| International |
State Bank of India strike dislocates economy Kuwaiti women vote for the first time Iran-US talks to be held in Baghdad Two more killed in Kashmir China's premier arrives in Fiji UN for help to demine Sudan Brides protest remarks Moussaoui given death sentence for 9/11 attacks Police, students clash ahead of anti-king protests in Nepal Friendly fire probed in death of US and Canadian troops Saddam, 6 others charged for '80s crackdown on Kurds Nine US soldiers killed in Iraq Iran tests second radar-avoiding missile Delay to resign from US House Rivals reject Thaksin's offer State Bank of India strike dislocates economy SANAT MUKHERJEE, KOLKATA Apr 4: The countrywide indefinite strike by over two lakh officers and employees of the 9,000 State Bank of India’s offices totally disrupted the country’s economy. The SBI employees struck work from Monday in support of their demand for pension revision and allied charter of demands. The situation in Kolkata following the two-day strike by the SBI officers and staff deteriorated fast. None of the SBI offices in West Bengal was open today. Meanwhile, the SBI management requested the SBI customers to utilise the services of all associated SBI banks and a selected government and private banks. The strike caused unspeakable sufferings to lakhs of salaried employees and pensioners and other clients. Commercial activities faced disruption. Cheques issued by SBI or on the striking bank remained stalled, as the striking banks did not carry out clearings. According to banking circles, SBI generally handled 25 million transactions in a day. In another development, the Indian government made it clear that New Delhi would not concede to higher pension demand of the striking SBI employees. If its demand were conceded then it would have cascading effects upon other banks. A Finance Ministry spokesman told media persons in New Delhi today that SBI strike had affected Indian economy to a great extent. With ATMs not being replenished, the bank clients were put to further hardships. It was reported that the clients were making dashes to different ATMs to withdraw as much money as possible. Long queues were noticed before a limited number of ATMs having some cash left in the machines SBI chairman A K Parwar said, "We are trying to sort out the issue. We are talking to all concerned and hope to find a solution to the impasse soon." Meanwhile, a report said that the RBI initiated clearing operation in most of the major centres operated by the SBI. But it admitted that transactions in which SBI was involved party did not take place. The number of RTGS transactions was restricted to only 170 against normal operation of over 800 RTGS. The sponsors of SBI strike – All India State bank Officers Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation – iterated that strike would continue till the demands were met. "We have been waiting for the revision in the pension scheme for last 14 years," a spokesman of SBI unions said. He said that last pension revision came into force in 1997 and 2002. Meanwhile, the central chief labour commissioner initiated action to bring the contending parties to the negotiating table. A meeting of the concerned parties was convened on April 5. An All India Radio report said that the SBI striking employees expressed desire to sit in negotiation table to find the solution to the impasse. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Moussaoui given death sentence for 9/11 attacks AFP, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA Apr 4: A US jury ruled Monday that would-be Al-Qaeda suicide pilot Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for execution, deciding his lies cost lives in the September 11 attacks. "You will never get my blood, God curse you all," Moussaoui, the only person tried in the United States over the deadly 2001 strikes, shouted at the public benches as he was led from court. A new phase of the trial, with harrowing testimony from survivors and relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 people who perished, will begin Thursday, to decide whether the sentence is carried out. Judge Leonie Brinkema pierced the suffocating tension of the seventh floor courtroom, in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, as she read out the verdict. She declared the jury had found against Moussaoui on three capital counts of conspiracy to commit terrorism, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to destroy aircraft. "Ladies and gentlemen, are these ... your unanimous verdicts?" Brinkema asked, drawing nods from the nine men and three women who had deliberated for 19 hours stretched across three days. Moussaoui, who stunned the trial last week by declaring he had been picked to fly a hijacked airliner into the White House on September 11, 2001, sat in a trance-like state, muttering what seemed to be a prayer as the verdict was read out, a smile playing across his lips. Before he was led into court, wearing a green prison jumpsuit and white-knit cap, Moussaoui had chanted loudly in an adjacent holding cell. "Allah Akbar" (God is great) and other, undecipherable shouts were heard. Relatives of some of the September 11 victims, who sat for days watching court testimony, were in the third row of the courtroom. "We couldn't have a better closing, for all of us, even those who don't believe in the death penalty," said Rosemary Dillard, who lost her husband Eddy in the attacks. "We know he is guilty." Abraham Scott broke down as he remembered his wife Janice, who perished at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. "It's very emotional ... it's hard to describe. I thought I would be delighted but I wasn't. "I don't think Moussaoui is