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Sikh driver assaulted in NY French minister heckled at AIDS conference
5 killed in Taliban attacks
IFJ calls for end to attacks against media in Nepal |
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Pak family told to leave Canada
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Sikh driver assaulted in NY New York, July 13 At least one person has been arrested and the police was on the look out for two others. The incident occurred in the Richmond area of Queens, which has a large immigrant population, on Saturday night. The 54-year-old Rajinder Singh Khalsa suffered multiple cuts, bruises and a broken nose. Speaking from his hospital bed, he said he alongwith his cousin Gurcharan Singh were confronted by the youths who ridiculed their turbans calling them “dirty curtain” and asking them to take them off. Gurcharan Singh, who owns a restaurant, ‘Tandoori Express’, said they were walking towards a restaurant where they intended to have tea. But as they were passing by an Italian catering hall, the men, who appeared to be drunk, started using abusive language. Khalsa said he tried to explain to them that they were not Muslims but covered their heads because of respect for God. According to Gurcharan Singh, the verbal insults turned into violence when he said he would call 911, the police emergency telephone number. He called the police anyway but by the time, ambulance and the police arrived, Khalsa had been beaten into unconsciousness. Since Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, Sikhs have suffered several attacks and verbal abuses as they are mistaken for Muslims because of their beard and turban. Sikh organisations had launched a major media campaign to correct the impression. Some even wore a button saying, “I am a Sikh.”
— PTI |
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French minister heckled at AIDS conference
Bangkok, July 13 France’s minister for development and cooperation, Xavier Darcos, was jeered by French members of the AIDS activist group ACT UP, and sources among campaigners said similar “actions” were being planned against representatives of “big pharma”. Darcos was about to deliver a speech on behalf of French President Jacques Chirac when several protesters left their seats in the auditorium and stood in front of the podium, clutching a banner reading “G8 must pay” and chanting in French “Ten thousand deaths (from AIDS) per day, Darcos wants more”. Darcos listened impassively as the loud, brief but peaceful demonstration unfolded, which ended after 10 minutes when the activists folded up the banner and left the room. In his address, Chirac called for the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to be given $ 3 billion a year, “by sharing this effort among Europe, the USA and all the other donors”. He also appealed for effort to develop drugs “tailored to poor countries’ specific circumstances”, such as doses of different drugs that were designed for children and were combined in a single tablet.
— AFP |
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5 killed in Taliban attacks Kabul, July 13 In the boldest assault among the latest incidents, the police chief of Mian Neshin district of Kandahar province was killed last night, an official said, but he was unable to give details of other casualties. Mullah Rahim Akhund, a top Taliban commander for Kandahar province, said four members of the government forces were killed and five wounded, while there were no casualties among the 50 fighters involved in the assault.
— Reuters |
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Putin for wider ties with India Moscow, July 13 “We should tie our policy of broadening relations with Asian and Pacific countries to the solution of our domestic problems and the development of the potential of Russia’s Siberia and far eastern regions”. Putin said today Asia and the Pacific region were evolving into the most dynamic centre of the world economic development and underscored that Russia’s foreign policy should be aimed at satisfying the everyday needs of the common man. Elaborating on the relations with Moscow’s Cold War foe, the United States, Putin said Russia and the US had ‘objective prerequisites’ for a long-term partnership. |
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IFJ calls for end to attacks against media in Nepal THE International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, is deeply concerned over the continuing attack on Nepalese media by the Nepalese Government as well as the CPN-Maoist forces. “The media in Nepal appears to have become the whipping boy of political players in that country, suffering at the hands of the Government and Maoist forces alike,” said IFJ President Christopher Warren in Turin on Tuesday. “This is utterly unacceptable,” he said. Journalist kidnappings, attacks and raids against newspapers continue to occur at an alarming rate. Of greatest concern is the recent kidnapping of Nepalese journalist, Dekendra Raj Thapa, who remains detained. On June 26, 2004, CPN-Maoists kidnapped Dekendra Raj Thapa, reporter with the state owned Radio Nepal and Kamal Neupane, Secretary of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists’ (FNJ) Dailekh section and editor of the