• China: onus on USA to improve ties

Domestic violence in UK Asians
WHEN Tasneem’s husband was eventually brought to court he got three years. But the fact that he appeared in court at all was largely accidental. It is not as if he didn’t deserve it. The doctor who examined Tasneem said she looked as if she had been in a car crash. If the brutality of it wasn’t bad enough, there was the persistence, the secretiveness, the isolation in which it all occurred, and the fact that the children must have witnessed it for months and months.

Mbeki inducts five Indians in Cabinet
JOHANNESBURG, June 18 — The new South African President Thabo Mbeki has inducted as many as four members of Indian-origin into his Cabinet and allocated them some key portfolios.

7 Russians killed in border clashes
MOSCOW, June 18 — At least seven Russian Police and Interior Ministry troops were killed in two separate clashes on the borders for the breakaway Chechnya region overnight, the police said today.

Russia offers MIG trainer jets

LE BOURGET (France), June 18 (PTI) — The Indian Air Force (IAF) can reduce its accident rate by acquiring Advanced Trainers (AT) and the existing MIG fleet can be fitted with modern avionics and electronic warfare systems to meet India’s pressing requirements, MIG-MAPO officials said here today.

“India needs to modernise its ageing MIG fleet to face growing challenges. Along with the MIG-AT, we are ready to provide state-of-the-art avionics systems for the existing MIG fighter jets,” Mr Alexander Guerasin, Deputy General Director of the Russian military industrial group, MIG-MAPO told PTI yesterday.

The two-seater MIG-AT, a combination of Russian and French technologies, hogged the limelight during the flight demonstrations in the ongoing LE BOURGET airshow, near Paris.

The MIG-AT, the only plane of its kind to have a fly-by-wire system, is one of the three short-listed jets to be used as an advanced jet trainer (AJT) for the IAF. The other two trainer jets in contention are the British Hawk 200 and the French Alpha jet.

“Adapting from ordinary trainer jets to supersonic planes will be a problem. The MIG-AT will ideally suit the IAF considering the fact that a large number of its planes are of Russian origin.

“The plane will soon receive final certification and would be ready by the end of this year. It can fly at a maximum speed of 1000 km per hour and new features like French sextant avionics and Thomson CSF’s navigation and radio equipment will enable it to be used for combat missions,” Mr Guerasin said.

The new MIG-AT has a cockpit capable of simulating the flight characteristics of fighters like the MIG-29, SU-30 and Mirage-2000. With a 2000-km range, it can carry a 2,000kg weapon load, can also be used for operations, relieving the pressure on the ageing MIG-12.

Talking about the loss of two IAF MIG jets in Kashmir last month, apparently due to lack of advanced electronic systems, Mr Guerasin said they had recently upgraded two IAF MIG-21s and were ready to fit modern avionics in the remaining MIG 21s of the IAF.

The company had also made offers to upgrade India’s 60 MIG-29 combat jets. “New features include a global position system and laser and TV guidance.

Clinton: accord near on US-Russia talks

HELSINKI, June 18 (Reuters) — US and Russian defence leaders today began a third day of talks to end a dispute over Moscow’s proposed military participation in Kosovo’s NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR).

US Defence Secretary William Cohen and his Russian counterpart Igor Sergeyev wound up a second day of talks shortly after midnight, then slept and resumed work at just after 11.30 a.m. (IST) after their military experts toiled overnight to settle differences.

COLOGNE (AFP): US President Bill Clinton said here on Friday that an agreement was near on including Russia in a NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

"I don’t think it should take much longer,’’ Mr Clinton said about talks that resumed today in Helsinki to resolve, something the West rejects.

Mr Clinton was speaking before meeting here with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, hours ahead of a G-8 summit to open in Cologne, in Western Germany.

He said the USA and Russian Defence and Foreign Ministers meeting in Helsinki "are still working. They’ve got almost all the issues resolved, but there are still some problems, some matters to be resolved.’’

"When I was briefed this morning it didn’t seem to me that it would take much longer, given the nature of the issues,’’ Mr Clinton said.

But he said it might be necessary to involve British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and others, who are in Cologne for the G-8 summit.