totally to blame, even though I think he deserves death. I equally blame the government." Lorie Van Auken, a 9/11 widow from New Jersey, said she did not think Moussaoui should be eligible for death. "I don't think he contributed to what happened on September 11th. I think he's been scapegoated," she said. Also in New York, Charles Wolf, who lost his wife in the World Trade Centre, worried that if the jury follows through and says Moussaoui should be put to death, he would be rewarded with the martyrdom he craves. "I don't want to play into his hands, I want to be smarter than that," Wolf said. The US government, which saw its failure to stop the attacks exposed in a catalogue of bungles, missteps and mistakes highlighted by defence lawyers, savoured a legal victory in the war on terror. "We are pleased with the jury's ruling in this important case," Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said in a statement. "Our efforts on behalf of the victims of 9/11 will continue as we pursue the next phase of this trial," Scolinos said. A French lawyer representing Moussaoui said defence lawyers would wage an "at all costs" battle to save his life. "We are going to do all we can in an attempt to convince the jury ... that the death penalty should not be carried out," Francois Roux told AFP in a telephone interview. The defence team, he said, was working on framing a picture of Zacarias Moussaoui's past, personality and deprived upbringing in France, and would call several French witnesses to testify either in person or by video link. The jury's decision means they accepted the government's argument that Moussaoui's lies, "with lethal intent", in jail after his arrest in August 2001 directly resulted in the deaths of at least one person on September 11. Had he told about his knowledge of the plot, authorities would have been able to unroll a massive prevention operation, and would have stood a chance of stopping the attacks, the government claimed. Defence lawyers had urged the jury not to make the 37-year-old Frenchman a hero, and to deny him the matyrdom on which he appeared to have set his sights. Defence counsel Edward MacMahon said: "Moussaoui was not involved in the 9/11 plot, no matter what he says." Moussaoui stunned the trial with his claim that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had ordered him to fly an airliner into the White House on September 11. The jury will now have to decide whether Moussaoui should be executed or go to jail for life, without the possibility of parole. The new hearings will start on Thursday. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Police, students clash ahead of anti-king protests in Nepal Rights groups call on rebels to extend ceasefire AFP, KATHMANDU, NEPAL Apr 4: Police fired tear gas, used batons and arrested at least 12 students during clashes in Kathmandu on Tuesday, two days before an anti-royal general strike. Security forces moved in to disperse demonstrations on two campuses in the city centre. An AFP reporter saw students throwing rocks at police at one of the protests. "At least a dozen students were detained and several others injured in clashes with riot police," Mahendra Sharma, president of the Nepal Students Union, told the news agency. Political parties ousted by King Gyanendra 13 months ago have called for a four-day general strike starting Thursday, with a large anti-royal demonstration slated for Saturday. Students have begun demonstrating to show their support for the strike and protest programme, Sharma said. At Shanker Dev campus in Kathmandu, around 100 students burnt tyres, shouted anti-royal slogans and lobbed stones at police. Indra Karki, a student leader from the capital's Tri-Chandra college, said at least seven students were hurt when police baton-charged around 40 protesters Tuesday morning. On Monday Maoist rebels called a temporary halt to hostilities around the capital in support of political parties in their protest. King Gyanendra took direct control of the troubled nation after blaming the government for failing to stem a decade-long Maoist insurgency. In January the government disrupted a planned anti-royal protest by detaining hundreds of political and human rights activists, imposing a curfew, cutting mobile phone lines and banning public gatherings The government has updated its Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Control and Punishment Ordinance to make it even stricter, local media reported Tuesday. One provision "says that those people who give direct or indirect financial support to the Maoists or provide them with shelter would be labelled terrorists," the Himalayan Times said. Rights groups have frequently pointed out that civilians often have no choice when asked to house or feed the rebels. The revised ordinance was approved by the king late last month, The Kathmandu Post said. "An individual who disseminates the information of the terrorists could face one to three years in prison," the newspaper quoted the provision as saying. Since the Maoists launched the insurgency aimed at turning Nepal into a communist republic, at least 12,500 people have been killed. Meanwhile, international human rights organisations Tuesday called on Nepal's Maoist rebels to extend a partial ceasefire beyond the capital to prove their commitment to ending a decade of hostilities. The rebels announced Monday a temporary halt to their military offensive in the Kathmandu valley ahead of a mass anti-royal protest planned for the capital on Thursday. "What is urgently needed now is some consistent demonstration by the Maoist leadership and cadres across the country that they are fully committed to respecting their obligations under international humanitarian law," said Purna Sen, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific programme director. Opposition politicians earlier welcomed the truce but also said it should apply nationwide. Rights groups have catalogued serious human rights abuses by both the rebels and security services during a decade of the Maoist's "people's war". The rebels said the ceasefire was called to assist political parties, which formed a loose alliance with the Maoists when King Gyanendra took direct control of the country 13 months ago, in organising the demonstration. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Friendly fire probed in death of US and Canadian troops AFP, KABUL Apr 4: Coalition forces in Afghanistan said Tuesday they were investigating if friendly fire had caused casualties during a clash with suspected Taliban last week in which a Canadian and a US soldier died. Five soldiers-one US, one Afghan and three Canadian-were also wounded in the March 29 battle that erupted in volatile southern Helmand province after one of the biggest attacks on a coalition base in months. The US-led coalition had decided an investigation was warranted after reviewing reports of the attack, it said in a statement. "The investigation will determine all the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident, including whether any of the casualties may have resulted from friendly fire," it said. A combined Afghan, Canadian and US team will carry out the investigation. At least 32 insurgents were killed after they attacked the coalition base in Sangin district with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, the coalition said at the time. US-led forces responded by calling in warplanes that dropped three 500-pound bombs and two 1,000-pound bombs and also fired high-explosive rockets, guided missiles and incendiary rounds. The Canadian was the first to be killed in action in Afghanistan this year, while the American was the 13th. Four Canadian soldiers were killed by friendly fire in April 2002 when a US F-16 fighter pilot mistook troops in a live-fire training exercise for Taliban fighters and dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on them. The pilot was found guilty of dereliction of duty, reprimanded for "willful misconduct" and fined. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Saddam, 6 others charged for '80s crackdown on Kurds AP, BAGHDAD, IRAQ Apr 4: The Iraq tribunal on Tuesday announced new criminal charges against Saddam Hussein and six others in a 1980s crackdown against the Kurds, including the gassing of thousands of civilians in the village of Halabja. Investigative judge Raid Juhi said the charges against Saddam and the others had been filed with another judge, who will review the evidence and order a trial date. The move is tantamount to an indictment under the Iraqi legal system. The case involves Saddam's role in Operation Anfal, a three-phase move against Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s. Anfal included the March 16 gas attack against Halabja in which 5,000 people, including women and children died. Human rights groups consider the Halabja attack one of the gravest atrocities allegedly committed by Saddam's regime. "These people were subjected to forced displacement and illegal detentions of thousands of civilians," Juhi said. "They were placed in different detentions centers. The villages were destroyed and burned. Homes and houses of worshippers and buildings of civilians were leveled without reason or a military requirement." Others accused in the Anfal case include Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan Majid, or "Chemical Ali," and former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad. Saddam and seven others have been on trial since October 19 in a separate case - the deaths of more than 140 Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail. Iraqi authorities chose to try Saddam separately for various alleged crimes rather than lump all the cases into one proceeding. The Dujail trial was the first of what Iraqi authorities say could be up to a dozen proceedings. Saddam could face death by hanging of convicted in the Dujail case. It is unclear whether the sentence would be carried out while other trials were in progress. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Nine US soldiers killed in Iraq AP, BAGHDAD, IRAQ Apr 9: Nine more American troops died in Iraq, the US military reported Monday, five of them in a vehicle accident in a remote, rain-soaked western area. Their deaths brought the number of service members killed so far this month to 13 - nearly half the number who died in all of March. Three more Americans - two Marines and a sailor - were missing in the Sunday accident in which a truck overturned near Asad air base, a US statement said. All the dead were Marines, the statement added. It gave no reason for the accident except that it was not a result of hostile fire. Heavy rains fell over the area during the weekend. Also Sunday, three Marines and a sailor were killed by "hostile fire" in Anbar province, which includes the Asad base, the military said. No further details, including the precise location, were released. It was the first time that four American troops had been killed in a single attack since Feb. 22, when four soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division died in a bombing in northern Iraq. Thirty-one US troops died in Iraq in March, the lowest monthly death toll for US forces since February 2004. But the relatively good news quickly became worse on the first day of April, when four troops were killed including two pilots who died when their Apache helicopter crashed. US officials said the helicopter was probably