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17 Indian fishermen arrested
Obama picks first black AG
PML-N stages walk out
Six fallen Indian journalists honoured
Ex-French PM to stand trial
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B’desh General Elections
Suspected US
strike kills 4 in Pak Al-Qaida warns ‘house
negro’ Obama
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Colombo, November 19 The fishermen had set out to sea on Monday night in 100 boats, five of which were seized by the Sri Lankan Navy, they said. The boats and the crew were being held at Kankesanthurai, declared as a high-security zone, in northern Sri Lanka. They were caught in areas prohibited for civilian movement in an island away from Kankesanthurai, an official said. Later, the fishermen were produced in a magistrate’s court in Kayts’ Island in the region. “On the face of it, they seem to be genuine fishermen and could be released within three weeks if nothing unexpected emerges against them during questioning,” the official said. The detention of Indian fishermen is the first such incident in the past four months. The Coastal Security Police in Tamil Nadu has asked fishermen to carry identity cards issued by the Fisheries Department while venturing into the sea and not to cross the Indian maritime border. In September, the Sri Lankan government released 38 Indian fisherfolk after exempting them from any legal formalities after they inadvertently strayed into its territorial waters. — PTI
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Washington, November 19 “It is basically done. There’s some paperwork that they need to complete and some other things they want to vet a bit more, like the Marc Rich pardon during the Clinton administration. But unless something changes, I get the impression it’s done,” an Obama aide told FOX News. Marc Rich was the fugitive billionaire who was given a pardon by Clinton on his final day in office. Rich’s estranged wife, Denise Rich, was a high-paying donor to Clinton. On the last day of Clinton’s term, Holder was asked whether the president should pardon Rich, a wealthy commodities dealer who had spent years running from tax charges. Holder said he was “neutral, leaning towards favorable” on the pardon. Clinton later cited that as among the factors that persuaded him to issue the pardon. Holder has publicly apologised for what he said was a snap decision that he should have paid more attention to. Had he taken more time to review the case, he would have advised against a pardon, he said. An Obama official and two Democrats in touch with the transition team confirmed that Holder is Obama’s top choice, but the decision has not been finalised. CBS News reported Tuesday that Holder has accepted the job offer from Obama, but has not returned messages seeking comment. If he is nominated and confirmed, Holder would be the nation’s first black attorney general. — ANI
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PML-N stages walk out
The opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), on Wednesday staged its first protest walk-out in the National Assembly since breaking away from the ruling coalition in August last. PML-N MPs walked out of the House as a token to protest what they described as bulldozing of the Industrial Relations Bill 2008 that replaces IRO 2002 promulgated by Gen Pervez Musharraf (rtd) to curb activities of labour unions. The PML-N also took an exception to the authority vested in the President under the new bill instead of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to name the chairman of the Industrial Relations Commission. While the PML-Q supported the bill, the walk out by the PML-N invited barbs and taunts by its erstwhile ally, the PPP. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, while speaking in the House, regretted the PML-N walkout. “I think they should have supported the bill as it removes draconian measures enforced by a military dictator,” said Gilani, expressing his determination to repeal all black laws enacted in the past. The parliamentary affairs minister taunted the PML-N for opposing a pro-labour legislation, saying it proved who was on the side of the workers and who opposed restoration of their rights. Sen Raza Rabbani, federal minister and leader of the house in the Senate, said the PML-N’s opposition was puzzling as it had supported the bill in the upper house and helped its passage unanimously a month ago.
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Six fallen Indian journalists honoured
Stockholm, November 19 The memorial, instituted by the Professional Foreign Correspondents Association of Sweden 2002, was commemorated for the seventh consecutive year at the Royal Cathedral of Stockholm, in an ecumenical service on Tuesday. The six Indian journalists that featured in the memorial that has grown to become a global event of increasing repute were: Mohamad Muslimuddin, a correspondent for the daily Asamiya Pratidin, Ashok Sodhi, a photographer for Jammu’s English-language Daily Excelsior, Ved Prakash Chouhan, a senior journalist, Komal Yadav, a photographer of Amar Ujala, a Hindi Daily, Javed Ahmed Mir of a local Kashmir paper and Soumya Vishwanathan, a TV journalist, working with Headlines Today, who was shot dead in the capital. — IANS
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Ex-French PM to stand trial
Paris, November 19 Villepin has consistently denied wrongdoing in the case, dubbed the “Clearstream Affair”, in which he has been accused of trying to torpedo Sarkozy’s reputation with faked documents before the 2007 presidential election which Sarkozy won. The trial, likely to be an extended one, is expected to begin in 2010 and to reopen one of the more poisonous scandals of the era of former President Jacques Chirac. It will pick through a murky tale worthy of a modern-day Alexandre Dumas, featuring spies, secret bank accounts and subterfuge at the highest levels of the French state.
