***
"5,999,999,999"
(The exact number of fellow humans each person on the Earth had on
October 12. The date was designated as the ‘Day of 6 billion’ by the UN
statisticians)
*** " . . . DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, obsessive—
compulsive disorders, substance abuse, suicide and schizophrenia."
(A study conducted by Karachi based doctors, Amin Gadit and Ahsan A.
Vahidy which revealed that a large number of doctors in Pakistan are suffering from
‘Burnout Phenomenon’— psychological withdrawal from work)
*** "IN FIVE years, you will be able to speak French
on the phone in Paris and someone in Beijing will hear you speaking in Mandarin."
(President of Belgium based speech technology specialists, Lernout and
Hauspie, which is working to develop a multilingual computer chat software)
*** " . . . THE CLINTON administration was the only
supporter left of the beleaguered Nawaz regime . . . The outspoken US support for a
tottering and unpopular regime helped its early demise."
(A news report quoting Daily Washington Post the day-after the
dismissal of Nawaz Sharif government in a military coup in Pakistan)
*** "A BEAUTIFUL BOY in a city returning to life—
to a people rebuilding their homes, in a region restoring a culture of coexistence after a
decade of war— should light a path of tolerance and understanding for all
people."
(UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, felicitating the birth of the
world’s sixth millionth baby, a boy born to Kosavar refugee couple in war-torn
Bosnia)
*** "THE SOCIAL BENEFIT of my theory is absolutely
nil— you won’t eat any more or less as a result."
(Martinus Veltman, one of two Dutch physicists awarded the 1999 Nobel
Physics Prize, saying that his pioneering work on particle physics had little day-to-day
value)
*** "NOW THE law will have to take its own course . .
. Legal action will be initiated ... in the event of dues not being paid by the concerned
parties or political personalities."
(A suit filed by the Indian government to sue four former prime
ministers for using state-owned planes to make hundreds of personal trips. The government
is seeking to recover Rs 135.7 million from four former premiers including late Rajiv
Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, P.V. Narasimha Rao and H.D. Deve Gowda)
*** "NOTWITHSTANDING THE calls by the international
community, [the] army should take all steps to ensure that corrupt leaders like Nawaz
Sharif and Benazir Bhutto do not return to power in Pakistan in the near future."
(News report saying that the majority of Pakistanis living in the US
have welcomed the army takeover in the country)
*** "WE NO LONGER have the standing to tell China, or
Pakistan or any other country : don’t test another nuclear weapon."
(Senator Carl Levin of Michigan saying the rejection of international
nuclear test ban treaty by the US Senate has seriously compromised the US moral authority
to set the international norms)
*** "EQUIPPED WITH the latest diagnostic and surgical
equipment, the hospital performs endoscopy, surgery, radiology, parasitology, haematology,
microbiology and immunology investigations.’
(Spokesman highlighting the state-of-the-art medical centre opened
recently in Abu Dhabi for the care and treatment of falcons)
*** "SOME PEOPLE are happily married. Well, we’re
very happily divorced."
(Duchess of York, the former Sarah Ferguson— Fergie, and the
former wife of Prince Andrew saying that the couple is ‘the happiest divorced couple
in the world’)
*** "HE IS the man who attacked us in Kargil. We
should be much more alert about Gen. Musharraf."
(Former Indian foreign secretary cum political analyst Mani Dixit on
the army takeover in Pakistan)
*** "152 million. 345 million."
(Pakistan’s present and projected population in the year 2050
respectively. By 2050 India will replace China as the most populated country. The top four
most populated country then will be India, China, the US and Pakistan)
Edited by Syed M. Aslam