shot down. The militant al-Rashideen Army claimed responsibility, and Al-Jazeera television aired footage Monday provided by the insurgents which they claimed showed parts of the wreckage. Although US casualties have been on the decline, deaths among Iraqis have increased because of rising tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. At least 1,038 Iraqi civilians died last month in war-related violence, according to an Associated Press count. The AP count showed at least 375 Iraqi civilians killed in December, 608 in January and 741 in February. Most of the increase appeared a result of a sharp rise in the number of civilians found dead throughout Baghdad - apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings. The alarming rise in civilian toll has put new urgency into efforts by Iraqi politicians to form a new national unity government following the December elections. That message was delivered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw during a two-day visit that ended Monday. "First and foremost, the purpose of this trip is to encourage and to urge the Iraqis to do what the Iraqis must do because the Iraqi people deserve it," Rice said. "But yes, the American people, the British people ... need to know that everything is being done to keep progress moving." During their visit, Rice and Straw avoided any public call for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to step aside as the Shiite nominee for a second term - a key demand of Sunni and Kurdish politicians before they will join a new government. Nevertheless, the visit clearly increased pressure on al-Jaafari, and for the first time officials of his own Shiite bloc called for him to step down. Following the visit, al-Jaafari's supporters scrambled Monday to try to rally support for him, even as other politicians sought ways to remove him if he refused to step aside. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Iran tests second radar-avoiding missile AGENCIES, TEHRAN, IRAN Apr 4: Iran said Tuesday it has tested a second new radar-avoiding missile during war games in the Persian Gulf that the military says are aimed at preparing the country's defences against the United States if attacked. The new surface-to-sea missile is equipped with remote-control and searching systems, the state-run television reported Tuesday. On Friday, the country tested the Fajr-3, a missile that it said can avoid radars and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes. The Revolutionary Guards, the elite branch of Iran's military, have been holding their manoeuvres - code-named the "Great Prophet" - since Friday, touting what they call domestically built technological advances in their armed forces. But some experts say it appears some of the technology has come from other countries, possibly Russia, and some experts also have questioned just how adept the missiles are at evading radar. It has not been possible to verify Iran's claims for the new armaments. But the country has made clear it aims to send a message of strength to the United States amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program. The UN Security Council has demanded Iran give up uranium enrichment, a crucial part of the nuclear process. Washington is pressing for sanctions if Tehran continues its refusal to do so, though US officials have not ruled out military action as an eventual option, insisting they will not allow Iran to gain a nuclear arsenal. In Russia, a Kremlin-allied lawmaker on Tuesday criticized the recent torpedo and missile tests as a counterproductive show of might at a time when it should be trying to allay fears that it is trying to build a nuclear weapon. "It is clear that Iran is demonstrating its muscle in order to forestall any discussions of a possible operation using force against Iran," Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, was quoted as saying according to the RIA Novosti news agency. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Delay to resign from US House AP, WASHINGTON Apr 4: Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom Delay intends to resign from Congress within weeks, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style. DeLay is scheduled to appear on Fox News Channel Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. ET. Republican officials said Monday night they expect the Texan to quit his seat later this spring. He was first elected in 1984, and conceded he faced a difficult race for re-election. "He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year. But Democrats said the developments marked more than the end to one man's career in Congress. "Tom DeLay's decision to leave Congress is just the latest piece of evidence that the Republican Party is a party in disarray, a party out of ideas and out of energy," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Rivals reject Thaksin's offer AFP, BANGKOK Apr 4: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's rivals Tuesday rejected his calls for compromise after troubled weekend elections, in a further sign that the country's political turmoil is unlikely to end soon. "It's too late for national reconciliation," Democrat party head Abhisit Vejjajiva said after a meeting of the three political parties that boycotted Sunday's polls. Both Abhisit and leaders of an anti-Thaksin protest movement again demanded that the embattled premier resign as a way to pull Thailand out of crisis. "If Thaksin quits, it would be easier ... than when he is at the center of conflict," Abhisit told reporters. The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which spearheaded two months of street rallies against Thaksin, said they would resume their protests on Friday unless the premier quit. "PAD representatives this afternoon will submit a letter to the prime minister asking him to resign. If he resigns, PAD will call off the planned rally on April 7," spokesman Suriyasai Katasila told reporters. In an open letter to Thaksin, the coalition said: "The PAD appreciates that the prime minister has shown his desire for national reconciliation". ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Kuwaiti women vote for the first time AFP, KUWAIT CITY Apr 4: Kuwaiti women began casting votes for the first time Tuesday in a by-election for a municipal council seat, less than a year after winning full political rights in the oil-rich Gulf state. Two women are among eight candidates running for the seat in the district of Salmiya, about 15 kilometres (10 miles) southeast of the capital. "It's certainly a historical moment for me. I felt very happy while casting my vote," Afaf Abdullah, a pharmacist, told AFP outside a polling station. "I had participated in cooperative society elections before, but the feeling here is totally different. I feel that justice has been achieved for Kuwaiti women." Voting began slowly as Tuesday is a normal working day but is expected to pick up before ballots close at 8 pm (1700 GMT). The district has 28,000 eligible voters, 60 percent of whom are women, representing the Shiite minority, tribal voters and other Sunnis. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Iran-US talks to be held in Baghdad AFP, TEHRAN Apr 4: Talks between Iran and the United States on the situation in Iraq will take place in Baghdad with Iraqi participation, Iran's charge d'affaires in Iraq Hassan Kazemi Gomi said Tuesday. In an interview with the government daily Iran, Gomi said: "For the moment, it has been decided that these negotiations will take place in Baghdad with participation by the Iraqi side on Iraq as the first subject and they will be transparent." He added: "The negotiating process and the level of responsibility of the negotiating team will depend on the progress obtained in the discussions." No date had been set, he said. Iran and the US agreed that an Iraqi government "should be formed as rapidly as possible and insist that there should be a government of national unity," Gomi declared. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Two more killed in Kashmir AFP, SRINAGAR, KASHMIR, INDIA Apr 4: A municipal councilor was shot dead Tuesday by suspected Islamic militants, the second such incident in three days, while a policeman was also killed in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir, police said. A member of the state's ruling Congress party, Wali Mohammed Dar, was shot dead by militants in the town of Baramulla, 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the summer capital Srinagar, a police spokesman said. "He died on the spot," the spokesman said. On Sunday another municipal councilor Mohammed Afzal Dar, not related to Tuesday's victim, was shot dead near Sopore, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Srinagar. Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, suspected militants killed a policeman in southern Pulwama district by slitting his throat, police said. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | China's premier arrives in Fiji AFP, NADI Apr 4: Wen Jiabao arrived in Fiji Tuesday as the first Chinese premier to visit the Pacific islands, seeking to deepen China's influence in the region and contain Taiwan's diplomatic clout. China has become increasingly involved in the Pacific islands in recent years and Wen's visit opens a new chapter in the relationship. He will hold brief meetings with leaders from eight Pacific island countries and open the first China-Pacific Islands Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum on Wednesday during a brief 22-hour stay. "It will become a milestone in the development of relations between China and Pacific Island countries and provide a new platform and important opportunity for expanding cooperation and common development betweeen us," Wen said of the forum at a state dinner in his honour. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | UN for help to demine Sudan AFP, CAIRO Apr 4: The United Nations called Tuesday for urgent action to support demining operations in southern Sudan, warning that the war-ravaged region could not rebuild amid the risk of landmines. The UN's mine action office in Sudan, in a statement issued to mark the first International Day for Mine Awareness, stressed that thousands of landmines were obstructing the implementation of Sudan's peace deal. "Landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) continue to kill and maim people of Sudan, they also continue to hamper delivery of humanitarian aid, return of refugees and internally displaced people," it said. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page | Brides protest remarks AFP, TAIPEI Apr 4: Dozens of Vietnamese women married to Taiwanese men Tuesday protested against a local political party after one of its parliamentarians made what they called racist comments. The backlash comes after Liao Pen-yen, a member of Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), last week asked Taiwanese immigration authorities to require health checks for Vietnamese brides, saying they may have "biochemical remnants of the Vietnam War" in their bodies and may pass them onto their children. The Vietnamese women unfurled a banner reading "Taiwan must not tolerate fascist remarks infringing human rights" at the headquarters of TSU, a radical pro-independence party. They also demanded that the TSU suspend Liao's membership for at least two months. ###### | Top of this page | Back to Index Page |