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UK pupils to be taught Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism

       London: A new report prepared by the British Government has suggested that by the age of 16, students should have a working knowledge and understanding of at least six principal religions. Quoting extensively from the report, The Telegraph says that apart from studying Christianity, the other five principal religions in Britain that need to be taught to students to give them a secular world view "where appropriate" are, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. The first national framework for religious education, which sets out the principles all state schools should follow, said that by the age of 16, pupils needed to have "encountered in sufficient depth" Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. They should also have had opportunities to study other religious traditions such as the Baha'i faith, Jainism and Zoroastrianism, and secular philosophies such as humanism. The report further focuses on the need for students to be encouraged to reflect on "the important contribution religion can make to community cohesion and the combating of religious prejudice and discrimination".

US assures India, no F-16 sale to Pak (Go To Top)

        Washington: Bush Administration officials have reportedly assured India that no decision has been taken about selling F-16 aircraft to Pakistan. The assurance -- given at a briefing here on Thursday -- followed a demonstration in New York by Indian-Americans against the proposed sale. "No decisions have been made on the sale of F-16s to Pakistan," the Dawn quoted U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher as saying on Friday when he was informed about the protest. Indian and US newspapers have been reporting since early this month that a second Bush Administration, if he wins next week, will sell the F-16s to Pakistan. The reports said that the US administration planned to sell 18 planes in the first instalment with 62 more to be sold later.

        The US sold 40 F-16s to Pakistan between 1983 and 1987, when Islamabad supported Washington's efforts to drive the then Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. But in 1990, Congress passed legislation halting delivery of the jets because the US believed Pakistan was making a nuclear bomb. Reports that the Bush administration may resume the sale appeared to be vindicated when Rear Admiral Craig McDonald, the head of the office of the US Defence Representative in Pakistan, told a recent Pentagon-organized conference on security cooperation that the Bush Administration would go before Congress early next year to seek authorization for the sale. According to the Dawn, the Indian lobby on Capitol Hill, however, has vowed to block the sale in the US Senate where India has powerful supporters in both Republican and Democratic parties. Last month, Pakistan Air Force chief Air Marshal Kaleem Sadaat told reporters in Karachi that the US had indicated that it would be 'ready next year' to sell F-16s to Pakistan. Despite the Indian protest, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told a private Pakistani television channel recently that the issue "is still on the table and we have had discussions with the Pakistani authorities about these matters, and I will leave it right there."

Aziz coming on November 22 and 23 (Go To Top)

        Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is expected to arrive in the Indian capital New Delhi on November 22 on a two-day visit. Informed sources told the Dawn that Aziz would call on Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on November 23. Aziz's visit to India is part of his planned tour of six South Asian capitals next month as the outgoing chairperson of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). But his visit to New Delhi acquires special significance in the backdrop of the ongoing Indo-Pakistan peace process. This will be the first high-level political contact between Pakistan and India after President Musharraf's met Singh in New York on September 24. Aziz is also expected to make calls on Indian President A. P.J.Abdul Kalam and the Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, besides former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Clinton has mystery blood infection, brain damage (Go To Top)

       London: He might have recovered from his recent quadruple heart bypass surgery, but former President Bill Clinton's illness is more than what meets the eye. According to the National Enquirer, he may have suffered permanent brain damage due to the surgery. He has also been battling a deadly blood infection. Insiders say that he is weak and suffering memory lapses. Doctors have given him blood thinners to prevent blood clots, antibiotics to treat his deadly infection and tranquilizers to calm his anxiety, say friends. "Recovering from heart surgery has been a far more painful and miserable process for Bill than he's let on publicly. He's had a blood infection which doctors have been secretly treating," an insider was quoted as saying. Brain damage fears were raised a month into Clinton's recuperation when he failed to recognize a Secret Service agent who has been with him since 2001, according to a source.

