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Flotilla Attack
NRI jailed in UK for kickbacks
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‘Prince’s girlfriend gagged by Royals’
Here, marriage is a solution to check elopement
2 Americans held on terror charges
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Flotilla Attack
Jerusalem, June 6 "I told the UN chief that establishing the facts must be conducted responsibly and objectively. I am looking into other possibilities," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of Likud ministers today. Ban had proposed setting up an independent commission of inquiry headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister, Geoffrey Palmer, an expert on maritime law, with committee members drawn from United States, Turkey and Israel. The proposal, which was relayed to Israel over the weekend, is to be discussed by the "forum of seven ministers" headed by Netanyahu later today. "Over the weekend I spoke with US Vice President Joe Biden and the prime ministers of Greece and Bulgaria, as well as with Ban. During my conversation with Ban I conveyed all the information we have on the conduct of the members of the extreme Turkish group (IHH) that supports terror," Netanyahu said during the meeting. "I told him we must find out who organised them, who funds them, who equipped them and how they boarded the ship," the premier asserted. The Israeli leader backs Defence Minister Ehud Barak's position, according to which Israel will not allow any international inquiry commission to interrogate Israeli soldiers and officers. Prime Minister Netanyahu today defended the bloody Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla, saying troops came under attack by a group of people who were separate from the peace activists. Netanyahu claimed the violence aboard the Turkish Marmara aid ship last Monday was "intentional" and those who attacked Israeli troops had boarded the ship "in a way that allowed them to avoid a security check". "According to the information we now hold, the group which attacked the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers boarded the ship separately, in a different city, and underwent completely different security checks," the Prime Minister claimed at a cabinet meeting today. Israel, which is faced with global isolation over the issue, says its commandos only resorted to force after being attacked as they reached the deck, but activists claim the soldiers started firing first. — PTI
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NRI jailed in UK for kickbacks
London, June 6 Silinder Singh Sidhu, 46, was the marketing coordinator at the Shropshire office of LSC, while fellow defendant Paul Kent, 46, who was director Adult Learning at the office, has been jailed for four years and six months. John Stuart Ford, 58, who operated a training facility, was jailed for two years, while Rebecca Hoyle, 46, a graphic designer, was given a suspended jail sentence of one year. Three of the defendants worked for the Shropshire office of the LSC, which awarded contracts to local training providers. The other two were suppliers of training services and were complicit in the corrupt arrangements.
— PTI
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‘Prince’s girlfriend gagged by Royals’
London, June 6 According to the 'Sunday Express', Kate is believed to have signed the gagging contract when they briefly broke up in April 2007, a move which was orchestrated by Clarence House to protect the second-in-line to the British throne should the relationship not go the distance. This not only explains Kate's unwillingness to speak to the press but also why she has maintained such a low profile in recent years. "Kate has been the soul of discretion throughout her relationship with William so she was never likely to speak to the newspapers but Clarence House wanted it in writing. It's not very romantic but it shows how serious the relationship is," a source was quoted as saying. There had been worldwide speculation that William would propose to Kate last week after Tina Brown, the former editor of Tatler magazine and a close friend of Princess Diana, said that the royal diary had been "cleared" on June 3 and 4 for an engagement announcement. However, according to the British tabloid, royal insiders do not expect them to tie the knot until 2013. Speculation that they plan to marry in 2012 to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is wide of the mark, according to sources who say Palace staff do not want anything to upstage Her Majesty's landmark occasion.
— PTI
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Here, marriage is a solution to check elopement
Elders of a village near Sinjhoro in Sindh have found an ingenious way to check a growing trend of elopement. The village panchayat, headed by Haji Usman Bhanojo, was convened to discuss the elopement of village girl Naz with one Guddu Panhwa. Some villagers suggested that the couple should be killed because they had disgraced the community. The only recourse to redeem its honour was the death punishment.
