Mid Day International News |
- Obama's India trip could tip power balance: Pak officials
- Separatists call for Kashmir shutdown during Obama's visit
- Pakistan gives another 26/11 dossier to India
- Musharraf disappointed over Obama skipping Pakistan
- British cleric wins round on extradition
- David Beckham Is a 'Proud Englishman'
- George Bush: I was not in shock on 9/11
- Lady Gaga to get waxworks
- Condoms for halloween
- Michael Jackson lives on!
- Attack at Pakistan mosque kills 61
- Airline turns into fountain of youth
| Obama's India trip could tip power balance: Pak officials Posted: The delicate balance of power between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan faces the risk of being upset by US President Barack Obama's four-day visit to India beginning Saturday, Pakistani officials have warned. Obama's decision to visit India while bypassing Pakistan has sparked anxiety among government officials in Islamabad, The Washington Post reported. The officials have warned that the trip risks upsetting the delicate balance of power between the two countries. Pakistan's main concerns are the Obama administration's apparent unwillingness to get involved in the long-standing dispute over Jammu and Kashmir, the blossoming US-India civil nuclear partnership, and the symbolism of Obama starting his visit at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, site of the 2008 terror attack that has been blamed on Pakistani militants, the Post said Friday. Although the US has recently announced a $2 billion aid package for the Pakistani army and last year signed off on a $7.5 billion civilian aid deal, government officials in Islamabad said the US has yet to prove itself a reliable partner. "Unfortunately, on core issues, the US continues to stick to its traditional anti-Pakistan policies - whether it is our nuclear energy programme, the Kashmir dispute, our relations with India or our position vis-a-vis Afghanistan," the Post quoted a senior foreign ministry official as saying. "So long as Washington does not revisit these issues, it will continue to be very difficult for Washington to make any headway on winning hearts and minds in Pakistan," the official added. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi requested several times that Obama should also stop in Pakistan during this trip, according to Pakistani officials, but the president declined and instead promised to visit Islamabad next year. The Pakistani ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, said: "Pakistan looks forward to President Obama's visit to our country in 2011 and hopes that his trip to India will help bring lasting stability to our region." Still, the decision could prove risky for Obama, whose popularity here is lower than it is in any other Muslim country. A recent poll found that just 8 percent of Pakistanis expressed confidence in Obama, down from 13 percent in 2009, the American daily said. Pakistani officials say they are particularly interested in seeing Obama push India to do more to settle the Kashmir issue. "We expect America to use its influence to nudge India in the direction of initiating a peaceful dialogue on the Kashmir situation," said Tariq Fatemi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US. "And if that is difficult, then at least use your position to point out to India that the interest in human rights is deep and broad-based in America and you cannot have daily violations of human rights," Fatemi said. Pakistani officials said at least they expect Obama to avoid the confrontational stance taken by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said during his India visit in July this year that Pakistan is promoting the "export of terror". The officials also fear that the president will seek to enhance the civil nuclear partnership with India. That, they said, could disturb the military balance in the region, the report said. "If there is an effort to build India up as a regional influence, a country that is assigned the responsibility for security in the region, that is unacceptable for Pakistan," said Maleeha Lodhi, another former ambassador to Washington. "Clearly, for deterrence to work, we need the minimum threshold of conventional balance."
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| Separatists call for Kashmir shutdown during Obama's visit Posted: Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani called for a three-day shutdown in the Kashmir Valley beginning Saturday to coincide with US President Barack Obama's visit to India. The authorities, however, did not impose any curfew here. "It does not matter whether anybody talks about us or not. The fact is that peace in South Asia would remain elusive unless the people of Kashmir are given their basic right to freedom," Geelani, who has been spearheading the Quit Kashmir campaign for over four months now, told reporters. He was referring to media reports that Obama might not refer to Kashmir during his visit to India. Shops, other businesses, public transport, educational institutions remained closed in Srinagar city and other major towns of the valley in response to the shutdown call, but privately owned vehicles plied in some parts here. "No curfew has been imposed anywhere in Srinagar city today (Saturday). Restrictions have been imposed in north Kashmir Sopore, Palhalan, Delina and south Kashmir Anantnag towns, but these are purely preventive in nature," a senior police official said. "Movements of office-goers, patients and school children are being allowed in areas under restrictions," the official said.
