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Israeli PM: No concessions on settlement in Jerusalem
War against India will go on, says Hizbul chief
Exhibition on Kasturba Gandhi
in South Africa
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London, March 21 American scientists have developed a new technology that can censor all potentially offensive scenes of a movie, making it watchable with children at home.The patented technology, an electronic film filter called the ClearPlay system, can be integrated into the next generation of DVD players to skip and mute content based on seven categories that can be set to meet viewing preferences. Headley’s status hearing cancelled after guilty plea Koirala: A relentless doer
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Israeli PM: No concessions on settlement in Jerusalem
Jerusalem, March 21 “Construction in Jerusalem is like construction in Tel Aviv and we have clarified that for the American government,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “Israel’s message during the visit to the United States will be sharp and clear. Our policy on Jerusalem is like the policy in the past 42 years (since the 1967 Six-day War when eastern part of the city came under Israel’s control),” the Israeli premier stressed. Netanyahu said he informed the US administration that the proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians must address concerns from both sides, but “in order for agreements to be reached, there must be serious and direct talks”. Israel’s ties with its close ally US hit rock bottom during the past week when it announced construction of 1,600 housing units in occupied East Jerusalem, much to everyone’s surprise during Vice-President Joe Biden’s visit, which Washington dubbed as an “insult” and demanded clarifications. The crisis has been described as the worst in the last 35 years between the two strategic partners even though leaders from both sides brushed aside such talks in public. Netanyahu, however, has bowed to US demands and promised the Obama administration that Israel will make several goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians. For the first time since Israel’s offensive in Gaza ended in January last year, Israel has agreed to ease the blockade on the Islamist Hamas ruled coastal territory. The hawkish Israeli premier has also agreed to discuss all core issues during the proximity talks with Palestinians, with the condition of reaching final conclusions only in direct talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Netanyahu responded to Washington’s demands during his telephone call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday night. Clinton said on Friday that Netanyahu’s response “was useful and productive, and we’re continuing our discussions with him and his government”. The Israeli leader leading an overwhelmingly rightist coalition refused to revoke the decision to build 1,600 Jewish homes in Ramat Shlomo neighbourhood in east Jerusalem. Officials in Jerusalem said the prime minister’s gestures include letting the UN to transport construction materials to Gaza to rebuild sewerage systems, a flour mill and 150 apartments in the southern town of Khan Yunis. Netanyahu also agreed to release hundreds of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party affiliated prisoners as a goodwill gesture. No meeting has been set yet between Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama, but over the weekend Israeli officials were scrambling to arrange one, which they hope will take place at the White House on Tuesday. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that Israeli building anywhere on occupied land, including in east Jerusalem, is illegal and must end. “The world has condemned Israel’s settlement plans in East Jerusalem,” Ban told reporters after his brief tour to the West Bank. “Let us be clear. All settlement activity is illegal anywhere in occupied territory and must be stopped.” — PTI
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War against India will go on, says Hizbul chief
Islamabad, March 21 "The activities of the mujahideen (militants) have increased and are increasing according to a definite plan. We are fighting a guerrilla war that cannot be at a constant pace. There is sit and stop, according to a plan, and we are continuing our war," said Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, who also heads the United Jehad Council, an amalgam of several Kashmiri militant groups. The militant commander claimed the "uprising" in Jammu and Kashmir had never declined and world governments and the media had "underestimated" it due to pressure in the wake of 9/11 terror attacks in the USA. In an interview to Dawn News channel, Salahuddin said that he supported the Taliban's war against US-led forces in Afghanistan. "As far as Taliban's ideology is that US and other foreign forces should leave Afghanistan, we support it 110 per cent and think it is correct. But it is illegal to conduct any activities within Pakistan," he claimed. Salahuddin, who operates from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's capital Muzaffarabad, dismissed a question about the Taliban being behind attacks within Pakistan, saying: "Any mujahid can never be involved in disruptive actions in Pakistan." He claimed there was no proof that militants from groups like the Hizb-e-Islami or Pakistani and Afghan Taliban were involved in attacks within Pakistan. The militant leader also dismissed the interviewer's contention that the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for attacks within the country. He alleged India had tried to misguide the world community and pressurise Pakistan by claiming militants based in the country were involved in the Mumbai attacks. "The Mumbai attacks had no link to the Kashmir movement and would make no difference to it," he claimed. Noting that the Hizbul Mujahideen had attacked the Wullar barrage in Jammu and Kashmir in 1992, Salahuddin said the militants could attack other dams in the Indian state "if there is a need". — PTI
