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Glider-riding row: Pak
minister quits
Five UK bomb plotters sentenced to life
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Kanishka bombing 6 charged with inciting terrorism in UK
Expect more power outages, Lankans told
Germany battling to save last glacier
Gunman shoots two in mall
NRI takes aircraft by ears, for
good cause
Burglary at Indian deputy envoy’s house
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Glider-riding row: Pak
minister quits
Tourism minister Nilofar Bakhtiar, who heads the women wing of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and was recently involved in a controversy for glider-riding in Paris, has resigned from the party post. Nilofar took part in a daring feat of glider-riding and high jump in Paris early this month provoking a strong outcry by clerics who also got an endorsement from the conservative PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. The clerics of Lal Majid Islamabad also set up a shariah court to try and punish Nilofar. The subject cropped up in the National Assembly and MMA MPs, including women, strongly criticised Nilofar and demanded that she be sacked. The ruling party failed to defend her except one female MP Mehnaz Rafi. Federal Minister for Women Development Ms. Sumera Malik, presidential favourite, is likely to be replace Nilofar as next president Pakistan Muslim League (PML) women wing. However, PML sources said Chaudhry Shujaat has not yet accepted Ms. Nilofar's resignation and may take a decision after consulting President Musharraf. Nilofar handed over her resignation to PML President Ch Shujaat Hussain from the slot late Saturday, citing her hectic engagements as a minister. However, the Pakistan Muslim League President did not accept the resignation immediately. These sources said that Sumera called on Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Sunday evening along with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan Muslim League Secretary General Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Information Minister Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani. Sumera, a young female politician, is considered very close to President General Pervez Musharraf, and has been expressing in her private gatherings the desire to develop herself into a role model for female politicians and Pakistani women. The sources said that during Sunday's meeting Sumera, who doesn't hold any central position in the PML-Q Women Wing, showed her interest in the job.
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Five UK bomb plotters sentenced to life London, April 30 In what was described as the biggest terror trial in the UK, the five Muslim men were found guilty of planning to use 600 kg of ammonium nitrate fertiliser to make bombs for an Al-Qaida-inspired campaign of revenge against Britain’s support to the United States on its ‘war on terror.’ Judge Sir Michael Astill sentenced Omar Khyam (25), the plot ringleader, to a minimum of 20 years in jail. He warned all five that they might spend the rest of their lives in prison. “You have betrayed this country that has given you every opportunity," the judge said. “All of you may never be released. It is not a foregone conclusion.” Khyam, from Crawley, West Sussex, was found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions between January 1, 2003, and March 31, 2004; possessing 600 kg of ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorist purposes and possessing aluminium powder for terrorism. Four other men were also found guilty of first charges: Waheed Mahmood (35), Jawad Akbar (23), Anthony Garcia (25), and Salahuddin Amin (32). Garcia and Mahmood were sentenced to at least 20 years in prison; Akbar and Amin face a minimum of 17 and a half years.
