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Rice, Straw in Iraq to break deadlock
Pope John Paul II remembered
20 die in China blast
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Beijing bans ‘Rolling Stone’
Rockets kill Pak soldier, injure children
Michael Jackson ‘Most Foolish American’
Bahrain says sunk boat was not licensed
Gulf not lucrative enough
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Rice, Straw in Iraq to break deadlock
Baghdad, April 2 The visit came a day after members of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s ruling Shi’ite Alliance bloc broke ranks publicly and joined calls for him to step down to improve chances of ending the political paralysis. “The fact that we’re going out to have these discussions with the Iraqi leadership is a sign of the urgency which we attach to a need for a government of national unity,” Ms Rice told reporters who travelled with the two ministers from Britain. US and Iraqi officials say a unity government, more than three months after December’s election, is vital to averting all-out war after five weeks of spiralling sectarian bloodshed. Ms Rice arrived in Baghdad with Mr Straw, a day after visiting his home region in northwest England. Mr Straw said: “We’re committed to Iraq, but we need to see progress and that is in everybody’s interest.” Their efforts follow a visit last month by leading US Senators who urged Iraq’s fractious politicians to bury their differences and reach agreement. “This is in many ways a time of testing for the Iraqi nation and for the Iraqi people. They need a government that can act on their behalf in this time of testing,” said Ms Rice. The move against Mr Jaafari, declared publicly by one leader and echoed, anonymously, by others came as parties held their latest round of talks yesterday on a grand coalition with the Kurds and Sunnis adamant in their rejection of Mr Jaafari. Although Iraqi officials said they had reached a deal on forming a national security committee designed to share out more responsibilities among Iraq’s feuding sects, there were no tangible signs of progress on the personnel of a new government. US and British officials worry that the paralysis will widen a political vacuum and fuel violence that is becoming more complex as Iraqis wait for their first full-term government since the US and British invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Sunni insurgents, Shi’ite militias and criminal gangs are all overlapping, deepening the country’s security crisis. US view
A US diplomat reiterated it was Washington’s “analysis” that Mr Jaafari had not scored well on two key criteria for Prime Minister — his ability to unite Iraqis and his competence as a leader. But, he stressed to reporters: “We have no preference.” He denied comments from rival Shi’ite leaders that President George W. Bush had directly asked them to drop Mr Jaafari.
— Reuters |
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Pope John Paul II remembered
Krakow (Poland), April 2 From early morning, believers thronged to the sanctuary of Divine Mercy at Lagiewniki, on the outskirts of the southern Polish city of Krakow, for a huge open-air mass to pray for the rapid beatification of the late pope. Polish President Lech Kaczynski was to be among the faithful paying tribute to Polish-born John Paul II, who died on April 2, 2005. "We came here to be with the pope, to tell him that he'll always be with us," believer Stanislawa Rosicka, 65, said. Krakow, John Paul II's home for four decades as priest, bishop and cardinal, before his surprise election to the papacy in 1978, has been draped in the papal colours of yellow and white, alongside the city's own flag. Ahead of today's commemorations in Rome, where international tributes will culminate in special prayers at 9:37 pm — the exact time the late pope died — Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul II's devoted personal secretary during his 26-year pontificate, yesterday celebrated mass at Krakow's historic Wawel Cathedral. The mass marked the end of investigations by a Polish-based tribunal hearing testimony into whether John Paul II should be beatified.
— AFP |
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20 die in China blast
Beijing, April 2 Twenty workers died on the spot, two injured and nine others were missing after the blast hit the explosives plant in Zhaoyuan city of the province yesterday, the official said. Rescuers were searching for the nine missing workers, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the provincial administration of production safety as saying. The injured had been hospitalised and were in stable condition, according to the administration. The blast occurred at a packing workshop of the plant when 31 workers were working at the site. |
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Beijing bans ‘Rolling Stone’
The Chinese edition of "Rolling Stone" magazine ground to a halt after China's media watchdog stopped publication of the recently launched Mandarin edition, blaming a legal technicality.
