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Baquba, Iraq, September 26 The US military said today it arrested the head of the Iraqi National Guard in the city of Baquba, only a week after appointing him, on suspicion of collaborating with insurgents.
Cat Stevens pleads for hostage’s freedom
Pak media welcomes absence of rancour
Padma Lakshmi launches fashion swipe
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Afghan warlord plans $ 100m ski resort
Organisation raises £ 2 lakh for Indian children
British actors make beeline for Bollywood
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Iraqi National guard chief arrested
Baquba, Iraq, September 26 Lieut-Gen Talib al-Lahibi headed the Iraqi National Guard in the violent Diyala province and commanded three battalions before being arrested on Thursday. “Lahibi was detained by Multi-National Forces September 23 for having associations with known insurgents,” the US military said in a statement. General Lahibi had been appointed to his new post only a week before US forces arrested him. He had been nominated by other senior national guardsmen and then appointed by the Americans. His predecessor was gunned down along with his son last month by guerrillas. Baquba, a mixed Sunni and Shi’ite town 65 km northeast of Baghdad, has been a hotbed of the insurgency in Iraq. The Iraqi police and the National Guard operate there while the US military also maintains a presence. General Lahibi’s arrest highlights the problem the United States and Iraq face in building Iraqi security forces capable of creating a stable state, so that elections can be held in January. Meanwhile, 10 persons were killed and 26 wounded in an attack on a convoy of petrol tankers in the flashpoint town of Latifiya south of Baghdad, medical sources said today. The head of the general hospital in the city of Hilla, 100 km south of the capital, said he had received three dead and 23 wounded. Dr Razzak Jabbar from another hospital in Iskandariya, 50 km south of the capital, said six bodies and three wounded persons were brought in following the attack. Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of petrol tankers yesterday, setting all five trucks ablaze and damaging three Iraqi National Guard vehicles escorting the convoy. Security officials said the attack prompted an intense firefight between the insurgents and the Iraqi forces. They said both sides sustained casualties.
— Reuters/AFP |
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US soldier gets 25 yrs for murder of Iraqi
Baghdad, September 26 “Specialist Federico Merida pleaded guilty to murder and making false official statements during court martial proceedings,” the statement said. He was also handed a dishonourable discharge and reduced in rank to private, the statement said.
— Reuters |
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Cat Stevens pleads for hostage’s freedom
Baghdad, September 26 “As a member of the Muslim Council I request you, in the name of Allah, the Rahman, to release the British citizen, Ken Bigley for the good name of our religion and according to the sayings of Allah in the glorious
Qoran” Mr Islam said in a letter sent to the media by the British embassy in Baghdad today. The plea by Mr Islam, known for the hit songs
“Moonshadow”, “Peace Train” and “The First Cut is the Deepest”, came as a delegation of the Muslim Council of the UK was in Iraq pressing for the release of Mr
Bigley. Mr Bigley, a 62-year-old engineer, and two American colleagues were seized from their home in Baghdad last week by militants led by Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, Washington’s prime enemy in Iraq. — Reuters |
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Pak media welcomes absence of rancour
Islamabad, September 26 “The two leaders met in an atmosphere of goodwill and cordiality which speaks volumes about their commitment to a political settlement of their disputes. Missing were the barbs and the rancour that normally characterise such encounters between the two countries. Equally significant were the gestures and the body language of the two leaders,” local daily Dawn said. Stating that the meeting should provide a fillip to the composite dialogue, it said “mercifully” the two leaders moved away from the stated positions on Kashmir to make a “fresh start” to explore all options for a peaceful settlement. Acknowledging that the meeting had “gone off well,” another daily The Nation said in its editorial that “the pre-talks signals emanating from both sides had indicated they were determined to make the parleys successful. While leaving for New York, both leaders had promised to give impetus to the peace process.” It said the joint statement revealed that “both sides have withdrawn, at least for the time being, from their stated stands on some of the issues.” Dawn said Pakistan “has stopped demanding a settlement on the basis of the UN resolutions which are now outdated and cannot be implemented to the advantage of Pakistan and the Kashmiris. India on its part....has shown the courage to recognise Kashmir as a dispute between the two countries that has to be resolved.”
— PTI |
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Padma Lakshmi launches fashion swipe
The former model Padma Lakshmi, wife of the author Salman Rushdie, has weighed into the debate over the absence of top designers at London Fashion Week.
Speaking at Julien Macdonald’s show, she laid the blame firmly at the door of the British Fashion Council, which is chaired by Stuart Rose, the chief executive of M&S. “I don’t think that London is more amateurish than other fashion weeks, but it does need to have better organisation, to give it the feel of a real event”, she said. “That’s really the job of the Fashion Council, who should get more involved”. Ironically, Macdonald’s show-sponsored by Gran Centenario tequilla — will be his last in London. Future ones will be in New York. Apropros of her current work, Ms Lakshmi adds: “I used to work in fashion, and I like to continue to feel a part of it, but my career is moving into writing. I’m working on a new cookery book”.
