|
|
|
|
|
Obama wants to tax wealthy
Gaddafi’s troops pound Misrata |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mubarak told to appear before Cairo court
BlackBerry chief ends interview after India query
India no show again
Target killings continue in Karachi, 14 dead in 24 hrs
Pak official shot at in Kathmandu
89 Indian prisoners set free by Pak
Kan vows to rebuild Japan
BRICS push for strict adherence to N-safety
|
|
Obama wants to tax wealthy
Washington, April 14 “In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. We can’t afford it. And, I refuse to renew them again,” Obama said. The US president said the rising debt would cost the country jobs and damage its economy. “It will prevent us from making the investments we need to win the future,” Barack Obama said as he proposed a plan that aims to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. Elaborating on his plans, Obama said the policy approach borrowed from the recommendations of the bipartisan Fiscal Commission that he appointed last year and build on the roughly $1 trillion in deficit reduction he proposed in his 2012 budget. “It is an approach that puts every kind of spending on the table, but one that protects the middle class, our promise to seniors, and our investments in the future,” the US President said. “The first step in our approach is to keep annual domestic spending low by building on the savings that both parties agreed to last week. That step alone will save us about $750 billion over 12 years. We will make the tough cuts necessary to achieve these savings, including in programs that I care deeply about, but I will not sacrifice the core investments that we need to grow and create jobs,” Obama said, adding that the country would continue investing in medical research, clean technology and infrastructure. — PTI
|
|
Gaddafi’s troops pound Misrata
Tripoli/Cairo, April 14
Ahead of a key NATO meeting in Brussels, Britain and France mounted pressure on the alliance to help defeat the Libyan regime. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed on a heightened military pressure against 68-year-old Gaddafi during a working dinner in Paris last night. “All means must be made available” in the fight against Gaddafi, a source in the French presidency was quoted as saying by Al-Jazeera today. However, only six out of NATO’s 28 members are taking part in the air strikes, with key members such as Spain and Italy reluctant to be involved in the bombings on Gaddafi’s forces. Even as Denmark wanted more nations to be involved in the bombing missions, Spain wants to limit its role to tightening the arms embargo and the ‘no-fly’ zone in Libya. In the Chinese city of Sanya, India and four other emerging nations forming the BRICS grouping collectively voiced their opposition to the use of force in Libya and pitched for a central role for the United Nations and regional organisations in resolving the matter. — PTI
|
|
Mubarak told to appear before Cairo court
Cairo, April 14 The authorities, however, put off at the last moment the shifting of the ailing President, who is still reported to be in ICU in a hospital in Sharm al-Sheikh in view of his “unstable heart conditions”. Mubarak and his two sons were ordered detained for 15 days by the Prosecutor General pending investigations into accusation of corruption and abuse of authority. Military sources quoted by al Jazeera said Mubarak was being shifted from Sharm al-Sheikh to Cairo. — PTI
|
|
BlackBerry chief ends interview after India query
Toronto, April 14 “That’s just not fair,” Lazaridis shot back at BBC Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones after one of his questions. Looking sideways, a visibly upset RIM boss said: “First of all, we have no security problem. We’ve got the most secure platform. We’ve just been singled out because we’re so successful around the world.” When the reporter asked whether he could assume that BlackBerry has no issues with India and Middle East, Lazaridis said: “No, we don’t... we have just been singled because we are successful around the world. It is an iconic product, it used by businesses, it is used by celebrities, it is used by consumers, it is used by teenagers... we are just singled out just because of our success.” When the reporter pressed him further on India, the BlackBerry chief said: “We are dealing with a lot of issues... We are doing our best to deal with the kind of expertise...” The RIM co-CEO exploded when the reporter finally asked him whether he could “confidently tell” and assure BBC listeners in India and the Middle East whether they could continue using the BlackBerry smartphone without any problems in future. “The interview is over. You can’t use that, Rory. It’s just not fair. This is a national security issue. Turn that off,” the BlackBerry boss told the reporter. The BBC has posted the video of this portion of the interview on its website. Although after many deadlines, RIM has given India access to its BlackBerry Messenger but it has remained noncommittal on allowing access to its encrypted corporate service. India has more than a million BlackBerry users and RIM has set sights on the fast growing market as its share in the North American smart phone market shrinks.
