W O R L D

4 scribes covering war killed
Dubai, March 23
Three journalists working for British television company ITN were feared dead after coming under fire near Basra while an Australian journalist was killed in a car bombing in northern Iraq that Kurdish officials blamed on a militant group.

Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, right, leaves the press office at the ministry of information after addressing a news conference, in Baghdad, Sunday, March 23, 2003. —AP/PTI

Saddam shown on Iraqi TV
Baghdad, March 23
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was shown on state TV today meeting senior political and military officials.

A still taken from Iraqi television on March 23, 2003 shows President Saddam Hussein meeting senior military officials. It did not say when or where the meeting took place. Saddam, wearing green military fatigues, smiled and appeared relaxed in the brief clip.— Reuters/Iraqi television

‘War reflects contempt of world opinion’
Beijing, March 23
The US-led military campaign against Iraq, bypassing the United Nations, showed escalation of unilateralism and Washington’s attempt to wield hegemony, China’s leading analysts said today. “The US attacks on a sovereign nation without UN approval reflect its contempt on the international order, the international security system and the United Nations, and reflect the escalation of its unilateralism,” a political researcher with the Elite Chinese Academy of Social Sciences here, Shen Jiru said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri talks to reporters on his arrival at Cairo airport, below a poster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, on March 23, 2003. Sabri is in Egypt to attend an Arab League Foreign Ministers meeting on Monday, which will seek to draw up proposals for ending the war on Iraq and try to bridge Arab divisions and forge a unified anti-war position.— Reuters

	Russia vows to stop move to legitimise war March 23, 2003
	Kofi Annan for changes in oil-for-food plan March 22, 2003
	It’s crime against humanity: Saddam March 21, 2003
	Cook wins applause from Labour MPs March 19, 2003
	France refuses to budge March 18, 2003
	Thousands surround White House in anti-war protest March 17, 2003
	US President justifies war March 16, 2003
	UN parleys fail to produce compromise on Iraq March 15, 2003
	Hunt for Osama intensified March 14, 2003

Iraq code-names war ‘Decisive Battle’
Dubai, March 23
Iraq has baptised the war unleashed by the USA and Britain as the “Decisive Battle”, after the 1991 “mother of all battles”.

Israeli army stages raids in Gaza Strip
Gaza City, March 23
The Israeli army carried out several raids into the Gaza Strip overnight, Palestinian security sources said today.

Bangladesh ‘not to’ sign free trade treaty
Dhaka, March 23
Ahead of the Secretary-level trade meet, Bangladesh has decided not to sign any Free Trade Agreement with India which was reportedly proposed by New Delhi in the draft agenda for the talks, a media report said today.

Worst film award for Madonna’s movie Los Angeles, March 23 Maybe they should just rename these awards ‘’the Madonnas.’’ A cardboard cutout of Madonna accepts the award for Worst Actress for her performance in "Swept Away," at the 23rd Annual Razzie Awards, on Saturday in Santa Monica, Calif. —AP/PTI

28 killed in Chinese mine blast
Beijing, March 23
At least 28 miners were killed and more than 50 trapped underground following a gas explosion in northern China, state press has reported. 

Videos
	Anti-war demonstrations continue in Asia to protest against the US war on Iraq. Protest marches and demonstrations were carried out in major capital cities of Asia, including Bangkok, Dhaka, Colombo and Islamabad, in response to America's war on Iraq. (28k, 56k)
	Iraqi soldiers from the Basra region surrendered to the 1st Battalion, 10th Marines.  (28k, 56k)

4 scribes covering war killed

Dubai, March 23
Three journalists working for British television company ITN were feared dead after coming under fire near Basra while an Australian journalist was killed in a car bombing in northern Iraq that Kurdish officials blamed on a militant group.

Three ITN journalists were found shot dead in Umm Qasr, apparently victims of Iraqi sniper fire, Lieut-Col Nadir Khalil Ibrahim Shaban of the Kuwaiti police told the Jeddah-based Arab News.

However, ITN said in a statement from London that the scribes were missing.

