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July 16, 2001, Chandigarh, India    |
Washington, July 15 An interceptor missile has hit a dummy warhead over the Pacific in a successful test of a controversial US missile defence system designed to defend the USA against attack by intercontinental ballistic missiles. Making peace harder
than war: Pak daily 2 PoK leaders for
self-determination
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5 die in
B’desh clashes Dhaka, July 15 At least five people were killed and over 100 injured in Bangladesh today as violence flared across the country in the run-up to a formal transfer of power.
Nepal troops surround
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attack cops : 20 held Stoke-On-Trent (UK), July 15 Asian youths attacked officers with bricks, bottles and broken paving stones in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, the police said, in the latest incident of ethnic violence in the country.
S. Korean flood toll
36 Levy was ‘pregnant with Condit’s baby’ Washington, July 15 Former US federal intern Chandra Levy, who is reported missing since April 30, was pregnant with Democratic Congressman Gary Condit’s baby, a tabloid report here says.
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US test to intercept ICBM warhead succeeds Washington, July 15 Cheers erupted as the flash from the explosion late yesterday, picked up by an infrared camera from an aircraft, was beamed back to video screens at the launch control room in Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands and at a Pentagon conference monitored by reporters. Military officers in camouflage uniforms and civilians clapped each other on the back and shook hands in celebration moments after the intercept, which occurred precisely 42 seconds after 8.39 a.m. IST. It was only the second time that the Pentagon has succeeded in intercepting an intercontinental ballistic missile warhead after more than two years of trying, and it represented a big boost for the programme that has been dogged by failure and controversy. The interception came just under half an hour after a codified Minuteman missile roared into space from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, boosting into space a dummy warhead with a balloon decoy. A network of early warning satellites and radars tracked the simulated warhead across the Pacific. When the target came over Kwajalein’s horizon, the bulbous intercept missile blasted off from a seaside launch past and streaked into space, closing with the target at speed of more than 15,000 miles per hour. The two-stage intercept missile released a kill vehicle which steered into a pulverising collision with the dummy warhead, using data from a high-powered ground-based targeting radar and its own onboard infrared sensors to set its course. The only apparent glitch came when the countdown for the target missile’s launch was stopped for 40 minutes. Two Greenpeace swimmers were arrested at about the same time after landing on a beach close to the launch pad at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, according to the group. Air Force Lieutenant-General Ronald Kadish, director of the Pentagon’s Ballistic Missile Defense Organisation, had said the day before the test the chances of an intercept were slightly better than even but told reporters he was “quietly confident” of success. Two of three previous attempted intercepts have failed and something as minor as a faulty valve or a software glitch could throw off the whole intricate system. The last test on July 8 was dashed when the kill vehicle failed to release from its booster rocket. In a test on January 19, 2000, it missed its target when a clogged cooling pipe blinded its infrared seekers seconds before impact. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a newspaper interview yesterday that Washington would seek a new, comprehensive nuclear weapons agreement with Russia to allow the USA to develop its missile defence programme, which has drawn angry protests from Moscow. “We need an understanding, an agreement, a treaty, something with the Russians that allows us to move forward with our missile defence programmes,” Mr Powell told the Washington Post. Moscow: Russia’s Foreign Ministry denounced today the US missile defence test in the Pacific Ocean, saying it threatened the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the international order on disarmament. Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko, quoted by Itar-Tass news agency, said the test represented another step in a looming threat “to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, including its core, the ABM treaty”. “Russia stands by its position that it is vital to maintain and strengthen the ABM treaty and is prepared all discuss all problems in full accordance with its obligations on this cornerstone treaty,” Yakovenko was quoted as saying. The US Defence Department said the test to shoot down a mock warhead over the Pacific Ocean had been conducted successfully late on Saturday.
