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49 dead in Japan train accident
Impartial probe sought
into Khalra case
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Musharraf hopeful of solution to Kashmir issue
Two bombs explode in Pakistan
Search on for Indian ‘doctor of death’
NRI charged with bank fraud in USA
Saudi Arabia okays citizenship for expatriates
Britain to hike visa fees for foreign students
Afghan woman stoned to death
for adultery
China assures Nepal of enhanced support
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49 dead in Japan train accident
Tokyo, April 25 Investigators focused immediately on whether excessive speed or the actions of the inexperienced driver caused the crash in an urban area near Amagasaki, about 410 km west of Tokyo. The driver overshot the stop line at last station before the wreck. Several people were still trapped in the wreckage several hours after the crash, local police said, but it was unclear what their condition was. Train operator West Japan Railway Co said at least 343 people had been taken to hospitals. The seven-car commuter train was carrying 580 passengers when it derailed, wrecking an automobile in its path before slamming into a nine-story apartment complex just meters (yards) away. Two of the five derailed cars were flattened against the wall of the building, and hundreds of rescue workers and police swarmed the wreckage and tended to the injured. “There was a violent shaking, and the next moment I was thrown to the floor ... and I landed on top of a pile of other people,” passenger Tatsuya Akashi told NHK. “I didn’t know what happened, and there were many people bleeding.” The Hyogo Prefectural Police said the death toll had hit at least 49. It was not clear how many of the dead were passengers or if bystanders and apartment residents were among the victims. The accident was the worst rail disaster in nearly 42 years in Japan, which is home to one of the world’s most complex and heavily traveled rail networks. A three-train crash in November 1963 killed 161 people in Tsurumi, outside Tokyo. “There are many theories but we don’t know for sure what caused the accident,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said. “The Prime Minister instructed us to respond with urgency.” Survivors said the force of the derailment sent passengers tumbling through the inside of the cars. Photos taken by an NHK reporter aboard the train showed passengers piled on the floor and some clawing to escape from the busted shells of the cars. Investigators struggled to come up with reasons for the crash. Tsunemi Murakami, the train operator’s safety director, estimated that the train would have had to have been going 133 km-an-hour (82 miles an hour) to have jumped the track purely because of excessive
speed. — AP |
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Impartial probe sought
into Khalra case
Toronto, April 25 In a letter to the Chief Minister, copies of which were sent to the Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the CBI, and all the Canadian members of Parliament, Mr Beaumier expressed deep concern over the “harassment and threats” against Brijender Singh Sodhi, the prosecution lawyer in the Khalra case. “I am very disturbed by reports from witnesses that Mr Sodhi was approached by a police officer while entering the court and threatened with bodily harm and ultimately his life. These are very serious allegations,” said the Brampton West MP in her recent letter, terming the attempted intimidation of a lawyer investigating the Khalra case “profoundly troubling”. “I understand that the investigation into Mr Khalra’s 1995 disappearance involves members of the Punjab police force. I ask you to ensure this investigation is impartial and, if members of the police are found to be implicated in this case, that they be held accountable for their actions and pursued by the judicial system to the full extent of the law,” said the MP, further asking that full protection be granted to Mr Sodhi, all the members of the investigative team and all accompanying human rights organisations that may be involved.
— UNI |
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Indian wins top UK award for snow leopard preservation
London, April 25 With only 1,000 snow leopards in India as per the last official
estimate, and only 4,000 in 11 other countries, Mishra said he set up a simple insurance scheme among communities whose livestock were being preyed on by snow leopards to reduce the number of big cats killed in retaliation. Since his scheme was introduced, starting in the village of Kibber in the remote area where he is based, no snow leopards have been killed by hunters. He has also negotiated conservation agreements to keep domestic livestock out of some areas, which has led to a recovery in the wild prey of the snow leopard. Dr Mishra says he has now set up his own conservation body with the help of other young Indian conservation scientists from across India. The award was established by Edward Whitley, a disciple of Gerald Durrell, in 1994 to support passionate conservationists working in difficult conditions around the world. Mishra says he will use the 60,000-pound prize money to develop his existing conservation work.
— ANI |
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Musharraf hopeful of solution to Kashmir issue
Islamabad, April 25 “Other than the cricket match it was the dialogue process between me and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which yielded very positive results and resulted in a joint statement, in which there is clearly a resolve that Kashmir needs to be moved forward for a final settlement,” General Musharraf told reporters on board his plane while returning last night from an eight-day-long tour of India, Philippines and Indonesia. “A breakthrough has been achieved in the peace process between the two countries,” official APP news agency quoted the President as saying. On his talks with Dr Singh, General Musharraf said, “The Prime Minister has unambiguously expressed the resolve to solve all issues, including Kashmir,” as reflected in the joint statement. “The Indian Prime Minister also committed himself to resolving all disputes,” when he said at the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta that “we want to resolve all issues in an amicable manner.” He said after his visit to New Delhi he was hopeful of progress towards a “fair resolution” of the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir issue. “I am optimistic — there is sincerity as it has been accepted that all issues should be addressed — we have to address the Kashmir issue and leave it behind.” Referring to his breakfast meeting with the Indian Editors Guild in New Delhi he said he had a useful interaction with the Indian media during which he had “forcefully put forward Pakistan’s stand.” On India’s efforts to get a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, he said he has forcefully put forward Pakistan’s stand opposing the expansion of permanent seats in the UN Security Council during his meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the sidelines of Afro-Asian summit. “I reiterated Pakistan’s position that the expansion of the Security Council should be only in the non-permanent category,” he said. General Musharraf said his visit to India, Philippines and Indonesia had provided him a veritable opportunity to project Pakistan’s stance on key questions of the day. “My visit has been successful from all accounts, my meetings with the Philippine and Indonesian leaders and a series of meetings with regional leaders on the sidelines of the summit helped advance Pakistan’s political and economic relations with these countries,” he said. The Pakistan President was accorded a warm welcome by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and top military and civil officials when he returned home late last night from Jakarta.
