US NEWS SOURCES -May 3&4, 2003 (Weekend)

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Archives

---IN WEEKEND NEWS---

U.S. authorities say they uncover an al-Qaida plot to crash an explosives-laden aircraft into the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. The United States welcomes Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiative for peace with Pakistan. Pakistan Prime Minister, Zafarullah Khan Jamali, invites opposition leaders to discuss improving ties with India. Yemen asks Pakistan to extradite a suspected al-Qaida leader wanted in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of a U.S. warship, USS Cole. The editorial discusses the ways in which India and Pakistan can improve their ties. In the business section, India's foreign exchange reserves rises to a record high of $77.01 billion in the week; and India harvests Bt, its first biotech crop.

HEADLINES

TOP STORIES

India revives links with Pakistan; Tense neighbors end stalemate, will exchange ambassadors (San Francisco Chronicle)

U.S. uncovers al-Qaida plot to crash plane into American consulate in Pakistan (San Francisco Chronicle) (New York Times - Registration required) (Washington Post) (Baltimore Sun)

New arrests foil al Qaeda plot, says U.S.; Warnings issued about small planes (San Francisco Chronicle) (Washington Post)

Powell calls Indian Foreign Minister, welcomes peace initiative with Pakistan (San Francisco Chronicle) (Washington Post) (Orange County Register)

Pakistan invites opposition for talks on India (New York Times - Registration required) (Washington Post) (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)

Yemen asks Pakistan to extradite al-Qaida suspect linked to Cole bombing (San Francisco Chronicle) (Washington Post) (San Diego Union Tribune) (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)

Pakistani police arrest two men carrying explosives, suspect al-Qaida links (San Francisco Chronicle) (Washington Post)

The thinkable (New York Times - Registration required)

An opulent and pugnacious champion of India's outcasts (New York Times - Registration required) (International Herald Tribune)

6 arrested in connection with March Bombay train bombing (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)

Japan, India discuss N. Korean nukes, other defense issues (Hoovers) (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)

Indian Prime Minister seeks investment, technology for multi-role aircraft (Wall Street Journal - Subscription required)

