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North Korea launches missiles
Blair’s deputy in new row
BBC reporter to add gloss to Putin’s reputation
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Teenager ordered to marry
65-yr-old
UK abolishes post of Lord Chancellor
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North Korea launches missiles
Tokyo, July 5 At least six missiles were launched early in the morning and a seventh some 12 hours later, Japanese and South Korean officials said. Russia said North Korea fired 10 missiles, but the report could not be confirmed. The long-range Taepodong-2 missile apparently failed 40 seconds into its flight, US officials said. Japanese and South Korean officials said the missiles fell into the sea separating the Korean peninsula from Japan. The UN Security Council was to meet later in the day, at Japan’s request, to discuss the latest move by the reclusive Stalinist state, a French spokesman at the United Nations said. South Korea’s military stepped up its alert level after the launch, Yonhap news agency cited a military source as saying. The two Koreas are technically still at war more than half a century after the inconclusive truce which halted the 1950-1953 Korean conflict. Some 30,000 US troops remain in South Korea under a mutual defence treaty. The United States warned North Korea against any more provocative acts and said Washington would take necessary measures to protect itself and its allies. “The United States strongly condemns these missile launches and North Korea’s unwillingness to heed calls for restraint from the international community,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said in a statement. The missile launches “demonstrate North Korea’s intent to intimidate other states by developing missiles of increasingly longer ranges”, he said. “We are consulting with international partners on next steps.” US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the multiple firings posed no threat to US territory. He said the launches might have been an attempt by Pyongyang to steal the spotlight away from Iran, which has been the main focus of US nuclear diplomacy in recent months. “Obviously, it is a bit of an effort to get attention, perhaps because so much attention has been focused on the Iranians,” Mr Hadley told reporters.
— Reuters
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London, July 5 The latest revelations about Mr Prescott, derided by critics as a figure of fun, are damaging to Mr Blair who is only just emerging from several months of sleaze and mismanagement allegations. Mr Prescott faces the threat of a parliamentary investigation after he disclosed he had met U.S. oil, sports and entertainment mogul Philip Anschutz who is bidding to turn London’s landmark Millennium Dome on the River Thames into a super casino. Opposition Conservatives say the matter has a “bad smell”. “Why on earth did the Deputy Prime Minister, the second-most powerful political figure in the land, have seven meetings with somebody who wants to bid for the only slot available for a regional casino,” asked Conservative Hugo Swire on BBC Radio. He has called for an investigation after it emerged Mr Prescott had stayed at Anschutz’s Colorado ranch last year. Combative Prescott, best known for punching a member of the public who hurled an egg at him during an election rally in 2001, said he had met Mr Anschutz, but that he had no power over gambling licence decisions. Mr Blair, who promised Labour would be “whiter than white” when it took power in 1997, has backed Mr Prescott, despite lurid headlines after he cheated on his wife with his secretary. While stripping him of most governmental responsibilities, Mr Blair kept him as his deputy. Mr Prescott was forced to give up his free official country residence after he was photographed playing croquet on its lawn in working hours. But amid calls, some from within Labour, for him to go, losing such a close ally would hurt Mr Blair. — Reuters
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BBC reporter to add gloss to Putin’s reputation
Moscow, July 5 Turning its back on the infamous Soviet approach to the Western media — a mixture of “no comment”, censorship, and obstruction — Moscow has signed a multimillion-pound contract with New York-based PR company Ketchum. Nobody is prepared to say how much the Kremlin has paid for the services of a company that has advised some of America’s biggest corporate names in the past, but it is thought that the figure is close to £4m. Tim Allan, a Downing Street protege of Alastair Campbell, is part of the Ketchum team as is Angus Roxburgh, the BBC’s man in Moscow in the 1990s. “When I was here during glasnost they were really opening up...It hugely improved Russia’s image,” Mr Roxburgh said. “But recently Russia has appeared to be sinking into itself. What we have been doing is urging them to open up again. Ketchum has up to 50 spin doctors and media specialists working around the clock in nine countries to ensure that at the end of this year people shed their stereo-typical image of Russia as a bellicose country in which bears roam the streets and the Kalashnikov is mightier than the pen. The company has its work cut out, though Russia’s moment in the limelight is also an opportunity for its critics to strike and Moscow does not want its moment spoilt by what it sees as Russophobes. It is the first time Moscow has chaired the G8 and it sees this year and the showcase summit in St Petersburg, as an opportunity to show the world it is a confident yet reasonable power after the chaos of the 1990s. Several US senators and human rights groups see thing differently. They believe Russia should not be in the club of the world’s richest industrial nations at all. Their greatest concern is about Russian democracy. Western critics allege that President Vladimir Putin has used the past six years to roll back the gains of the 1990s in favour of authoritanism. The broadcast media is little more than a Kremlin mouthpiece, it is claimed, while any political opposition is starved of publicity, harassed, and some-times jailed.
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Teenager ordered to marry
65-yr-old
Islamabad, July 5 A village council headed by Mai's brother Hazoor Bakhsh has reportedly ruled that Nazir Ahmed, who was accused of raping an eight-year-old girl should marry his 16-year-old sister to Ghulam Rasul, the father of the raped girl. Nazir accepted the council's decision but later refused to marry his sister with
Rasul. The case came to light when Rasul complained to the police alleging that Nazir has “illegally” detained his “wife” (Nazir's sister), Daily Times reported today. The incident took place in Muzafargarh block in Punjab district. A police official of Muzafargarh, Rai Tahir said the police had registered a rape case and arrested Nazir. “We will take action against the local jury if it is found guilty of giving a wrong decision.”
— PTI
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UK abolishes post of Lord Chancellor
London, July 5 It spells the end of the role of Lord Chancellor, the oldest office in the land after the monarchy, and currently held by Charles Falconer, an old friend and appointee of Blair. The job of Lord Chancellor combined the duties of Speaker in the Lords, Chief Justice and Minister of Justice. It had been held over centuries by saints, schemers and traitors. The Lord Chancellor traditionally wore a wig and stockings and sat on the woolsack -- a ceremonial cushion. Hayman now takes up her seat on the woolsack but, unlike the current Lord Chancellor, she will be neither a member of the cabinet nor responsible for a government department. Nor will she have a judicial role.
— Reuter
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