Wednesday, October 13, 1999
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W O R L D | Wednesday, October 13, 1999 |
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Clinton ready to delay vote on
CTBT WASHINGTON, Oct 12 — The White House signalled last night that it would accept in principle a plan to delay a Senate vote on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) until after President Bill Clinton leaves office. China on lookout for scientists abroad WASHINGTON, Oct 12 — Close on the heels of alleged stealing of the US nuclear weapons secrets, China has unleashed a major campaign to recruit spies abroad to track the latest developments in Western science and technology. |
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 NASA: The Galileo spacecraft approaches Jupiter's moon IO (left) in this artist's conception released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The ageing and glitch-prone spacecraft successfully flew within 318 miles of IO, overcoming huge doses of radiation and a computer problem just hours before the approach. The probe made the closest-ever flyby at 10:06 p.m. PDT Sunday, Oct. 10, 1999, said project manager Jim Erickson of JPL. AP/PTI |
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Rejoinder to
Benazir’s claim Blair
shuffles Cabinet 5,000
tonne chemical arms ‘with N. Korea’ Chechens
may target N-sites UN
Mission man killed Elvis
shirt fetches $ 8,500 Kazakh’s
PM named |
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Clinton ready to delay vote on CTBT WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (UNI) — The White House signalled last night that it would accept in principle a plan to delay a Senate vote on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) until after President Bill Clinton leaves office, says The New York Times. While Mr Clinton refused to publicly forswear a vote while he is President, his National Security Adviser, Samuel R. Berger, suggested that the White House could live with terms guaranteeing that the Senate would not act on the treaty until the next administration. The next administration would assume office in January 2001 on the expiry of President Clinton’s current second and last term. Thus, the treaty has no chance of Senate approval at least for the next 14 months. Mr Clinton had signed the treaty in September 1996, but the republican-controlled US Senate is unwilling to ratify it. In the 100-member body, the President’s Democratic party has 45 members against 55 of the Republican Party who are opposed to the CTBT. He needs a two-third-majority, some 67 votes, for its ratification which he does not have, forcing him to go in for delaying the voting. Yesterday, the President, in writing, urged the Senators to delay the vote scheduled for today. He accepted one of the two Republican Party’s preconditions for postponement. So far, the President has resisted the other demand, that he agrees to delay any further action until the next administration. White House officials have argued that this would weaken his ability to persuade Pakistan and India not to conduct more testing of nuclear explosives. “That’s a matter for the Senate, in terms of their schedule and preferences,” Mr Berger said in an interview. “It’s not something the President felt would be responsible for him to say.” The daily says that Senators John Warner (Republican) and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat) were drafting a letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and his Democratic counterpart, Tom Daschle, requesting that the Senate action on the treaty be delayed until the 107th Congress convenes in 2001, and after a new administration is in place. The daily quoted a spokesman for Lott, John Czwartacki, suggesting that the seeds for a deal were in hand, but many details needed to be worked out. But Mr Clinton, as he did on Friday, refused to concede that the pact would not be enacted during his presidency. “This President believes that it is inappropriate for him to say to the world that the USA is out of the non-proliferation business during an election year.” Mr Berger said in the interview to the daily. But the political reality is that Mr Clinton does not control the Senate calendar, and if Republicans and Democrats agree not to bring up the issue, it is effectively dead for the remainder of his presidency, the daily says. The daily says Senators
Joseph R. Biden of Delaware and Carl Levin of Michigan,
the ranking Democrats on the foreign relations and armed
services committee, respectively, have voted reluctance
to bring up the treaty again next year, but are opposed
to putting that in writing. |