AFP, Reuters |
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Making peace harder than war: Pak daily Islamabad, July 15 “The peace and prosperity in South Asia depends on the Agra summit,” The Nation said adding “the two countries have wasted enough of their resources on acquiring lethal weapons and fighting wars with a forbidding cost in human and material terms”. The Dawn, while opting to highlight the Musharraf-Hurriyat meeting in its lead story, prominently displayed the story of the banquet speeches of President K.R. Nayaranan and Musharraf. Another leading daily The News said “even if the summit does not smash its way through the logjam of disputes, it will have achieved what has not been possible till now, proving that India and Pakistan can talk if they want to...”. In its editorial, it said “there are no invisible walls that divide them except the deadwood of the past and the compulsions of their domestic politics.” The Frontier Post said “making peace is often harder than the relative simplicities of making war. This is the challenge today before General Musharraf and Vajpayee.” The Nation in an editorial said the importance given by Musharraf to the settlement of the Kashmir issue as a sine qua non for peace and prosperity in South Asia addressed Islamabad’s core concern. “Putting Kashmir as the first point on the summit agenda will not be enough, though the Indians may finally agree to that. What is required is an agreement to resolve the issue in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiris. The resolution might be a long process but in case there is an understanding to move in the direction within a time frame, this would be regarded by many as a first step in the long journey,’’ it said. The newspaper, however, warned that the shadow of the hard-liners would hang over the summit. While each of the two leaders have held out assurances of being open-minded during the parleys, both have to cope with lobbies on their sides which are characterised by rigid attitudes and interpret any expression of flexibility as an act of national betrayal. There is also a more than half-a-century old legacy of mistrust between the two countries’,’’ the newspaper said. The News said the success or otherwise of the talks depended on the willingness of the leaders to view the issues, especially the thorny ones, through a prism that showed them in a changed perspective. “The disputes might not appear wholly insoluble if the sides are ready to make concessions and bow to the reality of the present time. But both the leaders must also be carrying highly limited briefs that limit their ability to bid freely. The summit is not likely to be a free-swinging give and take, a ride in a political roller coaster,’’ it said. “There are other pitfalls before the talks also. The bill of fare is overly excessive, running the entire gamut of issues and more with a limited timeframe for negotiations. After the completion of the formalities and visits to various places of interest the available time would barely be enough for even a cursory glance at the menu,’’ the paper said. Terming the summit as a fresh line in cosmetics, The Dawn said an offer at Agra would be a new range of cosmetics, or rather an old line of cosmetics wrapped in fresh paper: trade, travel, easing of visa restrictions, and the likes. “In other words, makeup or, at best, plastic surgery. No more. Not that in displaying this range India would be guilty of any particular deviousness. There is little we can do to change its marketing strategy,’’ it said. “The momentum generated by this visit is all for the good, for even fanfare and empty pageantry. After this visit, even if nothing else is achieved, it will not be easy for either side to revert that quickly to the rhetoric of the past,’’ the paper said. “An important point worth remembering is about the peace clothes General Musharraf is wearing in India. They represent an enduring and not a passing phenomenon. Musharraf’s foremost priority is consolidating his rule and giving it a democratic face-lift, plastic surgery being the rage in Pakistan as much as in India. For achieving this aim he has to be more politician than soldier,’’ The Dawn said.
PTI, UNI |
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2 PoK leaders for self-determination Islamabad, July 15 Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan and Sultan Mahmood supported Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s India visit and his efforts to resolve the Kashmir dispute in talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Online news agency reported. Mahmood, Prime Minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said the Agra summit was “the golden chance to succeed the peace-establishing efforts.” Qayyum Khan, former Prime Minister and chief of the Muslim Conference that has just won the local elections, told Online: “He (Musharraf) is working for resolution of the Kashmir issue and is sure to come up with results.” Khan said his party would not accept anything less than accession to Pakistan. “We have a principled stand on the issue and want accomplishment of the goal,” he said, and added: “Jihad would not be stopped until freedom.” At the same time he said, “Any decision made by him (Musharraf) for resolution of the Kashmir dispute would be accepted and acknowledged by my party.”
