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Israel, Palestine clash at UN
meeting Honduras to pull out troops from Iraq soon
Karzai announces Cabinet shakeup
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Israel, Palestine clash at UN meeting United Nations, April 20 The meeting saw exchanges between the two on expected lines as member states restated their known positions. The US envoy in most part repeated the statement issued by the White House but Muslim countries were most strident in their condemnation of Israel. Less than a month ago, the council had held a similar debate after Israel assassinated spiritual leader of Hamas Sheikh Ahmed Yassin whom Rantisi had succeeded. Urging the council to take strong action, Palestinian envoy Nasser al-Kidwa said its failure to condemn the “extra judicial” execution of Sheikh Yassin had further emboldened Israel to continue carrying out such illegal actions with impunity. Israel, he told the 15-member council continues to behave as a state above law without concern for rapprochement and punishment or consequences of its actions as the council had failed to adopt a resolution condemning the killing of Yassin. The council could not adopt resolution as the USA vetoed it, arguing that it was one-sided as it did not condemn by name Palestinian organisations taking responsibility for suicide bomb attacks against Israel. Kidwa said any parallel drawn between Israel’s actions against the Palestinians and the war against global terrorism is “inappropriate” and “completely erroneous”. Israel’s constant attempts to draw such parallels and to exploit the international fight against terrorism must be rejected, he told the council. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s announced unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, he said, is an attempt to confer legitimacy on some of Israel’s illegal settlements, to negate the rights of Palestine refugees and to dilute international opposition to the catastrophic expansionist separation wall. Questioning Kidwa’s statements, Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman said that it was regrettable that the council had been “compelled” to convene again, not to condemn the murder of innocent civilians by organisations such as Hamas, but to denounce the demise of a key architect of those massacres. Just hours before the “targeted counter-terrorist operation” against Rantisi, “a trader in death”, the organisation which he had headed had claimed responsibility, together with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, for yet another suicide attack at the Erez Crossing, killing a guard and injuring others, he told the council.
— PTI |
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Honduras to pull out troops from Iraq soon Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 20 “I have told the coalition countries that the troops are going to return from Iraq,” Maduro said yesterday in a speech on national television and radio. “I have ordered.... the carrying out of the decision taken in the shortest possible time and under safe conditions for our troops.” Soldiers from Honduras, a strong US ally in Central America, were sent to Iraq last summer as peacekeepers only and have been clearing mines and providing medical care in Central Iraq. They had previously been set to leave when their mandate expires in July. Honduras said earlier it was considering the withdrawal due to soiraling violence and pressure created by Spain’s decision to pull its forces out. Many Hondurans have questioned why their troops should remain in Iraq now that Spain was withdrawing and congressional leaders had voiced concern for the troops’ safety. EI Salvador, another Central American nation with troops in Iraq, said it would keep its 300 soldiers on the Iraqi soil until the start of August, the end of a scheduled six-month stay. —
Reuters |
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Sikh woman is Guatemala Honorary Consul Guatemala has appointed a young Sikh woman entrepreneur as its Honorary Consul to India. The Honorary Consul, Ms Latika Kohli, 33, said today that her first priority would be to help establish direct air links between the two countries. “Guatemala is a culturally rich country and a trade agreement it has signed with the US will make it an American manufacturing base. One of my priority areas will be making efforts for direct air links between India and Guatemala,” she said. Born in Budapest and daughter of a former Indian diplomat, Ms Latika moved to Dhaka with her parents when she was five. At nine, she was in Nairobi. After three years in Kenya, she moved to Mexico where she got a degree in the Spanish language. She graduated in pharmacy in New York. Married to a Los Angeles entrepreneur at 21, she has since been actively participating in her husband’s business. “We are buying agents and also provide IT solutions. Our business often takes us to Guatemala. And it was one such meeting with the Guatemalan Foreign Minister when he offered me this post,” she said. As part of her new job as an Honorary Consul of a Central American country, she plans to reach out to travel agencies as soon as general elections in the country get over. —
UNI |
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Karzai announces Cabinet shakeup Kabul, April 20 Karzai made the announcement at the opening of a three-day gathering of representatives of international donor nations in Kabul. “I have come to the conclusion that the size of the Cabinet is too large,” Karzai told the gathering. He said that Vice President and two ministers would come back with recommendations in two weeks on how to pare down the Cabinet. —
AP |
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Choose talks, US urges Nepal Maoists Kathmandu, April 20 The "growing rift" between the agitating parties and the King coupled with continuing insurgency have made it impossible to hold general elections, US Ambassador to Nepal Michael E. Malinowski said. Resolving the differences between the King and the parties is necessary not only to consolidate multiparty democracy in the country but also to resolve the Maoist issue, he said, asking the rebels to abandon violence and come to the dialogue table. —
PTI
Maoists kill 2 cops in Nepal KATHMANDU: Two persons, including a former Armed Police Force personnel, were killed by Maoists while two ultras died when a bomb they were carrying exploded in Nepal, the state media reported on Tuesday. The Maoist rebels also buried alive one of their injured colleagues after he was injured in the bomb explosion incident in Panchthar in eastern Nepal. —
UNI
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Indian, Latin American groups share Tyler Prize Los Angeles, April 20 India’s Barefoot College and the Red Latinoamericana de Botanica, a consortium active in six Latin American countries, will split the $ 200,000 prize, awarded annually by the University of Southern California to individuals or groups associated with significant environmental accomplishments, university officials said. The prize, which includes a gold medal, was created in 1973. Barefoot College works to enhance the quality of life for the rural poor of India by providing education in animal husbandry, alternative power generation and healthcare.—
AP |
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