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Iran won't halt N-work
Sudanese woman fined for wearing trousers |
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Take steps to eliminate terrorism: Patil
President Pratibha Patil after placing a wreath at Ismoili Somoni statue, memorial to Tajikistan's Father of the Nation, in Dushanbe on Monday. — PTI
Pro-Qaida group says it tried to kill Blair
Govt finds site for temple in Malaysia
2 Punjabis figure in Malaysian Indian Cong polls
Indian fights for life after racial attack
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Iran won't halt N-work
Tehran, September 7 His statements came as the international nuclear watchdog warned of a "stalemate" over Iran's nuclear programme. Members of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency began meetings in Vienna that could set the stage for a toughening of sanctions against Iran. Ahmadinejad also said Iran will present a package of proposals for talks to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany but rejected any deadline for such talks. He said the package would "identify challenges facing humanity... and resolve global concerns." But he said "from our point of view, Iran's nuclear issue is over. We continue our work within the framework of global regulations and in close interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency." But "we will never negotiate over obvious rights of the Iranian nation," he said. He said the only two aspects of the nuclear file he was willing to discuss were "creating peaceful nuclear energy for all countries" and a mechanism to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons and encourage global nuclear disarmament. US President Barack Obama and European allies have given Iran until the end of September to take up an offer of nuclear talks with six world powers and trade incentives should it suspend uranium enrichment activities. If not, Iran could face harsher punitive sanctions. The US and some of its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity, not a bomb. Iran has repeatedly vowed it will never suspend enrichment work, saying it has every right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel. The enrichment process can produce either fuel for a reactor or the material for a warhead. "It is very clear that this (deadline) is incompatible with the Iranian nation's needs and direction today," Ahmadinejad told a press conference today. "Resolving global issues requires constructive interaction on the basis of justice and respect." Ahmadinejad said Iran will continue to cooperate with the IAEA over regulations on safeguards on its nuclear sites, "but we will resist if the agency is influenced by political pressures." The agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei, however, said today that the situation over Iran's nuclear program has reached a "stalemate". — AP
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Sudanese woman fined for wearing trousers
Khartoum, September 7 The woman, Lubna Hussein, was arrested at a party in July with 12 other women and had faced the possibility of 40 lashes for wearing trousers deemed indecent. The court ordered her to pay a fine of £500 or face a month in jail. Hussein’s case was seen as a test of Sudan’s Islamic decency regulations, which many women activists say are vague and give individual police officers undue latitude to determine what is acceptable clothing for women. A former reporter who was working for the United Nations at the time of her arrest, Hussein has publicised her case, posing in loose trousers for photos and calling for media support. Reached by telephone after the verdict, Hussein said she would refuse to pay the fine: “I will not pay the money, and I will go to prison.” Defence lawyer Nabil Adib Abdalla has previously said the law on indecent dress was so wide it contravened Hussein’s right to a fair trial. “She was found guilty, but we know she is not guilty ... This is a clear violation of the constitution, of women’s rights, and the peace agreement,” said Yasser Arman, a government official who attended the trial and is also a senior member of the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. Ten of the other women arrested with Hussein have pleaded guilty and have been whipped, Hussein previously said. Indecency cases are not uncommon in Sudan, where there is a large cultural gap between the mostly Muslim and Arab-oriented north and the mainly Christian south. The cases prompted scores of women to gather near the court ahead of the verdict to lend support to Hussein. Hussein argued her clothes, a pair of green slacks that she also wore to her first court appearance, were respectable and that she did not break the law. “Lubna has given us a chance. She is very brave. Thousands of girls have been beaten since the 1990s, but Lubna is the first one not to keep silent,” protester Sawsan Hassan el-Showaya told Reuters before the verdict. But scuffles erupted at the protest before the court session even began between the women and Islamists, who shouted religious slogans and denounced Hussein and her supporters as prostitutes and demanded a harsh punishment for Hussein. Riot police quickly cleared the scene, beating some protesters with batons. Around 40 women protesters were detained. Hussein has said she resigned from her UN job to give up any legal immunity so she could continue with the case, prove her innocence and challenge the decency law. UN officials have said the United Nations told Sudan that Hussein was immune from legal proceedings as she was a U.N. employee at the time of her arrest. But the case was allowed to proceed after Sudan’s foreign ministry advised the court that Hussein was not immune. — Reuters
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Take steps to eliminate terrorism: Patil
Dushanbe, September 7 President Pratibha Patil, who is in Tajikistan on a three-day state visit, conveyed India’s concerns about terrorist threats during talks with her Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon, which also covered a wide-ranging cooperation in the field of education, culture, investment and enhanced business transactions. She also sought the Central Asian nation’s support in eliminating terrorism from the region. “Our region is today beset by the menace of terrorism. Terrorism, extremism and fundamentalism are posing a serious threat to the peace and security in our region, be it India, Afghanistan, or Tajikistan,” Patil said. Observing that the 26/11 attacks were one more manifestation of terrorism in the region, she said it was imperative that all governments of the region take “urgent, proactive measures to cooperate and eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, so that these forces do not derail the processes of progress and prosperity”. India and Tajikistan are together in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and New Delhi believes that concerted efforts between the two nations against terrorism and extremism would contribute greatly to peace and stability in the region. Patil, the first Indian President to visit the Central Asian Region, said her talks with the Tajik leadership were “extremely useful” and covered issues of bilateral, regional and international importance. She would be participating in the Independence Day celebrations of Tajikistan, a rare honour given to a foreign dignitary, tomorrow.
