Millennium fever
Worries dampen party mood
SINGAPORE, Dec 30 — Security worries, high prices and fears of chaotic traffic threatened to take the shine off New Year festivities in some of the world’s big cities.

Ex-Beatle, wife stabbed
LONDON, Dec 30 —Former Beatles member George Harrison and his wife Olivia were stabbed at their home, West of London, early today and were in hospital with chest wounds, a police spokesman said.

Junta given 6 months to hold elections
ACCRA, Dec 30 — West African Foreign Ministers today condemned the military coup in the Ivory Coast and gave the military rulers until June 2000 to organise elections, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

Bundestag to decide on Kohl
BERLIN, Dec 30 — German prosecutors’ decision to press a criminal inquiry against former Chancellor Helmut Kohl over financial irregularities represents a dramatic escalation in the political funding scandal involving an estimated $ 1 million and has been termed as a “deep scar in German history.”

Chinese N-spy denied bail
ALBUQUERQUE (New Mexico), Dec 30 — A US Federal Judge, had denied bail to Wen Ho Lee, citing seven missing computer tapes filled with the nation’s nuclear secrets and possible enormous harm to the country if the fired scientist was freed.

Spice isles riots: over 300 dead

JAKARTA, Dec 30 (DPA) — Sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera have killed at least 295 persons and injuring over 200 others since Tuesday, a local military official said today.

The violence, broke out in Tobelo sub-district of northern Halmahera island of north Maluku province late on Monday, and appeared to have been triggered by similar religious-related clashes on the island of Ambon, where more than 60 persons died earlier this week.

Captain Made Parsim, chief of the Tobelo’s military sub-district told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA that more than 300 houses, shops and others buildings were torched or heavily damaged in the violence.

“The latest figure we have showed that at least 295 persons were killed since the violence broke out early Tuesday. Another 127 severely wounded and 78 others slightly injured,” Parsim said by telephone.

He said that the clashes between Muslims and Christians showed signs of abating this morning, but the situation remained tense.

“No more explosions have been heard since early this morning,” Parsim said, but adding “black smokes came from burned homes, shops and other buildings over there.’’

Police officials at the same town said several thousands of people had fled their homes, seeking refugee at the local military installations or on the nearby islands.

In the Maluku capital of Ambon, an uneasy calm was reported today with no reports of violence a day after the military took control of security from the police yesterday.

Lieutenant Colonel Iwa Budiman, spokesman of the Maluku’s military command said by telephone that “only a few of the shops are open, while other activity, such as government offices are still closed.”

He said military was prepared to launch an operation to confiscate weapons, including machetes and home-made rifles, in a bid to prevent further bloody clashes.

More than 63 have died during this week’s four-day of Muslim-Christian clashes in Ambon.

Budiman, however, said he could only confirm that 47 persons, 37 of whom were Muslims, nine Christians and a security officer had been killed since the violence broke out on Sunday afternoon.

At least 150 others were injured while hundreds of homes, shops and other government and private offices have been torched.

AP adds: Fighting in both areas abated today, although tensions remained high throughout the scores of islands that make up the two provinces.

The combined death toll is the highest in a year of savage fighting between Christians and Muslims in the two provinces known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule.

Christians in the region today urged the international community to intervene and prevent a full-scale religious war.

Gunmen were seen sniping from the shore at ships ferrying passengers to the airport.

Yesterday, the Indonesian army assumed control over all security forces in the province.

In a bid to clear snipers who were targeting troops, armoured cars fired 75 mm cannons directly into windows and rooftops where the gunmen were hiding.

Army officers said two battalions of Indonesia’s strategic reserve force - known as Kostrad - had arrived to reinforce the thinly-stretched security forces.

Suara Maluku, a local daily, reported today that 68 people, including three soldiers, had died in Maluku over the past four days.

Before this week’s bloodshed, government statistics put the death toll for the year at 800. Unofficial estimates said the number was closer to 1,500.

“The United Nations must intervene to separate and protect the two communities and ensure peace,” said Mr Chris Sahetopy, a Christian member of the Maluku Assembly.

Other prominent Christian politicians and senior clergymen appealed last month to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, calling for foreign troops.

Indonesian commanders in the two provinces have urged that martial law be imposed. But President Abdurrahman Wahid rejected calls for a state of emergency. Wahid, who visited Ambon on December 12, also ruled out foreign intervention saying the conflict was an internal affair.

33 Palestinians freed

JERUSALEM, Dec 30 (Reuters) — Israel today freed seven Palestinian prisoners from East Jerusalem, in the first such case since it signed the landmark Oslo interim peace deal with the Palestinians in 1993.

It was the second release in as many days of Palestinian prisoners after Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the Victims of Terror Association, an Israeli group opposed to freeing Palestinians jailed for violence against Israelis.

Israel until now had refused to include Palestinians from East Jerusalem in prisoner releases. It claims sovereignty over all of Jerusalem and says that as such residents of Jerusalem are not covered under interim peace agreements with the PLO.

