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US to oppose G-4 resolution on
Faulty detonators prevented carnage
Britain’s nuclear curbs on India to continue
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Protests against Pak
crackdown
N-assets in safe hands, says Pak
Don’t tolerate double standard on terror: India
16 killed in China dam
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US to oppose G-4 resolution on UN reform
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proposal for United Nations Security Council reform put forth jointly by India, Germany, Japan and Brazil is “highly divisive” and the United States will actively oppose it if it is brought to a vote in the General Assembly, a Bush administration official told Senators on Thursday.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr R. Nicholas Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, said if the so-called Group of Four puts its resolution to a vote the US will not only vote against it, it will urge others to do the same. Saying many countries opposed this resolution, Mr Burns added: “We do not think it is timely to support any proposal until broader consensus is reached.” While in Washington earlier this week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told an audience at the National Press Club he didn’t have a commitment from President Bush to support the G-4 resolution. “Probably the G-4 resolution will have to move without the US support,” Dr Singh said. Earlier, he told Indian journalists that while the US did not back the G-4 resolution right now, when the time comes it would be in India’s corner. Calling the resolution “highly divisive,” Mr Burns said, “Obtaining wide support for Security Council reform is critical if the reform is to succeed in revitalising the United Nations.” A resolution that enjoys a “broad base of support” stands a better chance of adoption by the UN General Assembly, he said. The G-4 resolution proposes enlargement of the Security Council by increasing the number of both permanent and non-permanent members. There are, at present, five permanent members of the Security Council — the US, Britain, China, France and Russia — all of which are nuclear powers, and 10 non-permanent members. The G-4 proposal seeks an expansion of the council from its present strength of 15 to 25 members. It seeks six permanent seats — for India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, and for two African nations, but the new members would not have veto powers. An African Union resolution calls for a total of 26 seats on the council, and for the new permanent members to have veto rights. The G-4 had indicated it would like to have a vote in the General Assembly on its resolution in the coming weeks, but after failing to reach a compromise with the African nations has decided to delay this. This proposal would need to receive a yes vote of two-thirds of UN members if it is to move to the next phases — the selection of the new permanent members, and the adoption of a resolution for amending the UN Charter, with ratification of the amendment by two-thirds of UN membership, including ratification by all permanent Security Council members. “For the United States, this would require Senate advice and consent,” Mr Burns said. The US has so far only backed Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council. The State Department official told the Senate panel that the Bush administration has proposed its own criteria-based approach “as a constructive way to measure a country’s readiness for a permanent seat.” “We have said that we can support adding two or so new permanent members based on those criteria. In addition, we would endorse the addition of two or three additional non-permanent seats, based on geographic selection, to expand the Council to 19 or 20,” Mr Burns said. |
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Faulty detonators prevented carnage
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massive manhunt was launched as detectives sought to establish whether there were links between yesterday's attack and the July 7 bombings. Initial tests have revealed marked similarities between the devices used on both occasions and also evidence that it was only faulty detonators that prevented carnage yesterday. At least three of the men responsible for yesterday's attempted bombings were on the loose last night after fleeing the scenes.