|
|
India no show again
Paris, April 14 The film had come after an uncomfortably long dry patch of several years when the world’s largest producer of films was not seen at all at Cannes. The festival this year will run from May 11 to 22, and its official lineup was announced at here today by General Delegate, Thierry Fremaux. In a disappointment yet again, there is no Indian entry in the 19 films which will compete for the Palm d’Or, the festival’s most coveted prize. “Great filmmakers make great films and the Festival de Cannes welcomes them with open arms,” Fremaux told a press conference here before announcing the selections. — PTI
|
|
|
Target killings continue in Karachi, 14 dead in 24 hrs
Karachi, April 14 Many of the victims of target killings were workers of the Mutthaida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party the two main coalition partners of the ruling PPP government in the Sindh province. Four people were gunned down in the Orangi town area on last night, the police said. The target killings have claimed around 275 lives in Karachi this year. Rising incidents of extortion have already led to the removal of Zulfiqar Mirza as home minister of the province. The MQM that has its support base in the Urdu speaking population said six of its workers were killed in the last 24 hours and their patience was now wearing thin. “Two days back three of our workers were also killed in the Mehmoodabad area while helping the officials conducting the population census in that area,” a senior MQM leader said. Despite claims by the government and law enforcement agencies that they had arrested several high profile criminals involved in the target killings the cycle of violence has refused to die down. The police said the most serious incident took place in the last 24 hours in Ayub Goth where two groups clashed with each other over wall chalking and hoisting of party flags, resulting in indiscriminate firing in the area. Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Sohrab Goth, Ayub Goth, Mominabad, Faqir Colony, Lyari, Baghdadi and Lee Market areas remained tense after the violence. — PTI
|
|
Pak official shot at in Kathmandu
Kathmandu/Islamabad, April 14 Mehboob Asif, a visa section officer, was shot as he stepped out of the embassy building at Basundhara on the outskirts of the capital. He was shot three times, the police said adding that his assailants, who were riding on a motorcycle, escaped. Asif was rushed to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in Maharajgunj with bullet wounds in his stomach, the police said, but described his condition as stable. In Islamabad, a Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said the official was an assistant counsellor in the embassy. “We have taken up the matter with the Nepalese government,” she said. The Kathmandu police launched a massive manhunt for the killers and rounded up over 100 suspects for questioning. The shooting of the Pakistani visa officer comes after a recent wave of gun attacks in the capital by unidentified gunmen, fuelling concern over public security. Last week Nepal’s Energy Minister was stabbed outside his house, just hours after he was appointed and recently an Indian trader was shot dead at New Road in the heart of the city. — PTI
|
|
89 Indian prisoners set free by Pak
Karachi, April 14 The Superintendent of jail in Malir said 89 fishermen were released and sent by two buses to the city of Lahore from where they will be handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border crossing. Their release was a follow-up to a meeting of the Interior and Home Secretaries of India and Pakistan in New Delhi last month. — PTI
|
|
Tokyo/Fukushima, April 14 In their first visit to the disaster-hit northeast, Japan’s Emperor Akhito and Empress Michiko visited Asahi City in Chiba Prefecture, just outside Tokyo, where they met residents of districts struck by the March 11 magnitude-9 quake and tsunami that left nearly 30,000 people dead or missing. After being briefed by Chiba Governor Kensaku Morita on the disaster that killed 13 people in the city and destroyed hundreds of houses, the couple visited a community centre in Unakami district, where 80 residents of Asahi had taken shelter, national broadcaster NHK reported. They also visited an emergency centre in the area, where about 70 residents were staying. The couple is scheduled to visit Kitaibaraki City in Ibaraki prefecture on Friday next week, Sendai in Miyagi on April 27, Iwate prefecture on May 2 and Fukushima on May 11. Prime Minister Kan, who is facing mounting calls from the opposition to step down over his handling of the aftermath of the twin disaster, expressed his commitment to rejuvenate Japan by turning the devastated northeastern coastal region into one of the world’s most desirable places to live. “I’d like you to present a plan that will open up a great opportunity to renew Japan and create a better society for the Japanese people,” Kan said at the first meeting of a panel tasked with developing a grand design for reconstruction, Kyodo news agency reported. — PTI
|
|||
|
BRICS push for strict adherence to N-safety Sanya (China), April 14 The BRICS nations unanimously observed that nuclear energy would continue to be an important element in the energy mix of member countries of the grouping in the future. In his address to the summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also briefly touched upon nuclear safety in the context of the recent disaster in Japan. “Nuclear safety has emerged as a major source of concern the world over after the tragedy in Japan. We should cooperate in this area as well as in disaster relief and management,” he said. While referring to the importance of clean energy, Manmohan Singh said, “We have the opportunity to give concrete meaning to the concept of sustainable and balanced development, and produce innovative models of development.” He said the BRICS countries could cooperate in clean and alternative sources of energy and technologies. The Sanya Declaration said the leaders were of the view that climate change is one of the global threats challenging the livelihood of communities and countries and that member countries supported the Cancun Agreements. They expressed readiness to make concerted efforts, with the rest of the international community, to bring a successful conclusion to the negotiations at the Durban Conference, applying the mandate of the Bali Roadmap and in line with the principle of equity, but differentiated responsibilities.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Washington, April 14
As hectic efforts were on to contain Japan’s worst atomic crisis, the police in protective gear today for the first time launched a search for tsunami victims in a 10-km zone around a radiation-leaking nuclear plant while Premier Naoto Kan vowed to rebuild the nation amid growing opposition calls for him to quit.
With concerns mounting over the safety of nuclear facilities after the Fukushima disaster, India and other BRICS nations today said that international cooperation in the development of safe nuke energy for peaceful purposes should proceed under conditions of strict observance of relevant safety standards and requirements concerning design, construction and operation of nuke plants.
