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Foreign Ministers recieved by Sri Lankan President

Thu, 2009-04-30 04:01 — admin

Over 50 militants killed in ongoing operation in northwestern Pakistan

Thu, 2009-04-30 02:06 — admin

By Farzana Shah-Asian Tribune Correspondent in Pakistan

‘Militants using people as human-shield’; troops seize key town
More than 50 militants have been killed in the ongoing military operation in Buner, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told a press conference on Wednesday. Jet fighters and helicopters gunships provided air support for army and paramilitary troops leading the offensive in Buner valley of the North West Frontier Province. Planes and helicopters attacked suspected hideouts of militants in Kalil Kandow, Rajgalai, Speerkee, Balookhan, Karakar, Naveedand, Sar Malang Baba, Baba Jee Kandow and Maskeepur Ambela. The attacks started at about 12:30 pm.

Specter defects: Republicans need revival?

Thu, 2009-04-30 02:11 — admin

By Wajid Ali Syed – Washington Correspondent for Asian Tribune

US Senator Arlen Specter's decision to defect from the Republican Party and become a Democrat is the latest setback for a party still reeling from national election defeats in 2008 and 2006. The announcement, which was made the day before President Barack Obama's 100th day anniversary in office, sent shockwaves through official Washington. The conventional wisdom in political circles was that Specter's move was made not because of ideology but rather political expediency.

Foreign Ministers of Britain and France were briefed of the Humanitarian situation and of the war on terror in Sri Lanka

Thu, 2009-04-30 03:55 — admin

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and also with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and urged the Sri Lankan Government to put a cease-fire in place which was rejected flatly by Sri Lanka. The foreign ministers of Britain and France met with their Sri Lankan counterpart Wednesday amid protests from Buddhist monks calling for an end to foreign interference in the Country’s war against Tamil terrorists in the north-east of the country.

The Obama 100 day anniversary: Foreign Policy

Thu, 2009-04-30 04:10 — admin

By Wajid Ali Syed – Washington Correspondent for Asian Tribune

Barack ObamaPresident Barack Obama pledged during the 2008 campaign to fix the "failed policies" of the "disastrous" Bush administration, including the war in Iraq, the War on Terror, relations with Iran and a host of other issues. But in his first 100 days in the White House he has not fully shrugged off the mantle of his predecessor as many predicted he would. He did launch himself on the international stage and a different voice. During his first official trip to Europe, President Obama left no room for doubt that the US would have a new way of dealing with the rest of the world, saying "I came here to put forward ideas, but I also came here to listen, not to lecture."

Bangladesh opposition BNP to file writ next week over the govt.’s notice to vacate Khaleda’s cantonment house

Thu, 2009-04-30 04:40 — admin

M.A. Kader-Asian Tribune Correspondent in Bangladesh

Bangladesh main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will file a writ petition with the High Court Sunday over the government notice that asked party chief Khaleda Zia to vacate her Dhaka Cantonment house. "We have decided to challenge the government notice through a writ petition with the High Court on Sunday," the party's policymaking National Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed told reporters Wednesday in Dhaka. Moudud said the government's notice on the cancellation on the lease of the 6 Shaheed Moinul Road house stands against "the country's law, the constitution and various verdicts given by the Supreme Court".

UN chief cautions Nepal’s political parties

Thu, 2009-04-30 04:45 — admin

Kosh Raj Koirala – Asian Tribune Correspondent in Nepal

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has cautioned that differences surfacing among key political parties in Nepal could jeopardize the prospect of ongoing peace process in the country. In his latest report made public on Tuesday in New York, Ban said that the widening differences among major political parties representing Constituent Assembly (CA) would continue to impede the consolidation of peace in the war-ravaged Himalayan nation. He also called for increased cooperation among political parties in the country to take the ongoing peace process to a logical end.

