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Mush made no promise to let Bhutto be PM for third time
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Security beefed up at sensitive places
23,000 failed asylum seekers return home
Smuggled sex slaves get compensation
Indian hospitals wooing back British NRI doctors
Gurkhas being sacked to deprive them of dues
US takes more steps to assuage Sikh air travellers
Kyrgyzstan goes to polls
Two killed in plane crash
Stem cells used to fix breasts after cancer surgery
US helping Pak secure restive regions: Pentagon
Man sells son’s $90-game online for $9000
Top Indian defence team
to visit Sri Lanka
Top Abu Sayyaf militant killed in Philippines
‘Curry King’ says Labour solicited loan, not donation
Vatican nativity does away with manger
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Civil war if polls rigged, says Benazir Bhutto
Former Prime Minister and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto has warned that if elections are rigged the country will face a civil war-like situation.
Addressing a public meeting in Quetta on the eve of her two-day visit to Balochistan after 12 years, Benazir said the PPP would not allow the local administration and nazims to rig the polls.
She said the government officials would have to decide now whether they would like to back the dictatorship or the people. She urged public servants not to become slaves of an individual. They should abide by the law and do what is right, she added. She said two forces of the country - people and army — should not collide with each other. If they do, catastrophic result would come out of it as we had already experienced in case of East Pakistan. The former premier called upon the people to elect PPP in the coming elections so that it could steer the country out of the prevailing crisis. She criticised dictatorship, saying that it had always harmed the country and mentioned the names of General Ayub, Yahya and Zia in this regard. She said the country has reached on the brink of disintegration during the reign of General Pervez Musharraf. She said every dictator who came into power, struck judiciary first by removing the opposing judges. The PPP chairperson said it was due to the struggle of the people that the two exiled prime ministers had returned to the country and Musharraf lifted the state of emergency and restored Constitution. She said Balochistan was burning as army operation was going on. She condemned the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti. She said that hundreds of Baloch were being targeted and thousands of political activists including Sardar Akhtar Mengal and grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti were behind the bars. She said there was reign of terror in the whole country particularly in Balochistan and she “wants to save Pakistan and Balochistan”. Benazir said victory and defeat are part of political life, but it should be the people who must decide the fate of the candidates and not the organisations. Welcoming the lifting of the emergency rule, Benazir Bhutto said more steps were needed for the restoration of democracy in the country. Talking to media men, she said it was the right of the political parties to boycott elections. But people of the country could be served better by participating in the electoral process.
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Mush made no promise to let Bhutto be PM for third time
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has made no promises to lift a constitutional ban to allow Benazir Bhutto to serve a third term as prime minister and has absolutely no intention of reinstating justices of the Supreme Court whom he fired. In an interview published over the weekend in the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine, Musharraf told interviewer Lally Weymouth he would wait until after the January 8 elections to see whether to lift a ban on anyone serving three terms as prime minister. Bhutto has already served two terms. He said he had made no promises to lift the ban, but admitted, “We did talk about it, but there were many things that we talked about which have been violated.” Asked if he could work with Bhutto, Musharraf shot back: “When you talk of working with her, you imply she is going to be the prime minister. Why do you imply that? I keep telling everyone we haven’t had the elections.” “If she gets enough votes, do you think you could work with her?” Weymouth pressed. “Yes, of course,” Musharraf replied. Weymouth is the daughter of Katharine Graham, the renowned publisher of the Washington Post who was at the helm of the paper during the Watergate scandal that toppled President Richard Nixon. Musharraf blamed the Western media for his current problems and the rising extremism in Pakistan, and showed no indication that the curbs imposed on the Pakistani press would be lifted. He suggested freedoms afforded to the press in the West must not be expected in Pakistan. After initially saying the code of conduct mandating “responsible journalism” he forced on the Pakistani press was similar to that in the U.S., Musharraf backed down when Weymouth informed him that this was not the case. “No, the code of conduct is there in most countries of the world. Why should we compare the United States to Pakistan?” he asked. He said the “problem” with the Pakistani press was that “they were distorting realities and creating despondencies