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Monday,
May 19, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Riaz’s appointment not final: Jamali 91 killed in Lanka floods Suicide bombers
kill seven
27 ultras held for Casablanca attacks |
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USA, India lead in cases against China 40 dead in China
rains King of owls in China
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Riaz’s appointment not final: Jamali Islamabad May 18 In an extraordinary clarification issued at 0200 hrs (PST) through official APP newsagency six hours after the announcement, a Foreign Office spokesman said Jamali has not been correctly quoted and the final decision has not been taken as yet by the Prime Minister. State television in its news bulletin at 1830 hrs IST yesterday said Jamali has made the announcement in an interview to Worldview programme for Doordarshan. Khan himself told Pakistan media in Beijing that he has not yet been officially informed about his new assignment. He said he has received many requests from various journalists but refused to comment until he assumed charge. Significantly the official clarification issued by the spokesman did not deny Khan’s appointment to the post but only “clarified” that no decision has been made in this regard. The clarification reportedly followed criticism that Jamali chose to announce Khan’s nomination even before Pakistan forwarded an agrema in this regard to India to get it formally accepted. India officially announced the appointment of Shiv Shankar Menon as its New High Commissioner to Pakistan only after Islamabad approved the agrema and his credentials. It was considered to be a diplomatic faux pas by Jamali in announcing Riaz Khan’s appointment. Also the local media was peeved that Jamali made the much awaited announcement through an Indian media programme. While reporting Khan’s appointment, local daily The News criticised Jamali for making important announcements through foreign dignitaries and foreign media. Jamali deviated from protocol both when he wrote to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and while announcing the name of the new high commissioner, the paper said. It was in a telephone call to US Secretary of State Colin Powell and to Doordarshan that important policy decisions were announced, bypassing the home audience, the daily said in its report.
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91 killed in Lanka floods Colombo, May 18 Sri Lanka appealed for inflatable rubber dinghy boats to reach marooned villages in the district of Ratnapura, a government official said. The request was made as Ratnapura district secretary Malini Premaratne said at least 81 persons were killed in floods and earth slips in the region alone. “Rescue operations are under way, but there are areas we are unable to reach,” Premaratne said. Another 115,000 persons were made homeless in Ratnapura while another 10 deaths were reported in Matara district. The Sri Lankan Navy deployed 20 boats in the area and it was inadequate to deal with the problem. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took a helicopter and flew to the flood-affected areas immediately on his return from a two-day private visit to Kerala today, officials said. Torrential rains flooded most of the gem-rich Ratnapura district with schools, homes and even hospitals going under several feet of water, police chief Prassana Nanayakkara said. The main police station in Ratnapura, 100 kms south-east of Colombo, was also under water. Nanayakkara said there were at least 12 earth slips in the district and many people were feared buried alive.
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Suicide bombers kill seven Jerusalem, May 18 In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew himself in a city bus shortly before 6 am local time (08.30 IST) at the intersection near French Hill in north Jerusalem killing seven persons and the bomber, 20 were wounded in the blast, the police said. A second suicide bomber blew himself up half an hour after the bus bombing, at the entry to the nearby Dahit al-Barid village in East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. The police said no other person was injured in the blast. Sharon, who was scheduled to leave for Washington today to meet US President George W. Bush, has postponed his visit. The attack comes hours after Sharon and Abbas met to discuss a new peace plan. This was the first top-level Israel-Palestine meeting in three years. Jerusalem Police chief Mickey Levy told Israel Radio that the bomber boarded the bus near Pisgat Ze’ev, close to the Green Line border. The bomber was dressed in a white prayer shawl and skull cap worn by Jews, he said. Meanwhile, Israel Defence forces killed two gunmen who infiltrated had into Sha’are-i-Tikva, on the Green Line border, Israeli media reported. The two gunmen were killed following a 40-minute exchange of fire with the troops. “This is another in a string of attacks against Israelis,” David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister’s office told daily Ha’aretz.