LTTE misled diaspora, kept them in dark to exploit them says Daya Master

Thu, 2009-04-30 04:51 — admin

George & DayaAs the curtains are finally coming down on the LTTE saga, Daya Master, the media wizard for the Tigers for years, believes that Prabhakaran’s game is up. ‘People will not accept him (Prabhakaran),’ he says. ‘It is too late; the people have already rejected the man and if he takes a decision that he should have taken long ago …to return to his old native place to live in peace…. it will not help’, Daya Master, whose name is Velayutham Thayanithi, asserts. He and George Master, who was an interpreter for late Tamilselvan, believe that Tigers had deliberately misled the Diaspora and that in fact had put them in the dark over the ground situation. ‘It is time the diaspora comes to grips with the reality of the situation back home and lend their might for furthering the political process’.

St Joseph the Worker

Thu, 2009-04-30 13:29 — admin

By Quintus Perera - Asian Tribune

Fr Nicholas BatepolaThe principal feast day of Saint Joseph is March 19, Saint Joseph's Day (for Joseph the Husband of Mary). Among Biblical saints, the veneration of Saint Joseph came very late to the Catholic Church. Pope Pius IX declared him patron of the universal Church, and Pope John XXIII added his name to the Mass canon. St. Joseph is the second greatest saint in the Catholic Church, after his wife Mary. The feast of St Joseph is celebrated on March 19 but some Catholic churches consider St Joseph the carpenter as the patron saint of workers and celebrate the feast of St Joseph on May 1 – on the universal day of workers.

The Tamil Tigers final battle?

Thu, 2009-04-30 13:46 — admin

By Uffe Ellemann-Jensen

On a little piece of land in Sri Lanka, we have a humanitarian disaster being created by a civil war, in which neither of the parties wanted to take into account the plight of the civilians who have been caught between the war ring parties. The small strip of land, that is smaller in size than the Danish Kattegat-island Endelave, where tens of thousands of people are trapped between the Sri Lankan security forces and the armed cadres from the Tamil Tigers. Government’s army is fighting the Tamil Tigers without any consideration for the civilians and the Tigers are using civilians as human shield.

U.S. Government program strengthens local authorities in the East

Thu, 2009-04-30 13:59 — admin

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a two-year program called Supporting Regional Governance (SuRG) to strengthen local governance in conflict-affected areas of the East. Participating local authorities from the Eastern Province recently signed a memorandum of understanding with SuRG to launch the partnership. USAID, the development agency of the U.S. Government, started the SuRG program to help local authorities in the East administer their activities more effectively and respond to the needs of their communities.

Taliban, Al Qaida direct threat, says Obama

Thu, 2009-04-30 14:04 — admin

By Wajid Ali Syed – Washington Correspondent for Asian Tribune

President ObamaTaliban and al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan pose "the single most direct threat" to US national security interests, President Barack Obama said today during a town hall meeting. "It is my responsibility to make sure that bin Laden and his cronies are not able to create a safe," he said. Discussing his new strategy Obama said it will help the United States become secure and its global leadership role has been restored

Indian Polls: Third Round Voting on Thursday, Sonia, Advani In Fray

Thu, 2009-04-30 01:17 — admin

By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune

India will vote Thursday in the third round of balloting in the Parliamentary elections. Over 14.4 crore voters in 107 constituencies spread over nine states and two union territories will be covered in the day long polling that will decide the fortunes of Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani and 1565 others. Sikkim also will elect its new assembly on Thursday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Advani is standing from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, which he has been representing since 1991.

Gurkhas stage demonstration at UK Embassy in Nepal

Thu, 2009-04-30 00:33 — admin

Kosh Raj Koirala – Asian Tribune Correspondent in Nepal

The Gurkha army ex-servicemen staged a protest demonstration outside the British Embassy in Kathmandu on Wednesday against a recent decision of the British government. They claimed that the new policy announced by the British government on April 24 would allow only a small number of Gurkhas to settle in the United Kingdom and almost all of these would be ex-officers. Effecting the change in its policy on Friday, the UK government said it would allow about 30,000 more Gurkha soldiers who retired before 1997 can settle automatically if certain conditions are met.