— By arrangement with The Independent, London |
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Afghan warlord plans $ 100m ski resort
Kabul, September 26 “Ninety five per cent of the houses were destroyed. Seven hundred of my family and friends were killed,” he said. His tribe fought the Soviets, then the fundamentalist warlord Hekmatyar, then the Taliban. Stark ruins, tank wrecks and blasted groves of dead trees on the half-hour drive from Kabul testify to the fighting that raged across this region, with Mr Rooz always at its centre. An affable, canny man with a gentle manner and an immaculate white salwar kameez, he knew nothing but fighting from the age of 19 until an old Afghan friend took him to Switzerland to see a different way of living. Soon he was back at the front. Now Mr Rooz believes his battles are over. His 2,000-strong private army has been disbanded, 700 weapons, eight tanks and 20 cannon handed over to UN disarmers, and he has embarked on a new life as a venture capitalist. “We fought and killed because we had to. We beat the Soviets and our forefathers beat the British twice. So many people died. What benefit did Afghanistan get from any of it?” he said. Instead of forging alliances with warlords he is now seeking partners among Swiss investment firms. An expansive sweep of his arm takes in the unappealing green Lake Qargha behind him, with a muddy shore where the new city will go, and a rocky, sun-bleached mountain to the right that will one day have a ski-run and snow machine. His unlikely dream encompasses 600 homes for wealthy Afghan reading in Europe with a university, tennis, and swimming. Phase one will be ready in three year’s time. It will be built by men from his private army, disarmed now, and serve as an inspiration to other warlords who wonder uneasily what a future without mayhem holds for them. His business partner, Zemarey Hakimi, spent 34 years in Switzerland after falling in love with a Swiss hippie woman who was taking a break at Lake Qargha from the road to India in 1972. Mr Hakimi is sure his friend can do it, and will provide an example to other Afghan warlords that hard work and enterprise can be more effective than seeking government handouts. “He is not just a fighter, he is an organiser. People like him will rebuild this country,” Mr Hakimi says. “The problem with a lot of commanders is they fear they will lose respect and importance if they give up their armies. What will they be without armed men to follow them?” The Taliban, just 30 km away from Qargha, are another reason for the sluggishness in the pace of disarmament and so is concern that American troops may pull out, leaving the uneasy peace to unravel. Mr Rooz warns that the Americans must be careful not to cause civilian casualties by bombing, and avoid offending villagers with house searches. Such blunders win support for the Taliban. Some fanatics aside, however, he is sure the people of Afghanistan have had enough of war. “That time is over,” he said before leaving to attend a meeting with architects and planners. Mr Rooz has been a success for a disarmament programme which has largely failed. Afghanistan is believed to be awash with up to 15 million weapons, and so far the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme has secured 15,000 weapon. The record is better with heavy weapons - tanks and artillery - but only a fraction of the private armies have disbanded - about 14,000 men out of an estimated 100,000 - with an election just weeks away. Disarmament schedules and timetables have been rewritten and quietly abandoned, and now nobody expects the country to be free of weapons and fighters soon although a last minute pre-vote drive to step up disarmament is
underway. By arrangement with the Independent London. |
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Organisation raises £ 2 lakh for Indian children
London, September 26 Several prominent NRI industrialists like L.N. Mittal, Chairman, LNM group and Dr K.T. Lalvani, Chief of Vitabiotics and S.P. Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja group, attended the event organised by Pratham. Over £ 60,000 was raised last evening through an auction conducted by Hugh Edmeades and James Hastie of Christie's. The auctioned items also included a cricket bat signed by Rahul Dravid which netted £2,000. Veteran Bollywood actress Waheeda Rehman, who is the goodwill ambassador of Pratham, said the response for the work done by the organisation was excellent throughout India. The organisation has attracted a powerful corporate involvement and the charity's main board comprises top corporate leaders, including Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries), Kumar M. Birla (Aditya Birla group), Vijay Goradia (Vinmar international), Rajat Gupta, former Chairman, McKinsey and co), K.V. Kamath, (ICICI Bank), Keshub Mahindra (Mahindra and Mahindra), L.N. Mittal (LNM group), Ajay Piramal (Nicholas Piramal group), Gautam Thapar (BILT) and N. Vaghul (Chairman, ICICI Bank).
— PTI |
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British actors make beeline for Bollywood
London, September 26 Over the next few months, four films made by prominent Indian directors will be released with British stars, The Sunday Times said. The first, “The King of Bollywood” — a satire on the Indian film industry featuring Sophie Dahl, the model, and Om Puri — premiered in Bradford last week. “Indian directors are always looking for fresh faces, fresh stories, fresh locations,” said Romesh Sharma, director of “Dil Jo Bhi Kahey” (Whatever the Heart Says) which stars Annabelle Wallace, a 20-year-old British actress. “The difference now is they’re confident enough to consider auditioning British actors in London and casting them in leading roles.” The trend has been re-enforced by the success of Gurinder Chadha’s “Bend It Like Beckham”, Mira Nair’s “Monsoon Wedding” and Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Lagaan”, nominated for a best foreign film Oscar in 2002. Typical of the new films is “Kisna”, set in the 1930s during the British colonial rule. Antonia Bernath, 23, plays the daughter of a ruthless British aristocrat who falls in love with an Indian mountain boy, Kisna, after he saves her from an enraged mob.
— PTI |
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