SOUTH ASIA DAILY NEWS CLIPS

 

    June 16, 200 4 

 

Breaking News 

 

US Textile industry's iniative to extend quota regime (IANS/Yahoo):  ... Chandrasekhar, who is also chairman of the 80-member International Textiles and Clothing Bureau, had warned during the organisation's 39th session in New Delhi recently that "protectionism will find or invent other channels."  The Indian textile industry, which has less than three percent share in the global trade, employs 35 million people directly, contributes four percent to the nation's gross domestic product and accounts for 25 percent of its export earnings.  Sensing a bright prospect for the industry over the next five years, the government set a target of $50 billion per annum in textile and apparel exports by 2010, from the present level of $12 billion.  A recent study by global consultancy McKinsey projected the value of the global textile and apparel industry to go up to $248 billion by 2008 with China, India and Pakistan expected to be the "clear winners." http://in.news.yahoo.com/040616/43/2dnqx.html

 

US Blames Turmoil for Prostitution in Nepal (IANS/Yahoo):  A US report on "modern day slavery" blames Maoists and political instability in Nepal for the unabated trafficking of Nepalese women.  The fourth annual State Department "Trafficking in Persons Report" covering 141 countries was released in Washington by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.  It calls Nepal a "source country" for girls and women trafficked to India for forced prostitution, domestic servitude, forced labour and work in circuses.  Women are also trafficked to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf countries as well as Hong Kong for domestic servitude, it notes.  http://in.news.yahoo.com/040616/43/2dnqb.html

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Top Stories

 

Vandals Shoot Out Windows at Sikh Temple Second Time (Times Herald) 

Violence in Kashmir Invades a Most Sacred Place (NY Times - registration required)

20 killed in Indian train accident (Washington Times)

Forty Killed in Pakistan Bus Accident (Mercury News/AP) 

Nepal Bus Accidents Kills 12 (Seattle P.I) 

Strict Sentence Meted in VA Jihad Case (Washington Post - registration required)

 

 

Business

 

Microsoft Exports High-Level Jobs to India (SF Chronicle/NY Times) 

Secret Microsoft Pacts Leaked (Seattle Times) (Seattle P.I.)

India's Communist PArty Gain Ground, Concerns Investors (The Ledger-Enquirer/Knight Ridder)

IMG to Sports School in India (NY Times - registration required)

Disney Channel Plans to Air in India Next Year (San Mateo County Times/Bloomberg News)

Firms to Fight the End of Quota (The State/The LA Times) 

 

 

Commentaries/Editorials/Letters to the Editors

 

N/A

Defense

 

N/A

 

Political

 

College Freshman on Electoral College (Seattle P.I./AP) 

 

Other

 

US Torture Policy Under Scrutiny (Duluth Superior)

Militants Raid Pakistani Checkpoint (Myrtle Beach News/AP)

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Top Stories

 

Vandals Shoot Out Windows at Sikh Temple Second Time (Times Herald) 

The Solano County Sheriff is handling a weekend shooting at a Sikh temple in Rockville as an act of vandalism, a spokesman for the department said Tuesday. For the second time in 12 days, gunshots were fired at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple on Rockville Road. The temple was shot at on May 29. Members of the temple discovered the bullet holes on Monday and while the members have expressed concern that they might be the target of a hate crime, Deputy Mike Bloomfield, the sheriff's public information officer, said there is no indication that they are. Bloomfield said it is not uncommon for signs in a rural area to be shot at.  http://www.timesheraldonline.com/articles/2004/06/16/news/news03.txt

 

 

Violence in Kashmir Invades a Most Sacred Place (NY Times - registration required)

When the worshipers at the Mirwaiz mosque in this summer capital heard gunshots on May 29, they ignored them. This was Kashmir, after all, where Islamic insurgents have been battling the Indian government for 15 years. They assumed that militants had attacked the police bunker outside. But when they finished praying, one man did not rise with the rest. "Save me," Maulvi Mushtaq Ahmad said slowly, and then they saw the blood. Mr. Ahmad had been in the second of two rows of about 25 men in all. As he and the others bent their foreheads to the floor - the most emotional moment of prayer, when a Muslim believes that he comes closest to God - someone fired three bullets at his back. The assailant escaped. Mr. Ahmad clung to life for more than a week, then died June 7. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/international/asia/16kash.html

 

20 killed in Indian train accident (Washington Times)