Israel said it was freeing the seven as a goodwill gesture for the Muslim month of Ramadan. Six are from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction and one from the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

It brought to 33 the number of prisoners Israel has set free in two days. It released 26 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday on similar grounds as part of its commitments under a new interim peace deal in September.

KIRYAT ARBA (AP): Jewish settlers clashed with Israeli troops who tore down a shrine at the grave of Baruch Goldstein, the gunman who massacred Muslim worshippers at a Hebron mosque.

Settlers cursed and heckled troops on Wednesday at the grave site. Some who tried to break through a police cordon about 200 yards from the site were wrestled down and dragged away. “We will not forgive or forget,” shouted Shmuel Ben-Ishai.

Some settlers threatened to take revenge and desecrate the grave of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, slain by an ultra-nationalist Jew in 1995 for handing over land to the Palestinians.

Goldstein, an immigrant from New York City, served as a physician in Kiryat Arba, a settlement of 6,000 persons just outside the West Bank town of Hebron. In February, 1994, Goldstein entered the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a shrine sacred to Muslims and Jews, and opened fire on kneeling worshippers, killing 29. Goldstein was bludgeoned to death by the angry crowd.

Rebels admit losing ground

MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) — Russian forces tried to cement their latest gains in and around the Chechen capital Grozny today after rebels acknowledged they had lost some ground in the city and in the southern mountains.

“The troops continued to build up tactically advantageous positions around Grozny, avoiding clashes with the bandit gangs,” Itar-Tass news agency reported from Mozdok, Russia’s main army base in the region, just outside Breakaway Chechnya.

Moscow routinely calls the Chechen rebels “bandits” or “terrorists”.

“Earlier Defence Ministry units and Interior Ministry troops, acting in coordination with Chechen paramilitaries, had advanced. While Russian forces are attacking the rebels’ mountain bases from three sides — the main force pushing north from the lowlands, marines moving east across mountain passes and paratroops dropping along the southern border with ex-Soviet Georgia.

DPA: Russian forces continued their heavy bombardment of breakaway Chechnya’s capital Grozny, concentrating on southern suburbs in order to prevent rebels escaping, Russia’s Ort television channel reported.

It quoted commanders in the regional headquarters at Mozdok in north Ossetia as saying special troops had gained control of most of the northwestern suburb of Staropromyslovski and the northern district of Leninski.

Fighting was continuing in the nearby suburb of Staraya Zunsha, where rebels had occupied a food canning factory.

Itar-Tass news agency said heavy fighting was continuing in the east of the city, and also in mountains to the south, where some 400 rebels were continuing fiercely to resist Russian forces.

Millennium fever
Worries dampen party mood

SINGAPORE, Dec 30 (Reuters) — Security worries, high prices and fears of chaotic traffic threatened to take the shine off New Year festivities in some of the world’s big cities.

From Washington to Sydney it was the same story — tickets for high-priced events were going a begging and some parties got the chop.

Many people are expected to party safely at home, popping the champagne corks and trying to forget all that millennium bug stuff.

We will only know the true extent of computer problems after 2000 starts, but experts who a year ago predicted dire problems now say we should expect annoying glitches rather than technological meltdown.

The world’s biggest country, Russia, gave an assurance today that it was fully prepared for the new year and the bug would not bite.

No carefree fun

Because of the millennium bug, a significant number of people will be working when the New Year arrives. But even for party-goers, it clearly won’t be all carefree fun.

In New York, revellers will party under the watchful gaze of sharpshooters positioned on Manhattan rooftops. City officials, worried about possible bomb attacks, have sealed manholes and mailboxes and removed trash cans in the Times Square area.

The west coast city of Seattle has already cancelled its downtown millennium party because of fears of violence. An Algerian was arrested near Seattle two weeks ago and indicted on charges of trying to smuggle bomb-making material into the USA.

From the USA to Australia, there have been reports of lacklustre sales of tickets to high-priced celebrations.

Two big millennium bashes have been cancelled in Washington, though preparations continue for a massive celebration on The Mall and Lincoln Memorial.

The millennium bugbear

The biggest single concern as 2000 begins will still be the millennium bug, though a report by a US information technology research firm, Gartner Group, this week sought to shoot down predictions of disaster.

It said the USA, Britain, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands were best prepared. Russia, other former Soviet States, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of central and western Africa were laggards.

Some small-scale computer problems are occurring. Up to 20,000 credit card readers in British shops suffered what the manufacturer called a “software and date-related issue’’, causing delays for shoppers.

A UN-sponsored Y2K data clearing house said on Wednesday that the full impact of the millennium bug would be largely hidden until mid to late January.

Ex-Beatle, wife stabbed

LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) —Former Beatles member George Harrison and his wife Olivia were stabbed at their home, West of London, early today and were in hospital with chest wounds, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman said a man had been arrested at the Harrisons’ home in Henley-on-Thames on suspicion of attempted murder.

