 |
|
|
Economic Crisis
Pak beauty hopes to spread message of peace
Nigerian with 86 wives slapped with ‘fatwa’
Palin: Clothes to go to charity
Japan, China to set up hotline
|
|
|
NATO warships ready to tackle piracy off Somalia
Indian-origin doc quits after admitting plagiarism
|
|
Economic Crisis
President Asif Ali Zardari has blamed injudicious use of billions of dollars of assistance and remittances in the wake of 9/11 terror attacks as responsible for the present economic crisis.
“We could have averted the present difficult economic situation if tens of billions of dollars received in assistance and foreign remittances during the past several years after 9/11 had been wisely spent on infrastructure development instead of importing consumer goods,” Zardari said while talking to a group of businessmen. The president asked the businessmen to step forward and help them overcoming the current economic and financial difficulties. He stressed the need for innovative and bold approaches and gave the example of Dubai, which despite its tiny size and small population had attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, besides tourists on a large scale. Zardari said he would hold similar meetings with business and industry representatives in the future also. He said meetings of relevant ministries with representatives of various sectors of business and industry should be held on a regular basis to propose solutions to the problems particular to that sector. The members of the business community assured the president of their support in the present crisis and lauded the business-friendly policies of the present government to attract more investment.
|
|
Pak beauty hopes to spread message of peace
Islamabad, October 24 Nosheen Idrees, a student of communications at the University of Sheffield who was the third runner-up in the Miss Pakistan World pageant in May, will represent her country at Miss Earth. Idrees, who hails from Jhelum, hopes to bring back a title that can put Pakistan on the map of the most beautiful women in the world. She also wants to change the way the world looks at Pakistan and says that she may be able to spread the message of peace for her country and be a “great ambassador for youth”. “Pakistan is a country where the most beautiful women exist and it’s a shame that it’s not recognised for it,” Idrees said in an emailed statement. Sonia Ahmed, the founder of the Miss Pakistan World pageant, has sent Pakistani girls to 20 international pageants over the past five years despite all odds, including opposition from conservatives in Pakistan. “The main mission is to continue with the effort to get Pakistan recognised as the country with the most talented and beautiful women in the world,” Ahmed said. Earlier this year, a former Miss Pakistan World, Mahleej Sarkari, was in the news for expressing her desire to date former President Pervez Musharraf. Sarkari was “berated for bringing a bad name to Pakistan” through her participation in beauty pageants and particularly her comments on Musharraf. — PTI
|
|
Nigerian with 86 wives slapped with ‘fatwa’
London, October 24 The 84-year-old Mohammed Bello Masaba has been facing legal charges and is currently behind the bars. Jamaatu Nasril Islam, an Islamic body in Nigeria has slapped a fatwa – or religious edict – calling for the death of Bello Masaba, Bello Masaba, a Muslim, came into limelight after he claimed that he had special God-given powers and challenged accepted interpretation of the Islamic holy book, the Koran. But the father of more than 150 children does not regret his actions, and says that he can still marry. “If God permits me, I will marry more than 86 wives. A normal human being could not marry 86 – but I can only by the grace of God,” The Christian Science Monitor quoted him as saying. “I married 86 women and there is peace in the house – if there is peace, how can this be wrong?” he added. Abubakar also called Bello Masaba to the palace and gave him a choice: divorce 82 of his 86 wives or leave Bida forever. “We requested he either divorce 82 of them, or leave our sharia lands as I couldn’t guarantee his safety if he stayed,” he said. Some of Bello Masaba’’s wives are younger than some of his sons and daughters. But they have all praises for their husband. The emir and the sharia courts have now left Bello Masaba’’s fate to the magistrate courts. — ANI
|
|
Palin: Clothes to go to charity
Washington, October 24 “It’s kind of painful to be criticised for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported,” Palin said, adding that the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention. “That is not who we are. That whole thing is just bad! Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are,” she was quoted as saying by Chicago Tribune in an interview posted online last evening. Still, she has been wearing pricey clothes at campaign events this fall. She said they would be given back, auctioned off or sent to charity. — PTI
|
|
Japan, China to set up hotline
Beijing, October 24 In separate meetings today, Aso agreed with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao “to conduct frequent and timely exchange of opinions through a telephone hotline,” the Japanese government said in a statement. “Both sides also exchanged opinions on the current financial situation and agreed on roles which Japan and China should play regarding the issue,” it said, without further elaborating. Japan and China “will cooperate in the summit next month on the financial crisis,” it added, referring to a gathering to be held in Washington on November 15, addressing the global financial turbulence. Japan has long had uneasy relations with its neighbours due largely to its history of aggression in Asia prior to and during World War II. Relations, especially with China, hit rock bottom during the 2001-2006 premiership of Junichiro Koizumi. But leaders of China and Japan have since been repairing relations and Chinese premier Wen spoke optimistically about bilateral ties ahead of Aso’s visit. The leaders also exchanged opinions on North Korean issues including denuclearisation and the abduction of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang, the statement said. — AFP
|
|
NATO warships ready to tackle piracy off Somalia
Brussels, October 24 “The boats are in the area. They have started their deterrent role,” a spokesman at NATO’s naval command in Naples, Italy, said, adding that the three vessels “would escort UN ships on request.” The warships, an Italian destroyer and British and Greek frigates which form NATO's operation Allied Provider, “might use force” under their rules of engagement and in line with international law, a statement said. They will help escort UN World Food Programme (WFP) food shipments, whose cargo is a tempting target for pirates, until the European Union can launch its own operation, probably in December. A maritime watchdog said Somali pirates were now responsible for nearly a third of all reported attacks on ships, often taking hostages and using high levels of violence. The International Maritime Bureau said 63 of the 199 piracy incidents recorded worldwide in the first nine months of this year occurred in the waters off war-ravaged Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. — AFP
|
|
Indian-origin doc quits after admitting plagiarism
London, October 24 Raj Persaud, the celebrity doctor, who admitted plagiarism at a GMC hearing in June, has stepped down as a consultant psychiatrist for the South London and Maudsley NHS trust. “This is a private matter between the trust and Dr Persaud and I am afraid that we do not want to add anything to that,” a spokesman for the Maudsley said confirming that Persaud had left. Persaud, who considered Britain’s best-known “mind doctor”, was a regular on ITV’s Good Morning programme and BBC Radio 4’s ‘All in the Mind’, as well as a contributor to newspapers and medical journals, the Guardian reported today. — PTI
|
Scribe killed in car bomb attack Earth’s core getting colder 
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