in the people of Pakistan by showing pictures of dead bodies and interviewing terrorists- not showing the law enforcement authorities in a good light but showing the terrorists in a better light.” “Thus they encouraged terrorism and discouraged the law enforcers. They were undermining the good work of the government, were entirely one-sided, and some responsibility had to be brought in,” he explained. Pressure from Washington forced Musharraf to shed his military uniform earlier this month. Clearly bitter, he told Weymouth: “I loved my uniform.” But, the president predicted his political striptease would do little to change things in Pakistan. “I think the overall situation will be better and stronger. The army is being managed by a chief of staff dedicated to the job, and I will be president of Pakistan, and if the two are totally in harmony, the situation is better,” he said. Asked if the Supreme Court justices he fired would be reinstated Musharraf responded with a firm “No, not at all... They will never be restored.” He defended his actions, saying that there was “something seriously wrong” with the chief justice of Pakistan. “People in the West will have a hard time understanding that,” Weymouth told him. “Let them not understand. They should come to Pakistan and understand Pakistan,” Musharraf replied. He said he had spent the last eight years building democratic institutions and empowering the people, including the women of Pakistan. Weymouth noted Musharraf was “far more angry than ever before” in the interview. The president laughed this off, saying: “I think you are right. Why don’t you understand? Am I a madman? Have I suddenly changed? Am I a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?” Musharraf’s decision to fire the chief justice of the Supreme Court and later impose a state of emergency in Pakistan startled many of his supporters in the Bush administration. He refused to admit he had made mistakes saying he takes “considered views.” “I don’t sleep at night and suddenly dream of something and issue orders in the morning. I discuss, I debate issues and then take decisions,” Musharraf said. He criticized the Western media for undermining what he was doing. “Your media keeps criticizing the army and the ISI-not understanding what their real contribution is to fighting terrorism,” he said. Musharraf said US President George W. Bush had been “extremely supportive” adding, “he has been a very sincere friend. I must say he understands fully the Pakistan environment. He understands why I had to act and what I’m facing.” He blamed the rise of extremism in Pakistan on a growing anti-American feeling and U.S. actions in Afghanistan. “On a larger scale, I would say the impact of whatever is happening to the entire Muslim world, starting with Palestine,” he added.
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Security beefed up at sensitive places
The authorities have beefed up the security at sensitive places around the country following lifting of the emergency on Saturday in anticipation of the agitation promised by the lawyers and other sections of the civil society. The security arrangements were tightened around the Judges’ Colony and the Constitution Avenue where barriers have been erected to restrict movement. Besides, the Supreme Court, important official buildings including the Parliament House, Presidency, Prime Minister House and Central Secretariat are located on the Avenue. President Musharraf in his speech after lifting the emergency on Saturday evening warned that agitating politics would not be allowed to disrupt the electoral process. Political leaders including Imran Khan and Kazi Hussain Ahmed who have boycotted the polls have promised to hold rallies to dissuade people from participating in the electoral process. Lawyers, civil society activists and journalists are continuing the agitation demanding reinstatement of the judges and repealing of the draconian laws curbing the media freedom. Lawyers and civil society activists are urging the people to boycott polls. Official sources here said instructions have gone to the appropriate authorities in all four provinces to not to allow any rallies or public demonstrations aimed at disrupting the electoral process. The political parties would be permitted to hold public meetings at designated places after getting permission from local governments. Meanwhile, caretaker interior minister Hamid Nawaz Khan has said the deposed judges of the Supreme Court including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry are free to go to their ancestral homes but will not be allowed to go to the Supreme Court. Talking to reporters here, the minister said the Judges’ Colony, where the deposed judges reside, would still remain a red zone area. He said eminent jurist and PPP leader Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and his two colleagues, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood would remain under detention until they promise to refrain from organising a countrywide ‘judicial bus’ to mobilise popular support for reinstatement of independent judges. In his speech Musharraf reiterated that the deposed judges would not be reinstated. He has amended the constitution to ensure that the deposed judges could never be restored even by the Parliament. A separate law enacted on the eve of lifting of the emergency provides for pension and other retirement benefits to these judges.
