5112개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
The Israeli Yedioth Achronoth, Ynet, reported yesterday following about the stupid thing I uploaded about 24 hours ago..
Iran: Yellow badge report false
Iranian lawmakers hurried to disavow a report that the Muslim country would enforce a dress code requiring Jews to where a yellow armband; Iranian Jewish MP: The report damaged Jewish image in Iran
Iranian officials adamantly denied on Saturday reports claiming that the Muslim state was passing a law that would require minority members to identify themselves with various colored armbands – and, reminiscent of the Holocaust, Jews would be forced to wear yellow badges.
Iranian expatriates claim that ‘National Uniform Law’ authorized by Iranian parliament includes clause obligating Iranian Jews to wear yellow ribbon; Christians, other minority members to wear colored ribbons as well. ‘If law passes non-Muslims’ lives will become intolerable
“The dress code program being discussed in parliament has no relation to religious minorities. These reports are a flat out lie,” says Iranian lawmaker Imad Efrog, who proposed the “National Uniform Law.”
On Friday the Canadian Newspaper National Post reported that Jews would have to wear yellow armbands, based on the claims of Iranian expatriates living in Canada. Shortly after the article was printed, the newspaper backed off from the report and published a second article expressing reservations about the report’s credibility. However, the flames were already ignited as the story quickly spread around world news media.
Efrog, who apparently also read Israel and the world’s heated reactions to the report, told Canadian newspaper The Calgary Sun Saturday to tell the west to check their information on the law first, “and you will see there are no conditions for religious minorities in Iran.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa, Hormoz Ghahremani, sent an email to the Canada’s National Post Friday to “categorically reject the news item.”
“These kinds of slanderous accusations are part of a smear campaign against Iran by vested interests, which needs to be denounced at every step,” Ghahremani wrote.
Representative of Iran’s 25,000 Jews in the nation’s parliament, Maurice Motamed, the only Jewish MP there, told the western press that the report dealt a severe blow to the Jewish image in Iran. “I was there when they discussed the law, and it was about the dress of Iranian Muslim women. Restrictions for minority or other religions were not mentioned,” Motamed said.
Jerusalem Post wrote this..
Iran bill addresses women's clothing
So, as I wrote yesterday the entire thing could be also just a fake..
...but on the other side yesterdays Guardian, GB, wrote this..
Iranian Law Would Encourage Islamic Dress
A draft law being considered by Iran's parliament encourages the wearing of Islamic clothing to protect the country's Muslim identity, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday.
The 13-article bill, which received preliminary approval a week ago, does not mention requiring special attire for religious minorities.
On Friday, the Canadian newspaper The National Post, quoting Iranian exiles, said the law would force Jews, Christians and other religious minorities to wear special patches of colored cloth to distinguish them from Muslims.
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5834371,00.html
Finally, what is the moral of this story...
NEVER TRUST THE bourgeois MEDIA!!
Yesterday IHT reported following..Governments alert to possible North Korean missile activity |
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North Korea has reportedly moved a ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States to a launching site, but officials in Seoul and Tokyo said they saw no reliable signs that the North intended to test the missile soon.
Such a test would aggravate Pyongyang's relations with Japan and the United States, among others. Experts said that North Korean long-range missiles could deliver small warheads containing chemical and biological weapons, but that the North had not yet mastered the technology to fit its missiles with nuclear warheads.
North Korea last tested a ballistic missile in 1998. Although analysts in the region doubt that Pyongyang would risk economic sanctions and other fallout from Washington and Tokyo with a missile test, it might make preparations for a launch - under full surveillance by U.S. military satellites - to rattle nerves in the region and force American concessions in its confrontation with Washington.
A Defense Ministry official in Seoul, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government was trying to verify reports about the Taepodong-2 missile.
"So far there is not enough credibility" in the reports, he said, without giving further details.
Earlier Friday, NHK television and the Kyodo News Agency in Japan, citing unnamed sources, said that movement had been observed near a missile base in northeastern North Korea since early this month.
South Korean news media later cited unnamed government officials as saying that they, too, detected such activities but that there was no sign of an imminent test.
Foreign Minister Taro Aso of Japan told a parliamentary committee in Tokyo that Japanese officials "understand that a missile has been brought to the site."
Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Shinzo Abe, said: "At this point we do not feel there is imminent danger of a missile launch," adding that Japan had been gathering intelligence.
American experts said that the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile has a range of more than 6,700 kilometers, or 4,200 miles, making it capable of hitting Alaska with a light payload.
A different version of the Taepodong- 2, which U.S. experts have said was also under development, has a range of 15,000 kilometers, enough to reach the U.S. mainland.
North Korea shocked Japan in 1998 by launching a Taepodong-1 missile over its territory and into the Pacific. That missile had a range of up to 4,000 kilometers, and may be capable of reaching some islands in the Hawaiian chain, as well as U.S. military bases in the region.
The United States and North Korea have been locked in a standoff over the North's nuclear weapons programs. Washington has been increasing financial pressure on the isolated North to force it to return to nuclear disarmament talks, but the North has so far resisted such attempts, which it considers an effort to topple its Communist regime.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported that top advisers to President George W. Bush were considering ways to improve relations with North Korea, including talks for a peace treaty with Pyongyang, once it returns to international talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.
In a report in March, the California- based Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a nongovernmental organization, said North Korea did not have an operational missile that could hit the continental United States, and nor had it demonstrated the capability to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be part of a missile warhead.
"North Korea would probably require several years and additional flight-tests to develop a reliable ballistic missile system capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States," the report said.
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But perhaps it will be just a welcome present for DJ Kim, when he will visit the DPRK next month... harrharr.. WHO KONWS........
A NEW STEP FOREWARD TO A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY..
IHT, AP reported this yesterday, 5.19..
Nepalese hail vote on secular status
Christian, Buddhist and Muslim leaders in Nepal on Friday hailed the Parliament's move to change the Hindu nation into a secular state.
A resolution passed by Parliament on Thursday included a clause that said Nepal would no longer be formally known as a Hindu country. More than 85 percent of Nepal's 27 million people are Hindus.
"We welcome the government decision. We have been fighting for secular and religious freedom in Nepal for a long time," said K.B. Rokaya of the Regional Council of Churches in Nepal.
Rokaya said the government should form a regulatory body "so that all sort of religious activities can be practiced freely and without any intimidation."
The Nepalese Constitution, written in 1990, declared the Himalayan country a Hindu kingdom.
Cheering Nepalese held rallies in several cities and towns Friday to celebrate Parliament's vote to dramatically cut King Gyanendra's powers and turn him into a figurehead leader.
Communist rebels who control much of the countryside also welcomed the resolution - passed unanimously by Parliament - but said the king's ceremonial role should also be eliminated.
The sweeping resolution called for King Gyanendra to be stripped of his command over the army, his legal immunity, and freedom from paying taxes. It also said the king should lose his official position as head of the Himalayan country, changing traditional references to "His Majesty's government" to simply the "Nepal government."
To be enacted, the resolution still must be voted on as a series of laws, officials said. That was expected in the next few days.
The measure's passage "has begun the process," the deputy prime minister, Khadga Prasad Oli, said Thursday. "The government will work with Parliament to execute the resolution and laws will be drafted to implement the resolution."
Top political leaders addressed a major rally in the capital, Katmandu, on Friday, which the government declared a public holiday to celebrate the passage of the resolution. All government offices and schools were closed for the day, the Home Ministry said in a notice.
The seven parties in the governing alliance called the resolution a historic achievement that had eliminated all of the king's powers.
"This ends the remains of the royal regime and establishes the king as only a figurehead," said Narayanman Bijuchche of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party.
The Communist rebels' leader, Prachanda, said he welcomed the resolution, but said it failed to address all the needs of the people.
"We want to make it clear that this declaration has not been able to fully address the needs and aspirations of Nepal and the Nepali people," the rebel leader, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said in a statement.
He said a continuing ceremonial role for the king "is against the aspiration of the people to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic."
The rebels want to completely abolish the monarchy, but have said they will leave the decision to a special assembly which is to write a new constitution.
The vote in Parliament was the most significant move it has made since the new government assumed power last month.
KATMANDU, Nepal Christian, Buddhist and Muslim leaders in Nepal on Friday hailed the Parliament's move to change the Hindu nation into a secular state.
A resolution passed by Parliament on Thursday included a clause that said Nepal would no longer be formally known as a Hindu country. More than 85 percent of Nepal's 27 million people are Hindus.
