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Eight of Indian origin elected to Canadian House of Commons
IAEA’s Iran report to be ready by March 6
Life term for Indian American in shooting case
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Pervez’s rank down in list of dictators
US interrogator convicted
60 pro-democracy activists held
Licorice can prevent dental caries
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Eight of Indian origin elected to Canadian House
Eight Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) have been elected to the House of Commons in the 39th general elections in Canada which concluded late last night. An equal number of PIOs had won in the 38th general elections also.
Led by Stephen Harper, who will be Canada's next Prime Minister, the new Tory minority government ends a 12-year reign of the Liberal rule. The Conservatives got 124 seats in a House of 308 while the Liberals ended with just 103 seats. Elections were called after the Liberals, failing to defeat the no-confidence motion, called for fresh elections in November last year. Of the eight PIOs declared elected, seven — Mr Gurbax Malhi, Ms Ruby Dhalla, Mr Navdeep Bains,Mr Ujjal Dosanjh and Ms Nina Grewal — have retained their seats while Mr Sukh Dhaliwal will be the only new face representing PIOs in the House of Commons. He comes in place of Mr Gurmant Grewal who did not contest this time. Incidentally, Mr Gurbax Malhi, who was a Parliamentary Secretary in the previous two Liberal governments, has also set a record of sorts with his fifth consecutive election to the Canadian Parliament. This time he polled 56.68 per cent votes in what otherwise was described as a major dent by the Conservatives in the Liberal stronghold. Of 106 seats from the province, the Liberals could win only 54 this time against their near absolute clean record in the province during the past four elections. Conservatives got 40 seats while NDP too won 12 seats from Ontario. From Ontario, the successful PIO candidates — Mr Gurbax Malhi, Mr Navdeep Bains and Ms Ruby Dhalla — represent the Liberals. In Alberta, where the Conservatives made a clean sweep, both the successful PIOs — Mr Deepak Obhrai and Mr Rahim Jafeer — won their fourth consecutive parliamentary election. Incidentally, Mr Deepak Obhrai polled the highest number of votes by any PIO. He got 67.1 per cent of the total votes cast. In British Columbia, Mr Ujjal Dosanjh, who was the Health Minister in the last Liberal Government headed by Mr Paul Martin, won his Parliament seat for the second time. Also elected for the second successive time is Ms Nina Grewal of Conservatives. Though her husband, Mr Gurmant Grewal, did not contest this time from the Newton North Delta seat he had won for two successive terms, she came out a clear winner. The Newton-North Delta seat went to Mr Sukh Dhaliwal, a new entrant to the Canadian Parliament, who won on a Liberal ticket. An engineer by profession, he defeated among others two PIOs — Mr Sunny Athwal (Green Party) and Mr Harjit Daudharia (Communists). Among the candidates who could not make it to Ottawa again are Mr Bal Gosal, Mr Sam Hundal and Mr Raminder Gill (all Conservatives) from Ontario. The only PIO in the fray in Nova Scotia — Mr Rakesh Khosla (Conservatives) — lost to a Liberal candidate in Halifax West. In Alberta among notable losers were Mr Jaswinder Singh Johal and Mr Amarjit Grewal, both Liberal candidates. |
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IAEA’s Iran report to be ready by March 6
Vienna, January 24 Mohamed AlBaradei’s response, whose text was obtained by Reuters, said he had given Iran until a regularly scheduled March 6 board session to answer questions about its nuclear programme, which the West suspects aims to make nuclear bombs. “Due process, therefore, must take its course before (we) are able to submit a detailed report,” ElBaradei wrote. Western leaders want a broad accounting of Iran’s activities for the February 2 meeting to help them persuade sceptical Russia, China and developing states on the 35-nation board to agree to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. After ElBaradei turned down verbal requests from European Union powers and Washington to move up a full report, the US, British, French as well as Australian ambassadors to the IAEA pressed their case in letters sent to him at the weekend. A British-French letter, seen by Reuters, requested a “short progress report” on the period since the last IAEA board in November, covering verification of Iranian declarations and monitoring of Iran’s voluntary suspension of uranium-enrichment work. Iran scrapped the suspension on January 9 by removing seals from nuclear-related equipment and announcing it was resuming nuclear fuel research and development, angering the West. The British-French letter also asked ElBaradei to explain to board members the significance of a document given by Iran to IAEA inspectors last year containing what some diplomats said were the instructions for making the core of a nuclear bomb. Iran denies accusations that it it seeking nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian atomic energy programme, saying it aims only to generate electricity for a growing economy. — Reuters
