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Israel pulls out of two settlements
Three papers banned in Pak
Pak imam agrees to deportation
5 shot in Pak ‘honour killing’ case
Indian shot in Houston
17 dead in NATO chopper crash |
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Quake jolts Japan
Gorillas, tigers on sale on Internet
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Israel pulls out of two settlements
Jerusalem, August 16 “The evacuation of Ganim and Kadim has been successfully completed,” officials said yesterday. “These are the first two communities to be fully and successfully evacuated,” they said. On the day Israel began its historic operation to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a televised address that Israel could not hold on to the Gaza Strip forever. He said the pullout is a painful step but essential for the country’s future. Sharon vowed “harshest response ever” to any attack by Palestinian militants after the pullout. “It is no secret that I, like many others, believed and hoped that we would be able to hold onto Netzarim and Kfar Darom (settlements in the Gaza Strip) forever,” he said. “This act is essential for Israel. Believe me, the pain I feel with this act is the full realisation that we must do it,” Sharon said adding, “We cannot hold onto Gaza forever, more than a million Palestinians live there... crowded in refugee camps, poverty and hotbeds of hatred with no hope on the horizon.” Sharon said his plan was “the answer to the changing reality.” Emphasising that his move would lead to more pressure on the Palestinians, the right wing veteran threatened with the use of “full force” against terror after the pullout process. “The world is waiting for the Palestinian response — a hand stretched out to peace or the fire of terror. To an outstretched hand we will respond with an olive branch. But if they choose fire, we will respond with fire, more severe than ever,” he warned. Meanwhile, Israeli troops, handing out eviction notices in the Gaza Strip yesterday, faced defiant resistance. At Neve Dekalim, the largest outpost, settlers, joined by Jewish hardliners from elsewhere, blocked the main gates, trying to keep troops out. Resistance was fierce in Gush Katif bloc, with defiant protesters locking the gates of Neve Dekalim, the largest single settlement in Gaza, to prevent the soldiers and policemen from entering. Crowds burnt tyres, formed human chains and scuffled with troops and when some of them managed to enter, agitators took eviction notices and burnt them. In many places, it was an emotional moment for both sides, with protesters as well as policemen in tears. “It’s a painful and difficult day, but it’s a historic day,” Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas hailed the move as “historic”, but said Israel should also hand over West Bank and east Jerusalem in the future.
— PTI |
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Three papers banned in Pak
Islamabad, August 16 Daily ‘Zarb-e Islam’ and weeklies ‘Friday Special’ and ‘Wajood’ have been banned in pursuance with the Press and Publication Ordinance 2002, an official handout said. It said they were publishing objectionable material that created sectarian extremism and posed a danger to public safety and order. The action against the three papers was taken on the recommendations of the police and the Home Department, which said in separate appraisals that the content in the papers was instigating hatred and violence among people of different sects. Home Department officials said 13 publications based in Sindh are on a watch-list. Officials in Punjab province are also said to be monitoring another 20 publications. The Sindh Government had last month arrested Wajood’s editor Muhammad Tahir, Assistant Editor of Friday Special Abdul Latif Abu Shamil and other journalists working for the three publications, known to be critical of government policies. They were granted bail by a court after 15 days.
— PTI |
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Pak imam agrees to deportation
New York, August 16 However, Shabbir Ahmed, 39, will be deported for overstaying his three-year work visa which allowed to him act as an Imam. In the government agreeing to deport him, Ahmed’s lawyer Saad Ahmad saw proof that his client was innocent. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s Chief Counsel in San Francisco Ronald E Le Fevre said once he leaves, he would no longer be in a position to “advance any doctrine of hate from within our country.” Saad Ahmad had earlier said that he would fight the case but decided to agree to the deportation of his client fearing otherwise he could face long detention.
— PTI |
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5 shot in Pak ‘honour killing’ case
Islamabad, August 16 All five were relatives of Ghulam Abbas who is said to have eloped with a girl from the family of the alleged attackers a few months ago, the Daily Times reported today. Some members of the girl’s family, including her father Bashir Ahmad, allegedly attacked the houses of Abbas’ parents and another relative in Rehmatpur tehsil with firearms early yesterday and killed five persons, including Abbas’ mother Naziran, the report said.— PTI |
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Indian shot in Houston
Houston (US), August 16 Akhil Chopra, a computer professional and an active volunteer for the Hindu Students Council, was found dead by a passerby on a bench inside a park near his office on Thursday afternoon. Chopra had a gunshot wound on his left temple and a bullet appeared to have grazed his forehead. His wallet was missing and no gun was found at the scene. The police suspect, Chopra, a devout Hindu who was popular in his community, was meditating in the park when he was killed apparently for the sake of money.
— PTI |
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17 dead in NATO chopper crash
Kabul, August 16 The helicopter was on a training exercise for upcoming parliamentary elections when it came down south of the city of Herat, Captain Michele Cortese of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. “It was an ISAF helicopter. It was conducting a training exercise for election support,” Cortese said. Separately, a
western military source told AFP that at least 17 persons had been killed in the crash and five more were still missing. Spanish public radio reported that the troops were Spanish.
— AFP |
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Quake jolts Japan
Tokyo, August 16 Japan’s bullet trains and a nuclear power plant were automatically shut down after the quake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, jolted the ocean floor off Miyagi prefecture 300 km north of Tokyo. In Miyagi’s main coastal city of Sendai, the roof partially caved in at a sports gymnasium, injuring at least 19 persons, a local police spokesman said.
— AFP |
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Gorillas, tigers on sale on Internet
THEY are marketed as the perfect birthday present for animal-loving children, or a classy addition to the image-conscious suburban home. However, the products being sold on hundreds of Internet sites are not soft toys or unusual knick knacks, but potentially-dangerous live animals from the world's most endangered species.
Gorillas, tigers and chimps can all be bought for as little as a few hundred pounds, despite international bans on their sale. The illegal online trade in rare and exotic wildlife is now worth billions of pounds and sales are soaring, according to a new report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). In just one week, IFAW investigators found more than 9,000 live animals and products made from endangered species for sale on Internet auction sites, chat rooms and classified pages, despite the fact that 70 per cent of the species and specimens are protected under law. The scale of the trade is astonishing. Want a gorilla in your backyard? It's yours for (pounds sterling)4,500 from a classified ad on the internet —just come to London and pick it up, with no proof needed of any capacity or ability to look after such a beast. Gorillas are among the most highly endangered species on the planet and all commercial trade in them is prohibited under the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. They are potentially lethal and need expert care and treatment, yet IFAW found a British-based website advertisement selling a seven-year-old gorilla in January this year "due to relocation of its owner." How about a giraffe? A US website, GotPetsOnline.com was offering a "sweet natured" two-year-old giraffe for sale for $15,000. Experts are particularly concerned at the way monkeys are marketed and traded over the internet. At www.ad-mart.co.uk in January, a Welsh trader was offering a pair of breeding cotton-headed tamarin monkeys for sale for (pounds sterling)1,900. When IFAW investigators approached the buyer, they were told that they would not need any special licences or documentation. Yet, the species is protected under CITES.
— By arrangement with The Independent, London |
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