The ban came just three weeks after the first copies of the handbook of rock'n'roll counter-culture hit the news stands to widespread acclaim. An initial print run of 125,000 quickly sold out. The Shanghai bureau of the Government Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP), which keeps a close eye on new magazines for signs of dissent, said "Rolling Stone" had not fulfilled all the correct procedures to publish. Recent months have seen government censors clamp down on free expression in newspapers, magazines and on internet sites and weblogs. Without being explicit, the watchdog hinted there was more to the decision to stop publication than a mere technicality. "It's not simply a matter of procedure, because even if they handed in the right application, whether we would approve it remains a question," said Liu Jianquan, a spokesman for the GAPP. "So we have issued them a warning and told them to stop their illegal action." It is a far cry from the optimism of three weeks ago when the editor-in-chief, Hao Fang, wrote in a stirring Rolling Stone foreword: "From today onward, let us summon our readers that we may in the East also create a miracle worthy of this era." The challenge for the magazine, as for many other magazines setting up in China, is to appeal to readers looking for hard stories as well as the propaganda overlords of the Communist Party who brook no dissent. The inaugural edition bore the craggy features of Cui Jian, China's Bruce Springsteen, glaring in lurid red and gold from the front page. Also mentioned on the cover was Muzimei, a mainland writer whose steamy online sex diary earned her infamy and saw her weblog banned. Putting Cui Jian on the cover was a daring choice. The throaty protest singer is best known for "Nothing to My Name", a song widely seen as referring to the crackdown in 1989 on democracy activists in Beijing. He has only recently been rehabilitated by the government. — By arrangement with The Independent, London. |
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Rockets kill Pak soldier, injure children
Miranshah (Pak), April 2 The militants opened fire last night, targeting a fort in the Dattakhel area, west of
Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan semi-autonomous tribal region infested with Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters and their sympathisers. Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said one soldier was killed and four wounded in the attack on the fort. Residents said three children were wounded in a subsequent exchange of fire, but it was unclear which side had fired the rocket that hit their house. It was also unknown whether the attackers suffered any casualties as they fled in the darkness. In a separate rocket attack in the Shawal area of North
Waziristan, militants wounded three paramilitary troopers. — Reuters |
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Michael Jackson ‘Most Foolish American’
Los Angeles, April 2 The 47-year-old “King of Pop,” who is living in exile in Bahrain following his acquittal last June on child sex charges, snatched the dishonour for the fourth year running, according to a survey by a US public relations consultant. As many as 69 per cent of the 1,045 persons polled in a random telephone survey ahead of April Fool’s Day, said the singer had “done something foolish” in the past year that merited the title, the poll showed. “Michael Jackson seems to have a lock on the number one spot for the foreseeable future,” said the poll’s organiser Jeff Barge. “If Mr Cheney’s actions weren’t enough to oust him, it’s hard to imagine what could.” “And he hasn’t even been in the country”, Barge said, noting that Jackson was last spotted in Dubai shopping in a market wearing woman’s clothing. Cheney tied with US hotel heiress and socialite Paris Hilton for second place in Barge’s seventh annual April Fool’s poll. |
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Bahrain says sunk boat was not licensed
Dubai, April 2 “The owner of the ship had applied for a license in December 2005. He was asked to meet the regulations, the conditions, and he was given a list of regulations that were required,’’ Mr Hassan said. “He went away to complete the regulations but never came back to be licensed. So the ship is not licensed to be a sailing ship but it is registered as a fishing boat,’’ he said. At least 57 persons died when their twin-decked boat went down late last Thursday. The boat trip was sponsored by companies involved in a major construction project in Bahrain..
— Reuters |
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Gulf not lucrative enough
Dubai, April 2 People involved in procurement of labour say it is increasingly difficult to convince Indian professionals and labourers to work in the UAE, because salaries are stagnant against rising inflation, while the Indian economy is booming. They say the UAE construction sector is suffering the most according to news reports.
— UNI |
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