Important meeting of ECP was held to mull over holding of general elections, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (rtd) Qazi Mohammed Farooq.
Commission members Justice Nasim Sikandar, Justice Ahmed Khan Lashari and other high officials attended the meeting.
The meeting was told that the work of Election Commission was affected, as the offices of the commission were set on fire on several places.
It was also told that a polling agent from Kurram Agency apprised the ECP in his letter that circumstances are not conducive for holding of the elections there.
It was expected that Chief Election Commissioner would announce to defer the elections for National and Provincial assemblies.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will decide tomorrow about the fate of the January 8 general elections in the country, following the receipt of reports from other provinces.
"We have called for reports from the provincial governments and provincial election commissioners on the situation. The reports will reach here by evening today and we will decide tomorrow," commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad told reporters.
Expectations run high that a date in March would be assigned for polling.
People’s Party (PPP) leaders declared 40-day mourning after the death of Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto and the mourning period would come to a close on February 10. Meantime, the holy month of Moharramul Haram is commencing from January 11 and the Chehlum of Kerbala Martyrs would take place on February 22. By this date, the severe chilly and frosty situation in Gulliat will have improved.
According to ECP, the offices of ECP and ballot boxes and voting scanners present there were torched in nine districts of Sindh including Sukkar, Jamshoro, Noshehroferoz, Qambar Shahdadkot, Thatta, Ghotki, Jackobabad, Badin and Dadu. In these areas, the training work of polling staff is affected as well.Geonews
Monday, December 31, 2007
World leader worry Pak stance
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he was planning to see Musharraf in the next 48 hours.
Kouchner said he hoped to "try ... to apply pressure for the election to take place -- on what date, I don't know, it's not up to us to say." But, voicing several diplomats' fears, he added: "But elections must take place in calm conditions."
Dec 31 (PTI) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has asked Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to go-ahead with planned elections saying the legacy of Benazir Bhutto's death should be the country's commitment to democracy.
"The legacy of Ms Bhutto's death should be Pakistan's commitment to democracy," Brown said while speaking to television media.
The Prime Minister pledged to "step up" efforts to defeat terrorism in Pakistan and ensure that the democratic process continues.
Brown said: "The international community is united in its outrage and determination that those who stoop to such tactics shall not prevail.
"I therefore encouraged President Musharraf to stick to the course he has outlined to build democracy and stability in Pakistan." In an earlier Downing Street statement, he said he had passed the nation's condolences to the people of Pakistan in a telephone call with President Musharraf.
Brown said "I have just spoken again to President Musharraf. I passed on my condolences, and those of the British people, following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and many of her supporters on Thursday.
Terming Bhutto's assassination as a potent reminder of the threat from terror, he said "this was a cowardly terrorist act designed to destabilize democratic elections.
"Pakistan is a major ally in the global effort to combat this (terrorism) menace. I told President Musharraf that the UK is prepared to sustain and build the already significant counter-terrorism support we offer his country, not least in the efforts to destroy Al Qaeda." PTI
Kouchner said he hoped to "try ... to apply pressure for the election to take place -- on what date, I don't know, it's not up to us to say." But, voicing several diplomats' fears, he added: "But elections must take place in calm conditions."
Dec 31 (PTI) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has asked Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to go-ahead with planned elections saying the legacy of Benazir Bhutto's death should be the country's commitment to democracy.
"The legacy of Ms Bhutto's death should be Pakistan's commitment to democracy," Brown said while speaking to television media.
The Prime Minister pledged to "step up" efforts to defeat terrorism in Pakistan and ensure that the democratic process continues.
Brown said: "The international community is united in its outrage and determination that those who stoop to such tactics shall not prevail.
"I therefore encouraged President Musharraf to stick to the course he has outlined to build democracy and stability in Pakistan." In an earlier Downing Street statement, he said he had passed the nation's condolences to the people of Pakistan in a telephone call with President Musharraf.
Brown said "I have just spoken again to President Musharraf. I passed on my condolences, and those of the British people, following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and many of her supporters on Thursday.
Terming Bhutto's assassination as a potent reminder of the threat from terror, he said "this was a cowardly terrorist act designed to destabilize democratic elections.
"Pakistan is a major ally in the global effort to combat this (terrorism) menace. I told President Musharraf that the UK is prepared to sustain and build the already significant counter-terrorism support we offer his country, not least in the efforts to destroy Al Qaeda." PTI
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thai's voted Sunday in a General election
Final election results announced It is not the final outcome because the Election Commission must still investigate various charges of election fraud and might be forced to hold a by-election for red-carded candidates.
Election Commission Secretary General Suthipol Thaveechaikarn said about 32.08 million Thais, or 70.27 per cent of eligible voters, cast ballots.The parliament has a total of 480 seats in the Lower House:
People Power party (PPP) 232 seats
Democrat party 165
Chart Thai 37
Puea Pandin 25
Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana 9
Machimatipataya 7
Pracharaj 5
20:56 Dec 24, 2007
Suan Dusit exit poll, the PPP won 256 of the 480 contested seats, with
the Democrats coming in second with 162 seats. But another poll
conducted by ABAC had the PPP with 202 seats and Democrats with 146,
and several of the medium-sized parties with more than 40 seats. Two
main rivals in Sunday's polls were the People Power Party (PPP), PPP is
headed by Samak Sundaravej, 72, a veteran Thai politician with a
right-wing past who has dubbed himself a "nominee" for Thaksin and
whose main platform has been to bring Thaksin Shinawatra back to
Thailand and the Democrat Party, the main opposition party Democrat
Party is led by Abhisit, 43, an Oxford-educated liberal politician who
has campaigned on his clean record .
Last year's coup which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra some 45 million Thais are eligible to cast their ballots,Voting at 85,000 polling stations nationwide opened at 8 am and closed at 3 pm. today on Sunday, 23 December 2007, with unofficial results expected by midnight.Very few expect the country's third election in two years will solve the country's problems. People Power Party (PPP), a political outfit for supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,was ousted in a
bloodless fifteen months ago.
Thaksin would return from self-exile in London said on Friday he could be back in February if voters handed the party a majority in the 480-seat parliament.
Political Analysts say the army and the royalist establishment, which
Thaksin supporters blame for the coup, will try to stymie a PPP-led
government by seeking to disqualify its candidates or tie up the party
in legal challenges.The army and its proxies are expected to push for a
coalition led by the Democrats, the main opposition during Thaksin's
five years in power.
Coup maker General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, now deputy prime minister in the interim government he appointed after the September 2006 coup, urged Thais to vote for "good people and those who are loyal" to the monarchy.
Rival groups, the pro and anti-Thaksin camps have said they will take to the streets if they observe the other side has unfairly gained an upper hand in Sunday's polls. Corruptible practice in Vote buying is rampant in Thai elections.
Nation newspaper reported on Sunday authorities were investigating nearly 160
cases of alleged vote fraud.Major street protests may surge another
military coup as intellectual propound. Political unstability and
uncertainty has worried the country's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who
inspired the soldiers,police to use their spiritual "strength" to pull
the nation out of its political mess. Last year's coup is the
eighteenth in seventy five years of on-off democracy failed to dilute
powers of Thaksin, an ethnic Chinese telecoms billionaire who won
landslides in 2001 and 2005 on the back of cheap healthcare and
handouts to farmers.
Election Commission Secretary General Suthipol Thaveechaikarn said about 32.08 million Thais, or 70.27 per cent of eligible voters, cast ballots.The parliament has a total of 480 seats in the Lower House:
People Power party (PPP) 232 seats
Democrat party 165
Chart Thai 37
Puea Pandin 25
Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana 9
Machimatipataya 7
Pracharaj 5
20:56 Dec 24, 2007
Suan Dusit exit poll, the PPP won 256 of the 480 contested seats, with
the Democrats coming in second with 162 seats. But another poll
conducted by ABAC had the PPP with 202 seats and Democrats with 146,
and several of the medium-sized parties with more than 40 seats. Two
main rivals in Sunday's polls were the People Power Party (PPP), PPP is
headed by Samak Sundaravej, 72, a veteran Thai politician with a
right-wing past who has dubbed himself a "nominee" for Thaksin and
whose main platform has been to bring Thaksin Shinawatra back to
Thailand and the Democrat Party, the main opposition party Democrat
Party is led by Abhisit, 43, an Oxford-educated liberal politician who
has campaigned on his clean record .
Last year's coup which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra some 45 million Thais are eligible to cast their ballots,Voting at 85,000 polling stations nationwide opened at 8 am and closed at 3 pm. today on Sunday, 23 December 2007, with unofficial results expected by midnight.Very few expect the country's third election in two years will solve the country's problems. People Power Party (PPP), a political outfit for supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,was ousted in a
bloodless fifteen months ago.
Thaksin would return from self-exile in London said on Friday he could be back in February if voters handed the party a majority in the 480-seat parliament.
Political Analysts say the army and the royalist establishment, which
Thaksin supporters blame for the coup, will try to stymie a PPP-led
government by seeking to disqualify its candidates or tie up the party
in legal challenges.The army and its proxies are expected to push for a
coalition led by the Democrats, the main opposition during Thaksin's
five years in power.
Coup maker General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, now deputy prime minister in the interim government he appointed after the September 2006 coup, urged Thais to vote for "good people and those who are loyal" to the monarchy.
