Tuesday, August 11, 1998
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W O R L D | Tuesday, August 11, 1998 |
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4 Taliban |
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 Landmine survivors, veterans of the war in Bosnia, play sitting volleyball at the Tuzla sports center, Bosnia, on Saturday. The match was part of the commemoration of the first anniversary of Princess Diana's visit to Bosnia. — AP/PTI Islamic group lists demands CAIRO, Aug 10 — The Islamic group which claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on US embassies has issued a list of demands calling for the US forces to leave Saudi Arabia. |
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Japan Opposition for snap
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4 Taliban commanders killed, says Iran DUBAI, Aug 10 (PTI) — Iran today said four Taliban commanders had been killed in continuing fierce battles with the Islamic United Front forces as the hardline militia pulled out of Mazar-i-Sharif yesterday, but the Taliban refuted the claim, asserting they were still in full control of the area. The official Iranian News Agency (IRNA), quoting sources close to the front, said Mullah Ghaffar Akhund, Mullah Pirmohammad, Mullah Mohammad and Mullah Majid were among those killed in the clashes. There was no independent confirmation of the claims by the rival groups as Taliban officials were quoted as saying that their forces continued to consolidate positions throughout the invaded city close to the CIS borders after taking it over on Saturday. The Taliban also claimed they continued to remove pockets of resistance and claim fresh positions in the area. Another report from Heyratan yesterday quoting Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister and Ahmad Shah Masood’s spokesman Abdullah said the Taliban had been forced to pull out of Mazar-i-Sharif in the wake of public uprising. Meanwhile, head of IRNA Mahmud Saremi has been taken captive by Taliban forces in Mazar-i-Sharif, the agency said. Saremi had been serving as IRNA’s correspondent in Afghanistan for the past year-and-a-half. At least 11 Iranian diplomats are also in Taliban’s captivity, the agency said. TEHERAN: Iran holds Pakistan responsible for whatever happens to the Iranian diplomats detained by the ultra-Islamic Taliban in the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Iranian television reported on Monday. “Iran holds Pakistan responsible for whatever happens to our diplomats,” Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told his Pakistani counterpart in what was regarded as the harshest encounter between the two Islamic states so far. “We are deeply concerned about their faith and harshly protest against this move,” Mr Kharrazi said, referring to remarks by a Taliban spokesman that the diplomats may have been killed. Iran said it did not believe claims by the Taliban that they did not kidnap Iranian diplomats after they captured Mazar-i-Sharif. “This is not true. There is no doubt they are in the hands of the Taliban,” Kharrazi told his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz in a telephonic conversation. ISLAMABAD: Meanwhile, thousands of students from religious institutions in Pakistan have left for Afghanistan to join hands with the Taliban in its offensive against the rival northern alliance, the media here reported on Monday. Officials running madarsas closed down the religious institutions in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) for 15 days to enable the students to go to Afghanistan and throw their weight behind the Islamic militia which have captured Mazar-i-Sharif. Religious scholars in the
NWFP last week formed a committee, comprising senior
Ulemas, to coordinate with the Taliban, a majority of
whose ranks have studied in Pakistan. |
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Jamaat begins anti-Sharif drive ISLAMABAD, Aug 10 (UNI) — Pakistan’s leading fundamentalist party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, has launched its promised anti-Nawaz Sharif Government movement from Raiwind, a suburb of Lahore. After Mr Sharif’s second coming as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, a vast portion of Raiwind has been transformed into his dream farmhouse which is said to be no less grandiose than the Surrey mension in England that created a scandal against then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto two years ago. Now Raiwind has become Mr Sharif’s soft belly as was Surrey for Ms Bhutto. The Jamaat’s chief, Gazi Hussain Ahmed, therefore, selected Raiwind to start a movement against Mr Nawaz Sharif. He addressed a crowd of more than 20,000 persons yesterday and challenged the legality of Mr Sharif’s government and questioned the fairness of the 1997 election results. The Jamaat had boycotted the elections because the then caretaker government replaced to hold a process of accountability before the elections. The Qazi alleged that the present rulers had evaded taxes and that from now on he would expose this fact in public. The Jamaat is opposed to the imposition of general sales tax which has made the common man’s life more difficult and harmed trade. (The Jamaat supports Punjab traders who have been protesting against general sales tax for many days now). The Jamaat’s
