 |
Monday,
September 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Russia backs UN force under US control
Grenade attack on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan NRI held for defrauding German businessman Israel hunts Hamas with hi-tech copter tactics A residential building on the outskirts of Taipei,
which was charred by a fire that killed 13 persons and injured 68 on Sunday. The police said the fire originated from a motor cycle on the ground floor of the building. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Oppn leader demands Blair’s resignation Bush defends economic policy Maiden Pak fighter aircraft flight next week Army officers held for links with extremists
|
|
Russia backs UN force under US control
Najaf (Iraq), August 31 No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack. The car bombing triggered widespread international condemnation. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was in constant contact with US and European leaders to find a way to help Iraq after the US-led war that ousted Saddam. US President George W. Bush’s administration has urged more countries to send troops to Iraq and recently softened its opposition to the idea of a UN-sponsored force as it battles to stabilise the country. “Regarding the possible participation of international forces in Iraq under US Command, we don’t see anything wrong with this,’’ Mr Putin told a news conference on the Italian island of Maddalena, near Sardinia. “It is possible, but it would require a decision from the UN Security council,’’ he said. Russia, along with two other heavyweight Security Council members — Germany and France — opposed the US-led war. The three countries now favour a larger role for the United Nations in Iraq. Since Mr Bush declared major combat over on May 1, 65 US and 11 British soldiers have been killed by hostile fire and the US-led administration in Baghdad has been plagued by sabotage to the country’s oil industry. Hospital officials said that yesterday over 100 persons were killed in the car bombing in the Shia Muslim holy city of Najaf, the most deadly attack in postwar Iraq. The slain cleric was Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, a moderate Shia religious and political leader who advocated cautious cooperation with the US-led administration. Most Shias have blamed Saddam supporters for the attack, but some analysts have suggested rival Shia factions opposed to hakim’s moderate stance could be behind the blast. Shias make up around 60 per cent of Iraq's 26 million population and were repressed under Saddam, a Sunni Muslim. After Friday’s bombing, Najaf residents turned over to US troops two persons they believed looked like outsiders, US Lieut-Col Chris Woodbridge said. Tens of thousands of Shias thronged Najaf yesterday to mourn those killed after Friday prayers at the city’s Imam Ali mosque. In Baghdad, thousands marched to lament the death of Hakim. The mosque contains the tomb of Ali, son-in-law and cousin of Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam. TOKYO: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has expressed strong frustration at Japan’s intention to postpone dispatching of troops to Iraq, Kyodo news said on Sunday. “Don’t walk away” from the task, Armitage told Japan’s envoy for Middle Eastern affairs Tatsuo Arima when they met on August 22 at the State Department, the news agency said, quoting sources familiar with the issue.
— Reuters, AFP  |
|
Grenade
attack on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan Islamabad, August 31 Mr Ajab Shah, the city’s security chief, was quoted by the agency as saying that the grenade was thrown from a passing cattle truck and seven persons on board the truck were arrested. Mr Shah said the grenade bounced off the consulate’s wall causing no damage. AIP’s other “informed sources”, however, claimed that the attack took place on Sunday morning and at least two grenades were thrown from the truck. The Indian consulate is situated in the western part of Jalalabad.
— DPA |
|
NRI held for defrauding German businessman London, August 31 Somaia, a former sponsor of the Miss World competition through his Dolphin hotels, banking and motor trading group, now faces two trials in Nairobi, The Sunday Mail, stated. His surprise arrest followed a request for his extradition from Tanzania where he had been accused of defrauding a businessman of $ 150,000. Tanzania had just closed the local Delphis bank. Instead of being extradited, Somaia was charged with stealing almost $ 1 million from the National Bank of Kenya in a deal to import London taxis. Then, in June, Somaia was charged with defrauding a German-based businessman of $ 2.2 million. He is on bail.
— PTI |
|
|
Israel hunts Hamas with hi-tech copter tactics TEL AVIV, August 31 Ten Hamas men have died in helicopter ambushes since Israel vowed retaliation for a suicide bombing by the Islamic group that killed 21 persons aboard a Jerusalem bus on August 19. Seasoned by previous campaigns against a 35-month-old Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, dozens of Hamas leaders went into hiding. But this time the odds are really against them, Israeli security sources said today. “We have refined our methods and are confident we can reach those in our ‘target bank’ with minimum risk to innocents,” a source said, referring to militants slated for attack, although four bystanders have been killed in the recent air strikes. The names in the “target bank” are usually common knowledge, particularly in Gaza where Hamas and kindred groups have a high public profile. That means marked militants are especially vulnerable to Israel’s vast network of paid informers, who are themselves likely to be lynched as traitors if discovered. “Dear mujahed (Islamic fighters), you are being watched closely around the clock. It could be the store owner, or your neighbour, or someone in a car,” read a Hamas directive issued last week after the group’s deputy political chief was killed. When an informer phones in a sighting, Israeli security sources say, it is correlated with other tip-offs and surveillance drones. Often F-16 jets pitch in, roaring overhead to mask the clatter of Apache or Cobra helicopter gunships hovering on the horizon, missiles ready for launch. Militants are invariably hit while in their vehicles, along with drivers and bodyguards. But mobility can cause problems for missiles designed to be used against slow-moving tanks. To ease tracking, collaborators sometimes dab the militant’s vehicle with a dye invisible to the eye but easily picked up by the sensors of Israeli helicopters. Israel has long favoured the U.S.-made Hellfire missile, which spurts molten metal on impact. But Hellfires killed so many bystanders during the last hunt for Hamas, in June, that the top brass decided to switch to a classified Israeli-made missile. “The new weapon allows us to choose a warhead suited to the target, which means limited collateral damage,” a source said. And while Hellfires require that targets be “lit” by laser-wielding agents on the ground, the Israeli-made missile has a camera in its nose which makes for real-time aiming. “The guy controlling the missile sees exactly where the missile is going and guides it right to the window of the target car if necessary,” Robert Hewson, editor of Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, told Reuters. “It can also be aborted should the target prove to be the wrong one.” Finger on panic button, the pilot reports back to base on what the missile “sees”. “We can abort up to a couple seconds before impact. On occasion the terrorist’s face shows up on camera for final confirmation,” said an Israeli security source. Four bystanders have been killed and two dozen wounded in Israel’s latest missile strikes, which Palestinian officials called a broadside against foundering peace hopes. Israeli officials blamed militants for operating in populated areas.