Rival groups, the pro and anti-Thaksin camps have said they will take to the streets if they observe the other side has unfairly gained an upper hand in Sunday's polls. Corruptible practice in Vote buying is rampant in Thai elections.
Nation newspaper reported on Sunday authorities were investigating nearly 160
cases of alleged vote fraud.Major street protests may surge another
military coup as intellectual propound. Political unstability and
uncertainty has worried the country's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who
inspired the soldiers,police to use their spiritual "strength" to pull
the nation out of its political mess. Last year's coup is the
eighteenth in seventy five years of on-off democracy failed to dilute
powers of Thaksin, an ethnic Chinese telecoms billionaire who won
landslides in 2001 and 2005 on the back of cheap healthcare and
handouts to farmers.
Ethical intolerance, four Church ransacked .
world-news, attacked, churches
Naresh kumar sagar
Dec 27 (PTI) Eleven churches and prayer
houses were ransacked and torched by suspected saffron activists in
several areas of Kandhamal district in Orissa in the early hours today.
Seven churches and prayer houses were attacked and set afire in
Gandapadar, Badahapanga, Bhandarapada, Pisupadar, Masapadar, Minia and
Adigara under Phulbani sadar police station area, police said.
Rev Basant Diggal alleged that he was assaulted and his motorcycle
damaged by a group of miscreants in Minia area where vandals went on
rampage causing damage to another church.
Similar incidents of ransacking and burning of three more churches
and prayer houses took place in Bakingia, Tiangia and Kotaguda, while
miscreants triggered a minor blast at another place of worship, police
said.
Curfew was relaxed since last night till 9 am today in four towns
of Baliguda, Daringibadi, Brahmanigaon and Phulbani to enable people to
buy essential goods and proceed to work places, District Collector
Bhabagrahi Mohapatra said. PTI
“In the stable at Bethlehem, Heaven and Earth meet. Heaven has come
down to Earth”, nature itself goes forth towards a second creation, now
it is up to men to set forth towards that “stable”, to “touch the heart
of God” and “make room for Him” in their lives. This represents for us
now, and for always, the night of the incarnation, as it was evoked by
Benedict XVI in the long midnight mass celebrated in a St Peter’s
Basilica resplendently lit, its altar adorned with red flowers.
But in India at
Phulbani-Bhubaneswar, Dec 25-: Orissa. Four churches ransacked.-
Anti convert Leader Manananda Saraswati attacked.
A day of communal rallies and demonstrations in the Kandhamal
district,Orissa India that experience two simultaneous bandhs called by
two different organisations. The tribals owing allegiance to Kui Samaj
had earlier given the call for a 36 hour bandh starting from Christmas
morning.
Four churches were damaged in tribal dominated Kandhamal district of Orissa, India by angry mob in the district.
Curfew was imposed in Brahmanigaon, Baliguda, Daringibadi and
Phulbani areas in Kandhamal district of Orissa on Tuesday evening as
communal clashes of caste and religious.
At least 12 vehicles, including two police jeeps, today during a VHP
sponsored four-hour Orissa bandh which evoked partial response,
dampening Christmas festivities.
Violence broke out at other towns of Kandhamal district as saffron
activists ransacked three churches in Baliguda area disrupting
Christmas festivities with bandh supporters picketing outside chapels,
police said.
Trains were delayed and vehicular movement hit as bandh supporters
blocked railway tracks and highways in Cuttack, Balasore, Bhubaneswar
and Bhadrak.
Market,shops and business centres remained open and road traffic was normal in most places.
Right wing activists of VHP and Bajrang Dal blocked traffic in many
areas moved in groups to enforce the bandh called in protest against
the attack on anti-conversion leader Laxmanananda Saraswati yesterday,
police said.
Thirteen people were taken into custody in connection with the
attack on Saraswati, Inspector General of Police (special armed police)
Pradeep Kapur said.
The VHP supporters allegedly damaged the churches at Barakhama, Baliguda, Pabingia and Masripada.
The houses of Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera were also
targeted and a police station at Tikabali was burnt. Twenty persons
were injured in different incidents of violence since Monday night,
sources said.
Seven others were detained in connection with a clash between two
groups over erection of a decorated arch at Brahmani village of
Daringbadi area, also in Kandhamal district, that had left eight people
injured.
Naresh kumar sagar
Dec 27 (PTI) Eleven churches and prayer
houses were ransacked and torched by suspected saffron activists in
several areas of Kandhamal district in Orissa in the early hours today.
Seven churches and prayer houses were attacked and set afire in
Gandapadar, Badahapanga, Bhandarapada, Pisupadar, Masapadar, Minia and
Adigara under Phulbani sadar police station area, police said.
Rev Basant Diggal alleged that he was assaulted and his motorcycle
damaged by a group of miscreants in Minia area where vandals went on
rampage causing damage to another church.
Similar incidents of ransacking and burning of three more churches
and prayer houses took place in Bakingia, Tiangia and Kotaguda, while
miscreants triggered a minor blast at another place of worship, police
said.
Curfew was relaxed since last night till 9 am today in four towns
of Baliguda, Daringibadi, Brahmanigaon and Phulbani to enable people to
buy essential goods and proceed to work places, District Collector
Bhabagrahi Mohapatra said. PTI
“In the stable at Bethlehem, Heaven and Earth meet. Heaven has come
down to Earth”, nature itself goes forth towards a second creation, now
it is up to men to set forth towards that “stable”, to “touch the heart
of God” and “make room for Him” in their lives. This represents for us
now, and for always, the night of the incarnation, as it was evoked by
Benedict XVI in the long midnight mass celebrated in a St Peter’s
Basilica resplendently lit, its altar adorned with red flowers.
But in India at
Phulbani-Bhubaneswar, Dec 25-: Orissa. Four churches ransacked.-
Anti convert Leader Manananda Saraswati attacked.
A day of communal rallies and demonstrations in the Kandhamal
district,Orissa India that experience two simultaneous bandhs called by
two different organisations. The tribals owing allegiance to Kui Samaj
had earlier given the call for a 36 hour bandh starting from Christmas
morning.
Four churches were damaged in tribal dominated Kandhamal district of Orissa, India by angry mob in the district.
Curfew was imposed in Brahmanigaon, Baliguda, Daringibadi and
Phulbani areas in Kandhamal district of Orissa on Tuesday evening as
communal clashes of caste and religious.
At least 12 vehicles, including two police jeeps, today during a VHP
sponsored four-hour Orissa bandh which evoked partial response,
dampening Christmas festivities.
Violence broke out at other towns of Kandhamal district as saffron
activists ransacked three churches in Baliguda area disrupting
Christmas festivities with bandh supporters picketing outside chapels,
police said.
Trains were delayed and vehicular movement hit as bandh supporters
blocked railway tracks and highways in Cuttack, Balasore, Bhubaneswar
and Bhadrak.
Market,shops and business centres remained open and road traffic was normal in most places.
Right wing activists of VHP and Bajrang Dal blocked traffic in many
areas moved in groups to enforce the bandh called in protest against
the attack on anti-conversion leader Laxmanananda Saraswati yesterday,
police said.
Thirteen people were taken into custody in connection with the
attack on Saraswati, Inspector General of Police (special armed police)
Pradeep Kapur said.
The VHP supporters allegedly damaged the churches at Barakhama, Baliguda, Pabingia and Masripada.
The houses of Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera were also
targeted and a police station at Tikabali was burnt. Twenty persons
were injured in different incidents of violence since Monday night,
sources said.
Seven others were detained in connection with a clash between two
groups over erection of a decorated arch at Brahmani village of
Daringbadi area, also in Kandhamal district, that had left eight people
injured.
Benazir assassinated in Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi
Chairperson, Pakistan Peoples Party, Ms Benazir Bhutto was killed by gunman with Ak 47, and coupled with bomb blast killing at the spot,thirty persons and several others injured in an attack here outside Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi on Thursday,27 December, as she came out after addressing a public rally at 5.30PM,She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle"s roof and responding to their slogans," he said.
“Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away," he added. Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery. She died about an hour after the attack. At 6:16 p.m., she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto"s party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital..
According to rescue team more than 30 persons were dead in the suicide bomb attack occurred after the public meeting of PPP here at Liaquat Bagh. Earlier, Asif Zardari, husband of Ms Benazir Bhutto informed that she had sustained serious injuries and was given medical treatment at a hospital.Benazir Bhutto addressed a public meeting in
Liaquat Bagh and soon after she went out, a suicide bomb blast occurred outside the venue killing thirty persons including policemen. Body parts of a number of people scattered around after the power blast.Police have described the blast a suicide attack.
Leader of PPP, Farhatullah Babur said sound of a powerful blast was heard when the vehicle of Benazir Bhutto was moving past the gate of the bagh.The rescue team said the blast took lives of more than 30 persons.
Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir Bhutto informed that she had received severe injuries. The police sources also confirmed that Bhutto has sustained critical injuries and shifted to a hospital.Nawaz Sharif, former premier and opposition leader, arrived at the hospital sat silently next to Bhutto"s body. The latest reports said that Benazir Bhutto was killed by fire hitting her neck.
The death of PPP Chairperson agitated the party workers.PML (N)Chief, Mian Nawaz Sharif, condemned strong words the attack on PPP public meeting. He said the PML (N) public meeting scheduled to be held in Rawalpindi had been cancelled in view of the tragic incident.
