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62 Indian ‘emigrants’ detained
No ruling majority for Schroeder
Rockets fired at Pak army camp
Musharraf: I am not indispensable to Pak
SC seeks explanation on Dueba’s conviction
Indian couple dies in Dubai
Maoists abduct 48 teachers
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Mark Thatcher to divorce
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62 Indian ‘emigrants’ detained
Bangkok, September 19 The men were nabbed in a series of police raids in Bangkok and the southern coastal Thai province of Songkla. They had illegally entered Thailand where they were waiting to board a ship bound for Greece. Four foreigners accused of organising the human trafficking have also been arrested, the police added. In Bangkok, the police raided two guesthouses in the city’s Indian quarter of Phahurat and arrested 62 Indians and two Nepali citizens who were about to board a ship bound for Greece, they added. Indian embassy officials said human traffickers were using Thailand as a transit point for taking illegal Indian immigrants to Europe. Thai authorities first raided a ship docked in the port of Songkla on the Gulf of Thailand and arrested 22 Sri Lankans and Indians who were hiding in the vessel. The owner of the vessel, a Sri Lankan national and a Ukranian and a Greek captain have also been detained. Another group of 20 Sri Lankans waiting to board the ship were arrested from a house in Hat Yai district in Songkhla province, the police said.
— UNI |
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No ruling majority for Schroeder
Berlin, September 19 Schroeder and conservative candidate Angela Merkel both immediately staked their claims to lead Europe’s biggest economy, insisting they had the mandate to form the next government. Early results released on public television put Merkel’s Christian Democrats at between 35.2 and 35.3 per cent, separated only by a whisker from the Social Democrats at about 34 per cent. Her preferred coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, tallied a surprisingly strong result of around 10.3 per cent, prompting their supporters to erupt in jubilation at party headquarters in Berlin. Merkel insisted she had the upper hand, despite failing to secure a ruling majority, and said she would negotiate with all the major parties on forming a coalition. But the charismatic Schroeder (61) said he had been confirmed in power. The result was a major setback for Merkel, whose party was at 42 per cent in polls the week before the election. She smiled but twisted her fingers in apparent agitation as she argued that she had a mandate to be the next leader after exit polls showed the race almost neck and neck. “What is important now is to form a stable government for the people in Germany, and we ... quite clearly have the mandate to do that,” Merkel said. In contrast, Schroeder was exuberant and branded the performance of Merkel’s party “disastrous.” Both Merkel and Schroeder said they would talk to all parties except the new Left Party, a combination of ex-communists and renegade Social Democrats. The inconclusive election result opened a scramble among the parties to see who could come up with a majority. One leading possibility was a linkup between her Christian Democrats and Schroeder’s Social Democrats, viewed by some as a recipe for paralysis in a country where leaders must tackle problems such as an 11.4 per cent unemployment rate. Schroeder’s performance provided a reminder of the 2002 election, when he came from behind to narrowly win re-election after his vociferous opposition to the war in Iraq found approval with voters. This time, he did not recover enough to win, but denied Merkel and the Free Democrats the majority needed to implement her plans to shake up the welfare state. If Merkel is to become Germany’s first female chancellor, she now needs to find a parliamentary majority in a coalition that would force her to water down plans to shake up the sluggish economy. Such a deal might also force her to dampen her strong opposition to Turkish membership of the European Union.
— AP |
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Rockets fired at Pak army camp
Miranshah (Pakistan), September 19 The rockets, fired from over the border yesterday, caused no casualties because they landed in a plant nursery near the camp in North Waziristan province, the administration official said. Troops returned fire towards the border, he said. It was not immediately clear who fired the missiles. Similar attacks have been blamed on militants suspected of links with Taliban and Al-Qaida remnants who sneaked into the area in late 2001 after the US-led invasion on Afghanistan.
— AFP |
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Musharraf: I am not indispensable to Pak
New York, September 19 General Musharraf said the National Security Council that he has created would also go on to ensure that things ran smoothly after a political change. According to the President, if he leaves today, the Senate Chairman would take over as President and later the assembly could elect a new President. Gen Musharraf said the country had an elected Prime Minister who would not be affected by the departure of the head of state. “Nothing has been done yet,” said the President when a reporter asked if he had taken the decision to impose the presidential form of government in Pakistan. He, however, said that if the National Assembly changed the constitution to bring a presidential system that would be their decision. General Musharraf said if the country had a presidential system, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif would have become Presidents and it would have been difficult to remove them “despite the loot and plunder they had done”. In the previous system, he said, there was a provision to remove the Prime Minister under 58 (2) B, but in the presidential system there was no provision for removing a corrupt ruler. The President encouraged the PPP and the PML-N to play their roles in the national politics, but said there was no room for their leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. |
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SC seeks explanation on Dueba’s conviction
Kathmandu, September 19 Judge Dilip Kumar Poudel issued a statement saying the Royal Commission for Corruption Control has one week to explain why it convicted Deuba and jailed him for two years, and to prove the decision was legitimate. King Gyanendra set up the commission after he fired the elected government of Nepal, a constitutional monarchy, and set up his own Cabinet earlier this year. He claimed the takeover was necessary to quell an anti-monarchist communist insurgency and fight corruption. The Supreme Court sought the commission’s explanation of the conviction after the court began to review an appeal, filed by Mr
Deuba. — AP |
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Indian couple dies in Dubai
Dubai, September 19 P.V. Sajan (32), a sales executive, and his pregnant wife Ramya (29) died in a Dubai hospital within 48 hours of each other, the police said. Ramya told the police when she was in the ICU that both of them had consumed kiwi juice on Thursday, according to a report in the Gulf News today. The police have sealed their apartment in Sharjah and were awaiting the post mortem report for
ascertaining the exact cause of death, it added. A relative who accompanied the couple to the
hospital said that Sajan had called him on Thursday morning and told that they had
vomited more than 20 times. “We rushed to his place at 7:45 am and other relatives also arrived. The couple did not look at all well. Ramya was unable to walk and was in pains,” he said.
— PTI |
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Maoists abduct 48 teachers
Kathmandu, September 19 The rebels abducted the teachers from the schools in Kerabari village development committee yesterday, Rising Nepal daily reported. Local human rights groups have condemned the abduction and asked the guerillas to immediately release the teachers. Meanwhile, armed rebels have killed a rebel leader Sita Bhattarai, alias “Astha” of Chamaita area, and a self-styled village people’s government chief of the Moaist organisation owing to internal rift, the army said in a statement.
— PTI |
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Mark Thatcher to divorce
London, September 19 The couple have been forced to live apart since the US authorities banned Mark from the country over his alleged involvement in an attempted coup to overthrow the president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Mark had admitted in court to unwittingly purchasing a plane which was allegedly to be used by the mercenaries, but he denied any involvement in the plot. In a statement, the couple spoke of a “difficult year” in which Sir Mark was arrested in South Africa.
— PTI |
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