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Monday,
September 8, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Hamas
leaders marked for death, warns Sharon Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Islamic militant movement Hamas, talks to the
Press in Gaza City on Sunday. USA
freezes assets of 10 more terror suspects Parking dispute behind killing of British Sikhs? Kanishka
bombing trial to resume today
Kelly’s
death: more Britons want Blair to quit |
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UK’s
evacuation plans in place Pak Muslim
cleric slain for blasphemy MMA-Pervez
deal may not end political crisis
Stars
don’t want to see Arnold as Governor New ‘Whoopi’ takes on race, Bush
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Hamas leaders marked for death, warns Sharon
Jerusalem, September 7 Referring to Hamas leaders, Mr Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot daily that “Israel’s campaign will continue and they are marked for death. We won’t give them a moment’s rest. We will continue to hunt them because they have only one objective — the destruction of Israel.” Hamas threatened unprecedented revenge, saying Israel had “opened the gates of hell” with the attack on its revered founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury. Israel declared a high security alert, imposed a blanket closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and security officials said the Shin Bet security service tightened protection of Israeli leaders. Former Israeli Prime Minister and Labour opposition leader Shimon Peres said today an assassination bid against Yassin was likely to escalate tensions. In the West Bank, the search began for a successor to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned yesterday after a debilitating power struggle with President Yasser Arafat. Mr Arafat was to meet with leaders of his Fatah movement today to discuss a possible replacement, with Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia considered the front-runner. Mr Abbas’ resignation left Israel and the USA without a negotiating partner, at least temporarily, and dealt a severe blow to the already troubled US-backed “road map” peace plan. The two nations refused to deal with Mr Arafat saying that he was tainted by terror and an obstacle to peace. Israel’s strike against the Hamas leadership yesterday came just several hours after Mr Abbas announced his resignation. A top Israeli security official said Mr Abbas’ departure released Israel from the last restraints in its war on the militants. With Mr Abbas still in office, concern about harming his standing with strikes had always been a consideration, the official said on condition of anonymity. Security officials said Mr Sharon and his military chiefs learned early yesterday that Hamas leaders, including Yassin, his top aide Ismail Hanieh and chief bombmakers Mohammed Deif and Adnan al-Ghoul would meet at the apartment of a Hamas activist, Dr Marwan Abu Ras, later in the day.
— AP |
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USA freezes assets of 10 more terror suspects
Kuala Lumpur, September 7 The 10 have been added to a Specially Designated Global Terrorists’ notification list posted on the US Office of Foreign Asset Controls official website. The USA on Friday announced a freeze on the assets of 10 other alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members — mainly Indonesians, including top operatives said to be responsible for last October’s deadly Bali bombings. The 10 Malaysians — already listed as terror suspects by the Malaysian authorities — are Sulaiman Abas, Azahari Husin, Zulkifli Abdul Hir, retired Lieut-Colonel Abdul Manaf Kasmuri, Zulkifli Marzuki, Amran Mansour, Yazid Sufaat, Noordin Mohamed Top, Wan Min Wan Mat and Zaini Zakaria. Of the 10, five are being held at detention centres in Malaysia under the country’s tough Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial. Four are still at large, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. They are Azahari Husin, Zulkifli Abdul Hir, Zulkifli Marzuki and Noordin Mohamed Top, he said. The 10th, Sulaiman Abas, was arrested by the Indonesian police early this year and was being questioned by them, he said. More than 70 Islamic militants, many of them allegedly Jemaah Islamiyah members, are already in detention in Malaysia and intelligence officials have said the capture of the remaining suspects will wipe out the group’s leadership structure.
— AFP |
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Parking dispute behind killing of British Sikhs? London, September 7 The police is investigating this line of inquiry after the gangland-style killing of Amarjit Singh, 52, and his nephew Raginder Singh, 35, in Forest Gate, London, a week ago. Both were shot dead while sitting in Amarjit Singh’s parked car. A third victim, Amarjit Singh’s 26-year-old daughter, was also present during the incident but escaped unharmed. The police believes that prior to the shooting, Amarjit Singh’s vehicle was attacked and damaged by three Asian men who were seen running from his car.
— IANS |
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Kanishka bombing trial to resume today
Vancouver, September 7 The British Columbia Court had heard last week that the accused, Ripudaman Singh Malik’s family had “colluded” to reduce his assets and make it seem as if he had no money to pay his lawyers. The BC government has already spent $ 3.6 million on Malik’s defence, but lawyer John Waddell, who represents the Supreme Court’s attorney general’s ministry, said Malik had reneged on his commitment to sell off his assets and make a larger contribution to the legal bills, which were expected to top $ 6 million.
— PTI |
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Kelly’s death: more Britons want Blair to quit
London, September 7 For the first time since the scientist died, more people believe Mr Blair is unfit for office than support him. The harsh public assessment comes in an exclusive YouGov poll for The Mail on Sunday as Parliament returns from the summer recess tomorrow. The poll shows that in the past month — during which time Mr Blair gave evidence to the judicial inquiry — his stock has fallen dramatically, with 43 per cent now saying that he should go. This compares with 42 per cent who say he should stay in office and 15 per cent who are unsure. The proportion of voters wanting Mr Blair to quit has grown by six points in the past month as the public sees the stark contradictions between evidence given to the inquiry and Mr Blair’s own testimony. YouGov questioned a representative sample of 2,006 electors throughout Britain. Though one in six no longer supports his premiership wholeheartedly, Mr Blair is still the preferred leader to Chancellor Gordon Brown among Labour voters.
