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Cyclone Aila kills 62 in B’desh
UNSC set to punish North Korea
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‘Suu Kyi house arrest can be legally extended’
UK poet quits top post after smear row
‘Prabhakaran’s wife, daughter dead’
Anti-Muslim riots in UK
Mush: Martial law not imposed intentionally India can join gas pipeline deal: Iran Join govt to take peace process to logical end: Madhav to Maoists
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Cyclone Aila kills 62 in B’desh
Dhaka, May 26 The full extent of devastation in the storm, which packed windspeed of up to 100 km per hour to slam into the Bangladesh coasts yesterday, was slowly emerging as the authorities were assessing the damage. Disaster management officials here said they so far confirmed 62 deaths while unofficial reports said the toll could be as high as 90 with recovery of more bodies from remote areas. The cyclone left marks of its scourge across the entire stretch of the coastlines. Meanwhile, the Red Crescent Society said some 338,780 people in eight districts were affected by the cyclone while a total of 100,000 people were forced to move into makeshift shelters under a massive evacuation campaign by their volunteers and law enforcement agencies. "The cyclone killed maximum 28 people in (southwestern) Satkhira, while eight deaths were reported from Noakhali, seven in Patuakhali, six in Laxmipur and five in Khulna," state-run news agency BSS reported quoting the officer-in-charge of disaster management control room in Dhaka. — PTI
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Nuke TestUNSC set to punish North Korea Pyongyang launches 2 more missiles
United Nations/Seoul, May 26 The UN Security Council said the nuclear test by North Korea yesterday was a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the country from conducting nuclear development and that it would start work immediately on a new resolution that could result in even stronger measures. The non-binding statement came after the council met in an emergency session on a holiday, hours after the second nuclear test by the reclusive North Korean regime sent shock waves around the world drawing international condemnation. "The members of the Security Council voiced their strong opposition to and condemnation of the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on May 25, 2009, which constitutes a clear violation of resolution 1718 (of 2006)," the non-binding statement said. North Korea will "pay a price" if it continues to carry out nuclear weapon and missile tests in violation of international law, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said soon after the UNSC passed the statement. “If you want to continue to test and provoke the international community, they (North Korea) are going to find they'll pay a price because the international community is clear: it's not acceptable," Rice said. Hours after the UNSC issued the statement, North Korea fired two more short-range missiles from its east coast, heightening tension on the Korean Peninsula after its latest nuclear test and three missile launches drew global condemnation. A pair of short-range missiles- one surface-to-air and another surface-to-water with the range of 130 km - were fired from its east coast launch pad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Concerned over North Korea's "reckless" nuclear test, US President Barack Obama spoke to his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, as both Seoul and Tokyo strongly reacted to Pyongyang's flexing of its muscle. — PTI
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‘Suu Kyi house arrest can be legally extended’
Yangon, May 26 Police Brigadier General Myint Thein made the claim in a statement to journalists and diplomats attending her trial at Insein Prison on charges of breaching her detention in connection with the incident. He rejected claims by her lawyers that today would officially mark the end of five years under house arrest for the pro-democracy icon, after which the Junta would have to release her. Myint Thein insisted that she had been under house arrest for four years and six months, "so according to the law, the (authorities) can restrict her for another six months to reach five years with the permission of the government." "Because Aung San Suu Kyi was the daughter of state leader General Aung San, we gave deep consideration (to the issue of ending her house arrest)," he said referring to independence leader Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947. "But Aung San Suu Kyi unexpectedly allowed the US citizen Mr John William Yettaw, who illegally entered her house, to stay for two days and communicated with him and gave him food and assistance," Myint Thein said."So within the existing laws, she was regretfully, inevitably charged." — AFP
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UK poet quits top post after smear row
London, May 26 Ruth Padel resigned yesterday after being in the prestigious post just over a week. She admitted tipping off journalists to an allegation levelled 27 years ago against Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, who also sought the coveted Oxford post.
— AFP
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‘Prabhakaran’s wife, daughter dead’
Vavuniya, May 26 Col Karuna, said LTTE’s International Relations head Pathmanathan had claimed that the wife and daughter of Prabhakaran were dead.