However, sanity prevailed and they all agreed to pardon the couple. Haji Usman came up with a novel idea that all men and women, who had come of marriageable age should be married off. The suggestion was accepted by all members of the panchayat. It was decided to pardon Naz and Guddu and the proposal was unanimously approved by the panchayat and 13 couples tied the knot within 24 hours at a collective ceremony. However, girl’s consent was also obtained before the weddings — a practice unheard of so far.
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2 Americans held on terror charges New York, June 6 The duo — Mohamed Hamoud Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park — had the intention of training with the extremist group al Shabaab and then attack American troops in Somalia, the feds claimed. They were, however, not planning an attack in New York or New Jersey. The New Jersey men were planning to board separate flights to Egypt, with an intention of ultimately travelling to Somalia. "Two individuals were arrested at JFK in connection with an ongoing investigation. At this time, we can provide no further details because the investigation is ongoing. The arrests do not relate to an immediate threat," said Jose Lozano, a spokesman for the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. They have been charged with conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism and will appear in a New Jersey district court on Monday. The extremist group, al Shabaab, is fighting the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government in Somalia and controls large swathes of territory. This arrest comes a month after an American citizen of Pakistani-origin, Faisal Shahzad, attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on May 1. Before that, on Christmas Day, a Nigerian man Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner. — PTI
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Washington Diary
A South Carolina lawmaker this week dug deep into a bag of racial epithets and hurled a particularly nasty one at Nikki Haley, a Republican gubernatorial candidate whose parents moved to the US from Amritsar.
Appearing on an Internet political talk show, Republican state Sen. Jake Knotts described Haley, a Sikh American, as a “raghead,” saying, “We’ve already got a raghead in the White House, we don’t need another raghead in the Governor’s mansion.” Knotts later apologised saying his remarks were meant as a joke. Haley is the Republican front-runner in her bid for the Governor’s office. She has been endorsed by 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Her campaign manager Tim Pearson called Knotts “an embarrassment to our state and to the Republican Party.” “Jake Knotts represents all that is wrong with South Carolina politics,” Pearson said. This is not the first time Haley has been the target of mudslingers. Late last month a blogger claimed he had an “inappropriate physical relationship”with Haley, who is married to a US Army Reserves officer. Haley responded to that accusation saying she had been “100 per cent faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage. This claim against me is categorically and totally false.” “It is quite simply South Carolina politics at its worst,” she said. Haley’s full name is Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley. Born to Sikh parents, Dr Ajit and Raj Randhawa, Haley converted to Christianity but, still visits the gurdwara out of deference to her parents. Haley says her faith in Christ has a profound impact on my daily life and I look to Him for guidance with every decision I make... Being a Christian is not about words, but about living for Christ every day.” Should Haley win gubernatorial contest she will be only the second Indian American Governor of a US state Bobby Jindal became the first Indian American Governor of the US when he was elected in Louisiana in 2008. Like Haley, Jindal converted to Christianity as a youth and is a conservative Republican. India-US affair a matter of heart
The Obama administration pulled out all the stops this week to assure India that it continues to be a high priority for the US Speaking to the Tribune at the end of his visit to Washington, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said he was convinced that the US holds India in high esteem. He noted that there had been “so many gestures on the part of the US” to put to rest concern that the US has been negligent towards India and distracted by foreign policy challenges with Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. President Barack Obama took the unusual step of attending a State Department reception in honour of Krishna on Thursday. US officials said the gesture was intended to underscore the President’s commitment to the US - India relationship. Veteran diplomatic correspondents could not recall any other instance of a President making the short drive from the White House to the State Department to meet with another country's Foreign Minister. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a frequent visitor to India, described the US relationship with India as “an affair of the heart, not just of the head.” There are still some, who doubt whether India maintains the same primacy in the Obama agenda that it did in George W Bush’s. An Indian official, who attended the State Department banquet for Krishna, said he continued to believe that India was not as big a priority for Obama. The main reason, he said, was that unlike during the Bush administration when both sides were focused on a historic nuclear deal, there were no major initiatives that bind the US and India today.
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