— PTI |
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UK’s evacuation plans in place
London, September 7 The documents are said to detail how residents could be herded out of London into “rest and reception areas” in the surrounding countryside in the event of an actual or imminent attack. The confidential plan, codenamed “Operation Sassoon”, was presented to the London Resilience Forum in July, according to The Sunday Times. The forum — a grouping of senior civil servants, emergency service experts and transport operators — was created in the wake of the September 11 attacks to ensure London would be prepared for any major incidents or catastrophes. According to The Sunday Times, “high-level intelligence” showing an attack was imminent could spark mass evacuation of large parts of the capital, while there are plans for “medium to long term rehousing” if an area became uninhabitable from a terrorist strike. Under the heading, “how it will be done”, the document outlines how London’s seven million inhabitants would be directed to safe areas on foot before being transferred to special camps outside the city. “Obviously there are contingency plans in place. People should be alert, but not alarmed,” said a Home Office spokesman when asked about the report.
— AFP |
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Pak Muslim cleric slain for blasphemy Lahore, September 7 Maulana Sanullah Dogar, 38, died instantly when four attackers shot him yesterday near a court in the town of Kasur, about 45 km south-east of Lahore, said Mr Babar Bajwa, Deputy Superintendent of Police. Dogar was released on bail about five months ago after being arrested last year when another cleric reported to the police that he had allegedly “used abusive words” against Prophet Muhammad, Mr Bajwa said.
— AP |
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MMA-Pervez deal may not end political crisis Islamabad, September 7 The agreements reached after the MMA-government talks, which excluded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, respectively, might be rejected as the Islamist alliance has not touched any measures announced by General Musharraf to keep the two former premiers out of the country and out of politics. The point of agreements between the MMA and the government was expected to be submitted to an all-party meeting and later to parliament for approval. PML-N Acting President Javed Hashmi said although it was too early to comment on the package, the opposition would not deviate from its principled stand. “We believe in the supremacy of parliament and don’t accept General Musharraf as the President of Pakistan,” he said. PPP leaders also said they believed President Musharraf would not approve the settlement reached between the government and the MMA.
— PTI |
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Videotape on Sept 11 attacks surfaces
New York, September 7 The only other videotape showing the first plane hitting one of the towers came from a French crew, which was making a documentary about firefighters. The footage, which just surfaced, was shot by a Czech immigrant construction worker Pavel Hlava, who knows little English, and had now been obtained by the New York Times. The immigrant’s son came very near erasing the recording at one point of time but the father took the video camera away in nick of time. One of the reasons for tape not surfacing so long was that the immigrant was not sure what to do with it though he knew he had recorded the most deadly event in the USA. The federal investigators, who are studying the collapse of the towers, said they were now trying to obtain a copy for the data it may contain. A lack of information on the first strike, for example, had posed a major challenge to engineers trying to understand exactly why the north tower crumbled. The tape could, for example, help investigators pin down the precise speed at which the first plane was moving when it struck the tower. Reporting the acquisition of tape, the New York Times said the car carrying Hlava was making a video to be send home when he captured the planes impacting the twin towers and at that time, he did not realise the gravity of the incident. It was not until almost two weeks later that he even realised that he had captured the first plane on video. Even then, Hlava did not realise that he had some of the rarest footage collected of the World Trade Center disaster. His is the only videotape known to have recorded both planes on impact, the Times reported.
— PTI |
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Stars don’t want to see Arnold as Governor Los Angeles, September 7 “No, I won’t vote for Arnold,” said Harrison Ford in Berlin, where he was promoting his latest movie with his girlfriend Calista Flockhart. Tom Hanks was furious when he heard rumours, later denied, that a powerful actors agency planned to support ‘The Terminator’s’ candidacy. “Tom was furious when [a misleading] article in The Los Angeles Times appeared on Tuesday, saying Creative Artists Agency would help Arnold in his bid for Governor,” The New York Post said. For Cybill Sheperd, star of the popular television series “Moonlighting,” if the muscle-bound Austrian-born action hero were to win the October 7 recall election, “that would be the worst tragedy in the history of California.” “I think that we are the laughing stock of the world, with Arnold Schwarzenegger running (for) Governor,” Sheperd told Access Hollywood. Sylvester Stallone warned his colleague against indulging in politics.
— AFP |
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New ‘Whoopi’ takes on race, Bush
Los Angeles, September 7 So far, NBC hasn’t blinked. In fact, says the Oscar-winning actress, executives at the General Electric-owned television network think she could even be “a little riskier.” “They’re fearless about what it is we’re trying to do. We haven’t heard from anyone saying, ‘No, you can’t do this’,” she said. That also goes for some of the more unsavoury aspects of the character she plays on “Whoopi” — Mavis Raye, menopausal former singer-turned-hotelier in New York city.
— Reuters |
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Jerusalem, September 7
