US NEWS SOURCES - August 23&24, 2003 (Weekend)

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Archives

TOP STORIES
*	Kolbe urges Pakistan to be tougher
	Aug 23, Kabul -- U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe's travels with a congressional delegation through the Middle East took him to Pakistan Saturday, where he said the situation has nuclear consequences. Kolbe, R-Ariz., said in a telephone interview Friday that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf needs to be tougher on Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents in Pakistan that have been filtering back into Afghanistan more frequently in succeeding weeks, but also that the world cannot afford for Musharraf to incite a revolution where he is toppled.

	http://www.svherald.com/articles/2003/08/23/news/news6.txt
*	McCain asks Pakistan to thwart attacks from its side
	Aug 23, Kabul -- Sen. John McCain demanded Friday that Pakistan do more to keep allies of Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban regime from launching cross-border attacks that have plagued regular Afghans, U.S. troops and foreign aid workers. Insurgents in Afghanistan's south and east border regions have stepped up assaults recently, fueling concern that the hard-line Islamic militia ousted in late 2001 is regrouping. McCain, with a U.S. congressional delegation visiting Afghanistan, said Pakistan was "not doing as much as it can" to stop the insurgents. McCain, the Arizona Republican who ran for president in 2000, said the delegation would raise the issue when it meets Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday in Pakistan.

	http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125~10859~1587579,00.html
	http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10055025&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=213511&rfi=6
	http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1587546,00.html
*	Pakistan president tells U.S. lawmakers he won't tolerate cross-border terror attacks
	Aug 24, Islamabad -- Pakistan's leader told a delegation of U.S. lawmakers Saturday that his country won't tolerate cross-border terrorist activities, the Foreign Ministry said. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's comments came one day after the U.S. delegation's leader, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, told reporters that Pakistan wasn't doing enough to stop insurgents from operating out of Pakistani regions that border Afghanistan. In recent weeks, guerrillas have stepped up attacks on Afghan forces, aid workers and officials in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030823_000098-search,00.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AAug23.html
*	Pakistan seeking U.S. permission to move Pakistani prisoners from Afghanistan, says minister
	Aug 24, Karachi, Pakistan -- Pakistan's foreign minister on Sunday said his country had asked permission from the United States to bring home more than 640 Pakistanis jailed in Afghanistan because they fought for the former Taliban militia. Khursheed Kasuri said Pakistan made the request to the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad. ``I hope for a positive response,' Kasuri said. Thousands of Pakistanis went to Afghanistan to help the Taliban fight a U.S.-led coalition that attacked the country after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

	http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR_777a000375790f92
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030824_000529,00.html
*	Afghans report new attacks by resurgent Taliban forces
	Aug 24, Kabul -- Afghan officials have reported another serious attack on their troops in the southeastern part of the country, where a military truck was ambushed on Saturday and five Afghan soldiers were killed, probably by Taliban fighters. Three of the attackers were also killed and two were captured, the governor of Zabul Province, Hafizullah Khan, said today by telephone.

	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/24/international/asia/24CND-KABU.html
*	Skirmishes fray Pakistani-Afghan ties
	Aug 23, Kabul -- This country and neighboring Pakistan are hopeful they can overcome tensions worsened by cross-border skirmishes and an increase in attacks blamed on Taliban insurgents hiding in Pakistan's western tribal lands. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, starting a two-day visit to the Afghan capital on Thursday, hailed "excellent talks" he held with his counterpart, Abdullah Abdullah. "Hopefully as a result of our talks, confidence between the two governments will improve further, and I'm referring specifically to some incidents that happened during the last month," Mr. Kasuri told reporters.

	http://www.washtimes.com/world/r.htm
*	Indian shelling injures eight girls in Pakistani Kashmir, police say
	Aug 24, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan -- An Indian shell exploded near an Islamic school in Pakistan's portion of the disputed Kashmir territory Sunday, injuring eight girls who were hit by shrapnel or building debris, police said. The Indians were trading fire with Pakistani troops when the children were wounded in Nakyal, a border area about 250 kilometers (150 miles) south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, said Raja Abdul Razzaq, a police superintendent.

	http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR_319a0001aafb8d39
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030824_000554-search,00.html
*	41 pro-Taliban fighters are freed
	Aug 23 -- Pakistan freed 41 men who had fought for Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers and been detained on suspicion they might have ties to terrorist groups, an official said. The Pakistanis were arrested in neighboring Afghanistan after a U.S.-led coalition toppled the Taliban in 2001, but the Afghan government returned them to Pakistan in May. Pakistani officials said they determined the men had no links to terrorists.

