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World Cup Off to a Musical Start CAPE TOWN: The Cricket World Cup was officially opened in South Africa as controversy continues over games involving Zimbabwe. The ceremony to welcome the largest sports event ever held in Africa and the world's biggest cricket tournament took off in Cape Town's Newlands Stadium on Saturday evening. The celebration reflected African culture and values and, in particular, those of South Africa. It began with a mock safari highlighting African wildlife, with creatures made by township craftsmen using recycled materials. There was music of all kinds from traditional to jazz, gospel and dance. (Details) Blix Breaks the Ice in Iraq? BAGHDAD: Iraq said that UN arms inspectors privately interviewed an Iraqi "specialist," the fifth such encounter between inspectors and Iraqi weapon scientists in three days, ... (Contd) Charminar Re-opens After 16 Years (Go To Top) HYDERABAD: Authorities in Hyderabad have re-opened the world famous Charminar monument to the public, 16 years after it was closed as five members of a family jumped to death from it. As a precautionary measure only the first floor of the 412-year-old monument has been re-opened and private security personnel are deployed to keep a watch on the movement of visitors. (Details) India Win Davis Cup Tie Against Japan 4-1 (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: India defeated Japan 4-1 in the Asia-Oceania Group-I Davis Cup tie here on Sunday. The hosts won both the reverse singles matches played during the day. In the first match, Rohan Bopanna gave India a lead defeating Jun Kato 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 in one hour 54 minutes. Later, the country's ace tennis star Leander Paes defeated Japan's Gouchi Motomura 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that lasted more than one-and-a-half hours. India will now take on New Zealand in the next round. Hurriyat Office in Delhi Closed (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: The All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) shut down its office in the Capital on Sunday following a notice given by the landlady. The notice was served on Saturday, sources said. The development assumes significance as it comes three days after the arrest of two APHC leaders. The office of the 25-party conglomerate was housed in a rented premises in Malviya Nagar. The authorised tenants started vacating the house, the latest report said. It may be recalled that two Hurriyat leaders Anjum Zamrooda Habib and Shabir Dar, its spokesperson in Delhi, were arrested on Thursday for allegedly receiving funds from the Pakistan high commission. The arrests had led to a war of words and finally reached diplomatic levels whereby charge d'affaires of both the countries were asked to leave within 48 hours. Govt Will Abide by Supreme Court Verdict on Ram Temple: Mayawati (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: Mayawati, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, reiterated on Sunday that her Government would abide by the court's verdict on the construction of Ram temple over the ruins of a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya. Mayawati, who shares power with Bharatiya Janata Party, termed the Central Government's recent petition to the apex court on the controversial temple plan as uncontroversial. Mayawati, on a visit to New Delhi, had an informal meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani on Sunday. "The most important thing we discussed was the Ayodhya issue. We are not against the Central Government's appeal in the Supreme Court to allow construction on the undisputed land as we have said we will abide by the court's verdict. This is what I have discussed right now," Mayawati later told reporters. Early this week, the BJP, which heads the national ruling coalition, moved the Supreme Court seeking vacation of its order banning any kind of activity in the 43 acres undisputed land in Ayodhya. The Government had acquired the whole are in 1992 after the demolition of the 16th century Babri mosque by Hindu zealots who believe the site to be the birth place of Lord Rama. Several Opposition parties have criticised the Central Government's move which came after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) threatened to announce dates for the construction of the temple later this month. Hindu groups are waging a campaign to build a Ram temple on the spot where Babri mosque was demolished in 1992, triggering nation-wide riots in which 3,000 people died. Hindus say a temple on the spot was destroyed by Mughal "invaders" several hundred years ago. Muslims, who form 12 per cent of India's population of more than a billion, want the mosque rebuilt. Muslim Board to Oppose Govt's Ayodhya Plea (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has decided to oppose the Centre's move to get vacated the Supreme Court stay on religious activity at the undisputed land in Ayodhya. The board meeting on Sunday was attended by five members and two special invitees, including former Union minister Syed Shahabuddin. It felt that the ground situation in Ayodhya has not changed as claimed by the Government in the plea. "The Supreme Court had explicitly given its verdict in 1994 that the whole of 67 acres of acquired land shall remain in Government's possession till the final decision in the pending title suit (before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court). The apex court's stay was based on this aspect also, besides the ground situation," the AIMPLB convener said. Blix Breaks the Ice in Iraq? (Go To Top) (Contd) ... sources reported on Sunday. "The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requested an interview with an Iraqi specialist, and the interview, which lasted two and a half hours, was conducted privately in a Baghdad hotel," a foreign ministry spokesman said. The interview, part of an Iraqi effort to step up cooperation with UN inspectors and ward off a threatened US invasion, came on the first day of talks between Iraqi officials and top UN weapon inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. Blix, who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), characterized the discussions as "substantial and useful." IAEA director ElBaradei said the Iraqi side was "providing explanations" on outstanding disarmament issues. UN inspectors had long sought to