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Laden may be hiding in Pak, says US official
Pak gifts 34 trainer planes
Maoists seek role in interim government
War films win top honours at
Tribeca Festival
‘Black’ tops pack vying for Bollywood awards |
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Titanic chair up for auction
Charles attends
stepdaughter’s wedding
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Laden may be hiding in Pak, says US official
Washington, May 7 Islamabad, meanwhile, shot back saying that the comments were “absurd and irresponsible”. US Ambassador In Charge of Counter-Terrorism Henry Crompton yesterday lauded Pakistan for arresting “hundreds and hundreds” of Al-Qaida activists but said it needed to do more. “Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is no. I have conveyed this to them. Other US officials have also conveyed this to them,” Crumpton told reporters in Afghanistan. He said US officials continue to believe that Al-Qaida leader Laden was somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border and more likely on the Pakistani side. His comments have been carried in The Washington Post datelined Kabul and attributed to an agency. Pakistan, meanwhile, angrily responded to Crumpton's charges, saying that these were “absurd” and that no one in the USA had conveyed the kind of message which the top counter-terrorism official was putting out. “It is totally absurd. No one has conveyed this thing to Pakistan and if someone claims so, it is absurd,” Chief Spokesman for Pakistan's Army Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said. Crumpton's remarks came a day after an American helicopter CH-47 Chinook crashed during combat operations in eastern Afghanistan killing 10 US soldiers.
— PTI
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Pak gifts 34 trainer planes
Islamabad, May 7 The gifts were made during the tenure of Gen Aslam Baig as the Chief of Army. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which met last week, was also told that Pakistan suffered major losses in the sale of 25 Mashak aircraft to Iran, Daily Times reported today. Subsequently, Islamabad gave away 20 Mashak aircraft to Saudi Arabia, eight to Oman and six to Syria. Committee chairman Riaz Fatiyana was at a loss to understand why the PAC, a commercial organisation funded by taxpayers' money, was giving these aircraft away as gifts.
— PTI
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Maoists seek role in interim government
Rupendehi (Nepal), May 7 The rebels, who say they will join talks with the new multi-party government to try to end the uprising, are now looking forward to participate in the interim government for the interest of the people. “The Maoists will definitely take part in the interim government, because it's the party of the people and for the people. It will definitely take part in the government in the people's interest,” said Vinod Upadhayay, a Maoist leader. Upadhayay said a new Constitution should be drafted. “Our expectations and demand from this government are that a new Constitution should be drafted. Nepal should set an example to the world by setting up a unique democratic set-up,” he said. The Maoists have been fighting since 1996 to set up one-party communist rule in the Himalayan Kingdom. But they now say they will accept the outcome of the election to the special assembly. More than 13,000 people have died in the conflict that has also badly hurt Nepal’s aid and tourism dependent economy. — ANI
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Nepal recalls 12 envoys
Kathmandu, May 7 A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Nepalese Cabinet chaired by Mr Koirala. Nepal’s Ambassadors to India, the USA, Pakistan, Japan, France, China and Great Britain were recalled. The government also decided to scrap political appointments made in various corporations, government bodies and state-owned institutions made after October 4, 2004, when the King sacked Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and assumed absolute power.
— PTI
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War films win top honours at
Tribeca Festival
New York, May 7 War and global politics were the theme of many of the award-winning films at the festival. ''War Tapes,'' a documentary filmed by National Guard soldiers in Iraq, won the best documentary award, while best narrative feature went to ''Blessed by Fire,'' an Argentine film about the 1982 war with Britain over the Falkland Islands, or ''Las Malvinas'' as they are called in Spanish. Now in its fifth year, the festival was founded by Robert de Niro shortly after the September 11 attacks as a way to help revitalise the Tribeca area around the World Trade Center. The festival opened with ''United 93,'' a dramatisation of the events on one of the hijacked planes. ''War Tapes'' was directed by Deborah Scranton who gave digital cameras to five US soldiers to film their one-year deployments in Iraq. Edited from 800 hours of film, it is a candid and instantaneous inside look at what it means to fight a war from a soldier's point of view. When his former foxhole mate Vargas attempts suicide, Esteban is forced to reexamine his memories in a film that director Tristan Bauer said had a strong message for the United States and Britain in the current conflict in
Iraq. ''This story happened 24 years ago but still the world is at war,'' Bauer said, calling the Iraq war ''a crime.'' A special documentary prize was awarded to ''Voices of Bam'' about
the December 2003 earthquake in Iran that killed more than 40,000
people. — Reuters
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‘Black’ tops pack vying for Bollywood awards
New York, May 7 Leading the pack is 'Black' which has been nominated in ten categories, including best film, best actor and best actress. 'Paheli', which pairs Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee, is second with six nominations, followed by another Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Sarkar', which has five nominations. Besides Big B, the nominees in the Best Actor category are Shah Rukh Khan (‘Paheli’), Saif Ali Khan (‘Parineeta’), Anupam Kher (‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’) and Akshay Kumar (‘Garam Masala’). Rani Mukerjee (‘Black’) finds herself nominated along with Preity Zinta (‘Salaam Namaste’), Urmila Matondkar (‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’), Priyanka Chopra (‘Waqt- The Race Against Time’) and Konkona Sen-Sharma (‘Page 3’) in the best actress category. Nominated in the Best Director category are Shaad Ali (‘Bunty aur Babli’), Ram Gopal Verma (‘Sarkar’), Sanjay Leela Bhansali (‘Black’), Nagesh Kukunoor (‘Iqbal’) and Madhur Bhandarkar (‘Page 3’). "This would be the first time that the Bollywood award function would be held in Trinidad," CEO of Bollywood Awards Kamal Dandona said. — PTI
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Brookline, May 7 The worn beech wood recliner with the fold-out footrest was reportedly snatched off the ocean liner by a newspaper photographer as a souvenir in Ireland on April 11, 1912, before the ship set off for the North Atlantic, where it sank. More than 1,500 people drowned. The chair is estimated to sell for $ 75,000 to $ 100,000. "It's a $100 chair. If it were not for the provenance, not for the history," said Jon Baddele, an auctioneer for British-based Bonhams & Butterfields, who would lead the bidding today. While many passengers may have clung to the deck chairs as they bobbed in the icy water that night, most sank or disappeared. The deck chair is one of more than 2,500 lots on the block this weekend at a collectables auction, from classic cars, to French paintings, to an engraved whale's tooth salvaged from an English trash heap worth $ 60,000 to $ 100,000. — AP
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Charles attends stepdaughter’s wedding
London, May 7 Camilla, together with the Prince of Wales and his sons, William and Harry, witnessed the ceremony at St Cyriac's Church in Lacock, Wiltshire, about 190 km south-west of London. Wearing a white dress by London designer Robinson Valentine, the bride, accompanied by her father Andrew, arrived a fashionable five minutes late to cheers from some 500 well-wishers who had gathered. Harry and William, who was accompanied by his girlfriend Kate Middleton, were also cheered by the crowd that had gathered under overcast
skies. — AP
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