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Monday,
February 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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World leaders react with grief Indian community in USA shocked
Sabotage
ruled out Astronaut death toll 21 in five mishaps Russia launches vessel to space station |
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Landmine kills 6 Afghan soldiers Lawmakers
raise toast to Indo-US friendship 50 killed in blast
Hotel fire kills 33 Lord Paul gives Kalam’s book
to Powell
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World leaders react with grief Paris, February 2 German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder wrote to Mr Bush to express his profound sympathy for the families of the “courageous” men and women presumed killed in the disaster. “Your country has again had the painful experience that exploration of the universe can cause human losses,” he wrote. Mr Schroeder also sent a telegram to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, expressing his sincere condolences over the loss of Col Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut, who was part of the shuttle’s crew of seven. Meanwhile, Italy’s President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi sent Mr Bush his condolences and said he was profoundly affected personally by the disaster. “The men and the women who have died in this tragedy are courageous protagonists in the long path towards the progress of science and to enlarge the frontiers of humanity,” wrote Mr Ciampi. “Dear George, I am profoundly moved by today’s tragedy. Once again, the USA has had to pay a high price for the progress of humanity,” Mr Ciampi went on to say. Russia Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov expressed his condolences from the people of Russia “to the people of America for this tragedy.” European Commission President Romano Prodi said during a visit to Bologna he had sent condolences to Mr Bush from all of the European Unions’ institutions. “All that we can do is wait for the details,” commented Prodi.
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Indian community in USA shocked New York, February 2 In the areas dominated by the Indian business community, people collected in groups reminiscing about Chawla about whom they had been reading in the ethnic and mainstream newspapers. The community was following the flight very closely as having an India-born astronaut on board the shuttle was a matter of pride. The news of the disaster yesterday spread fast in the community as many were watching television to get the news of her return when the tragedy struck. Several parties scheduled for the evening were cancelled. The community organisations plan to hold memorial services over the next few days. Columbia, the first shuttle to fly into space in 1981 and which did over 24 missions, disintegrated at 200,700 feet while re-entering earth’s atmosphere, broke up into several pieces with a big bang and then its parts made a fiery entry just minutes before it was due to land.
PTI |
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Sabotage ruled out Washington, February 2 Although NASA officials said the cause of the tragedy was not immediately known, they said there was no evidence of terrorism. When the explosion occurred at an altitude of more than 200,000 feet, the shuttle was outside the range of surface-to-air missiles, officials said. There was no sign that terrorism was involved in NASA’s loss of contact with the space shuttle Columbia, a NASA official said.
UNI |
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Astronaut death toll 21 in five mishaps Paris, February 2 January 27, 1967: US astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee perish in a fire during a simulated lift-off on board Apollo 1. The accident was caused by a short circuit that ignited the craft’s pure oxygen atmosphere. April 23, 1967: Death of Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on Soyuz 1 after a 26-hour flight. He was killed when a parachute failed on re-entry. June 29, 1971: Three cosmonauts, Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Victor Patsayev, are killed by accidental depressurisation of their Soyuz-11 spacecraft. January 28, 1986: US space shuttle Challenger blows up 75 seconds after launch, killing all seven on board: Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik and Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher who was NASA’s first civilian passenger. February 1, 2003:
Columbia breaks up on re-entry, with the loss of all seven crew members: Mission commander Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark and Israeli Air Force Colonel Ilan Ramon.
AFP |
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Russia launches vessel to space station Moscow, February 2 The unmanned Progress M-47 vessel was carrying food, water, fuel and oxygen supplies to the three-person crew aboard the ISS: US astronauts Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit, and Russian Nikolai Budarin. It was put into orbit by a Russian Soyuz launcher, Interfax news agency said. Meanwhile, the USA suspended all space shuttle flights following the Columbia disaster.
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Landmine kills 6 Afghan soldiers Islamabad, February 2 According to the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency, the incident at Qala-e-Fath in Char Barjak district of the Nimroz province, occurred on Friday, the same day that a mine tore through a passenger bus near Kandahar city.
AIP said the mines in the Nimroz border region were sown by the opponents of the Islamic Taliban and go off occasionally. One of the victims was a renegade Taliban who several years ago sprung Ismail Khan, the incumbent Governor of the Herat province, out of a Taliban prison and ran over a mine while leading him to cross into Iran, the private news agency said. AIP also said that nine passengers — and not 18 as reported earlier — were killed in Friday’s bus incident near Kandahar.
DPA |
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Lawmakers
raise toast to Indo-US friendship Several US congressmen have saluted India on the occasion of its Republic Day and expressed the hope that the partnership that has been forged between the two nations would continue to “blossom”. In short statements on the floor of the House of Representatives last week, the lawmakers took note of the fact that India, as the world’s largest democracy, had achieved an unprecedented unity and cohesion as a nation and made remarkable progress in the social and economic fields. They also commended the cooperation between the USA and India in the campaign to fight global terrorism. Democrat Congressman Frank Pallone said since September 11, 2001, there had been terrorist attacks against India on a near daily basis. The country had been sadly afflicted with terrorism from Pakistani-based terrorist groups that were to be blamed for over 53,000 deaths of innocent Indian citizens throughout the past 15 years. These were, in fact, the same terrorist groups that belonged to the terrorist networks the USA was now fighting against. It was only natural that these two countries were now united in the global fight against terrorism. Mr Pallone noted that throughout the South-Asian region, India stood alone as “a pillar of democracy, stability and growth.” Mr Heather Wilson, Republican co-chairman of India Caucus, commended both President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for continuing to actively cultivate strong ties between the two democracies. Another Republican, Mr David Vitter, said increasingly, America must attempt to engage the Muslim world through diplomacy, and India, along with other nations, provided an opportunity to do that. “Most importantly, we will need to identify our friends and to stand by those countries that reflect our faith in ideals such as democracy, human rights and religious freedom”, the Congressman added. Mr John Linder, also Republican, told the House that in a region too often afflicted with non-democratic governments, and wracked by intolerance across religious and ethnic lines, India “stands out for its democracy and stability.” Mr Linder said India was a “natural ally” for the war on terrorism. With its strategic location, India was a vital resource and a valued partner of the USA. |
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50 killed in blast
Lagos (Nigeria), February 2 |
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Hotel fire kills 33 Beijing, February 2 |
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Lord Paul gives Kalam’s
book
to Powell Washington, February 2 Lord Paul, who addressed the National Conference of World Affairs Councils, gifted a copy of the book yesterday in the presence of a distinguished gathering that included Indian Ambassador to USA Lalit Mansingh. Addressing the conference on “India in the 21st Century”, the British peer said irresponsible spending should be curbed and privatisation and tax reforms speeded up to achieve higher economic growth.
PTI |
BIKINI
BARBERS DO BRISK BUSINESS
COLOMBIAN
REBELS FREE SCRIBES SIX
SKIERS KILLED IN AVALANCHE SEVEN
KILLED IN PHILIPPINES AL-QAIDA
MEMBER PLEADS GUILTY BLAST
KILLS CROATIAN WAR VETERAN |
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In video: President George W. Bush has called the Columbia space shuttle
crash a tragedy for the entire nation. (