	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs23.1aug23,1,7298810.story
*	Train to India ready to leave 'anytime,' says top Pakistan railway official
	Aug 24, Lahore, Pakistan -- Pakistan's top railway official said on Sunday that his country is ready to resume a train service that used to carry thousands of people, often divided families, across the tense border with neighboring India. The trains stopped chugging across the border after an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001. New Delhi blamed Pakistan's spy agency and Islamic militants for the attack. Pakistan denied involvement. Both sides cut road, air and rail links.

	http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR_ac350006b8f31591
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030824_000552-search,00.html
*	Canada links arrest of 19 to possible terrorism ties
	Aug 23, Toronto -- A document filed at a detention hearing this week for 19 students and other immigrants from Pakistan detained by Canadian security officials for possible ties to terrorism cited a "pattern of fraudulent document use to obtain or maintain immigrant status" by the men, ages 18 to 33. The men were detained on Aug. 14 after an investigation found that one of them was taking flying lessons at a school near an Ontario nuclear power plant.

	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/24/international/americas/24CANA.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AAug22.html
	http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm
	http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-aug24,1,664453.story
*	India's mosque-temple dispute drags on
	Aug 23, Ayodhya, India -- Mohammed Hashim is a chain-smoking tailor with no front teeth. For 34 years he has been a plaintiff in a court case that lies at the epicenter of India's Muslim-Hindu divide. But as yet another chapter of this seemingly endless trial on Monday, Mohammed isn't holding his breath. He is 82 now, and is certain the case will outlive him by decades.

	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AAug23.html
	http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V2412.AP-Mosque-Versus-T.html
*	In India, a Muslim’s passion to protect Hindu temples
	Aug 23, Pathra, India -- Mohammad Yeasin Pathan has paid a high price for his devotion to history. Muslims have shunned him, Hindus have kicked and punched him and anonymous callers have threatened to kill him. But none of this has dimmed the Muslim school clerk's determination to work to preserve a collection of 18th-century Hindu temples in eastern India. "I passionately respect history. Everyone should, and it does not matter whether one is a Hindu or a Muslim," said Pathan, speaking amid the terracotta-and-brick temples in the Hindu-dominated village of Pathra west of Calcutta.

	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AAug23.html
*	Security tightened in Sri Lankan east as hunt for missing Muslims continue
	Aug 24, Colombo -- Army and special task force troops stood on alert in eastern Sri Lanka as police continued to search for two Muslim men that people fear have been abducted and killed by Tamil Tiger rebels, a senior police official said Sunday. Tensions have been mounting in the island's volatile east — where the majority of Sri Lanka's 1.3 million Muslims live, after at least four people were killed by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in two separate incidents earlier this month.

	http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR_540300097af7ddea
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030824_000486,00.html
*	Immigration violations, not terrorism, in Sea-Tac charges
	Aug 23, Seattle -- Two Pakistani men arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport while trying to fly to New York have been charged with immigration violations. Javed Khan, 36, and Arif Mahmood, 29, both citizens of Pakistan who have been living in Canada, had an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Monica J. Benton on Thursday. She ordered them detained until trial, set for Oct. 14-15. According to charging papers filed Wednesday, both men admitted they had been smuggled across the border near Blaine early this month. Mahmood's lawyer, Walter Palmer of Seattle, did not immediately return a phone message Thursday.

