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Bilawal leaves Pak after tiff with Zardari over PPP affairs
Kerry meets Karzai again
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Italian court overturns Knox acquittal
Amanda Knox
US issues travel warning as Myanmar unrest spreads
2 Indians killed
in CAR, France orders probe
Opposition takes Syria’s seat at Arab summit opening
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Bilawal leaves Pak after tiff with Zardari over PPP affairs
Islamabad/Lahore, March 26 Bilawal, recently named patron-in-chief of the PPP, developed differences with Zardari and his sister, Faryal Talpur, over the party's handling of key issues, including militant violence, sectarian attacks against Shias and the award of party tickets for the polls scheduled for May 11. Sources privy to the development said Bilawal had made it clear to his father that he felt the PPP had not strongly taken up issues like the shooting of teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai by Taliban fighters last year and three devastating bomb attacks on Shias in Quetta and Karachi that killed nearly 250 persons. Bilawal was also upset with the PPP's handling of issues that affect the youth, especially in the wake of efforts by other parties like Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf to woo the youth ahead of the polls, the sources said. The 24-year-old nominal chief of the PPP was angered by Faryal Talpur's refusal to award tickets to certain candidates in Sindh province that he had recommended, a source said. Bilawal discussed these matters with his father and sought authority to take decisions in party matters. But Zardari sided with his sister, who plays a key role in the PPP's affairs, the source said. —PTI Musharraf unlikely to have impact on poll
Washington: The White House has said the return of Pervez Musharraf, the former dictator of Pakistan, is an "internal matter" of the country, even as a top US diplomat in Islamabad said the event is unlikely to have much impact on the results of the May 11 general polls. Kayani meets caretaker PM
Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday briefed caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on the security situation across the country ahead of the general election. |
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Kerry meets Karzai again
Kabul, March 26 Kerry also met today at the American Embassy in Kabul with participants in a US-backed women's entrepreneurship programme. He heard concerns from businesswomen fearful of what the 2014 transition will mean for not only for women and girls but for Afghanistan's commerce in general. Many advocates for women's rights worry that the departure of international troops will lead to a deterioration in conditions for women, who were denied basic rights such as education under the Taliban rule. — AP |
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Fight for gay marriage goes to US Supreme Court
Washington, March 26 Over two days, lawyers from both sides of the emotionally- charged debate will present their positions before the nine justices as supporters and opponents converge on Washington to rally for their respective positions. The top court will first hear arguments over Proposition 8, a California referendum measure that struck down that state's same-sex marriage initiative in 2008. The two couples who are plaintiffs staged a photo opportunity yesterday by inspecting the original handwritten text of the US Constitution on the eve of their day in court. Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo joined Kris Perry and Sandy Tier on the steps of the National Archives in the US capital, where they posed for photographers but declined to speak to reporters. They then went in "to view the US Constitution and reflect on the importance of their case for gay and lesbian couples across the nation", said the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which supports their case. Then on Wednesday, the court will consider the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law which defines marriage as an act between a man and woman and thus denies married gays and lesbians the same rights and privileges. The star plaintiff in that case is Edie Windsor (83) who had to pay $3,63,000 in federal estate taxes when her partner of more than 40 years, Thea Spyer whom she had married in Canada in 2007, died in 2009. Under the DOMA, the surviving member of a heterosexual married couple is exempt from such taxes. Outside the Supreme Court, colour-coded protesters — red for supporters of gay marriage and red, white and blue for opponents — will set out their positions in the court of public opinion. —AFP
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Italian court overturns Knox acquittal
Rome, March 26 The Court of Cassation ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American and her Italian ex-boyfriend for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. The exact issues that have to be reconsidered won't be known until the court releases its full ruling. Lawyers for Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito looked grim as they huddled with prosecutors and court officials to get details after the ruling was issued. Lawyers for the Kercher family said they had got what they wanted. Kercher's body was found in November 2007 in her bedroom of the house she shared with Knox and others in Perugia, an Italian university town where the two women were exchange students. Her throat had been slashed. Prosecutors alleged Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex game gone awry. — AP
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US issues travel warning as Myanmar unrest spreads
Yangon, March 26 Fresh clashes broke out yesterday in villages in the Bago region north of Yangon, the police said, as the Buddhist-Muslim violence that has gripped areas further north rippled out towards the country's commercial hub. "The police and soldiers had to control the clashes almost the whole night," a police officer said of the violence in Bago, where two religious places and many homes were reported to have been destroyed. "Security forces are still watching the area closely as Muslim communities are staying in that region," he said, adding that there were no reports of casualties in the latest incident. In a statement on its website, the US Embassy in Yangon said the rioting "has resulted in strong feelings on many sides". It "strongly advised" citizens to avoid travel to the Mandalay region as well as to the Mingalar Market/ Yuzana Plaza area of Yangon because of the risk of violence. The police in the main city of Yangon has been instructed to be extra vigilant, another police officer said. — AFP
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2 Indians killed in CAR, France orders probe Durban/New Delhi, March 26 French President Francois Hollande talked to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also sent a letter to him expressing regret over the incident at the Bangui airport in the civil war-torn CAR. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also talked to his Indian counterpart AK Antony to convey his regret over the incident in which two Indian nationals were killed and six others injured during firing by French troops guarding the airport, Defence Ministry officials said. Both Singh and Antony expressed distress over the incident. — PTI
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Opposition takes Syria’s seat at Arab summit opening Doha, March 26 The rebel flag replaced the official Syrian one as Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, who has resigned as the head of the National Coalition but said he would address the summit, took the seat of the head of the delegation at the gathering. The Arab League suspended Damascus' membership in November 2011 over the refusal of President Bashar al-Assad's regime to halt its bloody crackdown on democracy protests. Khatib headed a delegation that included the country's first rebel PM Ghassan Hitto. A round of applause welcomed the leaders of the opposition as they entered the hall. — AFP
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‘Combat-ready’ N Korea threatens US mainland, Hawaii
Bombers attack Afghan police base; 5 dead Woman held after babies found in freezer Indian nurse’s death hearing in May Pak militants kill woman school teacher
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Islamabad/Lahore, March 26
Rome, March 26
