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Tuesday,
July 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Israel
vacates northern Gaza
$ 1 b US
aid for Palestine 3
sentenced to death in Pak
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Now Pervez
talks of US facilitation Nawaz
Sharif’s nephew held USA
admits Indo-Pak arms disparity: Kasuri
Katharine Hepburn in a scene from the 1936 film, “Women Rebels”.
— Reuters photo Drug
smuggler beheaded
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Israel vacates northern Gaza
Jerusalem, June 30 Israel Radio quoted a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as saying that Israel will ignore the ceasefire because its only interlocutor is the Palestinian Authority. Israel also said the Palestinian demand to free Yasser Arafat and other prisoners was “not binding” upon it. Meanwhile, reiterating their demand to crackdown on militants, Israeli officials have warned that the ceasefire could be used by terrorists to regroup for more attacks, unless the PA uses the time to dismantle terrorist groups, the radio reported. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has predicted that violence will continue unless the PA cracks down on terror. The three main armed Palestinian factions in their declaration of “suspension of terror attacks against Israel” yesterday made the ceasefire conditional upon release of all political prisoners and withdrawing the siege over Mr Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah, besides demanding a complete halt to targeted assassinations of their members. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas also told a crowd of Palestinian protesters in Ramallah on Saturday that there would be no peace or security if even one Palestinian prisoner remained behind the bars. “Be sure that we will exert our utmost in order to empty all prisons of prisoners, he said. The crowd had confronted the Prime Minister, demanding that he put pressure on Israel to release the prisoners. Many of the protesters were carrying large photographs of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) withdrew from Beit Hanoon last night. It also handed over most of the contentious north-south road in Gaza. The Palestinian police took over the control of the road from the Erez crossing to Khan Yunis early this morning. Earlier, talks between security officials had got stalled over the question of control over this strategic road. Under the deal reached at last week, Palestinians will be able to travel across the Netzarim junction, near the Gush Katif settlement bloc. In exchange, the Palestinians have pledged to take action to prevent attacks against Israel, the report said. The IDF withdrawal from northern Gaza is slated to be followed by a pull-out from Bethlehem. The White House welcomed the ceasefire but said terrorist networks must be broken to ensure a lasting peace. White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee reportedly said, “Anything that reduces violence is a step in the right direction,” adding, “Under the road map, parties have an obligation to dismantle terrorist infrastructures” and there is more work to be done.
— UNI |
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$ 1 b US aid for Palestine Jerusalem, June 30 Rice said Washington was ready to deliver “nearly $1 billion” to ease conditions in the Palestinian territories, economically devastated after nearly three years of low-level war with Israel. Rice unveiled her proposal during a meeting yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s chief of staff Dov Weisglass and Palestinian finance minister, Salam Fayad. Washington wants to create a network of hospitals and social institutions to build support for Palestinian premier Mahmud Abbas and erode the popularity of Islamic hardliners Hamas, which has won adherents through its effective charity network in the Gaza Strip.
—AFP |
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3 sentenced to death in Pak
Islamabad, June 30 “In light of the evidence and statements of 42 prosecution witnesses, the case against Asif Zahir and Mohammad Bashir, and Mohammad Sohail who was tried in absentia, has been proven,” judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti told the court. “Hereby they are sentenced to death for an explosives act, murder and terrorism.” The three are members of militant organisations Harkat Jihad ul Islmai and Harkat ul Mujahideen, both of which have close links with the Al-Qaida network. The trial began in April 2003 and was located in the Karachi jail compound for security reasons. “I am satisfied with the verdict. There was incriminating evidence against the two men and the judge took the right decision,” prosecutor Maula Baksh Bhatti said. Eleven French naval technicians helping Pakistan assemble a submarine were killed when a suicide bomber in a car packed with around 150 kg of explosives rammed into a bus carrying the engineers at the car park of a luxury hotel in Karachi last year. The men pleaded not guilty to the charges. Expressing surprise over the verdict, defence lawyer M R Sayed said he would challenge it. “The evidence, which was produced by prosecution was lacking in confidence,” Sayed said. The accused have seven days to file a appeal in the High Court.
— PTI |
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Now Pervez talks of US facilitation Islamabad, June 30 He said it is the Indian stand that other countries should not interfere in the solution of Kashmir, while he still felt American involvement was required to settle it.
— PTI |
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Nawaz Sharif’s nephew held Lahore, June 30 Hamza Sharif was arrested at a posh locality of Lahore yesterday, his younger brother Salman Sharif told reporters. The arrest came three days after the authorities ordered his mother Nusrat Sharif and two sisters to leave Pakistan. The women arrived in Lahore in April to attend a family wedding, which the police said never took place.
— AP |
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USA admits Indo-Pak arms disparity: Kasuri
Islamabad, June 30 “Peace cannot be established in South Asia unless imbalance between the two neighbouring countries in conventional weapons is removed and the US has agreed to the fact,” The News, today quoted Mr Kasuri as saying in Kasur. He said the $ 3 billion aid package for Pakistan would have a positive impact. “The previous governments had foreign exchange reserves for three weeks only but with the efforts of President Musharraf, the government has its reserves for 14 weeks,” he added. He said the President’s move would bring massive investment to the country and help alleviate poverty and unemployment and enhance trade.
— UNI |
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Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn dead
New York, June 30 In fading health for several years, Hepburn died at her home in old Saybrook, Connecticut yesterday afternoon. A family spokeswoman gave the cause of death as “old age.” Tributes immediately poured in and Broadway announced that the lights would be dimmed on the US theatre capital tomorrow night. US President George W. Bush recalled Hepburn as “one of the nation’s artistic treasures.” “Katharine Hepburn delighted audiences with her unique talent for more than six decades,” Bush said in a statement. “She was known for her intelligence and wit and will be remembered as one of the nation’s artistic treasures. Elizabeth Taylor paid a glowing tribute to her fellow acting legend and role model. “I think every actress in the world looked up to her with a kind of reverence and a sense of, ‘Oh boy, if only I could be like her’,” Taylor said in a statement distributed by her publicist. During Hepburn’s career she became one of the most acclaimed actresses of all time. She was outspoken and her longstanding affair with actor Spencer Tracy brought drama and controversy to her life. But no woman has matched the four Academy Awards she won, and the American Film Institute counted her among the greatest film icons, along side Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and Bette Davis. She was nominated 12 times and won Oscars for “Morning Glory” (1933), “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967), “The Lion in Winter” (1968) and “On Golden Pond” (1981). |
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Drug smuggler beheaded Riyadh, June 30 Hekmat Shah Ahmad was caught smuggling heroin into the kingdom, said a ministry statement quoted by the official SPA news agency. Two other Pakistani drug traffickers were executed this month in Saudi Arabia. The beheading took to 16 the number of executions announced in the kingdom this year, according to ministry statements monitored by AFP. Executions generally take place in public in the conservative kingdom, which applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law.
— AFP |
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