 |
|
Pak committed to furthering peace process: Kasuri
Man hanged for plotting to kill Pervez
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UK retains ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy
Coke, Pepsi out of US schools
|
|
Pak committed to furthering peace process: Kasuri
Islamabad, August 20 “These are just allegations,” the Foreign Minister said of Dr Manmohan Singh’s recent assertions about the presence of a terrorist infrastructure in an interview with a private Pakistani TV channel. Although the pace of the peace process was slow, progress was being made, he said, adding that several meetings had taken place between Pakistan and India on various issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. However, he stressed on the resolution of the Kashmir issue for durable peace between the two countries. About the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), he said Pakistan was ready to implement it by January 2006. “There is no problem regarding the implementation of SAFTA on Pakistan’s part. However, certain details need to be worked out,” he said, hoping that these issues would be resolved in the forthcoming meeting of SAARC commerce ministers in October this year. On the SAARC summit, being held in Dhaka in the wake of the recent bomb attacks there, Mr Kasuri expressed confidence that the Bangladeshi Government would host the summit amidst adequate security. Referring to the Pakistan-US cooperation in the ongoing war against terror, he said Pakistan had not handed over a single Pakistani to the USA. Mr Kasuri said Pakistanis detained in Guantanamo Bay had all been arrested in Afghanistan during the US military campaign, adding that on its part, through persistent efforts, the government of Pakistan had been successful in getting 60 Pakistanis released from there. Pakistan has so far handed over some 700 Al-Qaida linked militants, all foreigners, to the USA. Among the top ranking al-Qaeda operatives arrested in Pakistan, are Egyptian-born Ahmad Khalfan al-Ghailani, Ramzi al-Shibh, Yassir al-Jazziri, Abu-Zubaidah, Sheikh Khaled Mohammad and Abu-Faraj al-Libbi.
— UNI |
|
Man hanged for plotting to kill Pervez
Islamabad, August 20 Abdul Salam Siddiqi (35) was sent to gallows in Multan’s central jail in Punjab province, they said. Siddiqi was sentenced to death by a military court following his arrest in connection with the December 14, 2003, assassination attempt on General Musharraf, also Army Chief of the country. His mercy petition was rejected by the President. Attackers had tried to blow up General Musharraf’s motorcade in Rawalpindi, near here, but no one was injured in that incident. However, in another attack on him on December 25, at least 16 persons, mostly his police guards, were killed and several wounded while the General escaped unhurt. Siddiqi's father Karim Bakhsh, told reporters yesterday that his son, during their last meeting, had insisted that he was innocent.
— PTI |
|
|
Pakistan invites Aishwarya
Islamabad, August 20 “This year we intend to build up excitement in the next round of polio campaign scheduled for the last week of September by involving two polio ambassadors of the region namely Indian film actress Aishwarya Rai and Pakistan’s pop star Jawad Ahmed,” Federal Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan said. He said preparations were on to hold two functions, one each in Pakistan and India, involving both stars to send a positive message, highlighting the need for saving children by completely wiping out the virus from the region. “If successfully translated into reality, the event would boost confidence-building efforts between the two countries,” he said asserting health has no colour, creed or religion and has a pivotal role to play in bringing the two countries closer, the Dawn reported. The decision to invite the former Miss World, who is extremely popular among Pakistanis, comes after a recent decision by the government to continue the ban on screening of Indian films and not to permit even the joint productions being planned by Pakistan and Indian film producers.
— PTI |
|
40 hurt in B’desh clashes
Dhaka, August 20 Sporadic clashes were reported in several areas here and nearby Naryanganj city leaving some 40 persons injured. Thirty persons, including pro-strike women activists, were detained during the first half of the one-day strike. More than 8,000 riot police, armed battalion and para-military forces were deployed in the city to quell possible violence as hundreds of opposition activists took to the streets calling on the government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to resign for failing to stop the bombings. The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party has rejected the demand. The strike took effect hours after Ms Zia returned home cutting short her visit to China due to the bombings that left two persons dead and around 150 injured. Amid a security clampdown following the bombings, the one-day strike, called by the 14-party alliance led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League, paralysed life in much of the country. The Communist Party of Bangladesh also separately called for a strike. No inter-district buses were operating and schools, private offices and banks were shut. The Opposition and governing sides have blamed each other for the bombings. Accusing the government of failing to crack down on militancy, Hasina has called for an international probe into the incident. Meanwhile, two persons were killed yesterday while making bombs in western Meherpur district. They were said to be on the wanted list of the police.
— PTI |
|
|
UK retains ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy
London, August 20 “We have reviewed it and we have made one or two small changes, but the operation remains essentially the same,” a Metropolitan police spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman declined to detail the changes, but London police chief Ian Blair said officers would continue to use deadly force to stop possible terror attacks. “The methods that were used appeared to be the least worst option (for tackling suicide bombers) ... we still have the procedure in use,” he told Daily Mail.
— Reuters |
|
Coke, Pepsi out of US schools
Washington, August 20 Amidst concerns over growing obesity among children in the country, the American Beverage Association (ABA), a trade body, has said its members will only stock bottled water and 100 per cent juices in vending machines in elementary schools. Extending cooperation to the anti-obesity drive, the association said it will provide “only nutritious and/or lower calorie beverages in middle schools”. “No full-calorie soft drinks and no full-calorie juice drinks with five percent fruit juice or less will be on sale during school hours,” it said. In High Schools it will be more liberal and will provide a variety of beverage choices. However, even the members of the association will be supplied with “no more than 50 per cent soft drinks”. “Our new school vending policy: It’s all about variety, nutrition and lower-calorie beverages,” the association said. Reports said Coca Cola Company, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schwepps have agreed to extend their ban on soft drinks sales to US middle schools. The companies will halt sales of full-calorie carbonated drinks during school days under voluntary guidelines announced by the ABA, they said. According to studies, over the past three decades the rate of obesity in the US has more than doubled in
pre-schoolers and adolescents and more than tripled in children in the age group of six-11 years. The most common factors cited by researchers were too much screen time — television, computers and video games — and too much of junk food.
— PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video (
