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Nawaz’s ‘letter’ for visit to UK
A Filipino mother cries during a mass burial of food poisoning victims in the San Jose town chapel in Bohol province, central Philippines, on Thursday.
— Reuters photo
Airliner door falls to earth 20 ft
from couple
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Resistance to continue, vows Maskhadav’s son
4 die in fire on Pak ship
90 pc women suffer marital abuse in Pak
Milk may not be good for child’s bones!
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Nawaz’s ‘letter’ for visit to UK
Riyadh, March 10 When contacted by the correspondent, the Ambassador said: "This is news to me. I am not aware of it. We are seeking information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Diplomatic sources here said any communication from the Saudi side to the Pakistani government was generally routed through the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad or through direct channels, and not necessarily through the Pakistan embassy. However, the sources said the Sharifs had definitely been provided with 'some space' in recent days. The permission given to Shahbaz Sharif to leave the kingdom, a telephonic address by Mian Nawaz Sharif from Jeddah to a protest meeting in Lahore and his decision to seek permission to leave could not have come without a 'silent nod' from Islamabad. The sources pointed out that when Mian Shahbaz was not allowed to enter Pakistan and was sent back to Saudi Arabia, a lot of pressure was exerted on the Sharifs by their hosts to keep away from political activities. In fact, according to some reports, even the passport of the younger Sharif was taken over by the Saudi government. All this was done apparently at the request of the Pakistan government and under the agreement guaranteed by the Saudi royal family. In the immediate aftermath of Shahbaz's return, the Sharifs kept a considerably low profile. However, now the situation appears to be changing. Not only Mian Saheb addressed a political meeting in Lahore, he has also been entertaining guests from Pakistan in large numbers, including journalists. "He definitely is more open now," a journalist said, adding that there appeared to be some leniency in the attitude of Islamabad. By sending the letter to Prince Abdullah, one source said, Mian Saheb was trying to ascertain how far he could go. It would depend on how much progress has been made by the PML-N and the government in their efforts to forge a reconciliation, he added. The recent divide within the PML-N and a show-cause notice sent to the firebrand Khawaja Saad Rafique, with the full knowledge of Mian Nawaz Sharif and apparently on his instruction, indicate that despite what they are saying in public, there is some movement for a patch-up with the government. |
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12 poisoned children buried
San Jose (Philippines), March 10 President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered officials to release funds to the families after hearing that some were too poor to afford coffins for their children. Arroyo met the families of the victims in San Jose village today and ordered the police and health authorities to find out what happened. “Let us get at the root cause of this tragedy,’’ she said after visiting the village. ‘’I want the police to work with the health authorities to give me a detailed report on why, and how, this unfortunate incident happened.’’ Most of 90 children, aged between 6 and 13 years, were sent home from hospitals on Bohol island in the central Philippines after their conditions improved, a day after eating the local delicacy during a mid-morning school break yesterday. An army helicopter brought two critically ill children to a better-equipped medical facility on nearby Cebu island. Less than 24 remained in the local hospitals. Some 2,000 villagers joined the families of 12 dead children in a mass burial at a public cemetery. From a Roman Catholic church, men carrying 12 small wooden coffins on their backs walked for over a kilometre under an intense afternoon sun on a dusty village road to the cemetery in the middle of rice paddies. Distraught mothers of the dead were hysterical, crying and clinging
tightly to wooden coffins that were slid into concrete tombs. Some men cursed the old woman who cooked and sold the cassava fritters and balls suspected to be poisoned.
— Reuters |
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Airliner door falls to earth 20 ft
from couple
A couple taking a stroll through woodlands near the Gatwick airport had a lucky escape when a door from a passing British Airways jet crashed to the earth after take off and missed the couple by only 20ft.