"These journalists were not on the roster of those permitted into the northern district of Kuwait leading to the Iraqi border. The northern district has been closed to all journalists since March 18 for exactly this reason," he said, adding "some journalists were being allowed to enter the northern district restricted zone prior to March 18.

It is not clear whether the journalists went in before March 18 or sneaked in afterwards.

ITN said in the statement that correspondent Terry Lloyd and colleagues Fred Nerac and Hussein Othman were missing after coming under fire at Iman Anas in Iraq on their way to the southern city of Basra.

"One of the crew, Daniel Demoustier, was injured but was able to get to safety. He was not able to see what happened to his colleagues... At present, they are still missing."

In another incident, an Australian journalist was among five people killed yesterday in a car bomb that went off at a road checkpoint which, according to reports, is near a camp of the Al-Qaida linked militant group Ansar al-Islam. PTI 

Iraq claims to hold PoWs

Baghdad, March 23
Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said today that Iraq was holding US prisoners of war and that it would show them on television soon. Coalition forces, however, immediately denied the claims.

“Within hours you will watch US prisoners on TV screens and see films of burnt tanks at Souk al-Shyoukh,” he told a press conference. The town is about 32 km southeast of Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates which the Central Command has said was taken by the US forces.

Mr Ramadan said Iraqi troops engaged coalition forces at Nasiriyah last night. He said the footage of “destroyed vehicles” would be shown to the press later today.

G Capt. Al Lockwood, spokesman for British forces in the Gulf, said: “We have no knowledge of any of our coalition people being taken prisoners of war.”

In other remarks, Mr Ramadan dismissed press reports that US Special Forces were in Baghdad.

“We have allowed them to cross the desert,” he said. “I tell you, we wish and beg that they come to Baghdad so that we can teach them a lesson.”

Mr Ramadan also denied claims that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may have been injured in the attacks that began four days ago. AP

Saddam shown on Iraqi TV

Baghdad, March 23
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was shown on state TV today meeting senior political and military officials.

Military Industrialisation Minister Abdul Tawab al-Mulla Howeish, the head of Iraq’s atomic energy agency Fadhel al-Janabi and Mozahem Saab al-Hassan, head of Iraqi anti-aircraft defences, attended the meeting.

Higher Education Minister Humam Abdul Khaleq, the interim foreign minister, was also on hand.

Mr Hussein has reportedly chaired three meetings with senior officials since US and British forces launched an offensive on Thursday aimed at overthrowing his regime. AFP

‘War reflects contempt of world opinion’

Beijing, March 23
The US-led military campaign against Iraq, bypassing the United Nations, showed escalation of unilateralism and Washington’s attempt to wield hegemony, China’s leading analysts said today. “The US attacks on a sovereign nation without UN approval reflect its contempt on the international order, the international security system and the United Nations, and reflect the escalation of its unilateralism,” a political researcher with the Elite Chinese Academy of Social Sciences here, Shen Jiru said.

“The USA may win the war, but it will lose the support of the world,” Shen was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency in an anti-war commentary on the ongoing US-led war on Iraq.

Gao Zugui of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations said the attacks were a scheme of the Bush administration to forge a new world structure, which would greatly affect relations among major powers.

“It is distressing and regretful to see military actions when the people around the world are longing for peace,” a professor on international relations with the Foreign Affairs College, Zhou Zunnan said.

As for the war’s impact on the international political situation, Zunnan said compared with the last Gulf war, the US-led military actions had won far less support across the world. PTI

Iraq code-names war ‘Decisive Battle’

Dubai, March 23
Iraq has baptised the war unleashed by the USA and Britain as the “Decisive Battle”, after the 1991 “mother of all battles”.

The code-name flashes up on Iraq’s satellite television channel monitored in Dubai during regular new bulletins. AFP

AI flights from Kuwait to continue

Dubai, March 23
Air India and Indian Airlines will continue their regular flights from Kuwait to India for the benefit of the Indian expatriates who would like to return to India during the current US-led war in neighbouring Iraq, the Indian Embassy said today.

