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Twin car bombs kill 23 in Iraq
US troops likely in Iraq for years Pervez slammed for pressurising PM to quit
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Indians take US visa rules hard Washington, June 27 Indians will be the largest group affected, following the new US decision for six major categories of working visas that will come into affect from July 16.
Kanishka witnesses can't get away with silence
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Twin car bombs kill 23 in Iraq
Baghdad, June 27 Meanwhile, Islamic militants threatened to behead three Turkish hostages unless Ankara pulls its companies out of Iraq within 72 hours, but the Turkish government said it never gave in to terrorists. Twin car bombs exploded in the centre of Hilla, a mainly Shiite town 100 km south of Baghdad which has remained relatively peaceful in recent months, late yesterday. The local hospital and the health ministry in Baghdad said 23 persons had been killed, revising down a toll of up to 40 dead given earlier by the US-led coalition occupying Iraq. Polish forces which patrol the area around the former Saddam mosque, said, “As a result of that barbaric act, many innocent Iraqis lost their lives. Many children were among them.” The top US administrator Paul Bremer, who visited the former mosque now being used as a democracy centre and religious university today, said those responsible “are the enemies of Iraq, not enemies of the occupation, not (enemies of) the coalition. They are enemies of Iraq.” Two rockets also hit the protected area of central Baghdad used by the coalition today but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Violent attacks have left hundreds dead this month as Iraq’s caretaker government prepares to assume power from the coalition on Wednesday. “We are committed to elections, and one of the tasks is really to work towards achieving these objectives. However, security will be the main feature of whether we will be able to do it in January, February or March,” Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told the CBS television network. Allawi and his interior and defence ministers have raised the idea of declaring emergency law in areas of Iraq as they seek to crush the insurgency. Just days after Islamic militants shocked the world by beheading South Korean hostage Kim Sun-Il, extremists released a chilling videotape threatening the same treatment for three captured Turkish nationals.
— AFP |
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US troops likely in Iraq for years Washington, June 27 During questioning by the House Armed Services Committee, Mr Wolfowitz said the USA and the new Iraqi Government might agree to impose martial law in selected areas of the country. “We’re fighting an enemy, which is a very determined enemy, which is determined to try to upset this process, and I think is going to make a particularly determined effort over the next six months, he said. A top US priority was to protect the new government amid assassinations and bombings, he added.
— AFP |
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Pervez slammed for pressurising PM to quit Islamabad, June 27 Islamic alliance Muttahida Majlis-e Amal (MMA) accused resident Pervez Musharraf of prevailing on the reluctant Prime Minister to resign and said Mr Jamali’s resignation was a “conspiracy” against the budding democracy in the country and a “dangerous threat” to national security. Qazi Hussain, acting President of the MMA, which last year helped General Musharraf to get his controversial constitutional amendments ratified by Parliament after he promised to quit the powerful post of the Chief of Army by the end of this year, said Mr Jamali’s tenure showed that there was “one-man rule” in the country and the elected Prime Minister carried no weight. Mr Amin Fahim, senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) headed by self-exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said “the dictatorial set-up could not see any political government to continue for more than two years so it has destabilised the Jamali government.” Meanwhile, Pakistani media today said the General had chosen international banker-turned Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz for the top post to groom him as a “running mate” who would “dance to his tune.”
— PTI |
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Indians take US visa rules hard
Washington, June 27 According to the new rules, holders of 'E' (traders and investors), 'H' (professionals), 'I' (journalists), 'L' (corporate workers), 'O' (people with particular skills) and 'P' (entertainers, artists, athletes) categories of visas will no longer be able to renew their papers in US and have to travel to a US embassy abroad to be fingerprinted before their visas are renewed. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services, Bureau of Consular Affairs Janice Jacobs has admitted that Indians will the largest group that will be affected following the US move. Last year 50,000 visas were issued under these categories and of these 46 per cent were given to Indians, Jacobs said. When asked why Indians have been targeted when not a single Indian has so far been linked to hijacking, Jacobs said the fact that 46 per cent of the affected people will be Indians but the rules were not aimed at any particular nationality. "A lot of these visas that we renew are people working here in the information technology field and there are a lot of Indians doing that and I think that is why it turned out that way," he said. "This is not aimed at any particular nationality,” he added. "Again, this is being done primarily because of a Congressional requirement that we have for collecting biometrics and we are also doing more interviews of applicants now than we did in the past, Jacob said.
— PTI |
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AIDS patient lives 20 years, still going strong Asmara, June 27 He doesn't take anti-retroviral drugs, and puts his longevity down to a tough dietary regime and an unbending will to live. Now aged 43, he's taking his message around Africa in the hope of encouraging other HIV-positive persons to do the same and offering ways for those who are not infected. Zinc, beta carotene and selenium all boost the immune system so Mr Patient's courses encourage people to find local produce which contains high levels of those nutrients. At present someone diagnosed as HIV-positive can hope to live about eight years before developing full-blown AIDS. Patient says with proper nutrition that can be extended to 12. Infected in the USA in 1983, as a consequence of what he candidly calls his life as a "promiscuous little drugged out slut", Patient has fought for the rights of HIV/AIDS carriers all his adult life. Evicted from his home and then sacked from his job as a consequence of his HIV status, Mr Patient went to court and won both times. But while he has been able to win external fights and challenge governments, the internal battle has been difficult. Medical researchers were equally intrigued and he has been asked to give numerous samples to long-term, non-progressor tests which aim to find common elements among HIV survivors.
— Reuters |
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Kanishka witnesses can't get away with silence Vancouver, June 27 The case relates to two Canadian men — Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, key accused in the planting of a bomb on the Kanishka flight which crashed off the coast of Ireland in June 1985, killing all 329 persons on board.
— PTI |
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