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Mumbai Attacks
Rushdie: All terror roads lead to Pak
Rwanda’s Bagosora gets life term for genocide
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Nude Pics on Handbag
Hint of Queen’s ouster from church sparks row
Crunch Time
Scribe who threw shoes seeks pardon
Mercedes gift for shoe-thrower
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Mumbai Attacks
Islamabad, December 18 There was still no conclusive evidence to substantiate the claims that the attacks were orchestrated from Pakistani soil, the president told the BBC yesterday. Zardari, however, added that Pakistan was prepared to act if adequate evidence of any Pakistani complicity in the attacks emerged. He said Western intelligence agencies had not offered firm evidence to justify claims that the attacks were orchestrated from Pakistani soil. Zardari claims that the lone surviving attacker had been identified by his own father as coming from Pakistan had not been proven. Zardari said Hafiz Saeed, the leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, would remain under house arrest. “Let me assure you that if there is any investigation to be found pointing towards his involvement in any form of terrorism, he shall be tried for that reason,” he said. Zardari said he had asked India to cooperate in the investigation and he would not leap to judgement while that investigation was continuing. Separately, he said yesterday that the fight against militancy in the country was imperative having no alternative as the militants wanted to capture political power through use of force to impose their own political agenda, which the government would never allow. Talking with members of the National Assembly and senators from tribal regions and other stakeholders in an interactive dialogue on the situation in their areas, tribal areas, he said the government was committed to doing all that was required to strengthen the law-enforcement agencies on the one hand and to embark on a massive socio-economic development programme in the tribal areas, on the other. He said the socio-economic development was a necessary tool for fighting militancy and this factor was increasingly being recognised by the international community. — UNI
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Rushdie: All terror roads lead to Pak
New York, December 18 Participating in a panel discussion at the Asia Society, Rushdie said the terror attacks in Mumbai were marked by brutality by the attackers and incompetence of the government and security agencies in responding to them. During the discussion, panellists agreed that all terrorism roads lead to Pakistan and expressed scepticism that Islamabad would dismantle the terror groups. They said the world should send a clear message to Islamabad that terrorists are becoming a liability for Pakistan and it is in its own interest to dismantle them. The Bush administration, too, came in for strong criticism for considering former President Pervez Musharraf an “ally in fighting terrorism” and giving billions of dollars to him without any condition that the money should be used to fight terrorists. The panellists recalled that Musharraf was responsible for aiding the Lashkar-e-Toiba to fight in Kashmir during his years in the Army. Rushdie, as also other participants, strongly attacked noted author Arundhati Roy for linking the Mumbai terrorist attacks to Kashmir, Gujarat riots and demolition of Babri Masjid.
— PTI
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Rwanda’s Bagosora gets life term for genocide
Nairobi, December 18 The Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had accused Theoneste Bagosora, 67, of being in charge of the troops and the Interahamwe Hutu militia, who butchered 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days. “Colonel Bagosora is guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes,” the court said. Prosecutors said Bagosora, then cabinet director in the defence ministry, assumed control of the military and political affairs in the central African country when President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down.
— Reuters
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Nude Pics on Handbag
Saint Denis De La Reunion, France, December 18 The case was the latest in a series of legal actions over the presidential couple’s image, which has drawn accusations of frivolity from critics of the media-savvy Sarkozys. The nude photo of Bruni-Sarkozy was taken in 1993, when she was a professional model. She had asked for 125,000 euros in damages from Pardon, a fashion chain in the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, which used it without her permission. “The unauthorised use of the image of Carla Bruni caused her moral and economic damage,” a court in the island capital said today. Bruni-Sarkozy’s lawyers had indicated that she would donate any damages awarded to charity. The founder and manager of the Pardon chain,
Peter Mertes, said he would appeal because 40,000 euros seemed expensive to him for “a small blunder”. Mertes said 10,000 bags had been made and about half of those sold before Bruni-Sarkozy took
legal action. He promised to dispose of the remaining stock. Pardon does not trade in mainland France.
— Reuters
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Hint of Queen’s ouster from church sparks row
London, December 18 The main emblems of establishment are the British monarch’s position as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the 26 bishops who sit in the House of Lords. Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested that he could see a day when the British monarch would be removed as the head of the Church of England. He said it would not be “the end of the world” if the Church of England was “disestablished” no longer officially sanctioned and supported by the government of the country and, ultimately, the Queen. The top bishop’s endorsement of disestablishment comes in an interview published today in the Christmas edition of the New Statesman magazine. — PTI
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Crunch Time
London, December 18 Queen Elizabeth II has also urged grandsons William, 26, and Harry, 24, to keep their winter holidays as “low-key” as possible. Obviously, in times of financial downturn, it would be bad publicity for the family if the young royals are seen partying in exclusive London nightclubs or exotic locations. The 82-year-old monarch has a personal fortune of £320 million ($475 million, 355 million Euros), according to The Sunday Times’ 2008 Rich List, but is not a spendthrift. The sovereign has ordered a festive crackdown to acknowledge the credit crunch starting with her Christmas crackers, a media report said. “The directive has come from the top that the family must be in tune with the rest of the country,” a royal source was quoted as saying by the News of the World. “She is aware that extravagance would not be welcomed at this time.” — PTI
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Scribe who threw shoes seeks pardon
Baghdad, December 18 In a letter delivered to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the journalist described his behaviour as “an ugly act” and asked to be pardoned, spokesman Yassin Majid said. “It is too late to now regret the big and ugly act that I perpetrated," Muntadhar al-Zaidi wrote, according to Majid. Iraq's President, Jalal Talabani, can issue a pardon if recommended by the prime minister, according to Iraq's constitution.
— AP
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Mercedes gift for shoe-thrower
Dubai, December 18 Quresh Khan Buneeri said he would like to present the 1990 model limousine as a token of appreciation for Zaidi, who has become an iconic figure in the Arab world. He told the Gulf Daily News that he was willing to drive all the way to the Iraqi capital to deliver the vehicle. “This is my humble way of showing my support.”
— UNI
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New York, December 18
