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US dealing with one of worst natural disasters: Bush
Iraq stampede toll nears 1,000
Pak appoints a Hindu as acting Chief Justice
US offers Pak two frigates
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Indian businessman shot dead in Dhaka
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US dealing with one of worst natural disasters: Bush
After an aerial survey of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast, President George W. Bush on Wednesday declared the United States was dealing with “one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history”. Mr Bush, who cut short his vacation and returned to Washington on Wednesday, announced the creation of a Cabinet-level task force to coordinate hurricane relief efforts. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will head this task force. From the images and reports of devastation pouring out of the hurricane-ravaged southern states it is evident Mr Chertoff has his work cut out. Mr Bush, surrounded by members of his Cabinet during an address to the nation from the Rose Garden in the White House, said: “This recovery will take a long time. This recovery will take years.” On his way back from his Texas ranch, Mr Bush instructed the pilot of Air Force One to fly low over the Gulf Coast region so he could see the scope and magnitude of the destruction. “The vast majority of New Orleans, Louisiana, is under water. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are beyond repair. A lot of the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been completely destroyed. We are dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history,” Mr Bush told the nation. The president said the administration’s efforts were focused on three priorities: to save lives; to ensure adequate food, water, shelter and medical supplies for survivors; and executing a comprehensive recovery effort. Meanwhile, buses ferried people out of New Orleans as the authorities concerned struggled to evacuate the waterlogged city while the United States Coast Guard conducted search and rescue missions. As bodies floated in floodwaters in New Orleans fears of disease spread quickly. “We are gravely concerned about the potential for cholera, typhoid and dehydrating diseases,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said. The city’s seven hospitals evacuated newborn babies and other sick and elderly persons to hospitals in neighbouring states. The Pentagon deployed the USS Bataan to conduct search and rescue missions. The National Guard has nearly 11,000 guardsmen on state active duty to assist governors and local officials with security and disaster response efforts, Mr Bush said. Looters continued their rampage in New Orleans where guns and other merchandise were reported stolen from stores. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said she was “just furious” about the lawlessness. “We’ll do what it takes to bring law and order to our region,” she said at a news conference. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin ordered most of the city’s police to halt their rescue efforts and concentrate instead on stopping looters. The Army Corps of Engineers was coordinating efforts with officials in Louisiana to repair the breaches in the levees that have resulted in floods in New Orleans. Mr Bush told communities affected by the storm, “The country stands with you” and pledged, “We’ll do all in our power to help you.” The White House also announced that Mr Bush has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Bill Clinton to spearhead an international relief effort for hurricane victims, similar to the effort they undertook for victims of last year’s tsunami in South Asia. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Mr Bush expressing grief at the death and devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Conveying India’s sympathy at the loss of life and the hardship that so many families are undergoing in large swathes of Southern United States, Dr Manmohan Singh wrote, “Our prayers are with them.” External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh also wrote to his counterpart Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressing sympathy and solidarity with the United States. “We are with you during these trying times,” the minister wrote. Looters on rampage in New Orleans New Orleans, September 1 An operation to bus more than 20,000 refugees to the Houston Astrodome was suspended temporarily when shots were fired at helicopters being used for evacuation, a local government spokeswoman in Houston said. The incident was part of the chaos that prompted New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to order police to drop rescue operations to fight the crime that gripped the besieged city. Angry Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said, “We will do what it takes to bring law and order to our area.” “I’m just furious. It’s intolerable,” she said of the growing crime
wave. — Reuters
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Iraq stampede toll nears 1,000
Baghdad, September 1 At least 965 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, were crushed to death, trampled underfoot or drowned yesterday as panic swept through the crowds sparked off by rumours of suicide bombers amidst them. The stampede occurred shortly after insurgents killed seven persons in a mortar strike at the nearby Kadhmimiyah mosque where up to three million Shias had gathered for a religious commemoration. The Iraqi authorities said the tragedy was a “terrorist” act by toppled dictator Saddam Hussein’s loyalists and Al-Qaida’s frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. “The terrorist pointed a finger at another person saying that he was carrying explosives... and that led to the panic,” Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh told Iraqi television.
