. The six wounded were four Iraqi soldiers and two policemen. It was not immediately clear what sort of convoy was entering the area at the time. It is not the first time bombers have managed to penetrate the Green Zone, a vast area on the west bank of the Tigris river that used to be part of Saddam Hussein’s palace complex but has been occupied by the US forces since the 2003 invasion. Last October, on the eve of Ramadan, two Al Qaida suicide bombers blew themselves up in a coordinated attack deep inside the zone, targeting a popular restaurant and a nearby street, killing five persons, at least three of them
Americans. — Reuters |
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Novel set in India sparks million-dollar
bidding bid
New York, October 4 "It’s an extraordinarily compelling page-turner that also happens to be a major work of literature,’’ HarperCollins publisher Jonathan Burnham said today. A source close to the negotiations, pleading anonymity, said the deal was worth $1 million. Author Vikram Chandra’s previous books include
"Red Earth and Pouring Rain’’ and "Love and Longing in Bombay.’’ He worked seven years on his current novel, which centers on organised crime in modern Bombay and takes on
"religion, politics, money, corruption, idealism, family, loyalty, and betrayal,’’ according to a HarperCollins statement released yesterday. Chandra’s novel ranks among the longest fiction works in recent years, although a book published last summer, Paul Anderson’s historical novel
"Hunger’s Brides,’’ topped it at 1,300-plus pages. Seth’s
"A Suitable Boy’’ and Norman Mailer’s "Harlot’s Ghost’’ are among the 1,000-paged novels that have made to best-seller lists.
— AP |
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Best Orange Prize for
‘Small Island’
London, October 4 Small Island emerged as the 'Orange of Oranges' — a riposte by the women — only award to the Man Booker prize's 'Booker of Bookers' won by NRI writer Salman Rushdie for Midnight's Children. It is a story about the arrival of the Windrush generation in London in the late 1940s. The novel won the £30,000 Orange Prize in 2004. Weeks later, it won the £50,000 Whitbread Book of the Year Award, so becoming the first novel to take two of Britain's biggest prizes in the same year. Besides it won this year's Commonwealth Writers Prize. Amid pomp and ceremony, the honour was conferred on Levy in front of an audience of hundreds at a theatre in London's West End last night. Levy was born in London to Jamaican parents. Her three previous
books 'Every Light in the House Burning', 'Never Far from Nowhere' and 'Fruit of the Lemon' explore problems faced by black British born children of immigrants. Last night's honour was decided by the ten chairmen of judges since the prize's inauguration.
— PTI |
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