"We welcome the government decision. We have been fighting for secular and religious freedom in Nepal for a long time," said K.B. Rokaya of the Regional Council of Churches in Nepal.
Rokaya said the government should form a regulatory body "so that all sort of religious activities can be practiced freely and without any intimidation."
The Nepalese Constitution, written in 1990, declared the Himalayan country a Hindu kingdom.
Cheering Nepalese held rallies in several cities and towns Friday to celebrate Parliament's vote to dramatically cut King Gyanendra's powers and turn him into a figurehead leader.
Communist rebels who control much of the countryside also welcomed the resolution - passed unanimously by Parliament - but said the king's ceremonial role should also be eliminated.
The sweeping resolution called for King Gyanendra to be stripped of his command over the army, his legal immunity, and freedom from paying taxes. It also said the king should lose his official position as head of the Himalayan country, changing traditional references to "His Majesty's government" to simply the "Nepal government."
To be enacted, the resolution still must be voted on as a series of laws, officials said. That was expected in the next few days.
The measure's passage "has begun the process," the deputy prime minister, Khadga Prasad Oli, said Thursday. "The government will work with Parliament to execute the resolution and laws will be drafted to implement the resolution."
Top political leaders addressed a major rally in the capital, Katmandu, on Friday, which the government declared a public holiday to celebrate the passage of the resolution. All government offices and schools were closed for the day, the Home Ministry said in a notice.
The seven parties in the governing alliance called the resolution a historic achievement that had eliminated all of the king's powers.
"This ends the remains of the royal regime and establishes the king as only a figurehead," said Narayanman Bijuchche of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party.
The Communist rebels' leader, Prachanda, said he welcomed the resolution, but said it failed to address all the needs of the people.
"We want to make it clear that this declaration has not been able to fully address the needs and aspirations of Nepal and the Nepali people," the rebel leader, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said in a statement.
He said a continuing ceremonial role for the king "is against the aspiration of the people to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic."
The rebels want to completely abolish the monarchy, but have said they will leave the decision to a special assembly which is to write a new constitution.
The vote in Parliament was the most significant move it has made since the new government assumed power last month.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/19/news/nepal.php
The Guardian, GB, wrote this..
Nepal strips back royal powers
Nepal's parliament voted unanimously to shrink the powers of the country's monarchy yesterday, bringing an end to palace control over the army and the hereditary principle.
The radical steps will strip the king of his formal title of supreme commander-in-chief of the military, and the administration will no longer be called His Majesty's Government but just Nepal government. The cabinet will appoint the army chief.
Coming just a few weeks after street protests forced King Gyanendra to relinquish absolute power over the Himalayan country, the moves are a remarkable reversal of fortune for the palace.
Under the new laws elected representatives will decide on the heir to the throne and stipulate the privileges and expenses of the king. Nepal will also end its status as the world's only Hindu nation, with parliamentarians voting for a secular state. Older Nepalis revere the king as a living god.
The interim prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, told the 205 members of the lower house that the proposed change reflects "the aspirations of the people and respects the sacrifices of the people who were martyred during the [democracy] movement".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1778411,00.html
The Nepalese eKantipur..
Govt orders offices, public places to remove "Royal"
The government on Friday ordered all the state-run offices to change the names of the offices to Nepal Government from HM Government.
Issuing a statement today, the office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers ordered all the offices to make changes in the official materials as per Thursday's House proclamation.
The government ordered to change the Royal Nepalese Army to Nepal Army and remove "Royal" attached to all the government institutions and public places and Nepalese missionaries abroad.
The Israeli bourgeois newspaper Yedioth Achronoth wrote yesterday following story..
Exiles: Iran Jews to wear yellow ribbons
Iranian regime has completely lost its mind
Iranian expatriates reveal that ‘National Uniform Law’ authorized by Iranian parliament includes clause obligating Iranian Jews to wear yellow ribbon; Christians, other minority members to wear colored ribbons as well. ‘If law passes non-Muslims’ lives will become intolerable
Iranian expatriates Friday that the "National Uniform Law" authorized by the Iranian parliament a few days ago, which is aimed at getting “Western” style clothing off the streets and advancing more traditional “Islamic” attire, also includes a clause obligating Iranian Jews to wear a yellow ribbon.