— PTI
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Kanishka bombing Toronto, April 30 Former Vancouver police department officer Rick Crook told the commission that an unidentified Sikh man facing unrelated charges told authorities in October, 1984 of a plot “to place a bomb on an Air India plane” in a bid to get leniency from the courts. The plan was “to strike at the Government of India” for its attack on Golden Temple at Amritsar, the suspect said in a police interview, according to a transcript read by Crook at the inquiry that resumed on Monday. “There was a plan to place a bomb on an Air India plane in Montreal,” Crook testified, adding that he learnt in an interview with the suspect that an “Air India 747” leaving from Montreal would be targeted. The suspect said “a small group of people” were involved in the plot, but did not identify them, he said. Crook, who was part of the department’s Indo-Canadian community liaison team, said he was mostly unfamiliar with Sikh extremism in Canada at the time and questioned the informer’s honesty. — PTI
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6 charged with inciting terrorism in UK London, April 30 Four of the six, including Izzadeen, were also charged with inciting terrorism overseas. They will appear in custody at City of Westminster Magistrates Court. The six men were arrested this week in connection with allegedly inflammatory statements made at London's Regent's Park Mosque in November 2004. Izzadeen, along with Shal Jalal Hussain, 24, of east London, Omar Zaheer, 27, of Southall, Simon Keeler, 35, of east London, Ibrahim Abdullah Hassan, 21, of east London and Rajib Khan, 28, of Luton, are all charged with terrorist fundraising. Izzadeen, Keeler, Hassan and Khan have also been charged with inciting others to commit acts of terrorism overseas. In addition, Hassan is charged with possession of articles suspected to be connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of a terrorist act. Izzadeen, a former electrician who lives in Leytonstone, east London, with his wife and three children, is best known for his barracking of Home Secretary John Reid last September. A well known figure towards the extreme end of British Muslim opinion, convert Izzadeen repeatedly disrupted a speech by Reid in east London calling him "an enemy of Islam" and "a tyrant".
— PTI
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Expect more power outages, Lankans told
Sri Lankans have been told to expect more sudden power outages as the government grapples with how best to handle the new threat posed by the air power of Tamil Tigers. The Defense Ministry has instructed all hotels and vital institutions to refrain from switching on their back-up power supply in case of a blackout due to an impending air strike, officials said. Hotels in Colombo have been told that their guests should be advised to follow a number of measures which include drawing the curtains in their rooms after the hotels are alerted of an air attack and not leaving the premises until the military gives the all-clear signal. The Ceylon Electricity Board, the country’s main electricity provider has been told to shut off all power supplies to the main cities when warned of an attack as was done on Saturday night when two LTTE aircraft were spotted in the night sky. The blackout came when millions of Sri Lankans were glued to their TV sets watching the final of the cricket World Cup. The government air defense system went into action on Thursday night but in the ensuing anti-aircraft firing, people in several homes were injured by falling bullets. The two LTTE aircraft which flew over the city had dropped four bombs, at two oil refineries but there was only minor damage. The rebels claimed their aircrafts returned safely to their base in northern Sri Lanka. With the country’s only international airport under threat from LTTE air raids, two major airlines, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific and Dubai-based Emirates announced they are suspending flights to Colombo until further notice. Passengers who were at the airport on the two days when the blackout occurred have described scenes of panic and confusion despite claims from airport authorities that the situation was handled well. The international airport’s close proximity to the country’s main air base has made it more susceptible to attack, officials said.
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Germany battling to save last glacier
Zugspitze, April 30 Spreading giant anti-glare shields over the glacier each April after piling tonnes of loose snow upon it, workers at the Zugspitezebahn cable car operator are fighting a losing battle to keep their glacier alive -- for business and ecology reasons. "We're doing all we can to preserve it as long as possible, but I'm not God and there's only so much we can do," said Frank Huber, the manager of cable car and skiing operations on the 2,962-metre peak in the northern Alps. "I grew up with the glacier and it's sad to think one day my children's children won't know what it feels or looks like." The effort to stave off the demise of the Zugspitze is considerable, but begs the question why Germany, the world's sixth largest producer of greenhouse gases, does not do more to tackle the cause of the problem instead. In her speeches, German Chancellor Angela Merkel often cites the Zugspitze's state -- predicting the national treasure may be gone within 20 years -- as an argument for the industrial world to take bolder action against climate change. — Reuters
