 |
|
|
Mumbai Heat
FBI hands over evidence to Mumbai cops
Kyrgyzstan MPs vote to close US air base
|
|
|
Monkey cartoon sparks racial row in US
North Korea ready for war with SKorea
32 bullets were pumped into Musa
27 die as ferry sinks
|
|
No move to send FIA team: Minister
Islamabad, February 19 "We confirmed with the Foreign Office, there has been no such move decided yet on the part of Pakistan," Information Minister Rehman said shortly after Gilani had stated that Pakistan was considering the possibility of sending a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team to India as part of its probe into the Mumbai attacks. Gilani had said New Delhi had requested for the FIA team probing the Pakistani links to Mumbai attacks to visit India to aid in the probe. "It is India's wish that the FIA team should visit the country to share further information," Gilani, who was in Lahore on an official visit, told reporters yesterday. "We are seriously considering the request. We have no objection to the FIA team going to India and holding meetings to get further information to take the case forward," he said. Gilani's statement was contradicted by Rehman, who dismissed it as media speculation. It was not immediately clear when India had made the request for the Pakistani investigators to visit the country. Gilani, who also said that India was yet to reply to questions submitted by Pakistan along with its response to the Indian dossier on the Mumbai attacks, gave no further details of the Indian request for a probe team. — PTI
|
|
FBI hands over evidence to Mumbai cops Washington, February 19 The three-member team led by Mumbai Police Deputy Inspector General Deven Bharti received the evidences that also includes the information collected by the FBI, which it had gathered by sending its team to Pakistan.These evidences, ranging from details of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), satellite phones used by terrorists, exchange of emails, intercepts and forensic examination of bullets used by attackers and others substantiates the links between the terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan. The evidences also includes the information collected by the FBI, which it had gathered by sending its team to Pakistan. The Mumbai police team left for India yesterday. It had come to Washington to hand over a Letters Rogatory issued by a Mumbai court and vetted by the Ministry of External Affairs to the US Department of Justice in Washington. FBI's help had been sought in sharing the proofs like call details made through VoIP and from the satellite phone besides getting the documents related to Global Positioning System used by the terrorists while sailing from Karachi. — PTI
|
|
|
Kyrgyzstan MPs vote to close US air base
Bishkek, February 19 The planned closure of the Manas air base poses a challenge to new US President Barack Obama who plans to send more troops to Afghanistan to boost efforts to defeat Taliban insurgents. It also comes at a time of heightened rivalry between Moscow and Washington for control of Central Asia, a vast former Soviet region still seen by Russia as part of its sphere of interest. The 90-seat parliament, dominated by the ruling party, voted by 78 to one to approve a government proposal on closing the base. ”Once all procedures are over, an official eviction vote will be sent and after that the United States will be given 180 days to wrap up operations at the air base,” Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev said after the vote. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s press service said the Kyrgyz leader was due to sign the approved decision into law some time within the next month under Kyrgyz law, but gave no details. The US forces at the base, nestling in the bare steppes outside the capital Bishkek, said its operations would continue as normal in the meantime. Russia has an air base of its own in Kyrgyzstan. It pays no rent as its use is part of a joint security pact.The United States and its allies already fly troops and supplies to Afghanistan from bases in Europe and the Gulf and could increase this traffic to make up for the loss of Manas. — Reuters
|
|
Monkey cartoon sparks racial row in US
New York, February 19 The cartoon published by the the right-wing Post shows a police officer telling his colleague who had just shot a chimpanzee that “they’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” The leaders apparently believe that the cartoon compares Obama with the chimpanzee and thus evokes memories of racist past. The inspiration for the cartoon obviously came from an incident in Connecticut on Tuesday where a police officer shot dead a 200-pound chimpanzee after it attacked and seriously injured the owner's friend and then tried to attack the officers after they had taken shelter in their cars. What added fuel to fire was that on the reverse side of the cartoon, a photograph of Obama signing the stimulus bill into law was published. The Democratic leaders demanded explanation from the paper, saying that several people felt outraged by it. The Post, however, stood behind the cartoon. Editor-in-Chief of New York Post Col Allan said: “The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy.” — PTI
|
|
North Korea ready for war with SKorea
Seoul, February 19 “The Lee Myung-Bak group of traitors should never forget that the Korean People's Army is fully ready for an all-out confrontation,” a spokesman for the army general staff said. The statement to the North's official Korean central news agency was the latest in a series of increasingly strident threats against President Lee's conservative government, which have raised cross-border tensions. South Korean Defence Minister Lee Sang-Hee has said a limited naval clash may break out around the two countries’ disputed border in the Yellow Sea. Lee and other officials also say the North is preparing to test its longest-range missile, which could theoretically reach Alaska. Last month, the North announced it is scrapping all peace accords with the South.— AFP
|
|
32 bullets were pumped into Musa
Islamabad, February 19 Hundreds of Pakistani journalists today took out protest marches across the NWFP to condemn killing of and said killings of scribes in the troubled region was an attempt to scare them away from the restive region, but said they would not be cowed down. Shouting that journalists are becoming victims in the war-on-terror, they demanded that the killing of Musa Khankhel yesterday be investigated and those responsible brought to justice. Marches were taken out in Peshawar, Banu, Nowshera and Mansher - all in the NWFP. Unidentified gunmen killed Musa hours after he covered a peace march led by a hard-line cleric aimed at convincing militants in the region to lay down their weapons. — Agencies
|
|
|
Dhaka, February 19 The ferry with 60 persons on board capsized in the Kirtonkhola river in Barisal district. “So far, 27 bodies have been recovered as the ferry was nearly retrieved by the rescue vessel,” local police station chief Nuruzzaman Chaudhary said. But, he said more bodies were feared trapped inside the sunken vessel ML Sahmida Happy. The accident took 2 km away from the Barisal main river port. “The rescue operation will continue overnight in search of more bodies,” he said. — PTI
|
|
| 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 | |
Another scribe attacked 