SKOPJE (DPA): A bomb exploded on Friday around 3 a.m. in front of the headquarters of the International KFOR Peacekeeping Force here without anyone being injured, a German Army spokesman said.

The bomb was concealed under a small van in a parking lot, which was destroyed by the explosion, the spokesman said.

The background to the explosion was not immediately clear.

China: onus on USA to improve ties

BEIJING, June 18 (PTI) — China today asked the USA to untie the knot in the Sino-US relations by offering a convincing explanation to Beijing over NATO bombing of its embassy in Yugoslavia and said it still attached importance to the development of bilateral ties.

"China attaches importance to the development of the Sino-US ties, which is in line with the fundamental interests of the people of the two countries and beneficial to world peace, stability and development," China’s official newspaper People’s Daily said.

Stating that "principles must be upheld", it said the development of ties must be based on the basic norms for international relations, especially the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in each others internal affairs.

The commentary in the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party comes a day after China announced it had rejected as "unconvincing" the explanation provided by the USA to China on the May 7 NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which killed three Chinese journalists and injured 20 others.

The US side must squarely face severe consequences of the attack and its effect on the the Sino-US ties, provide a convincing explanation of causes leading to the incident and make sufficient and effective compensation for all losses, the newspaper said.

It said the US explanation lacked convincing factual basis or rational logic, adding that it naturally cannot be accepted by the Chinese Government and people.

The paper quoted a Chinese saying — it is up to the one who ties the knot to untie it — to stress the fact that it was Washington which acted irresponsibly to damage the Sino-US relations by bombing the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and later on dismissing it as a mistake.

The Chinese Government has demanded a satisfactory explanation from the USA in order to safeguard not only China’s national sovereignty and dignity, but also the normal order of the world society, the commentary said.

WASHINGTON: The Clinton Administration, has offered China $ 5 billion in export credit to purchase US environmental, health and safety products.

The loan, is the largest Exim Bank credit ever offered to a country and was offered by the bank’s Chairman James Harmon two months ago through Mr Chen Yuan, head of the China Development Bank.

The bank had earlier refused China a loan for the three gorges dam on environmental and human rights grounds.

USA stoking tension: N. Korea

TOKYO, June 18 (Reuters) — North Korea today accused the USA of escalating tensions between the two Koreas by sending naval ships and planes to waters off the peninsula.

“The US manoeuvre to reinforce its armed forces and tighten its vigilance raises tensions over the situation on the Korean peninsula,” the official Korea Central Radio said in a broadcast monitored by Tokyo-based Radiopress news agency.

The Pentagon on Wednesday announced the USA was sending naval ships and planes to the waters off Korea to monitor events following a deadly firefight between ships from North and South Korea one day earlier.

Apart from the cruiser Vincennes, a number of EA-6b surveillance and electronic warfare planes were dispatched to the area.

Washington, which has 37,000 troops in South Korea but is considering a thaw in its relations with the communist North, has been in direct contact with both sides to try to defuse the situation.

While announcing plans to send naval ships and planes to the waters off the Korean peninsula, Pentagon spokesman Mike Doubleday said on Wednesday that tensions had eased since an exchange of fire on Tuesday in which a North Korean torpedo boat was sunk.

WASHINGTON: The situation in the Yellow Sea seems to have returned to a more normal state of affairs after Tuesday’s clash between the South and North Korean navies, US Defence Department spokesman Mike Doubleday said.

There was no evidence since Tuesday’s armed clash between the South and North Korean navies that North Korean ground troops or air force went onto a heightened state of alert or made any advancing movements, he added.

It is inaccurate to say that the USA “sent over” two battlecruisers — the USS Vincent and USS Mobile Bay — to South Korea, he said. “These are assets that belong in the region. They are forward-deployed in the region.”

Dhaka decked up for bus from Calcutta
Tribune News Service

DHAKA, June 18 — All the main roads in Dhaka are dotted with slogans welcoming Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who arrives on a two-day visit to Bangladesh here tomorrow.

The stage is set for the official launch of the Calcutta-Dhaka bus service with the arrival of the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Jyoti Basu, here today. Mr Basu and eight others, including industrialist, Mr R.P.Goenka, former football player, Mr Chunni Goswami, former MPs, Ms Geeta Mukherjee and Mr Amar Roy Pradhan arrived by a commercial flight from Calcutta.