Members of the country’s Christian minority will be forces to wear a red ribbon, while those practicing the ancient Persian religion will be obligated to place a blue ribbon on their clothes.
The new law is expected to go into effect within the next few months after it receives is authorized by Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ali Behroozian, an Iranian currently residing in Toronto, said that if the law passes the lives of Iranians belonging to the non-Muslim minorities will become intolerable.
They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.
'Iranian regime has completely lost its mind'
Rabbi Marvin Heir, who heads the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said that Iran is getting "closer and closer to the Nazi ideology," adding that only an international outcry can prevent the law from going into effect.
Heir demanded that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan address the matter at once.
"The world ignored Hitler for many years; he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power - and we were all wrong," he said.
Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Wiesenthal Center in Israel, said in response, “This is simply a catastrophe; it automatically bring one back to the Holocaust, and we do not need to remind the Israeli public that the yellow badges came just before the expulsion and extermination.
“There is no consolation in the fact that Christians are being labeled as well. The Iranian regime has completely lost its mind. The world cannot stand idly by, and I’m sure this development will place the Iranian issue at the top of the agenda during Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s visit to Washington,” he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3252830,00.html
Jerusalem Post wrote this about the same issue..
New Iranian law to require Jews to wear yellow band
..and the so called left liberal Haaretz..
Iranian expatriates: Iran may make Jews wear yellow badges But be careful with this, because except Israeli newspapers, as I know, no one is writing about this until now..
Slowly, after many years of fierce fighting for democracy, something is changing in Nepal..
eKantipur published following..
Anyone who dares to underestimate Proclamation will face dire consequences: PM Koirala
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said Thursday that if anyone dares to underestimate the House Proclamation 2063, will face dire consequences.
PM Koirala made the remarks while presenting the Proclamation at the Thursday's sitting of the House of Representatives (HoR). "I appeal to all the people to raise their voices against those who attempt to undermine the proclamation."
"This Proclamation has reflected the desire of the people and each and every word of the Proclamation is written with the blood of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives," said PM Koirala.
House of Representatives (HoR) unanimously endorsed the much-awaited historic House Proclamation 2063 B.S.
Speaker of the HoR, Subash Nemwang declared the endorsement of the proclamation after no one voted "nay".
The Proclamation has declared the HoR as the supreme authority of the country, changed the name of "His Majesty's Government of Nepal" to "Nepal Government", declared Nepal a secular state, scrapped the Supreme-Commander-in-Chief post of the army, and brought all security limbs of the country including the army under the direct control of parliament.
The Proclamation has also changed the name of "Royal Nepalese Army" to "Nepal Army".
Nepal Speaker of the House, Subash Chandra Nemwang read out the Proclamation on behalf of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala due to the latter's poor health condition.
• The name His Majesty's Government of Nepal changed to Nepal Government
• Nepal becomes a secular state
• National anthem to be changed
• Name of Royal Nepalese Army changed to Nepal Army
• The post of Supreme-Commander-in-Chief of the army held by the king and the constitutional provision regarding the mobilisation of the army scrapped
• Army and all other security limbs of the state brought under the direct control of the HoR
• Council of Ministers to appoint the Chief of Army Staff
• Rajparishad scrapped, its duties and responsibilities will be exercised by the HoR
• Parliament to formulate, amend, and annul the laws deciding the heir to the throne
• All executive rights of the state vested only in the Council of Ministers
• Prime Minister will summon the House session and Speaker will adjourn the session on PM's recommendation
• Parliament to decide Royal Palace expenditures and other facilities
• Private property and income of the king to be taxed as per the existing laws
• Questions can be raised in parliament and in a court of law against the king's unconstitutional and illegal actions
• The Royal Household Service scrapped, civil servants to replace Royal Household Service employees
• The Council of Ministers to decide the security arrangement of the Royal Palace
• The provisions of the Constitution of Nepal 1990 and other laws which contravene the House Proclamation will be null and void to the extent of contravention
GEFONT.s, General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions, comment..
Nepali People Become Sovereign Finally!
In the modern History of Nepal, today (May 18) is the historic day of Victory never witnessed before. Through the Proclamation tabled by the Prime minister, the reinstated House of Representatives declared a historical declaration.
