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Early results indicate victory for Putin Sikh
millionaire’s bid for Senate faces Suicide bombers kill 9 Israelis Pak nukes may
fall into Jehadis’ hands: experts Window on Pakistan |
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4 US soldiers die
in blasts Two Nepalese
security men die in explosion Two security personnel were killed and another seriously injured in a landmine explosion triggered by Maoists in Nepal where the rebels kidnapped 36 students and teachers, official reports said today. The security personnel were killed when their vehicle ran over a landmine planted by the rebels at the Fisling area in Chitawan district yesterday, official daily The Rising Nepal reported. John Paul II
becomes third longest-serving pontiff Pope John Paul II became the third-longest serving pontiff in the history of the Roman Catholic Church today. No special celebrations took place. The Pope used the occasion to pray for the victims of Thursday’s terrorist bombings in Madrid. Australia names
Crowe, Kidman ‘living treasures’ Actors Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman were named ‘Living National Treasures’ by the Australian heritage group, the National Trust of Australia today. 
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Early results indicate victory for Putin Moscow, March 14 The Central Election Commission said of other candidates communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov took 14.7 per cent, nationalist Sergei Glazyev 5.1 per cent, liberal Irina Khakamada 4.8 per cent, ultranationalist Oleg Malyshkin 3.1 and the pro-Kremlin Speaker of the Upper House, Sergei Mironov, 0.9. Votes cast in the category "Against all" candidates amounted to 4.1 per cent. Earlier, an exit poll published shortly after the close of voting showed President Vladimir Putin winning a second term with a landslide 69 per cent. Voter turnout surpassed 50 per cent earlier in the day, making the election valid and banishing the sole threat to the incumbent president’s re-election. In second place was Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov with 12.6 per cent. A total of 5.7 per cent of respondents voted against all candidates, an option put to all voters on the ballot paper. Independent liberal Irina Khakamada and Independent nationalist Sergei Glazyev each scored 4.7 per cent. Oleg Malyshkin of the nationalist Liberal Democrats received 2.3 per cent, and Upper House Speaker Sergei Mironov, who said he was backing Putin, took one per cent. The exit poll, conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), surveyed 120,000 people at polling stations across the country. The election seals Putin’s grip on power, giving him four years to push through promised reforms to bring a measure of wealth and stability to Russia’s masses, whose living standards plunged in the turmoil that followed the Soviet collapse.
— Reuters |
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Sikh millionaire’s bid for Senate faces first test Chicago, March 14 A political novice with deep pockets and a compelling biography, the 39-year-old son of Indian immigrants has garnered global media coverage for his bid to become the first South Asian to be elected to the US Senate. But the “turban and beard” candidate has never really caught on with the voters in the Midwestern state of Illinois, barely registering in the published polls. Nevertheless, with just 72 hours to go to until a sudden death qualifying round Tuesday, when voters will whittle the field of 15 candidates down to just two, Kathuria is upbeat about his chances. “Even to this day, I believe I am going to win,” said Kathuria, a Republican. “If I can turn out enough of the minority vote and the independent vote, I can get the numbers I need”. During a brief appearance at a Muslim community centre here on Wednesday, the 39-year-old trawled for votes, playing up his experience as the child of an immigrant and pledging to work to protect their civil rights. “I
know what you go through every day with racial profiling,” he said. Of
the eight Republican candidates vying for the seat, “I have been the
most outspoken on the Patriot Act. What better person to represent your
interests?”, he asks. — AFP |
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Suicide bombers kill 9 Israelis
Ashdod (Israel), March 14 Two Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, claimed joint responsibility for the attacks. The assailants came from the Jebaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, and were sent to avenge the killings of militants in recent Israeli army raids, the statements said. Today’s explosions went off just before 20.30 IST in two separate areas of the port. Port worker Sami Pinto said when he entered the port, he saw smoke from the explosions near the fence of the facility and one in a workshop inside the port.