local Asala Shasan bulletin. He was allegedly kidnapped for his investigative reporting on financial irregularities connected to a local drinking-water project. The motive for Neupane’s capture remains unknown. Whilst Neupane was released after a brief interrogation, Thapa continues to be held by the Maoists. “Journalists must be allowed to carry out their work without being subject to harassment, violence and fear of capture — democracy and good governance demand it,” said Mr Warren. “The IFJ is concerned over the continued efforts of both the government and the CPN-Maoists to attempt to silence the independent media in Nepal,” he said. “It is the responsibility of the Government of Nepal to support free media, not to attack it,” said Mr Warren, in response to the raid by plainclothes security forces on Aishwarya Printing Press in Naradevi, Kathmandu on July 7, 2004. The security forces seized all materials published prior to 1996 and arrested the owner, Bandhu Dev Pande. Continued threats and violence directed towards the media have resulted in the ongoing suspension of publication of the weekly newspaper Nikash. Unidentified assailants attacked the editor, Sunil Khadka, they seized an audio-recorder and various documents and threatened to further obstruct publication of the paper. The IFJ is calling on the Government of Nepal to ensure the safety and protection of Nepalese journalists and to work to ensure the safe release of Dekendra Raj Thapa and that those responsible for the capture of Kamal Neupane are brought to justice. “A free and independent press will never be able to exist as long as violence is used to intimidate and harass journalists in Nepal,” said Mr Warren. In the last year alone more than 80 Nepalese journalists have been killed, attacked, harassed, arrested, detained and kidnapped at the hands of the Nepalese Government and the CPN-Maoists. The IFJ represents more than 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries.
— IFJ |
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China rejects US plea on talks with Dalai Lama Beijing, July 13 China’s policy towards the Dalai Lama was clear, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said here while restating Beijing’s pre-conditions for talks with the Dharamsala-based exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. “Only when the Dalai Lama really gives up his pursuit for ‘Tibet independence,’ stops separatist activities against China, declares in public that he recognises Tibet as an inalienable part of China and so is Taiwan, will we contact him for negotiations,” she said. Ms Zhang’s terse statement came after the US State Department submitted its second presidential report to the Congress on the Tibet issue on June 23 in which it said Washington continued “to press both sides to open a dialogue without pre-conditions.” “Tibet is part of China and the Tibet issue is an internal affair of China. The US report, based on its domestic legislature and regardless of facts, made irresponsible remarks on China’s Tibet affairs and rendered help to the Dalai Lama’s separatist activities,” she alleged.
— PTI |
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Pak family told to leave Canada Montreal, July 13 Federal Court Justice Simon Noel said the Khan family did not prove they would be in danger if their deportation goes ahead as scheduled today. He said an immigration officer “thoroughly considered and respected country conditions in Pakistan,” adding the officer’s analysis was justified. The family of six has told Canadian officials that the father, Naeem, received threatening phone calls in Pakistan warning his children would be kidnapped. The story was dismissed by the Immigration and Refugee Board as inconsistent and lacking credibility. Earlier yesterday, lawyer Stewart Istvanffy told the judge that the Khans could be persecuted or killed because of their Shiite faith.
— AP |
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Beatles in flea market! London, July 13 Beatles experts were yet to properly examine the cache — thought to have once belonged to one of the British band’s close associates — but were hopeful that tapes within it could contain new material, the Times newspaper said. The battered suitcase was bought earlier this year by a British holidaymaker in Lara, a town near the Australian city of Melbourne, for just $ 36, the newspaper said. Fraser Claughton was simply looking for a cheap suitcase to carry his possessions but snapped up the case when he saw it contained a jumble of around 400 photographs, concert programmes and sealed tapes marked “Abbey Road” — the Beatles’ favoured recording studio. “It was like finding the end of the rainbow in Australia,” he said. Experts told the Times that it was believed the case contained the long-lost archive of Mal Evans, who worked as a sound recordist and additional musician for the Beatles. Rumours of his collection, which he compiled for a planned but never completed memoir, have circulated among Beatles collectors for years. Among tapes inside the case were alternative versions of well-known songs such as “We Can Work It Out” as well as some new material, a pop memorabilia consultant for auctioneers Christie’s said.
— AFP |
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