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Mark Thompson is
BBC chief US begins probe
into prison deaths
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Pak may send
troops to Iraq, says Kasuri 5 die in blast
near Baghdad
US extends curbs
against Myanmar Samjhauta Express
schedule changed
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London, May 22 Mr Mark Thompson, Chief Executive of Britain's Channel 4, replaces Mr Greg Dyke who quit earlier this year when the BBC was heavily criticised after a row between the broadcaster and the authorities over a report accusing the government of hyping the case for war in Iraq. ''I am incredibly proud and privileged to have been chosen to do this job at the BBC. It is the greatest broadcasting organisation in the world,'' he told a news conference. The BBC Chairman, Mr Michael Grade, said Mr Thompson's appointment by the Board of Governors had been unanimous. Media pundits and the government welcomed his appointment. ''We can all take it that the BBC is in very safe and very good hands,'' Culture Secretary Ms Tessa Jowell said. The appointment was the first by Mr Grade, who only began his job on Monday, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Mr Gavyn Davies. Mr Davies also quit because of the fallout from the suicide of David Kelly, a scientist at the heart of the row over the Iraqi war report. ''We were impressed by Mr Mark Thompson's analysis of the challenges facing the BBC, and by his track record,'' Grade, himself a former Channel 4 chief, said. ''We concluded that he was the right person to lead the BBC at this important period in its history.'' Mr Thompson takes over the key job with the BBC's Royal Charter up for renewal in 2006 and with journalistic morale at the state-funded but proudly independent institution at rock bottom following the Kelly affair. ''BBC news should look to the future with real confidence in its professionalism,'' he said when asked how he intended to rebuild morale. ''The right way to point in terms of BBC journalism is forward into the future.'' Mr Thompson, who was on record as saying he would reject any approach from the BBC, shrugged off his change of heart. ''I just felt in the end this was a one-of-a-kind opportunity, and I couldn't let it pass,'' he said. The Oxford-educated Thompson had only been with Channel 4 since December 2001. Prior to that he had spent more than 20 years with the BBC, rising to become director of television 20 months before moving to Channel 4. He was also a member of the BBC's executive committee.
— Reuters |
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US begins probe into prison deaths Washington, May 22 While some have been classified as deaths from natural or undetermined causes, eight have been classified as homicides. Several of those under investigation have been found to have occurred before or during probe sessions. Of the total number of cases, 30 were inside US-run detention facilities and three were outside. Fifteen of the 30 cases were declared by the US authorities to be deaths by natural cause or of undetermined cause, Pentagon officials said. Out of the 15 other cases that happened inside detention facilities, four were categorised as justifiable homicides, two as homicides, and nine were still under active investigation, the officials said. Eight of those nine have been classified as homicides involving suspected assaults on detainees before or during questioning. Six of the nine unresolved cases happened in Iraq — including two at Abu Ghraib prison — and three were in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the four-member independent panel to review DoD detention operations met for the first time to begin its review and assessment work. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appointed the panel on May 12 to review current and completed inquiries of detention operations. The panel is scheduled to present its report to Rumsfeld and to the Senate and House Armed Services committees by the end of July. The US announced that it had launched an investigation into 25 deaths since December 25 last year. The officials said yesterday eight more cases were now being investigated — making 33 — but that some of those included multiple deaths, involving 37 victims in all. Of these 32 died in Iraq and the remaining five in Afghanistan. The Pentagon also released 23 death certificates of detainees who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, including nine suspected homicides. The most common natural cause of death cited in the certificates was cardiovascular disease.
— PTI |
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Dog terror had
US sanction
New York, May 22 Documents gathered by US Army investigators and obtained by the ‘New York Times’ revealed that dog handlers at the prison said the use of dogs was approved by Col. Thomas M. Pappas, the commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. Earlier, Pentagon and Army officials had said that only the top American commander, Lt. Gen Ricardo S. Sanchez, could have approved the use of animals. According to the report of the Times, among, other things the memorandum said the use of dogs in interrogations and the confining of prisoners to isolation cells was permitted in some cases without a prior approval from General Sanchez.”
