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Hyderabad Blasts
Aussie govt files plea against visa to Haneef
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Three arrested for planning terror attacks
No proof of 3,000 centrifuges in Iran: Diplomats
‘ US troop reduction possible in 2008’
Anti-Imran pleas rejected
New FM channel for Indians in Dubai
2 Indians molested, Afghan held
21 criminals hanged in Iran
‘Bring Brits, visitors on DNA database’
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Abu Hamza not arrested, reiterates B’desh
Bangladesh’s deputy high commissioner Muhammad Imran on Wednesday reiterated that there was no report of any arrest of Hyderabad blast suspect Abu Hamza, alias Mohammed Sharifuddin, in his country. At a news conference here, he said, “We have already clarified our (Bangladesh) position and I affirm today that there was no arrest of Sharifuddin in our country.” There were initial reports that Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami operative and the Hyderabad blasts suspect was arrested by the Bangladesh authorites. The diplomat termed as “very dissapointing” dragging his country's name whenever a terror attack took place in India. “We have made very clear our position about terrorist activity in any form and in any place which is condemnable,” he said. He said since Delhi and Dhaka were getting closer on many issues, including sharing intelligence on terrorist movement across the common borders, any immediate reaction drawing the name of a country in any terror attack was unwarranted. “There are many occasions when a country's name was dragged after terror attacks but at the end these were not pursued and finally shelved,” Imran pointed out. He suggeted that it would be better if India and Bangladesh proceeded together and made efforts to find the genesis of a terror attack before coming to a conclusion.
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Aussie govt files plea against visa to Haneef
Melbourne, September 5 Immigration minister Kevin Andrews said a government solicitor had lodged an appeal with the federal court in Brisbane, where Haneef was held in July after his arrest in connection with the botched bomb attacks in the UK. Last month, judge Jeffrey Spender overturned Andrews' decision to cancel the doctor's work visa on character grounds citing “jurisdictional error” on the part of the minister. The order was stayed for 21 days, meaning Haneef, who has expressed his desire to return to Australia, would be able to go back in a few days. But Andrews in his appeal has also sought an extension of the stay. Andrews defended his stance today, saying that his decision was in the “national interest” and he believed the judge was “wrong”. “As minister for immigration and citizenship, I made the decision to cancel Dr Haneef's visa in the national interest and I stand by that decision,” Andrews said in a statement. “It was the correct decision for the national interest and I believe that justice Spender is wrong in his interpretation of the legislation. “It is a privilege for visitors to be granted a visa to be in Australia. It is not an inalienable right. The security of the nation and the protection of all Australians comes first,” he said. — PTI
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Three arrested for planning terror attacks
Berlin, September 5 The office of the federal prosecutor said the suspects were members of "an international Islamist terrorist organisation." Government security sources said two of the suspects were German who had converted to Islam while the third held Turkish and German passports. The sources said the three had links to Pakistan, had been experimenting with explosives and were trying to build car bombs. The authorities said they were arrested yesterday afternoon and thereafter the police carried out a series of overnight raids linked to the investigation in several states. SWR public radio reported that the suspects had planned to bomb Frankfurt airport and the US military base at Ramstein in west Germany. — AFP
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No proof of 3,000 centrifuges in Iran: Diplomats
Vienna, September 5 Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that Iran had 3,000 working centrifuges. With 3,000 centrifuges running smoothly in unison at supersonic speed for long periods, Iran could refine enough uranium for an atom bomb in about a year, nuclear experts say. “There’s no evidence,” a diplomat said, when asked whether Iran had mastered the technology to get 3,000 centrifuges running effectively together. Ahmadinejad’s statement also appeared at odds with findings by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors monitoring Iran’s underground Natanz plant. The IAEA’s latest quarterly report on Iran, issued last Thursday, said almost 2,000 centrifuges were enriching uranium in tandem as of August 19, with about 650 in various stages of installation and testing. Inspectors revisited the plant on Monday and found about 325 more centrifuges being hooked up, closing in on the 3,000 threshold, diplomats said yesterday. But the initial 2,000 were operating well below capacity, the report said, suggesting Iran has some way to go before establishing an industrial rate of enrichment. “Ahmadinejad may just be reflecting the number of centrifuges installed,” another diplomat close to the IAEA, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity, said. — Reuters
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‘ US troop reduction possible in 2008’
Washington, September 5 "There are limits to what our military can provide, so, my recommendations have to be informed, but they have to be informed by the strain we have put on our military services," Petraeus said in the interview with ABC television in Baghdad released yesterday. Asked if troops could be drawn in March 2008, the general said, "your calculations are about right." Recommendations from Petraeus and the US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker will form a key element of a pivotal White House progress report to the Democratic-led Congress on the Iraq war due September 15. While democrats have demanded George Bush set a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces, the US President has pleaded for patience and called on lawmakers to wait for Petraeus’s assessment. While troop levels would be scaled back over the long-term, the US general said he sees the war effort as a traditional counter-insurgency that could last a decade. —AFP
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Tribune News Service The petitions were filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in retaliation to Imran’s campaign against its chief Altaf Hussain and by federal minister Sher Afgan Niazi against whom Imran intends to contest from Mianwali. Both petitions relied on an ex-parte order by a Californian court in 1990s on a petition that Imran fathered a daughter born to a British model and heiress. They contended that Imran was not qualified to be member of the assembly in accordance with the strict moral restrictions injected by Gen Ziaul Haq into the Constitution. The MQM said it would take legal course against the decision to dismiss the reference.
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New FM channel for Indians in Dubai
Dubai, September 5 Arabian Radio Network (ARN), the region's largest group of popular stations, launched Pulse 95.3 on September 2. Dubbed as a station for the discerning, Pulse 95.3's diverse offerings capitalise on the growing influence of Bollywood, which has sparked new interest in evergreen hits from the subcontinent. "The arrival of a South Asian station with a strong personality means that the Asian community is growing, its tastes and interests are diverse, and the market is responding to that," Chetan Fernandes, Chief Operating Officer of ARN, said. "As Dubai grows, we will see more and more variation in South Asian cultural offerings in the Emirates. We anticipate that Pulse 95.3 will be at the forefront," he said. A gala dinner held at the launch of the FM channel was attended by yesteryears cine stars Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia. — PTI
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2 Indians molested, Afghan held
Dubai, September 5 A Dubai court also sentenced the Afghani, named PA, to one more month of imprisonment for illegally entering UAE. PA (38) was charged with molesting the two Indian sisters. He was also charged with exposing his private parts to another two schoolgirls, both aged 11, and offering them money to touch him. The father of the Indian sisters claimed that he had asked the girls to play near the entrance of the building while he painted the house. ''Half an hour later, they came to me and the four-year-old said a stranger asked her to touch his private parts, while the six-year-old said he molested her. They alleged the stranger showed them bad images on his mobile phone,'' he said.
— UNI
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21 criminals hanged in Iran
Tehran, September 5 Amnesty International said it was “appalled” at the reports of the executions. Seventeen drug smugglers were executed in the eastern province of Khorasan Razavi today, the website of state broadcaster IRIB said. Four other offenders were put to death in public in the southern city of Shiraz after being convicted of banditry, smuggling and other crimes, the Fars News Agency said.
—Reuters
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‘Bring Brits, visitors on DNA database’
London, September 5 The judge also felt that the present records included a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities. The UK database of four million profiles, taken from suspects or recovered from crime scenes, is the largest in the world. "We have a situation where if you happen to be in the hands of the police then your DNA is on permanent record,” Sedley said.
— PTI
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