“The injuries aren’t life-threatening. It looks like a stabbing,” police spokesman Guy Bailey said.

He said a member of the Harrisons’ staff telephoned the police to report an attack by an intruder at 3:30 GMT today.

Mr Bailey said Harrison, who was stabbed four times in the chest, fought with the intruder to protect his wife who also suffered head injuries.

The attack happened 19 years after another Beatles member, John Lennon, was shot dead on December 8, 1980, by obsessed fan Mark Chapman outside his New York apartment building.

Junta given 6 months to hold elections

ACCRA, Dec 30 (DPA) — West African Foreign Ministers today condemned the military coup in the Ivory Coast and gave the military rulers until June 2000 to organise elections, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) committee on security and mediation said at an emergency meeting in the Mali capital, Bamako, that the Junta, which seized power on December 24, should immediately put in place structures for a transition leading to elections by June 2000.

ABIDJAN (AFP): Prominent Ivory Coast Opposition leader Alassane Quattara returned to Abidjan.

Bundestag to decide on Kohl

BERLIN, Dec 30 (PTI) — German prosecutors’ decision to press a criminal inquiry against former Chancellor Helmut Kohl over financial irregularities represents a dramatic escalation in the political funding scandal involving an estimated $ 1 million and has been termed as a “deep scar in German history.”

The prosecutors have declared that they will start a criminal probe against one of Europe’s leading statesmen and an architect of German unity for breach of trust after he admitted taking illegal cash donations and operating a system of secret slush funds during his 16-year rule.

German Parliament President Wolfgang Thierse has been informed of the prosecutors’ move and has to decide whether to block their request for starting a probe. Parliament will eventually have to vote to lift Mr Kohl’s legal immunity as a member of Parliament before any prosecution takes place.

Chinese N-spy denied bail

ALBUQUERQUE (New Mexico), Dec 30 (AP) — A US Federal Judge, had denied bail to Wen Ho Lee, citing seven missing computer tapes filled with the nation’s nuclear secrets and possible enormous harm to the country if the fired scientist was freed.

US District Judge James Parker, yesterday voiced “great concern about the extreme restrictions” imposed on Lee in jail, but said prosecutors had shown “clear and convincing” evidence that community safety could not be guaranteed with Lee’s release.

China to protect Tibetan antelope
BEIJING: The government will close a nature reserve on a high plateau of northwestern China beginning on Saturday to protect the vanishing Tibetan antelope from poachers, a Chinese newspaper reported on Thursday. More than 1,000 people are suspected of entering the Hoh Xil nature reserve spanning parts of Tibet, Xinjing and Qinghai this year and damaging its fragile ecosystem by prospecting illegally for gold and poaching the Tibetan antelope and other wild animals, the newspaper said. — AP

Chernobyl N-plant to close by Nov
KIEV: Ukraine will close the notorious Chernobyl nuclear power station by November 15, 2000 at the latest, the country’s nuclear authority Energoatom has said. “This power station is no longer profitable and needs major repairs which would cost too much to keep it working,” Energoatom’s production director, Viktor Stovbun said on Wednesday. Stovbun put the cost of repairs at 100,000 euros. Reactor number three, the only reactor out of the four at the power station that is still working, was out of action for seven months this year. — (AFP)

Probe into Nazi entry into UK
LONDON: The British government has ordered an inquiry into how a man alleged to be a Nazi war criminal entered the country. The Home Office on Wednesday said Home Secretary Jack Straw has asked for a “full report” into how Konrad Kalejs (86), who is under investigation by the police, came to be given permission to enter Britain. A US television current affairs program, ABC’s “20/20,” said in a broadcast this month that Kalejs now lives in England. — AP

Bangla Cabinet reshuffled
DHAKA: In a major shake-up of her Cabinet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stripped a senior colleague of his portfolio while distributing duties among the newly inducted ministers and state ministers. Under the new arrangements made on Wednesday, Uddin Yusuf was reduced to minister without portfolio as his charge of Health and Family Welfare Ministry went to new Cabinet member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim. — UNI

Japan update on Y2K situation
TOKYO: Japan will provide updates on worldwide Y2K situation and disruptions, if any; moments after the millennium midnight. The government would be the first to tell the people about Japan’s survival of the Y2K and its possible effect on the vitals of Japanese industries like electricity, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said. One third of power supply in the country comes from nuclear generators. — PTI

Philippine President’s poll ratings drop
MANILA: A new survey shows Philippine President Joseph Estrada’s popularity rating has plummeted to 44 per cent from 78 per cent in June, newspapers reported on Thursday. The survey, conducted from December 10-15 by the country’s top poll group Social Weather Stations (SWS), said 44 per cent of respondents approved of Mr Estrada, 38 per cent disapproved and 18 per cent were undecided. Mr Estrada’s popularity has declined due to perceptions of an inept administration and a plan to amend the Constitution. — Reuters