speak alone with Iraqi scientists who have knowledge of the country's weapons programmes. But until Thursday, no scientist had agreed to meet inspectors in the absence of a Government official, angering Blix who complained of Iraq's failure to cooperate with the disarmament teams. In an address to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, US secretary of state Colin Powell charged that President Saddam Hussein had threatened to kill any scientists who divulged sensitive information to inspectors. Iraqi officials vigorously denied the accusation and said they had no objection to private interviews. But they said they could not force scientists to agree to such meetings and that the scientists themselves wanted a "witness" for fear their statements would later be distorted. Blix held his first round of disarmament talks with Iraqi officials on Saturday and said afterwards that the discussions were "very substantial". "We had a long day of discussions. They were useful discussions," Blix told reporters after he and chief UN nuclear expert Mohamed ElBaradei had held 4-1/2 hours of talks in Baghdad with an Iraqi monitoring team led by presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi. Asked how he would describe the discussions, Blix said: "Very substantial." ElBaradei said: "The Iraqi side is providing explanations on some of the issues. We have discussed the (U-2) surveillance flights, scientists' interviews as well as outstanding chemical, biological and missile issues." "We have to see the results tomorrow," ElBaradei said, adding that there would be more talks on Sunday. Blix and ElBaradei were in Baghdad less than a week before they report to the UN Security Council. A critical report on February 14 could start the count-down for a US-led invasion to disarm Iraq. US, Britain Will Seek 48-hour Deadline for Saddam (Go To Top) LONDON: The United States and Britain are drawing up plans to give Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as little as 48 hours to flee Baghdad or face war, as part of a second UN resolution, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Such a resolution could be put before the UN Security Council by next week-end if weapons inspectors conclude in a key report on Friday that Saddam is still refusing to give up weapons of mass destruction, the British paper said. France, Germany Against US Approach (Go To Top) MUNICH: US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Saturday warned that the world must be "prepared to use force if necessary" to disarm Iraq but failed to convince a sceptical France and Germany, the News reports from Munich. Germany nonetheless said that it and the Netherlands would jointly supply Patriot missile systems to Turkey by the end of next week after Rumsfeld blasted some NATO allies for not acting to protect Iraq's northern neighbour. Thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Munich's snowy streets as Rumsfeld warned any delay in military planning would send a signal of uncertainty to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But France and Germany were not swayed, accusing the United States of not taking its allies properly into account and saying that they had yet to hear a convincing case for military attacks on Iraq. German foreign minister Joschka Fischer questioned the long-term impact of a war in Iraq on stability in the Middle East. And he said that the United States had to present a convincing case if it was to justify military action. "Excuse me, but I am not convinced," he said, impassionately breaking into English during his speech. Last month, Rumsfeld dismissed Paris and Berlin as part of "old Europe" because they refused to toe the pro-war US line. FBI Sounds Terror Alert in US for Pak Suspect (Go To Top) WASHINGTON: The FBI issued a nation-wide alert on Saturday seeking help from police and the public in finding a Pakistani man the agency said has entered the United States illegally after Sept 11, 2001, reports Dawn. The agency identified the suspect as 36-year old Mohammed Sher Mohammed Khan. A picture issued along with the alert shows a man with long hair, a beard and moustache. The FBI said it had no specific information that Khan was a terrorist - his name and birth date might be fictitious - but that agents want to question him. An FBI official said Khan was not the reason the terror alert level was raised but that he was "one of a number of factors." Last month the FBI had put out a similar alert to look for five men who, the agency said, had sneaked into the United States from Canada on Christmas-eve with faked passports and possible sinister intent. The information later proved to be fake and the FBI cancelled the alert. On Friday evening, the US Government also raised its terror threat level to "high risk" orange, warning of a growing possibility that the Al Qaeda network would launch an attack against the United States to coincide with Muslim holy days. The Government warned that "recent intelligence" suggests Al Qaeda is targeting "apartment buildings, hotels, and other soft or lightly secured targets" in the United States. Changing the terror alert colour from "yellow" triggered tighter security at borders, airports and hotels. Officials also urged greater vigilance by all Americans. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Government had received intelligence information, corroborated by multiple sources, that Osama bin Laden's organization seeks to attack Americans at home or abroad during the time of Haj pilgrimage. But a prominent Islamic civil rights and advocacy group on Saturday expressed concern at linking the national alert to Haj. The decision to raise the national terror alert was authorized by President George W Bush after a meeting with the Homeland Security Council at the White House and was announced by Ashcroft, Homeland security secretary Tom Ridge and FBI director Robert Mueller at a joint news conference. Gunmen Kill Four Hindus in Quetta (Go To Top) QUETTA: Four Hindus were killed by unidentified gunmen in a liquor shop in Quetta on Saturday night. Reports said the gunmen entered the shop and tied the hands of six people. Thereafter, they opened fire on the six men, killing four of them instantly. The other two received bullet injuries and were admitted in a local hospital. They were said to be out of danger. The police said the motive was robbery. Before fleeing they looted the cash, police added. -ANI |