keralamonitor 2003 June reports Click here for more reports

Indian Shaikh Wants Journalist to be Sacked.

Using vastha and money power a leading Indian business house is going around various government offices, the Internet Service Provider and newspaper offices to get a journalist sacked and clear the way for further looting of schools and retaining its clean image. The businessman who has got a bail from custody after signing a blank paper and deposit of RO 5 million (Rs. 60 crores!) is desperately trying to ensure that their nefarous activities and white collor crimes are not revealed in public. Already they are claiming that nothing will happen to them as long as they have money and influence of business partners. It is a shame that the businssman who has been given a prestigious award recently is indulging in such dirty politics to eliminate criticism. Do they fear that something more will come out? The campaign against the journalist was started two years back when the looting of Indian schools made headlines in the local media.

However, they are happy with other silent journalists, especially the one who has been acting as the business lobby's mouth piece. An Indian journalist who has been praising these businessmen through his public relation skills and sportsman spirit is being reward for working out their strategy to eliminate critical journalist. Already the sports journalist working in a local newspaper is leading a happy life with lot of money, influence and freebies given by the Indian Shaikhs. Watch this space.

Money laundering Charges Probed

Money Laundering - businessman, top officials being Monitored? How did the bank Chief Executive Abscond? and What prompted the businessman to resign from the board membership of a leading commercial bank? Watch this space.

Global Situation Warrants Multipolar World Order: PM

"Our bilateral relations have developed and diversified. The areas that you have mentioned namely trade, culture, tourism and sports are all sectors where useful progress has taken place over recent years. I expect that in my discussions with the Chinese leadership, we will confirm the need to further expand and intensify relations between our two countries in these and a number of new sectors. I believe there is a mutual desire for this, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee Interviewed in Peoples Daily, China. Full Report

Iraq-Israel oil pipeline 'to reopen' Saddam, Son Survived Iraq War Journalists Go On Trial in Bahrain

Missing Agent Leaves Indian School staff in the Lurch

The story began nine months ago when 33 Iqama-holders of the IISR staff submitted their passports along with Iqamas either for renewal or exit/re-entry. The school’s agent, Al-Mishari, who was entrusted with the task, decamped with the passports, Iqamas, SR49, 000in cash and the school car as well. The car was eventually recovered, but Al-Mishari’s whereabouts remain unknown. Report from Arab News

India Upholds Farmers Right in Cairo WTO Meet of Trade Ministers

Cairo - June 23, 2003 Articulating India’s views at the WTO informal trade ministers meeting in Egypt, Mr. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Law and Justice, has made a strong pitch for a special window under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture to provide for special and differential treatment by way of special safeguard mechanism and other such measures, which, he said, would be of paramount importance in safeguarding the interests of the 650 million Indian farmers who depend on agriculture for their livelihood. More

Injazat Technology Fund launches Islamic finance for Middle East venture capital needs DNRD calls on UAE nationals to focus on careers in IT to meet the rising demand for Computer professionals and More

In Iraq, a US soldier dies every day: Another Vietnam?

New Delhi, June 20: At least 22 US soldiers have died in Iraq in the first 20 days of June. The official site of the US department of defence is full of casualties announcing the deaths of soldiers in Iraq from grenades thrown over walls, fatal gunshot wounds and shrapnel hits while policing Iraq. Several of the casualties, however, have been attributed by the defence department to "non-combat" reasons that have not been specified. Full Report

Meena is not leaving as per Doomsday predictions

At least not by mid-July

June 20, 2003 Many doomsday predictors who are eagerly waiting for the early exit of the Indian Ambassador, K.M.Meena, the patron of Indian Schools from Muscat will have a heart break to know that he is not leaving as per their preducted schedule. Some journalists who are covertly working for the private businessman-school lobby has been taking all pain to fix the date for the ambassadors exit so that the private business lobby can continue to loot the Indian community, especially ordinary parents. Already an Indian School is charging 25 per cent higher fees for new admissions, on the assumption that the patron will leave soon. Full report

