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Green card seekers resort to Gandhigiri
Pak army aiding terrorism in Kashmir: Report
British grandmom marries Osama’s son |
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Tripoli, July 11 Libya's Supreme Court today upheld death sentences on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, a judge said.
Last LTTE stronghold captured
Nepal govt to stop King’s allowances
16 Nepalese girls working in Haryana circus saved Judges’ chambers to be debugged Verdict on suspended CJ by next week Militant wanted by India detained Blanket ban on media around mosque
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Green card seekers resort to Gandhigiri
Washington, July 11 Inspired by Hindi movie "Lage Raho Munnabhai" which extolled Gandhian ways of non-violent protest, the green card applicants plan to send around a thousand flower deliveries to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Emilio Gonzalez in a three-day campaign which
started yesterday. The protest followed the abrupt reversal last week of a June announcement offering expedited processing of green card petitions for thousands of skilled foreign professionals working under H1-B visas - reserved for skilled workers in computing, engineering and other special professions. Thousands of such visa holders scrambled and spent money on lawyers and medical exams to beat the July 1 deadline for green card applications. The abrupt change has sent them back to the queue
for 2008. Besides India, skilled workers from China, Poland and many other countries will now have to spend more time and money to get the coveted green cards - a halfway house to US citizenship. "The idea is to push them to honour their earlier notification," said Aman Kapoor, founder of Immigration Voice, a forum which inspired the unusual protest. Indians are the worst hit by country quota caps for immigration visas, which treat a billion strong India, boasting a highly skilled workforce, on par with a country like Trinidad and Tobago of one million souls, he said. On its part, the USCIS response was equally pacific. It plans to forward the flowers to Walter Reed Army Medical Centre and Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, the main facilities treating US soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Gonzales in a statement on the agency website. — IANS
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Pak army aiding terrorism in Kashmir: Report
Pakistan's military is complicit in fomenting terrorism in Kashmir, the resurgence of the Taliban and the growth of jehadi extremism and capabilities, according to a hard-hitting report from a Washington think tank.
The report from Frederic Grare with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace blames the current western policies for reinforcing Pakistan's political weakness and contributing to regional instability by allowing Pakistan to trade democratisation for its cooperation on terrorism. Grare contends Pakistan's army has inflated the threat of religious sectarianism and jehadi extremism outside its borders, particularly in Afghanistan and Kashmir, for its own self-interest. "Faced with this seeming instability and a perceived lack of alternatives, the West adopted a more lenient attitude toward Pakistan's military regime as a moderate stalwart against Islamic extremism," he said. The report also suggests that restoring a stable civilian rule would lessen Pakistan's obsession with the threat posed by India and focus Pakistan's energy on its own economic development. The report was released on a day President George W. Bush reaffirmed his support for Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.
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British grandmom marries Osama’s son London, July 11 Jane Felix-Browne, a parish councilor from Cheshire who has been married five times previously, met Omar bin Laden in Egypt in September while being treated for multiple sclerosis. They were married in Islamic ceremonies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and are awaiting permission from the authorities in Riyadh to make their marriage official. She kept her marriage a secret from everyone apart from her immediate family and close friends. But she has now agreed to speak about her relationship with bin Laden's fourth eldest son. "I just married the man I met and fell in love with. To me he is just Omar," Browne said. Omar bin Laden left Saudi Arabia as a child when his father was expelled for his extremist beliefs, his wife said. Living in exile in Sudan and then Afghanistan, he saw at first hand the creation of al-Qaida and its techniques. Some reports claim that he split from his father only after the attack on New York and an argument about tactics. Apart from their religion the couple appear to have little in common. She has three sons and five grandchildren and is a respected parish councilor in the village of Moulton. She has had various jobs, including restoring houses and aircraft, and is a keen rider and scuba diver. He works as a scrap metal dealer in Jedda and is one of at least 17 children fathered by bin Laden. — PTI
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Libya court upholds death for medics
Tripoli, July 11 ''The court rejects the appeals of the defendants and confirms the death penalty,'' judge Fathi Dhan told a five-minute hearing. The six medics were not in court to hear the ruling. The ruling came just one day after hopes were raised for a deal to win their release after eight years in detention, when Libya's Gaddafi Foundation charity said it had reached an accord with the children's families that ''puts an end to the crisis''. The highly politicised case has blocked Libya's efforts to deepen links to the West after shaking off decades of isolation in 2003 when it scrapped its programme of prohibited weapons. The six medics were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with the deadly virus while they worked at the children's hospital in the city of Benghazi in the 1990s. In jail since 1999, they say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess. —
Reuters The six medics were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV virus
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Last LTTE stronghold captured
The Sri Lankan military took control of the last stronghold of Tamil Tigers in eastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday in an operation which would give a much needed boost to the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
The troops took control of Toppigala, a jungle area about 260 kms east of Colombo, which had been occupied by Tamil Tigers since 1996, clearing the final hurdle in the government efforts to restore civil administration in the entire eastern province. The military described the captured area as the “nerve centre” of the LTTE in the east and their last stronghold. The troops encountered little resistance from the Tigers as they entered the area. Five soldiers were injured in mortar fire but there was no direct confrontation and small groups of Tigers were reported to have withdrawn to the jungle areas, west of Toppigala, to which areas the troops were proceeding to flush them out, military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said. During the month-long operation, at least 50 soldiers and 400 LTTE cadres were killed, according to the military. The government said it will hold elections to local government bodies which have been overdue by over five years due to unrest in the area. The government was banking heavily on the Toppigala capture to boost its popularity.