— AP |
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Pak nukes may fall into Jehadis’ hands: experts London, March 14 “There is every apprehension that Pakistan’s nuclear programme may fall into terrorists’ hands”, experts told a group of visiting Indian journalists while briefing them on the recent disclosures on secret transfer of technology by Dr A.Q. Khan to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Terrorist groups, including the Jaish-e-Mohammed, made two attempts on the life of President Pervez Musharraf in December. These hardline fundamentalists are unhappy with President Musharraf for his cooperation to the USA in tracking down Osama-bin-Laden and others in the tribal areas. Several Western countries well now working secretly with the Pakistani authorities to protect nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists or rogue commanders. There had been a sustained dialogue with Pakistan on the need to safeguard its technology and its nuclear material. It had already taken some necessary steps in this regard, the experts said. Research fellows of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal United Service Institute, however, felt that Islamabad’s command and control system was “pretty well”, but added that one can never be sure about future. “We do not want Pakistan’s nuclear
material to get into wrong hands”, the Research Fellows said. — UNI |
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Window on Pakistan E ver since Gen Pervez Musharraf seized power in October, 1999, he has been busy like his not so illustrations predecessor Gen Zia, in breaking mainline political parties and installing puppets. In the process, the rulers in khaki have created not only a political vacuum, but also helped spread opportunism and extremism. There is a Frankenstein which stares at the General in the form of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the combination of six Islamic parties and the jihadis of all sorts tearing the very fabric of Pakistani society. But the survival instinct tells the General that he must keep playing this game whatever be the cost. The latest prey of Musharraf once again is the self exiled leader Benazir Bhutto’s People’s Party. The fight seems fast degenerating into a mortal combat. Four major leaders including three MLAs from the Punjab Assembly, have quit to help the Musharraf regime.Commenting on this Daily Times spared no one. It wrote “General Musharraf wanted to strike a deal with the PPP before the elections and then immediately after the elections. The PPP rejected it because it thought it could extract more than Mr Musharraf was prepared to concede. That was not to be. The party ended up losing even Sindh where it was, and remains, the biggest party. So instead of maximising its political advantage, a strategy at which the religious Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal has fared much better, the PPP allowed itself to be assaulted further by the government. Soon enough, a fairly large chunk of its legislators crossed over and made a forward bloc, a euphemism for defecting without, technically, coming across as turncoats. This was a major setback to the party, at least in terms of its headcount.” What worries the Daily Times is that the, “tussle raises overall costs for the system and threatens the future political course of this country. Musharraf has played politics exactly along the same lines and with the lack of any principle as the politicians he despises and for which reason he says the army is inclined to intervene into the system. There is a clear disconnect between his rhetoric and the reality of his actions”. The vicious cycle of outflanking each other is indeed costing a great deal and its fractured polity is getting further knocks. This government has unabashedly kept the two mainstream parties, the PPP and the PML-N, out of all reckoning. Ms Bhutto is not the only leader of a major party to be in exile, voluntary or otherwise. It is true of the leaders of the PML-N and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. Commenting on this latest bout Dawn wrote, “From a long-term perspective, the ostracisation of the country’s largest parties will help neither the government nor the country. The results of four general elections - from 1988 to 1996 - had aroused hopes that the country was moving toward a two-party dispensation. But subsequent manipulation of the system has ensured that smaller parties should emerge as a force in national politics and, ironically, this led to the rise of the MMA, which is now one of most vocal opponents of the Musharraf government’s perceived liberalism.” “If the process of ignoring the PPP and the PML-N continues, then one day the country could be without a national party, with the scene dominated by regional parties. President Musharraf too should realise that when the time comes for him to take off uniform, he might need a constituency of his own that is closer to the policies of moderation that he says he wishes to follow “, it advised. News International took a similar position when it wrote. “Such resignations, genuine or contrived, by opposition party members are an unfortunate comment on our politics at a time when we are supposed to have left all the bad practices behind.” But a pithy comment came from a retired General.
According to Khabrain, “Gen Nasirullah Babar said that the MMA was a
tola (gang) of the enemies of democracy. Gen Babar speaks straight and
is right most of the time. MMA is a threat to Pakistan because the world
fears Pakistan’s conversion into a rogue Islamic state if the MMA comes
to power” |
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Baghdad, March 14 A homemade bomb exploded late last night, killing three troops and injuring the fourth as they patrolled an area in southeast Baghdad, the official said. “Three Task Force 1st Armoured
Division soldiers were killed and one wounded when their vehicle struck
an IED (improvised explosive device),” she said. A second bomb exploded
at about 9 a.m. today in the Iraqi capital, injuring one soldier from
the 1st Infantry Division, the official said. — AFP |
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Two Nepalese security men die in explosion Kathmandu, March 14 The security personnel were killed when their vehicle ran over a landmine planted by the rebels at the Fisling area in Chitawan district yesterday, official daily The Rising Nepal reported. In a separate incident, the rebels kidnapped 36 more students and teachers from the Jogbudha area of Dadeldhura district in West Nepal yesterday, the Himalyan Times reported. The rebels have not yet freed 46 teachers and students they had kidnapped two days ago. Meanwhile, official reports said government offices in Morang district in Eastern Terai were changing their numberplates frequently to avoid attacks by the Maoists. Government vehicles in Nepal have their numberplates marked
with red against a white background while the private vehicles have
white numbers marked against red/background. — PTI |
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John Paul II becomes third longest-serving pontiff Rome, March 14 No special celebrations took place. The Pope used the occasion to pray for the victims of Thursday’s terrorist bombings in Madrid. In an address, the pontiff expressed absolute condemnation of the attacks and said looking back on such barbarity, it was difficult to fathom how ‘’the human soul could think up such abhorrent acts’’. Polish-born Karol Wojtyla, now 83, was elected pope on October 16, 1978. Today, he had ruled for 25 years and 27 days, surpassing Pope Leon XIII, whose term ran from 1878 to 1903. If the first-ever pontificate, that of St Peter’s, is ruled out, then this Pope will become the second longest-serving pontiff ever after Pius IX. St Peter, according to Vatican statistics, is believed to have ruled for 34 or 37 years. Pius IX reigned for nearly 32 years, between 1846 and 1878. Given the precarious state of John Paul’s health, however, few people expect him to beat Pius’ record. Despite poor health, he suffers from Parkinson’s disease and other age-related ailments, John Paul has expressed desire to continue in his pontificate and has repeatedly ruled out resigning. The Pope faces a busy schedule
in the coming weeks, when he will preside over traditionally gruelling
Easter celebrations. — DPA |
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Australia names Crowe, Kidman ‘living treasures’ Sydney,
March 14 Cricketers Steve Waugh, runner John Landy and tennis player Patrick Rafter were also named “Living National Treasures.” The Governor of New South Wales state Marie Bashir and
entertainer Jimmy Little were also among 15 new “ Living National
Treasures”. The new appointees replace treasures who have passed away
since the 1997 inaugural 100 treasures were announced. Deceased
treasures include painter Arthur Boyd, cricketer Sir Donald Bradman,
singer Slim Dusty and actor Ruth Cracknell. — Reuters |
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Moscow, March 14
