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Blast kills 30 in northern Pakistan
I stand for moderate face of Islam: Musharraf
Sharif can’t contest poll, says Aziz
Crackdown on monks |
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Myanmar minister holds talks with
Suu Kyi
Suu Kyi leaves home to meet govt official
Brown says govt’s powers to be limited
Woman commits suicide over forced marriage
Easing winds help
Californian firefighters
UK’s first IVM babies born
Sonia arrives in Beijing
755,000 names on US terrorist watch list
Parents allowed to smack kids in UK
Pearl’s widow drops lawsuit against terrorists
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Blast kills 30 in northern Pakistan
Swat, October 25 “The explosion occurred in an explosive-laden truck that caught fire after the blast, which also damaged at least 15 to 20 shops and vehicles,” Pakistan’s Geo TV quoted sources
as saying. A large number of security men and civilians were killed in the incident, sources added. Police officials said it might also be a suicide attack but added that the exact reason of the blast was yet to be ascertained. Over 139 persons were killed in a suicide attack in Karachi last week on the homecoming caravan of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto while more than 300 have lost their lives in northern Pakistan after a military operation in Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque in July which left 70 people, mostly militants killed.
— UNI
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I stand for moderate face of Islam: Musharraf
Emphasising that Islam must not be interpreted to serve personal agenda, President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that he is being branded as a weak Muslim because he calls for moderation and enlightenment. "No one should make an interpretation of Islam according to one's own will," Musharraf said while inaugurating a hydropower project in Skaradu in the northern areas. He launched the Satpara dam and its powerhouse that, on completion, will provide 17 mw of electricity to the Skardu valley.
"No one should interpret Islam to suit a particular personal agenda," he said, adding that he is opposed terrorism and extremism and stands for an enlightened and moderate face of Islam. "I am, therefore, branded as a weak Muslim by those who hold extremist view of Islam." He reminded the audience that the God blessed him when the door of the Holy Kaaba was opened for him seven times.
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Sharif can’t contest poll, says Aziz Islamabad, October 25 “Sharif had given an undertaking not to engage in politics for ten years,” Aziz said during an interaction with reporters. He said the present government welcomed free and open political activities and was trying to develop a code of conduct for elections in consultations with political parties and the Election Commission. “Everyone will have to follow the code in view of the security challenge,” he added. His statement was immediately challenged by Nawaz Sharif faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) which accused him of flouting ruling of the Supreme Court and betraying ignorance of the provisions of the Constitution. PML-N chairman Raja Zafrul Haq said nobody could impose arbitrary restrictions on Nawaz Sharif who had the same fundamental rights as enjoyed by any other citizen of Pakistan. The Constitution forbids any discrimination, he added.
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Crackdown on monks The US Senate's 16 women members have sent a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to press the Myanmar’s military junta to end its crackdown on Buddhist monks and pro-democracy activists in the country. In the letter, the Senate Women's Caucus on Burma called on New Delhi to "join the growing international condemnation of Myanmar’s military government and its brutal repression of its own citizens." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the top Democratic presidential candidate and co-chair of the India caucus in the Senate, was among those who signed the letter. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, lead the Burma caucus. The Senators expressed concern that recent actions by India, including high-level visits by members of Manmohan Singh's government to myanmar, "may be interpreted as implicitly supporting the military junta." "We understand that Petroleum Minister Murli Deora visited Myanmar, even as the protests were reaching a crescendo, to discuss energy cooperation and to sign a deep-water exploration deal," they added. The Senators also voiced concern over India's "ongoing military and technological support for the military" junta. "We understand that India has supplied the Myanmar military with military hardware, including field guns and howitzers. The Indian Navy has provided the Myanmar military with BN-2 “Defender” Islander maritime surveillance aircraft, deck-based air-defence guns and surveillance equipment," the letter said. Human Rights Watch noted that weapons sold to the junta by India, China, Russia, and other nations were being used by the military to commit human rights abuses and to bolster its ability to maintain power. "Perhaps most alarming, India has offered to sell newly developed advanced light helicopters (ALH) to Myanmar, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL). These helicopters, if delivered, would give the Myanmar military a sophisticated weapon platform to fire rockets and guns, which could be used with devastating effect against political demonstrations in urban areas or rural villagers," the rights group said. Meanwhile, the Senators acknowledged India's "geopolitical imperatives" and its desire to maintain good neighbourly relations with Myanmar. "We appreciate the threat posed by militant groups in northeastern India close to the Myanmar border. As the host to thousands of Burmese seeking refuge in India, the threat of an increasing torrent of refugees is certainly of serious concern to you," they said. But, they added, any support for Myanmar’s current government will only aggravate these problems. "A stable, representative civilian government in Myanmar will be the best ally in addressing these problems," the Senators said. The other signatories to the letter are Senators Barbara Boxer, Maria Cantwell, Susan Collins, Elizabeth Dole, Amy Klobuchar, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lambert Lincoln, Claire McCaskill, Barbara Mikulski, Lisa Murkowski, Patty Murray, Olympia Snowe and Debbie Stabenow.