Death of international leader Benazir has stunned the global Leader their hope the restoration of democracy in Pakistan the nuclear state needed her most at the time of of crisis left the void of her suave personality for the people of Pakistan and leaders of the world.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Ms Bhutto was irreplaceable, and noted she had striven to improve relations between the two nuclear-armed countries.I was deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination," Singh said. “In her death, the subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and
reconciliation in her country."
“Certainly, we condemn the attack on this rally," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey. “It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was “deeply shocked".Benazir Bhutto showed in her words and actions a deep commitment to her country," Miliband said.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi said he was filled with grief and called Ms Bhutto “a woman who chose to fight her battle until the end with a single weapon, the one of dialogue and political debate."
Russian President Vladmir Putin"s envoy on international cooperation against terrorism, expressed fears the assassination would trigger violent repercussions.The already unstable situation in Pakistan will be further exacerbated by this powerful factor," he said.
French President Sarkozy said I condemn this odious act with the greatest severity.Terrorism and violence have no place in the democratic debate and in the combat of ideas and programmes. More than ever it is necessary for the [Pakistani]
legislative elections to… take place in conditions of pluralism,transparency and security.
FREDERICO LOMBARDI,Vatican spokesman said This attack shows how extremely difficult it is to pacify a nation so wrought by violence.We share the sadness of the Pakistani population.
“Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away," he added. Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery. She died about an hour after the attack. At 6:16 p.m., she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto"s party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital..
According to rescue team more than 30 persons were dead in the suicide bomb attack occurred after the public meeting of PPP here at Liaquat Bagh. Earlier, Asif Zardari, husband of Ms Benazir Bhutto informed that she had sustained serious injuries and was given medical treatment at a hospital.Benazir Bhutto addressed a public meeting in
Liaquat Bagh and soon after she went out, a suicide bomb blast occurred outside the venue killing thirty persons including policemen. Body parts of a number of people scattered around after the power blast.Police have described the blast a suicide attack.
Leader of PPP, Farhatullah Babur said sound of a powerful blast was heard when the vehicle of Benazir Bhutto was moving past the gate of the bagh.The rescue team said the blast took lives of more than 30 persons.
Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir Bhutto informed that she had received severe injuries. The police sources also confirmed that Bhutto has sustained critical injuries and shifted to a hospital.Nawaz Sharif, former premier and opposition leader, arrived at the hospital sat silently next to Bhutto"s body. The latest reports said that Benazir Bhutto was killed by fire hitting her neck.
The death of PPP Chairperson agitated the party workers.PML (N)Chief, Mian Nawaz Sharif, condemned strong words the attack on PPP public meeting. He said the PML (N) public meeting scheduled to be held in Rawalpindi had been cancelled in view of the tragic incident.
Death of international leader Benazir has stunned the global Leader their hope the restoration of democracy in Pakistan the nuclear state needed her most at the time of of crisis left the void of her suave personality for the people of Pakistan and leaders of the world.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Ms Bhutto was irreplaceable, and noted she had striven to improve relations between the two nuclear-armed countries.I was deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination," Singh said. “In her death, the subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and
reconciliation in her country."
“Certainly, we condemn the attack on this rally," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey. “It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was “deeply shocked".Benazir Bhutto showed in her words and actions a deep commitment to her country," Miliband said.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi said he was filled with grief and called Ms Bhutto “a woman who chose to fight her battle until the end with a single weapon, the one of dialogue and political debate."
Russian President Vladmir Putin"s envoy on international cooperation against terrorism, expressed fears the assassination would trigger violent repercussions.The already unstable situation in Pakistan will be further exacerbated by this powerful factor," he said.
French President Sarkozy said I condemn this odious act with the greatest severity.Terrorism and violence have no place in the democratic debate and in the combat of ideas and programmes. More than ever it is necessary for the [Pakistani]
legislative elections to… take place in conditions of pluralism,transparency and security.
FREDERICO LOMBARDI,Vatican spokesman said This attack shows how extremely difficult it is to pacify a nation so wrought by violence.We share the sadness of the Pakistani population.
Violence sparks 10 Killed ,65 injured 150 vehicles torched
Red alert has been sounded,shoot at order at sight in Pakistan as violence continues unabated at various cities and towns.Police opened fire on protesters in the southern city of Hyderabad, wounding five.
A blast at an election meeting in nation's northwest killed three
people, including a candidate for a party that supports President
Musharraf.
Army soldiers patrolled the streets of the southern cities of Hyderabad and Karachi on Friday in an effort to quell violence.The violence has killed at least 23 people, said Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram, home secretary for Sindh province.In Hyderabad, soldiers patrolled the streets and refused to let people out of their houses, witnesses said. Troops were also seen in Karachi. Mohtaram confirmed that the provincial government requested the army's help ``to control the law and order situation'' in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawab Shah and Ghotki.
Earlier, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said troops were put on alert in four cities in Sindh as a precaution but were not yet patrolling the streets.
The nation was at boiling point after the former prime minister was murdered less than two weeks from a crucial election. Violent mobs burned 10 railway stations and several trains across Ms Bhutto's Sindh province, forcing the suspension of all train services between Karachi and the Punjab.
Thousands of Bhutto party supporters rallied in the northwestern city of Peshawar then ransacked the office of the main pro-Musharraf party.
TV reports suggest that grieving supporters of Bhutto hit the streets
in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta on Friday, blocking roads and vandalising vehicles. The supporters of Bhutto hit the streets in Karachi, Peshawar,Islamabad,Sindh,Punjab province on Friday, blocking roads and vandalising vehicles.
Reports further say that at some places, the angry protestors also pelted stones at the police personnel. The death of Benazir Bhutto engulfed Karachi in unprecedented violence that claimed the ten lives and led to the torching of more than 150 vehicles, burning of banks, petrol pumps, a hospital, houses and factories.
The police, who along with the Rangers were largely missing from most of the affected areas during the first four hours of the turmoil, claimed that they had rounded up more than 30 people involved in the violence.
Observers said that the law-enforcement agencies provided ample opportunity to miscreants to plunder and damage public property. Also, it was noted that most of the violence was carried out by criminal elements who might not have any affiliation with political parties.
“The pattern of ransacking and looting shows the involvement of criminal elements,” said an observer familiar with security issues. He said that the absence of law-enforcement agencies emboldened the criminal elements.
As a result, one of the posh areas of the city Zamzama was ransacked by unidentified people who looted showrooms, shops and boutiques. Within minutes of the breaking of the news of the death of PPP chairperson, enraged crowds went on the rampage, indiscriminately burning cars, motorcycles, fire tenders and banks, plunging the whole city into a state of lawlessness and anarchy that was seldom seen before.
Unidentified men killed three persons in Sohrab Goth, two at Lasbella Chowk, one each near the Shamama Shopping Center close to Safari Park, near the RCD Highway, in Gulshan-i-Hadeed, in Malir and Ranchore Lane.
On the whole, more than 65 persons were injured in firing by the miscreants.
Gun toting people came out on the roads and got the shops closed. Indiscriminate firing frightened the people who started rushing towards their homes. This led to massive traffic jams throughout the city.
People got stranded on roads for hours altogether and could hardly reach their homes.
Two banks and one hotel were looted in Block-7, Gulistan-i-Jauhar. After committing the offence, the accused torched the banks and fled.
An angry mob came out of the Pehlwan Goth area and damaged the police post situated near the Rabia City, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Near the Civic Center, about 20 vehicles were torched. In Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block-3, a house No-309/1 was burnt.
In several areas, residents said that some persons riding on motorcycles and cars came and threatened them to switch off their lights or face the consequences. People living near the Disco Bakery, Banaras and Patel Para spoke about visits by such people.
A building was torched near Ghas Mandi, a shop was burnt in Napier and petrol pumps in Sachal, Sohrab Goth, Jamshed Town and Gulshan Town.
Also burnt was one wagon in Azeempura, one car in Darakhshan, and forty vehicles packed in the traffic mess near the Punjab Chowrangi, Clifton.
In Orangi Town, seven vehicles were torched, in Malir two vehicles were burnt, in Liaquatabad miscreants torched scores of cars, buses, mini-buses, motorcycles, rickshaws parked from Essa Nagri to Baloch Hotel.
An Edhi spokesman said that more than 30 vehicles were damaged in various parts of the city and two ambulances were hijacked from Lyari. In a separate incident in Lyari, angry protesters damaged the Chakiwara, Kalakot and Baghdadi police stations, burnt one petrol pump, torched tires on the streets and carried out aerial firing.
They also burnt a factory in Lyari and there were reports that some workers were present in the factory when it was put on fire. Another factory was torched in Korangi.
Chief Fire Officer Ehtesham said that four fire stations at Civic Center, Landhi, Lyari and Korangi were damaged when miscreants sprayed bullets on it and three fire tenders were smashed.
The Keamari Town Nazim office was torched, miscreants attacked the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station, damaged the Mauripur Traffic Section
and the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Traffic Section.
A Steel Mills bus was torched in Gulshan-i-Hadeed.
Police officials were injured in New Town and Gulistan-i-Jauhar police limits.