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Blind pilot completes epic flight
Sydney, April 30 But blind British adventurer Miles Hilton-Barber today completed an epic 21,700 km flight from London to Sydney in what friends called "a motorbike in the sky". "The only thing holding me back was five inches, the distance between my ears. Attitude is what determines altitude," Hilton-Barber said after a victory pass over Sydney's sparkling harbour and Opera House in perfect morning weather. The 58-year-old from Derby is the first blind pilot to fly a motorised hanglider more than halfway round the world, crossing 21 countries on a 55-day journey which began at Biggin Hill airfield, near London, on March 7. The father of three passed over Europe, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, following the route taken by the classic 1919 London to Sydney Air Race. In case of emergency, he flew with sighted co-pilot and microlight champion Richard Meredith-Hardy, and used talking navigational computers to help steer his course. "Sometimes, being blind is an advantage," he told Australian media, describing the pair's encounter with snow storms over Lebanon's mountains. "We've flown through tropical storms so heavy that I thought Richard was flying through a waterfall." Hilton-Barber, who went blind 25 years ago after contracting an eye disease and being kicked out of the Royal Air Force, took the trip on to raise money for the charity Seeing is Believing, which aims to help prevent blindness in developing countries. "It's a very physical way to fly, very primitive. I can smell what's growing in the fields below. As we fly into places like Karachi, I can smell what's been cooked in the factories," the motivational speaker said. In 1999, Hilton-Barber finished the toughest foot-race on earth, crossing the Sahara Desert, and soon after ran the Siberian Ice Marathon, billed as the world's coldest. He has also climbed Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, and says he aims to be the first blind man to break the sound barrier in a jet aircraft. — Reuters
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Gunman shoots two in mall
Washington, April 30 The gunman is also believed to be connected with an earlier death of a woman in Kansas City yesterday and is accused of shooting and wounding two other persons, including a police officer at a traffic stop, the police told reporters. The two fatalities at the mall occurred yesterday in the shopping centre’s parking lot when the unidentified gunman, who was in his 50s, pulled into a parking space and shot two persons on either side of his car, the police said. He then went into the mall and opened fire, injuring one person who was taken to hospital. The police then fatally shot the gunman. The police was also investigating a fourth death in connection with the shooting spree. An older woman was found shot to death in her Kansas City home and her car was missing. An officer who pulled over a car matching the description of the woman’s vehicle was
shot in the arm in the process of arresting the male driver, who drove away from the
shooting scene, the police said. Fifteen minutes later, shots broke out at the Ward Parkway
Centre. — DPA
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NRI takes aircraft by ears
London, April 30 Manjit Singh, 57, has 30 records to his name, but last week took his physical prowess further as he dragged the 30-seater Jetstream 41 aircraft along the apron at the East Midlands Airport using a rope attached to clamps around his earlobes. Singh’s records include having the strongest lungs in the world, pulling a double-decker bus with his hair for 78.2 metres and lifting 85 kg with his ears. The latest feat was arranged to raise cash for an academy that aims to give sports opportunities to children in his birthplace - Mahilpur in India. Tightening the clamps around his ears, Singh screamed in pain as he pushed backwards to try to get the aircraft rolling. A crowd of airport staff and onlookers shouted encouragement as the plane began to move. Singh later told newsmen: “When I started pulling it did not move at all, and I thought ‘this is the end of my life’. I was in so much pain I couldn’t think of anything else. I just closed my eyes and kept pushing. Then I felt it move and that was the most amazing feeling in the world. “It’s been my dream for 20 years to pull a plane, but I’ve never had the chance. I don’t feel too bad, I have a little bit of pain around the ears but I’m okay.” Airport spokesman Ryan Martinez said: “I’m amazed. I know Manjit has wanted to do this for some time, but it had to be the right time and the right aircraft.” He said he will now send off video footage of the record attempt to be verified by officials at the Guinness World Book of Records.
— IANS
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Burglary at Indian deputy envoy’s house
Dhaka, April 30 Deputy High Commissioner Sarbojit Chakravarty told reporters here that burglars broke into his house at Baridhara area some time after midnight on Saturday when the family members were asleep. The burglars took away three mobile sets, a laptop, two cameras, dvd players and some cash. Police said they have launched an investigation into the incident while authorities ordered suspension of the two policemen posted there as guards.
— PTI
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