This proclamation, which fully transfers the power of King to Parliament, may be compared to Magna Carta.
Let's celebrate our Victory together!!
And more they wrote..
GEFONT National Council welcomes HoR Proclamation; urges Nepal Government to declare Jeth 04 as the Loktantrik Day
General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) National Council meeting concluded today adopting various resolutions.
The Council-
The Council reviewed the past political and organisational activities and endorse the programme for next tabled by GEFONT Secretariat.
CPN (UML) General Secretary addressed the Council as the principle speaker.
The meeting presided by Chairman Mukunda Neupane; where the summary report of the Secretariat was tabled by the Secretary General Binod Shrestha.
GEFONT National Council meets annually. It is the powerful body between two Congresses, which guides the National Executive Committee on Policies and Programmes.
http://www.gefont.org/summary.asp?flag=3&cid=164
BBC NEWS..
Vote to curb Nepal king's powers
CNN..
Nepal king stripped of most powers
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But as you can see, the struggle is not finished, not at all..
Government to prohibit rallies
Government on Wednesday has decided to prohibit protest rallies and gatherings around the Royal Palace and Singh Durbar.
IHT, NYT published yesterday following article..
U.S. may try new bid for North Korea deal | ||
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President George W. Bush's top advisers have recommended a broad new approach to dealing with North Korea that would include beginning negotiations on a peace treaty even while efforts to dismantle its nuclear program are still under way, according to senior administration officials and Asian diplomats.
Aides say Bush is very likely to approve the new approach, which has been hotly debated among different factions within the administration. But he will not do so unless North Korea returns to multinational negotiations over its nuclear programs. The talks have been stalled since September.
North Koreans have long demanded a peace treaty, which would replace the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War.
For several years after he first took office, Bush vowed not to end North Korea's economic and diplomatic isolation until it entirely dismantled its nuclear program. That stance later softened, and the administration said some benefits to North Korea could begin to flow as significant dismantling took place.
Now, if the president allows talks about a peace treaty to take place on a parallel track with six-nation talks on disarmament, it will signal another major change of tactics.
The decision to consider a change may have been influenced in part by growing concerns about Iran's nuclear program. One senior Asian official who has been briefed on the administration's discussions of what to do next said, "There is a sense that they can't leave Korea out there as a model for what the Iranians hope to become - a nuclear state that can say no to outside pressure."
But it is far from clear that North Korea would engage in any new discussions, especially if they included talks of political change, human rights, terrorism and an opening of the country, topics that the administration has insisted would have to be part of any comprehensive discussions with North Korea.
With the war in Iraq and the nuclear dispute with Iran as distractions, many top officials have all but given up hope that North Korea's government will either disarm or collapse during Bush's remaining time in office. Increasingly, they blame two of Bush's negotiating partners, South Korea and China, which have poured aid into North Korea even while the United States has tried to cut off its major sources of revenue.
In Bush's first term, he said repeatedly that he would never "tolerate" a nuclear North Korea. Now he rarely discusses it. Instead, he has held meetings in the Oval Office with escapees from the North and used those events to discuss its prison camps and its treatment of its people.
Bush has also been under subtle pressure to change the first-term talk of speeding regime change from people like Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
"Focusing on regime change as the road to denuclearization confuses the issue," Kissinger wrote in a long essay that appeared Tuesday in The Washington Post. Noting that the negotiations have been conducted by Christopher Hill, a seasoned diplomat who played a major role in the Bosnian peace accords, Kissinger said, "Periodic engagement at a higher level is needed."
A classified National Intelligence Estimate on North Korea, which was circulated among senior officials this year, concluded that the North has probably created enough fuel for more than half a dozen nuclear weapons since the beginning of Bush's administration and is continuing to produce roughly a bomb's worth of new plutonium each year.
But in a show of caution after the discovery of flaws in intelligence on Iraq, the assessment left unclear whether North Korea had actually turned that fuel into weapons.
With the six-nation negotiations appearing to go nowhere, the drive to come up with a broader strategy was propelled by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and one of her top aides, Philip Zelikow, who drafted two papers describing the new approach.
Those papers touched off what one senior official called "a blizzard of debate" over the next steps that eventually included Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who has been widely described by current and former officials as having led the drive in Bush's first term to make sure the North received no concessions from the United States until all its weapons and weapon sites were taken apart.