TOP STORIES
*	India revives links with Pakistan; Tense neighbors end stalemate, will exchange ambassadors
	May 03, New Delhi -- Saying that he was making a last effort at peace, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced in Parliament on Friday that India will restore diplomatic and air links with Pakistan. The decision was welcomed in Pakistan and in Washington. Secretary of State Colin Powell called the renewed contacts "very, very promising." Vajpayee hinted that the return of a high commissioner and restoration of civil aviation links could be the first steps of a more ambitious journey.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/05/03/MN300787.DTL
*	U.S. uncovers al-Qaida plot to crash plane into American consulate in Pakistan
	May 03, Washington -- U.S. authorities say they have uncovered an al-Qaida plot to crash an explosives-laden small aircraft into the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. That prompted the Homeland Security Department to warn about possible attacks in the United States. A department advisory said al-Qaida was in the late stages of planning an attack on the consulate using a small fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter. Such a plot, along with one uncovered last year in which al-Qaida hoped to fly a small plane into a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf, demonstrated a "fixation" on using aircraft in attacks, the advisory said.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/03/national0451EDT0457.DTL
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/03/international/middleeast/03PAKIhtml
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8322-2003May3.html
	http://www.sunspot.net/news/custom/attack/bal-te.pakistan03may03,0,5747936.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
*	New arrests foil al Qaeda plot, says U.S.; Warnings issued about small planes
	May 03, Washington -- U.S. and Pakistani authorities have broken up an al Qaeda plan to fly an explosives-laden aircraft into the U.S. consulate in Karachi, a suicide plot reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that shows the weakened terror network is still capable of pursuing serious assaults, officials said Friday. The plan was foiled by the arrests earlier this week in Karachi of six suspected al Qaeda members, including two who had roles in the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole in 2000, U.S. intelligence officials said. The arrests led to the discovery of hundreds of pounds of high explosives, as well as grenades, assault rifles and detonators hidden in several different caches, Pakistani and U.S. officials say.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/05/03/MN126554.DTL
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7703-2003May2.html
*	Powell calls Indian Foreign Minister, welcomes peace initiative with Pakistan
	May 03, New Delhi -- The United States on Saturday welcomed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiative for peace with Pakistan, a move that raised hopes the two nuclear-armed neighbors can resolve their decades-old dispute over Kashmir. Secretary of State Colin Powell called External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha from Damascus, Syria, to praise the peace moves, a Sinha spokesman said Saturday. On Friday, Vajpayee ended a two-year impasse by saying India was ready to name an envoy to Pakistan and resume air links. Islamabad responded by swiftly agreeing to talks and restoring diplomatic ties.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/03/international1132EDT0501.DTL
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9532-2003May3.html
	http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=37634&section=NATION_WORLD&subsection=ASIA_PACIFICRIM&year=2003&month=5&day=4
*	Pakistan invites opposition for talks on India
	Islamabad -- Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Sunday invited opposition leaders to discuss improving ties with India, raising hopes the nuclear-armed rivals can resolve their long dispute over Kashmir. In an unusual move Jamali has invited all parliamentary opposition leaders, members of his own party and allies for a meeting on the latest developments with India at 8 p.m. on Monday, opposition officials said.
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-pakistan-india-opposition.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay4.html
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030504_000757-search,00.html
*	Yemen asks Pakistan to extradite al-Qaida suspect linked to Cole bombing
	May 03, San'a, Yemen -- Yemen has asked Pakistan to extradite a suspected al-Qaida leader wanted in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of a U.S. warship, a Yemeni official said Saturday. The Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity that Waleed bin Attash is on Yemen's most wanted list for his role in plotting the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole. Yemen is awaiting Pakistan's response, he said. U.S. officials also suspect Attash coordinated the activities of two plane hijackers who crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/03/international2143EDT0643.DTL
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay3.html
	http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/-yemen-pakistan-extradition.html
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030503_000282-search,00.html
*	Pakistani police arrest two men carrying explosives, suspect al-Qaida links
	May 03, Karachi, Pakistan -- Police have arrested two Pakistani men with suspected links to al-Qaida as they drove into Karachi with 300 pounds of high explosives in their van. The men, whose names were not released, were coming from Hyderabad, about 100 miles east of Karachi, and were stopped on Friday as part of a routine security check, said Kamal Shah, police chief in southern Sind province. Police said the arrests were unrelated to the arrests of six al-Qaida suspects during raids in Karachi on Tuesday.
	http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/03/international0313EDT0435.DTL
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8726-2003May3.html
*	The thinkable
	In each of the major cities of Pakistan, you can find a strange monument depicting a saw-toothed mountain and a poised missile. The mountain is a peak in the Chagai Hills, in whose granite depths Pakistan conducted its first nuclear tests five years ago. In the Islamabad version of this tableau, which sits on a traffic island amid a congestion of garishly ornamented trucks, three-wheeled taxis and donkey carts, the mountain is bathed at night in a creepy orange light, as if radioactive. The camouflage-dappled missile is called the Ghauri, and it has a range of about 900 miles.
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/04/magazine/04NUKES.html
*	An opulent and pugnacious champion of India's outcasts
	Lucknow, India -- She arrived by helicopter and spoke for an hour and a half beneath an air-conditioned canopy. Her followers traveled by bus, and sweated for hours in a field in 105 degree heat. Still, most of them loved every minute of it. Their leader, Mayawati, is chief minister of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, in the north. It is home to 166 million people, which means she governs more people than all but one woman in the world, Indonesia's president, Megawati Sukarnoputri.
	http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/04/international/asia/04INDI.html
	http://www.iht.com/articles/95204.htm
*	Japan, India discuss N. Korean nukes, other defense issues
	New Delhi -- Defense chiefs of Japan and India held talks Sunday on regional security and alleged exchanges of nuclear and missile technology between Pakistan and North Korea, a news agency reported. Shigeru Ishiba, the first Japanese defense chief to visit India , also discussed bilateral defense cooperation with Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes, Press Trust of India reported, quoting Japanese Embassy officials in New Delhi. India and Japan are concerned about reports of Pakistan and North Korea sharing nuclear and missile technology.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030504_001001-search,00.html
*	Indian Prime Minister seeks investment, technology for multi-role aircraft
	Bangalore, India -- Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Sunday sought investment and technology for developing and producing a multi-role aircraft which could find military and civilian use. Vajpayee, accompanied by Defense Minister George Fernandes, was in Bangalore, India's technology hub in the southern state of Karnataka, where he witnessed test flights by the prototype of a fighter aircraft designed to eventually replace India's aging fleet of Soviet-era fighter jets. Developed by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., the light combat aircraft is powered with engines made by General Electric Co. (GE), officials said.
	http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20030504_000765-search,00.html

BUSINESS / TECHNOLOGY
*	Wall Street to ship research jobs to countries like India
	New York -- Wall Street research analysts have suffered rounds of layoffs, big pay cuts, and accusations that they routinely lied to the investing public. Now there's a new worry -- that their jobs are being shipped overseas. Investment banks like Morgan Stanley (MWD.N), Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) and Citigroup Inc. (C.N) are mulling the benefits of shipping research jobs to countries like India, where salaries for business graduates are as little as 10 percent of those in New York and London, according to financial consultants and Wall Street sources.
	http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-financial-wallst-offshore.html
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay4.html
*	India's forex reserves at record high of $77.01 billion
	May 03, Bombay, India -- India's foreign exchange reserves rose to a record high of $77.01 billion in the week ended April 25, helped by rising trade remittances and steady foreign capital flows, analysts said on Saturday. According to central bank data, India's forex reserves jumped by $933 million in the week to April 25, adding on to the $326 million rise in the week before that. The central bank said the foreign currency assets expressed in U.S. dollar terms included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in its reserves such as the euro, pound sterling and yen.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8812-2003May3.html
*	India harvests first biotech cotton crop
	Warangal, India -- In the early morning buzz of a busy market, hundreds of cotton farmers arrive on tractors and bullock carts with sacks full of their harvest of "white gold." But this season, some crops are attracting more attention than others. Farmers have planted India's first approved crop of genetically engineered cotton, known as Bt for the soil organism that is toxic to some plant pests. The new seed, developed by St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. and approved by the government after four years of bitter opposition, is hailed by some as the solution to a vicious cycle of devastation by pests, heavy pesticide use and soil depletion that has trapped Indian farmers for decades.
	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AMay3.html
	http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/newsurl.asp?doc_id=NR_01ce002a5dc7b03f