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| Monday, February
12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Arafat to
give Sharon a chance First
sequence of human genome to be out today Scandal
rocks Pak judiciary Top PPP
leader held for graft Poll bodes
ill for Dosanjh Verdict in
ULFA chief’s case tomorrow |
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E-mail
from beyond the grave Mori
plays golf as trawler sinks
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Arafat to give Sharon a chance JERUSALEM, Feb 11 — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said he will give Israel’s newly elected leader, Mr Ariel Sharon, a chance to show his peacemaking credentials as violence flared in the West Bank and Gaza Strip today. Mr Arafat’s made his comments as Mr Sharon pushed ahead with efforts to forge a national unity government with the centre-left Labour Party, a political partnership seen by many as being the best chance for peacemaking with the Palestinians. Violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has escalated in the days since Mr Sharon won a crushing victory over outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak in last Tuesday’s election. In the latest outbreak, a roadside bomb exploded as an armoured Israeli convoy drove along a road near the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement in Gaza early this morning, the army said. The army reported 27 shooting and hand grenade attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where residents of the Netzarim Jewish settlement took to bomb shelters after a mortar shell struck a house. Palestinian officials did not immediately confirm the mortar attack. Mr Arafat said he was keeping a close eye on Mr Sharon’s coalition negotiations and would give the Israeli leader, reviled by the Arab world and widely seen as a warmonger, a chance to prove he was serious about making peace. “We will judge him according to policies he takes as Prime Minister and with whom he will form a government,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Mr Sharon met Mr Barak on Sunday for a second round of coalition negotiations in a race to meet a March deadline to form a government or face new elections for Prime Minister and Parliament. Former US President Bill Clinton praised Mr Sharon for inviting Mr Barak to serve as Defence Minister, and Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres to be Foreign Minister, in his government. Israeli newspapers reported Mr Barak had rejected Mr Sharon’s offer saying that he would stick to his promise to resign after his electoral defeat. Labour Party members said they were testing whether Mr Sharon was serious about his campaign pledge — “only Sharon can make peace’’ — before they decided whether to join his government. Labour Party whip Ofer Pines-Paz told Israel Radio that the party would not be bought off with ministerial posts in the Sharon government and wanted a firm commitment to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians and accept the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. In Amman, head of the Arab League, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, said the Arab world feared Mr Sharon could lead the region to disaster if he took a hardline stance as Prime Minister. Abdel-Meguid was speaking at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Jordanian capital that was dominated by Mr Sharon’s election as Prime Minister. Meanwhile, a Palestinian military court has sentenced to death a Palestinian security officer found guilty of helping Israel’s army during the four-month-old Palestinian revolt, witnesses said. Palestinians in the court room whistled and clapped when a tribunal of three judges sentenced Hassan Mohammed Hassan Musalam, (55) to death by firing squad. Musalam was an officer of the Palestinian national forces in the West Bank. “I am innocent,’’ was all he would say to reporters, covering his face with his coat as Palestinian police escorted him back to jail. Mr Arafat must ratify any death sentence before it is carried out. — AGENCIES |
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First sequence of human genome to be out today LONDON, Feb 11 — Scientists will publish the initial sequence of the human genome tomorrow in a breakthrough that promises to revolutionise the understanding and treatment of diseases. The sequencing of 3.1 billion letters of DNA show humans are made up of about 30,000-40,000 genes, considerably fewer than earlier estimates of 60,000-100,000 genes, and only about twice as many as the earthworm and fruit fly. Scientists say identifying all genes and what they do will herald a new age in science and medicine, vastly expanding human knowledge and accelerating the diagnosis and treatment, as well as potential preventions and cures, for disease. “It is going to revolutionise science and medicine,’’ Tim Hubbard of Sanger Centre in Cambridge, England who worked on the project, said. “Everything about us is in the sequence.’’ The Human Genome Project, the publicly funded international collaboration of 20 groups of scientists from the USA, the UK Japan, France, Germany and China, completed the working draft of the human genetic code in June. The information has now been arranged and is published in the scientific journal nature with a dizzying array of reports, maps and analysis to explain what it all means. Celera Genomics of Rockville, Maryland, the privately owned company which raced to produce the first draft, reported their findings in the journal Science. The sequence is just the beginning and will not be fully finished for several years but it is already revealing its secrets — far fewer genes, where they come from, the complexity of proteins and what makes us different from other organisms. Genes comprise only a tiny fraction of human DNA but they represent the major biological function of the genome. They are also the most challenging feature to identify in the genome. Ultimately researchers hope to compile a complete list of all human genes and the proteins they encode to aid scientists in biomedical research. The biggest initial impact of the human genome is expected to be on drug development, customising drugs to individual genetic profiles and earlier diagnosis of disease. WASHINGTON:
It almost worked, an effort to present a picture of genial unity between scientists of the Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics, the company making a highly public bid to decode the human genetic sequence using controversial new technology. But in the days leading up to tomorrow’s announcement that both teams have begun to decode that mind-numbingly long sequence of A’s, T’s, C’s and G’s that make up the human genetic code, it has become clear that the emotions are closer to acrimony and downright dislike.
