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Senator’s apology to Indian American
Maoists seek India’s
help in abolishing monarchy
‘Dal’ shortage in USA
Musharraf urged to quit as army chief
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Al-Qaida leader responsible for terror plot: Pak UK gives continental dimension to terrorism
Debate on passenger profiling
Cuba vows to continue
revolution
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Senator’s apology to Indian American
Washington, August 16 At a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday, he pointed to 20-year-old S.R. Sidarth, an active Democrat, and repeatedly referred to him as a “macaca"” which refers to a monkey that inhabits the Eastern hemisphere. Mr Sidarth had been assigned to trail Mr Allen with a video camera to document his travels and speeches for rival James Webb. Senator Allen said, “I made up a nickname for the cameraman, which was in no way intended to be racially derogatory. Any insinuations to the contrary are completely false. I apologise to anyone who may have been offended by the misinterpretation of my remarks.” — PTI
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Maoists seek India’s
help in abolishing monarchy
Kathmandu, August 16 “If India wants to help in
establishing complete democracy in Nepal, it should not back monarchy,”
Central Committee member of the CPN-Maoist and member of the Maoists
talks team Dev Gurung said. He said the neighbouring country should help in establishing a republican set-up. The senior Maoist leader also hoped that India would soon release the Nepalese rebels serving jail terms there. “There
will be doubt about the peace process unless all our cadres are released
from jails in Nepal and India,” he said. He also demanded “suspension”
of King Gyanendra for supressing the popular movement in April in which
22 people were killed. “While the future of monarchy will be
decided by the Constituent Assembly polls, the monarch should be
suspended soon,” he said without clarifying on what he meant by
suspension. “As different security chiefs were sacked for using
excessive power to crush the pro-democracy agitation, the King who
ordered the security forces to use force should also be suspended,” he
argued. — PTI
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New York, August 16 The ban, imposed in June, has resulted in the commodity getting scarce in Indian grocery stores in the US, with prices almost doubling at some places. “The minute (the ban) was announced, wholesalers put up the price,” Jalil Hay, owner of an Indian grocery store in Stockton, California, told India New England, an ethnic newspaper. “(Prices) have almost doubled and tripled.” Mahendra Patel, owner of Raja Foods in New York, told the Newsday newspaper that he increased the ‘dal’ prices after the Indian ban came into effect. Normally, he charged his customers 50 to 60 cents a pound, but now prices have shot up to $1.10 to $1.20 a pound. “No other country processes lentils like India,” said Kavita Mehta, owner of the Minneapolis-based Indian Foods Company adding. “Many (lentils) are split and hulled and (India) does it the best.” “It’s a basic food item. It’s like if the US (government) would say you can’t get salt in America,” said Neil Soni, owner of House of Spices, a New York-based Indian food wholesale company. The situation is no different at Dana Bazar, a busy Indian grocery in Fremont, California. “We drove all the way here, then we find out that they are not going to let us have the dal,” one woman complained, according to a report in the Voice of America website. The Indian Government’s decision came in the wake of a drought that severely affected agricultural output. — IANS
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Musharraf urged to quit as army chief
Islamabad, August 16 In a letter to the President, they said “fault lines” had emerged in underpinnings of the federation during his tenure in office, “The Dawn” newspaper reported today. They said provincial discord and disharmony was being exacerbated by single-minded pursuit of policies which “must be subjected to urgent scrutiny”. “In our opinion, these policies now pose a serious threat to the integrity, solidarity and well- being of Pakistan,” the letter added. They also expressed concern over the military action in Balochistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The signatories said women and children, the sick and the elderly, were being denied access to food and water, as thousands of houses were currently under siege in many areas of Balochistan and Fata. They said many of them had given him (Musharraf) the benefit of the doubt as the seemingly “reluctant coup maker” when the military took over. They said his term in office had brought unbearable inflation, rampant lawlessness, increased graft and corruption, no improvement in agricultural or public utility services, nor in public education and healthcare, or in containing population growth. Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf has directed the Law Ministry to redraft the proposed amendments to the controversial Islamic Hudood law, widely considered oppressive to women. — UNI
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Al-Qaida leader responsible for terror plot: Pak Islamabad, August 16 “Al-Qaida’s No 3” was the mastermind behind the plot to blow up trans-atlantic flights,” Pakistani daily Dawn quoted an intelligence official as saying. “It is not Osama bin Laden and it’s not Aiman Al Zawahiri, but someone close to the rank of Abu Faraj Al-Libbi,” he said. Abu Faraj Al-Libbi, a third-tier Al-Qaida operative was believed involved in an attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf and was arrested from Mardan in May, 2005. Seventeen persons had died in the attempt in Rawalpindi in December, 2005. On August 12, the same newspaper reported that Investigators probing the plot to blow up the aircraft suspected the involvement of four Islamic militant groups, including Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayeeba and the Sunni extremist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It also said that the probe revealed funds provided by a UK-based Islamic charity for earthquake relief in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) had apparently been used to target planes.
— PTI
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UK gives continental dimension to terrorism London, August 16 Six days after the thwarting of an alleged plot to put suicide bombers on to US-bound airliners, Home Secretary (interior minister) John Reid met European Union colleagues in London to map out a common strategy. "What's clear to all of us is that we face a persistent and very real threat across Europe," said Reid after the talks, at which the European Commission promised to introduce a series of measures to strengthen airport security, boost cross-border intelligence sharing and tighten controls on explosives. "It is a threat we face here in Britain as individuals and as communities, but it's not unique to the United Kingdom. It affects us all across the European Union." Police, meanwhile, went to court to renew permission to detain 23 mostly young British Muslims in connection with the alleged plot which triggered unprecedented security measures and travel chaos at major airports.
— AFP
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London, August 16 Advocates of this step say it is common sense that elderly women and families with young children pose little risk. Opponents argue that it is an ineffective policy which will alienate Muslims and — in the words of a senior police officer — create an offence of “traveling whilst Asian.” — AP
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Cuba vows to continue
revolution
Havana, August 16 The statement, published yesterday by the state-run newspaper Granma, came after Cubans saw the first photographs and video footage of the communist strongman since he announced on July 31 that he had undergone intestinal surgery and ceded power to Raul Castro, 75. Rolando Alfonso, who heads the Communist Party’s ideological department, wrote in Granma that Cubans were ready to defend the revolution “under the guidance of the party” and “the firm leadership of Raul.”
— AFP
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