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23,000 failed asylum seekers return home
London, December 16 The unwanted foreigners, who had no legal right to remain, were given free flights, handed £1,000 in cash at the airport, then paid a further £3,000 to start enterprises in their homelands, ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ reported. More than 23,000 migrants have taken advantage of the scheme. Their UK-funded businesses range from market stalls to hotels and clothes factories in countries as far-flung as South Africa, China and Columbia. No one from India was listed in the report. Ministers say that paying failed asylum seekers to leave is cheaper than forcibly deporting them, saving money for taxpayers. However, the Tories last night condemned the payouts as “bribes”. Details of the scheme are shown in documents from the International Organisation for Migration, the Geneva-based agency that administers the voluntary repatriation scheme on Britain’s behalf. The findings emerged as ministers prepared to tighten border controls with a clampdown on foreign visitors. Tourist visas are likely to be shortened from six months to three, while families may have to put up bonds of £1,000 before relatives can obtain visitors’ passes. At the same time, eight eastern European countries will join the EU “passport-free travel zone” this week, in a move that raises fears of more illegal immigrants crossing the continent to reach channel ports en route for Britain. The Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme has cost £36 million in total between 1999 when it was launched, and the end of last year, according to the most recent figures. Uptake was slow at first but numbers leapt after the maximum grant was raised from £1,000 to £4,000 at the start of 2006, and now totals 23,000 migrants. One of the beneficiaries of the scheme is an ostrich farmer in Iran now, one owns a vineyard in Albania and another runs a beauty salon in Zimbabwe. The ostrich farm was launched by a 35-year-old Iranian, who had lived in Britain for four years. The vineyard, near Tirana in Albania, produces organic grapes and raki, a local spirit. The beauty salon offering manicures and facials, in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, was opened by a woman who went home last year after six years in Britain. — PTI
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Smuggled sex slaves get compensation
London, December 16 The first payouts of more than £140,000 were made last week to four women who suffered a “sustained period of sexual abuse.” Another 10,000 are estimated to be eligible under a new interpretation of Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority guidelines, the Observer reported today. Authorities told the London law firm Lovells, which is acting for a number of the victims, that it would “officially” recognise” the pain and trauma experienced by thousands of women and children. The women, who received £140,000, were smuggled from eastern Europe by British-based criminals using established international sex trafficking networks. One girl was illegally brought into the UK five years ago, aged 13. Another was trafficked in 2003 when she was 16. Both were kept prisoner by the same trafficking syndicate until they managed to escape at the start of last year. The girls were subject to “forced prostitution, multiple rapes and beatings” while being held captive in the UK. In addition, their captors refused to give the victims money and warned they would be killed if they fled. The highest award of compensation was £62,000, the lowest £16,500 pounds. The authority, which awards compensation to victims of violent crime, has agreed payments for “false imprisonment and forced prostitution during the time of their imprisonment” though neither exists as an official category for damages. Sarah Johnson, of Lovells said: “This will serve as a precedent for other cases and we are delighted.” The scale of sex trafficking is of increasing concern to police. Officially, the Home Office believes the number of illegal immigrants being sexually exploited at any one time is about 4,000. Investigators and support group, however, calculate numbers are likely to be in excess of 10,000 and described known cases as the “tip of the iceberg.” Even small towns are likely to have a brothel. Peterborough is a typical example. As little as three years ago, the Cambridgeshire town had two of them. This year the police have raided at least 48 in the town. Detectives describe such places as “sex prisons.” — PTI
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Indian hospitals wooing back British NRI doctors
London, December 16 Quoting the director of one of India’s leading private hospital chains, The Sunday Times reported that he was receiving five job applications a week from NHS doctors and that half his 3,000 consultants were from Britain. “There’s a feeling that India’s time has come and there’s a huge need for these people to come back,” Anupam Sibal, director of the Apollo hospital in Delhi said. Doctors say they are moving to India because of its economy, state of the art equipment, higher standards than the NHS and a better quality of life. In particular, they say hospitals in India, which many Britons still imagine to be impoverished and dirty, suffer less from hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA. There has been a boom in private hospitals in India that resemble luxury hotels. One of those who has made the transition is Mahesh Kulkarni, an orthopaedic surgeon, who left Bristol Royal Infirmary after 10 years in Britain. He is now a consultant at the Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital in Pune. “The hospitals are better than in Britain,” he said. Although salaries are usually lower in India, doctors are finding that their standard of living is better. — PTI
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Gurkhas being sacked to deprive them of dues
