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Special to the tribune
Putin says could turn against Assad, if case proved
Cleveland kidnapper found hanged in jail
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Special seat reserved for Hindus, Sikhs in Afghan parliament
Won’t extradite Snowden: Russia
Sino-India ties at an ‘important juncture’
26/11: Pak judicial panel to visit India on Sept 11
US court issues summons to Sonia Gandhi
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US inches closer to Syria strike
Top Democratic, Republican leaders agree on resolution allowing military action Ashish K Sen in Washington DC The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday put the US one step closer to taking military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime to punish it for alleged use of chemical weapons. The committee's Democratic chairman and top Republican agreed on text for a resolution that permits US President Barack Obama to use military force for up to 90 days against Syria, but bars deployment of the US troops on the ground. "With this agreement, we are one step closer to granting the president the authority to act in our national security interest," committee chairman Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey said after reaching an agreement with Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee. Earlier on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey made the case to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for military action against the Assad regime. All three will testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. "President Obama is not asking America to go to war," Kerry told members of the Senate panel that he chaired before assuming the role of Secretary of State in February. "The President has made crystal clear we have no intention of assuming responsibility for Syria's civil war. He is asking only for the power to make certain that the United States means what we say, that the world, when we join together in a multilateral statement, mean what we say. He's asking for authorisation to degrade and deter Bashar al-Assad's capacity to use chemical weapons." "This is not the time for armchair isolationism," Kerry exhorted the senators. "This is not the time to be spectators to slaughter. Neither our country nor our conscience can afford the cost of silence." A US military strike would be punitive, the Obama administration officials said. "Our military objectives in Syria would be to hold the Assad regime accountable, degrade its ability to carry out these kinds of attacks and deter it from further use of chemical weapons," said Hagel. Gen. Dempsey told senators: "We will find a way to make our use of force effective." The Obama administration has pinned the blame on the Assad regime for the chemical weapons attack outside Damascus on August 21. Britain and France have reached similar conclusions. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that a team of UN inspectors, which visited the site of the attack last week and collected biological and physical samples, can only confirm that chemical weapons were used, but not who used them. Kerry said the Obama administration can say "beyond any reasonable doubt that our evidence proves the Assad regime prepared for this attack, issued instructions to prepare for this attack, warned its own forces to use gas masks."
Putin says could turn against Assad, if case proved
Moscow/Beirut, September 4 His words may herald new efforts to overcome great power rivalries that have let Syria descend into bloody chaos. At the same time, Moscow said it had sent a warship it calls a "carrier killer" to the eastern Mediterranean, where a US fleet is waiting for the Congress to approve orders from President Barack Obama to launch punitive strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. On the eve of a G20 summit in St Petersburg, Putin said, "Only proof, plus backing in the UN Security Council that depends on Moscow, would justify using force." — Reuters |
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Cleveland kidnapper found hanged in jail
Cleveland, September 4
The former school bus driver, who pleaded guilty in the case, was under protective custody and isolated from other inmates at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient. Prison staff found him hanged about 0220 GMT today, officials said. A review of the incident was underway. His lawyer said the prison authorities repeatedly denied him a psychologist. "We requested the opportunity for our retained independent psychologist to see and evaluate Castro in both the county jail and in the prison reception centre, where he was being held. We were denied and thwarted in each of our attempts by the state and county," said defense attorney Jaye Schlachet. Castro was sentenced on August 1 to life plus 1,000 years in prison. — Reuters
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Special seat reserved for Hindus, Sikhs in Afghan parliament
Kabul, September 4 In the presidential decree, Karzai assigned the Ministers of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs to submit the decree within 30 days after the National Assembly of Afghanistan resumed its first session. The decree further says that the amendments to the election law came into force upon signature by the President and shall be published along with the relevant cabinet resolution in the official gazette. The National Assembly of Afghanistan is a bicameral body, comprising two chambers, Wolesi Jirga or the lower house with 249 seats and Meshrano Jirga or the Upper House with 102 seats. The reserved seat has been designated to the lower house which will now have 250 members. Karzai's decision has come after lawmakers declined to reserve a special seat for Hindus and Sikhs. The Afghan President has the power to issue legislative decrees when the Parliament is on vacation. — PTI
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Won’t extradite Snowden: Russia
Moscow, September 4 The problem is that we and the US do not have an agreement on mutual extradition of criminals," he said. He asserted that Moscow had invited Washington on numerous occasions to conclude such an agreement "but have been denied". — IANS
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Sino-India ties at an ‘important juncture’
Beijing, September 4 While the relations between the two countries grew “very substantially” in the last decade and a half, “We are now at an important juncture where decisions that could be taken may raise our cooperation to a much higher level”, Indian envoy to China S Jaishankar said. Jaishankar made the remarks yesterday while inaugurating the India Pavilion at the Euroasia Expo being held at Urumqi in northwestern Xinjiang province. Referring to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to New Delhi in May, he said Li’s talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh established a consensus on five important areas, including steps to address the issue of trade imbalance and cooperate more strongly in many fields, including pharmaceuticals, IT and agro products. He said the talks between the two prime ministers also covered enhancing the project contracting with particular relevance for infrastructure development in India, establishment of industrial zones to provide platform for cluster-type development of enterprises, support banking institutions to set up larger presence and collaboration in development projects of common interest in third countries. Ahead of Li's visit, India had asked China to open up its markets in the areas like IT and pharmaceuticals where the South Asian giant has an edge. The Indian envoy also spoke about growing relations between India and Xinjiang that borders PoK. “India and Xinjiang are close neighbours and exchanges between the two sides have been growing over the years,” Jaishankar said while recalling the 2011 visit of Xinjiang's governor Nur Bekri to India. — PTI
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26/11: Pak judicial panel to visit India on Sept 11 Islamabad/Lahore, Sept 4 Prosecutors from the Federal Investigation Agency filed a copy of the gazette notification regarding the eight-member commission’s visit in the anti-terrorism court in Islamabad that is conducting the trial of seven suspects charged with involvement in the attack. “The prosecution submitted the notification and said the team could not leave on September 7 due to the cancellation of the PIA flight to India,” Riaz Akram Cheema, part of the team of lawyers defending the accused, told PTI. Cheema quoted prosecutors as saying that the team would leave for India on September 11. Following this, Judge Atiqur Rehman adjourned the case till September 18. The commission will submit a report to the court at the next hearing. The visit to India to cross-examine witnesses is being undertaken to take forward the prosecution of the seven suspects. The witnesses are the magistrate who recorded LeT member Ajmal Kasab’s confessional statement, the chief investigating officer and two doctors who conducted the autopsy of the terrorists who carried out the Mumbai attacks in November 2008. This will be the commission’s second visit to India. A report submitted by the panel after its first visit in March 2012 was rejected by an anti-terrorism court as the commission's members were not allowed to cross-examine witnesses. — PTI
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Gunmen kill Pakistan Navy officer
3 lakh bids to watch porn in UK Parliament Woman steals over $1m from Afghan bank US spied on me in Germany: Assange
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Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday put the US one step closer to taking military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime to punish it for alleged use of chemical weapons.
