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China sees red over Dalai Lama’s US visit
Guardian scribe abducted in Iraq
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Four US soldiers killed in Iraq
Pak situation worse than tsunami, says UN
10,000 children could die in Pak areas: Unicef
World Food Prize for Gupta
Bird flu claims life in Thailand
“Mighty man” dead
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China sees red over Dalai Lama’s US visit
Beijing, October 20 “Dalai is not just a religious figure, but is a political exile who has for a long time engaged in separatist activities to damage the national unity under the name of religion,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement. “The Chinese government is firmly opposed to Dalai carrying out anti-China and splittist activities in any country in any capacity, and opposes officials of any country inviting and meeting Dalai in any capacity.” The Dalai Lama is to make a high-profile 10-day visit to Washington in November, during which he is likely to meet with US President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and key Congressional leaders, according to the International Campaign for Tibet. If it goes ahead, the visit will come just before Bush makes a trip to China on November 19 to meet with President Hu Jintao. Despite angry complaints from China, Bush went ahead and held talks with the exiled leader in 2001 following his election as US president in the first term. Bush’s previous meeting with the exiled Tibetan leader took place at the White House residence, avoiding — as did his predecessor, Bill Clinton — meeting him in official White House offices. Beijing sees the Buddhist icon as a supporter of independence for Tibet, which it regards as Chinese territory. — AFP
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Guardian scribe abducted in Iraq
London, October 20 Carroll, accompanied by two drivers and a translator, was confronted by the gunmen as he left the house where he had been carrying out the interview. He and a driver were bundled into cars, with the driver being released 20 minutes later. Volunteering for the Iraq assignment, Carroll had been stationed here since January and his coverage has been critical of the US-led coalition. Before Iraq, he had been the paper’s correspondent in Johannesburg since 2002. Born in Dublin, Carroll attended university there and worked for various Irish papers before moving to London. He has an Irish passport. The Irish government was in contact with its embassies throughout the Middle East last night to try and secure help for finding him. “We’re deeply concerned at Rory’s disappearance. He is in Iraq as a professional journalist - and he’s a very good, straight journalist whose only concern is to report fairly and truthfully about the country,” Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian’s editor, said. — PTI
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Four US soldiers killed in Iraq
Baghdad, October 20 The wounded soldier was transported to a Coalition Forces medical facility for treatment. The military also said a soldier assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), died from a non-hostile gunshot wound on Tuesday at a forward operating base near Mosul, Mosul, 360 km northwest of Baghdad. The incident was being investigated, the military said, without providing any details. The fatalities raised to at least 1,987 the number of members of the US military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
— AP |
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Pak situation worse than tsunami, says UN
Geneva, October 20 “This is not enough. We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was the worst we could get. This is worse,” Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator told journalists. Egeland said at least half a million people in Pakistani Kashmir were still out of reach in the mountainous region following the earthquake. The international community needed to set up a “second Berlin airlift”, he added, referring to a western air shuttle that overcame the blockade of the German city in the late 1940s. An estimated three million people were in need of shelter, while about 67,000 persons were seriously injured, according to the UN official. The UN says there have been 48,000 confirmed deaths. “The earthquake in Kashmir afflicting three countries is becoming worse by the day as the extent of the emergency dawns upon us,” Egeland said. “The world is not responding as it should,” he added. — AFP
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10,000 children could die in Pak areas: Unicef
Islamabad, October 20 Unicef called for immediate steps to push through more supplies, saying that children would be the first victims in a possible “second wave of deaths” as winter approaches. Up to 120,000 children remain unreached in mountain areas devastated by the October 8 quake, “of whom the agency estimated some 10,000 could die of hunger, hypothermia and disease within the next few weeks,” it said in a statement. “The relief effort is becoming more complex with each passing day,” the statement quoted Unicef Executive Director Ann Veneman as saying at the agency’s global warehouse in Copenhagen. She said outbreaks of diarrhoea had already been reported in stricken areas and there was a “significant threat of disease”. Unicef called for more helicopters to help reach survivors in isolated mountain areas, where access was difficult even before the quake which destroyed most roads and paths. “There are still too few helicopters to reach more than 1,000 remote villages with life-saving supplies that children urgently need,” Ms Veneman said, adding that Unicef also lacked humanitarian partners to make deliveries. “Given the intermittent shutdowns of the air corridor because of bad weather, the consequences for sick and injured children could be grave,” she said. The Unicef chief added that temperatures were dropping and roads to stricken areas had become clogged with mud and people fleeing the mountains with their injured. Even if children receive the tents and blankets they desperately need, they remain seriously threatened by a lack of medical assistance, dehydration due to bad water, and malnutrition, Ms Veneman pointed out. The World Food Programme said on Tuesday that half a million survivors of Pakistan’s earthquake were in ‘‘desperate need’’ of shelter, blankets, medical care and food, and that “time is running out to save them”. James Morris, Executive Director of the United Nations agency, said that reaching the isolated victims in the Himalayas was one of the toughest aid missions ever.
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World Food Prize for Gupta
Washington, October 20 The annual award widely regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of food and agriculture was given to Mr Gupta at a ceremony held at the majestic Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines recently. Created by Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 for outstanding achievements in food and agriculture aimed at reducing hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty, the award carries a proclamation by the Governor of Ohio and a citation, an original sculpture created by Saul Bass and a cash award of $ 250,000. The first World Food Prize was awarded to M.S. Swaminathan in 1986, and thereafter to four other Indian scientists. At the ceremony, Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen read out a message from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh felicitating Mr Gupta for his path-breaking work and for the distinction conferred on him.
— PTI
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Bird flu claims life in Thailand
Paris, October 20 The H5N1 virus strain is known to be potentially lethal to humans after killing about 60 persons in Asia since 2003. “We cannot declare that Thailand is a bird flu-free country. The virus is in the air, and we cannot cover the entire country with umbrellas. But we can move on and cope with the outbreak step by step,” said Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand slaughtered poultry around the outbreak and the farmer’s seven-year-old son was being checked for the virus at a Bangkok hospital.
— AFP |
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“Singapore, October 20
Letchemanah had made news by pulling a Boeing 737 up to a distance of 16.9 m on September 30, 1990 at the former Subang International Airport near Kuala Lumpur. The 55-year old retiree from Subang, who died on Tuesday is survived by wife, one son and two daughters, according to media reports in Kuala Lumpur today.
—UNI |
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