London, December 16 The move, which means the defence ministry will avoid paying more than £ 200,000 to an ordinary Gurkha soldier, is to be challenged in the courts by the British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF). The policy was introduced after the government was forced to increase the Gurkhas’ pay and pensions to bring them on a par with the rest of the army. An official briefing document on the new pension scheme shows that 80 per cent to 85 per cent of the Gurkhas would be discharged early, The Sunday Times reported today. They will lose out not only on the immediate pension they would get after 18 years’ service, but also on a lumpsum departure payment of the equivalent of three years’ pension. Gurkhas have been put on the new army pension scheme, which applies to all other soldiers, after years of campaigning by their supporters. The full pension will be worth around £ 6,500 a year for a rifleman, the basic Gurkha rank, plus the one-off departure payment. — PTI
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US takes more steps to assuage Sikh air travellers
New York, December 16 Under the new policy, transportations screening officers (TSOs) would specifically inform Sikh travellers at airports of their rights to be screened by “puffer machine” where that option is available, self pat down or a TSO pat-down in that order, United Sikhs, an advocacy group has said. “The requirement to proactively inform a Sikh traveller of his rights under turban screening procedure will go into effect in next 30 to 60 days,” Amarit Singh of United Sikhs said after a telephone briefing by the Transport Security Administration (TSA). The TSA also informed the group that 75 per cent of TSOs across the United States had been provide training on the religious sensitivities of Sikhs through a film On Common Ground. Beside, the TSA will be creating a comprehensive anti-profiling policy similar to the one by the Department of Justice. The TSA is planning to hold a community outreach meeting here to address issues at the three New York airports in February or March.
— PTI
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Bishkek, December 16 Home to a US and a Russian military airbase, the former Soviet state has been volatile since 2005, when a disputed parliamentary election triggered mass protests that ousted veteran leader Askar Akayev and brought Bakiyev to power. The opposition has accused Bakiyev, a liberal compared with his more hard-line Central Asian neighbours, of backsliding on democracy and abusing power in favour of his Ak Zhol party. “There are massive violations,” said Omurbek Tekebayev, leader of the main opposition Ata Meken party, adding that his party had registered cases of ballot-stuffing. The central election commission denied any irregularities. Bakiyev dissolved the outgoing chamber, packed with some of his Akayev-era opponents, in October. He said a less unruly Parliament will lead to stability. “I am sure our new Parliament will not be like the one before,” he said after casting his ballot in the capital Bishkek. “Either way, it will be a new and productive Parliament.” Bakiyev was elected in a 2005 vote praised by Western monitors. But a constitutional referendum in October, which extended his presidential authority, was criticised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “The only person who thinks this vote is fair is Kurmanbek Sariyevich (Bakiyev),” said Almazbek Atambayev, head of the opposition Social Democratic party. “He is blissfully deceived.” Potential unrest in Kyrgyzstan is a worry to Russia and the West as it might spill over into other Central Asian regions. Election authorities barred two main opposition candidates form the ballot papers on the eve of the vote, in what the opposition said was a thinly veiled attempt to silence them. Some regional activists were beaten up ahead of the vote, both opposition parties said. More than 250 observers from the OSCE’s election monitoring arm are scattered across the nation to monitor the vote, which lasts between 7.30 am and 7.30 pm. Bakiyev has promised to press ahead with reform after the election in a nation where the economy, burdened by a huge external debt, remains in tatters after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Opposition leaders say Bakiyev might overstep the mark and block their entry into the assembly altogether. “It seems the plan is to have one team in the Parliament that would vote unanimously,” said Atambayev, once the driving force of anti-Bakiyev protests. But, tired after years of unrest, voters said they wanted a stronger presidential hand for the sake of stability. “People trust them (Ak Zhol) so I trust them too,” Aibek, a man in his 20s, who sells goods at a market in Bishkek, said. “They can bring some stability.” — Reuters
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London, December 16 The victims’ two-seater Luscombe Silvaire plane came down in a fireball in a rural part of Staffordshire, while the second light aircraft made an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport. Paramedics found the bodies of two persons at the scene of the crash near the village of Admaston, about 20 miles north of Birmingham. The owner of the farmland where the plane crashed said he drove to the scene, but could do nothing to help. “The plane was burning but almost burned out,” Michael Sargeant told the BBC. “I could see bodies there but I could see there was nothing I could do. I came straight back and rang 999.” Television pictures showed the plane smashed into several pieces in a field. Air crash investigators said it was too early to say why the planes collided. A full inquiry will resume at daybreak. East Midlands Airport said its runway was briefly blocked and traffic was diverted. The names of the victims will not be released before their families are informed.
