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C'wealth Summit opens at Malta Jolie’s urgent appeal for quake aid
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Bird flu spreads in Indonesia, Vietnam
China, Pak navies begin joint marine drill
British rape case verdict shocks
Ruling party MP sacked in Bangladesh
Victory predicted for Sharon
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C'wealth Summit opens at Malta
Valletta (Malta), November 25 Queen Elizabeth opened the talks at a gala ceremony on the Mediterranean island of Malta, where Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni sat with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders from the 53 mostly ex-British colonies. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said the body's credibility depended on pushing for a good deal for the poor at December's World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong, but he also stressed the need for democracy in member states. McKinnon has said he will ask Museveni to explain the situation in Uganda, where a top Opposition leader was arrested this week and faces a military tribunal for treason, ahead of an election in which Museveni aims to extend his 20-year rule. "One of the questions that many people are beginning to ask is whether building a democracy is really the road to prosperity,'' McKinnon told the opening ceremony. ''Does democracy put food on the tables, clothes on our children and put roofs over our heads? There's no single answer, no single road map, no single one size fits all. What's important is that democracy meets the aspirations of all the people so that they can participate and exert an influence because it's on that foundation that one can best build a sustainable and a modern platform,'' he said. The spotlight is on Uganda also because the east African country is due to host the next Commonwealth Summit in 2007. In recent years, two countries have been pushed out of the organisation for failing to live up to its principles on governance. Pakistan was suspended in 1999 after General Pervez Musharraf took power in a coup. It was reinstated in May 2004. Zimbabwe quit the organisation in 2003 after being suspended. The Commonwealth, which includes populous India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, represents 1.8 billion people and a fifth of the global trade, but has no formal decision-making powers. — Reuters
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Jolie’s urgent appeal for quake aid
Islamabad, November 25 “The pledges that were made need to materialize soon, because from what I’m understanding, there are so many wonderful pledges of money that could come in the next few years — but this winter is in the next few weeks,’’ Jolie told. Jolie and Pitt yesterday made an unannounced visit to a town largely destroyed, a tent camp for homeless survivors that was hard hit by the October 8 quake, which killed 86,000 persons and destroyed the homes of more than 3 million in Pakistan. — AP
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Bird flu spreads in Indonesia, Vietnam
Jakarta, November 25 “It is very serious,’’ said Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono. “Based on our research, the virus has spread all over the city’’ of Jakarta. The findings were announced after random samples were gathered from backyard farms throughout the capital. The authorities also destroyed 400 fowl in a residential area of Jakarta near the home of a young girl who died from the disease. Indonesia had been reluctant to carry out such mass slaughters, citing a lack of money. The affected farmers were offered some compensation, officials said. The H5N1 virus has been found in 23 of Indonesia’s 30 provinces and has killed seven persons. Swiss-based drug manufacturer Roche will let Indonesia produce anti-viral drug Tamiflu to help fight cases of bird flu in humans, the country’s Health Minister said today. In Vietnam, officials today reported a new outbreak in southern Long An province, the Department of Animal Health said on its website. Outbreaks had been reported in 19 other provinces throughout the communist country since October, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 1 million birds, it said.
— AP |
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China, Pak navies begin joint marine drill
Karachi, November 25 Surface ships along with helicopters were pitched and tested in wartime scenario, including the rehearsal of a collective response, to large-scale disasters like tsunami. The exercise offered an excellent opportunity to the two country’s navies to refine interoperability and tactical proficiency, a Pakistan navy spokesman said. Officers and men from both sides got a chance to dwell upon their standard operating procedures and figure out areas where improvement could be made. For the Pakistani Navy, it was a perfect setting to closely monitor the characteristics and operational capabilities of the Chinese technology, the spokesman said. With “Chinese ships already in its inventory, the Pakistan Navy has shaped its course for acquisition of F-22 P frigates,’’ he added. Pakistan is to buy four F-22P frigates from China by year 2013 with the first ship entering the service by the end of 2008. Three ships will be built in China while the fourth one will be constructed by indigenously Pakistani experts. — UNI
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British rape case verdict shocks
London, November 25 Judge Roderick Evans gave the ruling while dismissing the rape case of a student at the Swansea Crown Court, but has come under severe criticism for the ruling from legal experts. The case involved an accusation by a female student that an Aberystwyth University security guard, who was chaperoning her home after being too drunk had raped her. The court found the guard, Ryairi Dougal (20), not guilty because the alleged victim was too drunk to remember if she agreed to have sex. During the case, the 21-year-old student said she was unconscious during sex and could not remember whether she had consented. She said, "I could feel that something was happening." Dougal was questioned and claimed they had consensual sex in the corridor, near her flat. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 states that someone who is asleep or unconscious will not be taken as having consented to sex. —IANS
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Ruling party MP sacked in Bangladesh
Dhaka, November 25 Abu Hena, who was elected from the Bagmara constituency in western Rajshahi district, was sacked by the BNP Chief and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday for “undermining party discipline.” His dismissal from the party came soon after a local daily published his interview in which he pointed fingers at Jamaat, a coalition partner in the government. After he was sacked, Hena, now an independent MP, said he would soon wage a nationwide campaign against religious extremism. “I am not alone. The entire nation is with me,” he told the Daily Star newspaper. He said he had just started to talk about the militants, who were first detected in his Bagmara constituency and included the infamous Siddiqur Rahman or ‘Bangla Bhai’.
— PTI |
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Jerusalem, November 25 The results indicate that Sharon could potentially set up a stable coalition government with the Labour Party. Sharon, in a gamble that could reshape Israeli politics for years to come, quit Likud on Monday, saying he could not push for peace with the Palestinians while ‘’wasting time’’ battling far-right rivals in the party he co-founded in 1973. — Reuters
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