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Climate talks move into top gear
India seeks more funds to fight climate change
Six Las Vegas high school students shot at
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Appear or face action, SC to lawyers
Chaudhry denies Mush’s allegations
Triple car bombing kills 40 in Iraq
China apartment fire kills 21
6 soldiers,
15 rebels killed in Pak
Cyclone ruined 40 pc Sunderbans: UNESCO
US House adopts sanctions against Myanmar
Malaysian Oppn demands talks with Badawi
Malaysia floods worsen
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Climate talks move into top gear
Bali, December 12 The horsetrading at Bali was to kick into high gear in the remaining few days of the two-week conference, where negotiators were haggling over a document that sets guidelines for rich countries to make deep cuts in
greenhouse gases. Australia’s decision last week to join the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has claimed much of the limelight at Bali, leaving the United States as the only major industrialised country to reject the accord that requires rich nations to cut gas emissions by an average 5 per cent. “This has been a decision of our government, and a decision taken within the first days of our government,” Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said as he handed over signed documents to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The step meant that Australia would become a Kyoto mem
ber in 90 days. The conference in Bali, which ends on Friday, is aimed at launching two-year negotiations toward a new global warming agreement to take over from Kyoto in 2012. Scientists say failure to combat rising temperatures would lead to environmental and economic disaster. A version of a revised conference document obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday included guidelines for industrialized countries to cut emissions by between 25 per cent and 40 per cent overall by 2020. The final document was to be released Friday.
— AP
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India seeks more funds to fight climate change
Bali, December 12 In a strong speech that finally laid out India’s position at the Bali summit and was keenly followed by nearly 11,000 delegates from 187 countries and the global media gathered here, minister for science and technology Kapil Sibal said: “Estimates of adaptation costs (to adapt to the global warming effects that are already here and will increase) for developing countries run into several tens of billions of US dollars on an annual basis. “I hope that there is clear recognition by all concerned that these have to be met through ‘new and additional’ monies and not by re-appropriation of funds meant for development.” Shortly before his speech, Sibal told IANS that India was fully behind the position taken up by G-77 and China, which had strongly criticised attempts by industrialised countries to move the transfer of green technology out of the Bali roadmap to fight global warming. “You cannot have a situation where there is no mechanism for technology transfer,” he said, while expressing satisfaction on the successful conclusion of the issue of fighting
deforestation. Reacting to recent statements from the governments of Canada, Japan and Australia that they would not commit themselves to further reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases - that warm the atmosphere - unless countries such as India and China did the same, Sibal said whole thing was a non-starter. “We’re taking national measures,” pointed
out the minister, who is a member of the Prime Minister’s task force on climate
change. — IANS
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Six Las Vegas high school students shot at
Las Vegas, December 12 The police said two male assailants opened fire when the six, five boys and a girl, stepped off a school bus at about 2 pm (0330 IST), after a fight on the campus over a girl. All six were taken to a local hospital for treatment, where two of the boys, both 18, remained last night. One of the boys was listed in a critical condition and the other in a serious condition. The other four students were released from the hospital with less serious injuries. “At the beginning of the school there was a fight among the three students,” said Clark County School police spokesman Ken Oung. “Officers quickly broke up the fight and arrested them,” he said. The police said the shooting after the school appeared to be related to that incident and it appeared the gunmen were waiting for the students to step off the bus. “The original report said witnesses heard four to five shots and saw two children on the ground. Seconds later, we got another call that another person heard about 10 gunshots and saw four kids fallen,” Las Vegas police spokesman Ramon Denby said. The incident followed, two other highly publicised gun tragedies in recent days -- a pair of weekend shootings at a Christian Missionary Training Center and a church in Colorado in which a 24-year-old man killed four people and then shot himself, and a shopping mall rampage in Omaha, Nebraska, last week in which a 19-year-old killed eight people and then himself with an assault rifle.
— Reuters
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Appear or face action, SC to lawyers
Facing continuous boycott of its proceedings by lawyers, the Supreme Court has asked all advocates-on-record to appear on behalf of legal attorneys or face contempt action.
Justice Nawaz Abbasi who is heading a full Bench has ordered that a general notice be served on advocate-on-record to ensure their appearance in cases before the court. He particularly noted the absence of M.S. Khattak, asking him to explain as to why he had failed to appear in a case in which the legal attorney was not available. “In future every advocates-on-record will have to argue his case in the absence of original counsel,” Justice Abbasi directed, adding non-compliance could lead to the suspension of his/her licence or dismissal of the case being non-prosecuted. Khattak failed to appear before the Bench due to lawyers’ strike and boycott of courts, particularly of the Supreme Court since the proclamation of emergency and the Provisional Constitutional Order. Menawhile, interior minister Hamid Nawaz Khan has said the government would release Supreme Court Bar association president Aitzaz Ahsan if he gave up his plan for launching an agitation by leading a “judicial bus” for freedom of the judiciary. Talking to reporters after a ceremony held to ratify an extradition treaty with China, the minister said the government would release Ahsan if he gave an assurance in writing that he would not launch any agitation campaign.