Details of the incident are to be made public today in a report published by the Air Accidents Investigations Branch. The report is critical of the airline crew for failing to spot the door was not securely fastened. Inspections showed that only one of the 13 catches on the door had been fastened, raising concern about the standard of inspections by BA staff. The AAIB called for a review of BA maintenance procedures. It said shortly after the aircraft carrying 272 passengers took off from Gatwick on the morning of 26 June, 2003, the cabin crew felt a "thump". The noise was the underwing access door of the plane falling off. Fragments of the door entered the passenger cabin, damaging two cabin windows. The report said: "A search of the area located other parts and a large portion was found when a couple who had been out walking described having seen it fall nearby after their attention had been drawn by another substantial part of the door impacting the ground around 20ft from them." The aircraft immediately returned to the airport. There were believed to be no casualties from the incident. However, the AAIB report warned that the incident created the dangerous potential to cause danger to those on board as well as people on the ground. "The loss of the door constituted not only a hazard to those on the ground but it also had the potential to hazard the aircraft," the AAIB said.— By arrangement with the Independent. |
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Resistance to continue, vows Maskhadav’s son
Baku, March 10 “The resistance movement will reach its goals,” Anzor Maskhadov, 29, said while attending the memorial service along with some 100 fellow Chechens who gathered in a basketball court to pay their last respects to the separatist leader, who was reported killed Tuesday during a special operation by Russian forces in Chechnya. “I wanted to be close to my father, but getting there, going over the mountains is very complicated. I took part in the first war, I performed my duty and now I will be doing other things,” Anzor said. Anzor confirmed that he and his mother had sent an open letter to Western nations asking them to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to return the body of their father for burial. Moscow has so far refused, saying that “terrorists” like Maskhadov must be buried in a secret location. Russian forces today brought Maskhadov’s body out of Chechnya for formal identification in an undisclosed location, the Interfax news agency reported quoting the prosecutor general’s office. Anzor said that he had no plans to return to Chechnya because of the security risks, and would leave it up to the guerrilla fighters on the ground to avenge his father’s death. “That’s something that you have to ask the fighters who are there right now, not me. I cannot go,” he said.
— AFP |
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4 die in fire on Pak ship
Islamabad, March 10 The fire on the oil tanker MB Morgan left four persons dead and around 100 injured, reports reaching here said. Earlier, the private Geo TV reported that some 35 injured were operated upon and several others were shifted to the intensive care unit of the naval hospital where they had been admitted for treatment. The cause of the fire was not known. Ambulances were rushed to the site and helicopters were also seen removing the injured, most of them sailors, to the naval hospital, the TV report said. The naval authorities blocked the road leading
to the dockyard and journalists were not allowed to visit the area, it said.
— PTI |
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90 pc women suffer marital abuse in Pak
Lahore, March10 The Daily Times quoted the survey presented by Amnesty International Lahore, a NGO, as saying that the quality of cooking or cleaning or giving birth to a daughter rather than a son were the primary excuses used by husbands to abuse their wives. "Violence against women is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue. Every individual in society has to play a role in this regard," the paper quoted Fayyazur Rehman, who presided over the survey releasing session, as saying. The experts felt that domestic violence against women, communal violence and atrocities in police custody were on the rise. They agreed that women's rights and civil society organisations had done commendable job in spreading awareness among women about the problem.
— ANI |
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Milk may not be good for child’s bones!
Washington, March 10 A new scientific study which is to appear in this month's issue of Halifax News, a peer-reviewed journal, suggests that the link between dairy product consumption and improved bone health is at best weak. "Under scientific scrutiny, the support for the milk myth crumbles. This analysis of 58 published studies shows that the evidence on which U.S. dairy intake recommendations are based is scant," claims Cornell-trained nutritionist Dr. Amy Joy Lanou. "A clear majority of the studies we examined for this review found no relationship between dairy or dietary calcium intake and measures of bone health. In the remaining reports, the evidence was sketchy. In some, the effects on bone health were small, and in others, the results were confounded by vitamin D intake from milk fortified with vitamin D," Lanou added. She further went on to say that the key to building strong bones and healthy bodies in children was exercise, sunshine, and a diet rich in fruits and
vegetables.— ANI |
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