 |
|
US air strike on Fallujah kills
20
3 Turkish captives killed, claim Iraqi
ultras
Republicans mount attack on Kerry
Widespread protests in Nepal over killings
Ash double for bedroom scenes in ‘Chaos’
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
US air strike on Fallujah kills
20
Fallujah, September 2 Two buildings were destroyed when a US fighter jet fired a pair of missiles or a large bomb around 11.45 pm (01.15 IST) in the residential neighbourhood of Jebel in Fallujah, a hotspot of radical Sunni insurgency 50 km west of Baghdad, police and medical officials said. “We now have 17 dead persons and six wounded,” Dr Seifeddin Taha of the Fallujah general hospital said late last night. Another three bodies were pulled from the rubble today as bulldozers cleared wreckage and a crowd of rescue workers dug through the debris and searched for body parts and bits of flesh, said rescue worker Hossam Ibrahim. “All wounded are families. Among the dead, there could be two or three children, but the bodies are torn to pieces and it’s difficult to tell,” Taha said. Two giant craters gouged the ground, leaving one house completely destroyed and the second badly damaged. The blast knocked down a few palm trees, and smashed-up furniture and television could be seen in the wreckage. The US military confirmed the attack, describing it as a “precision” strike on “safe houses and meeting locations” for associates of the Jordanian-born Zarqawi whom US officials blame for dozens of car bomb attacks in Iraq and who has a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head. —
AFP |
|
3 Turkish captives killed, claim Iraqi
ultras
Baghdad, September 2 The Arabic Al-Jazeera satellite station said the Tawhid and Jihad group had claimed responsibility for killing the Turks. Tawhid and Jihad is the group led by Jordanian Al-Qaida ally Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, Washington’s most wanted man in Iraq with $ 25 million price on his head. The US military said it had launched an air strike late yesterday on two buildings in the restive city of Falluja being used as safe houses by Zarqawi’s loyalists, and had earlier observed the men killing a captive and burying his body. “Surrounded by fields, the two targeted buildings served as safe houses and meeting locations for known Zarqawi associates,” a US military statement said. “The Zarqawi associates were observed removing a man from the trunk of a car, executing him, then burying his body.” Doctors in Falluja said at least 17 persons were killed in the air strike, including three children and one woman. The US forces pulled out of Falluja in early May after weeks of fighting that killed hundreds of Iraqis and sparked nationwide outrage. Security was handed over to an Iraqi force, but the city is largely
in the control of insurgents and is regarded as a haven for foreign militants. — Reuters |
|
|
Republicans mount attack on Kerry
Republican rhetoric reached a crescendo on Day Three of the party’s
convention as Vice-President Dick Cheney and a Georgia Democratic
Senator sharpened the tenor of their attacks on Democratic presidential
nominee John Kerry.
President George W. Bush arrived in New York City on Wednesday night. Addressing
ecstatic delegates gathered at New York City’s Madison Square Garden,
the venue of the Republican National Convention, Mr Cheney said: “On
the question of America’s role in the world, the differences between
Senator Kerry and President Bush are the sharpest, and the stakes for
the country are the highest.”” History has shown that a strong and
purposeful America is vital to preserving freedom and keeping us safe.
Yet time and again, Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national
security,” he said. Ironically, Georgia Sen Zell Miller, a Democrat,
set the stage for the attacks against M. Bush’s Democratic rival
earlier in the evening. Listing a series of weapons systems that he said
Mr Kerry had opposed, Mr Miller told the delegates,” This is the man
who wants to be the commander-in-chief of our US Armed Forces? US forces
armed with what? Spitballs?” The senator, who has been labelled a
“turncoat” by many of his own party colleagues, said: “Now, while
young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of
Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of
the Democrats’ manic obsession to bring down our commander-in-chief.” Responding
to the fresh wave of attacks, Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Sen
John Edwards issued a written statement saying, “There was a lot of
hate coming from that podium tonight.” This week’s Washington
Post-ABC News poll shows that a majority of the Americans disapprove of
Mr Bush’s handling of the economy and the war in Iraq, but that 60 per
cent of the country continues to give him high marks in the struggle
against terrorism. By 56 per cent to 38 per cent, Americans trust Mr
Bush more than Mr Kerry to fight terrorism - Mr. Bush’s strongest
issue in the poll. Not surprisingly, terrorism and national security
issues have dominated the convention so far. Earlier, Mr Miller said
Mr Kerry “has made it clear that he will use military force only if
approved by the United Nations. Kerry will let Paris decide when America
needs defending. I want Bush to decide.” Saying that Mr Bush “is
not a slick talker, but he is a straight shooter,” the Georgia senator
added, “Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America.
Fainthearted self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this
world. |
|
Widespread protests in Nepal over killings
Kathmandu, September 2 In Kathmandu, which witnessed large-scale violence in which two persons died in police firing yestrday, curfew was relaxed for three-and-a-half hours in the morning and two hours in the evening to enable the people to buy essentials. The Home Ministry said the situation in the Capital remained calm and quite. The government cancelled the licence of the agency which had sent the 12 Nepalese to Iraq through “illegal channel” and has increased the insurance amount for those seeking overseas employment from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per person, Minister of State for Labour and Transport Raghuji Panta said. The state-run Radio Nepal quoting him reported that the government was also contemplating cancelling licences of 109 other manpower agencies engaged in “illegal businesses”. National flag flew half mast, government offices, schools, colleges and businesses remained closed, public transport stayed off the roads and radio and TV stations played patriotic and religious songs as Army and paramilitary forces patrolled the streets of the capital. — PTI |
|
Ash double for bedroom scenes in ‘Chaos’ India’s most famous actress, Aishwarya Rai, is anxious not to upset her traditional fans, as she bids to conquer the British and American markets. The Bollywood beauty, in London promoting Bride and Prejudices, has landed a part alongside Mery1 Streep in a French film called ‘Chaos’, in which she plays an abused prostitute. However, she’s decided to use a body-double for bedroom scenes, thus side-stepping the debate over on-screen nudity that is raging in her homeland. “Intially I was averse to the idea because the lay person is going to think that it is me,” she says. “But I was given the example of ‘Pretty Woman’ and how it was known that it was a double.” Of other actress disrobing, Rai speaking to ‘Another Generation’ magazine adds: “I hope they aren’t making the decision because they believe it is an easy route to instant recognition.” — By arrangement with The Independent, London.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
