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Gaddafi son’s ‘captured’ in Sirte
Powerful quake rocks Bali, 50 hurt
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‘Dragon King’ marries commoner in reclusive Bhutan
US frustrated over Pak's dubious role in Afghanistan
40 killed in bus accident in Nepal
Special
to The Tribune
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Gaddafi son’s ‘captured’ in Sirte
Sirte (Libya) Oct 13 The capture of the deposed leader's national security adviser, and the first member of the Gaddafi family, is a boost to Libya's new rulers, whose forces are still battling pro-Gaddafi fighters in his home town of Sirte. "He was arrested today in Sirte," Colonel Abdullah Naker said yesterday. Other NTC sources said Mo'tassim was taken to Benghazi, where he was questioned at the Boatneh military camp where he is being held. He was uninjured but exhausted, the officials said. Hundreds of NTC fighters took to the streets in several Libyan cities and fired shots in the air in celebration. Gaddafi loyalists have fought tenaciously for weeks in Sirte, one of just two major towns where they still have footholds, two months after rebels seized the capital Tripoli. "We have control of the whole of the city except neighbourhood 'Number Two' where the Gaddafi forces are surrounded," said Khaled Alteir, a field commander in Sirte. Green flags, the symbol of Gaddafi's 42 years in power, still fly above many of the buildings there. NTC tanks moved close up to buildings used by snipers and blasted large holes in the walls. Behind them came pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, and behind them, the infantry armed with AK-47s began the assault. The remaining forces still loyal to Gaddafi have been firing back on the attackers with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, but they were no longer using heavier weapons and their forces had lost some cohesion, an NTC commander said. "We've noticed now they are fighting every man for himself," said Baloun Al Sharie, a field commander. "We tried to tell them it's enough and to give themselves up, but they would not." The assault by the new government forces is still being aided by NATO reconnaissance and strike aircraft. Britain said its jets had bombed and destroyed two pick-up trucks belonging to Gaddafi's forces in Sirte on Wednesday. — Reuters
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Powerful quake rocks Bali, 50 hurt Bali (Indonesia), Oct 13 Ceilings caved in at two high schools and several ancient Hindu temples were damaged, with stones tumbling to the ground and walls crumpling. Some cars in the bustling capital were crushed by falling slabs of concrete. The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred 100 km southwest of the island, famous for its resorts and spectacular surfing beaches. It hit 35 km beneath the ocean floor. Although not strong enough to trigger a tsunami, the quake was felt on neighbouring Java and Lombok islands. "It knocked me off my motorcycle," said one badly shaken Bali resident, Miftahul Chusna. Candy Juliani, who works at the Sanur Beach Hotel, said guests ran from their rooms and into the street. "We have special emergency routes for this type of situation. But everyone was so scared, they pretty much just ignored them," she said. More than 50 persons were hurt, suffering everything from cuts and broken bones to head wounds, said Wayan Sudanti, a hospital spokesman. Many were students and teachers who were injured when the ceilings in their classrooms collapsed, said Gede Tejo from the local disaster agency. Elsewhere, local TV showed children in red-and-white school uniforms crying as they poured into the streets, covering their heads with folded arms. An airport and a shopping mall were also slightly damaged. Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity. A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on December 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in the westernmost province of Aceh. — AP
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‘Dragon King’ marries commoner in reclusive Bhutan
Punakha (Bhutan), Oct 13 King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck wore a crown adorned with a raven's head during the sumptuous ceremony in this 17th-century fortress, as 21-year-old student Jetsun Pema, daughter of an airline pilot, received a crown embroidered with silk. In a nation of 700,000 people where television was only introduced in 1999, the ceremony was broadcast live. Thousands of people, dressed in traditional coloured robes, stood outside. Some monks chanted, others hit drums, as white incense drifted through the morning mist. Oxford-educated Wangchuck (31) is revered as this insular nation slowly embraces democracy after his father abdicated in 2006 to introduce parliamentary elections. The monarchy is seen as helping stabilise a fragile democracy wedged between India and China in a conflict-ridden region. "I am happy. I have been waiting quite some time," the king told reporters after the ceremony. "She is a wonderful human being, intelligent. We share one big thing in common - love and passion for art." As the mist slowly lifted, Buddhist horns sounded across the Punakha valley as the bride arrived in a procession of singers, relatives and Buddhist monks across an ancient footbridge, all led by a white horse. Baby elephants guarded one of the fortress's entrances. Nomadic farmers dressed in ceremonial dress walked down from the mountain hills to the fortress, nestled between two rivers. The king and his father entered a sacred chamber holding the embalmed body of the 17th-century remains of Bhutan's founder, where they received holy Buddhist scarves and a chalice of blessed The king's father, accompanied by his four wives, handed the blessed coloured scarves to a nervous-looking bride. "I am a very happy man today," said Kesang Chopel, 41, a Buddhist saffron-robed monk who watched the couple's arrival in Bhutan's former ancient capital. "There is the king, and there are so many masters here, lamas. There is a special feeling." Posters of the couple adorn almost every building, lamppost and roundabout in the capital, Thimphu, three hours drive away. School children have published poems in the queen's honour, calling her "the moon, a beautiful heroine and the lotus flower". Monks have held dawn prayer sessions in remote mountain
valleys. — Reuters
