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Britain brings out new anti-terror law
Bodies decomposing in remote areas
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Aftershocks jolt Pak
Over 60 dead in Chechen militant attacks
Big stars born near Milky Way
Pinter wins Nobel for literature
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Britain brings out new anti-terror law
London, October 13 Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted on Wednesday that there was a "compelling" case for such provisions in the Bill. During the Prime Minister's question time in the House of Commons, Mr Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, alleged that there was no "consensus" within the government on measures, some of which were plain "wrong". But Mr Blair said he believed police needed the powers to protect lives. The Prime Minister said the complex nature of terrorism inquiries meant it was important to take suspects into custody "relatively early", and possibly holding them for longer. The police could then "get the evidence necessary to charge them properly". He added: "What I have to do is to try do my best to protect people in this country and to make sure their safety and their civil liberty to life come first." Currently terror suspects can be held for up to 14 days without charge. The government's plans have been criticised by senior judges and opposition parties. The Liberal Democrats have suggested holding suspects on lesser offences while investigating possible terrorism, as an alternative to extending detention without trial. Conservative Home Affairs spokesman David Davis said he had been briefed by the police on their need for the new powers, but had not been persuaded. He said that he would prefer a change in the law so that suspects could still be questioned even after being charged with an offence. According to the BBC, the government is likely to make some concessions as ministers try to win over Labour backbenchers to support the bill. Mr Ken Jones, Chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers' Terrorism Committee, said longer detentions were needed because of "the huge volume of material we are discovering and the complex global reach of our inquiries".
— IANS |
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Bodies decomposing in remote areas
Islamabad, October 13 Hope is fast giving way to despondency as the pace of death is overtaking that of rescue in the regions where Saturday’s killer temblor wiped out thousands of lives and rendered lakhs homeless. “The stench of rotting bodies is unbearable,” Mr Mohammad Qureshi of Bagh village in PoK was quoted as saying by the local media. For survivors, anger reigned supreme at not getting enough aid — blankets, food and tents — to battle the elements in view of chilly winter fast settling in in the mountain towns. As news of loot and ransack of essential items trickled in from Muzaffarabad, which bore the brunt of the of the quake, victims in the surrounding hill regions expressed frustration at not being able to get a share of the relief material earmarked for them. “It is bad enough that our homes are razed, but the shortage of food and water in these parts are killing us slowly,” the Iqbal Hussain of Rawlakot said. The local media reported the incidents of looting and lawlessness in certain areas were severely hampering relief operations. The gargantuan task now facing the
administration, is the clearing of the dead, officials said adding that heaving heavy machinery up the mountain tracks to the cut-off villages is posing a greater challenge than actual distribution of food supplies. However, amidst the numerous glum faces milling on the streets are also some gladdened by a sudden rescue by army personnel. A British rescue team today saved a septuagenarian man trapped under the debris of a building in Muzaffarabad for the last five days, bringing cheer to the devastated city.
— PTI |
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Rescuers still hopeful of finding survivors
Islamabad, October 13 But the British rescuers at work there have not lost hope. Men and gigantic machines of the army engineering corps were at work from dawn to dusk, searching and digging through tons of concrete rubble for survivors. One body of an aged man was recovered around noon and then another body of a young woman was recovered late in the evening. Some human limbs were also recovered during the day, a volunteer doctor told Dawn. As rubble and web of iron and steel was removed with help of merciless machines, human flesh and blood mingled with brick and mortar. Mattresses, blankets, clothes and other personal belongings of the victims also stood exposed. It included a black jacket of a pilot. Cranes, dumpers, cutters and bulldozers moved in full force to clear the debris little by little, piercing through concrete and iron to get access to the trapped victims. It was a slow and tedious process, requiring iron nerves and perseverance. It was the fifth day of the building collapse and the face masks did not help much as the stench of dead bodies spread. Several times amidst deafening and roaring sound of these heavy duty machines came abrupt moments of silence following full- throated commands by the army and civil defence men involved in the rescue operations. Silent, Khamosh (quiet), they shouted on detecting some sign of life or death. The commands would follow a queue from the sensors being used by the British rescue team. The calls would be responded to instantly with pin drop silence. Hopes would suddenly go up, stretchers and white bed sheets rushed to the spot identified and ambulances mobilised. Numerous men and women, working as volunteers, including rescue workers, doctors and paramedics have been at their feet round the clock helping the 25-member British rescue team. A six-member team of the UN Military Observers Group has also joined in with its equipment and expertise for the last three days. Towards the end of the day when no survivor was evacuated a member of the British team and an army official opened up a map of the building apartments discussing other possibilities of trying to save those who may still be trapped inside. |
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Aftershocks jolt Pak
Islamabad, October 13 Weather experts recorded 67 fresh aftershocks in the past 24 hours till this morning, including two with the magnitude of over 4 on the Richter scale. The Pakistani capital and other parts of the country, including all those areas jolted by the Saturday eight earthquake, received an aftershock this morning at 9.06 am local time with the magnitude of 4.5 on the Richter scale. Earlier an aftershock at 1.23 am was 5.6 on Richter scale and its epicentre was 135 km north of Islamabad.
