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Pak scientist to plead not
guilty of murder charges
New York,
Sept 04 (PTI):
Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, suspected of having
links with al-Qaeda, would plead innocent to the charges of
attempted murder of US personnel during interrogation in
Afghanistan in July, her lawyer said.
Siddiqui,
36, was indicted Tuesday but terrorism charges have not been
brought against her. She is currently being held without bail in
high security prison in Brooklyn in New York.
She was
arrested in Ghazni province of Afghanistan in July this year
while loitering around the Governor’s compound and held for
questioning by army officers and FBI agents. But she allegedly
snatched an army officer’s M-4 rifle and fired it at other
members of the US interview team.
Lawyer
Elizabeth Fink, who said her client would plead not guilty to
the charges today while appearing in the court, also expressed
concern that Siddiqui remained in need of medical attention.
“She needs
further tests,” Fink was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
“She needs treatment. She needs care. She needs human rights.
And they’re not doing it.” Last week, Fink had expressed her
outrage that Siddiqui was denied a court-ordered medical
examination despite her life-threatening condition.
“Her
condition has significantly deteriorated since August four when
she was brought to New York. She should be transferred to
Bellevue hospital for urgent medical and psychological
treatment,” the lawyer added. Siddiqui’s lawyers have maintained
they believe she had been secretly detained since March 2003,
when she left her parents’ home in Karachi to visit her uncle in
Islamabad.
US: We will
stop fuel supplies if India conducts nuclear test
Washington/Vienna, Sept.04(PTI):
In controversial disclosures on the eve of the meeting of the
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the US has made it clear that it
will stop fuel supplies and other nuclear cooperation if India
conducts a nuclear test. The US position, which appears at
variance with New Delhi’s interpretation of some key clauses of
the Indo-US nuclear deal, was made public just before the
two-day meeting of the 45-nation NSG in Vienna which will
consider a waiver that will enable India do nuclear commerce.
The stoppage
of nuclear cooperation in certain circumstances if India
conducts an atomic test figures in the 123 bilateral agreement
but impression so far has been that the US would ensure
uninterrupted fuel supplies from other countries.
However, a
26-page document released by a well-known opponent of the deal,
Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
contains an assertion by the Bush Administration that its
assurances of nuclear supplies to India are not not meant to
insulate it against the consequences of a nuclear test.
Berman made
public the State Department’s responses to 45 questions on the
deal posed by his predecessor Tom Lantos way back in October
last year. The answers were given on January 16 but for nearly
nine months the document was kept under wraps at the request of
the State Department.
Palin signals readiness for
upcoming political fight
Washington, Sept 04 (PTI):
Signalling that she was no push-over, Alaska Governor Sarah
Palin in her maiden speech at the Presidential nomination party
Convention launched a scathing attack on her critics telling
them she was “ready and prepared” for a fight.
Rocketed in
less than a week from being an unknown politician in Alaska to
the first woman Republican vice presidential candidate, Palin
took on Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama, accusing
him of using “change” to promote his career.
Referring to
the Convention theme of ‘country first’, the former beauty queen
lambasted the Democratic nominee Obama as a candidate out for
himself.
“Here’s how
I look at the choice Americans face in this election. In
politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote
their careers,” she said.
“And there
are those like John McCain, who use their careers to promote
change,” she added.
The
Republicans greeted their number two slot candidate with a
thunderous and extended applause as she strode to the stage for
her first speech in which she said that she had accepted the
nomination to serve the American people and not to win good
opinion of her detractors.
The 44-year
old hockey mom of five children — nicknamed Barracuda for her
fighting spirit— hammered away at different times at Senator
Obama and his running mate Senator Joseph Biden for their
policies and lack of executive experience.
UN announces
fresh guidelines for fragile sea fish species
New York,
Sept 04 (PTI):
The UN has announced new international guidelines to limit the
impact of fishing on fragile sea species after two years of
consultations with concerned countries. Managing deep sea
fisheries in high seas areas outside of countries’ exclusive
economic zones has always been difficult since it requires
multilateral solutions involving not only nations whose vessels
are engaged in deep sea fisheries but other interested countries
as well, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.
“Until now,
there really hasn’t been an international framework for tackling
this issue,” said Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director General of
FAO’s Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
“These
guidelines represent one of the few practical instruments of
this nature, and are a breakthrough in that they address both
environmental and fisheries management concerns in an integrated
manner,” he added.
Stressing
that all fishing activity in deep sea areas should be
“rigorously managed,” the guidelines recommend the measures that
can be taken to identify and protect vulnerable ecosystems and
provide guidance on the sustainable use of marine living
resources in deep-sea areas.
They also
recommend that fishing nations assess the deep sea fishing being
undertaken by their fleets to determine if any significant
adverse impacts are involved, and if there are adverse impacts,
the fishing activity should stop.
The
guidelines set out steps for improving information on the
location and status of vulnerable marine ecosystems and deep sea
fisheries.
Few
countries have so far developed policies and plans specifically
related to managing deep sea fishing, even in their own waters,
according to FAO.
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