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President
Bush seeks more troops Bush
sought Iraq war plan in Nov’ 01 |
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Meeting
of Muslim nations on April 22 Kuala Lumpur, April 17 Malaysia has moved up the date of a meeting of Muslim nations’ foreign ministers to discuss increasing violence in Iraq and the Palestinian territories, reports said today.
Hostages
were shifted to various locations Slum drug war leaves
residents petrified Pakistani
army action triggers migration Two
quakes rock Indonesia Prince William in gun
row over cat
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President Bush seeks more troops for Iraq Baghdad, April 17 Arabic television station Al Jazeera yesterday broadcast a video tape that showed US Private Keith Matthew Maupin held by masked and heavily armed guerrillas after being captured in an attack on a convoy last week. “A mujahideen group has succeeded in taking a US soldier prisoner. He will be treated in the Islamic tradition of treating prisoners and he is in good health,’’ one guerrilla read from a statement. The poor-quality tape showed Maupin dressed in military fatigues sitting on the floor. Later in the tape Maupin — one of two US soldiers missing amid a spate of kidnappings this month that snared foreign civilians from more than 12 countries — identified himself in a soft voice. “We have seen the video tape of Matt. I am sure it is him. Our family is very happy and prays for Matt’s safety,’’ family spokesman Carl Cottrell told mediapersons outside the Maupin home in Willowville, Ohio. “On behalf of his mother and the rest of his family, we will like to say, ‘Matt, we love you and we can’t wait until we get to hug you again’.’’ Blair said at a joint press conference with Bush after talks at the White House that they would stamp out a rebellion launched this month by radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and also win a long-running battle against Sunni guerrillas. UNITED NATIONS:
The USA called on governments on Friday to contribute troops to a new military force it was setting up in Iraq to protect UN international staff upon their return to Iraq. The new force would be created as a separate unit, but under the overall command of the US-led multinational force now seeking to maintain security in Iraq, US Ambassador John Negroponte told the UN Security Council. The United Nations pulled its international staff out of Iraq last year after two bomb attacks on its Baghdad offices. One of the bombings killed 22 persons, including UN mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello. With a June 30 deadline drawing near for an end to the US-led administration of Iraq, Washington is pressing the world body to return and take a high-profile role in the transition to a new interim Iraqi government and in preparations for democratic elections in January. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said this week chaos in Iraq ruled out a large UN team returning in the near future. But Negroponte, who has emerged in recent days as the front-runner to be the US ambassador to Iraq after June 30, said governments badly wanted UN senior staff to go back in time to help the new interim government. The international community strongly hoped the United Nations would play an expansive, robust and vital role, in particular after the June 30 transition, he said. A specific mandate for the new UN protective force would be defined in a new UN Security Council resolution that the USA and Britain had begun working on in anticipation of the transition, he said. While it was not yet clear how large a force was needed, Washington already has asked some governments to contribute troops, and this would continue, he said. British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told the council in a closed session that a new resolution was needed to recognise the end of occupation, bless the new interim government, define the UN role for the post-June 30 era and approve a continuing international military presence, diplomats said. But work on the resolution would not begin in earnest for a few weeks, the diplomats said.
— Reuters |
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Bush sought Iraq war plan in Nov’ 01 Washington, April 17 The admission from the White House yesterday about the early timing of a discussion about war strategy came after the administration was questioned about a new book by journalist Bob Woodward. The revelation is sure to fire up some of Bush’s critics who have accused him of being too eager to go to war against Iraq and of diverting resources from the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. The book, entitled “Plan of Attack,’’ is not due to be released until next week, but the Associated Press published some details from it after obtaining an early copy. The book, according to the Associated Press, reveals that Bush took Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld aside on November 21, 2001, and asked him to come up with a fresh war plan. That request came less than two months after the USA launched a war on Afghanistan and a year and a half before the March 2003, invasion of Iraq. Bush cited Saddam’s alleged weapons of mass destruction as the main reason for the invasion, in which almost 700 US troops died as well as thousands of Iraqi
military and civilians. No such weapons, however, were found. Two former officials from his administration, ex-Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and former counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke, portrayed the president as fixated on Iraq, even at a time when the administration insisted Bush was focused squarely on Afghanistan.