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Pro-Qaida group says it tried to kill Blair
Jerusalem, September 7 “The hands of Carter and Blair are stained with Muslim blood. It was our duty to kill the two,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Taleb as saying in his recent e-mail to the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. Taleb, described as the Palestinian Osama bin Laden, has been in hiding for more than two years. Several attempts by Hamas to arrest him have failed. Last week, Taleb’s group, which is called Jaljalat (thunder), carried out bombings outside two government-controlled security institutions in Gaza City to avenge the killing of a rebel group leader Abdel Latif Moussa and 30 other Palestinians. In his e-mail, Taleb declared that his loyalists considered Laden to be the "emir" and "guardian" of all Muslims. “We don’t belong to Al-Qaida organisationally, but we follow their ideology,” Taleb wrote. “We pray to Allah that we will become part of them. They are our brothers and it’s our duty to support them”. Taleb said he was aware of the fact that he had become No 1 on Hamas’s list of wanted men, and claimed that his men are ready to launch attacks against Hamas. “They [Hamas] confiscated much of our weapons and ammunition,” he said. “Hamas also arrested many of our warriors upon their return from jihad missions”. — ANI
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Govt finds site for temple in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, September 7 The Selangor state government said the new site was also in Section 23 but was more strategic and located 100 metres from the original relocation site and 400 metres from the residential area. Residents of Section 23 of Shah Alam neighbourhood had been protesting against the relocation of 150-year-old Sri Maha Mariamman Shrine to their area. Ten days back, they had marched to the state secretariat to oppose the relocation. The group acted in a manner seen as hurtful by the minority ethnic Indians. The Selangor government has said it would discuss the matter with the temple committee and look for an amicable solution acceptable to all parties, the statement said. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Hindu Sangam Council national president R S Mohan Shan said yesterday that Hindus may face a tough time finding locations to build their temples if incidents like the fracas that took place in Section 23 Shah Alam continued, local daily Star said. —
PTI
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2 Punjabis figure in Malaysian Indian Cong polls
Kuala Lumpur, September 7 Among the 27 candidates endorsed by MIC chief Sammy Vellu, two — Randhir Singh from Johor and Jaspal Singh from Selangor come from the estimated 100,000 strong Sikh community. The duo could become the latter’s only members in the party's central working committee after KS Nijhar, who was the MIC's vice-president until last year when he resigned abruptly. Sikhs relatively form a minor section of the ethnic Indian community that predominantly comprises Tamils in this Southeast Asian country. One of the duo was being groomed by Vellu to fill the vacancy left by Nijhar, a party insider was quoted as saying by the daily New Straits Times. "However, it will be an uphill task since both are newcomers and are going for the same allocation. And there are only a few north Indian delegates," he added. Though both the candidates have worked for the party at the state level both Randhir and Jaspal are relatively unknown at the national level. However, the former candidate is using his father, Jasbir Singh's, popularity to turn the tide in his favour. Jasbir has been the Pontian division chairman for the past 45 years and won uncontested five times. —
PTI
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Indian fights for life after racial attack
London, September 7 Kolkata-born Ekram ul Haque was battered to the ground in front of his five-year-old granddaughter as they returned from a local south London mosque, the police said. Three teenage boys have been charged with assaulting Haque and a man in his 40s near Tooting, an area dominated by Asians. The victim’s granddaughter Marian, who was unhurt in the incident, gave a detailed account of the incident, which took place on August 31. The police has sought help of eyewitnesses. Scotland Yard today said the assault was being treated as “racially motivated.” A report in the Daily Mail quoted doctors saying Haque, who is on a ventilator, has no chance of survival. Haque moved to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, in 1972. He met his wife there and the couple moved to London in the early 1980s. He worked in the textile industry but later became a warden in a home for the disabled from which he retired last year. Haque’s 35-year-old son described the attack as “mindless violence.” — PTI
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today Iran will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but is ready to sit and talk with world powers over "global challenges".
Khartoum, September 7
Dushanbe, September 7
