Karachi, August 23
A suspected Indian national stole a railway engine in Pakistan and tried to drive it into a passenger train in an attempted terror attack, the police in the southern city of Karachi claimed today.

The man, identified as Madan Lal who is in his 50s, however, denied that he was an Indian national.

The man drove the locomotive at full speed for 35 km before officials managed to derail it and avert a possible disaster in the incident late yesterday, Railway police official Irshad Beg said. He claimed that the man was an Indian national.

“We suspect that he stole the engine and drove it on the track to cause a terrorist attack,” Beg said.

Lal’s apparent target was a regular passenger service that was on the same track before it was diverted, the police official added.

Two Pakistani men, a driver and a fireman, were also arrested for negligence, Beg said.

Lal told AFP in custody that he was a Pakistani citizen and stole the engine just to have a ride on the track. He refused to answer many questions.

Beg said the suspect would be produced before a local court and a thorough medical examination may be conducted to determine his mental health. — AFP

Wellington, August 23
Amid trumpets and a 21-gun salute, Anand Satyanand, a person of Indian origin (PIO), was today sworn in on the steps of Parliament as New Zealand's new Governor-General.

Satyanand, 62, has thus become New Zealand's first Governor-General of Asian descent.

The ceremony took place in the presence of Prime Minister Helen Clark, Chief Justice Sian Elias, MPs, as well as dignitaries from the judiciary, diplomatic and defence forces.

Acknowledging New Zealand's multi-cultural society, he started his speech Wednesday with the line: "Tena koutou katoa, kia orana, fakalofa lahi atu, ni sambula vinaka, malo elelei, talofa lava, ni hao, namaste, namashkar, sat sri akaal, greetings to everyone." Calling the role an "extraordinary privilege", Satyanand said he was committed to doing the best for New Zealand.

"New Zealand's culture and identity is now a blend of Maori, European, Pacific Island and Asian influences." Satyanand said he wanted to see the country's strengths and positive aspects discussed, affirmed and celebrated.

"And let us strengthen, foster and encourage trust among the various communities that make up New Zealand. That will make us strong." In near perfect weather on Wednesday, Satyanand acknowledged his Indo-Fijian parentage.

"I want also to pay deference to my linkage with Fiji, where my parents were born and raised. They came to this country in the 1920s and 1930s to undertake their lives in the New Zealand community," he said.

"I acknowledge also my Indian origin, with four grandparents who migrated from that country to Fiji." Concluding the speech, he quoted a saying from Mahatma Gandhi to reflect New Zealand's rapidly diversifying culture.

"To end, may I paraphrase the words of Mahatma Gandhi by expressing the hope that New Zealand will be 'a place where all winds can blow without us being blown over by any of them'." Satyanand was born in Auckland on July 22, 1944, and raised in New Zealand.

His grandparents had migrated from India to Fiji at the turn of the 20th century, while his parents took up residence in New Zealand from Fiji following completion of their education.

After attending Auckland schools, he graduated with a law degree from the University of Auckland in 1970. It was the year he married Susan Sharpe and the couple has three children.

Satyanand spent 12 years in practice in Auckland, Palmerston North, Waitakere and Otahuhu before becoming a district court judge in 1982, holding warrants for both criminal and civil jurisdictions.

In 1995, Judge Satyanand was appointed an ombudsman, completing two five-year terms in February 2005.

In the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2005, Satyanand was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM). — IANS 

Islamabad, August 23
Stepping up their offensive against President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s opposition parties today moved a no-confidence motion in Parliament against military-backed Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz accusing him of involvement in corrupt deals.

Showing a rare unity, political parties from the moderate Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and the hardline Islamist alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) filed their first ever no-confidence motion against the government in the National Assembly.

A no-trust motion signed by 141 opposition MPs was handed over to the Secretary of the 342-member National Assembly. The Assembly is supposed to debate the motion before a vote within a week.

This is the second such move in the country’s parliamentary history. In 1989, the exiled Benazir Bhutto had survived such an attempt, although much stronger forces were arrayed against her premiership.

MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed read out the no-confidence motion to the media which sought Aziz’s resignation in response to the recent Supreme Court’s judgement striking down the government’s decision to privatise the state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills averring various irregularities.

Today’s motion is the result of a decision by Ms Bhutto and another former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who carried their campaign against General Musharraf and his military-backed government from their exile abroad. — PTI 

New York, August 23
Al Qaida chief and the world's most dreaded terrorist, Osama bin Laden had a crush on singer-cum- actress Whitney Houston and wanted to make her his wife after killing her husband Bobby Brown.

Sudanese poet and novelist Kola Boof (37), who claims to have once been bin Laden's sex slave, writes this in her autobiography - "Diary of a Lost Girl".

"He told me Whitney Houston was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He would say how beautiful she is ... what a nice smile she has, how truly Islamic she is but is just brainwashed by American culture and by her husband - Bobby Brown," Page Six quoted her as saying.

According to her, Osama often talked about killing Brown, and couldn't stop talking about his favourite singer for whom her had "lofty plans".

But, she adds, the 9/11 terror mastermind hated Whitney's hairstyle, saying. "Why do you wear your hair braided? ... only monkeys did that." — ANI

London, August 23
The British media showered encomiums on Indian shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan, seeing him as symbolising all that is best about Hindu-Muslim unity.

In detailed obituaries, all four major newspapers --- The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and The Times --- narrated his unique life story and noted that he had played at India's first Independence Day celebrations in 1947.

The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Although the instrument is traditionally played at noisy Indian weddings, Bismillah was able to extract music of such classical purity that his compositions came to represent 'the sound of India'.

"He had always been a devotee of Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Learning, and never saw a contradiction between his music and Shia Islam." The newspaper quoted him as saying: "When maulvis and maulanas (Muslim preachers) ask me about this, I tell them, sometimes with irritation, that I can't explain it." He once said, "If music is haraam, then why has it reached such heights?" He also observed: "I was once in an argument with some Shia maulvis in Iraq.

I closed my eyes and began to sing Raga Bhairav (a composition in praise of Allah): Allah-hee, Allah-hee, Allah-hee. They fell silent." The Guardian wrote: "For more than 70 years, Khan captivated his listeners with the range of his musical genius. He was also held up by many of his fellow countrymen as an icon of the secular spirit of the Indian constitution for his open-mindedness on questions of religious affiliation.

"He travelled all over India by train, but his dislike of air travel kept him away from the international scene. He was persuaded to appear at the Edinburgh Festival and the Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965. Two years later he performed at Expo 67 in Montreal".

The Independent recalled that as early as 1914, the English musicologist and cultural bridge-builder A.H. Fox Strangways had "alerted English-speakers in his groundbreaking Music of Hindostan to "a kind of oboe" called the "shehnai" ... and to its South Indian counterpart, the "Nagasaram". — IANS