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Clinton clears aides to testify in pardon probe Pak hangs Sunni Muslim for murder |
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Freak rail crash kills 13 in UK Furore over raw deal to Indians
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Bush presents $ 1.6 tr tax cut plan to Congress Washington, February 28 The growing surplus exists because taxes are too high and the government is charging more than it needs, Mr Bush said in a nationally televised prime-time address to a joint session of Congress. “The people of America have been overcharged and on their behalf, I am here to ask for a refund.” He said he would most directly improve the lives of average Americans with excellent schools, quality healthcare, a secure retirement, a cleaner environment and a stronger defense. Referring to Democratic critics of his tax proposals, he said: “Some say my tax plan is too big. Others say it is too small. I respectfully disagree. This plan is just right.” Mr Bush called on the almost evenly divided Congress to set aside its bitter partisan divisions and join him in using much of the nation’s growing surplus to ensure its long-term economic security. He said if budget surpluses continued to grow as expected they were projected to reach $5.6 trillion by 2011. He was keen on paying down almost two-thirds of the nation’s accumulated $3.2 trillion in publicly held debt within 10 years. And he proposed setting aside $1 trillion in a contingency fund to provide a cushion in the event of emergencies and other unexpected needs. The President devoted his 50-minute address to national issues, particularly those that figured in the November election. There was a passing reference to foreign affairs in which he reasserted his determination to go ahead with the controversial national missile defense plan. Democrats, however, dismissed President Bush’s proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut as “illusionary, unfair and even dangerous to the nation’s economic well-being.” But expressions of discontent with his proposals are growing louder, and as Mr Bush seeks to quell them, he does so with what one recent poll indicated was the lowest job approval rating of a president at this point in his first term in the last 50 years, says the New York Times. American surveyed in opinion polls have given the plan a lukewarm response, preferring instead the money be directed to needs like education and health care. Bush insisted he would fund those priorities and provide a tax cut as well. Democrats insisted President Bush’s tax cut is too big and mostly would benefit the wealthy, and that his plan to reduce the growth of government spending amounts to a cut. “If what we heard tonight sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, said House of Representatives Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, promoting instead his party’s alternative $ 750 billion tax cut. “President Bush numbers simply do not add up. Ours do”. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said: “The President’s tax plan is far more expensive than the $ 1.6 trillion he claims. When you add interest on debt and other hidden costs, the true cost of the President’s tax cut is well over $ 2 trillion”. Mr Bush, who has been unable to escape scrutiny of grammatical slips that occasionally have afflicted his public remarks, rehearsed the speech twice during the day and got through the speech relatively well.
IANS, Reuters |
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Clinton clears aides to testify in pardon probe Washington, February 28 Former Clinton’s Chief of Staff, John Podesta, former White House counsel Beth Nolan and former Clinton Adviser Bruce Lindsey would testify at a hearing tomorrow on the pardon of Marc Rich, the House Committee on Government Reform said. Two other witnesses, former Democratic National Committee finance chairwoman Beth Dozoretz and Rich’s ex-wife, Denise Rich, have said they would not testify before the committee invoking their constitutional rights against self-incrimination. The 66-year-old Rich fled to Switzerland in 1983 while under investigation for allegedly failing to pay more than $48 m in taxes. Investigators were also looking into the pardon for businessman Glenn Braswell and the sentence commutation of drug dealer Carlos Vignali. Mr Clinton’s brother-in-law, lawyer Hugh Rodham, was paid $ 400,000 to handle them but the former resident had denied knowledge of Rodham’s involvement.
