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Biden, Ryan spar at vice-presidential debate 3 held over attack on Malala |
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10 yrs on, Bali recalls horror of bombs EU wins Nobel Peace Prize Special to the
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Biden, Ryan spar at vice-presidential debate Danville, October 12 Biden was looking for a Democratic rebound after President Barack Obama's poor debate performance last week. But the younger and less experienced Ryan held his own in a series of testy exchanges. "With all due respect, that is a bunch of malarkey," Biden said when Ryan accused the White House of projecting an image of American weakness to the world. First estimates of who prevailed at the debate in Kentucky were split. A CBS News survey of undecided voters showed Biden as the winner by 50 per cent to 31 per cent, while a CNN poll of debate watchers scored Ryan the victor by 48 per cent to 44 per cent. The vice-presidential candidates in the November 6 election frequently interrupted each other, talking at the same time and sometimes staring at each other in disbelief. Biden grinned and laughed sarcastically at times, dismissing the Wisconsin congressman's answers. But he repeatedly provided the passion that Obama was criticized for lacking in last week's debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The White House race shifted in Romney's favour after that encounter in Denver and he has taken the lead in some national polls with less than four weeks before the election. A Reuters-Ipsos online tracking poll on Thursday before the debate showed Romney leading Obama by 47 per cent to 44 per cent. "Mr Vice-President, I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think people would be better served if we don't keep interrupting each other," Ryan said at one point. "Well, don't take all the four minutes then," Biden responded. He later added: "I don't know what world this guy's living in." Obama, who watched the debate on Air Force One while returning from a campaign trip, jogged out to meet reporters after landing and praised his No. 2. "I thought Joe Biden did terrific tonight. I could not be prouder of him. He made a very strong case," Obama said. Romney called Ryan to congratulate him after the debate. The fiery debate was likely to energise the base supporters of both parties, although Biden's smirks and dismissive comments were risky. "There's a fine line between showing passionate disagreement and showing obnoxiousness," said political scientist Jamie Chandler of Hunter College in New York. Biden portrayed Ryan, the 42-year-old chairman of the House Budget Committee, as out of step with working Americans for supporting a budget plan that slashes government spending and creates a "voucher" system for the popular Medicare healthcare programme for seniors. "It will not keep pace with healthcare costs. Because if it did keep pace with healthcare costs, there would be no savings," Biden said. "We will be no part of a voucher program or the privatisation of Social Security." Ryan said Democrats had not put a credible solution on the table to address the long-range fiscal problems for Medicare. "He'll say all these things to try and scare people," he said. At one point, Ryan made reference to how President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, had lowered tax rates. "Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy?" Biden asked. —
Reuters
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3 held over attack on Malala In an "important breakthrough", three suspects have been arrested over the near-fatal Taliban attack on Pakistan's teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai, who remains on ventilator at a top army hospital with the military today saying the next 36 to 48 hours are critical.
Malala, who along with two of her friends was attacked on Tuesday in former Taliban stronghold of Swat in northwest Pakistan, was airlifted to the military hospital in Rawalpindi from Peshawar yesterday for better care after a three-hour surgery to remove a bullet from near her spine. Swat district police chief Gul Afzal Khan Afridi said they had made an "important breakthrough" by arresting three men. The identity of the men was not disclosed. It could not immediately be ascertained whether they were members of any militant group. However, Ataullah, the alleged mastermind of Tuesday's attack on Malala, was still at large. Afridi said police were hopeful of arresting Ataullah, who belonged to Sangota area of Swat, soon. Earlier, police and security agencies had detained dozens of suspects for questioning in connection with the attack. The driver of Malala's school bus too was questioned. Most of these people were released after questioning. The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack on Malala, saying she was targeted for espousing Western ideals and secularism. The Taliban has said it will continue to target Malala. A military spokesman said today that Malala's condition was satisfactory though she continued to be on ventilator at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi. (With inputs from PTI)
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10 yrs on, Bali recalls horror of bombs Bali, October 12 Security was tight with more than 2,000 police and military, including snipers, deployed to guard the memorial services after reports involving the "certain movement" of terrorists were announced two days earlier, raising the security alert to its highest level. "The loss is not just giving us grief, it is also giving us the strength to fight terrorism and all other extremist activities," said Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika, the former police chief who led the investigations following the attacks. The 2002 bombing was Asia's deadliest terror strike, killing 202 people including 88 Australians and seven Americans and injuring more than 240 others partying at the popular Sari Club and Paddy's Pub in Kuta that Saturday night. The attack was carried out by suicide bombers from the Al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah and kick started a wave of violence that would hit an embassy, hotels and restaurants in the world's most-populous Muslim-majority nation. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard attended today's event along with John Howard, who was Australian premier at the time of the attacks. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa along with other dignitaries also paid their respects. — AP
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EU wins Nobel Peace Prize