Questions were immediately raised about what appeared to be another severe failure of intelligence. The security agencies had been caught out by the 7 July bombings which, Home Secretary Charles Clarke admitted, "came out of the blue". Yet yesterday bombers with rucksacks, just like last time, managed to get to their targets undetected on the transport system. And yesterday was the day that the Prime Minister met senior officials from the police, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ (the Government's listening-post) in what was effectively an inquest into what went wrong two weeks ago. But police and the security agencies stress that this time they have crucial advantages lacking in the previous bombings. Unexploded devices will yield vital forensic clues. Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said "We believe this may represent a significant breakthrough." Sir Ian added that the attempted blasts on three Tube trains and a bus, a copy of the 7 July attack two weeks ago to the day, " must have been to kill". He said he was not in a position to state whether the two sets of bombings were connected, but he added: "There is resonance here. There were four attacks and there were four attacks before. We can all see that the attacks have a similar pattern." Detectives are waiting to question a man believed to have been injured in the attempted attack at Warren Street. Witnesses said they saw a man running into the nearby University College Hospital. Armed officers entered the hospital and after 4.20pm a police convoy left at high speed with motorcycle outriders. Two men were arrested in the afternoon, including one at Whitehall, near Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence, who was ordered down to ground by armed police. But police said they were not linked to the attacks. Passengers who had streamed out of the trains and the No 26 bus at Hackney Road, in east London, were corralled by police into makeshift interview areas for statements and to check whether they had taken any images with their mobile telephones. Officers also began to study CCTV footage. Unlike the 7 July bombings, by suicide bombers prepared to sacrifice their lives, the terrorists yesterday abandoned their bombs and fled, pursued, at least on one occasion by passers-by. The detonators on at least two of the devices are believed to have initiated but did not ignite the explosive in the rucksacks. One did not detonate at all, and another only partially. In all four, the main charges were not detonated. At least one device, in a black rucksack, was believed to have been "almost intact". Sir Ian refused to confirm or deny reports that the devices were packed with nails and shards of metal which would have had lethal impact in the confined spaces of train compartments and the bus.
— By arrangement with The Independent, London. |
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Britain’s nuclear curbs on India to continue
London, July 22 “The UK policy on the issue remains till India signs the NPT. We want all nuclear countries to adhere to the Treaty,” an official spokesman told PTI. As far as Britain and its universities are concerned, India remains on an 11-year-old ‘red-flag’ list of countries — proliferators of WMD. India’s place on the list, alongside Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Israel means Indians were among 2,000 scientists security vetted in the last four years after they applied to British universities to do post graduate or post-doctoral work in chemistry, microbiology and biotechnology of these 238 applications were rejected, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. According to the UK’s Counter-Proliferation Department, the rationale is to prevent foreign scientists of suspect countries from taking courses which would help them acquire the knowledge necessary to assist with the production or manufacture (proliferation) of WMD within their home country and which might one day threaten the UK’s security. Under the joint statement issued by India and the USA on Monday, New Delhi has agreed to fully separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and to place all the civil nuclear facilities under full IAEA safeguards.
— PTI |
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Protests against Pak
crackdown
Islamabad, July 22 Officials in the Interior Ministry confirmed the number of arrests swelled to 300 till the afternoon, as demonstrators all over Pakistan took to the streets on MMA’s call. The countrywide crackdown against religious parties and institutions began last Saturday after President Gen Pervez Musharraf gave five months to the country’s security agencies to purge the country of extremism and check activities of the six organisations, which he had outlawed in January, 2002. However, no untoward incident was reported anywhere in the country during the protests. Local MMA leaders addressed rallies in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad and condemned General Musharraf for targeting his own people to please the US and the West.
— UNI |
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N-assets in safe hands, says Pak
Islamabad, July 22 An elaborate command and control mechanism, institutionalised in the shape of the National Command Authority, had been in place since 2000, the statement said. Regarding non-proliferation, the statement said, Pakistan was committed to the global non-proliferation regime of weapons of mass destruction. |
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Don’t tolerate double standard on terror: India
United Nations, July 22 Without naming Pakistan, India’s Ambassador to the United Nations Nirupam Sen told the Security Council that the international community must no longer tolerate resort to “double standards, partial cooperation for political ends, tactical ploys, incitement, fundamentalist training and indoctrination, and support or sponsorship of terrorism.” States which “profess” cooperation in the war against terror but maintain infrastructure of terrorism should no longer be allowed to get away with impunity, he told the Security Council debate on “Threats of International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorism.”
— PTI |
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16 killed in China dam
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Beijing, July 22 Huge volumes of water washed through the village of Daqiao in Yunnan province yesterday, when most villagers were asleep, Xinhua quoted local official Guo Youquan as saying. Crops and houses were also destroyed in the flood, which caused economic losses estimated at 4.6
million yuan (£560,000 dollars), the report said.
— Reuters
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