With mid-term elections barely a week away, Senator John Kerry handed floundering Republicans a weapon against his Democratic Party when he told college students they could either work hard in school or “get stuck in Iraq.”

Speaking to a young crowd at Pasadena City College in California on Monday, Mr Kerry said, “you know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your home work and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” The comments caused an uproar in Washington.

The Massachusetts Democrat who ran against President George W. Bush in the 2004 elections, later told supporters in Seattle on Tuesday that his remark was a “botched joke” aimed at President Bush.

The President immediately lashed out against the Senator. “The Senator’s suggestion that the men and women of our military are, somehow, uneducated is insulting and shameful,” President Bush said.

“The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots — and Senator Kerry owes them an apology.”

White House press secretary Tony Snow, who has hit the campaign trail to help Republican candidates in the November 7 elections, called Mr Kerry’s remarks “an absolute insult.”

“Senator Kerry not only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of those who’ve given their lives in this,” Mr Snow said.

Mr Kerry shot back : “I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium.” He said Mr Bush and Vice- President Dick Cheney “owe our troops an apology” because they “misled America into war.”

A Kerry aide told the CNN that the prepared statement “was mangled in delivery.” Mr Kerry was supposed to say, “I can’t over stress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.”

With the Iraq war a top issue for voters, Democratic strategists say Mr Kerry’s comments will not help the party on Tuesday. The Democrats need to gain six seats in the Senate and 15 in the House of Representatives to take control of Congress, which they lost in 1994.

Islamabad, November 2
Pakistan has made elaborate arrangements to receive Sikh pilgrims from all over the world for the three-day birth anniversary of the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak Dev, at Gurdwara Janamasthan at Nankana Sahib from Sunday.

While the largest contingent of 4,500 Indian pilgrims arrived at Wagah Railway Station, over 1,800 Sikh pilgrims from Britain, the USA, Canada, Dubai, Iran, Switzerland Thailand, Germany, Malaysia and Hong Kong, have already reached Nankana Sahib, The News International reported today.

Some senior Indian MPs are also expected to arrive by foot or by train on Sunday. The report quoted federal government sources as saying that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had processed 4,860 visas for the pilgrims.

They said every pilgrim with complete documents was granted visa, while a few cases were pending with the High Commission due to the lack of proper documents.

Sources said the biggest delegation of over 1,800 pilgrims would be that of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC) followed by the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee and other Sikh organisations.

The pilgrims were being welcomed by President of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (PSGPC) Sardar Bishen Singh along with Sardar Sham Singh and other office-bearers.

Chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Zulfiqar Ali Khan and senior officials have also visited the site to oversee the arrangements. Besides, Nankana Sahib scouts, mainly from Nankana Sahib Degree College, have been posted at different gurdwaras to facilitate the visiting devotees.

A heavy contingent of the police force has been deployed at various gurdwaras for the safety of the visitors. Pakistan's Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ijaz-ul-Haq is likely to chair the main function on Sunday in the presence of Provincial Minister Pir Saeedul Hassan Shah. — IANS

Colombo, November 2
Sri Lanka’s Air Force fighter jets bombed LTTE stronghold Kilinochchi this afternoon, killing at least five persons. According to the LTTE Peace Secretariat website, the bombs exploded “on a civilian settlement” about 600 metres from a hospital, killing five persons in one house situated along the A9 Jaffna-Kandy main highway.

“One of those injured persons was rushed to the hospital where the staff were already in panic. He later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital,” the website said, adding that all five killed belonged to one family.

The website, quoting LTTE political wing leader Thamilselvan, who led the negotiations in Geneva, said, “Such a blatant attack in the middle of Kilinochchi city defies everything that the international community has been requesting.”

Referring to the bombing in the LTTE stronghold of the Kilinochchi area, the government’s Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said the Air Force jets had bombed “well-identified Tiger targets”.

“The other target was the rebel group’s military training base located 10 km south-east of Kilinochchi. The intelligence and surveillance sources confirmed that heavy damages had been caused to the Tigers,” the military website said, adding that the Air Force also conducted “well-planned” air strikes on rebels’ positions in Mannar.

The air strike comes exactly a day after the LTTE negotiating team returned to Kilinochchi via the Katunayake International Airport after two-day abortive talks with the Sri Lankan Government in Geneva. — UNI

New York, November 2
William Styron, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist whose explorations of the darkest corners of the human mind and experience were charged by his own near-suicidal demons, died yesterday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He was 81.

Styron's daughter, Alexandra, said the author died of pneumonia at Martha's Vineyard Hospital. Styron, who had homes in Martha's Vineyard and Connecticut, had been in failing health for a long time.

Styron was a Virginia native whose obsessions with race, class and personal guilt led to such tormented narratives as "Lie Down In Darkness" and "The Confessions of Nat Turner," which won the Pulitzer despite protests that the book was racist and inaccurate. — AP