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Maoists miss deadline to form consensus govt
Mush faces trust vote: Report
McCartney pens love song for Heather
Oath in Hindi
Bush admn to place N-deal before Congress on Sept 8
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Iran faces new deadline in nuclear row Quake hits China’s Sichuan province Zardari, Sharif talks inconclusive Americans, Indians still wary of China: Poll
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Maoists miss deadline to form consensus govt
Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, on Tuesday requested President Ram Baran Yadav to extend deadline to form the new government by three more days. As the Maoist, the largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA), failed to persuade all 24 political parties in the CA and garner their support to form a consensus government under its leadership, the Maoist supremo reached at Rastrapati Bhawan in Sital Niwas on Tuesday and made such request to the President. Emerging from the meeting, Prachanda said, “As per the decision made by the big-four parties - CPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) - to carry out necessary homework, I have requested the President to cooperate with the parties by extending the deadline by three more days.” He also said the President has agreed to do so. “Within the next three days we (parties) will do homework for drafting Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the new government and settle down the issue of power sharing among the parties to form a consensus government,” he added. On last Tuesday, the President had invited the Maoists to come forward with political consensus and form a government by Tuesday. Earlier, a meeting of big-four parties held on Tuesday at the Parliamentary party office of Maoists in Singha Durbar had reached the decision to request the President to extend the deadline for the formation of new government. The meeting also decided to form a four-party taskforce to work out and draft the CMP and policies instead of Maoist proposed 50-point CMP of the new government to be formed through a political consensus. Likewise, issues such as the implementation of past agreements, drafting a new constitution and taking the peace process to a logical end were also discussed at the meeting.
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Islamabad, August 5 PPP sources said the move is designed to provide a respectable way out for Musharraf and save the coalition from breaking up. The move will also clear the way for reinstating the judges deposed by Musharraf during last year’s emergency by allowing them to be administered a fresh oath by a new democratically elected President, the Dawn newspaper reported on Tuesday. The move was reportedly discussed by the top leadership of the PPP at a meeting chaired by by party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad on Monday. It is also expected to be taken up at a meeting today between PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Zardari to decide the future of the coalition. The reinstatement of the deposed judges has become a divisive issue for the coalition, with the PML-N insisting that they be restored through a Parliamentary resolution. However, the PPP has linked the restoration of the judges to a controversial constitutional reforms package. Musharraf’s attorneys, Malik Qayyum and Sharifuddin Pirzada, had given an assurance to the Supreme Court in 2007 that the President would get a fresh vote of confidence from the new Parliament after the 2008 general election. On the basis of this assurance, the apex court had allowed the announcement of the results of last year’s Presidential election. — PTI
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McCartney pens love song for Heather
London, August 5 The former Beatle member has recorded an acoustic ballad ‘My Soul’ in collaboration with Asian-influenced electronic music composer and performer Nitin Sawhney - the track is due to be
released this October in a new album called ‘London Undersound’. “Paul has done a track about how he feels about Heather and what is going on with the paparazzi because no one has heard his side of it at all - so this will be the first time anyone will hear a song relating to that subject. It’s very emotional and a very powerful song,” Sawhney told 'The Daily Telegraph'. In the track, Sir Paul sings of Mills rescuing him from the dark days after the death of his first wife Linda from breast cancer in 1998. He also sings of how his soul and Mill’s heart are now “two worlds apart”. Indicating their relationship could have turned out differently, Sir Paul sings: “We could climb every mountain, swim through every sea. When all the world is asleep we could set ourselves.” A string of colourful tales emerged about Mills only after the couple’s four-year-old marriage broke down in 2006. One persistent rumour for example - which Mills has always denied - involved her being a “high-class call girl”. Soft porn images of her also came to light after the pair separated.