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Life term for Indian American in shooting case
New York, January 24 A jury deliberating over two days on whether to recommend the death penalty for Biswanath Halder, convicted in the internationally publicised case that took place on the Case Western University campus, asked that he be sentenced to life in prison without parole. The jury made its recommendations on January 20 in the court of Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in Ohio. The case was presided over by Judge Peggy Foley Jones. Halder, 65, killed graduate student Norman Wallace when, armed with more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, he walked into the business school building on May 9, 2003. He held several people hostage in the building for hours. Two people were injured. Halder’s attorneys argued the 65-year-old’s life should be spared because he was mentally ill. A psychologist testified that Halder was sane but delusional. Halder, originally from Kolkata in India, believed a Case Western computer laboratory employee hacked into his web site devoted to helping fellow Indians set up businesses. The former graduate student’s delusions included believing that he would earn billions of dollars from the website and help change the world, his attorneys said. Students and faculty in the business school on the day of the siege saw a gunman dressed in body armour, a wig, and an army helmet shooting randomly. Halder was eventually captured by a police team.
— IANS |
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Pervez’s rank down in list of dictators
Silicon Valley, January 24 The publication, which gets distributed with every newspaper in the USA, ranked Musharraf as 17th in its list of dictators. The magazine said it produces such an annual list “to remind people of those heads of state who terrorise and abuse the rights of their own people.” Last year, the magazine had ranked Musharraf as 7th in the‘world’s 10 worst dictators list’. Explaining the change in rankings, the magazine said “the General had slipped out of the top-10 not because his conduct had improved but because other dictators have gotten worst.” The top-10 list is headed by Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, followed by Kim Jong-Il of North Korea, Than Shwe of Burma, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Hu Jintao of China, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Samparmurat Niyazov of Turkmentistan, Sayyed Ali Khamanei of Iran and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. Writing about the Pakistan President, the publication said “General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a military coup that overthrew an elected government. He appointed himself President of Pakistan in 2001 and then attempted to legitimise his rule by staging an election in 2002. However, the election did not come close to meeting international standards.” — PTI
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Fort Carson, January 24 Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr., who had faced up to life in prison for the death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush during an interrogation session, was ordered to forfeit $ 6,000 salary and was restricted to his place of work, worship and barracks for 60 days. The sentence now went to the commanding general, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Mixon, who can order a lighter sentence or set the whole verdict aside. Welshofer, 43, had originally been charged with murder, but instead he was convicted on Saturday of homicide and dereliction of duty. — AP
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60 pro-democracy activists held
Kathmandu, January 24 Meanwhile, former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala called on people to actively boycott the February 8 municipal polls. In a statement, he also urged people to intensify the anti-King agitation.
— PTI |
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Licorice can prevent dental caries
Washington, January 24 In test tube studies, the scientists showed that an extract from a plant root that is used to make licorice candy and other products contains at least two compounds that appear to be potent inhibitors of Streptococcus mutans, a major cause of dental caries. Their study is scheduled to appear in the Journal of Natural Products, a monthly peer-reviewed joint publication of the American Chemical Society and the American Society of Pharmacognosy. More studies are needed before it is proven that the compounds effectively fight cavities in humans, caution Qing-Yi Lu, Ph.D., a chemist at UCLA's School of Medicine, and Wenyuan Shi, Ph.D, a microbiologist at UCLA's School of Dentistry. If further studies show promise, the licorice compounds could eventually be used as cavity-fighting components in mouthwash or toothpaste, they say. — ANI
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