 |
|
|
75 killed, over 100 missing in Bangladesh landslides
Pak SC admits Chaudhry’s plea
|
|
|
Blair makes debut in Shekhar’s film
Gunmen attack office of Palestinian minister
Photos show water on Mars
India main military spender in South Asia: SIPRI Belgian PM hands in resignation
3 US soldiers killed in Iraq
|
|
75 killed, over 100 missing in Bangladesh landslides
Dhaka, June 11 Heavy rains triggered landslides that buried hillside homes, killing 61 persons and leaving scores of others missing on Monday in the port city of Chittagong, the police and witnesses said. Some 70 others were admitted to hospitals with injuries while nearly 100 more were missing, rescuers and Chittagong district officials said. “We are facing a hell of a situation here,” one rescuer said by telephone. “It’s still heavily raining, and visibility has sharply declined. Roads are all under water,” he said. They fear the death toll could go higher. “We are facing huge difficulty in trying to help the victims,”' said another rescue official. The police, army and firefighters had joined volunteers in the search and rescue effort, but flooded roads were a big problem, witnesses and officials said. Thunder storms killed 13 persons elsewhere in the country, including five in western Jhenaidah district alone, local officials told reporters. The landslide deaths in four areas of Chittagong included five from one family, they said. Some bodies were still trapped under tonnes of rubble and the police and volunteers were struggling to retrieve them. Most shops were closed and residents were stranded by waist-high water in some areas. Weather officials said heavy rains at the onset of the annual monsoon season have paralysed much of Bangladesh since yesterday morning, and raised fears of flash floods in low-lying areas. They expect showers to continue for several days more. The weather office said the monsoon, which officially began on Friday and will last until mid-September, was unusually active under the influence of a sea storm in the Bay of Bengal. Large areas along the Bangladesh coasts had been submerged under three to four feet of water due to a moderate tidal surge triggered by the storm, officials said today. Ports in Chittagong, Mongla and Cox's Bazar had been asked to hoist warning signals as the storm could gather strength, meteorologists said. Some of the railway tracks between Chittagong and capital Dhaka were also under water, although trains were still running with caution. Flights between Dhaka and Chittagong had been suspended due to rough weather, aviation officials said. Work at the country's main Chittagong port had been partially disrupted, port officials said. — Reuters
|
|
Pak SC admits Chaudhry’s plea
Islamabad, June 11 After considering it for over four weeks, the apex court decided to admit Chaudhry’s petition and commenced the formal hearing into it. But, the court deferred a decision on the petition’s maintainability until the case is disposed of. The petition filed by Chaudhry challenged the reference of allegations against him, sent by President Pervez Musharraf to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). He has been charged with the misconduct and misuse of authority, specially to secure a medical seat for his son. In his petition, Chaudhry also challenged the power of the SJC headed by acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Rana Bhagwan Das. The apex court has already stayed the proceedings of the SJC. The hearing on Chaudhry’s petition is expected to take several weeks before the court could reach a stage to give its verdict on it. Lawyers of Musharraf and the Pakistan government objected to the admissibility of the petition, asserting that it could not be maintained as acts of the President enjoyed Constitutional immunity. They also argued that the SJC had the right to look into charges against Chaudhry. Defence lawyers for their part argued that the reference was filed with mala fide intentions, therefore it could not attract the clause of immunity. Chaudhry had also filed an affidavit accusing Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and chiefs of ISI, Military Intelligence (MI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) of preventing him from leaving the Presidential office for over five hours after he declined to resign on March 9. Chiefs of MI, IB and Chief of Staff of Musharraf filed counter affidavits refuting Chaudhry’s allegations, asserting that he was not mistreated. They also charged that he used their agencies to spy on fellow judges and wanted Musharaf to hold polls under his supervision. Defence lawyer’s challenged it by stating that some of the sworn statements by government officials tagged on the affidavit.
|
|
Blair makes debut in Shekhar’s film
London, June 11 The 54-year-old outgoing premier plays a “carbon crusader” in the film, titled “Global Cool”, that also stars blond beauty Sienna Miller. The film was premiered at the International Indian Film Academy awards ceremony at Yorkshire. Blair said he had been preparing for the role for more than a decade and he felt great to be a part of the film. “I’ve been preparing for this role for the past ten years. So it was great to be a part of ‘Global Cool’. But remember, I was only one of a billion people saving the planet in this movie and they are all stars,” Blair said.
— PTI
|
|
Gunmen attack office of Palestinian minister
Gaza, June 11 A Hamas source accused the attackers of attempting to assassinate Bassem Naim, who is the sports minister and a close associate of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The shooting came amid an upsurge in factional violence in Gaza between gunmen from Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, in which six have been killed and dozens wounded in the past two days.
