Paul Ryan’s relation with black ‘Democrat girlfriend’ opened his eyes to racism

Washington: The cheerleader who Republican vice president candidate Paul Ryan dated in college and helped forge his uncompromising opposition to racism, said that she may not be a Republican, but still supports her ‘nice guy’ old friend.

Deneeta Pope said she met Ryan through friends at Miami University some 20 years ago. “It’s really hard to remember what happened... He was two years older than me. We dated for a short time and we hung out at a couple of parties together,” Pope, 40, said.

Ryan always described himself as a ''big, big fan'' of Martin Luther King and is a staunch advocate of civil rights. Speaking exclusively to Mail Online, but Pope, an IT specialist and realtor living in Chicago, denied that they experienced any racism as a couple.

According to the Daily Mail, Pope also said that their relationship was not very serious. “We weren't in love. It was a college relationship,” she said. Michael Steel, campaign spokesman for Ryan, confirmed to MailOnline that ‘Mr Ryan dated Ms Pope in college’ in the 1990s. In a 2005 interview, Mitt Romney’s future running mate Ryan said that he had been confronted with racism personally, because he had dated an African-American and also had a brother with a black wife. “I have a sister-in-law who’s African American, My college sweetheart was black,” he had said.

“I just experienced some ugly comments, some racist views from people who I thought were friends of mine,” Ryan said. Pope, a registered Democrat since at least 2008, in 2009, she made three donations of USD 324 each to President Barack Obama's inaugural fund.

“I am indeed a Democrat. That’s no secret. But although I have a different political association to Paul, I support him and wish him continued success,” she said.

Although Ryan is determined to oust President Barack Obama from the White House, he has drawn attention to the historic significance of his being the first black US president, the report said.

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All options on table, say Britain and France

UNITED NATIONS - The British and French foreign ministers said Thursday they are not ruling out any options in Syria, including a military-enforced no-fly zone to protect thousands of civilians fleeing the raging conflict in that country.

At a press conference ahead of a UNSC meeting on the growing humanitarian crisis, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague also announced greater aid for international relief efforts. Hague, the British Foreign secretary, said that a Turkish proposal for a safe zone requires military intervention, which the council is unlikely to approve at the moment. “But we are not ruling out any options for the future,” he added.

Asked whether the options include a Nato-enforced no-fly zone without Security Council authorization, he repeated: “We are not ruling out any options.”

Fabius said Paris and London are in “complete unity ... on this point. About the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Hague said, “It is steadily getting worse. We are ruling nothing out, we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios. “But we also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully.”

Hague and Fabius said the UN Security Council - bitterly divided over the Syria conflict - would be unlikely to give its crucial agreement to any military operation to protect a safe zone.

Britain will give an extra three million pounds and France five million euros  to aid efforts inside Syria and in camps in neighbouring countries, the ministers said.

A UN appeal for $373 million for relief operations for Syria and refugee camps outside the country has raised barely $196 million.

Fabius and Hague said other countries had to step up financial assistance to the United Nations and other aid groups.

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SM Krishna to arrive in Pak on Sept 7

Minister of External Affairs of India S. M. Krishna will be visiting Pakistan from September 7 to 9 for holding review meeting with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar at her invitation. Foreign Office spokesman while confirming the arrival of the Indian Minister for External Affairs to Pakistan on September 7 said the bilateral talks will take place on September 8. The spokesman said these talks will be preceded by a meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India on September 7 here in the federal capital. The two Ministers will also co-chair the Plenary of the India-Pakistan Joint Commission to be held in Islamabad on September 8.

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Weekly review: Petrol jumps up to Rs105

ISLAMABAD: In the third consecutive increase in a single month, the government has raised the prices of all petroleum products and CNG to an all time high citing hike in international prices.

Price of petrol has been increased by Rs7.77 per litre which will now be available at petrol pumps at Rs104.55 per litre, after the government revised fuel prices.

Applicable from Saturday, diesel would be sold at Rs112.13 per litre after its prices were revised upwards by Rs5.94 a litre.