AFP |
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Pak hangs Sunni Muslim for murder Mianwali, (Pakistan), February 28 Haq Nawaz Jhangvi was hanged at dawn in the jail here in the central province of Punjab after a court in the provincial capital Lahore rejected a last-minute request for delay of his execution. Pakistani newspapers said worried police detained hundreds of Sunni activists before the execution because of fears of violent protests and possible clashes between rival militant groups from the majority Sunni and the minority Shia sects. Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim, was convicted by an anti-terrorist court in 1991 for the December 19, 1990, murder of Ardeshir Sadegh Ganji, Director-General of an Iranian Cultural Centre in Lahore. Sunni groups accuse Shia Iran of financing Pakistani Shia groups, who in turn accuse Sunni Saudi Arabia of aiding their rivals. Both Iran and Saudi Arabia deny the accusations. Roads to Mianwali prison were blocked by the police and only about 10 supporters of Jhangvi managed to approach the main gate where they stood shouting insults about Shias. A half-hour after the execution the body was handed to relatives allowed inside the prison and loaded into an ambulance drive by police. The relatives were not allowed to stop and talk with those outside the walls as the ambulance, escorted by police, left the prison. Traffic was cleared from the road used by the ambulance to take Jhangvi’s body back for immediate burial in his home town of Jhang. The Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Falak Sher, had refused to hear a petition seeking to delay the hanging until the result was known of efforts to reach a compromise between Jhangvi’s family and that of the dead Iranian official, court sources said. They said Justice Sher declined to hear the petition from Jhangvi’s brother on the grounds that, under law, it should have been presented to the court that had originally tried Jhangvi. Jhangvi’s appeals against the conviction were rejected by the provincial High Court as well as the country’s Supreme Court and President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar recently turned down a mercy petition from the condemned man. Tension was reported high in Lahore, with extra police on the streets and prominent Shia officials were warned by authorities to keep a low profile.
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Taliban firm on decision Islamabad, February 28 Afghanistan’s religious scholars and Supreme Court have unanimously issued the ‘Fatwa’ (decree) which would be implemented at all cost, Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef said. He however said that Taliban would not do the same against Hindus and other minority religions as the followers of those religions had freedom to practise their faith. The Buddha statues are not worshipped. But people could worship them in future. We do not want that to happen, he said. Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar on Monday issued a decree, ordering destroying all statues around the country, because these statues have been used as idols and deities by the non-believers. “Only Allah, the Almighty, deserves to be worshipped, not anyone or anything else,” the decree said. WASHINGTON: The USA today urged Afghanistan’s Taliban government to halt the destruction of the famous Buddhist statues in Bamiyan region and other great cultural treasures, saying destroying them would be against Islam. “The United States of America joins the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan, the UN Economic and Social Council and other governments in urging the Taliban to halt this desecration of Afghanitan’s cultural heritage,” Department Deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said.
PTI |
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Gales hit UK, Ireland London, February 28 In Scotland, 60,000 homes were without power, according to electricity generator Scottish power, while at one point in Northern Ireland 70,000 homes had their electricity cut off by gale force winds. A further 10,000 homes remained without power in the northeast of England. Many residents were hunkering down for a miserable night without heating and light. Travel in some areas of Britain was all but impossible yesterday as the wind, in places reaching up to 110 km per hour, whipped the snow into deep drifts. There were delays at Edinburgh airport after it was closed for several hours in the morning, and the airport in Dublin was closed outright, forcing the cancellation of some 400 flights. All Railway lines between England and Scotland were blocked and services were
cancelled. AFP |
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Freak rail crash kills 13 in UK Great Heck (UK), February 28
Emergency workers struggled to free trapped passengers hours after the early morning accident near Selby, close to the Yorkshire village of Great Heck, about 250 km north of London. “There is a coach at the scene which is very badly crushed and we fear there will be serious casualties inside that coach,” hospital spokesman Bob Schofield said. After overnight sleet made driving harzardous, a Land Rover car and its trailer crashed through motorway barriers and careered down the embankment onto the rail track. The driver was talking to the police on his mobile phone to alert them of the danger when the passenger train, travelling at 200 km per hour, struck. Railtrack, which runs the national rail network, said the passenger train, travelling south from the city of Newcastle to London’s King’s Cross with about 150 people on board, remained upright but derailed on to an adjacent line.
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Furore over raw deal to Indians Sydney, February 28 The masons are working on Sri Venkateswara Temple in Helensburgh in south Sydney on a work visa approved by the Department of Immigration. According to media reports, they are being paid Australian $ 45 a month in cash for a seven-day week and another Australian $ 100 a week is sent home to their families, which is less than the amount stipulated under the stone-mason’s award. Reports said the workers were living in abysmal conditions in a shed. Their plight came to light when the State Leader of the Construction Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, Andrew Ferguson, visited the Helensburgh temple complex. Mr Ferguson is reported to have encouraged the workers to strike work, as they were underpaid. The union will also be seeking guarantees on back pay along with an assurance that the workers would be paid legal rates in future. Taking note of their plight, the Wollongong City Council has ruled that the workers be moved out of the “unhealthy (living) conditions”.
PTI |
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