— AFP |
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Pak appoints a Hindu as acting Chief Justice
Islamabad, September 1 Justice Bhagwandas will take oath as acting Chief Justice of Pakistan Friday at the Sindh bench of the Supreme Court in Karachi. The appointment comes as Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is leaving for China on a 10-day visit. Justice Bhagwandas is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court after the Chief Justice. According to the Constitution, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court replaces the Chief Justice in his absence. This is the first time Chief Justice Chaudhry is going out of the country since he assumed office June 30
this year. Justice Bhagwandas is well respected in the community for his extraordinary grip on the constitutional law. He is a career judge, having worked as sessions judge and later as judge of the Sindh High Court. Born Dec 20, 1942, in Sindh, Justice Bhagwandas joined the Pakistan judicial service in July 1967. Besides graduation in law, Justice Bhagwandas has done his masters in Islamic Studies. Justice Bhagwandas is the second non-Muslim judge in Pakistan to reach the top position in the judiciary. Justice A.R. Cornelius, a Christian, had served as the Chief Justice from 1960-68. Some years ago when Justice Bhagwandas’ position as judge of a High Court was challenged for being non-Muslim, the petitioner was not only condemned by other judges of the court but a large number of lawyers protested against the
petition. He was promoted to the Supreme Court in 2000 and will retire as a senior judge in December 2007 after attaining the age of 65. However, he may not become permanent Chief Justice as Justice Chaudhry will be retiring in December 2013, six years after Justice
Bhagwandas’ retirement. — IANS |
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US offers Pak two frigates
Islamabad, September 1 The offer for sale “has been made by the US Navy” and the price of the frigates will be negotiated once the US Congress gives its approval, Chief of Pakistan Navy Admiral Shahid Karimullah told reporters here yesterday. Besides the two US Frigates, Pakistan Navy is also acquiring four P-22 F frigates from China, Admiral Karimullah said. Since the delivery of the first Chinese frigate will take about three years to materialise, the US Frigates could be a good stop-gap arrangement, he said. He said the US is also providing eight P-3C Orion long-range maritime patrol aircraft free of cost to Pakistan which will boost its ability to carry out long distance surveillance as well as fire Harpoon missiles at enemy targets. P-3C Orion is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft with an endurance of about 18 hours and can carry Harpoon missile.
— PTI |
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Pervez destroying democracy: Imran
London, September 1 “Pakistan’s greatest problem is not the radical Islamists but its power-crazed President,” 52-year-old Imran Khan said in an interview published in a daily here. “Musharraf is destroying our democracy by using this war on terror. Why did he put 700 persons behind the bars when Pakistan had no connection with the London bombings? In the world’s eyes, Pakistan became a hub of terrorism. And at home, it reinforces the idea that Musharraf is a stooge implementing an American agenda,” he told the ‘Guardian.’
— PTI |
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Indian businessman shot dead in Dhaka
Dhaka, September 1 |
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Rushdie tackles Kashmir in new novel
London, September 1 In ‘’Shalimar the Clown’’ the novelist explores the origins of conflict in the region, where he spent summers with his family in the 1950s and 1960s. Through a torrid love story he traces Shalimar’s journey from high wire circus act to a ruthless killer with links to radical Islamic groups, exploring the now universal question of why people turn to religious violence. “When I finished the book I thought this actually does have echoes for the modern world in all sorts of places,’’ said Rushdie, who became a household name in 1989 when Iran issued a fatwa calling for his death after he wrote ‘’The Satanic Verses’’. “One of the strange things that happens when you publish a book is that you begin ... to see what resonances it has for the readers,’’ Rushdie said yesterday of his new novel. ‘’Sometimes you begin to understand your book a bit
more,’’ he added. Those resonances have reached London, rocked by a wave of deadly suicide bomb attacks in July, he said. |
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After an aerial survey of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast, President George W. Bush on Wednesday declared the United States was dealing with “one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history”.