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Stem cells used to fix breasts after cancer surgery
San Antonio, December 16 The approach is still experimental, but holds promise for millions of women left with cratered areas and breasts that look very different from each other after cancer surgery. It also might be a way to augment healthy breasts without using artificial implants. So far, it has only been tested on about two dozen women in Japan. But doctors in US say it has great potential. “This is a pretty exciting topic right now in plastic surgery,” said Dr Karol Gutowski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There are people all over the country working on this.” The Japanese study was reported yesterday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The company that developed the treatment, Cytori Therapeutics, plans larger studies in Europe and Japan next year. More than 100,000 women have lumps removed each year in the US. These operations, lumpectomies, often are done instead of mastectomies, which take the whole breast. But they often leave deformities because as much as a third of a woman’s breast may be removed. “It’s almost a euphemism” to call it lumpectomy, said Dr Sydney Coleman, plastic surgeon at New York University who has consulted for Cytori and is interested in stem cell approach. — AP
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US helping Pak secure restive regions: Pentagon
Washington, December 16 Major-General Richard Sherlock, director for operation planning at the Joint Chiefs of Staff office, said, “We’re working with them (Pakistan) to try to enable them to help secure their areas. We’re also working inside Afghanistan to enable the ISAF and the Afghan forces to secure their areas”. “What we’re trying to do is enable the Pakistani security forces, who have performed over a five-year period now., (perform) a number of operations against extremists inside Pakistan,” Major-General Sherlock said. He pointed out that Pakistan had lost over 1,000 soldiers in the past five years in operations against militants inside the country. “And they’ve also captured a number of very high-profile Al-Qaeda leadership inside Pakistan, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” Major-General Sherlock said at a briefing. The top Pentagon military official refused to elaborate what message defence secretary Robert Gates was sending when he said the US might take unilateral military action in the western regions of Pakistan. “I can't really add anything to the secretary’s comments. We do work with Pakistan every day through our senior defence representative in Pakistan,” Major-General Sherlock said. “We work with them (Pakistan) to enable them and to help them conduct operations in Pakistan,” he said. — PTI
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Man sells son’s $90-game online for $9000
Montreal, December 16 The sale took place after the father spent two weeks searching for the video game for the Nintendo Wii gameboard. “So I was so relieved in that I had finally got the Holy Grail of Christmas presents pretty much just in the nick of time. I couldn’t wait to spread the jubilance to my son,” the father wrote on the eBay website. “Then, yesterday, I came home from work early and what do I find? My innocent little boy smoking pot in the back yard with two of his delinquent friends.” The man, a schoolteacher, who kept his identity private, said he sold the coveted video game to punish his son and discourage him from smoking dope. The sale was a boon for the family’s bank account, since the game the father purchased for $90 was finally sold to an Australian who plunked down $9,100 for it. The naughty son, however, will not go without a present on Christmas. “I am still considering getting him a game for his Nintendo. Maybe something like Barbie as the Island Princess or Dancing with the Stars ... I know he will just love them,” the father said, tongue-in-cheek. — AFP
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Top Indian defence team to visit Sri Lanka
Colombo, December 16 The team, which includes air and defence combat experts, will be here to review matters relating to the ongoing bilateral defence co-operation between the two countries. “They will have top-level talks with the defence and the security officials,” the Sunday Times famous defence writer, Iqbal Athas, had reported in his weekly column today. India had already equipped the air defence systems in Sri Lanka and its Air Force has trained personnel for them despite vehement opposition by some Tamil political forces in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the newspaper reported. Pakistan has also helped the Sri Lanka’s Air Force to enhance its air capabilities by providing training and refurbishing aircraft among other matters. The arrival of the top Indian defence team comes at a time when Sri Lanka was busy taking all possible steps for the enhancement of its air defence measures after