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US spymaster defends snooping on leaders
Ansari opens festival of India in Havana
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China arrests 5 for Tiananmen attack
Special to The Tribune
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US spymaster defends snooping on leaders
Washington, October 30 The reference to the 1942 American romantic drama film set in a gambling den in the Moroccan city came at a hearing “About Spying on Our Allies” in response to a query from the panel’s Republican chairman Mike Rogers. Trying to determine the intentions of foreign leaders, by getting close to them or getting their communications, is a “fundamental given” among intelligence services, and one of the first things he learned in his 50-year intelligence career, Clapper said. The hearing came amid a brewing controversy over reports that US National Security Agency has been listening in to the conversations of 35 foreign leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel for years. Asked by Rogers if he believes US allies conducted espionage activities against US leaders, he said, “Absolutely.” Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about US intelligence-gathering activities have been “extremely damaging,” Clapper said. But the activities themselves have been lawful, and “rigorous oversight” has been effective, he added. “We do not spy on anyone except for valid foreign intelligence purposes and we only work within the law. Now, to be sure, on occasion, we’ve made mistakes, some quite significant,” Clapper acknowledged. As the US spy chief testified, two ranking Democratic and Republican lawmakers introduced bills that call for greater transparency and oversight of the NSA’s surveillance programmes. — IANS
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Ansari opens festival of India in Havana
Havana, October 30 The thunderous applause given to the programme
of Indian classical dances by spirited Cubans at the large Mella Theatre, which was packed to capacity, was amazing. Punjabi dances like bhangra and gidha do not figure in
the festival. Earlier, on his arrival from Lima, the Vice President was received by C Rajasekhar, Ambassador to Cuba, and the Vice Foreign Minister of Cuba. Ansari is set to hold talks with Mr Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, First Vice President, and ministers of Cuba later in the day today. An agreement is expected to be signed. The Vice President will lay a wreath at Jose Marti, the Revolution Square, visit the Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and view the "Cannon Ceremony" at old Havana before leaving for London, the third leg of his three-nation visit. Though India and Cuba have for long shared close relations since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and engaged actively with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, now retired from public life due to age, on international fora like the UN and Non-Aligned Movement and World Trade Organisation, the volume of trade between the two countries is insignificant. It was just US$ 67.246 million in 2011. ONGC Videsh is engaged in oil exploration here since 2009. India has given $2.712 million aid to Cuba
for setting up a milk powder and $5 million for modernising an injectable products plant in Havana. India and Cuba have shared interest in areas like trade, renewable energy, culture and sports. Cuban company CIMAB has provided technical knowhow and expertise on monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer to Indian company Biocon. India donated a solar power plant to Cuba in 1995 and set up an IT centre in 2010 in Havana to train professionals. Cuban coaches have trained young Indians in boxing, athletics, volleyball, judo and diving. There is a small minority of Indians living in Cuba, including 25 sisters working for missionaries of charity. There are some 200 descendants of Indians who came from Jamaica and parts of West Indies and settled in the Guantanamo province of eastern Cuba in the early 20th century. |
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China arrests 5 for Tiananmen attack
Beijing, October 30 The breakthrough in the probe came as the Beijing police captured the five suspects with the cooperation of authorities including those in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region that borders PoK and Afghanistan. The attack was “carefully planned, organised and premeditated,” a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said. Significantly, the attack was carried by a family of three hailing from the troubled Muslim Uighur majority Xinjiang, which has witnessed several terror incidents recently. Usmen Hasan, his mother, Kuwanhan Reyim, and his wife, Gulkiz Gini, drove an SUV with a Xinjiang plate to crash into a crowd of people on October 28 killing two persons and injuring another 40, the spokesman said. The two people killed included a Philippine female tourist and a male tourist from south China’s Guangdong Province. The three persons in the SUV died after they set gasoline on fire, the spokesman said. The SUV carried a flag and displayed extremist slogans.
— AFP Terror strike
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Vulnerable subjected to intolerance, violence in UK
Shyam Bhatia in London Human rights abuses and related atrocities are not exclusive to India and other countries of South Asia and the developing world. It turns out that the UK is among the countries in the West where the most vulnerable may be also subjected to intolerance and violence, resulting in death. For the past 10 months, Indian and world headlines have been dominated by the tragic story of the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who was beaten and gang-raped in a bus in South Delhi before succumbing to her injuries. Similar attention has been paid to the story of the Pakistani school girl, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot at by the Taliban for demanding better education rights for girls. Now in the UK, a judge at Liverpool Crown Court has just handed out a four-year sentence to a man who smothered his partner and threatened to pour acid over her face so that ‘no one else would ever want to get with her.’ Judge Clement Goldstone told 24-year-old Levi Mason the physical injuries inflicted on his partner, Jamie Gorman, may not have been severe, “but the mental anguish which you caused her cannot be imagined.” Most sickening is the tragic, newly emerged story of the 44-year-old disabled man with learning difficulties, originally from Iran, who was burnt alive after he was seen taking pictures of teenage hoodlums tormenting him. Neighbours of Bijan Ebrahimi wrongly believed rumours that he was a paedophile and the pictures he was taking were accordingly for his personal sexual gratification. They did not realise that he was taking pictures of his tormentors to present to the authorities. The police in the city of Bristol first interrogated Ebrahimi after local families reported him for taking pictures of children. Shouts of “paedo, paedo” could be heard as the police arrived to take him away for questioning. It subsequently turned out that Ebrahimi was a keen gardener and had only taken pictures of youths harassing him, damaging flower beds and vandalising the hanging baskets outside his home with the intention of handing them over to the police as evidence. When he was released from custody, he was unable to tell his side of the story before he was viciously attacked, beaten unconscious and then and burnt to death. The neighbour who attacked him, Lee James, first beat him senseless and subsequently with the help of a friend, Stephen Norley, dragged him into the street where his body was doused in white spirit and set on fire. A police spokesman has described Ebrahimi as an innocent man, adding: “We can categorically state he had not taken any indecent images and that nothing of concern had been found on his computer.” James, who has admitted murder, and Norley, who has admitted assisting him, are due to be sentenced next month at the Bristol Crown Court. Ebrahimi’s family have said in a statement: “Bijan was a quiet, disabled man whose only joys in life came from his horticultural interests and his cat. Bijan was a caring, loving and unselfish man. He was an excellent uncle and a warm, supportive brother.” Meanwhile questions are being asked about why the local police did not do more to protect Ebrahimi after he was released without charge. So far notices of gross misconduct have been served on four constables and an inspector. They have been interviewed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
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Attackers of Indian envoy’s car will be nabbed: Maldives
US lawmakers celebrate Diwali Obamacare: Health secy apologises Cleric’s death: Musharraf gets clean chit India provides
Rs 1 bn grant to Bhutan Peacenik Brahimi in talks with Assad
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