Al-Qaeda Targeting Youngsters to Reinforce Its Ranks: Report

MAKKAH, 21 June 2003 — The arrests made in the latest raid on a terrorist hideout in Makkah reveal that Al-Qaeda terror network is using youngsters to bolster its ranks, according to the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.Ahmad Abdulrahman Haroun from Chad, at15 , is the youngest in the group, and three other suspects are under17 .More

ADB is preparing Way for Sustainable Urban Development in Kerala, India

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (17 June 2003) - ADB has approved a US$1 million technical assistance grant to prepare a project to improve urban infrastructure and services in the Indian state of Kerala. The grant is funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.The ensuing project will promote economic growth and reduce urban poverty in five municipal areas - Calicut, Chochin, Quilon, Trissur, and Trivandrum - through urban governance and management reform, and improvement of urban infrastructure. Under the project, it is also proposed to establish a Kerala Municipal Challenge Fund, managed by a professional fund manager, to support urban sector reform and infrastructure development in smaller urban centers.Although small by Indian standards, Kerala is highly urbanized, with its inhabitants spread over the state in five municipal corporations and 53 municipalities. Full Report

"I Have no Homo Sexual Links to the Arab World": British MP

“You are with the Arab for one — or both — of two reasons. First, the money and second, homosexuality. I can show you... some sort of homosexual connection between me and the Arab world. In fact I am not a homosexual, never have been and actually have never met an Arab homosexual,” Controversial British Member of Parliament George Galloway who is accused of maintaining financial links to Saddam Hussein in an interveiw with a leading English Daily. More

Jordan King Pardons Japanese Journalist

King Abdullah II of Jordan pardoned a Japanese journalist Monday who had been sentenced to 18 months in jail for accidentally killing a Jordanian airport guard with a cluster bomb in his luggage More

Amichi girls in dubai dance for charity DNRD introduces pre-paid e-Gate vouchers for corporate users

IslamicFinder portal offers prayer timings in over 5 million cities and towns across the globe

US State Department Trafficking Reports Biased?

The US State Department's various reports on Qatar are inconsistent on the issue of trafficking. While the most recent Department of State Human Rights Country Report on Qatar notes that its government did not investigate or prosecute traffickers actively, the Trafficking in Persons report states that law enforcement agencies do actively investigate allegations of trafficking. In the case of Kuwait & Saudi Arabia: Both countries should have remained in Tier 3. Neither has laws specifically prohibiting trafficking. In addition, labor laws in both countries exclude domestic workers, making them especially vulnerable to employer abuse, including trafficking. Services for trafficking victims are few or non-existent. Full Report

US troops in Iraq ambushed amid drive to extinguish resistance.

American Soldiers are injured in guerrilla attack as the US is trying to tackle renewed loyalist activity that has claimed 40 soldiers since 1 May. Is India's Vajpayee Government in a hurry to send Indian troops to Iraq? Are we going to repeat a blunder? Rajiv Gandhi had to pay a heavy price for his foolish decision to send Indian Peace Keeping (Killing) Force to Sri Lanka. Is Vajpayee going to repeat the same blunder? More

One year in detention of Al Qaeeda men without charge

Jose Padilla was arrested at Chicago airport on 8 May 2002. He was originally held as a "material witness" by the Department of Justice during a grand jury probe into an alleged conspiracy to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" on a US city. However, on 9 June 2002, the US government abruptly transferred him to military custody and cut off all contact with his attorney. The transfer to military custody was made on the basis of a one-page order by President Bush designating Padilla to be an "enemy combatant" closely associated with al-Qa'ida, whose detention it said was necessary to prevent him from aiding an attack on the United States. He has been held since that date in solitary confinement on a naval base in Charleston, South Carolina. Full Report

US accused of stirring up student protests in Iran IslamicFinder portal offers prayer timings in over 5 million cities and towns across the globe More Terrorrists Killed in Saudi Shoot Out Lebanese Finance Minister banned from entering the US; Harassment of News Editors in Bangladesh continues Reliance Finds Oil in Yemen Revised new press law criticised by advocacy group and more News

