W O R L D

Bhutto Killing
Ex-ISI chief Gul refused to be quizzed: UN
Islamabad, April 22
Former ISI chief Hamid Gul, who was named by slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto among those posing a threat to her life, refused to be quizzed by the UN commission that probed her December 2007 assassination, according to the panel's head.

Killers will face justice: Zardari
President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the murderers of his wife Benazir Bhutto would "soon be brought before the court of the people".

Ash cloud returns
Stockholm, April 22
Several airports in Sweden, Norway and Finland, including in Finnish capital Helsinki, were closed today due to the return of volcanic ash, air traffic authorities said. In addition to Helsinki, the airports in Norway’s Bergen and Stavanger were shut.

Fire boat response crew battle the blazing remnants of the off-shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana on Thursday. Eleven workers are reportedly missing after an explosion at the Transocean oil-drilling rig, the US Coast Guard said. — Reuters

Canada warns terrorist sympathisers
Vancouver, April 22
As pro-Khalistan flags and slogans raised at the weekend Baisakhi parade here continue to make the headlines here, a Canadian minister said bluntly that "extremist views from old conflicts" were not welcome in Canada.

US, India hold talks on Headley
Chicago, April 22
The US and Indian authorities are holding discussions on providing New Delhi access to LeT operative David Coleman Headley who has confessed to his role in the Mumbai terror attacks and agreed to be interrogated by foreign agencies.

Gurdwara Land Transfer
Whistleblower demoted
Islamabad, April 22
A Pakistani official of joint secretary rank in the Ministry of Minorities had to face the wrath of his seniors for exposing an illegal transfer of Gurudwara land to the Defence Housing Society (DHA) by the Evacuee Trust Board of Pakistan (ETBP).

Fonseka, 224 others take oath as MPs
Detained former Army Commander of Sri Lanka Sarath Fonseka was among the 225 members of the country’s new Legislature who took oaths as MPs on Thursday.

This is never-before-seen Sun
NASA’s solar mission releases stunning image of closest star to Earth
Washington, April 22
US space agency NASA has released stunning solar images some of which highlight never-before-seen material streaming out of the Sun while others show extreme close-ups of activity on the Sun’s surface.

 

Bhutto Killing
Ex-ISI chief Gul refused to be quizzed: UN

Islamabad, April 22
Former ISI chief Hamid Gul, who was named by slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto among those posing a threat to her life, refused to be quizzed by the UN commission that probed her December 2007 assassination, according to the panel's head. In a letter written to ex-President Pervez Musharraf two months before she was killed, Bhutto had named Gul, former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and ex-Intelligence Bureau chief Ijaz Shah as the persons who should be investigated if she was murdered.

Gul refused to be interviewed by the UN commission that probed the facts and circumstances of Bhutto's assassination, the panel's head, Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz, said.

The UN panel was initially told that Pakistan's intelligence agencies and army were "off limits." Army and intelligence officials agreed to be interviewed only after the commission's insistence, Munoz said in an interview to 'Express 24/7' news channel. The panel met Musharraf during its probe but the interview was subject to the condition of confidentiality, Munoz said.

He also described as "inexcusable" and "irresponsible" the disappearance of a black Mercedes that was to have served as Bhutto's back-up vehicle in case of an attack on her. The vehicle left the site in Rawalpindi after she was attacked by a suicide bomber on December 27, 2007.

Senior PPP leaders Rehman Malik, currently the Interior Minister, Babar Awan, now the Law Minister, and Farhatullah Babar were travelling in the bulletproof black Mercedes. According to eyewitnesses, the Mercedes left Liaquat Bagh, the site of Bhutto's rally in Rawalpindi, before her vehicle and was nowhere to be seen afterwards.

The UN commission said it was "incredible" that the occupants of the Mercedes drove all the way to Zardari House, some 20 minutes away, before they became aware that Bhutto had been injured in the attack. — PTI

Ash cloud returns

Stockholm, April 22
Several airports in Sweden, Norway and Finland, including in Finnish capital Helsinki, were closed today due to the return of volcanic ash, air traffic authorities said.

In addition to Helsinki, the airports in Norway’s Bergen and Stavanger were shut. The airport in Sweden’s second largest city Gothenburg was also closed, but scheduled to open again later.

