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US Bombing Gives a Jolt to Pak-American Ties LONDON: Things are not so smooth between the US and Pakistan after what happened last Sunday - the killing of an American soldier and retaliatory bombing by the other side. A Pakistani shot the US man on the Afghan border and the US Air Force duly dropped bombs while pursuing the Pakistani patrol. Two bombs allegedly fell on a madrassa in the small town of Angur Adda in the border district of South Waziristan but there have been no reports of casualties. Tension escalated thereafter. The Assembly in the North-West Frontier Province governed by a hardline Islamist alliance described the air raid as "a severe blow to our sovereignty and independence" and asked a "submissive" Pakistani Government to lodge a protest with the US Government " against this flagrant violation of the country's air space,'' a report in the Daily Telegraph said. On the other hand, a US military spokesman at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan explained that close air support was called in to pursue the border patrol troops as they fled to a nearby building, but only one bomb was dropped and it fell inside Afghanistan. According to him, US and Pakistani patrols were working together at the time to blow up a cache of weapons. When the Pakistani soldier was asked to leave the area, he opened fire, the paper added. It is understood that US officers in Kabul are becoming increasingly frustrated at Pakistan's inability to stop small groups of Al-Qaeda and Taliban guerrillas crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, firing rockets on US bases and then retreating. American politicians insist that Pakistan is still "on side" in the war on terrorism, but the country's military leaders are less sure about it. The Telegraph quoted Western intelligence sources in Kabul as saying that Jalaluddin Haqqani, a high-ranking Taliban leader, is hiding in South Waziristan under the protection of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and organising attacks against US bases in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies the allegations and says it has 60,000 troops guarding the border. Delhi Fog Disrupts Rail, Flight Schedules (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: Dozens of flights and trains were either delayed or cancelled on Thursday as a thick fog engulfed the national Capital. All flight schedules at the domestic as well as international airports were hampered since last evening and runway for incoming and outgoing flights was shut down after midnight.
According to airport officials, no flights took off or landed between midnight and 11:00 a.m. Runway visibility early on Thursday fell to 100 metres before improving to 500 metres by mid-morning. With fog settling down on railway tracks, some 37 incoming trains to New Delhi were delayed and three were cancelled.
"We are unable to see the signals in the fog due to poor visibility.
Due to this we have to slow down pace of trains to avoid accidents and
trains get late," said Mange Ram, a train driver. Passengers were stranded
at the railway station for hours as several trains were either cancelled
or arrived late. (Details) Cellular Firms Slash Rates Further (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: Indian cellular firms, facing a threat from a cheaper limited mobility service, slashed national long-distance calling charges on Thursday in a bid to keep customers and woo new ones. The phone companies cut mobile-to-mobile long-distance charges beyond 50 km to 2.99 rupees a minute from a current peak of nine rupees a minute. Ramachandran, Director-General of the Cellular Operators Association of India, said the rates have been slashed to retain the cellular market share facing stiff competition from rivals. India's hotly competitive telecoms sector, billed as one of the fastest-growing markets globally, already has the lowest local mobile call charges in the world with prices of a rupee on average for both incoming and outgoing calls.(Details) EU Bans Entry of Travellers Carrying Meat Products (Go To Top) LONDON: The European Union has enforced a ban on the entry of travellers from developing countries carrying meat or milk products, the News reports from Brussels. The decision to put up barriers against all personal imports of meat and milk products has been taken to "prevent diseases like foot-and-mouth in the 15-member countries of the EU". Tavellers entering the EU from certain third countries will no longer be allowed to bring in personal imports of meat, meat products, milk or milk products on their person or in their luggage, unless accompanied by official veterinary documentation. Defending this decision, EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, David Bryne, said, "with the foot-and-mouth disease crisis fresh in our minds, the significance of this measure is clear. Even small quantities of infected products for personal use may spark an outbreak of animal disease. It is, therefore, important to make travellers aware of the risks and enlist their help in our efforts to stop infectious animal diseases from entering the EU." The concerned European authorities have, however, drawn a list of the countries that have "proven comparable standard of hygiene". This list includes Switzerland, Greenland, Islands, Iceland, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein and the EU candidate countries, with the exception of Turkey. According to official sources, the new rules do not apply to travellers coming from the countries that have proven comparable standards of hygiene. 36 Indian Fishermen Held in Lankan Waters (Go To Top) COLOMBO: Thirty-six Indian fishermen have been captured by Sri Lankan fishermen off Pallikudah in Jaffna peninsula. Those arrested allegedly encroached into the territorial waters of northern Sri Lanka in nine fishing trawlers on Wednesday. Reports say the Indians have been handed over to Kilinochchi Government agent T Rajanayakam by the Pooneryn Fishermen Association for further action. Representatives of the Association have complained to the Government agent that their fishing nets and other related equipments had been damaged by the Indian fishermen. Giriraj Differs With PM on Hindutva (Go To Top) NEW DELHI:Vishwa Hindu Parishad which supports Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party criticised him on Thursday for his interpretation of 'Hindutva', a word that broadly represents Hindu ideas and way of life. Reacting to Vajpayee's Goa musings, it said opportunistic politicians had no right to preach them on 'Hindutva'. In his New Year's message to the nation on Tuesday, Vajpayee had described as unacceptable the projection of Hindutva in a narrow, rigid and extremist manner by some people.
"A Hindu is never an extremist, and to react against certain provocative actions is not extremism either," VHP vice-president Giriraj Kishore told reporters. "He (Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee) said in Goa that some people are trying to malign Hindutva. But people who can and who do anything to safeguard their political interests have no right to preach such things to us," he added. The VHP is a traditional supporter of Vajpayee's BJP and its activists campaigned extensivly for the party's candidates during the recent Assembly elections in Gujarat. But the relations between VHP and BJP occasionally turn sour. VHP is unhappy because Vajpayee refused permission to build a controversial Ram temple for which it has been campaigning for long. The BJP, which stormed back to power on a hardline Hindu plank in Gujarat and is facing Assembly elections in nine other States, does not want to distance itself from voters of other religions. The hardline Hindus who tore down the 16th century Babri masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, provoking religious riots in which at least 3,000 people were killed, wants the BJP to support VHP's temple agenda. Jaipur Journalists Organise Anti-smoking Rally (Go To Top) JAIPUR: In a bid to make people aware of the ill-effects of smoking, the Pink City Press Club organised an anti-smoking and tobacco rally on Wednesday. The journalists, brimming with enthusiasm, held aloft posters and banners as they went about their task from the Press Club to Ramnivas Bagh. A Press Club member who took part in the rally said the Press Club executive committee decided to organise the rally to spread this message to the people. He said, "the Press Club has been involved in similar activities for a long time. We think tobacco is a social evil and should be banned. Our executive committee decided to start this campaign from Jan 1, 2003, to pressurize the Government to ban smoking and tobacco consumption. We have also banned the sale of gutkha in the Press Club. Just like in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, a Bill has to be brought to ban such things." Hike in Petrol, Diesel Prices (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: In step with a surge in global crude oil prices, the State-owned oil companies have increased petrol and diesel prices by around Re 1 per litre, with effect from midnight of Thursday-Friday. Petrol would cost Rs 29.93 per litre in Delhi as against the prevailing Rs 28.91, while diesel prices have been increased from Rs 18.06 to Rs 19.07, official sources said. Diesel prices in Kolkata increased from Rs 19.43 to Rs 20.45 per litre. In Mumbai, the hike was of Rs 1.21 to Rs 24.24 while in Chennai it rose from Rs 19.43 to Rs 20.93. -ANI |
