 |
|
|
US rejects Pak plea for military aid
Restoration of Judges
Australia to deport 11 Indian workers
Papers not given to Haneef’s lawyer
British Airways takes beef off menu
|
|
|
Indian denied bail in compatriot’s murder case
8 die in Lanka poll violence
Myanmar seizes UN relief material
|
|
US rejects Pak plea for military aid
Silicon Valley, May 9 The Pentagon turned down or delayed more than $ 81 million requested by Pakistan in February following criticism that Islamabad has squandered the US funding and allowed Al-Qaeda to rebuild a haven in its tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, the Los Angeles Times reported. "In private, the US officials have acknowledged that they had little oversight of Pakistan's spending," the paper said. The US officials have said that Pakistan used much of the military aid to pay for heavy equipment suited for a regional conflict with India than for counter-insurgency operations in the frontier territories. Pakistan has received close to a billion dollars a year since 2001 through a programme called Coalition Support Funds. The programme was set up for anti-terrorism operations along Pakistan's border The newspaper quoting the report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said although the rejection represented a small portion of the nearly $ 6 billion Islamabad has received for anti-terrorism programme since 2001, it marked a change in policy towards Pakistan, which has been getting American military aid without needing to show results. Johnson, the author of the GAO report, said the agency was still examining where the military aid went and planned a more detailed account next month. — PTI
|
|
Pak Assembly unlikely to meet on May 12
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad Federal Law Minster Farooq A Naik on Friday doubted that the deadline for the National Assembly session to meet on May 12 for restoration of judges would be met. Talking to reporters out of the Parliament House, Naik said a joint session of Parliament could be convened for the restoration of judges on May 12, but hastened to add that apparent it seemed unlikely. He said differences prevailed between members of the committee over the mode in which the judges were to be restored. Naik also said if the PCO judges were to be retained, a separate Bill would be introduced in Parliament for increasing the number of Supreme Court judges. Two top leaders of the ruling coalition, Asif Zardari of the PPP and Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N were due to meet in London later this evening to marry the conflicting reports on the draft resolution that would provide basis for an executive order for restitute of deposed judges. Constitutional experts, Aitzaz Ahsan and Hafeez Pirzada were not shown the draft resolution. Both differed with each other on the question modalities for reinstatement of deposed judges. While Pirzada insisted that this could be done only through a constitutional amendment. The draft resolution approved by PML-N clearly condemns the November 3 action by Musharraf, including imposition of emergency and purge of judiciary was unconstitutional and void. This, an ordinary executive order could restore judges while drawing political strength from the resolution.
|
|
|
Australia to deport 11 Indian workers
Melbourne, May 9 “Immigration officers located 12 illegal workers and uncovered evidence of possible exploitation and fraudulent migration activity during a two-night operation in the New South Wales Riverina,” minister for immigration and citizenship Chris Evans said. “Six unlawful non-citizens, three men and three women, were detained in Griffith. All were Indian nationals,” he said, adding “another four Indian nationals, three men and a woman, were detained for working in breach of their visa conditions while an Indian man and a Pakistani man were also located and found to be unlawful non-citizens”. Evans said the detained people were believed to have been working in the horticultural industry on several farms in the region. All originally arrived in Australia legally with valid visas. The operation was part of an ongoing investigation into illegal workers in the area and conducted with the assistance of the state police. The minister said the Riverina operation had yielded evidence of possible worker exploitation and migration agent fraud. “Immigration officers obtained crucial information that will help further its investigation into the source of illegal labour in the region,” Evans said, adding “The Rudd government takes a zero-tolerance approach towards illegal workers and similarly, there are no excuses for employers who engage workers without valid visas”. — PTI
|
|
Papers not given to Haneef’s lawyer
Melbourne, May 9 The Immigration Department, which blocked the release of large numbers of documents relating to Haneef’s case under the Freedom of Information (FOI), rejected any possibility of releasing them, ‘The Australian’ said today.
