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Deuba seeks dialogue with king
Accused kills judge, 2 others in US
Sedan, not Sudan
Rashid misquoted on Khan: Aziz
India, Russia discuss defence cooperation
Under 50 pc married couples in UK by 2011
All e-mails under scanner in Pak
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Pak Governor resigns
UN conference calls for
empowering women
New UN probe into sexual
abuse cases
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Deuba seeks dialogue with king
Kathmandu, March 12 Sher Bahadur Deuba, 58, was sacked and placed under house arrest on February 1 by King Gyanendra, who said the Prime Minister had failed to control an increasingly deadly Maoist revolt that has killed thousands of people. In the first comments after being freed from house arrest yesterday, Deuba asked the king to remain only a constitutional monarch. “The king should enter into dialogue with political parties and give all executive powers to a new multi-party government,” Deuba told Reuters in an interview at his red brick house. “That government should hold talks with the Maoists to end violence which is key to fresh national elections,” said Deuba, sitting cross-legged on a sofa and drinking lemon tea. Already faced with a long running Maoist revolt, Nepal plunged into turmoil after Gyanendra assumed powers, detained politicians and suspended civil liberties. He said the steps were necessary to crush the Maoists who have been fighting since 1996 to replace the monarchy with a communist republic in the Hindu kingdom tucked between China and India. Nepal has had no elected parliament since Deuba, a three-time premier, dissolved it in 2002. Gyanendra’s surprise move to fire Deuba came after the rebels refused talks to end their revolt. In the past they have demanded an assembly to draft a new constitution to decide the future of monarchy before a vote in the mountain nation where many still consider the king an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. — Reuters
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Accused kills judge, 2 others in US
New York, March 12 Brian Nicholas (33), who was being tried on rape and several other charges, overpowered the woman police officer escorting him when she removed his handcuffs in the holding cell, snatched her gun, shot and wounded her and then ran to the court room in Atlanta in Georgia state yesterday. He held court officials and others hostage for some time before allegedly killing the county superior court judge Rowland W Barnes, who was presiding over his trial, and a court reporter, ran down the stairs, killed another police officer as he tried to confront him, hit a journalist with the gun and escaped in his car. The Georgia state announced an award of $ 10,000 for information leading to his arrest. — PTI |
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Sedan, not Sudan
Washington, March 12 The Sudanese summoned the U.S. chargi d'affaires to explain what this stunning revelation was all about. Turns out it was a false alarm. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) checked the subcommittee transcript and, sure enough, there is Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., talking about a previously undisclosed 1962 ``Sudan'' nuclear test, which ``displaced 12 million tons of earth and dug a crater 320 feet deep'' with more than a 1,000-foot diameter. But the FAS said the context makes it clear Tauscher was talking about the 1962 explosion in Nevada code-named ``Sedan.'' ``The remarkable crater it left behind can be visited today by tourists.'' Both the Federal News Service and FDCH Political Transcripts mistranscribed Sudan for Sedan, and it “has been so recorded in the Nexis news database, where it continues to cause mischief,'' FAS reported. Sudan's Agriculture Minister was reported to have suggested on Wednesday that the test may have caused cancers in Sudan. After talking to embassy officials, the Foreign Minister said the confusion was cleared up. “They want to confirm the tests did not take place in Sudan but in Sedan, part of the United States in Nevada,'' he added, according to Reuters. — By arrangement with the LA Times-Washington Post
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Rashid misquoted on Khan: Aziz
Islamabad, March 12 “The Information Minister was misquoted,” Mr Aziz told reporters when his comments were sought about Mr Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s remarks, which had led to strong criticism from Opposition leaders. The Information Minister, speaking at a seminar here on Thursday, had claimed that Khan provided Iran with centrifuges that could be used in the process of making nuclear weapons. “There is no new development,” Mr Aziz said when asked if he saw any pressure on Iran’s nuclear programme. In Parliament yesterday, the Opposition members walked out protesting against Mr Rashid’s remarks, which also drew sharp comments from the critics here who said the minister’s admissions were aimed at putting pressure on Iran on the nuclear proliferation issue.
