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Pak arrests 10
Al-Qaida,
France, Germany and the USA agreed today that the Paris Club of creditor nations must make a “substantial reduction” in Iraq’s debt in 2004, the three countries said in a joint statement released in Paris. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar
Zebari (left) greets United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan during an official visit to his offices at
the UN headquarters on Tuesday.
— AP/PTI photo |
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Overseas Indians
swell UN fund Afghan students
hold rally A-I trial:
witness quizzed for discrepancies
Two space
tourists shell out $ 40 million High art of
caveman
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Pak arrests 10 Al-Qaida, Taliban suspects
Islamabad, December 17 The suspects were arrested in Rawalpindi on Monday, but the Interior Ministry said the arrests were not related to Sunday’s bid to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in the same city, which lies close to the capital Islamabad. Pakistan’s military ruler, a key ally in the U.S.-led “war on terror”, narrowly escaped an attack when a series of explosions ripped apart a bridge in Rawalpindi just after his motorcade passed by. “These arrests are not related to this incident. These are related to Al-Qaida and Taliban,” said Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, a senior Interior Ministry official. He said some weapons were recovered from the detainees, but did not say how many Afghans were among those arrested. Pakistani intelligence officials say they had no firm leads, but suspected the Al-Qaida network may be behind the weekend bid to kill General Musharraf. The Pakistani authorities are questioning seven security personnel, including four policemen detailed to check the bridge. Shortly after the attack, Musharraf blamed the explosion on Islamic militants angered over his support for the U.S.-led “war on terror” in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the USA. Pakistan has arrested more than 500 Al-Qaida members, and handed over many of them to the USA over the past two years.
— Reuters |
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Paris, Berlin, USA agree to reduce Iraq debt Paris, December 17 The decision was taken after US envoy James Baker met today with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris and with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin. Baker is on a tour of several European countries to convince leaders to lighten Iraq’s total debt burden of $ 120 billion. “Debt reduction is critical if the Iraqi people are to have a chance to build a free and prosperous Iraq,” said the statement by the three countries, released by Chirac’s office. “Therefore, France, Germany and the USA agree that there should be substantial debt reduction for Iraq in the Paris Club in 2004, and will work closely with each other to achieve this objective. “The exact percentage of debt reduction that would constitute ‘substantial’ debt reduction is subject to future agreement between the parties,” it said.
— AFP |
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Overseas Indians swell UN fund New York, December 17 Under the campaign, the Foundation will give grant equivalent in amount to the donations received. The Foundation had issued the “Pride in India” challenge on August 15 last, the 56th anniversary of India’s independence, and it received enthusiastic support from the Indian diaspora across the world. Encouraged by the response, the Foundation said it would continue to match donations through January of 2004. To date, the Foundation has committed over 28 million dollars to UN programmes in India. These diverse programes are improving children’s health care, empowering women, alleviating poverty, promoting environmental conservation and reducing the scourge of HIV/AIDS, it said.
— PTI |
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Afghan students hold rally Islamabad, December 17 Students
gathered at Daronta in eastern Afghanistan, near the provincial capital Jalalabad, and blocked the main highway leading to Kabul, the Pakistan-based private news agency said. The protesters also demanded a central government instead of the federal system envisaged in the draft currently being debated by 500 delegates at loya jirga (grand assembly). Protesters from Nangarhar University said clause 43 of the draft which says Afghan students will have to pay fees for higher education was totally “wrong and unjustified”, AIP said. They said the jirga should work to continue the current system of free education for Afghans across the country. The government should not deprive the poor people of higher education, they said, adding that the move could lead the country to feudalism. The demonstrators also called for Pashtu to be declared the national language. Under the draft both Pashtu and Dari are proposed as the official languages, mirroring Afghanistan’s 1964 constitution.
— AFP |
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A-I trial: witness quizzed for discrepancies
Vancouver, December 17 The woman — who cannot be named because of a publication ban — was yesterday asked by the crown lawyers to explain why her court testimony differed so much from earlier statements she gave to the police. Prosecutor Richard Cairns read from some of them, quoting the witness as saying Bagri asked to borrow her car to take suitcases to Vancouver Airport on the eve of the bombings — and that only the luggage was going on the plane. According to the statements, she also provided the police with information about Bagri’s relationships with other women and his marriage. But the woman had told the court on Monday that she did not remember saying any of those things. She also testified it’s possible she made those remarks to the police because she always tells the truth. On Monday, the witness testified the same statements were false, that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) forced her to sign them, offered her money to testify and threatened her with jail if she didn’t co-operate, media reports said. The prosecution contended the woman was deliberately downplaying her earlier evidence because she’s scared. The Crown had indicated it may apply to the court to have the witness declared hostile, which would allow more aggressive questioning.
— PTI |
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Geneva, December 17 The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said it expected the average surface temperature for the full year to stand 0.45°C higher than normal. The hottest year on record was 1998, when the average temperature was 0.55°C higher. The agency, which collects data from government forecasters worldwide, bases its figures on an average temperature of 14°C. It said the three hottest years since accurate records began to be kept in 1861 had all been in the past six years. “The rhythm of temperature increases is accelerating,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. India and Pakistan also were hit by a deadly heat wave in May and June, when 1,500 persons died as temperatures soared above 50°C. The western USA continued to suffer from drought, and wildfires in California burned 30,000 hectares of land in October. This summer, much of Europe was struck by a heat wave which saw temperatures exceed 40°C. Alpine glaciers melted faster and forests in several countries were destroyed by fire, the WMO said. Australia logged a record September temperature of 43.1°C. The agency said there was no current sign of a return in 2004 of the El Nino/La Nina weather phenomenon that brought devastation to many countries around the globe twice in the past five years. The WMO said the current outlook suggested the intermediate situation between the two that had prevailed since early this year after the fading of the last El Nino was likely to continue. An El Nino occurs when unusually warm surface water covers much of the Pacific because of changes in wind patterns — bringing drought to countries like Australia and Indonesia and violent storms to the west coast of North and South America.
— AP, Reuters |
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Two space tourists shell out $ 40 million
New York, December 17 Two thrill-seeking civilians, whose names are still being withheld, have agreed to shell out $ 20 million each for separate eight- to 10-day trips into orbit. These two space tourists won’t be the first — US millionaire Dennis Tito and South African technology entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth forked over about the same amount to be launched into space in 2001 and 2002. Two more seats are up for sale, locking up all the spots available on Russian Soyuz rockets through 2007, according to Space Adventures, a private US firm running the trips with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.
— Reuters |
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Paris, December 17 None longer than five centimetres across, the carvings comprise a duck-like bird; an animal that resembles a horse; and a half-human, half-animal creature that appears to have the body of a man and possibly the face of a lion. They join 17 other sculptures, including a fragment of a sophisticated musical pipe made from swan bone, that have been found at three nearby sites, Vogelherd, Geissenkloesterle and Hohlenstein-Stadel, all in the Ach and Lone Valleys southwest of Ulm. These works “belong to one of the oldest traditions of figurative art known worldwide and point to the Upper Danube as an important centre of cultural innovation during the early Upper Palaeolithic period,” says Tuebingen University archaeologist Nicholas Conard, who made the find. The carvings have been dated to the so-called Aurignacian period, through analysis of carbon isotopes in the stratum of soil in which they were deposited.
— AFP |
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