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Maoists plan no-confidence motion
Miracle baby elephant comes up trumps
Saudi Arabia invites Qureshi
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UK plans to abolish House
of Lords: Report
Winnie Mandela: Nadira Naipaul a liar
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Maoists plan no-confidence motion
The main opposition party in Nepal, Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), has intensified efforts to table a no-confidence motion against the coalition government led by the CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal in Parliament. At a time when the different sections of life were criticising the government for the deteriorating law and order situation and its inefficiency to lead the peace and constitution drafting process, the Maoists on Sunday collected signatures of its lawmakers required for calling the special session of Parliament. However, the party has not yet taken a formal and official stand on the issue, but if its ongoing exercise to garner some votes from smaller parties works, it may give a notice for lodging no-confidence motion, a UCPN-M source said. Maoists Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has started consultations with the party leaders as well as the leaders from Madhesh-based parties, including the Nepali Congress. In accordance with the existing constitutional provision, the President will have to call the Special Session of Parliament if one fourth of the 601-member parliament deem in this regard. Meanwhile, the Cabinet meeting held this morning has decided to face the Maoists challenge if the latter lodges the no-confidence motion. “The party is encouraged by the initial response”, the source added. Besides the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), led by Upendra Yadav, and a few members from Madhesh-based parties at the Constituent Assembly are believed to have pledged their support in case the motion is moved. The Maoists are also hoping that ultimately Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and her daughter Sujata Koirala may back them up if they agree, tactically though, to have Sujata Koirala as the next Prime Minister. The move, at the same time, also has a political mission and even its ‘defeat’ in the House will have its purpose served. This, party sources claim, is a shred move under active advice of Dr Baburam Bhattarai to give a message to Nepal’s political parties as well as the international community that the Maoists do believed in parliamentary practices and ‘no matter what they say, their commitment to the peace process and the constitution writing process should not be doubted’. The party has asked its CA members not to leave the valley as they may be required for urgent consultation, participation in debate and voting in the House if necessary. The UCPN-M had stalled the proceedings of Parliament almost for eight months in the past, and it stands adjourned sine die at the moment following repeated obstructions later on. The Maoists have altogether 240 members in a House of 601 and would require support of at least 61 outsiders to have the motion ‘adopted’.
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Miracle baby elephant comes up trumps
Sydney, March 14 The male calf, nicknamed Shuffles by zoo staff, wobbled out from a barn into the elephant enclosure with its mother, Porntip, four days after amazing keepers with its remarkable survival. “He's looking around and seeing the world,” zoo elephant manager Gary Miller said. "He's just excited to be alive." Miller said the indications were the elephant would have no permanent problems despite being stuck in a position in the womb which experts considered would result in death to both mother and calf. "Because of his compromised position as he came out and was born, we didn't know if he had brain damage from lack of oxygen from such a prolonged birth," he said. The baby elephant arrived on Wednesday morning, two days after zoo officials said they believed it had died in the womb. They later said the animal may have fallen into the coma during the marathon nine-day labour which meant its heartbeat was not detected. — AFP
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Saudi Arabia invites Qureshi
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been invited by his Saudi counterpart to visit the kingdom for what officials here indicated appears to be briefing on Indian Prime Minister Manmoham Singh’s recent visit to Riyadh.Qureshi confirmed to reporters in Multan that he had been invited to Riyadh. Qureshi said he would go to Saudi Arabia on April 3. “If a friend like Saudi Arabia comes forward for mediation between Pakistan and India, we will go ahead without hesitation,” he said. But he doubted if India would agree to any third-party mediation, saying, “They have always discouraged a third-party involvement.” Qureshi said he had no objection to meet his Indian counterpart, but if negotiations were not fruitful he did not want to waste time. He said India was facing internal differences over the issue of resumption of dialogue with Pakistan. Some elements in India were opposing it because of the Mumbai attacks, but a group in the media and Indian intellectuals was in favour of the talks. Qureshi said Pakistan had not only condemned the Mumbai attacks but also carried out investigations and arrested some important planners and suspects who were facing trail. He said Pakistan was facing Mumbai-like incidents on a daily basis and India should broaden its vision and realise the challenge that Pakistan was facing today. Asked about allegations that India might have been involved in terrorist attacks last week in Lahore, he said: “It would be premature to blame India.” The minister said during the recent visit of Afghan president Hamid Karzai to Pakistan, both countris signed a joint declaration to fortify road, rail and air connectivity and upgrade the existing facilities to enhance bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2015. He said Pakistan had offered assistance to Afghanistan in setting up new capacity-building institutions and upgrading the existing ones. He said the two countries had agreed to encourage people-to-people contacts, promote cultural exchanges and boost economic cooperation between Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. Qureshi said like India, Pakistan also shared river water with Afghanistan, but they had no dispute over it. He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan had also agreed to revive the peace jirga for evolving a common strategy to combat terrorism.
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UK plans to abolish House
of Lords: Report
London, March 14 Although it's unlikely to become law before parliament is dissolved, the plan comes amid growing concern over peers' abuse of expenses, the report said. The House of Lords currently has 733 members, 78 more than the House of Commons. Membership to the Lords was once a right of birth to hereditary peers, but following reforms, these now only form a portion of membership. And, the Labour government's new blueprint would have all members directly elected, ending the tradition of party patronage. A proportional representation system would be used to select members, with voting taking place at the same time as general elections. One-third of the new chamber would be elected on each occasion, with members serving three terms -- 15 years -- in a system similar to the one used to select members of the United States Senate, the report said. The legislators would be paid a salary, but probably less than the £65,000 now paid to backbench MPs. — PTI
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Winnie Mandela: Nadira Naipaul a liar
Johannesburg, March 14 "Naipaul is a liar and a fraud - I gave her no interview," Madikizela-Mandela wrote in a lengthy article in the weekly 'Sunday Times' here. "The article is a figment of her malicious imagination," Madikizela-Mandela wrote later in the article as she denied that Naipaul had interviewed her while on a visit to Mandela's Soweto home with her husband and celebrated author Sir VS Naipaul. In the widely publicised article that appeared in the 'London Evening Standard', Madikizela-Mandela was quoted as saying that her 92-year-old former husband had let down the majority of black citizens of South Africa by entering into a deal with the then white apartheid government. "Mandela let us down. He agreed to a bad deal for the blacks. Economically, we are still on the outside. The economy is very much white. It has a few token blacks, but so many who gave their life in the struggle have died unrewarded," she was quoted as saying. Madikizela-Mandela also allegedly told Naipaul that she would never forgive Mandela for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize along with the then President FW de Klerk of the all-white minority ruling National Party. She also came across as highly critical of another struggle icon and Nobel laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Madikizela-Mandela wrote that it was "disturbing" that the 'Evening Standard' had not checked the interview with her, accusing the local media of giving "a distant journalist and a paper known for its sensationalism the benefit of the doubt, and not me." "I will in the coming days deal with what I see as an inexplicable attempt to undermine the unity of my family, the legacy of Nelson Mandela and the high regard with which the name Mandela is held here and across the globe." 'The Sunday Times' said it could not reach Naipaul for comment, but London Evening Standard managing editor Doug Wills earlier told the local media that the interview had taken place and Mandela had even posed for a picture with Naipaul afterwards. —
PTI
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