Haneef’s lawyers had asked the court to overturn the Immigration Department’s decision that was said to jeopardise further investigations and discourage bureaucrats from giving frank advice to ministers, the report said. The move came as federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland’s office denied extending the inquiry to consider the actions of government agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, which maintains that Haneef was still a suspect and under investigation. The Indian doctor was charged with recklessly helping a terrorist organisation after his SIM card was allegedly found with a cousin linked to the failed UK car bombings last year. One of Haneef's lawyers, Rod Hodgson this week wrote to McClelland requesting an extension of the time period of investigations by Clarke to take in the current AFP probe. Clarke indicated that the scope of the inquiry was restricted to the time of Haneef’s arrest on July 2 last year to his flight to India on July 28. “We would suggest that, if Clarke is restricted in his inquiry to the events of July 2007, the major questions concerning the conduct of the AFP and its commissioner will remain unanswered,” Hodgson argued.
— PTI
|
|
British Airways takes beef off menu
London, May 9 The airline has switched to a fish pie or chicken dish option instead of the national dish, which has been a staple meal on the national carrier for decades. A BA spokesman said the it stopped serving beef to economy class passengers last month. ''We can only serve two options and beef and pork obviously have religious restrictions,'' he added. ''We have to try to use two meals which appeal to as many customers as possible. This summer season we are offering customers in World Traveller on most longhaul flights a choice of chicken and tarragon or fish pie,'' the spokesperson said. ''We also look at trends from major supermarkets to see what types of meals are popular and fish pie style meals are selling well at the moment,'' he informed. ''These two meals proved popular in tasting tests and are also proving popular on board,'' he claimed.
— UNI
|
|
Indian denied bail in compatriot’s murder case
London, May 9 He was remanded in custody, to appear at the Birmingham Crown Court next Friday. While identifying himself, he gave his address as 6, Montague Road, the same as the victim’s, which makes it clear that the two resided at the same place. The Judge denied him bail on the grounds that the charge was of a serious crime, that is murder. He said the defendant was an Indian national and did not have a “fixed abode” in Britain and so there could be no guarantee that he would abide by the bail conditions.
— UNI
|
|
|
8 die in Lanka poll violence At least eight persons were killed and more than 30 injured in the eastern Ampara district on the eve of a historic election to the provincial council in Sri Lanka on May 10. This was the worst case of election-related violence since the date of the poll was set more than a month ago and comes amidst allegations from Opposition political parties that the election will not be free and fair. The Defence ministry promptly blamed Tamil Tigers for the blast and said it as aimed at disrupting normalcy in the area. The ruling party has formed an alliance with a former rebel group lead by Sivanesan Chadrakanthan who is more popularly known as Pilliyan. Opposition parties contesting the polls say that armed cadres belonging to the group are intimidating their political opponents. It is the first election to the eastern provincial council which was demerged from the north last year after the country’s supreme court ruled that the merger of the two provinces, which came about after the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, was unconstitutional. Several areas in the eastern province were under control of Tamil rebels until late last year but since troops ousted them from these areas, the government has launched a development drive there and has worked to set up democratically elected bodies to restore civil administration in these areas.
|
|
|
Myanmar seizes UN relief material Yangon, May 9 “All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated,” said Paul Risley, a spokesman of the World Food Programme in Bangkok. He said the seized aid, including 38 tons of high-energy biscuits, arrived on two flights from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “It is being held by the government. We are waiting resolution of this matter,” he said. Meanwhile, more than 1 million people made homeless in last Saturday’s cyclone waited for food, shelter and medicine. Many crammed into Buddhist monasteries or just camped out in the open. Entire villages were submerged in the worst hit Irrawaddy delta, with bodies floating in salty water and children ripped from their parents’ arms. The WFP had sent some aid on a scheduled Thai Airways cargo flight yesterday, which went through without a hitch. Another flight carrying Italian aid also came in yesterday. But a bureaucratic mix-up led to the seizure when the two flights landed today, Risley said. Until it is freed, the UN will send no more aid, Risley said. — AP
|
WASHINGTON LONDON London 
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Videos
