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10 killed as Nepal goes to polls today
Slavery Case
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Haneef Case
Scotland Yard begins probe against Di’s butler
Pak assures US on war against terror
India calls for N-weapons
free world
7 killed in clashes between Mush men, opponents
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10 killed as Nepal goes to polls today
Just couple of hours ahead of the historic Constituent Assembly (CA) polls, a few parts of Nepal witnessed bloody clashes and poll-related violence that claimed 10 lives. The elections to the Constituent Assembly will be held tomorrow and 17.6 million persons are eligible to vote to decide the future political system for the Himalayan state. Within less than 24 hours, at least 10 political cadres, including a poll candidate affiliated to the big three ruling parties -- Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (CPN-Maoists), Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and Nepali Congress -- died in separate clashes in Dang and Surkhet districts in mid-western Nepal. According to home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, at least seven cadres of the Young Communist League (YCL), youth wing of the Maoists, were killed in an exchange of fire between security personnel and armed YCL cadres at Lamahi in Dang district Constituency-1 on Tuesday evening. “Two cadres died on the spot, while five others succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment,” he said. According to a police officer, the security personnel opened fire after scores of armed Maoist cadres started firing at a police team escorting Nepali Congress candidate Khum Bahadur Khadka around 8 pm yesterday, while he was returning from the Belarajapur area to his residence at Satbariya. However, the Maoists refuted the allegation and accused that the police had mercilessly opened fire to its cadres. Meanwhile, Khadka on Wednesday announced to boycott Thursday’s elections citing poor law and order situation and possible life threat from the Maoists. Similarly, an UML candidate contesting the elections from Surkhet district constituency-1, Rishi Prasad Sharma, was shot dead last evening at Mainatada VDC of Surkhet in mid-western Nepal. According to Sitaula, an unidentified gang gun downed Sharma while he was returning his residence. Meanwhile, CPN-UML leaders have claimed that the Congress leaders and supporters were involved in the incident. However, the Congress party has refuted the allegation. Following the incident the local administrations clamped curfew in both districts in Dang and Surkhet to avoid further untoward incidents. Meanwhile, another YCL cadre and a Congress activist were killed in Surkhet in separate incidents. Following the incident, a group of UML cadres attacked an NC cadre and killed inside his house this afternoon. Meanwhile, top leaders of the three parties — Prime Minister and NC president Girija Prasad Koirala, UML chief Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoists chairman Puspa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, — have appealed to all people to exercise restraint and make the elections a success. Nepal King asks people to vote fearlessly
At a time when the major political parties are contesting the Constituent Assembly elections as means to formally abolish 240-year-old monarchy from Nepal, King Gyanendra has appealed to all eligible people to participate in the election and exercise their franchise in a free and fair atmosphere. In a message addressed to the people “beloved countrymen” on the eve of election on Wednesday, Gyanendra, whose all political and cultural rights have been stripped off by the interim parliament following the April uprising in 2006 and who has no rights to exercise franchise in the election, has urged all adult Nepali citizens to exercise their democratic franchise in a free and fair environment maintaining harmony and unity in the crucial polls. “We request all Nepalese citizens who are eligible to vote to exercise their democratic right in the April 10 Constituent Assembly elections in a free, fair and fear-free environment, maintaining the mutual harmony and unity,” he further stated.
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Max sentence sought for Indian-American couple
New York, April 9 Prosecutors have sought a prison term of 12 to 15 years for Varsha's Indian-born husband Mahender. After a six-week trial, the couple with flourishing international perfume business was convicted by a jury in December for torturing two Indonesian women they had kept as domestic help as also harbouring illegal aliens. US district judge Arthur Spatt is due to sentence Varsha on May 30 and Mahender on June 6. But their attorneys consider the sentence too harsh and are expected to file their recommendation. The federal probation officials too have filed their recommendations which are confidential but Newsday reported today that they have recommended that Varsha be sentenced to between 9 and 11 years and Mahender to between five and half and seven years. The paper said the recommendations by assistant US attorneys Mark Lesko and Demetri Jones were in response to a set of confidential sentencing recommendations made to Spatt by federal probation officials. They said those factors included "using a minor to commit a crime," the use of dangerous weapons and Varsha Sabhnani's role as the leader of "a criminal activity that involved five or more participants." Indonesia-born Varsha was sent to jail after the verdict but her husband Mahender was allowed to remain in home detention until sentencing. The couple, who has has four children, was arrested in mid-May after one of the Indonesian women was found loitering near a restaurant wearing only a towel and pants. — PTI
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Australia top cop in UK
Sydney, April 9 Keelty and attorney-general Robert McClelland have flown to Britain for talks with their counterparts on cooperation in security, intelligence and terrorism investigations and the case of former Gold Coast registrar Haneef, who eight months ago returned home to Bangalore, The Australian newspaper said. The trip comes after a bungled terrorism investigation by Australian police into Haneef, which is costing the taxpayer a whopping Australian $8 million ($7 million). There are still nine AFP staff working full time on Haneef's case. The 28-year-old was charged with recklessly providing support to a terrorist organisation by giving his mobile phone SIM card to his cousin Sabeel Ahmed, one of the men accused in the botched British bomb attacks. Former immigration minister Kevin Andrews cancelled his work visa, just hours after a magistrate granted him bail on July 16, 2007, ensuring his continued incarceration. The charges against Haneef were dropped and he returned home last year. In December 2007, the new immigration minister Chris Evans reinstated his visa after the Labour government came to power. A judicial inquiry to probe the handling of the failed terrorism case against Haneef is expected to start this month. — IANS