— PTI |
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India, Russia discuss defence cooperation
Moscow, March 12 “We discussed bilateral defence cooperation and reached an agreement that we should carry forward this cooperation,” Mr Saran told reporters before leaving for St Petersburg on the last leg of his three-day Russia visit. In Moscow, Mr Saran had wide-ranging talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loschinin on the whole gamut of bilateral, regional and international issues. “Our relations are no longer of a client and vendor, but are of partnership. The Brahmos project is one such example and we have agreed to make efforts to upgrade them through more such projects,” Mr Saran said.
— PTI |
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Under 50 pc married couples in UK by 2011
London, March 11 At present, most of Britains’ 42 million adults are married, but the Government Actuarys Department predicts that society will change significantly during the next two decades, The Daily Telegraph said yesterday. By 2011, just 46 per cent of women and 48 per cent of men will be married. By 2031, 46 per cent of men will have never married, against 42 per cent who will be married and 12 per cent widowed or divorced. Nearly 40 per cent of women will have never married, 40 per cent will be married and 20 per cent widowed or divorced. The number of couples who live together, but are not married, will almost double to 3.8 million. Most are likely to be aged over 45, the paper added. The number of divorcees will represent about 10 per cent of the adult population for the first time, the daily went on. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that there were 1,66,700 divorcees in 2003. — KUNA
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All e-mails under scanner in Pak
Islamabad, March 12 The government's admission came in response to a question of MNA Muhammad Pervez Malik. The same question had been asked in the House on two occasions earlier, on Feb 23 and March 3, however, on both occasions, the government did not reply to the question. MNA Pervaiz Malik had asked if the approval of the Cabinet had been obtained before starting the process of e-mail scanning in the country. He also sought the name of the agency responsible for scanning e-mails; the expenditure incurred on scanning e-mails over the past two years; the benefits gained from the exercise and the number of e-mail users in the country. In a measured response, the government informed the House that the cabinet's approval for any such process had not been sought by any organisation. However, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, as the regulatory body of the telecommunication sector, has issued instructions to all ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to maintain record (log files) of their customers for a period of one month to help trace cyber crime culprits if required in any investigation under the law. The government also informed the House that Internet users in the country maintained more than one e-mail accounts. "As per record held with PTA, at present there are about one million registered Internet subscribers in Pakistan. As estimated, seven million people use Internet and each user is maintaining about three e-mail addresses. Therefore, over 21 million e-mail addresses. National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain had directed the parliamentary secretary for cabinet division, MNA Firdous Ashiq Awan, in the previous sitting of the house to ensure that the questions were answered. Otherwise, he said, strict action would be initiated against officials for breach of privilege of the House on account of not furnishing desired information. However, the ministries concerned did not furnish answers to 12 questions on Friday. This prompted the opposition to accuse the government of deliberately hiding information from public representatives.
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Pak Governor resigns
Islamabad, March 12 Accepting Shah’s resignation, the President, Gen
Pervez Musharraf, has appointed Deputy Chairman, Senate, Khalil-ur-Rehman as the newprovincial Governor, official sources said here today. The government may appoint Shah as Pakistan’s Ambassador to ‘’an important country,’’ sources said, adding that he had been asked to continue till Rehman took over his new assignment Shah served as provincial Governor for over four years, which saw intense anti-terror operations in South and North Waziristan, north of provincial capital Peshawar.
—UNI |
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UN conference calls for
empowering women
United Nations, March 12 The UN Commission on Status of Women, which reviewed the implementation of Platform of Action on women's rights adopted in Beijing 10 years ago, identified several areas in which gender equality was yet to be achieved and called on all states at the end of its two-week conference yesterday to meet these challenges. The area needing immediate attention, included continuing high rate of violence against women in all parts of the world, especially in armed conflicts, increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS among women, lack of sexual and reproductive health rights and a lack of equal access under law to land and property. The USA was put in a very awkward position when a draft resolution on economic equality submitted by it was amended to include "reproductive rights" and was adopted despite Washington's attempt to withdraw it.
— PTI |
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New UN probe into sexual
abuse cases
United Nations, March 12 The World body announced yesterday that it was conducting inquiry into sexual exploitation and abuse of minors by peacekeepers in Burundi under its policy of “zero tolerance” for such crimes. The officials of the UN Operations in Burundi (ONUB), which was set up to restore lasting peace after decades of ethnic fighting, have been in contact with the Burundian police chief from the area where the alleged crimes took place, a UN spokesperson told reporters here. — PTI |
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New York, March 12
In video: US-based
think tank accuses Bush of failure on Pakistan nuclear issue. (