Norway, Sweden and Denmark had completely reopened their airspaces on Wednesday, but eastern bound winds brought volcanic ash from Iceland back into Swedish and Norwegian skies today, authorities said. — AFP

Canada warns terrorist sympathisers

Vancouver, April 22
As pro-Khalistan flags and slogans raised at the weekend Baisakhi parade here continue to make the headlines here, a Canadian minister said bluntly that "extremist views from old conflicts" were not welcome in Canada.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews yesterday expressed his alarm at rising extremism in some pockets. Obliquely hinting at Khalistani supporters, the minister said bringing "extremist views from old conflicts'' into Canada is not acceptable.

"Our government and these communities themselves have to be vigilant to isolate extremism,'' the minister was quoted as saying in the local media. In a strong warning to terrorist sympathisers, the minister also introduced the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act in Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.

The bill will empower victims of terrorism, such as the Air India bombing in 1985, to sue perpetrators and supporters of these acts for damages. Under the bill, countries which support terrorism could also be sued.

"This government is responding to calls from victims who seek justice, and demonstrating leadership in the global fight against terrorism,'' the minister said while introducing the bill. — IANS

US, India hold talks on Headley

Chicago, April 22
The US and Indian authorities are holding discussions on providing New Delhi access to LeT operative David Coleman Headley who has confessed to his role in the Mumbai terror attacks and agreed to be interrogated by foreign agencies.

"Those discussions are going on between our and the Indian government at this time. It is part of the plea agreement that Headley would cooperate with Indian authorities," Pakistani-American Headley's lawyer John Theis said. Theis would not comment on how much more time it would take before Indian investigators are finally given a date to quiz Headley and said those kind of discussions would happen without the media knowing the specifics of time and place. — PTI

Gurdwara Land Transfer
Whistleblower demoted

Islamabad, April 22
A Pakistani official of joint secretary rank in the Ministry of Minorities had to face the wrath of his seniors for exposing an illegal transfer of Gurudwara land to the Defence Housing Society (DHA) by the Evacuee Trust Board of Pakistan (ETBP).

Munir Ahmed Chaudhry paid the price for blowing the whistle on the 'dirty' land transfer deal, when he was transferred from the ministry and demoted to an officer on special duty (OSD) rank by the Establishment Division (ED).

The issue of transfer of 575 kanals of Sikh Gurdwara land to DHA, Lahore, was even raised in Indian Parliament in December last year, with New Delhi asking Islamabad to investigate the issue regarding the illegal transfer of minorities land.

Following India's concerns, the Minorities Ministry had appointed Chaudhry to head a two member inquiry committee, which later conformed that the land transfer was indeed illegal, dirty and should be reviewed to 'save Pakistan's image,' The News reports.

Meanwhile, Secretary Minorities Ministry, Javed Akhtar, has defended Munir's sudden transfer, and said it had nothing to do with the land transfer report.

When asked that how Munir was made an OSD on the day the report was published in the daily, Akhtar reiterated that it had nothing to with the findings of the inquiry report, and that his transfer orders were sent days ago. — ANI

Fonseka, 224 others take oath as MPs
Chandani Kirinde in Colombo

Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka waves to the public before the commencement of parliament session in Colombo on Thursday. — AP/PTI

Detained former Army Commander of Sri Lanka Sarath Fonseka was among the 225 members of the country’s new Legislature who took oaths as MPs on Thursday.

Fonseka was escorted to Parliament under heavy security by the military police as he is still under detention, facing two court martial inquiries.

He spoke briefly during the opening session in which he said he was a victim of “unlawful detention” and several “injustices” and hoped the new Speaker would act independently to protect rights of all MPs.

Chamal Rajapaksa, elder brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was appointed Speaker of the country’s new parliament.

Among those sworn in were cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya and former Sri Lanka cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

This is never-before-seen Sun
NASA’s solar mission releases stunning image of closest star to Earth

Washington, April 22
US space agency NASA has released stunning solar images some of which highlight never-before-seen material streaming out of the Sun while others show extreme close-ups of activity on the Sun’s surface.

SUN FEAST: A prominence eruption from the sun is seen in this first-time image taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. — Reuters

“These initial images show a dynamic Sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research,” said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The images were taken by Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO that was recently launched by NASA. It is the first mission of the organisation’s Living with a Star Program or LWS — one of the NASA’s many missions to study the Sun and space environment.

“These amazing images, which show our dynamic Sun in a new level of detail, are only the beginning of SDO’s contribution to our understanding of the Sun,” said SDO Project Scientist Dean Pesnell.

The goal of LWS is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to address those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect our lives and society, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on its website.

“SDO will change our understanding of the Sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. This mission will have a huge impact on science, similar to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope on modern astrophysics,” Fisher said. — PTI