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Mission to outsource visa processing
Gaza truce begins Democrats pledge new direction in Iraq Suicide blast: 15 Afghans dead
Jerusalem’s ‘Indira’ |
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Indian racially abused, gets $15,000
Dying spy named Kremlin agent
Pak to screen Indian films
Scholarships for Pak students
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Mission to outsource visa processing
London, November 26 The plan, first of its kind by an Indian mission abroad, is likely to be followed in other countries which have witnessed a surge in recent years in the number of people travelling to India. At an informal gathering earlier this week, Deputy High Commissioner Ranjan Mathai told a group of visiting Indian journalists that the decision to outsource visa processing had been taken for the convenience of visitors who had to stand in queues despite the best efforts to expedite visa clearance. The high commission issues nearly 2000 visas on a working day. “About 75 per cent of the visas are issued the day the application is submitted,” Mr Mathai said. It is among the largest missions of the country. Staff at the High Commission has been thinking of ways to reduce the need for people to stand in queues as it creates an unfavourable impression on the passers-by. Mr Mathai said that outsourcing visa processing was a “pilot-project” and would be replicated at other missions if it was found successful. He said the number of travellers between India and the UK had increased significantly after the frequency of flights increased from 32 to 112 per week during the last two years. The number of visitors between the two countries has grown to about 10 lakhs annually. Most of the visitors are tourists. The growing economic ties between the two countries and the presence of nearly 13 lakh people of Indian origin in Britain have added to the scale of travel between the two countries. Besides the high commission in London, Indian consulates at Birmingham and Edinburgh are also expected to be part of the move on outsourcing. Officials said the step will enable the diplomatic staff to focus more on its “core” areas of work. Several European countries, including Britain, have outsourced their visa application processing in India.
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Gaza, November 26 Israel Radio reported a rocket landed in southern Israel an hour after the truce began but no one was hurt. The Israeli army said it was checking the report and it was unclear whether the rocket was fired by mainstream militants or a small group. “Yes, (the ceasefire) is in effect,” said Abu Ubeida, of the armed wing of the governing Islamist Hamas group. “We will monitor the commitment of the enemy to the agreement and decide on the future as it unfolds.” The Hamas said its armed wing fired three rockets at Israel just before the ceasefire took effect at 6 am (09:30 IST). The rockets damaged a building but caused no injuries. The ceasefire could pave the way for a long-awaited summit between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on ways to restart West Asia peace talks. It could also speed up efforts to arrange a swap of Palestinian prisoners in Israel for an Israeli soldier whose capture by gunmen in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in late June sparked the Israeli military assault. The Israeli army said it had withdrawn its forces from Gaza overnight before the truce took effect. Palestinian witnesses confirmed soldiers had left northern Gaza where operations against rocket-launching squads had been focused. “Thank God the Israeli forces have quit our land in defeat. We feel like victors,” said Abdel-Majid Ash-Shanti (23) who lives in northern Gaza. — Reuters
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Democrats pledge new direction in Iraq Washington, November 26 They also vow to clean up the scandal-rocked Congress, raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade and address such concerns as the rising cost of education, healthcare and energy. ''This we will do, and much more -- not because we believe in the infinite wisdom of government, but because we believe in the innate goodness of our people and the promise of a brighter future in the land that we all love,'' Rep Steny Hoyer of Maryland said yesterday while delivering his party's weekly radio address. Representative Hoyer, elected by Democratic colleagues to be the House majority leader in the 110th Congress that convenes on January 4,
said: ''More than 40 years ago, our 35th President -- John F Kennedy -- perhaps said it best: 'Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.’ Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future,”
he said. Madrid: Outgoing U S Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorised mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison's former U S commander said in an interview on Saturday. Former U S Army Brig-General Janis Karpinski told Spain's El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation. General Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Mr Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods. ''The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: ''Make sure this is accomplished'','' she told Saturday's El Pais. ''The methods consisted of making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation ... playing music at full volume, having to sit in uncomfortably ... Rumsfeld authorised these specific techniques.''The Geneva Convention says prisoners of war should suffer ''no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion'' to secure information. ''Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind,'' the document states. A spokesman for the Pentagon declined to comment on the accusations, while U S army in Iraq could not immediately be reached for comment. General Karpinski was withdrawn from Iraq in early 2004, shortly after photographs showing American troops abusing detainees at the prison were flashed around the world. She was subsequently removed from active duty and then demoted to the rank of Colonel on unrelated charges. Mr Rumsfeld also authorised the army to break the Geneva Conventions by not registering all prisoners, Karpinski said. ''We received a message from the Pentagon, from the Defence Secretary, ordering us to hold the prisoner without registering him.”