It is unclear where Cheney stands on the new approach that emerged from the State Department.
Now, said one official who has participated in the recent internal debate, "I think it is fair to say that many in the administration have come to the conclusion that dealing head-on with the nuclear problem is simply too difficult."
The official added, "So the question is whether it would help to try to end the perpetual state of war" that has existed, at least on paper, for 53 years. "It may be another way to get there."
An agreement that was signed in September by North Korea and the five other nations involved in the talks - the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia - commits the North to give up its weapons and rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty "at an early date" but leaves vague what would have to come first: disarmament or a series of steps to aid the North.
It also included a sentence that paves the way for the initiative recommended to Bush, declaring that "the directly related parties will negotiate a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula at an appropriate separate forum." But it does not specify what steps North Korea would have to take first.
As described by administration officials, none of whom would speak on the record about deliberations inside the White House, Bush's aides envision starting negotiations on a formal peace treaty that would include the original signatories of the armistice: China, North Korea and the United States, which signed on behalf of the United Nations.
They would also add South Korea, now the world's 11th-largest economy, which declined to sign the original armistice.
Japan, Korea's colonial ruler in the first half of the 20th century, would be excluded, as would Russia.
A National Security Council spokesman declined to comment on any internal deliberations on North Korea policy and referred all questions to the State Department, which has handled the negotiations with the North.
In justifying its refusal to return to talks, the North Koreans have complained bitterly about financial sanctions by the United States aimed at closing down the North's banking activities in Macao and elsewhere in Asia.
Officials said that even if peace treaty negotiations started, those sanctions would continue.
Some intelligence officials say they believe the North's complaints may have arisen in part because they affected a secretive operation that finances the personal activities of Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, including the money he spends for entertainment.
The rightwing daily Chosun Ilbo is writing following..
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In Nepal, cabinet changes delayed by coalition infighting
The Associated Press
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2006
Nepal's new government prepared to expand its cabinet Wednesday, but squabbling within one of the country's seven ruling parties delayed an announcement of the changes, officials said.
One of the parties in the governing coalition, the Nepali Congress Democratic, led by the former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, was locked in internal feuds over which candidates to nominate as ministers from their party and who would be the party's leader in Parliament.
"We are all set to make the announcement today but the conflict inside the Nepali Congress Democratic is delaying the process," said Ram Chandra Poudel, general secretary of Nepali Congress, the largest party.
The cabinet, which currently has only 7 members, was expected to add 14 more new members.
"We have finalized the list of who would be in government, but the squabbling in one party is delaying the whole process," said Pradeep Gyawali of the Communist Party of Nepal, another coalition member.
A series of meetings was planned Wednesday by Nepali Congress Democratic to sort out the conflict, said Narayan Prasad Saud, a Parliament member. The delay in forming a government threatened to further stall a parliamentary vote on a proclamation that would curtail King Gyanendra's powers.
The proclamation was scheduled to be presented in Parliament on Monday and was then rescheduled for Thursday, because of the differences within the country's governing coalition.
The declaration would remove King Gyanendra's constitutional control over the 90,000-strong Royal Nepalese Army and his right to make the final decision on major issues. Those powers would be handed to Parliament.
It also would make Gyanendra pay taxes, remove his immunity from prosecution and let Parliament set the royal family's income from the government...
THIS, EXACTLY, IS THE REASON WHY THE PEOPLE IN NEPAL ARE COMPLETE DO NOT TRUST THIS KIND OF POLITICS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES...
..On Tuesday, about 2,000 people protested delays to the parliamentary vote in the streets of the capital, Katmandu. Demonstrators set on fire at least four government vehicles, blocking traffic, and burning tires on the streets.
ONCE AGAIN.. THE PEOPLE TAKE THE STREETS FOR REAL DEMOCRACY!!
According to BBC World yesterday the first time pro.democratic activists took the streets in Kathmandu to protest against the current policy of new government.. The people of Nepal, so BBC, have no trust in the govt., even not in the new govt.!! What they want is a real democratic republic! And they are willing to give the new govt. just few days to fullfill their demands..
5.15 protests in the capital against the slow motion of the new govt. on the way of democratization..
Angry activists torch government vehicles protesting the seven-party alliance's delay in presenting the House Proclamation, which curtails the power of the king, at the House of Representatives, at Tripureshwor, Kathmandu, on Tuesday.