	http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030823/northwest/82146.shtml
	http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-seattle22aug22,1,4041657.story
*	Guyana leader in search of ancestoral home
	Aug 23, New Delhi -- State duties aside, Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo has another engagement during his visit to India this weekend. Jagdeo wants to visit the place here his ancestors came from, Indian officials can't seem to find its exact location because the description was based on information which is about a century old, BBC reports. That's a bit too long even in an ancient country like India.

	http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm
*	In Sri Lanka, militancy grows
	Aug 24, Valaichchenai, Sri Lanka -- On Fridays after dusk, groups of young Muslim men gather in the palm-fringed garden of the town's main mosque. Once they talked about work, or played carom - the local version of pool - in an adjoining room of the 80-year-old mosque. These days they mostly talk about how to counter the growing power of ethnic Tamil rebels in the eastern part of this island nation off India's southern tip.

	http://www.ctnow.com/news/nationworld/hc-bulllanka0824.artaug24,0,5347728.story
*	Recruits giving Taliban muscle for comeback
	Aug 24, Kandahar, Afgahnistan -- For Rahmatullah, 18, an impoverished Afghan student enrolled at a small religious school in the Pakistani border town of Chaman, the offer made by the Taliban mullah who visited in June was too good to refuse. In return for 3,700 rupees--about $60--the mullah promised, he would be given a gun and the chance to wage holy war against the infidels occupying his country. So Rahmatullah, who uses only one name, took the money, said goodbye to his classmates and joined the swelling ranks of a revived Taliban rebellion against U.S. forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai.

	http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-aug24,1,7746940.story

EDITORIALS / OP-ED
*	Logic is flawed in India outsourcing argument
	Aug 24 -- In response to "Outsourcing to India is good" (Financial Forum, Aug. 17):Matt Richey uses flawed logic when expressing the perceived merits of this ever-accelerating trend. Comparing today's movement of high-paying technology jobs to the Industrial Revolution is not the same (an apples to oranges analogy). Back then, the economy operated as a "closed loop" model, whereas today the movement is toward total globalization. What's in store is a leveling of the socio-economic structures of countries around the world. Yes, India's standard of living will increase whereas that of the United States will decrease.

	http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/business/6605126.htm
*	Outsourcing may lead to its own demise
	Aug 24 -- Regarding your July 30 article, "More and more tech jobs moving overseas," I have been surfing the India-based technology and political Web sites, and one thing I noticed is that the attitude of Indian workers and professionals is beginning to change. These people, which our country helped to train, are beginning to resent working for American companies and are starting to formulate plans to cut loose from their progenitors and form wholly owned and operated Indian companies with the intention of replacing American companies altogether. The Indian chief executive and corporate management team could live like kings and be perfectly happy with an annual salary of $100,000 - or even less.

	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/08/24/BU215654.DTL&type=business
*	A silver lining appears in the South Asian sky
	Aug 23 -- South Asia was in the spotlight again last week as two hostile neighbors, India and Pakistan, observed another Independence Day with much fanfare. Pakistan celebrated its on Aug. 14; India did it Aug. 15. The two nations became sovereign when British occupation ended in 1947. This year, the mood in South Asia, billed by some as the world's most dangerous region, in the run-up to and during the independence celebrations was slightly different. It was rather positive. The leaders of two hostile neighbors -- Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan -- reiterated their own calls for peace as a conference organized by a South Asian journalists' group with branches in both nations drew to a close in Pakistan earlier in the week, calling for serious efforts for peace from both sides.

	http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/20030823edindo0823p2.asp
*	Offering alternatives to all fundamentalists
	Aug 23 -- Regarding "From Dhaka, With Hope," Opinion, Aug. 17: Ted Widmer tells us about the American Studies Institute, a new program that offers Muslim college students from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh an alternative to religious fundamentalism with "the strongest weapons in our arsenal: hope, tolerance and an educational system second to none." It sounds like a great program. Why not extend it to Christian students from the U.S., where some religious fundamentalists preach the rapture of the church in which true Christian believers gain immortality but the rest of humanity faces apocalyptic terror?

	http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-le-gallagher23aug23,1,6691890.story

BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY / DEFENSE
*	New rules threaten News Corp's control of Star India
	Aug 24, Singapore -- India's government has announced new rules requiring foreign news broadcasters to be majority-owned by a single domestic entity, threatening News Corp. (NWS) unit Star TV's control over its India operations, the Financial Times reports on its web site. Star, a pan-Asian satellite channel and the biggest foreign broadcaster in India, owns 26% of its news-broadcasting unit in India, with the remaining 74% divided among six Indian investors.

	http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR_57bc0005c3eafd11
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030824_000909-search,00.html
*	India tries to contain tempest over soft drink safety
	Aug 23, New Delhi -- There have been few such long-winded efforts to say that Coke is still it. Throughout the capital's bustling INA market, which sells everything from Oreo cookies made in China to "Hot Eats" of North India, soft drink vendors had posted fliers this week proclaiming that "Coca-Cola refreshes you with world-class and safe products in India." The fliers, spread across the country as well, said Coke had tested its sodas for pesticide parts per billion, an exercise as arduous as "tracing one person out of India's whole population." They even reassured customers that Coca-Cola India's 5,000 employees actually consume the soft drink they produce.

	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/international/asia/23INDI.html
	http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/atlanta_world/0803/23indiacoke.html
*	Pesticide charges bubble up in India’s soft drink industry
	Aug 24, New Delhi -- India's soft drink industry is in turmoil, following allegations that beverages sold by Coca-Cola and Pepsi contain high levels of pesticide residue. The Indian government says drinks produced by the cola giants meet domestic standards, but the controversy refuses to go away. After several years of steady growth in India, the Pepsi and Coca-Cola companies suffered a sudden setback this month. The independent Center for Science and Environment alleged that soft drinks sold by the two companies in India had "dangerously" high levels of pesticide residue - far exceeding the levels in the same drinks sold in United States or Europe.

	http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=FDEFB2A8-5569-4FC2-A776BC23B729FCBF
*	State facing steady drain of computer jobs to India
	Aug 23, New Haven -- The job market for workers in computers and information technology may get tougher in Connecticut. A recent study by one of the nation’s leading economic firms, Economy.com in Westchester, Pa., predicts that the number of workers in India performing computer work for U.S. companies will explode from 177,000 in 2002 to 1.2 million in 2008. Don Klepper-Smith, economist at New Haven-based Scillia, Dowling & Natarelli Advisors, said Connecticut’s tech workers will be hard hit by the change. "In the new world order, jobs are increasingly transportable, and will migrate to low-cost regions in order to boost corporate profits and business productivity," Klepper-Smith said.

	http://www.newhavenregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10053486&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=6

OTHER STORIES
*	Elephants kill 4 in Bangladesh
	Aug 23, Dhaka -- A herd of wild elephants stampeded through a village in southeastern Bangladesh, trampling four people to death and injuring seven others, a newspaper reported Saturday. The incident occurred early Friday when most of the residents of Shafipur village were asleep. The village is in Rangamati district, about 135 miles southeast of the capital, Dhaka.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AAug23.html

	http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V2846.AP-Bangladesh-Elep.html

	http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-bangladesh-elephant-attack,0,7336945.story

	http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm

*	Crews work on spill off Pakistan’s coast
	Aug 23, Karachi, Pakistan -- Crews worked Saturday to stop fresh oil spills from a stranded tanker ship that ran aground in the Arabian Sea last month off the Pakistani city of Karachi. Inflatable booms were placed around the ship to try to slow oil spilling from containers still aboard the MT Tasman Spirit, said Brig. Iftikhar Arshad, general manager of the Karachi Port Trust. The newest oil leak began Friday, but Arshad said "it's not alarming."
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AAug23.html

*	Gun-slinging police battle Bombay’s mob
	Aug 24, Bombay, India -- The suspect stood meekly against the wall -- barefoot, hands tied and head bowed. The police officer leaned forward and placed his revolver on the table with a menacing stare. Officer: "Do you know who I am?" Suspect: "Yes." Officer: "Do you know what I will do if you don't tell the truth?" Suspect, trembling: "You will shoot me in an encounter outside."
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AAug23.html