— Reuters |
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Palestinian group Hamas hails Laden’s statement Gaza, April 16 Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the Hamas, was killed on March 22 by Israel in an airstrike near his house in Gaza City. At the rally following Friday prayers in remembrance of Sheikh Yassin, hundreds of Hamas supporters waved green Hamas flags chanting slogans for Bin Laden, the most wanted leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. A voice on an audiotape
believed to be Bin Laden’s was aired yesterday by Arab-language media and promised revenge for Yassin’s killing. The tape, considered ‘’likely’’ authentic by the U S Central Intelligence Agency, also offered a ‘’ceasefire’’ to European governments in return for a cessation of actions against Muslims. “From here we send out greetings to the great leader Osama bin Laden who vowed to avenge the blood of Sheikh Yassin,’’ Hamas leader Ahmed Bahar told an estimated 5,000 people. He called upon the Palestinian Authority to stop ‘’peace negotiations with Israel’’ immediately, which were ‘’a waste of time’’. He said. |
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Meeting of Muslim nations on April 22 Kuala Lumpur, April 17 Malaysia, which chairs the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), brought the meeting forward to April 22 from its planned May 4 date following a request of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Officials have said 20 foreign ministers are expected to attend the talks held in the administrative capital of Putrajaya. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar announced the new meeting date in a statement released by the official Bernama news agency. A similar meeting for members of the Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries, which Malaysia also chairs, is due to be held later. He said Malaysia saw the need for the emergency meeting after developments in the West Asia seemed to show that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was “trying to ignore” the Palestine-Israel roadmap for peace. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has expressed concern over the increasing violence in Iraq and said he was saddened by the number of civilian deaths in fighting between US-led coalition troops and members of the Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said: “I’ve sent letters to President Bush and leaders of the permanent five of the United Nations on the subject of Iraq.” “I have also sent letters to President Bush and others that make up the group of four responsible for the Palestinian ‘roadmap’ or peace plan,” he added.
— DPA |
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Putin’s birthday gift to Schroeder—Cossack choir Hanover, Germany, April 17 Russian President Vladimir Putin vied with German art luminaries for the limelight at the bash yesterday, attended by more than 400 of Mr Schroeder’s best friends. In keeping with tight security, even the delicacies at the buffet were top secret till the covers came off. Smoked bacon was clearly part of the mix: caterer Hans-Hermann Eikemeier said Mr Schroeder had asked for North German country style. In a short speech in German, Mr Putin praised Mr Schroeder as “a fair and a strong politician’’ who had brought Germany greater weight in the world”, an aide told the waiting media. The Social Democratic leader actually turned 60 on April 17, but reserved that day for a more leisurely celebration with wife Doris and stepdaughter Klara at a winery in his favourite relaxation zone, the Italian region of Tuscany. Invitations to the big party were coveted among German business and political leaders, but Mr Schroeder made sure there was a good sprinkling of the arts and sports figures he has cultivated since becoming German leader in 1998. Among those sighted going to the venue, the Theater am Aegi, were Nobel literature-prize laureate Guenter Grass and Bayern Munich, football supremo Franz Beckenbauer, along with Mr Daimler Chrysler Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp. While Mr Schroeder asked guests to make a donation to a worthy cause instead of bringing a present, many were spotted bearing gifts. Mr Putin’s special contribution was a performance by a Cossack choir.
— DPA |
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Hostages were shifted to various
locations
Tokyo, April 17 The release was a boon for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a
staunch supporter of the USA, who faced his biggest political
challenge to date after militants threatened to kill the hostages
unless he pulled Japanese troops out of Iraq. The three — Noriaki
Imai, 18, freelance journalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, and aid worker
Nahoko Takato, 34 — were freed on Thursday, one week after the
hostage-takers released a video showing the three blindfolded and with
guns to their heads. “The way they were treated improved by the
day,” the Nihon Keizai newspaper quoted Japanese embassy officials
in Baghdad as saying. The three, who were taken to Dubai after their
release, are due to return to Japan tomorrow. “It would have been
tough if I had been alone,” Koriyama was quoted as saying by
business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun. “It was good that we were able
to talk a lot,” he was quoted as telling Senior Vice-Foreign
Minister Ichiro Aisawa in Dubai yesterday. Yomiuri Shimbun said the
three were held at what seemed like private homes after being taken
hostage on April 7 near the Iraqi city of Falluja. They were moved to
different locations several times while being blindfolded, it said,
quoting government sources. The three are likely to be greeted in
Japan not just by sympathy for what they endured, but also by
controversy, fanned after two of them said they still wanted to work
in Iraq. The government, meanwhile, has received high marks for its
handling of the crisis. Sixtyfour per cent of respondents to a survey
by major daily Asahi Shimbun conducted yesterday said they viewed the
government’s response to the hostage incident positively, while only
22 per cent said they did not have a favourable view. Almost
three-fourths — 73 per cent — said the government made the right
decision in rejecting demands to withdraw Japanese troops from Iraq,
while 16 per cent said the decision was wrong. Views were more
divided on the future of Japan’s troop dispatch to Iraq, with 50 per
cent saying it should be continued and 32 per cent saying the troops
should be pulled out. Japan has dispatched around 550 ground troops
to Samawa in southern Iraq for a non-combat mission to help rebuild