a closer study of acquisition of air capability by the LTTE. Indian High Commission officials here were not immediately available for comments in this regard. Although the LTTE is identified to be in the possession of Czech-built Zlin Z-143 light acrobatic trainer aircraft and its four air raids on Sri Lankan military targets had not caused very extensive damages, a greater appreciation of future possibilities have led to the enhanced security measures, the report said. “Even Indian defence authorities had staged an exercise codenamed, ‘Operation Dakshin Prahar’ in neighbouring Tamil Nadu early this week to protect oil tankers, nuclear installations and ports against air raids particularly from what has been billed as ‘non state actors’ in the region,” Iqbal Athas said. Notably, the LTTE is the only non-state actor in the region possessing air In October, a group of 21 Black Tigers carried out a “Commando style” land-air joint attack on a key Air Force base in the north-central Anuradhapura district, destroying at least eight aircrafts of the Lankan Air Force. Within a week, the Sri Lankan Air Force hit back the rebels by killing its political wing head SP Thamilselvan and six others in an aerial strike. Late Thamilselvan was the senior most cadre to be killed and was posthumously promoted as ‘Brigadier’ by the rebel chief.
— UNI
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Top Abu Sayyaf militant killed in Philippines
Manila, December 16 Mobin Abdurajak, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf group, was wanted for kidnapping 21 persons from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in 2000. The victims were freed after a ransom was paid. “The neutralisation of Abdurajak is part of our campaign to eliminate the Abu Sayyaf terrorists,” regional navy chief Rear Admiral Emilio Marayag said. Navy officers and marines swooped on Abdurajak’s hideout in Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost tip of the Philippines, yesterday night. He was killed in the firefight. The USA had offered $ 20,000 for the arrest of the militant, a brother-in-law of Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani, who was killed in a clash with the military last year. The smallest of several Muslim rebel groups active in the south of the largely Catholic Philippines, the Abu Sayyaf is also the most notorious. Last week, 14 of its members were sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping of 20 persons from a luxury beach resort in the western Philippines in 2001 and the decapitation of three of them, including an American. The Philippines is also fighting communist insurgents and today, members of the Maoist New People’s Army killed three marines in an early morning ambush in the west of the archipelago, the military said. Today was meant to be the first day of a three-week ceasefire with the NPA over the Christmas period. — Reuters
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‘Curry King’ says Labour solicited loan, not donation
London, December 16 In his letter, which is expected to make embarrassing reading for Labour, Sir Noon said “the party had solicited a loan, rather than a donation.” Lord Levy, the former Labour donor who was arrested by police investigating allegations of cash for honours, tried to block a Parliamentary committee from publishing the letter by Sir Noon at the heart of the affair, according to a report in ‘The Observer’ today. The letter, which will be released on Wednesday when the public administration select committee publishes its report into the affair, will revive speculation about whether Labour was seeking loans in the run-up to the 2005 general election in an attempt to circumvent strict funding rules. Levy said last night that he was unhappy with the letter and he indicated that he had made it clear to the Commons committee through his lawyers that he would have been happier if Noon’s letter had remained secret. A spokesman for Levy said: “We respect the rights and wishes of the committee to publish whatever they feel is necessary. As we made clear to the committee, there were parts of the letter we disagreed with.” Four people, including Levy were arrested and the then Prime Minister Tony Blair was interviewed three times. The Crown Prosecution Service, however, announced in July that no charges would be brought. — PTI
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Vatican nativity does away with manger
London, December 16 The Vatican has decided to abandon the traditional stable and the straw-ladden setting, shifting it to Nazareth, and placing Jesus in his father Joseph’s carpentry shop in a bid to reflect the more straightforward scenario as described by St Matthew. “It’s time for a change and a return to St Matthew’s gospel,” ‘The Daily Telegraph’ quoted a spokesman of the State Department of the Vatican, which organises and builds the giant presepe, or the nativity scene, as saying.
— PTI
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