Bush bashing billionaires donate $ 74 m to Kerry (Go To Top)

        New York: A group of four Bush hating billionaires have proved to be a blessing in disguise for Senator Kerry, as they have given him 74 million dollars for his election campaign, which is as much as Bush got for his campaign from the tax payers money. The billionaires include Hollywood mogul Stephen Bing, George Soros, insurance tycoon Peter Lewis and California savings-and- loan moguls Herbert and Marion Sandler, reports the New York Post. The business honchos say that despite the fact that they realise that their donation goes against Kerry's financial policies, they would do anything in their power to stop George Bush from winning. "If President Bush is re-elected, I shall go into some kind of monastery," the report quoted Soros as saying.

10 killed as truce ends in Nepal  (Go To Top)

       Kathmandu: A nine-day truce between Maoist rebels and the Nepalese government has come to a bloody end, with 10 rebels killed in fierce clashes with security forces, an army source said on Saturday. The clashes occurred on Friday and early on Saturday in various parts of the Himalayan kingdom, the source told. The truce, announced by the rebels and reciprocated by the government to mark a Hindu festival, ended on Thursday midnight. The government had offered to extend the ceasefire indefinitely on condition the Maoists followed suit.

Arafat undergoes medical tests in Paris (Go To Top)

       Paris: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat today undergoing medical tests in a Paris hospital to determine the cause of an illness that one of his doctors believes could be a potentially fatal blood disorder. The 75-year old Palestinian Authority president was being subjected to a battery of examinations at France's modern Percy military hospital in the Paris suburb of Clamart, where he was admitted Friday after a hastily arranged medical evacuation from his West Bank compound. He was flown out of Jordan aboard a French government jet suffering an illness that has left him frail, vomiting and unable to walk without assistance. Arafat's senior advisor, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said Saturday the "the test are continuing today. We don't have anything new" to report.

       The Palestinian leader was initially diagnosed with severe influenza, but one of his doctors told on Thursday that further tests revealed a disorder in which his white blood cells were destroying blood platelets needed for blood clotting. Such a condition -- which could signal advanced cancer, a bleeding ulcer or other ailments -- is considered life- threatening. The Palestinian representative in Paris, Leila Shahid, visited Arafat Saturday but left without making any comment to the crowd of 30 journalists waiting outside the guarded hospital. On Friday, she told journalists shortly after Arafat was admitted that "the doctors are undertaking all necessary examinations to obtain a true diagnosis" but results would not be known for "several days". She said he was conscious and "relieved" to be receiving care in France.   

       It was Arafat's first trip outside his Ramallah compound in nearly three years. He has been kept a virtual prisoner there by Israel, which is battling a Palestinian uprising that began in September 2000. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has long sought to sideline the former guerrilla leader representing the Palestinian struggle for statehood, lifted the travel restrictions on Arafat and gave his word he would be able to return after being treated. Arafat's wife Suha and nine-year-old daughter Zahwa, both of whom live in Paris, have been at his side. With Arafat away, his ex-prime minister, Mahmud Abbas, seemed in pole position to grab the lion's share of power in the volatile Palestinian territories. Abbas has taken temporary charge of Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and was set to chair what has been hailed as a highly symbolic political meeting later Saturday.

Indian cricket selectors axe four (Go To Top)

      Nagpur: India's five-member national cricket selection committee on Saturday dropped Yuvraj Singh, Akash Chopra, Parthiv Patel and Ajit Agarkar from the team that is to play in the fourth Test against Australia in Mumbai. Delhi's Gautam Gambhir has been selected for the opener's slot in place of Chopra, while Patel makes way for Tamil Nadu's Dinesh Karthik as the new wicket-keeper. Bengal medium pacer SS Paul, Maharashtra batsman Dhiraj Jadhav and Ashish Nehra have also made it to the squad. These changes were made after India's humiliating 342-run defeat in the Nagpur Test against Australia, which enabled the visitors to take a winning 2-0 lead in the four-match Test series. Captain Sourav Ganguly, who also missed the third Test due to injury, will undergo a fitness test before the last Test match. Meanwhile, fast bowler Irfan Pathan has been ruled out for the fourth Test. The 15-member team for the Mumbai Test is as follows: V Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, D Jhadav, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, V V S Laxman, Mohammed Kaif, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and SS Paul.