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27 ultras held for Casablanca attacks Rabat, May 18 The source declined to comment on reports circulating among journalists in the Moroccan capital Rabat that explosives had been found during the raids. Officials had earlier said three Moroccans had been arrested, including a suspected bomber. A Jewish community centre and a Spanish club, popular with businessmen and diplomats, were among the targets selected in the five virtually simultaneous attacks late on Friday in Casablanca, the country’s commercial capital. Mr Hassan Aourid, a spokesman for Morocco’s King Mohammed, said the attacks were “the work of blind international terrorism” adding that the perpetrators would be punished “without mercy.” A US official said it was plausible that Al Qaida, blamed by Washington for the September 11, 2001, attacks, was behind the Casablanca bombings. Washington has already pointed the finger at Al Qaida over the attacks in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday which killed 34 persons. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which wounded around 100 persons, including 17 critically. A group of 14 persons, divided into five teams, triggered the blasts in Casablanca, Moroccan Interior Minister Mostapha Sahel said. Thirteen members of the “cell” were killed in the five attacks while the 14th was arrested, he said on Moroccan television station 2M yesterday. According to information available, all attackers were Moroccan, he added. The minister said he was pleased with the rapid progress made in the investigation, in which the remains of six of the 13 suicide attackers had already been positively identified. WASHINGTON: US President George W Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have strongly condemned the terrorist bombings in Morocco. “These acts of murder,” said Mr Bush, “show once again that terrorism respects no boundaries nor borders. Casablanca is a city wellknown for its tolerance and its diverse range of religious and ethnic communities. These acts demonstrate that the war against terror goes on.” Condemning the bombings as “despicable,” Mr Powell said the USA could continue to stand together with Morocco against this threat to both nations and to all peace-loving people.
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‘Devdas’ wins top IIFA awards Johannesburg, May 18 In a virtual dream run for the film, known more for its opulent sets than the famous Bengali novel on which it is based, IIFA, known as Indian version of Oscars, decorated “Devdas” with seven top honours in the popular category, including the best picture. The Dome Northgate reverberated with applause here last night as the film got Bhansali the best director award, Shahrukh Khan the best actor and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai the best female lead role. “Devdas” also won the awards for lyricist (Nusrat Badr), female playback singer (Shreya Ghosal, Kavita Krishnamurti), and best supporting actress (Kiron Kher). As expected, A.R. Rahman walked away with the best music director honour for “Saathiya”, the film which also earned Sonu Nigam the award for best male playback singer. Mohan Lal, who was declared the best supporting actor for his role in “Company”, made a lasting impression in his acceptance speech. “The award is a proof that cinema has no language barriers,” said Lal the first actor from Kerala to get the honour. Actor-director Mahesh Manjrekar won the award for best comic role for his performance in ‘Kaante”. The best villain award went to Akshaye Khanna for “Humraaz” while Jaideep Sahni got the accolades for best story for “Company”. The most poignant moment of the gala evening came when tinseltown’s ‘evergreen’ Dev Anand received the special Lifetime Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema’ from ‘eternal’ Rekha, who also got a special Diva award’ for her contribution to Bollywood. Music director Anandji was in tears when he received the award for life-time contribution to cinema. Filmmaker Aparna Sen got the award for ‘Outstanding Indian Achievement in international cinema’. Esha Deol was elected new female face of the year award, while the best male face honour went to John Abraham. The three-hour ceremony, co-hosted by cinestars Anil Kapoor and Diya Mirza.
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USA, India lead in cases against China Beijing, May 18 China remains the world’s largest victim of abuse of anti-dumping measures with 27 investigations having been started into its exports in the latter half of 2002, ‘China business weekly’ reported, quoting latest data from the World Trade Organisation (WTO). “The USA and India led a number of trade compensatory measure cases against China,” weekly said in its latest issue. As many as 18 countries initiated 39 anti-dumping cases and 18 safeguard measures against China last year, it added. China topped the list of anti-dumping cases accounting for half of the 30 probes initiated in 2002-03, the annual report of the Directorate-General of anti-dumping and allied duties under India’s Ministry of Commerce said recently. A large number of anti-dumping cases against Chinese goods are occurring because China’s exports grew extraordinarily last year against the backdrop of gloomy world economic outlook, trade officials said.
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40 dead in China rains Beijing, May 18 While 15 persons are confirmed dead and eight were missing in the Guangdong province, 25 persons died and 13 went missing in the Hunan province, Xinhua news agency reported. About 1.24 million people in 19 countries in Hunan were affected by the flooding. Continuous rainfall had been recorded in the province since early May with heavy rains hitting the province’s Xiangjiang river basin. At least 181 townships and 19 counties under the jurisdiction of six cities in the basin were affected, causing the collapse of 2,500 houses, and damage to two reservoirs and 490 sections of river embankment totalling 24.2 km.
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King of owls in China Beijing, May 18 The giant owls, 80 cm tall and with a wing span reaching 1 metre, are capable of taking adult hares, their main prey. Although no biologists have made a formal study of them, some people believed that they could be described as the “king of the owls”, the agency said. With a total land area of 1,00,230 sq km, the Muus desert is located in the territories of Shaanxi and the innter Mongolia autonomous region. The cherry forest where the owls live covers an area of about 560 acres, a rare green oasis in the vast desert. The wild cherry trees that grow there have been listed by the state association for the protection of endangered wild plants, the report said.
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SADDAM’S COUSIN SURRENDERS 50 INDONESIANS HELD FOR CLASHES MINE BLAST TOLL MOUNTS TO 86
Pope John Paul II waves as he arrives to celebrate a solemn Mass in
St.
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