There will not be any suspension of flights, though air fares had gone up because of the high insurance rates, said K.J.S. Sodhi, a senior diplomat at the embassy.

Civil Aviation Secretary K. Roy Paul flew into Kuwait today and discussed the situation with the Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Director General.

Mr P.P. Singh, Air India regional Director in Dubai had also gone to Kuwait to meet Mr Paul. PTI

Israeli army stages raids in Gaza Strip

Gaza City, March 23
The Israeli army carried out several raids into the Gaza Strip overnight, Palestinian security sources said today.

Shortly after midnight, tanks and bulldozers thrust into the central Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Balah, and started demolishing the house of 73-year-old Ibrahim al-Falit, causing the elderly man to suffer a heart attack, the sources said. Palestinian medical sources said he died on his way to the hospital.

The army had already razed farmland belonging to his family yesterday, the security sources added.

Moments later the army carried out an incursion deep into autonomous territory in the southern Gaza Strip between Rafah and Khan Yunis, the sources said. Soldiers opened fire on two Palestinian policemen, wounding one of them.

In the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli troops arrested two wanted Palestinians, the army said in a statement.

The statement said two other Palestinians were arrested near Ramallah and one in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

Bangladesh ‘not to’ sign free trade treaty

Dhaka, March 23
Ahead of the Secretary-level trade meet, Bangladesh has decided not to sign any Free Trade Agreement with India which was reportedly proposed by New Delhi in the draft agenda for the talks, a media report said today.

The decision was taken at an inter-Ministerial meeting chaired by the Commerce Minister, Mr Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, the Financial Express daily reported quoting a high level official at the Commerce Ministry.

Unless the trade deficit between the two countries is reduced significantly, the signing of a fresh trade agreement between Dhaka and New Delhi could jeopardise the country’s trade interests, the official said.

Bangladesh’s trade deficit with India during 1992-93 fiscal was $ 332.12 million, which rose to $ 971.72 million in 2001-2003, the report said.

The official, however, said Bangladesh was in favour of moving ahead slowly on free trade with India.

Commerce Secretary Suhel Ahmed is leaving for New Delhi today for the crucial two-day Commerce Secretary-level trade talks beginning tomorrow. PTI

Worst film award for Madonna’s movie

Los Angeles, March 23
Maybe they should just rename these awards ‘’the Madonnas.’’

Madonna and director-husband Guy Ritchie ‘’Swept Away’’ the competition with their widely reviled box office bomb of the same name at the 23rd annual Razzie awards yesterday which ‘’honour’’ the worst of the worst in Hollywood.

The Razzies are traditionally awarded a day before the Oscars, Hollywood’s highest honours which are set for today.

"Swept Away," a remake of Italian director Lina Wertmuller’s 1974 classic about a bourgeois woman shipwrecked in the Mediterranean with her yacht’s Communist cook, swept the Razzies with nods for worst film, worst performance by an actress, worst remake, worst screen couple (Madonna and co-star Adriano Giannini) and worst director Ritchie.

The first cinematic collaboration between the aging pop star and the British director also suffered the ignominious distinction of being the Razzie’s lowest-grossing worst film ever, having ‘’earned’’ a whopping 598,645 dollars in box office receipts, the Razzies award givers said.

Madonna, who can now boast a collection of five worst actress Razzies in her curio cabinet — not to mention having been crowned worst actress of the century — had to share the honour this year with fellow pop star Britney Spears.

Speares also grabbed the worst original song honours for "I’m Not a Girl, Not yet a Woman" from the film. Reuters

28 killed in Chinese mine blast

Beijing, March 23
At least 28 miners were killed and more than 50 trapped underground following a gas explosion in northern China, state press has reported. 

Fiftytwo miners were still trapped shortly before 1:00 am local time on Sunday (11.20 p.m. IST on Saturday) after the explosion, Xinhua news agency reported, citing Shanxi provincial government sources. 

Twenty of the 75 persons working in the Mengnanzhuang coal mine in Xiaoyi City had been confirmed dead and three had been rescued. AFP