A group of miscreants came from Kala Pull side and attacked the National Hospital and torched 11 vehicles parked in the parking lot and later attacked the hospital, looted valuables and cash and torched the hospital building.
Six injured were shifted to Civil Hospital, Karachi, including Imran from Baldia, Faizan from Al-Mumtaz Society while the others remained unidentified.
There were also reports of armed gangs looting houses. All petrol pumps of the city were closed and several vehicles were parked on roadsides because of shortage of fuel and gas. Some other areas where tires were burnt were Lyari, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Malir, Sohrab Goth, Gulshan, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Malir, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Peerabad, Landhi, Korangi and Bin Qasim.
Protestors put the Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station on fire. Four Chinese engineers got stranded in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area and sought refuge at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station. They were later safely evacuated from there.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of employees of various companies, corporate houses and shops were stranded when public transport disappeared from the city’s main arteries. These people were seen walking on roads for hours to reach their homes. On the other hand, thousands of employees were forced to stay back at their offices or took refuge with their friends and relatives.
When contacted, the Capital City Police Officer, Karachi, Azhar Ali
Farooqi, claimed that as soon as he heard about the blast, he ordered
high alert in the city and directed the Karachi police to carry out
maximum patrolling in their respective towns.
He also directed the DIGs of three zones, SPs and SPOs of various
towns of the city to remain alert. CCPO Farooqi added that late
Thursday night, the situation was under control and the police had
rounded up more than 30 criminals involved in creating violence and
damaging public and private property.
He said eight were held from the New Town police limits, when
miscreants were robbing a private bank. The SHO New Town saved the bank
but was injured in firing. Another ASI was injured in Gulistan-i-Jauhar
while resisting the law breakers.
CCPO added that the Reserve Police were also on alert and Rangers
were also working with the police. He directed maximum patrolling in
the city.Reports further say that at some places, the angry protestors also pelted stones at the police personnel.
PPP workers come on to street violence erupts in all provinces of
Pakistan as reported Tv channels.Angry supporters killed ten peoples as
violence escalates in all the provinces of Pakistan.
In Karachi,Peshawar,Multan,Islamabad, continues,trains,railways
stations,banks and vehicals are being destroyed by frenzy supporters of
Benazir Peoples Party of Pakistan.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=11924
A blast at an election meeting in nation's northwest killed three
people, including a candidate for a party that supports President
Musharraf.
Army soldiers patrolled the streets of the southern cities of Hyderabad and Karachi on Friday in an effort to quell violence.The violence has killed at least 23 people, said Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram, home secretary for Sindh province.In Hyderabad, soldiers patrolled the streets and refused to let people out of their houses, witnesses said. Troops were also seen in Karachi. Mohtaram confirmed that the provincial government requested the army's help ``to control the law and order situation'' in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawab Shah and Ghotki.
Earlier, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said troops were put on alert in four cities in Sindh as a precaution but were not yet patrolling the streets.
The nation was at boiling point after the former prime minister was murdered less than two weeks from a crucial election. Violent mobs burned 10 railway stations and several trains across Ms Bhutto's Sindh province, forcing the suspension of all train services between Karachi and the Punjab.
Thousands of Bhutto party supporters rallied in the northwestern city of Peshawar then ransacked the office of the main pro-Musharraf party.
TV reports suggest that grieving supporters of Bhutto hit the streets
in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta on Friday, blocking roads and vandalising vehicles. The supporters of Bhutto hit the streets in Karachi, Peshawar,Islamabad,Sindh,Punjab province on Friday, blocking roads and vandalising vehicles.
Reports further say that at some places, the angry protestors also pelted stones at the police personnel. The death of Benazir Bhutto engulfed Karachi in unprecedented violence that claimed the ten lives and led to the torching of more than 150 vehicles, burning of banks, petrol pumps, a hospital, houses and factories.
The police, who along with the Rangers were largely missing from most of the affected areas during the first four hours of the turmoil, claimed that they had rounded up more than 30 people involved in the violence.
Observers said that the law-enforcement agencies provided ample opportunity to miscreants to plunder and damage public property. Also, it was noted that most of the violence was carried out by criminal elements who might not have any affiliation with political parties.
“The pattern of ransacking and looting shows the involvement of criminal elements,” said an observer familiar with security issues. He said that the absence of law-enforcement agencies emboldened the criminal elements.
As a result, one of the posh areas of the city Zamzama was ransacked by unidentified people who looted showrooms, shops and boutiques. Within minutes of the breaking of the news of the death of PPP chairperson, enraged crowds went on the rampage, indiscriminately burning cars, motorcycles, fire tenders and banks, plunging the whole city into a state of lawlessness and anarchy that was seldom seen before.
Unidentified men killed three persons in Sohrab Goth, two at Lasbella Chowk, one each near the Shamama Shopping Center close to Safari Park, near the RCD Highway, in Gulshan-i-Hadeed, in Malir and Ranchore Lane.
On the whole, more than 65 persons were injured in firing by the miscreants.
Gun toting people came out on the roads and got the shops closed. Indiscriminate firing frightened the people who started rushing towards their homes. This led to massive traffic jams throughout the city.
People got stranded on roads for hours altogether and could hardly reach their homes.
Two banks and one hotel were looted in Block-7, Gulistan-i-Jauhar. After committing the offence, the accused torched the banks and fled.
An angry mob came out of the Pehlwan Goth area and damaged the police post situated near the Rabia City, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Near the Civic Center, about 20 vehicles were torched. In Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block-3, a house No-309/1 was burnt.
In several areas, residents said that some persons riding on motorcycles and cars came and threatened them to switch off their lights or face the consequences. People living near the Disco Bakery, Banaras and Patel Para spoke about visits by such people.
A building was torched near Ghas Mandi, a shop was burnt in Napier and petrol pumps in Sachal, Sohrab Goth, Jamshed Town and Gulshan Town.
Also burnt was one wagon in Azeempura, one car in Darakhshan, and forty vehicles packed in the traffic mess near the Punjab Chowrangi, Clifton.
In Orangi Town, seven vehicles were torched, in Malir two vehicles were burnt, in Liaquatabad miscreants torched scores of cars, buses, mini-buses, motorcycles, rickshaws parked from Essa Nagri to Baloch Hotel.
An Edhi spokesman said that more than 30 vehicles were damaged in various parts of the city and two ambulances were hijacked from Lyari. In a separate incident in Lyari, angry protesters damaged the Chakiwara, Kalakot and Baghdadi police stations, burnt one petrol pump, torched tires on the streets and carried out aerial firing.
They also burnt a factory in Lyari and there were reports that some workers were present in the factory when it was put on fire. Another factory was torched in Korangi.
Chief Fire Officer Ehtesham said that four fire stations at Civic Center, Landhi, Lyari and Korangi were damaged when miscreants sprayed bullets on it and three fire tenders were smashed.
The Keamari Town Nazim office was torched, miscreants attacked the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station, damaged the Mauripur Traffic Section
and the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Traffic Section.
A Steel Mills bus was torched in Gulshan-i-Hadeed.
Police officials were injured in New Town and Gulistan-i-Jauhar police limits.
A group of miscreants came from Kala Pull side and attacked the National Hospital and torched 11 vehicles parked in the parking lot and later attacked the hospital, looted valuables and cash and torched the hospital building.
Six injured were shifted to Civil Hospital, Karachi, including Imran from Baldia, Faizan from Al-Mumtaz Society while the others remained unidentified.
There were also reports of armed gangs looting houses. All petrol pumps of the city were closed and several vehicles were parked on roadsides because of shortage of fuel and gas. Some other areas where tires were burnt were Lyari, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Malir, Sohrab Goth, Gulshan, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Malir, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Peerabad, Landhi, Korangi and Bin Qasim.
Protestors put the Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station on fire. Four Chinese engineers got stranded in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area and sought refuge at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station. They were later safely evacuated from there.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of employees of various companies, corporate houses and shops were stranded when public transport disappeared from the city’s main arteries. These people were seen walking on roads for hours to reach their homes. On the other hand, thousands of employees were forced to stay back at their offices or took refuge with their friends and relatives.
When contacted, the Capital City Police Officer, Karachi, Azhar Ali
Farooqi, claimed that as soon as he heard about the blast, he ordered
high alert in the city and directed the Karachi police to carry out
maximum patrolling in their respective towns.
He also directed the DIGs of three zones, SPs and SPOs of various
towns of the city to remain alert. CCPO Farooqi added that late
Thursday night, the situation was under control and the police had
rounded up more than 30 criminals involved in creating violence and
damaging public and private property.
He said eight were held from the New Town police limits, when
miscreants were robbing a private bank. The SHO New Town saved the bank
but was injured in firing. Another ASI was injured in Gulistan-i-Jauhar
while resisting the law breakers.
CCPO added that the Reserve Police were also on alert and Rangers
were also working with the police. He directed maximum patrolling in
the city.Reports further say that at some places, the angry protestors also pelted stones at the police personnel.
PPP workers come on to street violence erupts in all provinces of
Pakistan as reported Tv channels.Angry supporters killed ten peoples as
violence escalates in all the provinces of Pakistan.
In Karachi,Peshawar,Multan,Islamabad, continues,trains,railways
stations,banks and vehicals are being destroyed by frenzy supporters of
Benazir Peoples Party of Pakistan.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=11924
Benazir died of head inury ducking in her car
Benazir Bhutto has not died on any bullets of AK47 or sharpen from the
bomb blast but she has died of head injury as she ducked as the bomb or
the bullets were fired at her car.
