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Peter Ustinov dead British troops clash with protesters in Basra
Philippines seeks apology for terror accusation India, Pak refrain from raising Kashmir at UN |
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Peter Ustinov dead London, March 29 “He died last night in Switzerland,” his London agent, Steve Kenis, said today, “I shall remember him for always seeing the bright side of everything.” Just 18 month ago, Ustinov told Reuters in an interview he was happy to work until he dropped “as long as I can be guaranteed that I won’t know in advance when it’s going to happen. Ustinov, who spoke than half a dozen languages, won Oscars for his roles in the films “Spartacus and “Topkapi.” But he led a richly varied life as a playwright, novelist, film director and goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Children’s Fund. Born in London of Russian parentage, Ustinov was a London revue star as a teenager and wrote his first play at 19. He made his first feature film at 25. He starred in, produced and directed his own plays in London, New York, Berlin, Paris and Rome. He wrote novels to fill in time whilst hanging around on Hollywood film sets. He interviewed a string of world leaders, was garlanded with international honours and ranked as one of the finest mimics in the business. On stages across Europe, the USA and Australia, he captured by caricature an international Who’s who of characters, insisting “I don’t rehearse the faces at all. I just feel like the people.” Ustinov was the first to admit that laughter had been a life long drug, confessing: I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me to be the most civilised music in the world. He was once asked what would be his ideal epitaph. With a familiar twinkled in his eye, he swiftly decided on the perfect inscription for his tombstone: “Keep off the grass.” |
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British troops clash with protesters in Basra Basra, March 29 Reuters Television pictures showed a squad of British soldiers using riot shields and wielding batons to try to control the crowd of about 80 demonstrators, who threw stones and swung iron bars at the troops and set fire to several tyres. One protester tried to snatch a rifle from a British soldier and was quickly beaten to the ground by other troops. At least four armoured British Land Rovers were at the scene. Pictures showed several objects burning and petrol drums scattered across the road. Witnesses said one protester was wounded in the head by a rubber baton round fired by the British troops. They said he had been taken to a hospital. The clashes took place in front of the office of the God’s Revenge Islamic Organisation, a militant Shi’ite Muslim group which is accused by some Iraqis of involvement in attacks against Sunnis and members of the former Baath party regime. It was not immediately clear what provoked the protests but locals said British forces had tried to force members of the God’s Revenge Islamic Organisation out of their building and had met with resistance. British troops clashed with demonstrators in Basra last week. An armoured troop carrier was attacked with petrol bombs and several British soldiers were briefly set alight before the flames were doused. Thirteen soldiers were lightly wounded in the clashes, which lasted several hours. Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, and the rest of the southern Iraq region where British forces are responsible has been generally calm than the rest of the country, although there have been several recent flare-ups. Most of the demonstrations are held by former or current members of Iraq’s security forces seeking payment of their pensions or monthly salaries.
— Reuters |
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Blasts in Uzbekistan claim 19 lives Moscow, March 29 “In total, including the Bukhara incident, 19 persons are dead, including six police officers”, Prosecutor-General of Uzbekistan Rashid Kadyrov said at a press conference in Tashkent. “These were terrorist acts. There is reason to believe they were prepared over a long period and coordinated from a centre, possibly abroad. All terror acts are inter-connected, according to our preliminary investigation,” Russia’s channel 1 TV quoted him as saying.
— PTI |
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Philippines seeks apology for terror accusation Manila, March 29 Ms Arroyo said the question — “Should American broaden the war on terrorism into other countries that harbour and aid terrorists such as Thailand, Syria, Somalia, the Philippines, etc.?” — was “fallacious” and “reflects irresponsibility”. The question was included in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Ask America 2004” policy survey, one of the party’s fund-raising initiatives. “We don’t deserve this kind of treatment,” she said. “The Philippines has been a staunch supporter of the global war against terrorism and has proven its worth in reducing the operational capability of terrorists domestically and transnationally.” “I would like the department of foreign affairs to demand an apology for the unfair and baseless accusation that we belong to a list of countries harbouring terrorists,” she added. While the Philippines has problems with Muslim insurgents allegedly linked to regional and international terror groups, the country has often been lauded for its anti-terrorism activities. In a visit to Manila last October, US President George W. Bush even hailed the Philippine government’s campaign against Al-Qaida-linked terror groups as a “model” for other Southeast Asian countries.