Saudi Arabia Intensifies Crackdown on Al Qaeeda Netowork

MAKKAH, 16June 2003 — A gunfight late Saturday night in the holy city of Makkah between Saudi police and suspected Al Qaeeda militants left seven people dead, including two members of the security forces. Five security officers and two civilian bystanders were also injured in the gunbattle in Makkah’s Khaldiya district, while security services arrested seven people on a government wanted list. According to Arab News, the leading Saudi Newspaper, five security officers and two civilian bystanders were also injured in the gunbattle in Makkah’s Khaldiya district. Saudi Arabia has intensifed a protracted war against Islamic militants after nearly 100 people were dead in a bloody bomb attack in residential buildings occupied by Euorpeans and Americans.Full Report and More

Indian Defence Scandal

Tehelka.com Exposure brings British Arms Companies alleged payment to Qatar, South Africa in lime light

"Besides India, where BAe is renewing efforts to sell the advanced jet trainers, the other countries involved in the fresh allegations include Qatar, where a relative of the ruler was allegedly paid £7 million, and South Africa, where the then defence minister is alleged to have been bribed, also to buy Hawks," it added. In Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber, the ruler’s influential cousin, was allegedly paid a £7-million commission into a secret Jersey trust run by Grindlay’s bank. The Serious Fraud Office traced the payment to BAe and to a deal to sell Piranha armoured cars.In South Africa, the successful £1.5-billion sale of a consignment of BAe Hawks to the poverty-stricken country has been consumed by scandal since it was signed in 1999. One politician from the ruling African National Congress who was close to an official investigation alleged: "The defence minister, Joe Modise, was bribed." (More)

Chickenpox Rarely kills -if a Patient is not given proper care he will definitely die!

Cleaning companies need to be cleaned for their unfair labour practices and human rights violations. Stag worker did not visit his family for six years!

Stag Enterprises, a cleaning company which was in the news sometimes back following the suicide of a Keralite worker allegedly due to harassment is once again in the limelight for the poor labour welfare policy. This time a 58 year old worker who has worked with the company for a long time was found dead at the company labour camp. M. A. Rahim, from Ochira (Klapana) in Kerala, (58 years) had a tragic death in isolation because the company and even his fellow workers did not take care of him when he was infected with chicken pox. How can a person suffering from chicken pox could be kept in an isolated room without proper care in this heat? More

U.S., U.K., Spain Introduce Resolution On End To Sanctions; Al Jazeera to combat 'boycott' with new Income Sources

First Middle East Non-Frills Airlines from Sharjah

Dubai - 8th May 2003 The Middle East's first no-frills airline, menaJet, is to be launched in Sharjah in December, it was announced today. The carrier to be based at Sharjah International Airport will operate low fare scheduled services, initially utilising two Airbus A320 aircraft each fitted with 162 single class seats. The principal shareholders in menaJet are Gulf Finance House and the Al Zamil Group.Full Report

Liberation of Iraq Oil - Dick Cheny Company to make a killing

"Only now, over five weeks after the contract was first disclosed, are members of Congress and the public learning that Halliburton may be asked to pump and distribute Iraqi oil under the contract." Waxman also has repeated the Corps' statement that the contract could be worth up to $7 billion for up to two years, but the Corps said that figure was a cap based on a worst-case scenario of oil well fires. In fact, few wells were burning during the war with Iraq and the Corps said that by early April, the company had been paid $50.3 million. Full Report

Saudi Man Gets10 Years Jail Term, 3600 lashes for Torturing Wife

One fifth of marriages in Saudi Arabia end up in Divorce!

DUBAI - 29 April 2003 - A court in Baha, Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man, suspected to be a drug addict, to 10 years in prison and 3,600 lashes, some of them to be administered in public, for torturing his wife The wife lost her sight and hearing in addition to sustaining serious injuries all over her body because the husband emptied boiling water over her head, burned her with a heated piece of metal and used a vacuum cleaner to drown out her screams. More News

 Former top Iraqi official says Saddam survives strikes: report Iraqis at Saudi refugee camp anxious to return home

Talmiz Ahmed to Replace K.M.Meena as the New Indian Ambassador

 

K.M.Meena

 

Talmiz Ahmed

New Delhi - Talmiz Ahmed, the current Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia has been appointed as India's new envoy to Oman succeeding K.M.Meena. According to an official announcement, Kamaluddin Ahmed, a former minister and current member of the Planning Commission will be India's next envoy to Saudi Arabia. Full Report

