 |
|
|
London Mayor suspended over
Court orders confiscation of Zardari’s assets
Nepali Congress spokesman, five others released
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
51 killed in
Bangladesh factory fire
Lanka, LTTE agree to stop violence
Arroyo declares emergency in Philippines
|
|
London Mayor suspended over Nazi jibe
London, February 24 A three-member Adjudication Panel for England unanimously ruled that Livingstone had been “unnecessarily insensitive and offensive” to Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold in February last year. “His treatment of the journalist was unnecessarily insensitive and offensive,” said David Laverick, chairman of the disciplinary panel sitting in central London. “He persisted with a line of comment likening the journalist’s job to a concentration camp guard, despite being told that the journalist was Jewish and found it offensive to be asked if he was a German war criminal.” Livingstone was not present at the hearing. Laverick said: “The reasonable onlooker would regard Livingstone’s reputation as being damaged as a result of the exchange. The case tribunal has also concluded that the remarks have also had the effect of damaging the reputation of his office of Mayor.” Since Livingstone lost the case, he must pay his own costs - estimated at more than $ 80,000. He can appeal the decision at the High Court. Sir Anthony Holland, chair of the Standards Board for England, said: “The public expects all elected members to conduct themselves in a manner that is beyond reproach. It is right that the facts of this case have been aired and considered in public in this way.”
— PTI |
|
Court orders confiscation of Zardari’s assets
Islamabad, February 24 The Accountability Court in Rawalpindi ordered the confiscation of Mr Zardari’s properties in Hyderabad, Sindh, Sukkur and Sangar. The prosecution had accused Mr Zardari of impersonation by importing a 1993 model BMW armoured luxury vehicle in the name of a student with intent to evading duties during his wife’s regime. It argued that Mr Zardari had deprived the national exchequer of an import duty of Rs10 million during the second stint of Ms Bhutto, who lived in Dubai and London in self-exile. Mr Zardari went abroad last year after the Supreme Court granted him bail in separate cases. The Interpol recently issued Red Corner notices against Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari at the instance of the Pakistan Government intimating its member countries about the cases the two faced in their country. Mr Zardari went abroad after his release from an eight-year imprisonment in 2004 and lived with Ms Bhutto and his children. He recently underwent a heart surgery. Terming the court order as part of “victimisation” policy being pursued by President Pervez Musharraf to pressure Ms Bhutto to accept a political deal on his terms, the Pakistan Peoples Party said Ms Bhutto should not return from her self-exile, should not contest elections and hand over leadership of the party to someone else. — PTI |
|
Nepali Congress spokesman, five others released
Kathmandu, February 24 Five other activists of the Nepali Congress were also released along with Sitaula following the apex court order, according to party sources. Sitaula is one of the members of the Central Movement coordination committee of the seven-party alliance for the restoration of democracy. He was re-arrested from his house two days after his release last week. Earlier, the leader was arrested while he was about to board a domestic airline's flight bound to Biratnagar on way to his home in eastern Nepal. Others released today were former Parliamentarian Shukra Raj Sharma, NC Nuwakot district committee president Jagadishwor Narsing KC, Dhading district committee president Ramnath Adhikari, General Convention member Dipak Giri and Binod Kayastha, president of Tarun Dal, the party's youth wing, said Nepali Congress Party's office secretary Sobhakar Parajuli. However, other prominent leaders of the party, including NC general secretary Ramchandra Poudyal, who were detained during peaceful demonstrations are yet to be released. — PTI |
51 killed in
Bangladesh factory fire
Dhaka, February 24 The fire swept through the KTS Composite Textile factory crowded with at least 500 night-shift workers, most of them women, last night, they said. "A total of 51 persons, 45 of them women, died so far in the blaze," a police official told reporters outside the factory building. More than 100 others were also injured in the fire, which broke out apparently due to an electric short circuit. The blaze came under control as fire fighters aided by army troops, who were called to join the salvage operations, struggled overnight to contain it. Fire officials said they found the main entrance to the factory locked and were forced to rescue trapped workers by breaking open windows and using ropes. Survivors alleged the victims were stuck inside as the fire whipped quickly through the four-storeyed building due to stacks of yarn lying on the floors and encroaching onto stairways.
— PTI |
|
Lanka, LTTE agree to stop violence
Geneva, February 24 According to a joint statement read out by Norwegian peace mediator Eric Solheim, the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will take all measures necessary to stop “intimidation, acts of violence, abductions or killings.” They also agreed to meet again in the Swiss village of Celigny for three days from April 19 to thrash out the more thorny issues that were not taken up during the talks concluded yesterday. The joint statement followed pressure from Sri Lanka’s main international backers — the USA, Japan, the European Union and Norway — who told the warring parties that they must show flexibility, after a frosty start of the talks on Wednesday. In a statement, the four had demanded a spirit of accommodation at the Swiss talks. But the two sides battled in the last hour to finalise the joint agreement. The problem holding up the statement was the word “agreement” after a reference to the ceasefire. The government did not want to call it the “ceasefire agreement” because they did not accept it as a valid agreement in the first place, but eventually was forced to give in, even as reporters were kept waiting for over two hours to start a press conference.
— PTI |
|
Arroyo declares emergency in Philippines
Manila, February 24 After a Cabinet crisis meeting, Arroyo issued an emergency proclamation saying there was a “tactical alliance” between the right-wing and communist forces to bring down the democratic rule in the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation. “The government has crushed this illegal action,” she said in a televised address as all forms of protest were banned in the capital and armed troops protected the presidential palace and military camps.
— AFP |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