*	Sample India's culture with art, dance, dining
	Aug 24 -- Here are some upcoming events in the Asian Indian community as well as some places to visit. The exhibition "The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes From South India" continues through Sept. 14 at Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd. Admission is $7, with discounted tickets for seniors and students. Dancer Sujatha Srinivasan will perform in the Exhibition Galleries at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, in a presentation that explores the relationship between bharatanatyum dance and the Chola bronzes on display. Yoga classes taught by Guru Bhandari are offered 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and 8-9:30 a.m. Sundays at the India Community Center, 12412 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights. Cost: $8 per class. Call .
	http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/.xml

*	Leander Paes diagnosed with parasitic infection
	Aug 24, Orlando -- Leander Paes, the tennis champion who has been receiving treatment at Orlando Regional Medical Center the past week, is suffering from an infection, not a cancerous tumor. Paes' family issued a statement Sunday saying blood tests have confirmed the diagnosis: neurocysticercosis, a parasitic infection that attacks the central nervous system. Paes, just one month removed from winning the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon, was admitted into the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center last week. A small lesion was found on his brain and doctors initially feared it might be a tumor.
	http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/6610000.htm

*	Dinosaur discovery reveals new horned species
	Aug 24 -- The first dinosaur skull discovered in India has been reconstructed by an international team of paleontologists, revealing that the bones belonged to a new horned dinosaur species that preyed on long-necked herbivores 65 million years ago. The 30-foot meat eater had a small horn between its eyes and probably walked on its hind legs, similar to its distant cousin, Tyrannosaurus Rex. Named "Rajasaurus narmadensis" or "regal dinosaur from the Narmada," it was discovered in 1983 near the Narmada River in western India by Suresh Srivastava of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Ashok Sahni of Panjab University.
	http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4053597.html

*	Festival marks independence, teaches about India's culture
	Aug 23 -- A program of song and dance, which celebrated India's independence from Britain 56 years ago, began with the voice of a child, singing softly. As Akash Gulati sang The Star-Spangled Banner, the multitude at the India Day 2003 cultural program followed with Jana-Gana-Mana, the Indian national anthem. Though the festival at Augusta State University on Saturday afternoon helped to celebrate India's independence day, there were larger goals of the celebration.
	http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/082403/met_.shtml

*	Shoe store owner gets into Guinness Book
	Aug 24, Bombay, India -- A shoe store owner in India has won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest collection of "shoe-shaped items". A.I. Merchant, 63, who owns the "Shoe Bazar" in India's financial capital Mumbai, displayed all his 3,093 items at the Prince of Wales Museum before applying to the Guinness Book of World Records, the UNI news agency reported.
	http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm

*	360-degree vantage point
	Aug 24 -- When retired surgeon Shanmugha Sundaram wakes in the morning, he's greeted by the warm orange glow of a sunrise over Lake Michigan. Sundaram and his wife, Padma, who is also a doctor, live in the entire 23rd floor of a 29-story condominium building at 345 W. Fullerton in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Their sprawling condo was converted from four units into one by the previous owners, netting the Sundarams, who bought the residence about 10 years ago, 4,400 square feet of space, with 10 rooms, including 4 bedrooms and 41/2 baths.
	http://www.suntimes.com/output/hlife/hos-news-sky24.html

*	Asian Indians bond, blend traditions
	Aug 24 -- Atheetha Venkatesh has two distinct styles of fashion in her closet. When she goes to work as a computer programming analyst, she's neatly attired in a dress or suit. But for Sunday worship at a Hindu temple in Parma, she wraps herself in a bright sari and places a tiny jewel-like sticker, or "bindi," on her forehead. Few on Case Western Reserve University's campus who know Srinivasa Prasad Gutti as a biomedical engineering student realize he has studied and loved the classical dances of India since he was a little boy. From Our Advertiser When he performs barefoot and bare-chested in native dress, he exhibits exquisite body control as he moves precisely to the drumbeat.
	http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/.xml