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Myanmar minister holds talks with Suu Kyi Bangkok, October 25 Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the past 18 years under house arrest in Yangon, was taken to an official guest house in the city for a meeting with the minister in the military government. Yesterday marked the 12th year she has spent in incarceration since her party won a landslide in the 1990 parliament elections. Political observers in the region noted that the military regime has agreed to the rare consultation with her due to growing international pressure following last month’s military crackdown on monks leading anti-government protests in Yangon. The UN special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, who met Myanmar’s military rulers and Suu Kyi recently, is scheduled to return to the country next month. — UNI
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Suu Kyi leaves home to meet govt official
Yangon, October 25 Three cars arrived at her home and drove her to a government guest house, where she was to hold talks with a newly appointed liasion minister, Aung Kyi. The information came from a diplomat who did not want to be identified for political reasons. A retired general, Aung Kyi was appointed to the post on October 8 to hold talks with Suu Kyi. It is not clear if this is Suu Kyi's first meeting with Aung Kyi, who was elevated to labour minister from deputy labour minister yesterday. With Aung Kyi's appointment, the junta said it hoped to achieve “smooth relations” with Suu Kyi. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece of the junta, printed a brief official announcement on its front page saying that Kyi had been appointed “minister for relations”. — AP
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Brown says govt’s powers to be limited
London, October 25 In a major speech on ‘Liberty’ at the University of Westminster, Brown said in his first days as Chancellor of Exchequer he gave up power to the Bank of England. “To restore the credibility of the government economic policy, we had to constrain the power of the government to put the politics of the moment ahead of the national economic interest. “Now — in my first few months as Prime Minister — we are consulting on other areas where the Prime Minister and the executive should surrender or limit their powers, re-examining patronage where it is arbitrary and at all times seeking to bring the executive under democratic control.” NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, Chancellor of the Westminster, chaired the meeting held at the Westminster University in the heart of London. The Prime Minister listed some of the areas where the executive could shed its power. They included power to declare war, to ratify international treaties without a decision by Parliament and the authority to appoint judges — ensuring the independence of the judiciary and recognising their role in safeguarding liberty. — PTI
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Easing winds help Californian firefighters
Los Angeles, October 25 Some 1,700 buildings have been destroyed in the 18 wildfires that have erupted since Sunday, forcing about half a million people to flee their homes and scorching 172,000 hectares of tinder-dry countryside stretching from celebrity-studded Malibu to beyond the Mexican border. California Governor Arnold Scharzenegger said three people were killed and 40 injured in the fires, the worst to hit California since devastating 2003 blazes which claimed 22 lives. The fast-spreading infernos were fuelled by powerful desert winds gusting across the region towards the ocean. The winds began to die down yesterday, and increased coastal humidity early today enabled firefighters to make great strides in containing three of the five biggest blazes. So far, 1,664 structures, including 1,436 homes, have been destroyed while a further 25,000 buildings remained threatened, Schwarzenegger said. The two biggest California fires, covering around 108,000 hectares of San Diego County, were both only 10 per cent contained. — AFP
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London, October 25 ''After years of research and development into IVM, and after many months of working with the twins' parents, it has been hugely exciting to see them born.'' Daily Mail quoted gynaecologist consultant at the Oxford fertility unit, Tim Child. The IVM treatment, unlike the IVF does not use high levels of ovary stimulating drugs to mature them faster for collections and is safer for women. This revolutionary patient-friendly fertility treatment involves removing eggs from the mother's ovaries and maturing them in laboratory. Worldwide, about 1,000 pregnancies have been achieved using IVM and more than 400 babies born. In-vitro maturation was developed in the late 1990s by doctors in Denmark. Eggs are extracted from a woman's ovaries using a needle probe guided by ultrasound and then allowed to mature in a Petri dish for 24 to 48 hours. Those successfully matured after this time are then fertilised by injecting sperm directly into them. Two or three days after fertilisation, the developing embryos are transferred to the mother's womb. Any spare mature eggs can be frozen for future use. IVM is viewed as very patient-friendly. It costs an estimated £1,700 less than the conventional IVF. — UNI
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Sonia arrives in Beijing
Beijing, October 25 The Chairperson of the UPA is accompanied by her son on the five-day visit which is expected to boost bilateral relations that are already on the upswing. Sonia is due to meet with Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Hu Jintao tomorrow. She will also have meetings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Politburo member Liu Qi as well as call on former Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua. Sonia is expected to be the first leader of a foreign political party to meet with Hu and Wen, both re-elected to the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee on Monday at the first plenum of 17th National Congress of the Party.
— PTI
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755,000 names on US terrorist watch list
Washington, October 25
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Parents allowed to smack kids in UK
London, October 25 The ministers ruled out a complete ban on smacking following a government review that found the majority of parents opposed such a move. Britain children's minister Kevin Brennan said the law would stay as it is after officials reviewed the way new rules were working. Despite calls from many organisations for a ban, Brennan said the evidence was that fewer parents now use smacking to discipline their children, Daily Mail reported. — UNI
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Pearl’s widow drops lawsuit against terrorists New York, October 25 In a letter on Tuesday to the federal judge presiding over the case, lawyers for Mariane Pearl noted that Habib Bank Limited and the other defendants in the case had not answered the lawsuit filed in July, but they otherwise did not explain their reason for dropping the action. — AP
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