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| Pakistan gives another 26/11 dossier to India Posted: Pakistan handed over to India its 13th dossier on the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, a day before US President Barack Obama's India visit. Rahul Kulshreshth, deputy high commissioner of India in Islamabad, was called to the Foreign Office Friday by Director General (South Asia) Afrasiab and handed over 'Pakistan's Dossier No.13' about the Mumbai terror attack, in which at least 166 people were killed. He was also provided detailed information on Pakistan's proposal to send a commission to India that would record the statements of the key witnesses. The foreign office requested the Indian government to facilitate the visit of the proposed commission, a press communique said. Ten gunmen sneaked into Mumbai from Pakistan in November 2008 and let loose a reign of terror. Nine of the heavily-armed gunmen were killed by security forces while the tenth, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was arrested. The terror strike put a tremendous strain on the ties between India and Pakistan. Pakistan handed over the dossier Friday, a day before Obama arrives in India on a four-day trip. Obama, who arrives in Mumbai Saturday, will stay overnight at the Taj, one of the major sites of the terror attack.
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| Musharraf disappointed over Obama skipping Pakistan Posted: Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf has expressed disappointment that US President Barack Obama will not visit his country on the sidelines of his maiden trip to India, the Daily Telegraph reported Saturday. "I would take it as a disappointment, yes, indeed," Musharraf told MSNBC television. The former army chief also criticised Obama for not speaking about Kashmir, saying: "It doesn't resonate well with the people of Pakistan." "They take it that the US or the president of the US is not that concerned about Pakistan's own sensitivities and interests," he said. Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, ruled Pakistan as the military dictator when the US with western allies invaded Afghanistan following the 9/11 terror attack. He stepped down in 2008 and left Pakistan. He now lives in London. Obama was en route Friday for Mumbai and New Delhi on a trip aimed at convincing India that he wants to push ahead relations between the world's two largest democracies after an early focus on Pakistan and China, the report said. For many US policy-makers, it would be unthinkable for Obama to visit Pakistan on the sidelines of the long-promoted trip as Obama is hoping to show India that he sees it as a global power and not simply as a regional player. But Obama has a delicate balancing act as he has also tried to convince Pakistan that he sees the country as more than simply a conduit into Afghanistan for war operations. Ahead of the India trip, Obama invited Musharraf's civilian successor, President Asif Ali Zardari, for a future visit to Washington and announced that he would travel to Pakistan next year.
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| British cleric wins round on extradition Posted: Hate preacher Abu Hamza has won his appeal against the government's attempts to strip him of his passport
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| David Beckham Is a 'Proud Englishman' Posted:  David Beckham has denied reports that he wants US citizenship.The former England football captain has been living in Los Angeles since 2007, but insisted that he was still very much an Englishman. He said, "You may have seen some recent quotes attributed to me. Just to be clear -- I'm happy living in America but have no intention of becoming a US citizen. I'm English and proud to be. That will never change." In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Becks was reported to have said "it would be nice" to get citizenship in the States. He lives in Beverly Hills with his wife, Victoria, and their three sons, Brooklyn (11), Romeo, (8), and Cruz (5). This weekend, the 35-year-old will be concentrating on trying to add another title to his impressive record of achievements. He has already won the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup with Manchester United, and the Spanish league with Real Madrid. Now he has the chance to claim America's top football prize, the Major League Soccer Cup. The LA Galaxy take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of the competition's quarter-finals against Seattle on Sunday. The midfielder's performances and commitment have been questioned since he arrived in the US, but securing the trophy would go a long way to answering his critics. He is also keen to join the national squad for the World Cup.
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| George Bush: I was not in shock on 9/11 Posted: In memoirs, Former US President says he wanted to project calm after attacks They were the seven minutes that, for some, came to define a presidency.  In denial? George Bush said that the first reaction he felt after he heard of the 9/11 attacks was anger. File pics On one side of the TV screen, a New York landmark was in flames after hijacked planes smashed into the World Trade Centre. On the other, George Bush sat before a group of children looking like a startled rabbit, conveying a sense of paralysis, if not panic, after an aide told him of the attacks. Angry reaction But Bush says that anyone who thinks he was in shock has got it wrong. He was trying not to create panic. "My first reaction was anger. How dare they do this to America?" Bush said in an interview to coincide with the release of his memoirs. "I made the decision not to jump up and create a chaotic scene, because right after...These are quick reflections, anger, duty to protect the country, and then all of a sudden the cellphones are ringing. Now, the noise [from reporters receiving calls about the attacks]," he said. Pressed on whether he was paralysed into inaction, Bush was dismissive. "I'm not going to debate the critics as to whether or not I was in shock or not. I wasn't. And they can read the book, and they can draw their own conclusion," he said. Bush's book, Decision Points, offers insights into his beliefs, including a vigorous defence of the death penalty in an argument over dinner with Cherie Blair. War on Iraq Much of it is dedicated to justifying what some consider to be indefensible, his invasion of Iraq on a spurious pretext of hunting for weapons of mass destruction. The former president acknowledges there were dissenters on the question of whether to go to war. He claims he was among them. "I was a dissenting voice. I didn't want to use force. I mean force is the last option for a president," he said. "I mean apologising would basically say the decision was a wrong decision. And I don't believe it was the wrong decision," he said. The memoirs give a glimpse of the paranoia that engulfed his administration in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks.