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said all bullet shots
missed her as she was on the sunroof of her vehicle waving, which was
bulletproof and bombproof. Javed also denied that shrapnel caused her
death, saying Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the
vehicle, as bomb shock waves from the blast knocked her head to mettle
attached to the sunroof, fracturing her right ear head skull.
"The injury over Bhutto's right ear had irregular edges. If there
were any bullet injuries, it would have been a little opening and wide
exit, but the cardiac arrest was due to brain injury," the doctor said.
An X-ray also showed no signs of bullet injuries. Doctors tried to
resuscitate Benazir and performed an open heart massage before
declaring her dead at 6:16 pm, he said
The
interior ministry said at a press conference that video of Ms Bhutto's
last moments and an examination by doctors had shown that Ms Bhutto
died apparently accidentally, a suicide bomb blast went off at her
political rally in Rawalpindi last night, killing around 20 people. The
post mortem examination had not been carried out at the request of Ms
Bhutto's husband.
Brigadier Javed Cheema, a ministry spokesman, said Ms Bhutto had died
from a head wound after smashing against the sunroof’s lever as she
tried to shelter inside her car. “There is no evidence of any foreign
element in her body," Brigadier Cheema said. “No bullet hit her, nor
any splinters hit her. Unfortunately, it was to be that way.
"I wish she had not come out of the roof top of her vehicle."
Brigadier Cheema insisted the Government had done everything in its
power to protect Ms Bhutto. He said everybody at the rally in
Rawalpindi had been searched, Ms Bhutto's rostrum had been bulletproof,
and "all possible security arrangements were made within the resources
of the Government of Pakistan".
He added: "It pains me, I say with a lot of anguish, that we wish she had not come out of that vehicle to wave to the people."
Posted under:
* World
* Benazir death
bomb blast but she has died of head injury as she ducked as the bomb or
the bullets were fired at her car.
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said all bullet shots
missed her as she was on the sunroof of her vehicle waving, which was
bulletproof and bombproof. Javed also denied that shrapnel caused her
death, saying Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the
vehicle, as bomb shock waves from the blast knocked her head to mettle
attached to the sunroof, fracturing her right ear head skull.
"The injury over Bhutto's right ear had irregular edges. If there
were any bullet injuries, it would have been a little opening and wide
exit, but the cardiac arrest was due to brain injury," the doctor said.
An X-ray also showed no signs of bullet injuries. Doctors tried to
resuscitate Benazir and performed an open heart massage before
declaring her dead at 6:16 pm, he said
The
interior ministry said at a press conference that video of Ms Bhutto's
last moments and an examination by doctors had shown that Ms Bhutto
died apparently accidentally, a suicide bomb blast went off at her
political rally in Rawalpindi last night, killing around 20 people. The
post mortem examination had not been carried out at the request of Ms
Bhutto's husband.
Brigadier Javed Cheema, a ministry spokesman, said Ms Bhutto had died
from a head wound after smashing against the sunroof’s lever as she
tried to shelter inside her car. “There is no evidence of any foreign
element in her body," Brigadier Cheema said. “No bullet hit her, nor
any splinters hit her. Unfortunately, it was to be that way.
"I wish she had not come out of the roof top of her vehicle."
Brigadier Cheema insisted the Government had done everything in its
power to protect Ms Bhutto. He said everybody at the rally in
Rawalpindi had been searched, Ms Bhutto's rostrum had been bulletproof,
and "all possible security arrangements were made within the resources
of the Government of Pakistan".
He added: "It pains me, I say with a lot of anguish, that we wish she had not come out of that vehicle to wave to the people."
Posted under:
* World
* Benazir death
Pakistan's Leader Nawaz Sharif at risk of attack
Pakistan's interior ministry said Friday that several politicians under threat of attack following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.Nawaz Shariff the Opposition leader is on the list of threats of fundamentalist. “There are other people who are under threat and whenever we receive information we pass it on to the concerned people,” ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told a news conference.
Asked to give examples, he named Sharif as well as Maulana Fazlur Rehman and former ministers Sheikh Rashid and Aftab Sherpao
Asked to give examples, he named Sharif as well as Maulana Fazlur Rehman and former ministers Sheikh Rashid and Aftab Sherpao
Emotional adieu to Benazir
The body of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrived in Naudero before dawn Friday for burial in the family's graveyard, party officials said.
The plane landed in Sukkur from where the body and members of her family were flown by helicopter to Naudero, her spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. Her husband Asif Zardari, their three children and some senior leaders of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) travelled on the plane.
Thousands of mourners wept and beat their heads and chests as the body of Benazir Bhutto, slain premier, left her ancestral home at the start of the funeral procession on Friday.
Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied the closed coffin draped with the green, red and black tricolour of her Pakistan People's Party.Eternal journey began the 7-km journey by ambulance to the family mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, a village set among paddy fields in the southern province of Sindh.
Anti-Musharraf and anti-US slogans were heard from the peoples lining the road and standing on rooftops. The protesters chanted defiance: “No matter how many Bhuttos you will kill, a Bhutto will emerge from each house.”
Benazir laid to rest for peace with her father's near Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister, who lies alongside his sons Murtaza and Shahnawaz in the white-domed mausoleum.
Benazir Bhutto ordered to be built this mausoleum.
The plane landed in Sukkur from where the body and members of her family were flown by helicopter to Naudero, her spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. Her husband Asif Zardari, their three children and some senior leaders of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) travelled on the plane.
Thousands of mourners wept and beat their heads and chests as the body of Benazir Bhutto, slain premier, left her ancestral home at the start of the funeral procession on Friday.
Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied the closed coffin draped with the green, red and black tricolour of her Pakistan People's Party.Eternal journey began the 7-km journey by ambulance to the family mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, a village set among paddy fields in the southern province of Sindh.
Anti-Musharraf and anti-US slogans were heard from the peoples lining the road and standing on rooftops. The protesters chanted defiance: “No matter how many Bhuttos you will kill, a Bhutto will emerge from each house.”
Benazir laid to rest for peace with her father's near Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister, who lies alongside his sons Murtaza and Shahnawaz in the white-domed mausoleum.
Benazir Bhutto ordered to be built this mausoleum.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
MIDNIGHT MASS
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Vatican Basilica
Saturday, 24 December 2005
"The Lord said to me: You are my son; this day I have begotten you". With these words of the second Psalm, the Church begins the Vigil Mass of Christmas, at which we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ our Redeemer in a stable in Bethlehem. This Psalm was once a part of the coronation rite of the kings of Judah. The People of Israel, in virtue of its election, considered itself in a special way a son of God, adopted by God. Just as the king was the personification of the people, his enthronement was experienced as a solemn act of adoption by God, whereby the King was in some way taken up into the very mystery of God. At Bethlehem night, these words, which were really more an expression of hope than a present reality, took on new and unexpected meaning. The Child lying in the manger is truly God’s Son. God is not eternal solitude but rather a circle of love and mutual self-giving. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
But there is more: in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God himself, God from God, became man. To him the Father says: "You are my son". God’s everlasting "today" has come down into the fleeting today of the world and lifted our momentary today into God’s eternal today. God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenceless child, so that we can love him. God is so good that he can give up his divine splendour and come down to a stable, so that we might find him, so that his goodness might touch us, give itself to us and continue to work through us. This is Christmas: "You are my son, this day I have begotten you". God has become one of us, so that we can be with him and become like him. As a sign, he chose the Child lying in the manger: this is how God is. This is how we come to know him. And on every child shines something of the splendour of that "today", of that closeness of God which we ought to love and to which we must yield – it shines on every child, even on those still unborn.
Let us listen to a second phrase from the liturgy of this holy Night, one taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: "Upon the people who walked in darkness a great light has shone" (Is 9:1). The word "light" pervades the entire liturgy of tonight’s Mass. It is found again in the passage drawn from Saint Paul’s letter to Titus: "The grace of God has appeared" (2:11). The expression "has appeared", in the original Greek says the same thing that was expressed in Hebrew by the words "a light has shone": this "apparition" – this "epiphany" – is the breaking of God’s light upon a world full of darkness and unsolved problems. The Gospel then relates that the glory of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and "shone around them" (Lk 2:9). Wherever God’s glory appears, light spreads throughout the world. Saint John tells us that "God is light and in him is no darkness" (1 Jn 1:5). The light is a source of life.
But first, light means knowledge; it means truth, as contrasted with the darkness of falsehood and ignorance. Light gives us life, it shows us the way. But light, as a source of heat, also means love. Where there is love, light shines forth in the world; where there is hatred, the world remains in darkness. In the stable of Bethlehem there appeared the great light which the world awaits. In that Child lying in the stable, God has shown his glory – the glory of love, which gives itself away, stripping itself of all grandeur in order to guide us along the way of love. The light of Bethlehem has never been extinguished. In every age it has touched men and women, "it has shone around them". Wherever people put their faith in that Child, charity also sprang up – charity towards others, loving concern for the weak and the suffering, the grace of forgiveness. From Bethlehem a stream of light, love and truth spreads through the centuries. If we look to the Saints – from Paul and Augustine to Francis and Dominic, from Francis Xavier and Teresa of Avila to Mother Teresa of Calcutta – we see this flood of goodness, this path of light kindled ever anew by the mystery of Bethlehem, by that God who became a Child. In that Child, God countered the violence of this world with his own goodness. He calls us to follow that Child.