anti-government campaigns are generally considered a bad
omen because of its supposed links with the army —
although, electorally, this party is weightless. |
Islamic group lists demands CAIRO, Aug 10 (AFP) — The shadowy Islamic group, which claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, has issued a list of demands calling for the US forces to leave Saudi Arabia and for the release of detained Islamic militants. It also called for an end to US support for Israel and denounced the ‘economic sanctions’ imposed on certain Muslim countries. In communiqués sent to Radio France International, copies of which were obtained by AFP’s Cairo bureau, the Islamic Army for the Liberation of (Muslim) Holy Sites said it would ‘pursue US forces and strike at US interests everywhere until its demands are satisfied’. The group said it wanted: First, the withdrawal of US and western forces from Muslim countries in general and from the Arabian peninsula in particular, including civilians. Second, the lifting of the naval blockade imposed round the Arabian peninsula and the withdrawal of warships from Islamic waters. Third, the release of ulemas (religious scholars) and young Muslims detained in the USA, Israel and in Saudi Arabia. And first and foremost Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman (the spiritual guide of Egyptian fundamentalist organisation Jamma Islamiya, who is jailed in the United States) and Sheikh Salmana Al-Wada (a Saudi dissident). The hitherto unknown group justified its ‘jihad’ against Washington by the “occupation of the holy places in the Arabian peninsula where US forces are close to the Al-Agasa Mosque.” WASHINGTON: The Washing-ton Post reported on Monday reported that car carrying the explosives that destroyed the US embassy in Nairobi was turned away from the front entrance by guards and sent to the rear. People inside the car also attacked a security guard, according to the newspaper, citing an unidentified official close to the bombing investigation. NAIROBI: The US Consul-General here Julian Bartley has become the 12th American to die in the bomb attack on the US embassy here. DUBAI: In a new twist to the bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Iran has accused Afghan militia group Taliban of involvement in the terrorist acts. “Assameh Bin Ladan,
the real criminal of the recent explosion of American
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, is Taliban’s main
financial supporter of terrorist training,” official
Iranian News Agency IRNA said on Monday, quoting foreign
sources. |
Japan Opposition for snap poll TOKYO, Aug 10 (AFP) — Japan’s Opposition demanded snap elections today as Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi battled for parliamentary approval of legislation to save the debt-ridden finance sector. “The Obuchi Administration does not reflect the people’s will,” Mr Kansei Nakano, deputy head of the main Opposition Democratic Party of Japan, charged at the start of the plenary session of the Lower House. “What qualification and power does the administration have without facing the judgement of the people?” he said, demanding the chamber be dissolved for the general election. Mr Nakano said Mr Obuchi’s promotion as Premier “can never be approved as he has served as Foreign Minister in an administration with numerous policy failures.” Mr Obuchi took office on July 30 after his predecessor Hashimoto quit following a devastating defeat in the July 12 Upper House elections for the ruling party. The new Premier
immediately shrugged off the demands for the general
election and repeated his commitment to rescuing the
world’s second largest economy from recession. |
Now sex pill for women NEW YORK (DPA): After the stunning success of the male impotency pill Viagra, the pharmaceuticals industry is stepping up its efforts to help women with sex problems. At least six companies in the USA are developing pills and plasters to stimulate the female libido or increase the flow of blood to the genitals. Female sexuality disturbances, ranging from a lack of interest in sexual intercourse to inability to have an orgasm, have in the past usually been ascribed to emotional causes. Now the industry seems determined to open up a further market. US universities, too, are dedicating themselves to the complex subject of female sexuality. In laboratory experiments on animals, Mr Irwin Goldstein of Boston University succeeded in proving that with increasing age circulatory disturbances impair female arousal in the same way as that of the male. Mr Goldstein induced arteriosclerosis in female rabbits and found that this led to a sharp reduction in their sexual reactions. If his theory is confirmed by further experiments, women would be just as suitable candidates for Viagra treatment as