Musician Bhupen Hazarika took the commercial flight in which the mediapersons were flying. Film makers Tapan Sinha and Mr Sandip Ray, son of Satyajit Ray, will also be present at the inaugural function.

The protocol for the introduction of the Dhaka-Calcutta bus services were signed here yesterday. Initially two buses from Dhaka and Calcutta will operate under the agreement. Commercial operations will begin on June 29.

A rehearsal for receiving the inaugural bus was held today in the compound of the Osmani Memorial hall, the venue of the inaugural function tomorrow.

The bus will travel 87 km on the Indian side to the Petrapole-Binapore border and then travel another 300 km to Dhaka. On route at Daulatiya it will be put on a ferry and cross a 3 km stretch of a tributary of the Ganga, locally known as the Jamuna river, before resuming the road journey near Faridpur towards Dhaka. The estimated twelve-and-half-hour journey will cost $ 11. On the Indian side a two-way return ticket is being sold for Rs 1,000.

Mr Nitish Kumar, who holds the additional charge of Union Surface Transport Ministry, and the West Bengal Transport Minister, Mr Subhas Chakraborty, will travel by the inaugural bus service to Dhaka.

The air-conditioned bus “Souhardya” (friendship) of the West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation, will leave Karunamoyee International Bus Terminal at Salt Lake at 4.30 a.m. tomorrow.

West Bengal Environment and Tourism Minister, Mr Manab Mukhopadhyay, and Minister of State for Transport, Mr Sushanta Ghosh, besides representatives from six city-based chambers of commerce and several journalists will be on board.

Another bus, carrying distinguished personalities and 25 ordinary passengers will follow Souhardya.

Domestic violence in UK Asians

WHEN Tasneem’s husband was eventually brought to court he got three years. But the fact that he appeared in court at all was largely accidental. It is not as if he didn’t deserve it. The doctor who examined Tasneem said she looked as if she had been in a car crash. If the brutality of it wasn’t bad enough, there was the persistence, the secretiveness, the isolation in which it all occurred, and the fact that the children must have witnessed it for months and months.

We had stumbled across a sad and ugly example of family life, which from the outside looked unremarkable. And stumble we did, through the window, crossing the sink and draining board, picking our way through yesterday’s unwashed pots and shards of glass. Accustomed to sudden and unorthodox entry, the police officers managed this without effort or anxiety.

One of the officers was already struggling to resuscitate a young woman: this was the first confirmation that months of rumour and referrals had a basis in truth, that a young woman not seen for nearly a year really was being imprisoned and abused by her husband.

We had a witness, whose presence was the justification for my presence: a silent and expressionless 18-month-old child stood by his mother’s feet.

A combination of overwork and uncertainty, long-term sickness and departmental lethargy had prevented anyone making the connections between a multitude of clues. It was only our sudden and nervous conspiracy against the system that propelled us — metaphorically and physically — through the window.

Among the 139 national lottery charities board grants for research announced last week are two which will examine events like these. The board is supporting two studies that address domestic violence as a public health issue — both, coincidentally, based in Sheffield. Research by the charity Ashiana and Sheffield Hallam University will look at the mental health problems experienced by Asian women who are the victims of domestic violence. Another charity, Sheffield Domestic Violence Forum, has teamed up with the University of Sheffield to study women seeking help on behalf of their children and themselves.

Despite the prevalence of family violence, it is not widely researched, although there have been enough studies to draw some general conclusions about the responses and capacity of health and welfare agencies. Family violence is widespread and it may not be the fact of abuse as much as the lack of opportunity to do something about it that distinguishes some Asian women from women in the general population.

Ashiana identifies immigration status, language skills and the absence of extra-familial support networks as obstacles for Asian women seeking help. Nasim Minhas, manager of a refuge for Asian women, is also a researcher at Sheffield Hallam’s survey and statistical research centre. Tasneem’s case was all too familiar to him. “We have met many women, particularly young women, who have been forcibly confined to the home for long periods,” he says. Breaking free from these constraints and then sustaining an independent existence can be exceptionally difficult, as it is for women generally, particularly if they have children.