Protests against HoR proclamation delay, Deuba denies backing king
People have demonstrated in Kalanki at the capital Tuesday in protest of the delay in the proclamation of House of Representatives (HoR) to bring all political and military powers under the parliament.
The protest by the people affiliated to the civil society and various political parties has come after the HoR deferred announcement of the House proclamation on Monday.
The expected decision could not be taken after the SPA leaders were divided over some of its key points including the possession of the Supreme-Commander-in-Chief post of the Royal Nepalese Army, sources said.
The transport in the area and around the ring road has been affected by the tyres burnt on the road.
The protestors shouted slogans demanding that the HoR proclamation giving the parliament all the political power soon and bring the military under the parliament.
People also shouted slogans NC –D President Sher Bahadur Deuba for his supposed stand against scraping of the King from the post of "Commander in Chief" of the Army.
Meanwhile, Deuba who has been denying such a doing said that it was "unimaginable" for him to do so.
"I have been troubled by the king many a time, why would I defend him?" Deuba exclaimed.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=73870
I will be most happy if people remove king: Deuba
President of Nepali Congress-Democratic (NC-D), Sher Bahadur Deuba said Tuesday said that he did not raise the issue of giving the post of Supreme-Commander-in-Chief of the Army to the king during the seven-party alliance's (SPA) meeting.
Speaking to journalists at his party office, Deuba today said that he was engaged in "making the Prime Minister more powerful."
He also said the allegations against him were aimed at his "character assassination."
"This allegation that Sher Bahadur Deuba, who has been victimized by the king time and again, suggested to make the king the supreme-commander-in-chief is totally baseless," said Deuba, adding, "Can I say that the king, who made me suffer, should be made the supreme-commander-in-chief?"
"To tell you the truth, I would be most happy if the people remove the king," said Deuba.
"Once the king attempted to assassin my character and now others are engaged in this. If they want I can abandon politics."
Deuba's made the remarks in the wake of nationwide protests against his alleged suggestion to make the king the army's supreme-commander-in-chief without uniform during the SPA's meeting in the capital yesterday.
At a time when protests have been staged across the country against his alleged remarks about the king and army, Deuba is facing voices of protest from within the party.
Disputes have erupted among the central leaders of the NC-D on the issue of nominating the leader of the party's parliamentary committee.
The meeting of the party's parliamentary committee couldn’t be held today after some NC-D parliamentarians put forth their stance that the nomination of the head of the parliamentary committee should be made only after approving the party's parliamentary statute.
Sources said while Deuba, who is also the party president, wants to be the leader of the party's parliamentary committee as well, he faces strong protests from a number of MPs who put forth the "one-person-one-post" concept.
The issue of parliamentary committee leader is likely to be decided through election if Deuba insists to head the parliamentary committee, sources said.
The dissident faction of the party is likely to propose NC-D General Secretary Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadhar as the parliamentary committee leader.
"I believe that the head of the parliamentary committee should be elected unanimously…like Deuba was elected president by the party's last general convention," said Gachchhadhar, adding, "The party president should be ready for sacrifice."
Prachanda requests Maoist detainees to end hunger strike
Maoist Chairman Prachanda Tuesday requested all the Maoist detainees being held at various detention centres across the country, to end their indefinite hunger strike.
In a statement issued today, Maoist supremo Prachanda made his requests saying that his party is continuing its serious discussion with the seven-party government on the issue of releasing all the Maoists detained across the country.
"The government is positive and that it has expressed its commitment towards releasing all the political detainees after some formal processes," he said.
Prachanda also reiterated that until all political prisoners are released and the whereabouts of all those state-sponsored disappearances is made public, the Maoists will not sit for a dialogue.
Demanding the immediate release of all their comrades, dozens of Maoists detained at various prisons including Nakkhu Jail, had been staging hunger strikes for the last few days.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=73873
Read also this by BBC..
Yonhap wrote yesterday following...
Korean unification crucial for regional stability: UN chief
Korean reunification would mark a significant step forward in helping stabilize relations in Northeast Asia, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday.
"This kind of development will be positive for the region, for the Korean people and especially for the stability of the region as a whole," Annan said during his lecture to students at Seoul National University (SNU).