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Chaudhry denies Mush’s allegations
Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has denied President Pervez Musharraf's allegation that he was trying to remove the latter illegally.
Musharraf in a TV interview on Tuesday said the former Chief Justice was trying to remove him illegally and the country would have been in trouble had he been allowed to have his own way. The President's comments prompted a swift reaction from Justice Chaudhry, who termed Musharraf's assertion as "absolutely incorrect". He has been under house detention since his removal on November 3, contrary to occasional government statements that all deposed judges are free to move about. He said the very fact that he was not part of the 11-member Bench hearing Musharraf's eligibility case is sufficient to prove the allegation baseless and tendentious. On ethical grounds, he excused himself from every case that involved Musharraf. Justice Chaudhry pointed that four judges of the Bench were not sacked by Musharraf after he imposed the emergency and purged the Supreme Court of 13 other judges. They took oath of loyalty to
Musharraf under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), he said. Earlier Musharraf said the court had protected the Lal Masjid terrorists and ordered their release. The two judges whose bench had issued that order were among the four who have taken oath
of allegiance. Justice Chaudhry said he had many secrets to reveal and that he would do so once he is released.
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Triple car bombing kills 40 in Iraq
Basra, December 12 The attack in Amara city was one of the deadliest in Iraq in months and came as tensions are running high across oil-producing southern Iraq. A health official maintained that more than 125 were wounded in the blasts. A police official said, "Hospitals were stretched to the limit" because of the number of wounded. Most people were killed in the second and third blasts, police said. Many onlookers had gathered after the first blast in a parking lot and were killed or wounded when the subsequent car bombs exploded. The attacks came three days after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a brief visit to British forces in neighbouring Basra province. Britain is expected to hand control of security next week to Iraqi forces in Basra. That will end Britain's security responsibility of the four southern provinces it once controlled. Iraq's Furat Television said two men suspected of involvement in the blasts had been detained.
— Reuters
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China apartment fire kills 21
Beijing, December 12 The fire, which started in a flower shop on the first floor of the Wenfu Mansion in central Wenzhou, spread to an entertainment venue on the second floor engulfing the whole building in smoke, official of Xinhua news agency said, quoting
witnesses. Earlier, reports had said hundreds were trapped in the building, the agency reported. More than 200 firemen and 33 fire engines battled the inferno and
extinguished it. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the report said.
— PTI
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6 soldiers, 15 rebels killed in Pak
Islamabad, December 12 Another 20 soldiers were wounded when the militants ambushed a convoy in the volatile North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, military spokesman, Major-General Waheed Arshad said. — Reuters
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Cyclone ruined 40 pc Sunderbans: UNESCO
New York, December 12 A team of experts from the UNESCO,
which visited there recently, found that foliage were stripped from the
branches of trees, a large number of trees felled and the crown of
others were severely damaged in one third of the Sundarbans. The
Bangladeshi and Indian portions of the jungle were separately listed in
the UNESCO world heritage list in 1997 as the Sundarbans and Sundarbans
National Park, respectively. The greatest damage was observed in East
Sundarbans, the biologically richest section of the forest, which lies
in the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of
Bengal, the experts said. More than 3,200 people were killed and about
880 went missing after Cyclone ‘Sidr’ struck Bangladesh on November
15, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 240 kmph. The impact of
the cyclone on the wildlife there, which is the home to a number of
endangered or threatened species, including the Bengal tiger, the
estuarine crocodile and the Indian python has not yet been determined. —
PTI
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US House adopts sanctions against Myanmar
Washington, December 12 The unanimously-approved Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act, authored by the chairperson of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Tom Lantos, also freeze the assets of Myanmar’s political and military leaders in US financial institutions and prevent them or their immediate families from using US finance businesses via third countries. “I am deeply grateful that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle stood together today, shoulder-to-shoulder with the Burmese people as they struggle for freedom,” Lantos said in a statement. “The vile reaction of the Burmese junta to peaceful calls for democracy showed the world the moral bankruptcy of this regime,” he added. The Bill, which was approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee in October, also prohibits Myanmar official involved in the violent suppression of protesters from receiving visas to the United States. It has been pointed out that the legislation will take hundreds of millions out of the pockets of the regime each year. The measure is supported by the 11,000-store Jewellers of America, and major retailers such as Tiffany’s and Bulgari have voluntarily implemented a ban on Burmese gems. — PTI
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Malaysian Oppn demands talks with Badawi
Kuala Lumpur, December 12 “The main issues we want to raise (with Badawi) are the racial and religious tensions affecting this country... and the need for free and fair elections,” Ibrahim, who was briefly detained yesterday, said while condemning the police crackdown on protesters.
— PTI
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Malaysia floods worsen
Kuala Lumpur, December 12 Weather office predicted more rains, especially in palm oil-producing region of Johor on country's southern tip. A total of 13,945 flood victims fled their homes and were put up in shelters in Johor state. Iin Pahang, more than 10,000 people were affected by the surging waters.
— PTI
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