— REUTERS |
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ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 — The role of the Pakistan judiciary come under scrutiny after a London daily alleged that a judge of the Lahore High Court, who convicted former Premier Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, for five years in a corruption case in 1999 had delivered a pre-written guilty verdict at the instance of the then Nawaz Sharif government. “The credibility of the judiciary suffered a major blow this week when the paper published taped conversations establishing a nexus between Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who convicted Ms Benazir and the Law Minister during the regime of Mr Sharif,” Pakistan’s weekly, The Friday Times, has said. “Justice Qayyum is seemingly caught in the eye of the storm by the London-based paper, which alleges that the judge has handed down a pre-written guilty verdict against Ms Benazir and Mr Zardari apparently under pressure from the Sharif government,” the weekly said. Justice Qayyum heading a two-member Bench sentenced Ms Benazir and Mr Zardari to five year’s imprisonment each and a fine of $ 8.6 million in April, 1999. The judgement also ordered the disqualification of their Parliament membership as well as confiscation of their property. While Ms Benazir left the country for exile abroad when the judgement was delivered, Mr Zardari, who was in prison facing several civil and criminal charges, was convicted. Ms Benazir’s appeal would come up for hearing before the Supreme Court on February 26. The Sunday Times based its report containing detailed taped telephone conversations between Justice Qayyum and the Law Minister, Mr Khalid Anwar, recorded by the then Deputy Director of Intelligence Bureau, Mr Abdul Rehim. Mr Rehim in a petition to the then Pakistan President, Mr Rafiq Tarar, said he was asked to tap the telephones of Justice Qayyum by the Sharif government soon after the trial began against the Bhuttos. For his part, Justice Qayyum challenged the validity of the tapes saying that they could have been concocted or doctored and claimed that he gave the judgement according to the dictates of his conscience. But more damaging were the allegations that the judge and his wife had been given diplomatic passports on April 30, 1998, three days before he issued orders to freeze the assets of Ms Benazir.
— PTI |
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Top PPP leader held for graft ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 — The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested the senior vice-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, on corruption charges. Gillani was arrested in Lahore and flown to Islamabad late last night. The former Speaker of the National Assembly was accused of appointing 339 of his cronies and favourites to government departments in violation of the rules, said an NAB statement. It said the induction of these persons inflicted a loss of Rs 30 million annually on the national exchequer. “NAB has arrested Gillani as part of its campaign to unearth corruption of politicians, officials and businessmen, and there was no victimisation of any political leader,” an NAB official said. Giving details of the allegedly illegal appointments made by Gillani, an NAB spokesman said as Speaker of the National Assembly, he had purchased luxurious vehicles at exorbitant rates, violating all rules and regulations and causing a loss of Rs 2 million. He also misused 10 vehicles in Islamabad, Lahore and Multan against the entitlement of one car, with recurring expenditure of Rs 3 million, the spokesman alleged. He allegedly got eight official telephones installed at his residences in Islamabad, Multan and Lahore, causing a loss of Rs 2.9 million. A loss of Rs 3.4 million was allegedly caused to the national exchequer due to theft and accident of vehicles under him. Gillani is also alleged to have awarded contracts for the renovation of the National Assembly for Rs 18.7 million on a single quotation and no approval from the competent authority was sought before awarding this contract, he said. A day before his arrest, Gillani in an interview with IANS had said after the Supreme Court verdict on a review petition by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) challenging the validity of the military rule, Gen. Pervez Musharraf had “no moral ground for not holding the general election.”