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US frustrated over Pak's dubious role in Afghanistan Describing America's relations with Pakistan as "very difficult", Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration was pushing the country on several issues on which it holds it accountable. "We are deeply engaged in finding ways to enhance cooperation with Pakistan and further the Afghan desire for a legitimate peace and reconciliation process," Clinton said after a lecture on American Global Leadership at the Centre for American Progress here yesterday. "Therefore, as frustrating as it is, we just keep going at it everyday, and I think we make very slow, sometimes barely discernible progress, but we're moving in the right direction," she said. US-Pakistan relations have been strained since the May 2 raid by American special forces that killed Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad. The ties were further affected after senior US officials, including President Barack Obama, called for Pakistan's ISI to sever its links with militant groups like the dreaded Haqqani network, which carry out attacks on US interests and American forces in Afghanistan. At the same time, Clinton acknowledged that Pakistan had a "big stake" in neighbouring Afghanistan."Everybody knows Pakistan has a big stake in the outcome of what goes on across their border, and they are going to be involved one way or the other," she said. — PTI
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40 killed in bus accident in Nepal
Kathmandu, October 13 However, 11 people traveling on the roof of the bus managed to jump off as the bus went out of control. The bus was en route to the capital. The police and rescue workers carried out the rescue works with the help of local people. The injured passengers have been brought to Kathmandu for medical treatment, the police said. This is the biggest bus accident in Nepal after the Vijaya Dashami festival. Although the exact reason of the accident could not be known yet, it is presumed that overload might have caused
the accident. The dilapidated roads, old public transport vehicles and overcrowded bus are the main causes of high way accidents
in Nepal. —PTI
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Special
to The Tribune The newly launched Deccan Heritage Foundation, exclusively reported by the Tribune, is locked in a struggle to restore recently ‘vandalised’ parts of Hampi in northern Karnataka, capital of the ancient Vijaynagar empire.
Last month the main street of Hampi, described as part of a living bazaar dating back to the 16th century, was bulldozed by the local district authorities, despite protests from local families made homeless and historians concerned about saving the country's priceless heritage. "The district (deputy) commissioner of the area decided he wanted to get rid of all the people in the bazaar street just off the main Hampi village, not realising they were living in an ancient bazaar,” says Dr George Michell, one of the foundation trustees. He said, "They haven't worked out how to take the ancient heritage and make it a living heritage. In Hampi, there was some directive from the government that they ought to do this, but it wasn't legal and it wasn't out of the management plan for Hampi.” "It is not a democratic process. It’s not as if they sat down with the people and said, 'We're not happy about this' and listening to them. People just go in with bulldozers.. and we have got to know some ancient structures have been damaged. It is outrageous, scandalous." Michell's assertions have been robustly rejected by Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Hampi area Aditya Amlan Biswas, who says it is ridiculous to describe the bulldozed area as a 'living bazaar'. "It is not my decision, but order of a high court. We have removed the encroachments near the monument, but the monument stands intact,” Biswas explained. "Before that it was tin shacks and shops that stood in front. How can a cyber café be described as part of a living bazaar? I am a bureaucrat who carries out the orders of the government and the court. As it was an order of the court, they could not get a stay order." Australia-born Michell, an expert on 6th century Chalukya temple architecture, was present at last month's glittering London launch of the foundation. He and fellow trustees describe the Deccan as an 'in-between' zone, sandwiched between North and South, and containing a staggering wealth of Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist architecture going back several centuries. What is interesting about the region for historians and archaeologists is that it contains instances of Hindu art and architecture mixing with Islamic traditions. They are described as unique examples of Indian Islamic rather than Persian Islamic architecture. Michell's fellow trustees are Cathy Giangrande, a former preservationist at New York's Metropolitan Museum, financial consultant Mary Anne Cordeiro of Goan origin, and Dr Helen Philon, an Islamic art historian and author of ‘Silent Splendour, Palaces of the Deccan, 14th-19th century’. Between them, they have secured pledges of £ 25,000 to support their work. But they say much more is needed. They are also working with a grassroots organisation, Friends of Hampi, which is trying to raise awareness about the significance of the local sites. Philon told the Tribune that it would cost at least £ 15,000 to commission a report on the damage done to the Hampi Bazaar. "It is a 16th century bazaar that was ruined. There are little shops with ancient columns. Shopkeepers would have their products on display and people would stop and buy. The first thing we want to do is a study on how to restore it to be multi-functional as it used to be in the past.. you want to introduce facilities to make it a living monument for pilgrims and tourists. If we succeed the same projects are going to be done in other places in the Deccan,” he said.
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Libyan government fighters have captured Muammar Gaddafi's son Mo'tassim as he tried to escape the battle-torn city of Sirte, National Transitional Council (NTC) officials said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake jolted Indonesia's popular resort island of Bali today, injuring more than 50 persons and sending others fleeing from their hotels and houses in panic.
Washington, October 13
"So that's a long way of saying that Pakistan has to be part of the solution, or they will continue to be part of the problem," she said when aske\d to comment on Pakistan's role in the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.