the war-torn country. The Japanese public has been divided over the
dispatch, with some critics saying the deployment violates Japan’s
pacifist constitution. Koizumi has vowed to keep the Japanese troops
in Iraq. BAGHDAD: Two Japanese held hostage in Iraq — freelance
journalist Jumpei Yasuda, 30, and Nobutaka Watanabe, 36, a former
member of the Japanese military with ties to a civic group — were
released by their captors on Saturday and turned over to an
association of Sunni Muslim scholars. “The two were released. They
are next to me,” Sheikh Abdul Salam Kubaissi, an official at the
Committee of Muslim Scholars, said here. “They are in very good
health,” he added. — Reuters |
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Slum drug war leaves residents petrified
Rio de Janeiro, April 17 “I think God saved my life. The night the battle began I was planning to work all night, but at the last minute decided to go home early. Two hours later the war broke out,’’ taxi driver Jorge Luis Candelaria told DPA. Candelaria lives in Rocinha favela, Rio’s largest slum with 250,000 inhabitants. Next to Rocinha, separated by a strip of vegetation, lies another slum called Vidigal. Since April 8 two drug organisations based in each of the slums have been waging a deadly shooting war which killed 12 persons in a week - among them Candelaria’s neighbour. The drug war caught Rocinha’s residents by surprise because for the past 10 years it had earned a reputation for being one of the city’s most peaceful favelas. Candelaria no longer sees cause for celebration for his decision to move to Rocinha. Located near to an avenue between the plush Zona Sul area of Rio and the modern Barra de Tijuca district, Rocinha had turned into an attraction for foreign tourists and passing through it had become customary for Rio residents. It was common to see imported luxury cars taking students to a nearby American School - an elite bilingual educational centre attended by the children of local millionaires as well as U.S. business executives posted in Brazil - driving through the narrow streets of Rocinha. But the dream of peaceful co-habitation between the destitute favela and the elegant mansions of the wealthy crumbled early in the morning a week ago when a drug lord known as ‘’Dud’’, invaded Rocinha with a group of heavily armed gunmen. Dud had been in prison since 1995 but a judge authorised his release. From that day on, pupils at the American School were placed on a forced vacation. Meanwhile, taxi driver Candelaria took his family to find refuge at his mother’s home, in another Rio slum. The flow of transit through Rocinha has dropped to less than half. More than 1,000 police were ordered into Rocinha earlier this week and the Rio de Janeiro provincial government announced it was considering building a wall on a strip of vegetation between the two adjacent favelas to try to stem the violence. A leader of the main narcotics ring in Rocinha, Luciano Barbosa da Silva, was killed on Wednesday in a shootout with the police. Hundreds of followers of the slain drug lord known as ‘’Lulu’’ applauded him at his burial, insulted police keeping guard at the service and vowed revenge. Anthropologist Gilberto Velho blasted the Rio de Janeiro government which has tried to downplay the wave of violence. “It is shocking to try to make less of what is happening. It’s true that there is a general crisis with worldwide characteristics. But surely Brazil is living through a dramatic experience, the loss of credibility of institutions,” he said.
— DPA |
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Pakistani army action triggers migration
Wana, April 17 The past three days have seen a troop build-up close to the border. Dozens of families crammed aboard small pick-up trucks with their belongings and cattle fled the sprawling hamlets of Azamwarsak, Kaloosha and Shinwarsak yesterday to safer locations in the east and southeast. Townsmen and anxious shopkeepers in Wana, the administrative capital of the region, say they have counted at least 100 trucks carrying household goods and people. “People are simply scared and are not sure what awaits them once the deadline passes without any breakthrough by the grand assembly of the tribes and tribesmen from the entire border region,” said one man identified as Amirullah. Naeem Wazir, a resident of Kaloosha, said worried farmers were even carrying power generators and refrigerators with them because of an uncertain future. The roughly 17 km-long stretch between Wana and Azim Warsak — a vast, sprawling valley surrounded by rugged mountains bordering Afghanistan - witnessed bloody scenes last month after gunbattles between Pakistani armed forces and alleged Al-Qaida terrorists.
— DPA |
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Two quakes rock Indonesia Jakarta, April 17 A powerful tremor hit Bengkulu, 525 km northwest of Jakarta, at 4:57 a.m. (1527 IST), with its epicentre 140 km offshore and 70 km beneath the sea-bed in the Indonesian ocean, Kepahyang Meteorology and Geophysical office spokesman Hatta told the state-run Antara news agency. There were no immediate reports of fatalities or damage. Earlier this morning at 2:32 a.m. a lesser tremor measuring 5.0 on the Richer scale shook the resort island of Bali, 900 km east of Jakarta, panicking residents but causing no fatalities nor damage to buildings. The chief of the Meteorological office in Denpasar, said the quake’s epicentre was 108 km below the sea-bed in the Indonesian ocean, some 69 km south of the island. Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, an archipelago nation comprising more than 17,000 islands perched along the so-called ‘’Ring of Fire,’’ where two tectonic plates meet, causing numerous volcanoes and earthquakes. injured.
— DPA |
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Prince William in gun row over cat
London, April 17 Jeshiera Art, (34), told the Daily Mirror that her tomcat, Dream, vanished after a powerful lamp was shone on it from where William was sitting in a Land Rover and then shots were fired. The incident is alleged to have taken place while Prince William, son of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, was out with the royal gamekeeper near the Scottish royal residences of Birkhall and Balmoral. “My lawyers said there is enough here for breach of peace and reckless discharge of a firearm,” Ms Art said, according to the newspaper. The Buckingham Palace has reportedly admitted Prince William had been on a pest-control trip, but said no cat had been killed.
AFP |
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Pak navy to join US-led coalition plan Islamabad, April 17 |
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