— Reuters
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Suicide blast: 15 Afghans dead
Kabul, November 26 The Interior Ministry
said it knew of 12 dead and 17 wounded in the blast in the remote town of Urgun in the eastern province of
Paktika, near the border with Pakistan. “It was a suicide bombing,” Paktika provincial governor Mohammad Akram Kheplwak said. “Fifteen persons have
been killed and 25 wounded,” he said Most of the casualties were from a militia force hired by the US forces in the area to assist them with patrols and searches, he said. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary blamed the
attack on the “enemies of Afghanistan and of the government.” — AFP
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Jerusalem, November 26 Indira Gandhi Hamuda, 35, who runs a kindergarten in the northern Gaza neighbourhood of Beit Lahiya, was at a sudden loss of words when the shelling killed the children’s favourite teacher. The children, who said good-bye to their favourite teacher earlier this week carrying wreaths and hand-drawn pictures of Najwa, wanted to know why the shells had targeted their bus and their teacher. But, Indira is giving her best shot to cheer the kids, Indira told a local daily Ha’aretz that she would tell her students, who live under the constant shadow of death, that Israelis don’t kill children. She told them that only those who fire get killed and they had nothing to fear. But Indira was caught off-guard when a four-year-old asked: “You told us that the Israelis don’t kill children, but only the Qassam launchers. So why did they shoot our minibus?” — PTI
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Indian racially abused, gets $15,000
Melbourne, November 26 Rama Velagapudi approached the New South Wales Equal Opportunity Tribunal last week, alleging that her co-worker mouthed racial slurs against her behind her back. The 55-year-old said she did not hear the comment herself, but was distressed when she learnt of it from her co-workers, a media report said here today. Denying the allegation, the accused Leanne Spooner informed the court that she had walked into an empty aisle and mouthed the words in extreme frustration at Rama's inefficiency. The tribunal accepted the victim's version, saying that a number of people had heard the
remark. — PTI
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Dying spy named Kremlin agent
London, November 26 Litvinenko, who died after mysteriously absorbing polonium-210, a rare and highly toxic radioactive material, told The Sunday Times in his last full interview from hospital that he knew he was an "active case" for Russian intelligence. He named the agent in charge of monitoring him as "Viktor Kirov". A man called Anatoly V. Kirov worked at the Russian Embassy in London, where he was listed as a diplomat, until late last year. He is believed to have left diplomatic service in October 2005 and returned to Russia. But Litvinenko claimed just days before he died tha he was an intelligence agent who continued to target him. The police requested The Sunday Times to hand over a tape of the interview in which he named Kirov.
— PTI
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Pak to screen Indian films
Lahore, November 26 A formal notification to this effect is expected in January, Dawn reported, quoting government sources. According to the paper, “Godfather”, the joint-venture film between Indian and Pakistani film producers, is expected to be released in the two countries simultaneously on Id-ul-Azha under special
permission. — ANI
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Scholarships for Pak students
London, November 26 Lord Paul, Chancellor of the Wolverhampton and Westminster Universities in the UK, will provide cost of full tuition for three selected students of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science of the college under the Ambika Paul Scholarships on an annual basis. The College was founded by Dr Charles William Forman. He was founder of Rang Mahal School in
Lahore. — PTI
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Boat capsizes, 14 killed 10 die in Pak mishap 
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