— PTI |
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Pak may send troops to Iraq, says Kasuri
Washington, May 22 He made it clear that Pakistan had not been asked to send troops to the war-torn country although six or seven countries had been invited to join a so-called UN Protection Force there. Pakistan currently chairs the UN Security Council and it did not support war in Iraq without a UN mandate. It also issued a statement last week describing the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers depicted in graphic photographs as "sadistic and shameful." Mr Kasuri indicated that the question of dispatching troops would rest heavily on Iraqi political control after the United States transferred authority to an interim administration on June 30 accompanied by a fresh UN resolution. He further added that Pakistan had never ignored its responsibility of helping ensure global peace as it had sent troops to eight of the 14 UN peacekeeping operations around the world.
— AFP |
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Baghdad, May 22 Mr Abdul-Jabbar Youssef al-Sheikhli, the deputy minister in charge of security, was slightly injured in the forehead and right arm, said Mr Hassan Hadi, Health Ministry official. "I expect he will leave the hospital in a short time," he said. Mr Al-Sheikhli is a member of the Shiite Muslim Dawa party. The blast outside his house occurred about 200 metres from the headquarters of the former Iraqi general security service in the Baghdad district of Baladiyat. Police and US military officers at the scene said the dead included four Iraqi policemen and a female neighbour. US Army Capt Brian O’Malley of the 1st Cavalry Division, the US Army unit in charge of security in Baghdad, said the blast which occurred at about 8.05 am was caused by a "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device." Interior Minister Samir Shaker Mahmoud al-Sumeidi visited the site and was mobbed by distraught neighbours. Minutes before al-Sumeidi arrived, scuffles broke out between police and a crowd that gathered outside the deputy minister’s house. The police fired shots to disperse the crowd. More than an hour after the blast, smoke rose from several wrecked cars, and debris was scattered in the street. The blast hurled two cars through a wall and on to the garden of the deputy minister’s house.
— AP |
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Kal Ho Naa Ho sweeps IIFA 2004
awards Singapore, May 22 Preity Zinta's role as Naina, a woman torn between the affections of happy-go-lucky Aman (Shah Rukh Khan) and best friend Rohit (Saif Ali Khan) fetched her the best actress award. Saif won the award for best supporting actor, while Jaya Bachchan bagged the best supporting actress award for her role as Jennifer, Naina's troubled but brave mother in the love story set in New York.
— PTI
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Johannesburg Indian cafe struggles to survive
Johannesburg, May 22 Located deep in the heart of the city’s now seedy central business district Kapitan’s was founded in 1887 by Madanjit Ranchod’s great-grandfather, but owes much of its colour to the present 77-year-old owner, a bon vivant and a great raconteur. It has fallen victim to the fact that the city centre, which the government has been trying to spruce up and make crime-free, has turned into a no-go area for many of the city’s inhabitants and is now seen to be unfashionable. Ranchod now keeps the restaurant open only for lunch and only for 25 people daily. He cooks himself and claims the fare is unsurpassed. “I’m growing old and it’s difficult to keep up, so I’m closed in the evening. If there are more than 25 people, you pay double. You also give me a good tip and if you are a rich man, I expect you to buy me a Cuban cigar,” he says. Mandela lunched at Kapitan’s every day in the 1950s when he was a budding lawyer as his office was only two blocks away, Ranchod says, adding that he used to sometimes hold “political discussions at the table. He returned there twice after his release from prison in February 1990 with Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, then a heavyweight in South Africa’s now ruling African National Congress party. “Mr Mandela had his old favourite-mince meat curry and rice. Ramaphosa had my ginger pickle, he swears by it and says no one can make it like me,” Ranchod says.
— AFP |
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US extends curbs against Myanmar Washington, May 22 The sanctions were imposed a year ago to pressure the Asian government into releasing democracy activist Mr Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. The sanctions ban the import of products from Myanmar, freeze assets of its senior officials and prohibit virtually all remittances to Myanmar, also known as Burma.
— AP |
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Samjhauta Express schedule changed
Islamabad, May 22 According to the new schedule Samjhauta Express would depart Lahore for Attari every Tuesday and Friday, official APP newsagency said. While it would reach Lahore from Attari on Monday and Thursday, the timings of arrivals of departure remain the same, it said.
— PTI |
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