— IANS |
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Poll bodes ill for Dosanjh TORONTO, Feb 11 — British Columbia Premier Ujjal Dosanjh seems to be in a no-win situation with more bad news coming in soon after a high profile minister in his Cabinet resigned. According to the latest National Post/Compass public opinion poll, if the provincial election were held in the state today, the New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Mr Dosanjh would be trounced. Mr Dosanjh has to call the election before June but indications are that he is preparing to call in April. Dosanjh’s party would get only three seats from its current 39 and the opposition Liberal Party would increase its strength from 33 to 72 seats. The NDP would literally be crushed, concludes the poll of 800 people conducted between January 31 and February 5. Good government, the economy and healthcare are three issues of the election campaign, according to the poll. The Liberal Party has 59 per cent voter following while the NDP has a mere 18 per cent. Two other opposition parties — Reform and Green — have 12 and 8 per cent following but wouldn’t be able to get even a single seat in the legislature, according to the poll.
— IANS Verdict in ULFA
chief’s case tomorrow DHAKA, Feb 11 — The judgement in the second case against ULFA leader Anup Chetia and two of his comrades will be delivered by the fifth Assistant Metropolitan Sessions Judge on February 13. They are being tried on charges of illegal possession of currencies of 16 countries. Hearing of both prosecution and defence sides was completed on January 29. On June 10, 1999, the high court asked the government to release Chetia in a judgement on a writ petition by him under the International Human Rights Charter because his life in Assam was insecure. But the police rearrested him in another case. |
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LOS ANGELES, Feb 11 — Those who have enjoyed sending out e-mail during their time on this planet, now have the chance to make sure that their electronic messages will keep on being sent, even after death! The website finalthoughts.com (www.finalthoughts.com) offers its customers the opportunity to save electronic messages to be sent out to friends and relatives around the world after the client passes away. “This is no macabre joke,” assures California’s Todd Michael Krim. The 31-year-old lawyer hit upon the idea for the service during a flight from Los Angeles to London. His aircraft was shaken by turbulence, and Todd was faced with the fear of death. A number of thoughts plagued him: “Who will take care of my dog Jini if we crash? Do my parents know that I love them? What kind of a burial would they plan for me?” This experience prompted the Californian to quit his job as an attorney and begin the website as “a service for everyone who wants to prepare themselves emotionally and practically for their death.” The selection of services runs from the preparation of a will to tips for burial and on to chatrooms where users can talk about sorrow, fear, and life after death. Still, the most popular feature of the site is “afterlife e-mails.” More than 12,000 customers from 80 countries have already signed up. The average user is about 37 years old. This doesn’t surprise Todd. His parents never talked about death and burial, “but for my generation it’s no longer a taboo subject.” Users first choose a “guardian angel,” a relative or friend who, in the event of the user’s death, will notify the website immediately. At that point, all of the e-mail messages that the user had stored in his “electronic filing cabinet” are sent to their recipients. To minimise the shock that Auntie and Uncle might suffer in receiving an unexpected e-mail from the dearly departed “from beyond the grave,” an explanation accompanies the private message. Naturally, Todd claims not to inspect the content of the messages, and he purports to handle them with the utmost respect for privacy.
— DPA |
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Mori plays golf
as trawler sinks TOKYO, Feb 11 — Japan’s gaffe-prone Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, came under fire today from politicians and the Press for continuing with a game of golf after hearing a US Nuclear submarine had struck and sunk a Japanese trawler packed with students. “I don’t know how the Prime Minister first heard of it, but I think he should have stopped playing golf immediately and returned to his office,’’ Mr Takenori Kanzaki, leader of the New Komeito party and the key partner in Mori’s ruling coalition, told a television talkshow. Mr Tanzaki’s was not a lone voice. |
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