— Reuters |
|
Oppn leader demands Blair’s resignation
London, August 31 Analysts believe the resignation on Friday of Mr Blair’s most powerful aide, his Director of Communications and Strategy Alastair Campbell, is a chance to finally bury the spin culture — a view clearly not shared by Mr Duncan Smith. “But now he’s going, let’s not be deceived that his departure... will mean an end to the Labour’s culture of spin and deceit,” the Conservative Party leader wrote in The Independent today. “As Mr Campbell goes — on this I’m absolutely clear — it’s not the resignation of the servant that matters but the departure of his master,” he said. “The real Downing Street Director of Communications must go: Tony Blair himself.” Mr Campbell, a 46-year-old former tabloid journalist, was loathed by many members of parliament and political writers as an unelected, unaccountable “spin doctor”, intensely preoccupied with managing the image of Mr Blair and his centre-left Labour administration. The Independent said a new ‘department of truth’ headed by a top-ranking civil servant would be set up following Mr Campbell’s departure.
— AFP |
|
Bush defends economic policy
Washington, August 31 He also promised new efforts to ensure ‘steady and reliable’ power supplies after recent electricity blackouts that crippled parts of the northeast. Mr Bush, his wife, Laura, and their two dogs alighted at 3:25 pm (0100 IST today) from the Marine One helicopter that brought them on the White House from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where his Air Force One jet flew in from Texas. Mr Bush devoted his weekly radio address to the economy, expressing confidence that it was rebounding while admitting that it was difficult to create much-needed new jobs. But the opposition Democrats, who traditionally hold their own radio address to the nation, immediately attacked Mr Bush’s optimism, charging he had made a mess of the economy and had no realistic remedies in his pocket.
— AFP |
|
Maiden Pak fighter aircraft flight next week
Islamabad, August 31 “This is a historic moment in the military aviation history of Pakistan and we are proud to announce that given the weather conditions, the maiden flight of the aircraft, which was previously known as Super-7, a joint venture of China and Pakistan, will take place in the first week of September,” Marshal Saadat told reporters. “The first prototype of the JF-17 will fly in September and then the second one in two months time, and the aircraft will keep on flying on experimental basis for the constant accumulation of required data, until the Pakistan Air Force is confident of its operational performance. This gestation period is required before starting serial production in January, 2006,” The News quoted him as saying. Briefing mediapersons on the JF-17 project at the Air Headquarters here on Saturday, he said, “As part of the programme, we will be able to train engineers and pilots in the field of aircraft design, development, manufacturing and flight testing.” Comparing the JF-17 with the Indian LCA (light combat aircraft), he said the LCA avionics were five years older than the JF-17. “We have a sufficient number of aircraft to carry nuclear weapons, though these weapons can only be used when there is an absolute necessity for that,” said Marshal
Saadat. — ANI |
|
Army officers held for links with extremists
Islamabad, August 31 The officers of the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and below are being investigated for violation of the Army rules and procedures, Pakistan defence spokesman Major-Gen Shaukat Sultan was quoted as saying by Pakistani newspaper Daily Times. He said the case was being dealt by the Army as per the procedure and there was nothing abnormal about it, adding whenever there was a disciplinary violation, the Army rules provide for corrective steps to be taken. However, the federal bureau of investigation (FBI) was not involved in any way, he said. Meanwhile, the newspaper reported that 12 officers and non-commissioned personnel of the Pakistani Army are being investigated for links with extremist groups by the field investigative unit (FIU), in charge of security within the Army. It said the investigations followed the detention of a Major and three of his subordinates in Afghanistan’s Zabul province where the Taliban and forces loyal to anti-US Afghan militant group, Hizb-e-Islami, led by former Premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, were active. The Pakistani Army officials were reportedly taken in custody by FBI agents working with the northern alliance and brought to Jacobabad in Pakistan, it said, adding the FBI handed them over to the FIU following a request from the Pakistan Army.
— PTI |
|
27 pc Britons say Diana was murdered
London, Aug 31 Asked if they believed Diana had been murdered, 27 per cent of respondents to an NOP survey replied “yes”, 51 per cent said “no”, while the rest were unsure. Meanwhile, 49 per cent said they believed there had been a “cover up” into the circumstances of her death, while 34 per cent disagreed. The poll, published in The Sunday Express, comes two days after a regional government official announced there would be a coroner’s inquest in Britain into the death of Diana’s lover Dodi Fayed who died alongwith the princess in the car crash on August 31, 1997. Asked if there should be an inquiry into the deaths of Dodi and Diana similar to the ongoing inquiry into the presumed suicide of weapons expert David Kelly, 47 per cent said “yes” with 45 per cent opposing such a move. Dodi’s father, Egyptian-born tycoon Mohammed Al-Fayed, has long campaigned for a public inquiry, claiming the crash was the result of foul play. Dodi and Diana were in the back seat of a limousine — pursued by photographers on motorbikes — when it crashed inside a road tunnel in the French capital. Only Diana’s bodyguard survived. French judges concluded that the crash was due to the fact that the driver had been drinking and the car was travelling too fast.
— AFP |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