A train plunged into a river in eastern India, killing at least 20 people and injuring 130 more.  The engine and eight train cars of the Mangalore-Mumbai (Bombay) Matsyagandha Express derailed on a bridge in Raigarh district, 110 miles south of  Bombay.  "Twenty people have been killed and 100 injured in the accident," Railway Minister Laloo Yadav told reporters in Calcutta.  The train derailed and fell into the riverbed after it hit two boulders that rolled onto the tracks following heavy rains, railway officials said.   http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/r.htm

 

Forty Killed in Pakistan Bus Accident (Mercury News/AP) 

A bus collided with a truck and plunged from a bridge Wednesday near Islamabad, killing at least 40 passengers and injuring 10, police and rescue officials said. The accident took place at the Kaak bridge, 15 miles east of the capital, police official Mohammed Zafar said. Naeem Tarar, an official at Edhi Foundation, the country's main emergency relief agency, told reporters that the bus was en route to Islamabad when it collided with a truck, and fell from the bridge. Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are frequently disregarded.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/8932351.htm?1c

 

Nepal Bus Accidents Kills 12 (Seattle P.I) 

A passenger bus veered off a mountainous highway west of the Nepalese capital Wednesday, killing at least 12 passengers and leaving many more injured, police said. The bus drove off the Prithvi highway at Aghorbhanjyang, about 50 miles west of Katmandu, and rolled about 100 yards to the bottom of the hill. The bus was on the road - which has several hairpin turns - because the main highway out of Katmandu was closed for repairs.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Nepal%20Bus%20Accident

 

Strict Sentence Meted in VA Jihad Case (Washington Post - registration required)

A federal judge imposed a life prison sentence yesterday on one member of the alleged "Virginia jihad network" and an 85-year term on another. In an unusual criticism of her own ruling, she said she found it "appalling" but had no choice under strict sentencing guidelines.  U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said the 85-year sentence she handed down to defendant Seifullah Chapman, 31, was "sticking in my craw.'' Chapman and co-defendants Masoud Khan, 32, and Hammad Abdur-Raheem, 36, were convicted by Brinkema in March of conspiring to aid a Muslim group fighting India that the government has deemed a terrorist organization. "What Mr. Chapman has been found guilty of is a serious crime, but there are murderers who have served far less time," the judge told an Alexandria courtroom packed with supporters of the three men. "I have sentenced al Qaeda members who were planning attacks on these shores to far less time.'' In sentencing Khan to life in prison and Abdur-Raheem to 97 months, Brinkema closed an unusual case in which 11 Muslim men were originally charged with taking part in paramilitary training -- including playing paintball in the Virginia countryside -- to prepare for holy war abroad. Six defendants pleaded guilty; only Chapman, Khan and Abdur-Raheem went to trial. Two others were acquitted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/AJun15.html

 

Business

 

Microsoft Exports High-Level Jobs to India (SF Chronicle/NY Times) 

In the debate over high-technology work migrating abroad, there has been widespread agreement on at least one thing: The jobs requiring higher levels of skill are the least at risk. Routine software programming and testing jobs, analysts agree, are the ones most susceptible to being grabbed by fast-growing Indian outsourcing companies. By contrast, the people who devise the early blueprints for projects -- the software architects -- have been regarded as far less likely to see their jobs farmed out.  But Microsoft contract documents show that as far back as 2001, the big softwaremaker had agreed to pay two Indian outsourcing companies, Infosys and Satyam, to provide skilled software architects for Microsoft projects. The documents were obtained earlier this month by WashTech, an organization of technology workers in Seattle, which gave copies to the New York Times.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/16/BUG6P76M0P1.DTL&type=business

 

Secret Microsoft Pacts Leaked (Seattle Times) (Seattle P.I.)

 Confidential agreements between Microsoft and two software companies in India were leaked to a Seattle labor group that's lobbying against overseas technology contracting. Microsoft publicized its partnerships with the companies, Infosys and Satyam, years ago and few new details are revealed by the circa 2001 contracts. They set terms for software work at Microsoft's Redmond campus and at their offices in India, but they do not say how much work is involved. But the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers claims the documents expose Microsoft's intention to hire low-cost foreign vendors to write its software. It gave the documents to several newspapers this week. "These documents clearly show that as a major software vendor they're looking at the highest skilled, highest trained workers to try to move their work abroad," said WashTech organizer Marcus Courtney. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/_microsoft16.html

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/178021_msftindia09.html

 

India's Communist PArty Gain Ground, Concerns Investors (The Ledger-Enquirer/Knight Ridder)

The new speaker of India's lower House of Parliament sounds like a free-market capitalist, proud of what his political party has accomplished in West Bengal state: The French have invested, and the Germans soon will follow. But Somnath Chatterjee is a leading member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist. His party led the resurgence of leftist parties in the most recent Indian election, one of the larger surprises in a vote packed with them. Despite India's recent economic gains, leftist parties last month won more seats in Parliament than ever before. They also won some power: The new ruling government now depends on the support of the communists, and Chatterjee, a respected, longtime parliamentarian, was named speaker of Parliament. "We got a tremendous amount of votes this time," said Chatterjee, 74, as he received bouquets of flowers from well-wishers at his home. "Ultimately, we want a classless society. But until then, we will work with this parliamentary democracy." 

