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Spanish PM orders pullout from Iraq Soyuz blasts off with new crew
Navy adds Battle Ax to its arsenal
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8 held for links with
Al-Qaida
Pak tribesmen hunt militants Harkat splinter group active UN court rules Srebrenica massacre genocide
Storms leave 7 dead in Bangladesh
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Spanish PM orders pullout from Iraq Madrid, April 19 Zapatero made the surprise announcement in a televised statement just a day after he was sworn in as Prime Minister following his Socialist Party’s upset victory in the March 14 general election. His decision, taken much sooner than expected, creates more problems for the USA whose forces are locked in the fiercest fighting in Iraq since last year’s war toppled Saddam Hussein. US combat casualties in Iraq topped 500 today. Zapatero said he had given new Defence Minister Jose Bono “the order to do what is necessary for the Spanish troops in Iraq to come home in the shortest possible time and the greatest possible safety’’. Zapatero, a strong opponent of the US-led war, said repeatedly during the election campaign the troops would come home if the United Nations did not take charge in Iraq by June 30. The pledge drew criticism from some US politicians. President George W. Bush urged Spain and other allies in Iraq to stick with Washington. Zapatero waited only long enough for Bono to be sworn in as Defence Minister to take his first major decision in what appeared to be an attempt to stop the issue from dogging his government. He said he had decided to act now because he did not expect a UN resolution to be adopted “that conforms with the conditions we have set for our presence in Iraq’’. “We found out about the news through the media...It’s already night here, so I don’t think the news will have reached many people,’’ a Spanish officer in Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, told state radio. Voters swept former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s pro-US Popular Party from power in the March election. Aznar sent the Spanish troops to Iraq after the war, even though the USA intervention was deeply unpopular with most Spaniards. The elections were held in the shadow of the bombing of four Madrid commuter trains in which 191 persons were killed. A videotape purportedly from Al-Qaida said the attacks were a response to Spanish actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy condemned Zapatero’s decision, saying it made Spain more vulnerable to terrorism. “This decision, taken so hurriedly... makes Spain look unreliable to its international partners,’’ he told a news conference.
— Reuters |
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Soyuz blasts off with new crew Baikonur, Kazakhstan, April 19 The Soyuz TMA-4 rocket lifted off at 0318 GMT from the space centre in the vast barren steppe that Russia rents from Kazakhstan. Carrying a Russian, an American and a Dutchman, it is expected to dock on Wednesday at the orbiting station being built by 16 nations. “The spaceship has now entered orbit. Everything is fine and just according to plan,” a spokesman for mission control told Reuters after the first 600 seconds — the most critical time of the launch — elapsed. Russian Commander Gennady Padalka and his U.S. flight engineer Michael Fincke will spend around six months in space. Dutchman Andre Kuipers, from the European Space Agency, is accompanying them for an 11-day mission to conduct experiments. BEIJING: China has successfully launched two new satellites into space, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. A Long March II rocket launched the satellites into orbit early on Monday from the Xichang Space Launch Centre in south-west China’s Sichuan province, Xinhua reported, adding that no problems were encountered.
— Reuters, DPA |
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Navy adds Battle Ax to its arsenal Baltiisk Naval Base (Russia), April 19 The function was attended by the Indian Ambassador to Russia Krishnan Raghunath and Vice-Admiral Madanjit Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command. ‘INS Tabar’ (The Battle Ax) is the third in the series of three Krivak class stealth frigates of Project 11356 built on India’s orders by St Petersburg-based Baltiisky Zavod Shipyard. Earlier, last year Russia had delivered “INS Talwar” (The Sword) and “INS Trishul” (The Trident) under the $ 1 billion deal signed with Russia in 1997 for the development of three new generation stealth frigates for the Navy on the basis of Krivak project. The frigates with the displacement of 4,035 tonne, are armed with the latest hardware available today, including Club-N anti-ship cruise missiles, medium range “Shitl-1” air defence system and powerful anti-aircraft gun A-190E “Puma”. Stealth frigates, used for a wide range of tasks, including air defence, anti-submarine warfare, are to be armed with “Brahmos” cruise missiles jointly developed and produced by Russia and India.
— PTI |
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8 held for links with
Al-Qaida Kabul, April 19 Among those taken in was one man believed to be a senior member of renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e-Islami group, Cdr. Chris Henderson told a news conference. He did not reveal the names or nationalities of any of those arrested, but said the authorities had seized weapons, explosives and documents that showed the suspects had links to both groups.
— AP |
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Pak tribesmen hunt militants Wana, Pakistan, April 19 On the second day of an operation by a tribal ‘“lashkar”, or army, numbering nearly 2,000 men, the fighters said they had sealed off some mountain passes in Azam Warsak, 20 km from Wana, which lies 380 km southwest of Islamabad. Local elder Malik Mir Zalim Khan said his Zali Kheil tribe would do what it could to rid its lands of militants. “We are after them,” he said. “These people are responsible for the destruction of our houses. Our people have been forced to flee their homes because of the fighting.”
— Reuters |
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Harkat splinter group active in Pak Islamabad, April 19 The unknown splinter group, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al Aalmi led by Fazlur Rehman Khalili, has been involved in two abortive attempts on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s life as well as the last week’s car bomb blast outside the concert venue of singer Sonu Nigam in Karachi, the weekly ‘Friday Times’ reported in its latest edition. The group has also been accused of the attack on the US consulate in Karachi, the report added. The report said security agencies believe the Al Aalmi was an underground organisation of highly trained militants, which had targeted police and other law enforcement agencies.
— UNI |
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UN court rules Srebrenica massacre genocide The Hague, April 19 The ruling was made in the case of Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic, who led the troops that captured Srebrenica and is seeking to overturn his 2001 genocide conviction by arguing that the number of victims was “too insignificant” to be considered genocide. The decision will have implications for others on trial in The Hague for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, including former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. The ruling will also have an impact on international justice because it will create important jurisprudence about the definition of genocide. The 1948 Geneva Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. The Appeals Chamber’s ruling confirms a wider legal definition of the crime.
— AFP |
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2 Indian women get Goldman Environmental Prize San Francisco, April 19 Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla are among seven grass roots activists from around the globe being awarded this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize. Each award, referred to as the Nobel Prize for the Environment, comes with $ 125,000 that the winners are free to spend as they wish. “Getting this award is going to, once again, bring the issue of continuing disaster in Bhopal to the world’s attention,” Ms Bee said during an interview in the Goldman offices. “We think this will help get more people, including trade unions and students, to join with the victims.” Ms Shukla and Ms Bee plan to use the prize money to create a trust fund dedicated to providing medical care for children of disaster
survivors and developing employment options for those driven from careers by effects of the toxins.
— AFP |
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Storms leave 7 dead in Bangladesh Dhaka, April 19 The storms uprooted trees and damaged homes in North and West Bangladesh, the NTV channel reported. The seven who died were hit by flying debris or crushed by buildings that collapsed, the report said. The seasonal storms followed last week’s tornado that left at least 65 dead and more than 1,000 injured. The tornado struck as people across Bangladesh were celebrating the first day of the Bengali calendar on Wednesday. NTV said three persons, including a child, were killed in the northern Mymensingh district, part of which was also levelled by last week’s tornado.
— AFP |
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Madrid, April 19
Baikonur, Kazakhstan, April 19