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Scotland Yard begins probe against Di’s butler
London, April 9 Burrell was secretly filmed recently, confessing that he had not told the "whole truth" at the inquest into the death of the Princess of Wales who was killed, alongside her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed, in a Paris car crash 10 years back. "In view of the complaint received, the Metropolitan Police Service has a duty to look at whether Paul Burrell should be considered for perjury," Scotland Yard said in a statement. The jurors at the inquest had on Monday ruled that Diana and Dodi were "unlawfully" killed by the drunken driving of their speeding chauffeur Henri Paul and by the antics of chasing paparazzi. After the verdict, Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker, who had earlier savaged Burrell as "shabby" in his summing up to the jury, said he was "not minded" himself to ask police to investigate — which appeared to let Burrell off the hook. Fayed to abandon legal bid
Harrod’s boss Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son died with Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997, has said he was abandoning his legal bid to prove that the couple was murdered in a conspiracy, drawing the curtain on the decade-old investigation into the incident. A day after an inquest jury returned the verdict of unlawful killing due to “gross negligence” of the couple’s driver and the paparazzi trailing their car, the Egyptian millionaire said he accepted the verdict but “with reservations”. He declared that “enough is enough” and said he would leave it to God “to get my revenge” on those who ‘murdered” the Princess and his son Dodi Al Fayed. His statement comes after British Prime minister Gordon Brown issued a clear warning to the businessman to give up his fight and accept the jury’s verdict because any further investigation into his allegations of murder plot masterminded by Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, and executed by British secret agents Mi6, could divert the resources of the security services from anti-terrorist work. Referring to the statement issued by Diana’s sons Princes William and Harry that they were satisfied with the verdicts, the premier said: “I think they have spoken for the whole country when they say this is time to bring this to an end.
— PTI
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Pak assures US on war against terror
Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has assured United States secretary of state Condoleezza Rice that Pakistan would continue its role in the fight against terrorism.
According to a foreign office spokesperson, Rice telephoned Qureshi to congratulate him on assuming office as foreign minister. Qureshi said that economic development of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and other under-developed regions would strengthen Pakistan's efforts against terrorism. Rice said she would work towards an early adoption of legislation in the US Congress to allow duty-free imports from the ROZs to the Us. She reaffirmed Washington's commitment to further strengthen relations with Pakistan and invited Qureshi to visit the US.
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India calls for N-weapons
free world
United Nations, April 9 Addressing the substantive session of the Disarmament Commission, Indian ambassador to the United Nations Nirupam Sen appealed to member states to use the UN forum for an intense dialogue and strengthen the international community to initiate concrete steps for a nuclear weapons-free world. Sen also stressed the necessity for a global agreement on "no first use" of nuclear weapons and called for negotiation of a convention on complete prohibition of use or threat to use such arms. He asked the commission to send a "strong signal" of the international community's resolve to initiate concrete steps towards achieving the objective of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Taking into account the global reach and menace of nuclear weapons, he said nuclear-weapon states should reduce nuclear danger.
— PTI
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7 killed in clashes between Mush men, opponents Karachi, April 9 Television footage showed a policeman firing shots into the air to disperse angry mobs that were setting fire to cars and petrol pumps. A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of two men who, according to hospital officials, were killed in shooting. Five charred bodies were later recovered from an office building which was set on fire, the police said. “The violence erupted in various parts of the city and protesters set on fire several vehicles,” a senior police officer, Azhar Farooqui, said. “The situation is tense but under control,” he said. The violence broke out after anti-Musharraf lawyers clashed in court with his supporters. The city has been tense since angry protesters assaulted Arbab Ghulam Rahim, a Musharraf supporter and former chief minister of Sindh, on Monday as he was coming out of provincial assembly in Karachi. President Pervez Musharraf expressed shock over the violence and directed authorities to take all necessary measures to ensure peace and calm. He also directed them to bring the “perpetrators and disruptive elements to justice”. Musharraf appealed to the people to cooperate with law enforcement personnel in ensuring peace and tranquillity in the metropolis. — Agencies
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Just couple of hours ahead of the historic Constituent Assembly (CA) polls, a few parts of Nepal witnessed bloody clashes and poll-related violence that claimed 10 lives. The elections to the Constituent Assembly will be held tomorrow and 17.6 million persons are eligible to vote to decide the future political system for the Himalayan state.
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