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/world/8935971.htm

 

IMG to Sports School in India (NY Times - registration required)

An American financial executive with a deep interest in India is expected to announce plans with IMG today to develop a sports instruction and resort complex in southern India. It will be modeled on the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla. IMG is not an investor, but it is licensing its name and providing expertise, coaching and staff members for 10 years to IMG Academies Bharata in Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state Andhra Pradesh and one of India's leading technology hubs. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/sports/

 

Disney Channel Plans to Air in India Next Year (San Mateo County Times/Bloomberg News)

Walt Disney Co., the second-largest media and entertainment company, said it will begin airing the 24-hour Disney Channel in India in 2005, expanding its push into Asia. "Next year we'll launch India, another key market for us," Disney Chief Financial Officer Thomas Staggs said at a Thomas Weisel Partners investment conference in Laguna Beach. Disney began airing the 24-hour Disney Channel in Japan this year, he said.  The Disney Channel, headed by media networks Co-Chair Anne Sweeney, markets to children and families with original programming including "Kim Possible" and "Lizzie McGuire" as well as spinoffs of Disney movies such as the animated "Lilo & Stitch: The Series." http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~2215899,00.html

 

Firms to Fight the End of Quota (The State/The LA Times) 

U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers have launched a last-ditch effort to prolong global quotas that limit low-cost foreign competition. The manufacturers fear that without the quotas, China will dominate the textile and apparel market, triggering the loss of hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs and millions of others worldwide. http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/business/8927079.htm

 

 Commentaries/Editorials/ Letters to the Editors

 

N/A 

 

Defense

 

N/A

 

Politics 

 

College Freshman on Electoral College (Seattle P.I./AP) 

Kiran Patel is working at a fast-food restaurant this summer to pay for her freshman year of college, but she could have a much bigger job by winter: deciding who wears the title "President of the United States." The teenager from Cedar Rapids is one of the youngest members ever of the Electoral College, elected in April just days after her 18th birthday. She gave out homemade coloring books during a campaign that led her to victory over seven others. Seats in the Electoral College, which elects the president, usually go to longtime party activists. Patel, who graduated from Kennedy High School earlier this month, acknowledged that some of her colleagues were reluctant to appoint someone so young. But she insisted there was no need to worry. "I have been in the Democratic Party for over 70 percent of my life and, being 18, my future, at least politically, is within the party," she said. "If I go rogue on them or don't show up, then I've just kind of thrown myself out of the party. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Young%20Elector

 

Other

 

US Torture Policy Under Scrutiny (Duluth Superior)

For two years, the Bush administration has been justifying the use of coercive interrogation methods against prisoners in the war on terrorism while condemning some of the same harsh techniques when used by other governments. A review of U.S. government human rights reports for the past two years shows that Burma, Egypt, Pakistan and at least 15 other countries were criticized for using such tactics as sleep and food deprivation, stripping and hooding of detainees, and prolonged isolation. At the same time, a 50-page Justice Department memo in August 2002 to the White House sought to insulate U.S. interrogators from any liability for using some of the same techniques against terrorist suspects in Afghanistan and the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/8932526.htm

 

Militants Raid Pakistani Checkpoint (Myrtle Beach News/AP) 

Dozens of militants raided a Pakistani paramilitary checkpoint near the Afghan border Wednesday, triggering a gunbattle that killed two militants and one soldier, military sources said. The gunbattle lasted three hours after the overnight attack by between 70 and 80 militants on the checkpoint at Ladha in South Waziristan tribal region, a military official said on condition of anonymity. Five soldiers were wounded. "They attacked the post and physically occupied it. We sent our people and they got that post back," the official said. He said two militants and one soldier were killed. A major army operation against al-Qaida suspects in the region last week killed at least 72 people, including 55 militants. The army spokesman was not immediately available for comment, but the attack was confirmed by other officials. http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/special_packages/8935873.htm

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