— PTI |
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Two bombs explode in Pakistan
Karachi, April 25 The bombs went off about five minutes apart yesterday night near Kandhkot, a village about 600 km northeast of Karachi, local police chief Feroz Abbasi said. The injured woman was in her home near the rail tracks when she was hit by a piece of flying metal. No one claimed responsibility. “This is the same type of terrorism that has been happening in Baluchistan and in this area,” Mr Abbasi said.
— AP |
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Search on for Indian ‘doctor of death’
New York, April 25 The Oregon state’s Board of Medical Examiners
(BME) has inactivated the medical licence of Patel, a 55-year-old native of Jamnagar in Gujarat, following complaints of death or injuries due to negligence. A BME spokeswoman said Patel was being pursued after the Australian authorities contacted Oregon, where he had been practising since 1988. She said Patel came with “superlative references” from doctors in New York despite the fact that he had faced questions about sloppy handling of some surgeries. She confirmed that there were cases of deaths likely resulting from his less than quality surgical skills. But she hastened to add that the question of patient death or injuries was a complicated one and the authorities had to be careful in reaching any conclusions. She said that Patel was in “violation” in that he did not inform the BME before he left to practise in Australia. It was not clear whether he was still in Australia or the USA, although the chances were that he was back in India. The Australian newspaper reported that Patel was wanted for investigation in connection with at least 14 deaths or patient injuries by Queensland’s medical board. Media reports said he was characterised Dr Death by the authorities in Oregon, a claim that the BME spokeswoman denied. According to the physician database maintained by the
BME, Patel got his degree in medicine from M.P. Shah College in Ahmedabad in 1973. His licence type in the USA was 15991 and was set to expire on January 31, 2005. It was issued in 1989. There was no immediate information whether he was also being pursued for any criminal investigation in Oregon or New York states, both of which once licensed him.
— IANS |
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NRI charged with bank fraud in USA
Washington, April 25 Jaswinder Singh Sekhon (27), now a Finnish national, was arrested by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for allegedly defrauding Wells Fargo Bank of US $500,000 in September 2004, official sources said. Using 200 stolen credit card numbers, Sekhon allegedly funnelled purchases made on these cards to two dummy companies of his-H&M Tobacco and H&M Indian Music-ICE found during its investigations launched in October 2004.
— PTI |
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Saudi Arabia okays citizenship for expatriates
Riyadh, April 25 “The new bylaw came into effect on Friday, when it was published in the official gazette,” Nasser
Al-Hanaya, undersecretary at the Interior Ministry for Civil Affairs told the daily. He said some articles of the existing naturalisation law were amended to meet job requirements and realise the interests of the Kingdom and its citizens, and added that professionals like doctors and engineers would be given preference. However, Dr Ahmed
Al-Salim, undersecretary at the Interior Ministry, dashed their hopes. “Many have misunderstood the amended law as they thought it has made the road to Saudi citizenship easy,” the Okaz Arabic daily quoted him as saying. “There’s no major change in conditions and regulations,” he pointed out. He was echoing a previous statement by Mr Hanaya in which he had said that the amended law did not imply any large-scale handout of Saudi citizenship to non-Saudis. Mr Hanaya said: “Applicants who have fulfilled the necessary conditions may not get citizenship as the decision to award citizenship depends on the state’s discretion.” To qualify for citizenship, the applicant should have stayed in the Kingdom continuously for at least 10 years and should be a professional required by the country. |
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Britain to hike visa fees for foreign students
London, April 25 The Foreign Office said the fee for students from outside the European Union would rise from £ 36 (US $ 69, euro 53) to £ 85 (US $ 162, euro 124). Officials said the hike, which would not be formally approved until after the May 5 national election, was necessary to cover the cost of processing student visa applications, which have increased by 30 per cent in the past two
years.— AP |
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Afghan woman stoned to death
for adultery
Peshawar, April 25 The incident, which took place in the northeastern Badakhshan province, has been confirmed by an Afghan government spokesman, who said that an investigation was being conducted, The News reported. The Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan said the local Ulema issued the Fatwa (decree) for stoning her to death and added that it was the second incident of its kind in the region. However, some agencies quoted the area's police chief as saying the report of stoning was not true and that the killing was carried out alone by Mohammed Aslam, the father of the deceased, Amina. He allegedly killed her daughter for adultery.
— ANI |
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China assures Nepal of enhanced support
Beijing, April 25 Sino-Nepalese "friendship is in line with the interests of both Chinese and Nepalese people and beneficial for regional peace and stability", Mr Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body, said. Mr Jia gave the assurance to Nepalese King Gyanendra, who is attending the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference 2005 in Hainan, China's southern-most island province, the official Xinhua news agency reported. He said China was adhering to its good neighbourly policy and would treat its neighbours as partners. "All Chinese and Nepalese people enjoy their friendship," Mr Jia said, adding, "Despite the differences in each domestic situation, the two countries strictly adhered to the five principles of peaceful co-existence, treated each other equally, trusted and supported each other."
— PTI |
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