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Democrats may nuke
deal
Baath Party warns siege of ‘Green Zone’
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ID card must for non-EU nationals from 2008, says Blair
Need to go beyond CBMs: Pak minister
India-born Qaeda man gets 40-yr jail
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Democrats may nuke
deal
The Democrat-controlled United States Congress may put the brakes on the passage of the US-India civilian nuclear deal on Capitol Hill. The Democrats need to win six seats in the Senate and 15 in the House of Representatives on Tuesday's mid-term elections to snatch control of both chambers of the Congress from the Republican Party. According to political analysts, if the Democrats gain the majority they would be less than enthusiastic about giving President George W. Bush, a Republican, the satisfaction of achieving a key foreign policy goal - the importance of which members of the administration have frequently underlined. Some Congressional analysts predict that the Democrats may seek to wrest more concessions from India. But others point out that the Democrats in the House voted overwhelmingly in support of the Bill in July, and the party's key members in the Senate openly support the Bill. Admitting there is a "very good chance" that the Democrats will take control of both Houses, especially if there are no "Florida-like voting irregularities and the weather holds," Sumit Ganguly, Professor of political science at Indiana University in Bloomington, said, "I do not know that they would seek more concessions unless the nonproliferation community in Washington, DC, goes into high gear." Professor Ganguly told the Tribune the non-proliferation lobby has been "doing all they can to try and falsely link India's case with the North Korean case while shamelessly eliding over Pakistan's organic links with North Korea." He was referring to the proliferation concerns raised after North Korea tested a nuclear device last month. The fate of the Bill will also depend on the length of the so-called lame-duck session that is scheduled to start on November 13 and, should the Democrats gain a majority, on the will of the Republican leaders in the Congress to push the deal through in what will be their last days on the job. When the Congress meets in the lame-duck session, key priorities will be the passage of legislation creating permanent normal trade relations status for Vietnam, a victory Mr Bush wants to tout when he travels to Hanoi to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit on November 18 and 19. The proposed legislation is an essential step in normalising relations between Washington and Hanoi and making possible Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organisation. Another priority is the passage of the Domestic Terrorism Surveillance Bill. Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Centre in Washington, told the Tribune "the size of the shift on Capitol Hill after the elections," will be a big factor determining the fate of the nuclear deal this year. "The bigger the turnover in the House and the Senate, the harder it could be to take up unfinished business from the outgoing Congress," Mr Krepon said.
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Baath Party warns siege of ‘Green Zone’
Dubai, November 7 "If President Saddam Hussein is executed ... the party will reinforce its siege against the Green Zone," which houses Iraqi Government offices and the US Embassy, said the party's command on its official site. It vowed to "use all possible means to destroy embassies, as well as the headquarters of intelligence and treacherous organisations". "America and Iran, its ally, have detonated a bomb whose shrapnel will hit all the plotters and their agents in Iraq and outside," said the party statement, referring to Sunday's death sentence against the ousted President. Saddam 69, was sentenced to hang for committing crimes against humanity by ordering the deaths of 148 Shiites from Dujail village, north of Baghdad, after a 1982 assassination attempt against him. The former strongman was back in court today to hear further testimony on how he and six other Saddam regime officials allegedly massacred tens of thousands of Kurds in 1988 during the Anfal campaign in northern Iraq. A top official in Baghdad yesterday said Iraqi leaders have agreed a draft law to allow former Baath members back into government jobs. Ali al-Lamy, head of the Supreme National Council for De-Baathification, said the proposed reform could reverse the sacking of more than a million former Baath Party
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ID card must for non-EU nationals from 2008, says Blair
London, November 7 Foreign nationals would be issued with “biometric residence permits” from 2008 when they applied for a national insurance number in Britain, he said. Without being registered on the ID card database they would not be able to work, claim benefits or get free hospital treatment, he said. For British citizens the cards will not be introduced until 2009 and will remain voluntary till parliament votes after the next general election on whether to make the scheme compulsory. ID cards are used in at least a dozen EU countries, including France, but are not always compulsory. Britain’s ID cards will have more encrypted data than any other. Thirteen million foreigners pass through Britain every year and the “open world... global mass migration, easier travel, new services and new technologies” had brought new problems such as illegal immigration, terrorism and fraud, Mr Blair said yesterday. The ID cards would make Britain’s borders more secure, he said. “I want to see ID cards made compulsory for all non-EU foreign nationals looking for work and when they get a National Insurance number,” he said.
— PTI
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Need to go beyond CBMs: Pak minister
Washington, November 7 Pakistan's Minister for Kashmir and Northern Areas Tahir Iqbal voiced confidence that progress in the Indo-Pak peace process will be made after the Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled next week and a visit to Islamabad by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India and Pakistan will have to go beyond the confidence-building measures and should concentrate on the "actual problem", which is the resolution of the Kashmir issue, he said.
— PTI
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India-born Qaeda man gets 40-yr jail
London, November 7 The convict, Dhiren Barot, 34, was sentenced after pleading guilty last month to conspiracy to murder in a case sparked by the arrest of an Al-Qaeda figure in Pakistan. Barot, a Muslim convert, was also accused of plotting to blow up the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange. The British Al-Qaeda chief was raised in a North London suburb by middle-class parents before becoming a key figure in international Islamic terrorism.
— UNI
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