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| Posted: Waxworks of Lady Gaga are to be simultaneously unveiled in eight locations around the world, Madame Tussauds has announced.  Each figure of the pop star will be dressed in a different outfit made famous by the flamboyant singer. The models, which will go on display next month, are being made in the same London studio. "She is the perfect subject for the biggest figure launch in Madame Tussauds' history," a spokeswoman said. Fans of the chart-topping singer will have to wait until the day of launch to discover which figure is displayed in their city. They will be in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Madame Tussauds added that the styles chosen would be "classic Gaga". Among the looks that are set to be unveiled are the singer's latex body suit and a body stocking.
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| Posted: Having a safe Halloween took on a different meaning in one Oregon neighborhood, where trick-or-treating teenagers received condoms in their goodie bags. Daniel and Kathleen Harris, of Silverton, said the free condoms were part of their effort to promote health. They also handed out toothbrushes as well as candy bars. The father of one 14-year-old girl who received the condoms, Daniel Cote, was offended and says it was inappropriate to give them to children without parents' consent. Kathleen Harris said she started handing out condoms to high school-age trick-or-treaters in college, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, before she moved to Silverton. She has continued the tradition for the past 24 years in an effort to curb teen pregnancy and STDs. During that time, she said, she has had only one other complaint -- although she said that giving condoms to a 14-year-old was a mistake. The couple's practice, she said, is to ask kids if they're 16 or older.
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| Posted: The first posthumous album from Michael Jackson, Michael, will arrive in stores on December 14. According to a press release announcing the disc's impending release, the first single, Breaking News, is a never-before-heard track recorded by the late pop icon in 2007 and recently finished by the album's producers. The song will be streaming in full on Jackson's official website beginning on Monday, and the stream will be live for one week."The creative process never stopped for the King of Pop, who was always planning for his next album; unbeknownst to many fans around the world, Michael Jackson was writing and recording songs continuously everywhere from a friend's home in New Jersey to studios in Las Vegas and Los Angeles with a small group of handpicked collaborators," the release read.
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| Attack at Pakistan mosque kills 61 Posted: A suicide bomb destroyed a Pakistani mosque yesterday, killing 61 people during the main weekly prayers and trapping human remains under a collapsed roof and pulverised rubble.
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| Airline turns into fountain of youth Posted: Young Asian boards Air Canada plane dressed as elderly man, exits as 20-year-old Canadian officials continue to investigate what they called an "unbelievable case of concealment" after an Asian man in his early 20s successfully boarded a Vancouver-bound flight in Hong Kong disguised as an elderly Caucasian man. "The passenger in question was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young-looking hands," the alert sent to authorities stated. "During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian male that appeared to be in his early 20s." Border services officers met the man at the gate in Vancouver and escorted him off the aircraft and through the primary inspection line, where he made a claim for refugee protection, the alert said. Interesting find The man originally claimed to have only one piece of luggage, but the border officers found two more. One bag contained personal clothing, a second contained a pair of gloves and a third contained a disguise kit including a silicone-type head and neck mask of an elderly Caucasian male, a brown leather cap, glasses and a thin brown cardigan. The alert said the man donned the disguise for border officers, even mimicking the movements of an elderly person, and admitted he boarded the flight with the disguise on and removed it several hours later. The alert said it is believed the man swapped boarding passes with a US citizen passenger who was born in 1955, but it is unclear why he did so. Air Canada and Canadian Border Security Authority (CBSA) officials confirmed that the CBSA intercepted a passenger arriving off AC018 and that an investigation is continuing. The man is in CBSA detention awaiting an immigration and refugee board hearing. The man's name and home country has not been released.
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