Along with the Christmas tree, our Austrian friends have also brought us a small flame lit in Bethlehem, as if to say that the true mystery of Christmas is the inner brightness radiating from this Child. May that inner brightness spread to us, and kindle in our hearts the flame of God’s goodness; may all of us, by our love, bring light to the world! Let us keep this light-giving flame, lit in faith, from being extinguished by the cold winds of our time! Let us guard it faithfully and give it to others! On this night, when we look towards Bethlehem, let us pray in a special way for the birthplace of our Redeemer and for the men and women who live and suffer there. We wish to pray for peace in the Holy Land: Look, O Lord, upon this corner of the earth, your Homeland, which is so very dear to you! Let your light shine upon it! Let it know peace!
The word "peace" brings us to a third key to the liturgy of this holy Night. The Child foretold by Isaiah is called "Prince of Peace". His kingdom is said to be one "of endless peace". The shepherds in the Gospel hear the glad tidings: "Glory to God in the highest" and "on earth, peace...". At one time we used to say: "to men of good will". Nowadays we say "to those whom God loves". What does this change mean? Is good will no longer important? We would do better to ask: who are those whom God loves, and why does he love them? Does God have favourites? Does he love only certain people, while abandoning the others to themselves? The Gospel answers these questions by pointing to some particular people whom God loves. There are individuals, like Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna. But there are also two groups of people: the shepherds and the Wise Men from the East, the "Magi". Tonight let us look at the shepherds. What kind of people were they? In the world of their time, shepherds were looked down upon; they were considered untrustworthy and not admitted as witnesses in court. But really, who were they? To be sure, they were not great saints, if by that word we mean people of heroic virtue. They were simple souls. The Gospel sheds light on one feature which later on, in the words of Jesus, would take on particular importance: they were people who were watchful. This was chiefly true in a superficial way: they kept watch over their flocks by night. But it was also true in a deeper way: they were ready to receive God’s Word through the Angel's proclamation. Their life was not closed in on itself; their hearts were open. In some way, deep down, they were waiting for something; they were waiting for God. Their watchfulness was a kind of readiness – a readiness to listen and to set out. They were waiting for a light which would show them the way. That is what is important for God. He loves everyone, because everyone is his creature. But some persons have closed their hearts; there is no door by which his love can enter. They think that they do not need God, nor do they want him. Other persons, who, from a moral standpoint, are perhaps no less wretched and sinful, at least experience a certain remorse. They are waiting for God. They realize that they need his goodness, even if they have no clear idea of what this means. Into their expectant hearts God’s light can enter, and with it, his peace. God seeks persons who can be vessels and heralds of his peace. Let us pray that he will not find our hearts closed. Let us strive to be active heralds of his peace – in the world of today.
Among Christians, the word "peace" has taken on a very particular meaning: it has become a word to designate communion in the Eucharist. There Christ’s peace is present. In all the places where the Eucharist is celebrated, a great network of peace spreads through the world. The communities gathered around the Eucharist make up a kingdom of peace as wide as the world itself. When we celebrate the Eucharist we find ourselves in Bethlehem, in the "house of bread". Christ gives himself to us and, in doing so, gives us his peace. He gives it to us so that we can carry the light of peace within and give it to others. He gives it to us so that we can become peacemakers and builders of peace in the world. And so we pray: Lord, fulfil your promise! Where there is conflict, give birth to peace! Where there is hatred, make love spring up! Where darkness prevails, let light shine! Make us heralds of your peace! Amen.
Vatican Basilica
Saturday, 24 December 2005
"The Lord said to me: You are my son; this day I have begotten you". With these words of the second Psalm, the Church begins the Vigil Mass of Christmas, at which we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ our Redeemer in a stable in Bethlehem. This Psalm was once a part of the coronation rite of the kings of Judah. The People of Israel, in virtue of its election, considered itself in a special way a son of God, adopted by God. Just as the king was the personification of the people, his enthronement was experienced as a solemn act of adoption by God, whereby the King was in some way taken up into the very mystery of God. At Bethlehem night, these words, which were really more an expression of hope than a present reality, took on new and unexpected meaning. The Child lying in the manger is truly God’s Son. God is not eternal solitude but rather a circle of love and mutual self-giving. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
But there is more: in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God himself, God from God, became man. To him the Father says: "You are my son". God’s everlasting "today" has come down into the fleeting today of the world and lifted our momentary today into God’s eternal today. God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenceless child, so that we can love him. God is so good that he can give up his divine splendour and come down to a stable, so that we might find him, so that his goodness might touch us, give itself to us and continue to work through us. This is Christmas: "You are my son, this day I have begotten you". God has become one of us, so that we can be with him and become like him. As a sign, he chose the Child lying in the manger: this is how God is. This is how we come to know him. And on every child shines something of the splendour of that "today", of that closeness of God which we ought to love and to which we must yield – it shines on every child, even on those still unborn.
Let us listen to a second phrase from the liturgy of this holy Night, one taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: "Upon the people who walked in darkness a great light has shone" (Is 9:1). The word "light" pervades the entire liturgy of tonight’s Mass. It is found again in the passage drawn from Saint Paul’s letter to Titus: "The grace of God has appeared" (2:11). The expression "has appeared", in the original Greek says the same thing that was expressed in Hebrew by the words "a light has shone": this "apparition" – this "epiphany" – is the breaking of God’s light upon a world full of darkness and unsolved problems. The Gospel then relates that the glory of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and "shone around them" (Lk 2:9). Wherever God’s glory appears, light spreads throughout the world. Saint John tells us that "God is light and in him is no darkness" (1 Jn 1:5). The light is a source of life.
But first, light means knowledge; it means truth, as contrasted with the darkness of falsehood and ignorance. Light gives us life, it shows us the way. But light, as a source of heat, also means love. Where there is love, light shines forth in the world; where there is hatred, the world remains in darkness. In the stable of Bethlehem there appeared the great light which the world awaits. In that Child lying in the stable, God has shown his glory – the glory of love, which gives itself away, stripping itself of all grandeur in order to guide us along the way of love. The light of Bethlehem has never been extinguished. In every age it has touched men and women, "it has shone around them". Wherever people put their faith in that Child, charity also sprang up – charity towards others, loving concern for the weak and the suffering, the grace of forgiveness. From Bethlehem a stream of light, love and truth spreads through the centuries. If we look to the Saints – from Paul and Augustine to Francis and Dominic, from Francis Xavier and Teresa of Avila to Mother Teresa of Calcutta – we see this flood of goodness, this path of light kindled ever anew by the mystery of Bethlehem, by that God who became a Child. In that Child, God countered the violence of this world with his own goodness. He calls us to follow that Child.
Along with the Christmas tree, our Austrian friends have also brought us a small flame lit in Bethlehem, as if to say that the true mystery of Christmas is the inner brightness radiating from this Child. May that inner brightness spread to us, and kindle in our hearts the flame of God’s goodness; may all of us, by our love, bring light to the world! Let us keep this light-giving flame, lit in faith, from being extinguished by the cold winds of our time! Let us guard it faithfully and give it to others! On this night, when we look towards Bethlehem, let us pray in a special way for the birthplace of our Redeemer and for the men and women who live and suffer there. We wish to pray for peace in the Holy Land: Look, O Lord, upon this corner of the earth, your Homeland, which is so very dear to you! Let your light shine upon it! Let it know peace!
The word "peace" brings us to a third key to the liturgy of this holy Night. The Child foretold by Isaiah is called "Prince of Peace". His kingdom is said to be one "of endless peace". The shepherds in the Gospel hear the glad tidings: "Glory to God in the highest" and "on earth, peace...". At one time we used to say: "to men of good will". Nowadays we say "to those whom God loves". What does this change mean? Is good will no longer important? We would do better to ask: who are those whom God loves, and why does he love them? Does God have favourites? Does he love only certain people, while abandoning the others to themselves? The Gospel answers these questions by pointing to some particular people whom God loves. There are individuals, like Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna. But there are also two groups of people: the shepherds and the Wise Men from the East, the "Magi". Tonight let us look at the shepherds. What kind of people were they? In the world of their time, shepherds were looked down upon; they were considered untrustworthy and not admitted as witnesses in court. But really, who were they? To be sure, they were not great saints, if by that word we mean people of heroic virtue. They were simple souls. The Gospel sheds light on one feature which later on, in the words of Jesus, would take on particular importance: they were people who were watchful. This was chiefly true in a superficial way: they kept watch over their flocks by night. But it was also true in a deeper way: they were ready to receive God’s Word through the Angel's proclamation. Their life was not closed in on itself; their hearts were open. In some way, deep down, they were waiting for something; they were waiting for God. Their watchfulness was a kind of readiness – a readiness to listen and to set out. They were waiting for a light which would show them the way. That is what is important for God. He loves everyone, because everyone is his creature. But some persons have closed their hearts; there is no door by which his love can enter. They think that they do not need God, nor do they want him. Other persons, who, from a moral standpoint, are perhaps no less wretched and sinful, at least experience a certain remorse. They are waiting for God. They realize that they need his goodness, even if they have no clear idea of what this means. Into their expectant hearts God’s light can enter, and with it, his peace. God seeks persons who can be vessels and heralds of his peace. Let us pray that he will not find our hearts closed. Let us strive to be active heralds of his peace – in the world of today.