men, The Wall Street Journal commented recently. Pfizer Inc. of New York is currently testing Viagra, the blue pill which has sold better than any new drug ever before, on 500 women in the UK. Other US firms are following the same trail. Pentech Pharmaceuticals, in a joint venture with Abbott Laboratories, Takeda Chemical Industries of Japan and Zonagen, are developing other substances to stimulate the flow of blood and with it female desire. Major studies are in the pipeline. More controversial is the idea of treatment with the male hormone testosterone. True, the female organism produces it too, but in much smaller quantities. With the menopause the female testosterone level drops even further, by up to 50 per cent. In her book “The Hormone of Desire,’’ psychiatrist Susan Rako suggests that a flagging interest in sex and a lack of zest for life are both consequences of this decline in the testosterone level. The US company Solvay Pharmaceuticals has for years been selling estratest, a testosterone pill, to treat menopausal symptoms. It now plans to test the drug as a means of enhancing sexual desire. Theratech Inc. is planning to launch a testosterone plaster, and the National Institutes of Health Research are looking into the hormone’s effect. Ms Barbara Sherwin, a psychologist and Professor, Gynaecology, McGill University in Montreal, Canada, accused critics of testosterone therapy of prejudice. In an article in the New York Times, she said even some doctors still believed the hormone turned women into men, causing them to develop beards, a deep voice and aggressive behaviour. However, if properly administered as a drug, the hormone only restored the body’s testosterone to its natural pre-menopause level. Critics, however, say it can also cause acne and cardiac problems. While medical research
scientists are racking their brains over the side-effects
of future sex pills and plasters, many women have been
using their own initiative |
Brunei’s future ruler installed BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, (Brunei), Aug 10 (AP) — A wide-eyed, 24-year-old with a passion for snooker and bon Jovi was installed today as heir to one of the world’s richest monarchies. Amid Islamic prayers and booming guns, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah passed on a jewelled Malay dagger to his eldest son, Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, making him the rightful heir of the throne held by the family for more than 500 years. The prince, dressed in an ornate gold-embroidered Jacket and wearing a gold crown, looked solemn throughout the hour-long ceremony before 4,000 guests. The huge palace hall, its walls painted gold, was packed with royal relatives, the who’s who of Brunei society and foreign diplomats. The Sultan wore military dress and a sword at his belt. On either side were his two wives in green and pink sequined gowns reflecting the palace lights. But the royal pomp and pageantry at the 1,788-room palace on the banks of the Brunei river mask a growing unease in the South-East Asian kingdom, which has withstood liberal tides to remain one of the world’s last absolute monarchies. It comes at a time of
economic troubles for the oil-soaked sultanate and amid
an embarrassing family feud brought on by the wayward
financial dealings of the Sultan’s younger brother,
Prince Jefri, who is now in self-imposed exile. |
Gorbachev calls for early poll MOSCOW, Aug 10 (AP) — Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev called for early presidential elections in Russia, along with parliamentary elections and a referendum on a new constitution, a news agency said. “Russia needs a new President, a new government and a new Parliament,’’ Mr Gorbachev said in an interview with the Interfax news agency. Mr Gorbachev has been a frequent critic of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and the two men have long been rivals. Mr Gorbachev has said in the past that the current constitution gives the President far too much power. He also called for an amendment giving outgoing Presidents a lifetime term in the federation council, the Upper House of Russia’s Parliament. In calling for early
elections, Mr Gorbachev said it would be “an
intractable task’’ for Prime Minister Sergei
Kiriyenko and his government to lead the country out of
its current economic crisis. |
Clinton support wavering WASHINGTON: The head of a leading women’s activist group has urged US President Bill Clinton to address the nation about the White House sex and perjury scandal, as a new poll showed support for Clinton wavering among women. “I think he must not
only testify truthfully ... but I also think that the
people in this country want to hear him and want to be
able to look at him and judge for themselves,”
Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organisation
for Women, told “Fox News Sunday”. |
| Global monitor Arafat Cabinet approved Paula Jones case Scorpion bite Ban on barking Brazen robbery 12 stabbed to
death Go-slow on Enron UN inspectors
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