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11 miners rescued in Russia
Abu Salem goes on trial
in Portugal Kashmiri gets 20 yrs in jail for terror plan WTO to stick to deadline on finishing trade talks |
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UN shocked at girlchild ratio in India United Nations, October 29 The United Nations has expressed concern over elimination of girls by abortion and infanticide in India but “applauded” the government for the courage in addressing “this grave violation of national laws prohibiting sex selection.”
US Bill to legalise immigrant kids
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11 miners rescued in Russia Moscow, October 29 Rescuers built a 60-metre tunnel to reach the miners, trapped 800 metres below the ground since Thursday. The operation to rescue the miners, who were trapped after a pit accident flooded the mine, was held-up yesterday after an error in tunnelling work. A second mine explosion was reported today in eastern Russia and the authorities have given an ‘all-clear’ signal with 78 of the 71-miners trapped brought to the surface, reported the civil defence in the city of Vladivostok, 6,500 km east of Moscow. Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin today ordered the Rostov region Governor Vladimir Chub to prepare the procedure to confer state awards to those rescuers who actively participated in the efforts to save the life of coal miners trapped underground for more than five days. Eleven miners and one body have been lifted to the surface from the flooded Zapadnaya-Kapitalnaya coal mines where they had been since October 23. Ten miners were rushed to hospitals, Deputy Governor of the Rostov region said. One of the 46 miners trapped underground is still missing. Several groups of rescuers are looking for the missing man. The first 33 miners were lifted to the surface on October 25. —
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Abu Salem goes on trial in Portugal Lisbon, October 29 The Portuguese police arrested Salem, the subject of an international Interpol arrest warrant, along with his companion, little-known Indian film and television actress Monica Bedi, in Lisbon in September, 2002. The two were charged with possessing forged identity papers, which is punishable in Portugal by a fine or a suspended jail sentence, and have been awaiting trial in custody. India has since requested that Portugal extradites Salem, an Indian Muslim who is believed to have helped orchestrate a wave of bombings that ripped through Mumbai’s commercial district in March, 1993. As well as being wanted for the bombings, Salem is wanted in India in connection with more than 60 cases of murder, extortion and kidnapping that mainly targeted Bombay’s film producers and stars. Portugal’s Supreme Court began considering the extradition request in a separate trial that began earlier this month. Portugal and India do not have an extradition treaty and the case is complicated by the prohibition in the Portuguese constitution of the deportation of suspects to nations where they could face the death penalty. India’s Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani however has assured Portugal that Salem would not be given the death penalty if he were brought back to the country. —
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Kashmiri gets 20 yrs in jail for terror plan Washington, October 29 The District Court in Alexandria (Virginia) sentenced Faris after a federal judge rejected his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea on the plot. Faris told the court yesterday that he was only trying to fool the FBI when he pleaded guilty on May 1 because he wanted to gather material for a book. Officials said Faris had fantasies of travelling to Pakistan and working with the government to find Osama bin Laden, whom he had met. US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkena rejected the attempt, which included revelations that Faris had started banging his head against a steel door during an interview with the FBI at the Alexandria jail. A psychiatric report sought by his lawyer later found he had no mental illness. Faris told the judge yesterday that he was innocent. "I don't have any connection to Al-Qaida, except my best friend worked for Al-Qaida," he said, and added: "You have every right to punish me because of my stupidity that day (when he pleaded guilty). I was depressed." —
PTI |
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WTO to stick to deadline on finishing trade talks Madrid, October 29 The failure of the September negotiations pushed the WTO into one of the worst crises in its eight-year history and made many observers think the Doha round would miss its January, 2005 deadline. “There is, as yet, no indication that there will be any change in (the) time frame,” WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said after a working breakfast with Spanish Economy Minister Rodrigo Rato. “In fact, the framework from Doha is still in tact.” The Doha Round - so called because it kicked off in the capital of Qatar - aims to remove trade barriers in a range of sectors from agriculture to services. But the talks in Cancun broke down over demands for rich nations to cut hefty financial support for their farmers and over developing nations’ opposition to a set of new rules which looked to expand WTO regulation into investment and competition policy. Trade officials in Cancun scheduled a meeting in Geneva for December 15 and Supachai and WTO General Council Chairman Carlos Perez del Castillo are holding consultations to find common ground on key stumbling blocks. —
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UN shocked at girlchild ratio in India United Nations, October 29 As a result of the sex selective abortions and infanticide, the ratio of girls to boys in India has shown a “shocking decline” in the last decade, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed said the data showed that the girl-to-boy ratio had dropped to fewer than 800 girls per 1,000 boys in some parts of the country. “These findings reveal an alarming trend, which must be addressed,” Mr Obaid said today. “Discrimination against girls anywhere in the world is a social ill and human rights violation, which must be stopped,” he said. The data was released in a booklet, “Missing: Mapping the Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India.” It was compiled by India’s Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the UNFPA. The publication notes a national decline from 945 to 927 in the number of girls per 1,000 boys aged 0-6 between 1991 and 2001 and a “grave” situation in states like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, where the ratio has “drastically declined” to fewer than 800 girls for every 1,000 boys. The ratio is also low in certain districts, including the south-west district of Delhi, which are “amongst the most prosperous in the country,” the booklet said. According to the booklet, “one of the significant contributors to the adverse child sex ratio in India is the practice of elimination of female foetuses.” It also notes, however, the killing of newborn girls. “The girl child is killed by putting a sand bag on her face, or by throttling her,” a mother is quoted as saying. “It is not a rare phenomenon, it happens without any hindrance.” Commending the government’s investigation, Mr Obaid said: “It takes courage to move beyond denial and actively confront gender discrimination. Leadership is critical to progress for girls’ and women’s rights.” —
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Indian-American wins $49 million jackpot Silicon Valley, October 29 What Badwal didn’t know was that he had sold one of the winning tickets to himself — and that he had won $49.5 million, representing his half of a jackpot that he shared with an aspiring actress from Southern California. Owner of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Santa Clara, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, Badwal told reporters that he didn’t bother to check his tickets, which he had bought about 90 minutes before last Wednesday’s drawing, because it was so busy at store. An aspiring actress and her fianci stepped up to claim half the prize — $49.5 million (for the other ticket sold elsewhere.) But on Friday morning, his brother, Parminder
Badwal, knowing no one had stepped forward to claim the other half of the jackpot, phoned and suggested that Narinder check his tickets, the San Jose Mercury reported yesterday. “I said, ‘Forget it, you know that I never win more than $10 or $11, so what’s the big deal?’ “ said
Badwal, who has played the lottery since it bagan in 1985. He told his brother, Parminder Badwal, to check the tickets, which were in his office. He had picked the same numbers, which have no special significance, for the past four months. But he never figured he would win. Fifteen minutes later, Narinder’s brother informed him of the lottery win. Narinder Badwal, 49, said he is planning no significant changes in his life and intends to keep running his store. But he will increase his donations to charity, the first big beneficiary of which would be the Sankara Eye Foundation, which funds research on blindness and provides eye care to the poor in India. Yesterday, the couple again gathered at their friend’s restaurant once again for another celebration and the official presentation from lottery officials. —
PTI |
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US Bill to legalise immigrant kids Washington, October 29 The Bill would grant conditional permanent resident status to young people who came to the United States illegally with their parents. To be eligible, they would have to have been in the country for five years at the time of the Bill’s enactment, have entered before the age of 16, have graduated from high school and have a clean record. They would qualify for permanent residency by completing two years of college or by serving for two years in the armed services within the next six years. —
Reuters |
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