— DPA |
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India, Pak refrain from raising Kashmir at UN London, March 29 Building on the recent thaw in relations, delegates of the two nations have not raised any controversial issue pertaining to Kashmir or the Pakistan occupied Kashmir, at the international foray. The previous sessions had turned stormy after heated debates on the issue of excesses in the region. However, non-governmental agencies from across the globe expressed concern over the Pakistani military regime’s human rights violations in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir and making the Gilgit and Baltistan areas of the region a safe haven for international terrorists. At the ongoing 60th session of the commission, the International Kashmir Alliance (IKA) has said the Pakistani intelligence agencies are harbouring terrorists, training them in the area and financing the outfits. “The Pakistani intelligence agencies continue to recruit innocent Kashmiri youth for activities of sabotage and subversion across the border,” IKA secretary-general Shaukat Ali Kashmiri said at the UNCHR. He said the military relied on the radical Islamists to pursue its multiple agenda of oppression and subversion of the people in the northern areas. People of Gilgit and Baltistan have been deliberately kept illiterate and backward by the successive military regimes to serve their narrow interest, he said. “The problems of poverty and backwardness have been compounded in recent years by emergence of religious fundamentalist groups or so called jehadi outfits that have infiltrated the region with the full knowledge of the Pakistani authorities,” Mr Ali added. The people fear that they have been kept in illegal confinement by the ISI, he said. In his intervention on behalf of the Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organisation Shaukat Hussain Baluch urged the international human rights community to keenly observe the conditions in the area. Mr Blauch said successive military coups in Pakistan had seriously impaired the functioning of the civilian institutions such as Parliament, judiciary and the bureaucracy in the northern areas. “The rule of law has collapsed, people have no faith in the efficacy of the government and the economy is dysfunctional,” he added.
— UNI |
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3 Jaish militants held for bid on Musharraf’s life Islamabad, March 29 The authorities picked up Ghulam Murtaza, Ghulam Rasool and Saad from their houses. “Though the authorities have no evidence regarding their involvement in the assassination bid, they have some leads into their involvement in the attack,” a local daily quoted officials as saying. It said investigators believed that the suicide bomber Muhammad Jamil was trained by the three men.
— PTI |
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Pak to bear expenses of Mehdi Hasan’s treatment Islamabad, March 29 “The government is ready to bear all expenses on singer Mehdi Hasan’s treatment,” Pakistani daily, “The Dawn” quoting a spokesman for the Information and Broadcasting Ministry reported today. President Pervez Musharraf had earlier donated Rs 5,00,000 for the treatment of Hasan who suffered a stroke some time ago and has been ailing since then, the paper said. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and the Pakistan Television Corporation have also assured all possible help to the maestro.
— UNI |
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Next space tourist will bring along his own experiments New York, March 29 Olsen, founder of Sensors Unlimited, Princeton, New Jersey, has hired the company that brokered the first space tourist trip, millionaire Dennis Tito’s flight aboard a Russian spacecraft in 2001. The 58-year-old Olsen said he planned to bring along infrared sensors, which detect varying levels of heat, to analyse pollution in the Earth’s atmosphere and the health of agricultural systems on the ground. “I kind of feel, this is a way of paying back,” he said. The remote-sensing experiment is “really what the buzz is for me,” he said, “as well as the kick of being in space for a week.” Olsen also hopes the weightlessness of space will help him grow better versions of special crystals used in infrared sensors and other high-tech applications, though he hasn’t finalised these plans. He plans to publish his findings in scientific journals. The entrepreneur said he had no worry for his safety, even with memories of the 2003 space shuttle Columbia disaster fresh in his mind. Olsen, who is divorced, said his two grown daughters are supportive of the mission. Olsen leaves for Star City, Russia, this week to begin six months of training for his flight aboard the Soyuz to the International Space Station. The eight-day voyage is scheduled for April, 2005, but there’s a chance he could go this October. The trip’s $ 20 million price is what Tito paid in 2001 and South African Mark Shuttleworth paid in 2002 for strictly tourist trips. Eric Anderson, Chief Executive, Space Adventures, Arlington, Virginia, would not elaborate on his company’s financial arrangement with the Russian Government. Space Adventures hopes to eventually send two tourist aboard a Soyuz flight flown by a Russian cosmonaut. That would mean there would be no room to bring a cosmonaut or astronaut home from the International Space Station on the return flight, so someone’s space station mission would be extended from six months to a year. Unlike Lance Bass, the pop singer who wanted to ride a Russian rocket to space but couldn’t come up with the funds, Olsen says he has more than enough to cover the costs. His research into crystals, part of which was funded by NASA, led to devices that help fiber-optic networks perform more efficiently. He sold his company, Sensors Unlimited, to optical-network parts-maker Finisar Corp. for $ 700 million in 2000. |
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London, March 29
Basra, March 29
