 |
|
Bush assures Saudis of solidarity
Indian ships in Shanghai
for joint exercises
Khalistan leader appears in Pak US soldier killed in grenade attack “The Matrix” revolution! |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Bush assures Saudis of solidarity
Washington, November 10 “The President spoke to Crown Prince Abdullah this morning and he expressed his condolences to the people of Saudi Arabia and to the families of those killed in the attack,” a White House official said on condition of anonymity yesterday. “The President also told the Crown Prince that the USA stands with Saudi Arabia in the war against terrorism.” Seventeen persons, including five children, were killed in a midnight suicide bombing that ripped through a residential compound west of Riyadh, according to the Saudi Interior Ministry. The dead included seven Lebanese, four Egyptians, one Saudi and one Sudanese, said a ministry official quoted by state-run Saudi TV and the Saudi Press Agency. The nationalities of the remaining four victims had not yet been determined, the official said. Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage arrived in Riyadh to discuss the fight against terrorism with Saudi officials. United Nations: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was “horrified” by the terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia and expressed confidence that Riyadh would bring the perpetrators of the “cowardly attack” to justice. “The Secretary-General is horrified by the attack against a residential compound in Riyadh. He condemns this terrorist act in the strongest possible terms,” UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Amman: Jordan’s King Abdullah II has condemned the devastating suicide bomb attack in Riyadh, the press reported on Monday. Jordan “condemns this criminal explosion and rejects any attempt to destabilise Saudi Arabia,” Abdullah said in a telephone call late yesterday to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz. Wellington: New Zealand has warned against non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia and suggested that its citizens there make plans to leave, after a bomb killed at least 17 people in Riyadh. “New Zealanders are alerted to warnings of further terrorist attacks aimed at Western interests and ... of credible threats to civil aviation in Saudi Arabia,” the Foreign Ministry said on its Website today. “There is a continuing risk of being caught inadvertently in terrorist incidents such as the bombing,” it warned. RIYADH: The death toll in a suicide attack on a Riyadh compound housing mainly Arab expatriates has risen to 17, including five children, Saudi Arabia’s state television said. It quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying an initial figure of 11 had been revised after more bodies were pulled out from under the rubble at the compound where suspected al Qaida suicide bombers blew up an explosive-laden car. |
|
Chandrika invites Ranil for talks
Colombo, November 10 President Chandrika Kumaratunga, in a letter, invited Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for a discussion on the crisis triggered on November 4 after she sacked three ministers and suspended Parliament for two weeks. “In view of the current political situation in the country and my proposal last week to form a government of reconstruction and reconciliation, I would like to meet you in order to discuss your views on this matter,” Ms Kumaratunga said. A copy of the letter Ms Kumaratunga sent to Mr Wickremesinghe, and made available to reporters here, said the premier had been given three days from tomorrow to choose a time for the meeting. There was no immediate response from the prime Minister. Meanwhile, Mr Wickremesinghe today told his Cabinet
colleagues to prepare to face a snap election. The Premier made it clear that the crisis would have to be resolved eventually before the people at a vote as they could not continue with the slender majority they now have, government sources said here. Government spokesman G. L. Peiris, who is also the Constitutional Affairs Minister, said the government would welcome a snap election as it was confident it could increase its present two-seat majority in Parliament.
— AFP, PTI |
|
Indian ships in Shanghai
for joint exercises Shanghai, November 10 Apart from INS Ranjit, a guided-missile destroyer, the two other ships are the INS Kulish, a guided-missile corvette, and INS Jyoti, a replenishment tanker, all from the eastern naval command. The Indian navy would be represented by Flag Officer Commanding of the Eastern Command, Vice-Admiral O.P. Bansal. The first India-China naval exercises are scheduled to take place off Shanghai coast on November 14, official sources said here in the gleaming east Chinese port city which is also China’s commercial capital. Apart from enhancing mutual trust and confidence, the exercises are also aimed at ensuring the safety of maritime trade and improving coordination in search and rescue at sea, they said. He said the search and rescue drill assumed added significance as navigation in the South China sea and the neighbouring Malacca Straits has been plagued by sea piracy, a serious issue confronting commercial liners. Though the manoeuvres may seem militarily insignificant, the very fact that the Indian and Chinese navies are doing it for the first time is significant. |
|
Khalistan leader appears in Pak Lahore, November 10 He reportedly told journalists that Khalistanis “were ready to hammer out a peaceful and political solution of the problem”.
— IANS |
|
|
US soldier killed in grenade attack Baghdad, November 10 A military spokesman said the soldier, of the 18th Military Police Brigade, was killed in an attack at about 7 p.m. west of Iskandariya, about 50 km south of Baghdad. The latest death brought to 151 the number of American soldiers killed in hostile action since US President George W. Bush declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1.
— Reuters |
|
“The Matrix” revolution! Los Angeles, November 10 Rolling out on a record 18,000 screens in the United States, Canada and 94 other countries, “The Matrix Revolutions” surpassed the banner debut of “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” which raked in roughly $ 188 million worldwide in its first five days of release in December, 2002. The first two films — 1999’s “The Matrix” and “The Matrix Reloaded,” which opened in May this year — have already grossed nearly $1.2 billion combined in worldwide ticket sales.
— Reuters |
|
Previously unseen Picasso, Matisse works shown
Houston, November 10 The prints, some 230 in total, were on display in two shows at Houston’s Meredith Long and Co. gallery and at Adelson Galleries in New York. The New York show closed Saturday and the Houston show will be open until November 20. “Let’s put it this way: these are probably two of the most important artists of the 20th century,” said Meredith Long, a lanky Texan whose major passion, besides art, is hunting. He opened his gallery in 1957. The collection is another in a long line of exhibitions showing Picasso and Matisse, two lifelong friends and artistic rivals. But Long said this show highlighted the individuals where others had shown how each influenced the other by sharing and competing. “It is Matisse and Picasso going their own separate ways, rather than being complementary,” Long said. The collection of lithographs, etchings and linoleum cuts was kept in “an archival manner”, and barely shows a hint of age. The oldest are nearly 100 years old; the newest from the 1960s. Some of the Matisse works show themes and motifs that would later feature in his most famous pieces. Some bear the characteristic Matisse style, while others show him working in a more realistic fashion. Picasso’s works range from early to late in his life and travel across many different styles. Long and Marc Rosen of Marc Rosen Fine Art Ltd, New York, have organised groundbreaking shows before. In 2000, the two men unveiled more than 200 prints by American Impressionist Mary Cassatt that had never before been available to the public. Though Long is reluctant to say so, this collection may outshine even that show. Among the more striking are Picasso’s “Minotaur” series of Neoclassical drawings which show the mythical figure evolving through different phases of life. Much of the collection was originally owned by Ambroise Vollard, the famed Parisian art dealer who gave Picasso and Paul Cezanne their first one-man shows. Vollard’s heirs sold the collection to a French art dealer whom Rosen befriended in the mid-1970s. The dealer occasionally showed Rosen the hidden gems, and the man’s heirs contacted Rosen to sell the works after his death. Surprisingly, some of the pieces in Long’s gallery are inexpensive by the art world’s standards. A new Honda Accord sedan costs twice as much as Picasso’s clever Japanese-tinged etching, “Le Fumeur,” which lists at $ 8,000. The most expensive item in Long’s gallery is a four-piece set of linoleum cut prints, entitled “Tete du Femme,” by Picasso which is listed at $125,000. “These are institutional prices,” said Martha Long, who helps run her father’s gallery. In other words, private customers are paying the much lower prices usually given museums.
— Reuters |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