"I am for the unification of the two Koreas... I hope the day will come sooner or later," he added.
Annan, an advocate of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine" policy of rapprochement with the reclusive North, also stressed the role of six-party talks in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
"The six-party talks haven't been successful, but we haven't given up. I hope it will resume and I hope the talks are approached through trust and support," he added.
The U.N. chief, now on the first leg of his two-week
Asian tour, visits South Korea amid growing interest over who will succeed him when he steps down later this year.
South Korea hopes its Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon will be the winning candidate after he threw his hat in the ring earlier this year.
"If Ban wins, Koreans will be very happy to see one of their nationals in the post," Annan said.
He added that his replacement should be careful not to take the job lightly.
"One should know that he is the secretary of the whole world and must be fair and equitable... Koreans should not expect any favors but at the same time, they should not be handicapped," he added.
Annan stressed the need for the U.N. to reform itself, pointing out that the current security council does not adequately represent the organization.
"We have not made (much) progress yet, and the U.N. cannot say that it ever had a good reform," Annan said.
The secretary-general has insisted that two to three more countries must be added as permanent security council members, despite heavy opposition from current members.
"The composition currently reflects the geopolitical nature of 1945. The world has changed, there are major players that are not adequately represented in the organization, and therefore, I believe it has to transform into a new scene that is more representative," he added.
After three decades spent serving the U.N., the 68-year old said his most formidable challenge came from America's push to unseat Saddam Hussein.
"My most difficult challenge was the Iraq war. Many people including myself from within and outside the organization wanted to avoid the war," he added.
"However, in Iraq what touched me deeply as a secretary-general and as a human being was the fact that, although I didn't support the war, at the end, it helped the Iraqi people redeem their sovereignty and prepare for the future," he added.
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060515/610000000020060515155145E8.html
NO COMMENT, PLEASE..
eKantipur reported yesterday..
Talks with Maoists soon: Home Minister
Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said Sunday that the government would soon hold dialogue with the Maoists.
The home minister, however, did not divulge details regarding the date and venue.
Speaking at a programme in the capital, Minister Sitaula said, "The theoretical concept paper for dialogue has already been prepared," adding, "The process of dialogue will move forward based on the 12-point understanding and the second memorandum of understanding reached with the Maoists."
He said, "I am hopeful that the government would receive support from all sides for talks with the Maoists."
He also appealed to all to closely watch the dialogue process and alert the government in case of any mistake.
The Home Minister's remarks come at a time when the Maoists have already formed a top-level talks team headed by their Chairman Prachanda.
The Maoist, on Saturday, laid out their 10-point road map to peace and said Maoist supremo Prachanda himself would lead the top-level dialogue team.
The government is yet to form a team for talks with the Maoists.
We are committed to press freedom, says senior Maoist leader
Senior Maoist leader Matrika Prasad Yadav, who was released from detention recently, said Sunday that his party is committed to press freedom.
"Our Chairman Prachanda has time and again expressed the party's commitment to press freedom," said Yadav, while speaking at a programme organized by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) in the capital today.
He added, "It's not our policy to attack anyone on the basis of ideology."
Admitting the violation of human rights and press freedom by his party workers in the past, Yadav said, "Sometimes our lower-level party cadres defy orders from the party centre."
Speaking at the programme, FNJ President Bishnu Nisthuri urged the Maoist leadership not to repeat their "past mistakes" of violating press freedom and human rights.
"No one should be attacked because of ideology. We are seriously concerned about freedom of expression," said Nisthuri.
Shiva Gaunle, vice-president of the FNJ said that the Maoists should take easily the criticisms against them. He also appealed to the Maoist leadership to stop all forms of extortions and breaching of human rights.
General Secretary of the FNJ made a written appeal to Maoist leader Yadav mentioning the state of press in the past and moves needed to be taken by the Maoists in the future.
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I think the news is false. Just fud.More about the facts at Juan Cole, who is a middle east expert, http://www.juancole.com/ and has all the links to the official declarations, including one from the jewish rep in the iranian parliament
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THANX!!as i wrote, i also was not sure about it..
but on the other side Haaretz is known for mostly more serious reports..
yesterday, 6.20, the Guardian, GB, published this..
Iranian Law Would Encourage Islamic Dress
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5834371,00.html
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