Oslo, October 12 The award served as a reminder that the EU had largely brought peace to a continent which tore itself apart in two world wars in which tens of millions died. The EU has transformed most of Europe "from a continent of wars to a continent of peace," Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said in announcing the award in Oslo. "The EU is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest," Jagland said. "The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU's most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights." Jagland praised the EU for rebuilding Europe from the devastation of World War Two and for its role in spreading stability after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. While welcomed by European leaders, the award will have little practical effect on the debt crisis afflicting the single currency zone, which has brought economic instability and social unrest to several states with rioting in Athens and Madrid. On the streets of the Greek capital, where demonstrators have burned Nazi flags to protest against German demands for austerity, the award was greeted with disbelief. "Is this a joke?" asked Chrisoula Panagiotidi, 36, a beautician who lost her job three days ago. "It's the last thing I would expect. It mocks us and what we are going through right now. All it will do is infuriate people here." The prize, worth $1.2 million, will be presented in Oslo on December 10. It was not immediately clear who from the EU would be there to collect the cheque and what it would be spent on. Conceived in secret at a chateau near Brussels, what is now the European Union was created by the 1957 Treaty of Rome, signed with great fanfare in the Italian capital's 15th century Palazzo dei Conservatori. The six-state 'common market' it founded grew into the 27-nation European Union ranging from Ireland's Atlantic shores to the borders of Russia. At the time the Cold War was in full swing after Soviet tanks put down an anti-communist rebellion in Budapest. Western countries led by the United States had formed NATO and the Kremlin responded with the Warsaw Pact. But the EU is now mired in crisis with enormous strains between capitals over the euro, the common currency shared by 17 nations and created to further economic and monetary union. Politicians in Germany, one of the main forces behind the foundation of the EU, were delighted with the award. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader, said it was a "wonderful decision". French President Francois Hollande, whose country has with Germany formed the EU's main axis of power, said it was an "immense honour". Helmut Kohl, the chancellor who reunified Germany and pushed the country into the euro, said: "The Nobel Peace Prize for the EU is above all a confirmation of the European peace project." After centuries of war on the continent the EU has been at peace within its borders, but its effort to stop war in former Yugoslavia, an initiative hailed by one minister as "the hour of Europe", was a failure. The British government, less committed to the European ideal than other EU members, made no comment on the prize. Ed Balls, a senior member of the opposition Labour Party, remarked sarcastically: "They'll be cheering in Athens tonight, won't they?" Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's fiercely eurosceptic UKIP party, added: "This goes to show that the Norwegians really do have a sense of humour." Norway has twice voted "no" to joining the EU, in 1972 and 1994. The country has prospered outside the bloc, partly thanks to huge oil and gas resources. — Reuters
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Special to the
tribune Indian currency notes of up to Rs 100 denominations are expected to fetch several thousand times their face value when they are auctioned later this month in the US. A Rs 100 note issued in 1975 and signed by S. Jaganathan has an estimated auction value of $2,500-4,000 Surprisingly, public interest is expected to focus on the Indian currency notes ranging from Re 1 to Rs 100 and issued from the late 1960s to the early 1970s that are being offered for sale in the US by currency auctioneer Robert Schwartz of Archives International Auctions in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Schwartz is a dentist by profession who says he has had enough of dentistry and wants to do something that is more creative and satisfying. "When you're a collector there are certain which are extremely rare", he told the Tribune. "Specimens from India are extremely rare and quite frankly, as far as modern notes are concerned, there's nothing that compares with them. "For older notes there are amazing notes when you go back to British administration, but after that there are a few notes that are extremely valuable. These happen to be the ones that are rarely seen. I've never owned any. This was a consignment. I've never had any previously in my auctions, other than the ones I acquired back in 2005." The unique quality of these upcoming Rupee notes is that they are specimen notes with zero serial numbers that were either printed as a gift for visiting foreign dignitaries, or else to compare and contrast with suspected counterfeit products. "These were the first notes to come off the Press", Schwartz explains. “What they would usually do in the case of specimens is that they would print a certain amount as examples, they would send them to the banks to make certain that other notes weren't counterfeit, they would keep them in their own records in case the government of India came back to them and said they wanted some more.” "These are exactly the same as the printed issue notes, except that instead of having a regular serial number on them and having them issues by banks, they only put zero serial numbers. They all have zero serial numbers. If you put 50 of them, they don't look exactly the same. Sometimes there may be just a number on the margin for them to keep track of what they have, but most of the time they don't even have that. They just have 'specimen', or something like that, perhaps they may have 'cancelled' or the signature blocked."
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US Vice-President Joe Biden leapt to the attack against Republican challenger Paul Ryan in a lively debate on Thursday, aggressively defending the Obama administration's economic and foreign policies.
In an "important breakthrough", three suspects have been arrested over the near-fatal Taliban attack on Pakistan's teenage rights activist Malala
Yousufzai, who remains on ventilator at a top army hospital with the military today saying the next 36 to 48 hours are critical.
Bali, October 12
They are among a whole range of foreign currency notes, including some issued by Pakistan, Chile and Cyprus, which are being offered for sale. One of the unique examples is a $50 note printed by the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and issued in Hankow on May 1, 1924.