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Illegal Immigration
Zardari: I may be PM, but in next term
Rawalpindi
Bypoll |
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Climate Change can cause Third World War
PIA not to be privatised
despite losses
Prophet’s Cartoon
Prince William appointed
garter knight
Blair caught short of cash
on train
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Indian-origin shopkeeper gets 5-yr jail term
London, April 23 Asif Patel, 32, from Daubhill, North England, was sentenced in the Leicester Crown Court this week, while his accomplices received their sentences in January following an extensive investigation into illegal immigration. The smugglers forged people and stole documents to bring Indian citizens illegally into Britain via South Africa. Holders of South African passports can enter Britain as visitors for a period of six months. The investigation, which began in September 1999 after an illegal passport-making factory was busted in a house in Leicester, was led by Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and spanned several countries. Other members of the people smuggling gang were sentenced to various periods of imprisonment at the Leicester Crown Court. The gang earned millions of pounds by their activities by charging nearly £ 8,000 (about $ 15,500) per person to enter Britain illegally. In some cases, after the Indian nationals were brought into Britain via South Africa, they were then facilitated to travel to Canada or the US through the collusion of a corrupt official at the Heathrow airport. The accomplices of Patel- Sajid Bhikhi, 40, and Asif Bhikhi, 38, both of west London, and Soyab Patel, 25, of north London, were sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to facilitate illegal entry into Britain. Another accomplice Sikander Patel, 36, from Leicester, was jailed for three-and-a-half years. Sabbir Patel, 31, from Leicester, was jailed for two-and-a-half years. Judge William Everard recommended the deportation of those defendants who had not yet secured British citizenship. The gang members were also accused of being involved in the forging of documents. — PTI
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Zardari: I may be PM, but in next term
PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari has said he has no plans to become the Prime Minister in the current term of the assembly. “I will enter the House as a parliamentarian and not as a prospective Prime Minister”, Zardari told a TV channel in an interview. Apparently dispelling the devastating impact on the writ of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of his earlier observation that he may become “if needed”, Zardari said, “Gilani is our Prime Minister and will continue to be so”. Asked how would he define the situation that may compel him to assume the office of the Prime Minister, Zardari quipped, “May be in the next term”. He said he will contest election probably from Rawalpindi on the seat vacated by PML-N leader Javed Hashmi. Replying to another question, he said there was no decision as yet to award a ticket to Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan. Zardari said his spouse Benazir Bhutto was a candidate from The Larkana seat and so the seat would now go to their son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, when he qualifies for it.
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Ahsan’s bid to contest scuttled
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari appears to have scuttled Aitzaz Ahsan’s bid to seek election in the byelection from Rawalpindi on the seat vacated by PML-N leader Javed Hashmi. There has been some friction between the two leaders because of Zardari’s disapproval of the high-profile role played by Aitzaz in the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of deposed judges.
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Climate Change can cause Third World War
London, April 23 The response to the threats posed by climate change, such as rising sea levels and migration, had so far been “slow and inadequate,” because nations had failed to prepare for the worst-case scenario, the report-Delivering Climate Security: International Security Responses to a Climate-Changed World-stated. A tenfold increase in research spending, comparable to the amount spent on the Apollo space programme, would be needed if the world was to avoid the worst effects of changing temperatures, the Telegraph quoted author Nick Mabey as saying. “Climate impacts will force us into a radical rethink of how we identify and secure our national interests,” he said, adding, “Our energy and climate security will increasingly depend on stronger alliances with other large energy consumers, such as China, to develop and deploy new energy technologies, and less on relations with oil producing states.”
— UNI
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PIA not to be privatised
despite losses
Losses of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have swelled to Rs 13 billion in 2007, the government informed the National Assembly here but pledged it would not privatise the national carrier.
“We will do our best to cut the losses and bring the airliner back to solvency instead of selling it to any private company,” defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar stated in the Assembly. The minister said the PIA had suffered an accumulated loss of Rs 30.5 billion in the past three years (from 2005 to 2007) — Rs 4.4 billion in 2005, Rs 12.7 billion in 2006 and Rs 13.3 billion in 2007. He said though the rising fuel cost was the main reason behind the massive losses, besides heavy borrowings from banks and the ban imposed by the EU. He said Rs 3 billion loss was caused by the EU ban on the PIA aircraft. The PIA was not provided any subsidy by the government like Wapda and the corporation had to meet its deficit through bank borrowings, he added.
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Denmark moves embassy staff
Copenhagen, April 23 “There was a change in the security situation and we decided that it was necessary due to the situation locally,” said Erik Laursen, a spokesman for the ministry, who added the decision was based on new intelligence. He did not elaborate. Embassy employees in Algiers were relocated a few days ago, while those in Kabul were moved today. They continue to work remotely, Laursen said. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service earlier this month warned of an aggravated terror threat level against Danish interests in North Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It said the threat level had sharpened since Danish newspapers reprinted earlier this year a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad as a protest over a plot to murder the cartoonist. The cartoon depicts Mohammad wearing a bomb in his turban. — Reuters
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Prince William appointed
garter knight
London, April 23 “The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales to be a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. Founded by Edward III in 1348, the Order of the Garter is the highest and the oldest British Order of Knighthood. With his appointment, William has become the 1,000 Garter Knight.
— PTI
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Blair caught short of cash
on train
London, April 23 The 54-year-old mega-rich Middle East envoy recently jumped on the Heathrow Express, which allows passengers to buy a ticket on board. But when the ticket collector came to first class, a red-faced Blair could not cough up the 24.50 pounds fare as he did not have enough cash in his wallet, the ‘Daily Star’ reported today.
— PTI
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