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Obama says fully committed to create sovereign Palestine state US President Barack Obama and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas (L) review troops in the West Bank City of Ramallah on Thursday. — Reuters Special to the tribune |
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15 killed in Pak blast Oz PM survives leadership challenge
Interpol rejects Pak’s request to arrest Musharraf
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Obama says fully committed to create sovereign Palestine state
Ramallah/Jerusalem, March 21 In a speech in Jerusalem addressed to the Israeli people, Obama asked the Jewish state to recognise "the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and justice", saying peace is necessary as it is the "only path to true security". "Put yourself in their shoes – look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day," the US President said. Earlier in the day, Obama made a historic trip to Israeli-occupied West Bank and met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, hours after rockets from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israeli city
of Sderot. On the second day of his landmark trip to the region, Obama said Israeli settlement activities were "not constructive" for peace in the volatile region. He asked both Israeli and Palestinian sides to resume long-stalled peace talks, pledging the US "would do our part." "Palestinians deserve a state of their own. The US is deeply committed to seeing an independent, sovereign state," he said in Ramallah at a joint press conference with Abbas. Obama urged Palestinians not to give up on peace, "no matter how hard it is", adding that the only way to achieve progress was through direct Israeli-Palestinian talks. — PTI Gaza militants fire at Israel Obama’s limo breaks down |
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SARS-like disease keeping health experts on toes Shyam Bhatia In London International health experts are working full time to find ways of a deadly new virus originating from West Asia that has so far killed nine and infected 15 adults. The precise source of the coronavirus (SARS CoV) has yet to be determined. But it belongs to the same family as the deadly SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)-type virus that can result in pneumonia and kidney failure. In Europe and the US, health experts are fearful about a repetition of the 2003 SARS outbreak that infected over 8,000 persons in more than 30 countries. An estimated one in ten patients subsequently died. Earlier this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledged the emergence of what it described as “a new coronavirus capable of causing severe disease” that “raises concerns because of the experience with SARS.” A statement issued by the WHO added, “The WHO has closely monitored the situation since detection of the first case and has been working with partners to ensure a high degree of preparedness, should the new virus be found to be sufficiently transmissible to cause community outbreaks. Some viruses are able to cause limited human-to-human transmission under condition of close contact, as occurs in families, but are not so easily transmissible that they are likely to cause As with SARS, the new coronavirus may have originated in animals like bats and goats before infecting humans. So the first clear evidence of human-to-human transmission within a Pakistani-origin family in the UK has set the alarm bells ringing. “This recent cluster provides the first clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of this novel coronavirus, coinfection of the coronavirus with another pathogen (influenza A), and a case of mild illness associated with the coronavirus infection,” says a statement posted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) based in Atlanta, US. “Persons who develop severe acute lower respiratory illness within 10 days after travelling from the Arabian Peninsula or neighbouring countries should continue to be evaluated, according to current guidelines. Persons, whose respiratory illness remains unexplained and who meet the criteria for ‘patient under investigation’, should be reported immediately to the CDC through the state and local health departments. Persons who develop severe acute lower respiratory illness of known etiology within 10 days after travelling from the Arabian Peninsula or neighbouring countries but who do not respond to appropriate therapy may be considered for evaluation for novel coronavirus infection. “In addition, persons who develop severe acute lower respiratory illness who are close contacts of a symptomatic traveller who developed fever and acute respiratory illness within 10 days of travelling from the Arabian Peninsula or neighbouring countries may be considered for evaluation for novel coronavirus infection. Testing of specimens for the novel coronavirus will be conducted at the CDC.” In the UK, the widow of a man recently infected and killed by the new virus has told the British media how her father-in-law, Abid Hussain, was the unwitting bearer of the disease that killed her husband. Azima Hussain has explained how Abid travelled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, early last February to pray for the recovery of his son, Khalid, who was in a Birmingham hospital where he was undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer. "The cancer was complicated, it was right behind the eyes and nose," Azima told the Guardian newspaper in London. "Doctors said he needed chemotherapy to make the tumour smaller, before they could operate. His father went back to Pakistan to tell the family about Khalid's cancer and decided to come back via Mecca to pray for his recovery. It was weird, no one could have expected what happened."
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15 killed in Pak blast At least 15 persons, including women and children, were killed and many others injured in a bomb blast at the Jalozai camp near Nowshera, about 60 km from Peshawar, on Thursday. The blast occurred near the refugee camp set up for people displaced by conflict in tribal areas. According to the police, the bomb was planted in a car. The bomb disposal squad said 35 kg explosives were used. Fuad Khan, police official responsible for the security of the camp, said: "The bomb exploded in a car parked near the administration office where refugees had lined up to get ration and new arrivals were being registered." Jalozai, a camp that once hosted Afghan refugees, now has Pakistani tribesmen fleeing unrest in the Khyber, Bajaur and Mohmand tribal districts. |
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Oz PM survives leadership challenge Melbourne, March 21 Gillard (51) was elected unopposed at a meeting of the Labor Caucus following her dramatic announcement to call a leadership ballot as internal unrest mounted in the party ahead of a general election in September. Gillard threw her job open for contest after senior cabinet minister Simon Crean asked to step aside and clear the way for former leader Rudd to head the minority government. Rudd, who was ruthlessly ousted by Gillard in mid-2010, indicated he did not have the numbers to topple the premier, after being roundly beaten when he resigned as foreign minister and launched a previous challenge in February 2012. "I'm not prepared to dishonour my word... others take such commitments lightly, I do not," he said just minutes before Labor parliamentarians were due to vote. "I have also said that the only circumstances under which I would consider a return to leadership would be if there was an overwhelming majority of the parliamentary party requesting such a return, drafting me to return and the position was vacant," said Rudd. "I am here to inform you that those circumstances do not exist," he said. With Rudd out of the running, the ballot went ahead with Gillard retaining the leadership unopposed. — PTI
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Interpol rejects Pak’s request to arrest Musharraf Islamabad, March 21 Musharraf has cleared the final hurdle to his plans to return to Pakistan as he no longer faces the possibility of arrest at the hands of Interpol, The Express Tribune quoted its sources as saying. The 69-year-old former President, who went into self-exile in early 2009, has said he intends to return to Pakistan on March 24 to lead his party All Pakistan Muslim League in the upcoming elections. He has been shuttling between London and Dubai after he went out of Pakistan in exile. Islamabad's request to issue a Red Corner Notice for Musharraf was rejected by the Interpol headquarters in a reply sent to the Pakistani authorities, who had sought an arrest warrant for him as a suspect in Bhutto's assassination. Meanwhile, Musharraf has applied for bail in the Sindh High Court to avoid arrest upon his arrival.— PTI
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Bangladesh begins 3-day state mourning at President's death North Korea issues fresh threat to US Imran Khan is Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Karzai claims victory over US ‘abuse’ claims |
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Warning Israel that it was at a "crossroads", US President Barack Obama today voiced his opposition to Tel Aviv's controversial settlement activities and said America was "deeply committed" to create an independent, sovereign state of Palestine.
Australia's first woman Prime Minister Julia Gillard today survived a leadership challenge within her party emerging victorious in a vote after her rival Kevin Rudd made a last-minute decision not to run against her.
Gillard (51) was elected unopposed at a meeting of the Labor Caucus following her dramatic announcement to call a leadership ballot as internal unrest mounted in the party ahead of a general election in September.