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Nepal govt to stop King’s allowances
Kathmandu, July 11 According to a source, finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat has proposed an annual budget of Rs 169.63 billion and a 15 per cent rise in government employees’ salary by removing the aforesaid provision from the budget. The budget will, however, arrange for the perks and allowances of over 700 royal palace staffs and other essential expenses like maintenance and security. The government had, last year, allocated Rs 30 million as allowance to King Gyanendra, Queen Komal, Crown Prince Paras, and Queen Mother Ranta. Sources said the budget is likely to allocate around Rs 4.5 billion (Rs 1.70 billion for the Election Commission and remaining amount for the home ministry to arrange security) for CA poll. However, a major chunk of the CA poll budget will go for recruiting some 75,000 temporary police for the period of roughly three months. The Election Commission and home ministry had demanded Rs 7 billion for the poll.
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16 Nepalese girls working in Haryana circus saved
Kathmandu, July 11 The girls, who had been trafficked into India, were rescued by Esther Banjamins Memorial foundation from Amar circus in Haryana, a press note issued by the NGO said. The activists of the foundation had sent a team to Haryana to rescue the girls at the weekend. Nine girls accompanied by EBMF staff have already been sent back to Kathmandu, the NGO claimed. — PTI
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Judges’ chambers to be debugged Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials have started inspecting Supreme Court (SC) judges’ chambers to debug them under orders from a 13-member SC Bench currently hearing constitutional petition of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Judges were intrigued by reports that they were being spied on and their activities and conversations were being bugged. The intelligence agencies were directed to remove all surveillance devices and stay out of premises of superior courts. The director, Intelligence Bureau, was asked to ensure compliance and report to the court within a week through an affidavit that the orders have been implemented. Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan appeared before the court on Monday and sought two more weeks for the cleansing operation on plea that it was a very complex. However, the court allowed only one week’s extension. Official APP news agency said technical teams have completed inspection of the Chief Justice’s chamber in the presence of SC officials.
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Verdict on suspended CJ by next week Islamabad, July 11 “The present hearing will conclude by Thursday next week,” Justice Khalil Ramday, heading the full court, observed before rising for the day and added, “It will not see the light of another Friday.” He directed the counsels of the government to wind up their arguments by Wednesday. CJP lawyer Atezaz Ahsan would be given time for counter arguments on Thursday and thereafter, the verdict would be announced. Government counsel Qayyum Malik continued his argument in support of his contention that the President has the power to suspend a judge or send him on forced leave. At one stage, Ramday observed, “A judge can be restrained from functioning by brother judges but not by the President.” Earlier, Justice Ramday pulled up Qayyum Malik for his swipe against Chief Justice Iftikhar saying he “lacked qualities that could inspire confidence among people.” He said independence of the judiciary did not lie in the independence of judges, but in the quality of judges who should be strong, pristine and pure, adding, “The quality of a judge is to inspire confidence among the public.” “What more evidence do you need to test the confidence the people have in the CJ since March 9 (when the CJ was restrained from performing judicial functions by the president)?” Ramday remarked ostensibly referring to the milling crowds across the country who have been welcoming Justice Iftikhar during his visits to various cities.
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Militant wanted by India detained Islamabad, July 11 Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, chief of the Harkatul Mujahideen, was taken into protective custody after the death of Ghazi, who was killed in the military operation in the mosque yesterday. —
PTI
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Blanket ban on media around mosque Claiming that the Lal Masjid operation had continued for the second day today, the government put a blanket ban on media access to the vicinity of the mosque, triggering speculations about the casualty figures and the status of the operation. The media was told that it would be allowed to visit the mosque on Thursday morning. The information about alleged foreigners present in the mosque is also being kept under wraps. Meanwhile, sporadic gunfire and explosions were heard from Lal Masjid during the day. Director general inter-services public relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told mediapersons at a briefing that some militants entrenched in a few pockets were still putting up stiff resistance. Explosions in the basement were attributed to petrol bombs stocked by the militants. However, he said, the troops were virtually through with the main phase of the operation and were currently engaged in mopping up and cleansing phase. He declined to give the figure of casualties, except those of the Army. He said 10 members of the Special Services Group (SSG), including a colonel and a captain, were killed and 29 injured. He could not add to the earlier information of Tuesday that around 50 militants had been killed.
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