Among Christians, the word "peace" has taken on a very particular meaning: it has become a word to designate communion in the Eucharist. There Christ’s peace is present. In all the places where the Eucharist is celebrated, a great network of peace spreads through the world. The communities gathered around the Eucharist make up a kingdom of peace as wide as the world itself. When we celebrate the Eucharist we find ourselves in Bethlehem, in the "house of bread". Christ gives himself to us and, in doing so, gives us his peace. He gives it to us so that we can carry the light of peace within and give it to others. He gives it to us so that we can become peacemakers and builders of peace in the world. And so we pray: Lord, fulfil your promise! Where there is conflict, give birth to peace! Where there is hatred, make love spring up! Where darkness prevails, let light shine! Make us heralds of your peace! Amen.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Lebanon limbo as 10th postponement to elect Prez
http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2007/12/lebanon_speaker.php
Country faces tenth postponement to vote to elect its President in Lebanon parliament is due to the gap widens between the pro-Western ruling parliamentary majority and Syrian-backed opposition.
Beirut: 23 December:Lawmakers were set to meet on Saturday to vote for a new head of state, but the session was put off the previous night until 29th December.
As UN Under Secretary General Lynn Pascoe warned the Security Council on Friday that the situation in Lebanon was "dangerous and unsustainable," many politicians and the media were not expecting any vote to take place before year end.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a main leader of the opposition, said that if no president is elected next Saturday, he would continue to "set weekly sessions in January until we elect a president."
The move comes amid what the media has termed public muscle-flexing between the US, which has declared its support for the Beirut government, and Syria which along with its ally Iran backs the opposition.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Syria wants to control "all of Lebanon" and stressed that the majority has other options if the disruption of the election of General Michel Suleiman president of the republic continues.
Western-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition have agreed on army chief General Michel Suleiman as president. How to share power in the new government to be formed once he takes office is yet to be worked out.
Repeatedly delayed vote is to have a two-thirds quorum in parliament, which can only be secured by a deal between the anti-Syrian majority and the opposition, backed by Damascus. The post has been vacant since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud's term expired on November 23.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the opposition Leader, said in a statement the next session was scheduled for December 29 at 12 p.m. (5 a.m. EDT).
Opposition wants guaranteed power as it will have veto power, in the new cabinet to be formed once Suleiman is elected. Majority leader Saad al-Hariri said this week he opposed the idea of such veto.
U.S. President George W. Bush proposed on Thursday that the governing coalition elect a new president unilaterally, a move Hezbollah described as a threat to Lebanon's stability to which both parties like to avoid.
Bush, alleges Syria of interfering in Lebanon, said that if the deadlock continued, the ruling group should vote using its simple majority of MPs.
"More than ever before, Lebanon taken hostage in Syrian-Western arm-wrestling," said the French newspaper.
The US ambassador to the United Nations urged the council to bring pressure to bear on those blocking the presidential elections in Lebanon.
"We believe the council should be prepared to consider additional measures to incentives those who are blocking the election of the president to change their stand," Zalmay Khalilzad said closed-door consultations of the 15-member body.
Posted under:
* World
* Lebanion Prez
Submitted by Nksagar on Sun, 2007-12-23 04:56.
Country faces tenth postponement to vote to elect its President in Lebanon parliament is due to the gap widens between the pro-Western ruling parliamentary majority and Syrian-backed opposition.
Beirut: 23 December:Lawmakers were set to meet on Saturday to vote for a new head of state, but the session was put off the previous night until 29th December.
As UN Under Secretary General Lynn Pascoe warned the Security Council on Friday that the situation in Lebanon was "dangerous and unsustainable," many politicians and the media were not expecting any vote to take place before year end.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a main leader of the opposition, said that if no president is elected next Saturday, he would continue to "set weekly sessions in January until we elect a president."
The move comes amid what the media has termed public muscle-flexing between the US, which has declared its support for the Beirut government, and Syria which along with its ally Iran backs the opposition.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Syria wants to control "all of Lebanon" and stressed that the majority has other options if the disruption of the election of General Michel Suleiman president of the republic continues.
Western-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition have agreed on army chief General Michel Suleiman as president. How to share power in the new government to be formed once he takes office is yet to be worked out.
Repeatedly delayed vote is to have a two-thirds quorum in parliament, which can only be secured by a deal between the anti-Syrian majority and the opposition, backed by Damascus. The post has been vacant since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud's term expired on November 23.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the opposition Leader, said in a statement the next session was scheduled for December 29 at 12 p.m. (5 a.m. EDT).
Opposition wants guaranteed power as it will have veto power, in the new cabinet to be formed once Suleiman is elected. Majority leader Saad al-Hariri said this week he opposed the idea of such veto.
U.S. President George W. Bush proposed on Thursday that the governing coalition elect a new president unilaterally, a move Hezbollah described as a threat to Lebanon's stability to which both parties like to avoid.
Bush, alleges Syria of interfering in Lebanon, said that if the deadlock continued, the ruling group should vote using its simple majority of MPs.
"More than ever before, Lebanon taken hostage in Syrian-Western arm-wrestling," said the French newspaper.
The US ambassador to the United Nations urged the council to bring pressure to bear on those blocking the presidential elections in Lebanon.
"We believe the council should be prepared to consider additional measures to incentives those who are blocking the election of the president to change their stand," Zalmay Khalilzad said closed-door consultations of the 15-member body.
Posted under:
* World
* Lebanion Prez
Submitted by Nksagar on Sun, 2007-12-23 04:56.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tymoshenko Elected Prime Minister Ukraine
KIEV, December 18 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's elect Prime Minister Tymoshenko looked confident after she received parliament vote to approve pro-Western coalition leader Yulia Tymoshenko's return as prime minister on Tuesday.
Tymoshenko required minimum of 226 votes in the Supreme Rada of total 450 members, She attained all 156 members of her eponymous bloc in support of her nomination from the coalition of eponymous bloc and all but two of the 70 member pro-presidential Our Ukraine party.
After the latest vote, Tymoshenko said the new government would target corruption as its first priority, particularly in the areas of privatization and energy.
Yatsenyuk's candidacy was put forth by the factions of Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc and the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc. The two parties formed a majority coalition in parliament on Nov. 29.
President Viktor Yushchenko's ally in the 2004 mass protests that brought him to power, Tymoshenko was sacked by the president after about eight months in the post in 2005 amid a series of scandals. The two reconciled their differences during coalition talks after early parliamentary elections in September.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was elected as speaker of the new parliament on Tuesday."227 lawmakers voted for Yatseniuk," head of the parliament's Counting Commission Mikola Shershun announced.
The Party of Regions led by the president's longtime rival, acting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, its allies Communists and ex-speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's bloc did not take part in the vote.
Yanukovych, who was defeated by Yushchenko in the presidential race but returned as premier in 2006 after a resounding victory in parliamentary polls, announced from the parliamentary rostrum after Tuesday's vote that his party would go into opposition.
He said Tymoshenko's return as premier promised new political upheavals in the ex-Soviet country. "The country is facing new ordeals," Yanukovych said.
The 450-seat Supreme Rada will now approve a new Cabinet and distribute parliamentary committee portfolios, but lawmakers said the issues could be postponed until Wednesday.
Tymoshenko required minimum of 226 votes in the Supreme Rada of total 450 members, She attained all 156 members of her eponymous bloc in support of her nomination from the coalition of eponymous bloc and all but two of the 70 member pro-presidential Our Ukraine party.
After the latest vote, Tymoshenko said the new government would target corruption as its first priority, particularly in the areas of privatization and energy.
Yatsenyuk's candidacy was put forth by the factions of Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc and the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc. The two parties formed a majority coalition in parliament on Nov. 29.
President Viktor Yushchenko's ally in the 2004 mass protests that brought him to power, Tymoshenko was sacked by the president after about eight months in the post in 2005 amid a series of scandals. The two reconciled their differences during coalition talks after early parliamentary elections in September.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was elected as speaker of the new parliament on Tuesday."227 lawmakers voted for Yatseniuk," head of the parliament's Counting Commission Mikola Shershun announced.
The Party of Regions led by the president's longtime rival, acting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, its allies Communists and ex-speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's bloc did not take part in the vote.
Yanukovych, who was defeated by Yushchenko in the presidential race but returned as premier in 2006 after a resounding victory in parliamentary polls, announced from the parliamentary rostrum after Tuesday's vote that his party would go into opposition.
He said Tymoshenko's return as premier promised new political upheavals in the ex-Soviet country. "The country is facing new ordeals," Yanukovych said.
The 450-seat Supreme Rada will now approve a new Cabinet and distribute parliamentary committee portfolios, but lawmakers said the issues could be postponed until Wednesday.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
E-mail threat to blow Airports on 12 January
An Assistant manager, in charge of Security in the wings of Air India at Delhi International airport, Harish Masand said that the airline received the threat mail on the e-mail address around 11 a.m. on Saturday at a call centre of the national carrier Air India in neighbouring Gurgaon, airline sources said . The e-mail read that there will be a bomb blast explosion in Indian airports on 12 January, 2008, sources said.