IANS |
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‘Lagaan’ hits top 10 in UK London, July 15 “Lagaan” is a dream Aamir, one of India’s biggest movie stars and most accomplished actors, believed in so passionately that when it didn’t find a producer he donned the mantle himself. It is the story of a peasant uprising against British rule in 1893. Its budget of £ 4 million, inflated by attention to detail such as flying in real English corsets and hats from London, is large by Indian standards and the film is the first serious attempt by Bollywood to make a “crossover” film to appeal to Indian and Western audiences in the mass market. “Lagaan” is a
Bollywood film with a difference, an Indian-made film featuring 15 British actors. It is proving so popular in mainstream West End cinema houses that crowds have had to be turned away this week. Out of Lagaan’s 3-hour-42-minute running time, a full hour is devoted to a game of cricket, an intensely fought match between a group of British soldiers and the residents of Bhuj in Gujarat.
PTI |
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5 die in B’desh clashes Dhaka, July 15 Authorities deployed thousands of extra police and put paramilitary forces on alert as dozens of home-made bombs exploded in the capital Dhaka as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was due to address a rally organised by her Awami League to mark its completion of five years in power. Four people were killed and more than 50 wounded in hours of gunbattles between activists of Awami League and main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in Bheramara, 280 km southwest of Dhaka, today. Police and local reporters said two of the dead were Awami activists, and one BNP. Police said another Awami supporter was shot dead by political rivals at Narinda in the capital today afternoon. Police and witnesses said tension mounted as opposition activists attacked groups of Awami supporters going to attend the rally at Dhaka’s Parade Ground, near the Parliament building. Clashes were also reported from Brahmanbaria, east of Dhaka, and Sirajganj, in which up to 50 people were wounded. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was due to step down from power later at the end of her five-year term and President Shahabuddin Ahmed was scheduled to appoint a former chief justice as the country’s interim ruler.
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Nepal troops surround Maoist rebels Kathmandu, July 15 However, they refused to divulge further details of the army mobilisation. The 70 policemen had been missing since July 12 after the underground Communist Maoist rebels, fighting to topple the country’s constitutional monarchy, attacked a police post, killing a policeman and wounding another. Meanwhile, the Nepalese Home Ministry denied there had so far been any casualties in the operation. Army sources said yesterday that around 160 Maoists had been killed in clashes with the soldiers, but this had not been officially
confirmed. UNI, AFP |
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Asians attack
cops : 20 held Stoke-On-Trent (UK), July 15 There were no reported injures but 20 persons were held in connection with public order offences, the police said yesterday. About 100 Asian youths gathered in the Cobridge area of the town, which has a high Asian population, amid rumours of a march by the British National Party which failed to materialise. Eyewitnesses said at the peak of the trouble in Stoke-on-Trent, around 300 Asians were involved. “Someone said there had been a British National Party march in another part of Stoke and I think that might have triggered it. There was not a march, though”, one unnamed eyewitness said.
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S. Korean flood toll 36 Seoul, July 15 Thousands of public officials including soldiers and police have been deployed in the region where more than 21,000 houses have been inundated and 30 vehicles swept away. President Kim Dae-jung ordered the Minister of National Affairs to repair roads and railways as quickly as possible, YTN reported. There were 36 dead and 15 missing, according to a count by Yonhap Television news. Sixteen persons were killed by electrocution, Yonhap said.
Reuters, AFP |
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Levy was ‘pregnant with Condit’s baby’ Washington, July 15 Condit has acknowledged that he had an intimate relationship with Levy but has denied any involvement in her disappearance. Condit also passed a polygraph test denying any information about what happened to Levy, his lawyer has said. “The authorities have information that Chandra told at least one friend that she was pregnant and she said the baby was Condit’s,” National Enquirer, quoting a source close to the investigations, says in a report due to appear in its July 24 issue. One investigator told the tabloid, “A friend told investigators that Chandra said she was pregnant. The FBI and the Washington DC police have subpoenaed her medical records.” “The FBI does believe her disappearance is a love crime”, the source added. The tabloid has exposed many recent scandals, but some reports have turned out to be more guesses or inferences than facts.
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