— PTI |
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Troops open path to quake-hit
Muzaffarabad, October 13 Hundreds of people desperate to discover the fate of their families surged through after army engineers dynamited and bulldozered a landslide blocking the route out of Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of PoK. With coloured sheets full of food and bottled water over their shoulders, they moved on up the treacherous path towards the Neelum Valley, where even helicopters have not been able to land since Saturday’s disaster.
— AFP |
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Pakistan to accept help from all
Islamabad, October 13 American Jewish organisations, including the American Jewish Congress-Council for World Jewry, the Joint Distribution Committee and the American Jewish World Service are already raising funds for Pakistan relief. The decision to accept financial support and equipment from Israel came during a telephonic conversation between President Pervez Musharraf and Jack Rosen on Tuesday, Chairman of the American Jewish Congress-Council for World Jewry, English daily “The News” reported today. President Musharraf also told Mr Rosen that Pakistan would warmly welcome help from American Jewry. “I am pleased that Pakistan will receive help from the Jewish community and from Israel,” Mr Rosen said. — UNI |
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Over 60 dead in Chechen militant attacks
Moscow, October 13 About 300 armed militants simultaneously attacked three police stations, FSB security service’s local headquarters and branch office of regional Border Guards at 9 am local time in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria Republic neighbouring Chechnya, nearly 1900 kms from here, reports reaching here said. At least 12 civilians were killed and over 60 injured in the street fighting across Nalchik between the militants and security services as the army blocked the city, Kabardino-Balkaria President Arsen Konokov said. Some reports, however, said over 20 civilians were killed. Moscow has cancelled all flights from and to Nalchik, NTV reported. Chechen rebels claimed
responsibility for the coordinated attacks. “A detachment of the Caucasus Front (a structural unit of the armed forces of the Chechen Ishkeria Republic) went to the city” of Nalchik, the Kavkazcenter website said, claiming that it received the statement from Chechen ‘mujahideen.’ |
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Big stars born near Milky Way
Washington, October 13 On earth, this might be a bit like setting up a maternity ward on the side of an active volcano. But researchers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other instruments believe there is a safe zone around black holes, a big dust ring where stars can form. Black holes, including the one at the centre of our galaxy, are monstrous matter-sucking drains in space, with gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape once it comes within the hole’s grasp. These young stars, however, are just far enough away to be held in orbit around the hole much as planets are kept in orbit around the sun, according to Sergei Nayakshin of the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. At less than a light-year’s distance, the 50 or 100 massive young stars are quite close to the black hole, but not close enough to be drawn in, Nayakshin said in a telephone interview. A light-year is about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion km), the distance light travels in a year. By comparison, earth is about 26,000 light years from the galactic center where the black hole lies. |
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Pinter wins Nobel for literature
Stockholm, October 13 The versatile Pinter is renowned for his exploration of domination and submission, threat and injustice in his over 30 plays, and his increasingly vocal political activism. The laureate “uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”, the jury said. Pinter, who began his career as an actor, restored theatre to its basic elements, an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, “where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles”, it said. “In a typical Pinter play, we meet people defending themselves against intrusion of their own impulses by entrenching themselves in a reduced and controlled existence,” the jury said. Another theme is the volatility and elusiveness of the past.
— AFP |
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