 |
|
|
Lahore
Attack
10 die in Pak blasts
Bomb kills 2 in China
|
|
|
Men hit harder by credit crisis
International Woman’s Day
Obama creates post for global women’s issues
Zimbabwe PM injured, wife killed in car crash
Top US cyber security official quits
Space Mission
|
|
Suspicions of LTTE link gain ground
Chandani Kirinde writes from Colombo The official website of the Government of Sri Lanka says that the emerging suspicions about the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the group blamed by India for the attacks on Mumbai, being responsible for the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers, have led to serious considerations on the possibility of an LTTE link, in this attack, in view of the known connections the LTTE has with this group. These links date back to 1992, when Kittu, a prominent strategist of the LTTE at the time, was known to have been negotiating arms purchases for the LTTE in Peshawar, which was uncovered by intelligence sources, the website said in the article posted on Friday. Subsequent to this, in 1993, Indian intelligence is credited with identifying the vessel in which Kittu was transporting the weapons for the LTTE, and had the ship destroyed at sea, killing Kittu, too. “The heightened interest about the LTTE’s hand in the attack on the Sri Lanka cricketers comes from the aspects of planning, and the resources that were available to the attackers,” the article said. It added that the information that the attackers had planned to take the Sri Lankan players hostage, is also being viewed by intelligence sources in South Asian capitals, in the context of the LTTE’s current position of near defeat, and the search for a bargaining tool for its call for a ceasefire as the Sri Lanka army closes in on them. Some Indian analysts are of the view that had the attackers been successful and taken all or any of the Sri Lankan players hostage, and used them for bargaining with Sri Lanka, or either India or Pakistan or both, it would have led to a major diplomatic crisis in the region. The article said that there was a flurry of activity among intelligence organisations and defence think-tanks in key South Asian capitals to uncover those behind the attack on the Sri Lanka cricketers with increasing indicators that that the plot may have been to create a major diplomatic crisis involving Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.
|
|
10 die in Pak blasts
Islamabad, March 7 Militants targeted a police patrol with a remote-controlled car bomb on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province
(NWFP), killing eight persons and injuring three others, officials said. The attack occurred when a police patrol vehicle went to the Badabher area to search a van that was parked in the area for some time. The police said there was a corpse inside the van. As the patrol party approached the van, the bomb was detonated by remote control. Peshawar police chief Sifwat Ghayur said five policemen, two frontier constabulary personnel and a passerby were killed while three others were injured in the attack. One of the injured is in a critical condition, Ghayur told reporters. Other officials said 30 kgs of explosives was used in the attack. In the second attack at Darra Adam
Khel, two civilians were killed and six security personnel injured when militants targeted an army convoy with a roadside remote-controlled bomb. The area was cordoned off by security forces after the blast and the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals.
— PTI
|
|
|
Bomb kills 2 in China
Beijing, March 7 Photos of yesterday’s blast posted online showed a gaping hole in the lower floor of a nondescript apartment block in the city of Nanyang in Henan province. The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said the bomb detonated at 11 am yesterday, killing two persons immediately and critically injuring two others.
— AP
|
|
|
Men hit harder by credit crisis
London, March 7 A University of Cambridge study suggests as the economic slowdown wears on, the effects of job insecurity will take a greater toll on men's health than that of their female counterparts. The research, by Dr Brendan Burchell from the University of Cambridge's Department of Sociology, also suggests that the long-term decline in mental well-being can be worse for people who are under threat of losing their jobs than for those who are actually made redundant. Dr Burchell is currently analysing the study results of more than 300 UK employees as well as data from the British Household Panel Survey, an ESRC-funded survey of thousands of people which has been charting the effects of social and economic change since 1991. The study also revealed that while men claim to be less concerned about job insecurity than women, they show more signs of being stressed, anxious and depressed. For example, when unemployed men move into insecure jobs, they show no improvement in their psychological health. But for unemployed women, even insecure jobs restore their psychological health. "In part there is a macho issue about men being the breadwinner," Dr Burchell said. "Men, unlike women, have few positive ways of defining themselves outside of the workplace between when they leave school and when they retire. Despite several decades of more equal employment opportunities for men and women, men retain traditional beliefs that their masculinity is threatened if their employment is threatened."
— PTI
|
|
UN human rights chief for gender-sensitive policies
New York, March 7 Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the negative effects of discrimination were magnified by conflict as well as natural and man-made disasters such as the current economic crisis. “Unless gender-sensitive policies are adopted, I fear we may well witness a serious setback in areas where progress has taken decades to achieve,” she said in message for the Day, observed annually on March 8. The effect of meltdown in global markets and financial institutions and ensuing recession is likely to have a disproportionate impact on millions of women across the world. In a piece published in today’s edition of the USA Today, Pillay said: “Growing up in apartheid South Africa as a person of colour and raised in poverty, I had experienced gender, race and class discrimination.” But, “I have (also) seen the power of ordinary people who have stood up against injustices they faced and triumphed,” she stressed. — PTI
|
|
Obama creates post for global women’s issues
Washington: US President Barack Obama announced the creation of a new foreign policy position designed to tackle global women’s issues. Obama yesterday named Melanne Verveer, an aide in former President Bill Clinton’s administration, as ambassador-at-large for international women’s issues. She will serve at the State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The appointment, which has to be approved by the Senate, “is unprecedented and reflects the elevated importance of global women’s issues to the President and his entire administration,” the White House said. Hillary has put efforts to improve the lot of women at the heart of boosting international development, which she says must be an “equal partner” with diplomacy and defence in US foreign policy. Verveer is co-founder, chair and co-chief executive officer of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international non-profit organisation that invests in emerging women leaders, the White House statement said.
— AFP
|
|
Zimbabwe PM injured, wife killed in car crash
Durban, March 7 The leader’s wife, Susan Tsvangirai died at the scene of the accident last night. “Mrs Tsvangirai died instantly in the crash,” Nelson
Chamisa, a spokesperson for Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party, told South Africa’s national broadcaster, SABC. The Prime Minister has been admitted to hospital and is in a stable
condition. Zimbabwe is currently plagued by wide-scale social and economic destabilisation and a cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 3,800 lives. Over 85,000 persons are also infected with the
disease. — PTI
|
|
Top US cyber security official quits
Washington, March 7 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the resignation of Rod Beckstrom, director of the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), but did not give a reason for his decision to step down. “We thank Rod for his service, and regret his departure,” the DHS said in a statement emailed here. — AFP
|
|
Lawsuit by Japanese given go-ahead
Alexandria (Virginia), March 7 He had paid $21 million to Space Adventures, the company known for brokering such deals with the Russian space agency. However, Space Adventures said he was disqualified on medical grounds in 2006 because of kidney stones. — AP
|
|
|
| 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 | |