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Exhibition on Kasturba Gandhi
in South Africa
Durban, March 21 "This building is historically significant as it was where a court officer asked him to remove his turban," Gandhi's granddaughter Ela Gandhi said. Ela's Gandhi Development Trust spearheaded the 'Stalwarts of Peace' series of exhibitions, inaugurated yesterday with the Kasturba Gandhi exhibition, which will run till July as negotiations continue to take it across the country. The Gandhis started the Phoenix Settlement north of Durban during their tenure in the city at the turn of the last century. "In 1913, Kasturba and many other women went to prison and rose far above what ordinary women would be doing at those times," Ela, who lives in South Africa, said. "The exhibition focuses on the struggle of disenfranchised women of all races because even white women did not have the vote at that time." Ela conceded that it had been difficult to put the exhibition on Kasturba together. "There were very few pictures of her and very few books written about her. But with what little we got, there is a powerful message of her courage and the inspiration that she provided coming through. People know Mahatma Gandhi and everybody talks about him, but no one talks about Kasturba, and yet she was the inspiration in his life. He acknowledged this when she died while in prison," Ela said. — PTI
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Now, a DVD player that can edit films to suit kids
London, March 21 These included violence, blood, nudity, sex, swearing, blasphemy and offensive content, the Daily Mail reported. According to ClearPlay bosses, many films, especially those that are rated 15, lend themselves to such treatment because their rating is based on only one or two brief scenes, which can be edited without spoiling the rest of the movie. Andrew Duncan, head of ClearPlay International, said: “We know from our research that parents are concerned about inappropriate content but don’t like conflicts around censorship at home. Our system effectively ends the important but tiresome debates.” DVD players with ClearPlay technology will be on sale in the UK in July, but households can now download it online for a cost of about £1 a week. —
PTI
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Headley’s status hearing cancelled after guilty plea Chicago, March 21 With 49-year-old Headley, an operative of the Pakistan-based LeT, pleading guilty to all 12 terror charges against him in a Chicago court on March 18, a status hearing in his case that was earlier scheduled for March 23 has been cancelled, officials said. Under a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India, murdering and maiming persons and providing material support to LeT, besides aiding and abetting the murder of six US citizens in the 26/11 attacks. A US Attorney’s office spokesman said Headley would remain at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC) located in downtown Chicago for the time being. Since his arrest in October last year, Headley has been held at the MCC. — PTI
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Koirala: A relentless doer
GP Koirala may be blamed for many failures and shortcomings, but his greatest success lies in being able to hook the Maoists in the peace process. In the later part of his life, especially after the success of the 2006 mass movement, he symbolised with people’s hope and aspirations. Success of the peace process would have made him the hero. Yet many aberrations that were visible in the way he conducted himself not only cost him that image, but from national and democratic perspective it was a hope bungled and an opportunity missed. Koirala was a relentless doer who would never give up. But he would not hesitate to make any compromises, and that compromise was not necessarily always in the interest of the nation and democracy. And as he had a personality that dwarfed his party’s as well as political rivals in the post-2006 phase, Koirala could easily go his way. He gave up B P Koirala’s policy of national reconciliation without taking the party into confidence. Yet, he commanded respect of his supporters for the simple reason that during the days of his struggle for democracy that spanned half a century, he looked as one of them, always by their side at the time of need. His unflinching loyalty and dedication to his legendary older brother GP Koirala gave him the right contact and recognition in the international community. Untimely death of Ganeshman Singh and Koirala’s success in sidelining KP Bhattarai politically left him without any one to restrain him.That perhaps was the biggest reason why GP Koirala could not always work as a democrat.
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Russia launches US telecom satellite Taliban behead 3 tribesmen Salinger letters on display
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