Keeping in line with the 60 per cent price disparity formula between the petrol and gas prices, an increase of Rs7.11 per kilogram has been made in the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) for the northern region including Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa, Potohar region and Balochistan where it will now be sold at Rs95.72 per kg. While in Sindh and Punjab, excluding Potohar, CNG will be sold at Rs87.44 per Kg with an increase of Rs6.50 per kg.

The new price of CNG is all time high and is expected to have a direct impact on fares of public transport and cabs, most of which are run on CNG.

Earlier, a senior government official said that petroleum ministry had moved a summary on Friday to Finance Ministry recommending that 50 per cent of the total impact of global hike in prices be shifted to consumers and rest be absorbed by cutting the rate of petroleum levy-a tax the government charges from consumers.

But the finance ministry rejected the proposal and decided to go ahead with full price hike at par with international prices. Besides increase in international prices, the ever increasing rupee dollar parity is one of the reasons for the unprecedented raise.

High Octane Blending Component (HOBC) used in luxury cars in the new review witnessed a maximum hike of Rs8.18 per litre. It will now be sold at Rs. 133.19 per litre this week.

The price of kerosene oil has also been increased by Rs5.86 per litre to Rs102.21 per litre.

Light Diesel Oil would now be sold at Rs98.84 per litre with an increase of Rs5.54 per litre.

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FIA probe team draws blank from London

ISLAMABAD - A two-member team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), probing Olympics visa scam, returned home from London empty-handed after spending more than Rs 2 million of the national exchequer, sources aware of the development told TheNation on Thursday.

A source in the FIA said that the investigation team failed to get any lead in the scam, as it remained unable to record the statement of Ali Asad, the main character in the scam.

The team comprised of Director FIA, Karachi, Mozamma Ali Jah and PSO to Director General FIA, Mohammad Waseem. Shafiq Ahmed, an officer of the data warehouse of National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA), also accompanied the team to assist it in technical matters.

The investigation team remained in the UK for more than two weeks and NADRA bore all its expenditures during its stay there on the directions of the Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

A fact confirmed by a senior officer of NADRA who further told The Nation on the condition of anonymity that the team was sent to London in haste on the directions of Interior Minister. He cited this as a major explanation for the failure of the investigation team in getting any lead or recording the statement of Ali Asad.

NADRA officer said Authority had opposed the Interior Ministry’s directions that it would bear all expenditures of the investigation team but had to bow down before the powerful Interior Minister’s pressure. “When the team was dispatched to London, Interior Ministry neither took the Foreign Office in loop nor contacted the British Home office,” he said while describing reasons of failure of the team in recording the statement of main character in the visa scam.

According to the Interior ministry, FIA team has submitted a report regarding progress in UK. The team also said that several meetings were held with the British officials in locating Asad but all in vain. 

The visa scam had surfaced after a British tabloid The Sun published that some persons might sneak into UK on fake traveling documents as part of Pakistan’s Olympics squad. However, NADRA had dismissed the claim as base saying that its system was secure and no body can get issued CNIC through fake identity from its system.

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Nasa to explore radiation belts

WASHINGTON  - Nasa launched two satellites into space to explore the belts of radioactive particles orbiting the Earth, in a mission that is the first of its kind. The twin spacecraft will spend the next two-yr exploring the so-called Van Allen belt that is filled with highly-charged particles and at times poses a danger to communications, GPS satellites and even human spaceflight. “Scientists will learn in unprecedented detail how the radiation belts are populated with charged particles, what causes them to change and how these processes affect the upper reaches of the atmosphere around Earth,” said John Grunsfeld, a Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate official.  

Associate administrator for . “The information collected from these probes will benefit the public by allowing us to better protect our satellites and understand how space weather affects communications and technology on Earth.” The satellites - buttressed with protective plating - blasted into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket. Nasa’s latest mission comes just weeks after the space agency landed its $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity rover on the surface of the Red Planet, breaking new ground in US-led exploration of an alien world.

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