Tasneem’s imprisonment continued when it could have been stopped, because of a misinterpretation of policy that led to an excessive and exclusive focus on the child in child protection. The youngest child, who spent his days confined with his mother, was recorded on the social service’s data base as Baby M; there was little more of significance on the health authority records beyond immediate post-natal information. The health visitor had been refused access to the family, as had the GP.

The child’s father — himself a health professional — daily took the two older children to school. Neither of them exhibited anything that caused the school to question their care arrangements or the welfare of their mother. It was this apparent evidence of normality that, for months, had prevented any challenge or active investigation.

I don’t know much about what happened later to Tasneem. I do know that she won custody of her two older children and that she left the area, I think to live with her brother’s family. This is no happy ending, either specifically or generally, but for the charities board, this week’s research grants are a reasonable beginning in the long struggle to understand and combat family violence.

— The Guardian

Mbeki inducts five Indians in Cabinet

JOHANNESBURG, June 18 (PTI) — The new South African President Thabo Mbeki has inducted as many as four members of Indian-origin into his Cabinet and allocated them some key portfolios.

Announcing his full Cabinet in Pretoria yesterday which includes 29 ministers and 13 deputy ministers, Mr Mbeki said he expected his ministers to carry out their work diligently.

“We have work to do over the next five years,” he said.

While Prof Kader Asmal is the new Education Minister Mr Dullah Omar has been allotted the Transport Ministry.

The Ministry of Environment has been given to Mr Mahomed Valli Moosa, while Mr Essop Pahad will look after the President’s office as a minister.

The President also appointed another member of Indian-origin Mr Aziz Pahad as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr Dullah Omar replaces former Minister of Justice Mac Maharaja, who has quit politics.

7 Russians killed in border clashes

MOSCOW, June 18 (Reuters) — At least seven Russian Police and Interior Ministry troops were killed in two separate clashes on the borders for the breakaway Chechnya region overnight, the police said today.

A police spokeswoman in Degestan, another troubled Russian province to the east of Chechnya, told Reuters by telephone that three Interior Ministry troops had been killed and 14 injured in a battle at the Chechen border that raged all night.

In a separate incident in Stavropol, to the north of Chechnya, four policemen were killed and a fifth was still missing after gunmen attacked their jeep at the Chechen border.

Silent witnesses
BONN: If only trees could talk. Berlin’s trees, silent witnesses to imperialism, Nazism, communism and democracy, are “fascinating historical documents in their own right and deserve preservation and restoration,” a German ecologist group has said. The German Forest Protection Group said oak trees around a former watch-tower at the Berlin wall, which divided east and west Berlin for 28 years, would be the first to be submitted to a facelift after suffering years of smog. — Reuters

14 break out
PHNOM PENH: The Cambodian Police was hunting for 14 prisoners at large on Friday after a jailbreak in the south-western coastal town of Sihanoukville. A group of 35 prisoners was working in a field outside the prison on Thursday when they overpowered their guards and seized their weapons, deputy police chief Tak Vantha said. — DPA

Act to curb violence
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives, reacting to the Columbine high school massacre in April, has passed a Juvenile Offenders Act that imposes stiff penalties on youth crimes committed with firearms. A controversial provision, sponsored by a Republican representative from Alabama, permits local authorities to display the biblical ten commandments in schools and other government facilities to promote morality and dampen violence. — DPA

Insolent diplomats?
CAIRO: It is unfortunate that Pakistan grooms its diplomats to undertake their mission by means of “insolence” and not “good reasoning and refinement,” Egypt’s leading English-daily Egyptian Gazette said on Friday. The newspaper’s remarks came after the Press Counsellor at the Pakistani mission here, Dr Shakil Akhtar, wrote in a letter to the daily’s Editor that Pakistan was willing to “arrange free of charge special summer course for your ‘analyst’ in the art of writing credible news analyses”. — PTI

Panchen Lama
BEIJING: The disputed 11th Panchen Lama, the second most important spiritual leader for Tibetan Buddhists, has emerged from seclusion to return to Lhasa for the first time since his appointment by China in 1995, official media said on Friday. Nine-year-old Gyaincain Norbu was “in good health under the care of the Central Government” and progressing in his studies under the tutelage of senior Tibetan Buddhists, the Xinhua news agency said. — AFP