— PTI
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Nepal’s VP misses SC deadline
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu Nepal's vice-president Paramananda Jha missed the deadline to furnish his explanation at the Supreme Court for using Hindi language while taking the oath of office and secrecy. According to an official at the apex court of Nepal, Jha did not produce his explanation in this regard till this evening. The official also informed that as per the existing legal provision, the court might issue another order to Jha asking him to produce an explanation in 35 days. Seven days ago, single bench of Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma at the apex court had issued a directive to the government of Nepal and vice-president Jha to produce their explanations within a week. However, the government of Nepal had sent its written reply to the court recently, saying that it was a political issue that should not be entertained by the court. As the newly elected Indian-origin Nepali citizen Jha took the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi language, various students unions and people from different walks of life had started nationwide protest against him saying that it was an blatant attack against the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and interim constitution. Thereafter, an advocate and central committee member of the Rastriya Janashakti Party Bal Krishna Neupane had lodged a petition against Jha at the Supreme Court.
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Bush admn to place N-deal before Congress on Sept 8
Washington, August 5 "Hopefully, we'll be able to represent this to Congress on September 8", acting US state department spokesman Gonzalo Gonzales said here yesterday. He said the US was looking forward to discussing the Indo-US civilian nuclear initiative with the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which is expected to meet in Vienna on August 21. "We've stated often... our support for this deal and the belief that it's important not only for bilateral relationship but also world nuclear security. "But now that the IAEA has voted, we're going to look to discuss this issue with members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We're hoping to get a positive result out of that some time next month," Gonzales said. "And then, hopefully, we'll be able to represent this to Congress on September 8," he added, in a reference to the date lawmakers are returning for their session after the summer recess.
— PTI
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Iran faces new deadline in nuclear row Tehran, August 5 But Iran insisted the message delivered to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was not a response to the latest offer drawn up by the major powers to end the five-year crisis over Tehran’s nuclear drive. “The message delivered today is not Iran’s response to the six countries,” a source with the Supreme National Security Council said on condition of anonymity, without elaborating. The Western warnings of fresh sanctions came as Iran declared that it could block the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial Gulf waterway through which much of the world’s oil supplies passed. Britain had warned that the lack of a positive answer from Tehran by today would leave the powers with “no choice” but to ask the UN Security Council to take further punitive measures. The new deadline was set after Iran ignored a previous demand to respond by last weekend to the package being offered by the permanent Security Council members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and Germany. The United States and its allies fear the programme is a cover for developing nuclear weapons, a claim vehemently denied by Tehran, which insists its aim is to generate electricity for its growing population.
— AFP
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Quake hits China’s Sichuan province
Beijing, August 5 There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the 6.0-magnitude quake, whose epicentre was 1,253 km (778 miles) southwest of Beijing. The magnitude of May’s quake was 7.9. The Olympic torch was paraded in the capital of earthquake-hit Sichuan province today on its journey to Beijing, where the games will open on Friday.
— Reuters
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Zardari, Sharif talks inconclusive The marathon meeting between Asif Zardari of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) to sort out differences over vital issues that threaten to break their unity ended inconclusively today. Sources said the two sides struck a convergence on the procedure to ouster President Pervez Musharraf, whom they described as the major hurdle in the smooth functioning of the democratic government. The leaders decided to meet again tomorrow and invited the other two partners of the four-party coalition -- the Awami National Party (ANP) led by Asfandyar Wali Khan and the Jamiat Ulema Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rehman. It was felt that a consensus be evolved on the future status of Musharraf. The sources said it was decided to move a resolution in Parliament asking Musharraf to seek a vote of confidence as was promised by him at the time of his election from outgoing assemblies on October 8 last year. Both sides believe that his election was unconstitutional.
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Americans, Indians still wary of China: Poll
London, August 5 Almost 50 per cent Americans view China as more of a threat than an ally, according to the poll by the BBC. It says that in South Korea and India people were also more inclined to see China as a threat, although in Britain and Brazil — a key trading partner — more people viewed China as an ally than a threat. Overall, most people see the Chinese people as “friendly” and “modern” — only in South Korea did a majority disagree. “May be one of the most surprising things in the poll is that even though China as a country has been isolated from the outside world for such a long time, majorities in Britain, the US and India still see the Chinese as ‘friendly’ and over half in the US and Britain think that the Chinese are like them,” says Sam Mountford, research director of GlobeScan who carried out the poll. Interestingly, in every country polled, younger people were more likely than those over 35 to see China as an ally rather than a threat.
— PTI
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