CISF,Central Industrial security force a para military force in charge of International Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi and takes charge of security of all prominent airports in the country, has already increased the number of personnel, a senior CISF official said.
As per the reports the police at Udyog Vihar police station,Gurgoan,Haryana has registered a case and started the investigation of the matter.The e-mail source is yet to be traced.
The airport security staff is also monitoring the passengers and the activities at the airport,an attempt to prevent the Airport from any untoward incident.
CISF,Central Industrial security force a para military force in charge of International Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi and takes charge of security of all prominent airports in the country, has already increased the number of personnel, a senior CISF official said.
As per the reports the police at Udyog Vihar police station,Gurgoan,Haryana has registered a case and started the investigation of the matter.The e-mail source is yet to be traced.
The airport security staff is also monitoring the passengers and the activities at the airport,an attempt to prevent the Airport from any untoward incident.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen asks UN renounce Khmer Rouge leaders
Nearly two million people died of starvation and overwork or were executed under the reign of Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked the United Nations to renounc its past relations with the Khmer Rouge.
Hun Sen made the statement while inaugurating the student building that in the past, the UN supported the Khmer Rouge, but now it will try the regime's surviving leaders in court.Further added UN has never said its past policy to allow Khmer Rouge leaders to represent Cambodia at the United Nations was wrong.
The joint Cambodian UN tribunal established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the UN,seeks to prosecute crimes committed by senior Khmer Rouge leaders.
United Nations still allowed the regime to represent the country before the world body.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Wednesday criticized the current UN human rights envoy to Cambodia Yash Ghai and proposed to Secretary-General Ban Kim-moon that he should be replaced.
Yash Ghai on Monday attended a ceremony in Phnom Penh to mark the International Human Rights Day and released a statement claiming that Cambodian citizens live in fear of land grabbing, repression and a court system which offers scant hope of justice, with international donors seemingly turning a blind-eye.
This person didn't say the positive signs in Cambodia but only the negative signs," Hun Sen said.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked the United Nations to renounc its past relations with the Khmer Rouge.
Hun Sen made the statement while inaugurating the student building that in the past, the UN supported the Khmer Rouge, but now it will try the regime's surviving leaders in court.Further added UN has never said its past policy to allow Khmer Rouge leaders to represent Cambodia at the United Nations was wrong.
The joint Cambodian UN tribunal established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the UN,seeks to prosecute crimes committed by senior Khmer Rouge leaders.
United Nations still allowed the regime to represent the country before the world body.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Wednesday criticized the current UN human rights envoy to Cambodia Yash Ghai and proposed to Secretary-General Ban Kim-moon that he should be replaced.
Yash Ghai on Monday attended a ceremony in Phnom Penh to mark the International Human Rights Day and released a statement claiming that Cambodian citizens live in fear of land grabbing, repression and a court system which offers scant hope of justice, with international donors seemingly turning a blind-eye.
This person didn't say the positive signs in Cambodia but only the negative signs," Hun Sen said.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
UN -Led talks dominate by disputes at Bali
U.N.-led talks dominated by disputes at Bali
Coming years likely bring clear climate But UN, US,EU,China,babble with climate talk.
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2007-12-12 06:27:35 - Delegates U.N. on climate talks resisted U.S. pressure to delete tough 2020 guidelines for cutting greenhouse gases. European Commission saying they were a "crucial" element in a draft text.The U.N.-led talks have become dominated by disputes over whether a text should keep a mention of a need for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst impacts.
States eager to put up an agenda to either to save their industries but the environmental tech research and planning needs to be worked out rather than fining or putting up the restriction but there must be compettive growth amongst developing and developed economy to bring environmental friendly inusdrty and its tech use to reduce pollution and set the prize
for the best country with incentives for the same must be an agenda at Bali instead of mud slinging
"It is time to make peace with the planet," said Al Gore in Oslo. "We must mobilise our civilisation with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilised for war."
Mr Gore added: "It should be absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 emitters China and the US and, most of all, my own country that will need to make the boldest moves. Both countries should stop using the other's behaviour as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival."
These remarks came as 190 countries met in Bali, Indonesia, to work on new international treaty on carbon emissions to replace Kyoto by 2012.Mr Gore Vice president to Bill Clinton with Rajendra Pachauri,shared Noble prize, head of the UN's panel on climate change.
Delegates U.N. on climate talks resisted U.S. pressure to delete tough 2020 guidelines for cutting greenhouse gases. European Commission saying they were a "crucial" element in a draft text.The U.N.-led talks have become dominated by disputes over whether a text should keep a mention of a need for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst impacts.
Any dilution of the non-binding range would rage developing nations, they demanding rich nations do more to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions.
Washington and Tokyo want the range to be diluted but it was still in the latest draft on Tuesday, delegates said.
"Of course it is crucial for the European Union, and not only for the European Union," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said of the indicative 25 to 40 percent range.
"In order to gather an effective fight against climate change we need this range of reductions for developed countries by 2020," he told a news conference at the 190-nation meeting.
US is expected to win out, since Bali's decisions require consensus,and the final "Bali roadmap" is expected to be what has been long anticipated a vague, broad mandate for two years of negotiations on Kyoto's successor.
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said that the range was only meant to guide subsequent negotiations, but that including it was not vital.
Australia, despite its sudden embrace of the Kyoto pact, has shied away from supporting the interim target range, saying it must await the conclusion of a study sometime next year.
Canada and Japan also oppose inclusion of the suggested figures.
Meanwhile, Indonesian President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono said finance ministers meeting on the fringes of climate talks in Bali were not doing enough to find the money to fight global warming.
"Ministers of finance can and should play a much larger and more active role in responding to climate change, both domestically and internationally," he said.
Government ministries including energy, industry, forestry and agriculture also had to take part, he said.
Contact Information:
Enkaysagar holdings Private Limited
Contact Person:
Nksagar
Chairman
Phone: 9810974027
email: email
Web: http://www.Nksagar.com
Press Information:
Enkaysagar holdings Private Limited
Contact Person:
Nksagar
Chairman
Phone: 9810974027
email: email
Web: http://www.Nksagar.com
Coming years likely bring clear climate But UN, US,EU,China,babble with climate talk.
Print article Print article
Refer this article Refer to a friend
2007-12-12 06:27:35 - Delegates U.N. on climate talks resisted U.S. pressure to delete tough 2020 guidelines for cutting greenhouse gases. European Commission saying they were a "crucial" element in a draft text.The U.N.-led talks have become dominated by disputes over whether a text should keep a mention of a need for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst impacts.
States eager to put up an agenda to either to save their industries but the environmental tech research and planning needs to be worked out rather than fining or putting up the restriction but there must be compettive growth amongst developing and developed economy to bring environmental friendly inusdrty and its tech use to reduce pollution and set the prize
for the best country with incentives for the same must be an agenda at Bali instead of mud slinging
"It is time to make peace with the planet," said Al Gore in Oslo. "We must mobilise our civilisation with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilised for war."
Mr Gore added: "It should be absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 emitters China and the US and, most of all, my own country that will need to make the boldest moves. Both countries should stop using the other's behaviour as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival."
These remarks came as 190 countries met in Bali, Indonesia, to work on new international treaty on carbon emissions to replace Kyoto by 2012.Mr Gore Vice president to Bill Clinton with Rajendra Pachauri,shared Noble prize, head of the UN's panel on climate change.
Delegates U.N. on climate talks resisted U.S. pressure to delete tough 2020 guidelines for cutting greenhouse gases. European Commission saying they were a "crucial" element in a draft text.The U.N.-led talks have become dominated by disputes over whether a text should keep a mention of a need for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst impacts.
Any dilution of the non-binding range would rage developing nations, they demanding rich nations do more to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions.
Washington and Tokyo want the range to be diluted but it was still in the latest draft on Tuesday, delegates said.
"Of course it is crucial for the European Union, and not only for the European Union," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said of the indicative 25 to 40 percent range.
"In order to gather an effective fight against climate change we need this range of reductions for developed countries by 2020," he told a news conference at the 190-nation meeting.
US is expected to win out, since Bali's decisions require consensus,and the final "Bali roadmap" is expected to be what has been long anticipated a vague, broad mandate for two years of negotiations on Kyoto's successor.
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said that the range was only meant to guide subsequent negotiations, but that including it was not vital.
Australia, despite its sudden embrace of the Kyoto pact, has shied away from supporting the interim target range, saying it must await the conclusion of a study sometime next year.
Canada and Japan also oppose inclusion of the suggested figures.
Meanwhile, Indonesian President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono said finance ministers meeting on the fringes of climate talks in Bali were not doing enough to find the money to fight global warming.
"Ministers of finance can and should play a much larger and more active role in responding to climate change, both domestically and internationally," he said.
Government ministries including energy, industry, forestry and agriculture also had to take part, he said.
Contact Information:
Enkaysagar holdings Private Limited
Contact Person:
Nksagar
Chairman
Phone: 9810974027
email: email
Web: http://www.Nksagar.com
Press Information:
Enkaysagar holdings Private Limited
Contact Person:
Nksagar
Chairman
Phone: 9810974027
email: email
Web: http://www.Nksagar.com
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