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| Saturday, January 6, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Put peace process on hold, Barak tells USA Bush completes ‘Texas iron triangle’ Moscow blueprint ‘to topple Taliban’
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| Estrada trial Pinochet faces prosecution He measures the rich, famous Five die in Pak feud
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| Put peace process on hold, Barak tells USA JERUSALEM, Jan 5 (AFP, AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak thinks there is little chance of reviving peace talks with the Palestinians because their leader Yasser Arafat is not yielding on key questions, the daily Yediot Aharonot reported today. The mass-circulation paper quoted Barak as saying at a private meeting late yesterday that as a peace deal before US President Bill Clinton steps down was unlikely, he would suggest to Washington to put the whole peace process on hold until President-elect George W. Bush takes over and the Israeli prime ministerial elections on February 6. Barak’s opinion was backed today by his Chief of Staff Gilad Sher, who is in Washington to be briefed by US officials on Arafat’s reservations to a peace plan put forward by Clinton. “The chances of a breakthrough or even of progress by January 20 are slim”, Sher said in a telephone interview with Israeli public radio. Barak, who is hoping to salvage a deal to avoid a massive defeat by right-winger Ariel Sharon in the elections, said there was little basis for discussion, the daily reported. He singled out the main issues of the right of return of Palestinian refugees to property they fled on the creation of Israel in 1948, and Palestinian sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Temple Mount in east Jerusalem. “I am thinking of the timetable, both political one in Israel and for the changing of Presidents in the USA,” Mr Sher said, who was sent to Washington to try to curb the violence. But after three hours of talks on Thursday with the US mediators, an Israeli official said his government endorsed Mr Clinton’s proposals as a way to move forward in peacemaking. The only condition was that Mr Arafat accept Mr Clinton’s outline as well, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The talks were held at a hotel between Mr Sher and a White House and State Department officials. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters on Thursday that Israel had reservations, as well. Meanwhile, Mr Clinton’s frantic push for a peace deal was continuing today, as Israel warned of “wide-ranging confrontation” with Arab nations unless an agreement was reached with the Palestinians. Mr Barak wants something concrete to show to the electorate before he stands for a re-election next month. He is tipped to lose the vote on February 6 to Mr Sharon. Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat is under increasing pressure from Arab nations to ask for more and not accept the US deal. Mr Clinton himself is looking for a swansong diplomatic victory in the West Asia arena. His proposals involve Israel turning over the control of Arab neighbourhoods in occupied east Jerusalem to the Palestinians along with the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, sacred to Muslims but also to Jews. In return, Palestinians would waive the right of return for some 3.7 million refugees. This concession is one that many Arab leaders find impossible to accept. Meanwhie, Mr Sharon increased his lead over Mr Barak in two opinion polls on Friday, a month before they face each other in a February 6 national election. Mr Sharon has said he will not be bound by a Barak deal, if elected. BERLIN (AFP): Acting Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami said on Friday that Israel and the Palestinians could reach a peace agreement before the term of Mr Clinton ends, but if that was not possible then they should issue a declaration of general principles. He was speaking after talks with German Foreign Minister Joschkaa Fischer. Meanwhile, Israeli right-wing leader Ariel Sharon, riding high in the opinion polls, is cultivating his strongman image in the run-up to the February 6 elections against outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak, whose Labour Party is reminding voters of his dark past. Aides said that Sharon’s election team of representatives from his Likud party and its allies, the Russian immigrants’ Israel B’ alya and extreme-right Israel Beitenu, had chosen “Sharon, a strong man for a strong Israel ” as its campaign slogan. The slogan is aimed particularly at immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who voted massively for Barak in the May 1999 elections but have wavered since the Palestinian uprising broke out three months ago. |
| Bush completes ‘Texas iron triangle’ WASHINGTON, Jan 5 — U.S. President-elect George W. Bush has named his chief political strategist Karl Rove as his senior White House adviser. Rove will look after the White House offices for politics, public liaison and strategic initiatives. His post does not require confirmation. “He is one of the reasons I was elected Governor and one of the reasons I was elected president. He comes to Washington with a wonderful sense of history, a great understanding of the presidency as an institution in America,” Bush said while announcing Rove’s appointment. “He will bring good judgement, good humour and good advice to the White House,” the President-elect added. Along with Rove, Bush appointed long-time aide Joe Allbaugh to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Allbaugh, (48), from Oklahoma, was the manager of Bush’s presidential campaign. He will replace James Lee Witt, a close ally of President Bill Clinton credited with reviving the agency. With the induction of the Rove and Allbaugh, Bush has completed the transfer of his “iron triangle” of advisers from Austin to Washington. They along with Karen Hughes, emerged as his most trusted advisers during the campaign and were nicknamed as “Texas iron triangle.” Hughes has already been named White House Counsellor. The Bush transition team also announced that Washington lobbyist Nicholas E. Calio would be the White House’s top Congressional liaison. Calio held the same post during the administration of Bush’s father, President George Bush (1988-92). Bush’s spokesman Ari Fleischer said that FBI Director Louis Freeh would remain in his job. Freeh, whose relations with the Clinton administration often have been strained, is in the final three years of a his 10-year term as the head of the law enforcement agency. — IANS DPA adds: President Bill Clinton — who, as a Democrat, is a political opponent of Republican Bush — appointed Mr Freeh in 1993 to a 10-year term as head of the law enforcement agency. Since then, Mr Freeh has enjoyed a contentious relationship with the White House, and rumours have continuously circulated that he would quit. Speculation has for years seen Mr Freeh taking the opposite path, especially because he has had a stormy relationship with the white house. He supported the independent counsel’s investigation against Mr Clinton over an Arkansas land deal and the scandal surrounding Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He also disagreed with Attorney-General Janet Reno when she declined to investigate Mr Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore over allegations of campaign finance violations. Mr Freeh, who has close relationships with Republican legislators, favoured an inquiry. |
| Moscow blueprint ‘to topple Taliban’ ISLAMABAD, Jan 5 (UNI) — Moscow is holding consultations with India and Iran to give final touches to a “blue print’’ to topple the Taliban Government in Afghanistan and replace it with one that is more amenable, The Frontier Post said today. Russia, India and Iran are also discussing the possibility of finding a military solution to the Afghan situation in view of the victory achieved by the Northern Alliance against the Taliban, headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani. Dislodging the Taliban could be done by arming the Northern Alliance with advanced weapons. Since there is an arms embargo on the Taliban, it would be difficult for the Islamic regime to withstand the onslaught for a long time. The paper said Iran, which manoeuvred the release of former Governor of Khandhar Islami Khan from jail, was equipping loyal soldiers with heavy arms to enable them to launch a major offensive against the Taliban. Iran has also played a key role in the reconciliation process between Uzbek warlords Abdul Rashid Dostom and Abdul Malik Pehlwan. The paper said that Iran was also playing a role in establishing “bridges of understanding between Tajik warrior Ahmed Shah Masood and Abdul Rashid Dostam’’. Thus all non-Pushtoon and ethnic groups have been united for the final battle. It said that the USA was also quietly aligning itself with those who favoured military action against the Taliban. In this regard, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth recently met Russian officials to discuss the future set up in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Afghan opposition forces have made some tactical gains in Ghor province recently. This is their second victory in a week’s time. Opposition forces captured Ghalmin, some 400 km west of Kabul after heavy fighting, on Monday and Tuesday. The Taliban used air force planes and heavy artillery to pound the advancing soldiers, but failed to regain the control of the province. Ghor province was captured by the Taliban in 1995. Ahmed Shah Masood is currently leading the Northern Alliance forces. KABUL: The UN sent a team of experts to the western Afghan city of Herat today to assess the needs of thousands of people displaced by drought, the UN co-ordinator for Afghanistan said. Mr Erick de Mul said the mission would report its findings to an emergency meeting of donor countries to raise funds for the displaced families who are threatened by the harsh winter. The donors meeting will be held next week in neighbouring Pakistan, the hub of the UN relief operations for Afghanistan, which faces the worst drought in more than three decades. These internally displaced people are from Ghor and Badghis provinces, a region badly hit by the drought. Mr de Mul said some 12 million persons had been affected by drought which had also killed many Afghans as well as thousands of cattle. Mr De Mul said the world body was discussing with Tajikistan the settlement of some 10,000 other Afghans, adding that they might be moved to Tajikistan next week. |
| ‘Clear Kosovo of depleted uranium debris’ NATO should dispose of large fragments of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition remaining in Kosovo 18 months after the conflict ended, because they represent an unnecessary risk to health, a UN study says. Further details of the preliminary results of the UN Environment Programme investigation emerged on Thursday as the EU began an inquiry into whether there is a link between radioactive military debris and the death from cancer of soldiers who served in the Balkans. Meanwhile, the European commission president, Mr Romano Prodi, called for DU-coated shells to be banned, after the French Defence Ministry said four French soldiers who served in the Balkans during Nato’s bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 were being treated for leukaemia in a military hospital. “It is clear that if there is even a minimal risk, these arms must be abolished,’’ he said. ``And even if this risk was not there, I don’t like the idea of using these particular weapons”. The UK remains one of the few countries to resist compulsory screening of troops returning from Kosovo for traces of contamination. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) insisted that in its solid form it was not a health hazard. ``The UN’s initial findings were that there were a lot of other things which were of far greater concern,’’ a spokesman said. Italy opened an inquiry last week into a possible link between DU and 30 cases of serious illness in troops who served in the area, 12 of whom developed cancer. Five have already died of leukaemia. The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium in Manchester, England, says that most of the areas where DU shells were dropped during the Kosovo war are in the south, in the Italian sector. Spain said it would examine all 32,000 soldiers who have served in the Balkans since 1992. Portugal, Finland, Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece also plan to screen their peacekeepers and check radiation levels to discover if there is such a condition as “Balkans syndrome’’. The biologist leading the British Royal Society’s inquiry into the long-term effects of DU weapons, Professor Brian Spratt of Oxford University, called on the UK government to test British troops. “The leukaemia cases are probably not related, but the health of soldiers who go out to fight for their country should be taken seriously,’’ he said. In its preliminary statement, the UN said it had found ``slightly higher’’ radioactivity in Kosovo at eight of the 11 sites examined last November. NATO had given details of 112 sites where an estimated 31,000 rounds of armour-piercing DU ammunition were used during attacks on Serb targets. The UN statement said its scientists had found “either slightly higher amounts of Beta-radiation, specifically at or around the holes left by DU ammunition, or remnants of ammunitions, such as sabots and penetrators’’. There is also concern about mine clearance, because most DU was found in heavily mined areas or sites with unexploded ordinance — some of which is cleared by controlled explosions. The UN believes this can turn DU back into its most dangerous form — a dust that can be inhaled. — The Guardian, London |
| Estrada trial MANILA, Jan 5 (DPA) — The Philippine Supreme Court today prohibited protesters from holding demonstrations at the residences of Senator Judges in President Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial on bribery and corruption charges. The high court issued the temporary restraining order in response to a complaint filed by Senator Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago against a Leftist group that held a protest at her home on December 15. The protest was held to denounce Santiago’s pro-Estrada stance in the trial, which has triggered numerous demonstrations designed to ensure the President’s conviction on charges of bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and violations of the Constitution. |
| Pinochet faces prosecution SANTIAGO, Jan 5 (DPA) — Chilean Judge Juan Guzman has threatened to prosecute Augusto Pinochet to the full extent of the law if the 85-year-old former military dictator does not show up for a medical examination on Sunday and hearing on Tuesday. “In this instance I am a criminal judge and I must adhere to the guidelines for criminal court proceedings,” Guzman said yesterday. Pinochet’s defence the day before had expressed its intention to ignore subpoenas for both examination and hearing, leaving Guzman the option of putting Pinochet under house arrest as early as Sunday. If Pinochet fails to appear for examination, he will have fulfilled all conditions to make himself eligible for new charges. His supporters object above all to the idea that Pinochet would then be handled like a common criminal, and would have to be fingerprinted and photographed with a criminal record number. The defence argued that Guzman had a hostile bias against Pinochet in the case which, they maintained, was exhibited by the judge’s decision to charge Pinochet before questioning him or getting results of a medical examination to see if he was mentally and physically fit to stand trial. |
| He measures the rich, famous HONG KONG, Jan 5 (DPA) —Only one man has been lucky enough to get his arms round tennis pin-up Anna Kournikova while she is in Hong Kong this week, an unremarkable, looking middle-aged man called Manu Melwani who owns a dingy shop in Kowloon. The 54-year-old tailor, known by his nickname Sam, had the enviable task of measuring up the Russian beauty for a traditional Chinese dress while she visits the territory for the Watson’s Water Challenge Tournament. Manu carefully recorded her statistics in his own black book, where they now remain - for his eyes only. Anna is not the first celebrity to entrust Manu with her particulars. Princes, pop stars and premiers - in fact almost anyone who is anyone who passes through Hong Kong have let Manu close enough with a tape measure to take down measurements most would prefer to remain private. As a result, hidden away in this pokey tailor’s shop in Hong Kong’s shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui lies a mountain of ledgers containing some very vital statistics: The inside leg measurement of American president Bill Clinton, the waist size of former British boxer Frank Bruno and the bust measurements of singers Kylie Minogue and Celine Dion. |
| Five die in Pak feud PESHAWAR, Jan 5 (AP) — Religiously motivated feuding in a remote corner of north-west Pakistan has left at least five persons dead, officials of the area said today. There were unofficial reports that the death toll could rise to 15 in a battle that began three days ago between Rival Sunni and Shiite Muslims at Kallay, about 128 km from here. Among the dead was a six-year-old child caught in the crossfire, reported Jang, an Urdu language newspaper. Attempts have been made by the authorities to negotiate an end to the standoff. The battle began after Sunni Muslims reportedly denied their Shiite Muslim brethren access to a religious shrine revered by both sects, they said. The shrine was apparently being repaired. The two sides have dug bunkers near the shrine and were using heavy and light weapons in their battle. The authorities said several homes were damaged by rocket-propelled grenade launchers and a public telephone office was destroyed. The military government has deployed additional troops in the area. |
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