US Firm Vinnell Corporation was 'cover for CIA' Operations in Saudi - London paper

According to London based Times online, the company whose building was bombed by suspected Al Qaeeda supporter, was accused of being a CIA front. “No one knows who the original owners were.” Vinnell’s work in Saudi Arabia dates back almost 30 years, when it won a contract to train Saudi troops to guard oil fields. More

Salary for four months,

Air conditioner in labour camp disconnected

300 employees of Oman Transport and Contracting Company have approached the embassy and labour department for non payment of salary for four months. The workers are agitated over non payment of salary, disconnection of air conditioner in labour camp and other problems. "We are asked to give complaints to labour department. Same problem with renewal of labour card, leave and other benefits. The construction industry is rampant with such sorry state of affairs.

Malayali commits suicide in Muscat due to labour problem -KM Report in November 2001

Muscat—A young Malayali worker apparently committed suicide in a labour camp at Azaiba near Ghala, because of the continued harassment of his employers. The tragic death of Dileep (27), from Thalacherry District, Kerala, the only son of his parents is a mute reminder of the desperation with which more than four hundred employees of a manpower supplying contracting company –Stag Enterprises—have been struggling to get their overdue payment and go back to India decently. Dileep Kumar’s dead body is lying in the Mortuary of Royal Oman Police Hospital, Qurum.

Plagiarism: New York Times editors resign

New York- June 5, 2003 New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd have resigned from the influential paper over a month after plagiarism and fabrication scandals, the paper announced Thursday.More

Bush's secret dialogue with Arab leaders were taped by hardlines

The President of the United States lied to start a war.

So, prior to launching the invasion of Iraq, Bush stated to the Congress and to the world that he did have proof that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Not only did Bush make that claim, but so did Colin Powell. So did Tony Blair. And citing the authority previously granted to him by the Congress, Bush waged war on Iraq. And Iraq fell. Easily.

ZAMBIA: 1,000 oil tankers go missing in fuel controversy

JOHANNESBURG,6 June (IRIN) - One thousand oil tankers with US $13.5 million worth of fuel destined for Zambia's oil refinery from neighbouring countries never reached their destination between 1999 and 2000, said an auditor general's report tabled in parliament earlier this week.Full Report

Al-Qaeda still capable of individual terrorist attacks: Karzai

LONDON, June 6 -- Visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai said here on Friday that Osama bin Laden was probably still alive and that al-Qaeda operatives were still capable of individual terrorist attacks.More

Bomb attacks planned against Philippine, US embassies in UAE
MANILA, June 4 -- Terrorists have reportedly planned to bomb the Philippine and United States embassies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the last two weeks using Filipinos to carry out the attacks, Philippine foreign affairs sources disclosed Wednesday.Sources said terrorists reportedly hired a Filipino worker to drive a car packed with explosives inside the Philippine embassy compound in Abu Dhabi on May 26. The name of the Filipino was not disclosed. The information was relayed by the Office of the Intelligence and Security of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs to the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi. "They alerted the embassy of the plot two weeks ago," a source said. Full Report

Any US attack on Iran to prove suicidal: Khamenei

Saudi Police Arrest Terror Suspect Disguised as Woman

RIYADH, 5June 2003 — Saudi Police in Madinah have arrested a suspect who tried to get past a checkpoint wearing an abaya on Tuesday morning,. The suspect was in the passenger seat of a car with another man and was trying to enter the public housing project. Two villas raided in the area last week proved to be hideouts for suspects associated with the terrorist attacks in Riyadh. Police uncovered the man’s disguise at the checkpoint and arrested him along with the driver .Full Report

Explosion injures 17 in central Paris

PARIS, June 4 - An explosion occurred in an office building in central Paris on Wednesday morning, injuring at least 17 people, police and firefighters said.The blast, which took place at 0952 GMT in rue d'Uzes in the second arrondissement (district), caused the office building close to the stock exchange partially collapsed. The Paris stock exchange is only a few blocks away to the building. Full Report

  New York Times covers up for lies on Iraq war Two most senior journalists pay price for humiliation heaped on paper by scandal Tony Blairs Spell is Busted: Own party denounces lies