— Reuters
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B’desh General Elections Bangladesh plunged back into political crisis today as talks between its interim government and political parties broke down as they failed to agree on the date and rules for the upcoming general election. The government refused to meet a 48-hour ultimatum issued by the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) after holding a series of meetings with the country's two major political alliances largely surrounding demands to delay elections and to strip the Election Commission of cancelling candidatures. “Despite every means of communication and highest level of efforts, the Election Commission and the government could not reach a consensus with both alliances,” interim commerce minister Hossain Zillur Rahman said. Despite the setback, the government has urged the BNP to take part in the elections for the sake of “national interest and sustainable democracy”. The BNP on Monday said it would not take part in the polls if the government does not meet its demands, a move that would jeopardise the credibility of the elections that would restore democracy after two years under the current army-backed caretaker government. New electoral rules empower the Election Commission to cancel candidatures of individuals convicted or under investigation on corruption charges. The BNP has over 50 senior leaders serving long-term sentences in jail on corruption charges. The latest announcement has also driven a wedge between the BNP and its largest alliance partner Jamaat-e Islami that is now threatening to run in the elections separately. The BNP's main rival, the Awami League (AL), has backed the government’s decision to hold elections on December 18. The AL-led alliance is expected to win. As the country braced itself from a backlash from the BNP, the country's elite security forces surrounded the party offices and security was beefed up across the country.
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Suspected US strike kills 4 in Pak Peshawar, November 19 Janikhel does not belong to one of the Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal regions, but borders North Waziristan - a militant hotbed where the suspected US drone aircraft have launched a series of missile strikes in recent months. “It’s a drone attack and we have reports of four persons killed,” said Abdul Hameed, a senior government official in the region. Missile-armed drones are primarily used by the US forces in the region, though the US seldom confirms drone attacks. Pakistan does not have any. Intelligence officials said those killed were all foreigners and appeared to be Turkmen. A resident said Taliban fighters cordoned off the area after the missile attack. Many Taliban and the Al-Qaida fighters, including Arabs, Chechens, Turkmen, Uzbeks and other Central Asians, fled to Pakistan’s tribal lands after a US-led military invasion toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in late 2001. Frustrated by fighters from Pakistan fuelling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and fearful of the Al-Qaida regrouping, the US forces have intensified missile attacks by pilotless drones, security sources said. The US strikes have focused on north and south Waziristan where at least 20 missile attacks and a cross-border commando raid have killed scores of people since September. Pakistan objects to the attacks as a violation of its sovereignty and argues that the strikes undermine its efforts to persuade people to support campaigns against the militants, and heightens the already rampant anti-American sentiment.
—Reuters
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Al-Qaida warns ‘house negro’ Obama Dubai, November 19 Zawahiri insulted Obama and other black Americans, who have held high office in the US administration, with the term used by the late black militant leader Malcolm X. “It is true about you and people like you ... what Malcolm X said about the house negroes,” he said, naming former secretary of state Colin Powell and current secretary Condoleezza Rice. An English transcript of the speech, purportedly by the Al-Qaida number two, was provided by Al-Qaida’s media arm As-Sahab. The tape features an old speech by Malcolm X in which he used the two terms, referring to house slaves who were considered more docile and on better terms with their masters than the field slaves. On the political front, Zawahiri said: “What you have announced before ... that you will withdraw US troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan is a policy that is doomed to failure. If you still want to be stubborn about US’s failure in Afghanistan, then remember the fate of US President George W. Bush and Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf and the fate of the Soviets and British before them.” In the message made available by SITE Intelligence Group in the US, Zawahiri warned Obama of a “heavy legacy of failure” awaiting him in office. — AFP
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