 |
|
|
Senate vote on N-deal today, says Reid
UN Secy-Gen to visit Nepal
Hasina’s bail plea rejected
Indian expert appointed in N. Ireland law panel
Lal Masjid denies
fatwa against Zardari
|
|
|
No N-cooperation with Pak: US
Countering Terror
Nobel laureate predicts Obama win, recession
|
|
Senate vote on N-deal today, says Reid
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is urging colleagues in the Senate to take up the US-India nuclear deal for a debate on Tuesday followed by a vote, which sources say could take place on Wednesday.
Many lawmakers were not present on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as they were away celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Reid said on Monday that the India nuclear deal would come up for a vote on Wednesday. “We're working to see if we can complete an agreement to move and complete the Indian nuclear treaty also on the same day, that would be Wednesday,” he said. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, added: “And that would allow all afternoon today [Monday], all day on Tuesday, and Wednesday to work on those two items.” Critics of the deal complain that lawmakers are flouting US laws in their rush to get the nuclear deal done. Henry Sokolski, in a commentary in Forbes, wrote: “Voting, as the House did September 27 and as Senate Majority Reid wants to do this week, contradicts the rules. In fact, the law, which everyone is at pains to claim they're not undermining -- the Henry J. Hyde United States and India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act of 2006 -- specifies that the Congress is supposed to hold off voting on the deal until it sits in the docket at least 30 days.” While the House approved the nuclear deal bill 298-117 on Saturday, Senate action has been blocked by a group of anonymous senators who have placed a “hold” on the legislation. Sources say Reid has asked these senators to drop their opposition to the deal. If they do not relent, he would keep the Senate active in what is known as a pro forma session. A pro forma session is a daily meeting of the House or Senate during which no votes are held and no legislative business is conducted. The session “in form only” is held for purposes of meeting the three-day rule in the Constitution. It requires each House to gain the permission of the other for recesses longer than three days. When the permission is not forthcoming, or not requested in time, the affected chamber convenes briefly with hardly anyone in attendance and then adjourns. A pro forma would allow the deal to lie in Congress for the stipulated 30 days after which it must be taken up for a debate and vote. In this event, Reid would summon senators back to Washington after two weeks, by which time the deal would have completed 30 days.
|
|
UN Secy-Gen to visit Nepal
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is arriving Nepal on a two-day visit to Nepal on October 30 on the invitation of Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prchanda.
Talking to journalists upon his arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport wrapping his 10-day visit to New York where he attended the UN General Assembly, Nepal’s Prime Minister and CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda said the UN Secretary-General has accepted his invitation and agreed to arrive in Nepal on October 30. During his meeting with the UNSG in New York on the sidelines of the General Assembly, PM Dahal had invited him to assess the ongoing peace process in the Himalayan nation. According to a government source, Ban Ki-moon has also expressed willingness to visit the birthplace of Lord Buddha in Lumbini, in western Terai of Nepal during his visit. Prachanda also claimed that his New York visit, where he met the heads of the states from various countries, including the US President George W. Bush and persuaded them to cooperate with Nepal in its effort to bring peace, stability and economic prosperity, was very fruitful.
|
|
|
Hasina’s bail plea rejected
Dhaka, September 30 A Vacation Bench of Justice Sheikh Rezwan Ali and Justice M Rais Uddin in the verdict said the law required her to appear before the court for getting the bail but there was no urgency in granting her the bail since she had already been freed by an executive order for medical treatment. Hasina, now in the USA , is seeking bail in an extortion case filed by businessman Noor Ali. “The petition was rejected on technical grounds," a senior lawyer said. Meanwhile, Hasina's counsel Rafique-ul Huq told reporters that he would appeal against the High Court's verdict to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court as her release on an executive order might bar her from contesting the elections scheduled for December 18 this year. Additional Attorney-General Mansur Habib, who represented the government in the hearing, in a surprising comment said, the court's refusal to grant bail to Hasina might have a negative impact on the current political situation of the country ahead of the polls. But the lawyer who opposed the bail during the hearing, however, said the court could not run to serve the political interests.
— PTI
|
|
|
Indian expert appointed in N. Ireland law panel
London, September 30 Iyer, who is a barrister by training, joined the university in 1995. A former Nuffield Press Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, his areas of specialisation include constitutional law and media law. He has worked as a consultant to several government and non-governmental organisations, and held training courses in media law and ethics for media organisations around the world.
— PTI
|
|
Lal Masjid denies fatwa against Zardari
Afzal Khan writes Islamabad The episode in which Zardari praised Sarah Palin as “gorgeous” and said he could even “hug” her when asked by an aide to again shake hands, has generated a heated controversy in Pakistan. Critics have described the remarks as improper and Zardari's conduct below the dignity required of a head of state. An online service Whiz News reported that Lal Masjid's prayer leader, Maulana Abdul Ghaffar, during a sermon described Zardari's remarks as “indecent” and that the President's "un-Islamic" act had shamed the entire nation. The report was published in an Indian daily and became a hot topic for the TV channels in New Delhi. "There is no truth in this report,” said Mufti Amir Siddique, described by official APP news agency as Lal Masjid's spokesman. He accused Indian channels of spreading such rumours to 'destabilise" Pakistan.
|
|
|
No N-cooperation with Pak: US US ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson has ruled out the possibility of the United States extending any cooperation to Pakistan in nuclear energy sector on the pattern of its deal with India. “The issue involves a lot of persuasion and legislation in the Congress,” the ambassador told members of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry at an iftar dinner reception in Lahore last evening. She said the US did not want to destabilise Pakistan, rather it was making efforts to make the country a stable and economically viable state. Anne Patterson said the United States wanted long-term, broad-based relations with Pakistan, adding Washington would announce a $100 million package for its agriculture sector soon. It would continue and increase bilateral trade and investment in Pakistan. She said despite some economic difficulties, the volume of trade between the two countries had been increasing and the fact remained that the US was the largest single investor and donor of the country. She said as many as 90 new US development projects in social sector were in the pipeline that would get a final shape as soon as the situation in Pakistan took a positive turn. Expressing optimism about the Pakistan-US trade relations, she said Pakistan had a huge potential in energy and IT sectors.
|
|
|
Countering Terror
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has constituted two committees to work out a national counter-terrorism strategy in accordance with the government's three-pronged policy of development, dialogue and deterrence or use of force as a last resort to fight extremism.
The committees were formed at a high-level meeting presided over by the Prime Minister, information minister Sherry Rehman told reporters here on Tuesday. Short and long-term policies to combat terrorism were also discussed at the meeting.The committees would submit their reports and recommendations to the government within two weeks.
|
|
|
Nobel laureate predicts Obama win, recession
Rome, September 30 "The next President of the United States will be Barack Obama," Stiglitz told the Italian daily La Stampa in an interview. "In a situation like this, there's no way the Americans will return the party of the outgoing President to the White House." He added: "In the markets, we'll see the Dow Jones index fall more steeply than we can imagine today. We will have other dramatic failure of financial institutions. The American economy is headed into a long recession." In such an economic situation, "I think there is little doubt how the November elections will turn out," said Stiglitz, a former vice-president of the World Bank and adviser to ex-US President Bill Clinton. "We are in the midst of the worst crisis of the last century, and until we've reached the bottom we cannot climb back up," he said.
— AFP
|
37 killed in Pak accident 10 killed after boat sinks Russia to build 26 N-power reactors Suicides among Indians
on the rise in UAE Janet Jackson hospitalised 
|
| 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 | |