— Reuters
|
|
Photos show water on Mars
London, June 11 A report of the findings identify specific spots that appear to have contained liquid water two years ago, when Opportunity was exploring a crater called Endurance. It is a highly controversial claim as many scientists believe liquid water cannot exist on the surface of the Mars today because of the planet’s thin atmosphere. The report’s lead author and physicist, Ron Levin, who works in advanced image processing at the aerospace company ‘Lockheed Martin’ in Arizona said if confirmed, the existence of such ponds would significantly boost the odds that living organisms could survive on or near the surface of Mars. Along with fellow Lockheed engineer Daniel Lyddy, Levin used images from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s website. The resulting stereoscopic reconstructions, made from paired images from the Opportunity rover’s twin cameras, show bluish features that look perfectly flat. The surfaces were so smooth that the computer could not find any surface details within those areas to match up between the two images, the report published in the New Scientist magazine said. The imaging shows that the areas occupy the lowest parts of the terrain. They also appear transparent. Some features, which Levin said might be submerged rocks or pebbles, could be seen below the plane of the smooth surface. The smoothness and transparency of the features could suggest either water or very clear ice, Levin was quoted as saying by the magazine. “The surface is incredibly smooth, and the edges are in a plane and all at the same altitude,” he said adding “If they were ice or some other material, they’d show wear and tear over the surface. There would be rubble or sand or something.” No signs of liquid water have been observed directly from cameras on the surface before. Reports last year pointed to the existence of gullies on crater walls where water appears to have flowed in the past few years, as shown in images taken from orbit, but those are short-lived flows, which are thought to have frozen over almost immediately. Levin and other researchers, including JPL’s Michael Hecht, have published calculations showing the possibility of “micro-environments”where water could linger, but the idea remains controversial. “The temperatures get plenty warm enough, but the Mars atmosphere is essentially a vacuum,” says Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, developer of the Mars rovers’ mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometers. That means any water or ice exposed on the surface evaporates or sublimes away almost instantly, he said. “It is theoretically possible to get liquid water within soil, or under other very special conditions,” he added.
— PTI
|
|
India main military spender in South Asia: SIPRI Stockholm, June 11 The increase was 3.5 per cent in real terms on 2005 and 37 per cent on the 10-year-period 1997-2006, the SIPRI Yearbook said. It said India remained the main military spender in South Asia. And China and India accounted for 40 per cent of the region’s spending. India and China were also the world’s largest importers. Other large importers were Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. China surpassed Japan as the biggest military spender in Asia, and became the world’s fourth largest military spender in 2006. Combined arms sales from the world’s top 100 companies, not including China, totalled $290 billion for 2005, the latest year covered by SIPRI. Of the 100 companies, 40 were US-based and accounted for 63 per cent of arms sales. The 32 European companies had a 29 per cent share. Nine companies in Russia accounted for 2 per cent of sales. Companies in Japan, Israel and India had most of the remainder. The US accounted for some 62 per cent or $26 billion of the total $39 billion increase in world military expenditure in 2006. The US had a 46 per cent share of world military spending. The other top four military spenders - Britain, France, China and Japan - each accounted for 4 to 5 per cent. In its overview, SIPRI said that Western Europe and Central America were the only regions with a decrease in military expenditure in 2006. Russia’s military expenditure rose by almost 12 per cent in real terms last year, a trend that started in 1998. In the Middle East, accurate figures for spending were hard to come by but Saudi Arabia remained the largest regional spender, followed by Israel and Iran, SIPRI said. In Africa, Algeria remained a leading military spender that in 2006 signed arms deals with Russia worth $10.5 billion. The US and Russia were the world’s largest arms exporters 2002-06, accounting for some 30 per cent each. — PTI
|
|
Belgian PM hands in resignation
Brussels, June 11 Verhofstadt went to the royal palace to hand King Albert II his government’s resignation in the morning and will now stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed. In the weeks ahead, politicians, split in Dutch and French-speaking camps, will endlessly mix and match political groups to try to arrive at a new government that stands a reasonable chance of survival. Verhofstadt (54), conceded defeat yesterday, saying he would leave office after eight years as Prime Minister, adding, “The voters of our country ... have opted for a different majority.” That majority faces a tough challenge amid calls for more autonomy for Flanders, Belgium’s Dutch-speaking northern half, and Wallonia, its Francophone south. — AP
|
|
Bagdad, June 11 The soldiers, who had been manning a checkpoint, were killed when part of the span collapsed. An Iraqi interpreter was also wounded in the attack which hit near Mahmudiya, 30 km south of Baghdad, in an area notorious for attacks by Al- Qaida-linked insurgents. Engineers with heavy machinery were being sent to clear the highway, which was partially blocked by debris, the US military said in a statement. — Reuters
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