— PTI
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Anti-Muslim riots in UK
London, May 26 A peaceful demo erupted as drunken skinheads stormed through the streets. A mob of around 500 largely young men bolted downside streets away from the police. Witnesses said they had been drinking and chanting slogans. Several persons were injured as marchers, Asians and National Front “infiltrators”, battled. There were reports that an
Asian-owned shop was ransacked. The two demonstrations had come together in the Bedfordshire town, both opposing the Muslim fanatics who had jeered Briton squaddies returning from Iraq. Last night, MFE spokesman Dave Smeeton said he was “disappointed” the trouble had flared. Several people were arrested.
— ANI
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Mush: Martial law not imposed intentionally Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said the army should stay in Swat and Malakand even after the military operation is accomplished. The former President said he did not impose martial law ‘intentionally’ in 1999. In a related development, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has said the November 3, 2007 action of former Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf (retired) was martial law when he imposed emergency, suspended constitution and sacked 60 judges of superior courts. He told a delegation of senior army officials, and former military officials from the National Defence University (NDU) that seven judges of the Supreme Court in their order the same day declared the promulgation of Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) unconstitutional thus burying the law of necessity used by courts in the past to endorse military take-overs. About the Lal Masjid operation, Musharraf said male and female suicide bombers were hiding in the mosque when the operation was launched. He also said the operation was delayed by four months to save innocent people present inside the complex. “Abdul Aziz was challenging the writ of the government. I sent many people to counsel him, including members of Islamic Ideology Council, wife of Abdul Sattar Edhi and the Imam of Ka’aba,” the former President added.He praised the army and the ISI and said both the institutions were playing their roles effectively. He said Pakistan had taken several steps to eliminate terrorism and curb extremism, and that the criticism in this regard was baseless. But the former President also acknowledged Pakistan would have to take more steps against terrorism and extremism. He said Pakistan, India and Afghanistan should jointly take steps to eliminate terrorism from the region.
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India can join gas pipeline deal: Iran
Tehran, May 26 “Up to now, no Indian official has stated the country’s withdrawal from the project and we hope they make their decision soon,” Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, the representative of Iranian oil minister to the IPI talks, said yesterday. “India has seemingly changed its strategy for meeting domestic energy needs in the long run,” Ghanimifard was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency. “India still has the choice to resume gas talks with Iran and Pakistan.” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari inked an agreement in Tehran on Sunday finalising the deal to transfer gas from Iran to Pakistan. The deal says, Iran will initially transfer 30 million cubic metres of gas per day to Pakistan, but will eventually increase the gas transfer to 60 million cubic metres per day. India had been part of the $7-billion project, also called the “peace pipeline”, but stayed away from talks in September saying it wanted to agree upon transit costs through Pakistan on a bilateral basis first. The pipeline project was conceptualised in 1990. Negotiations over the project were initiated in 1994 between the three countries but there were obstacles to closing the three-way deal due to tension between India and Pakistan, according to IRNA.
— IANS
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Join govt to take peace process to logical end: Madhav to Maoists The newly elected Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav on Tuesday asked the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the single largest party in the Constituent Assembly, to join his government and cooperate with it in taking the ongoing peace process to a logical end. In his maiden address to the nation just a day after he took the oath of office, he said even after resigning from the government due to certain circumstances Maoists chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal should not reach into the stage of ending the politics of consensus and cooperation. “I request the Maoists friends not to stay aloof, rather sit together and try to bridge up the widening misunderstanding and continue the politics of consensus, collaboration and unity to take the unfinished tasks of taking the peace process to a logical end and draft new constitution forgetting past sour experiences,” he said.
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At least 62 persons were killed as cyclone "Aila" ravaged the southern coastlines of Bangladesh, where tidal surges inundated vast tracts of land and breached coastal embankments, officials said today.
Yangon, May 26
The newly elected Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav on Tuesday asked the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the single largest party in the Constituent Assembly, to join his government and cooperate with it in taking the ongoing peace process to a logical end.