China on lookout for scientists abroad WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (PTI) — Close on the heels of alleged stealing of the US nuclear weapons secrets, China has unleashed a major campaign to recruit spies abroad to track the latest developments in Western science and technology, The Washington Times has reported. Quoting a new report released by the US National Counter Intelligence Centre (NCIC), the paper said, the project is part of China’s larger science programme to gain the support of “overseas scientists” to work for the country. The Chinese Academy of Science has set up a fund to hire scientists in Germany to work at a Chinese high-technology centre, the NCIC, cited Lu Xongxiang, president of the Academy as stating in an article. The NCIC, an interagency counterspy office based at CIA headquarters, said: “Articles in People’s Republic of China (PRC) indicates that the Communist nation is planning to continue its longstanding policy of relying on overseas scientists for state-of-the-art technology.” The new plan follows China’s brilliant success in obtaining the secrets of all of America’s latest nuclear weapons technology as reported by the Congressional Cox Committee and is currently upgrading its nuclear weapons with the knowledge thus gained. The Academy’s vice president, Mr Bai Chunli, is quoted in the report as saying that all recruited foreign scientists “must be of Chinese nationality, be willing to abandon their foreign citizenship when they come to China or become permanent residents.” The NCIC has also warned China in its latest report for using cooperative research efforts with foreign companies “as an important technology transfer mechanism”. “The ministry will expand cooperation with others but will shift the focus from technology and equipment introduction to joint Research and Development (R&D),” the NCIC quoted China’s Science and Technology Minister, Mr Zhu Lilan as saying. Earlier in July, Xinhua news agency, said China, engaged in the most extensive government-funded personnel induction programme in history, is seeking foreign expertise in computer science, energy, new materials and space science. A recent issue of a Chinese Government newspaper stated that acquiring protected intellectual property is country’s main reason for engaging in buy-outs of foreign companies. Such efforts, it said, are needed to: “Offset the technology blockade by Western nations in certain areas where scarce technological resources are quite likely to be the ones that Chinese enterprise cannot acquire on the domestic front”. “Merger and acquisition and investments in the US directly exploit the intellectual property rights of the buyout targets, and more importantly, bring their advanced technology and management expertise to China,” it reported. Another method used by the Chinese to obtain technology, said the NCIC report, is for overseas Chinese companies to use: “A localisation strategy when needed by hiring overseas Chinese students and persons of high-level talent to participate directly in the work of overseas unit”. According to Cox
Committee report some 3,000 Chinese companies in the US
are involved in both legal and illegal activities. |
SC gives clean chit to PPP govt ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (PTI) — Pakistan’s Supreme Court has given a clean chit to the previous Benazir Bhutto government in corruption cases, saying there is “no conclusive finding of guilt”, but rejected a plea to restore it as considerable time had elapsed since it was dismissed. A seven-member Bench led by Chief Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, disposing of Mrs Bhutto’s petition challenging dismissal of her government, said the court would clarify the judgement passed earlier by another Bench upholding the dismissal of the government, The Dawn newspaper reported today. Hearing arguments during the proceedings, the court said “the observations made in the judgement were restricted to those proceedings and they did not amount to conclusive findings of guilt on the basis of allegations”. However, the court expressed its “inability” to restore the government with the Chief Justice commenting, “We cannot restore the Assembly after such a lapse of time. However, we would clarify the findings given in the judgement.” Mrs Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples’ Party government was dismissed by the then President Farooq Leghari on charges of corruption and growing law and order problem in the country midway through its term in November 1996. Earlier also she had challenged the dismissal but a Supreme Court Bench headed by the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah had upheld the decision by a split 6-1 verdict while considering newspaper clippings as valid piece of evidence against her government. Mrs Bhutto’s counsel Aitzaz Ahsan, arguing before the court, expressed apprehensions that the findings and observations made in the previous judgement might be used as proof for “any other purpose whatsoever”. The Chief Justice
observed that these apprehensions were not totally
unfounded even though Attorney General Choudhury Mohammad
Farooq argued that the corruption cases pending against
Mrs Bhutto in different courts had no relevance after the
Supreme Court judgement. |
Rejoinder to Benazir’s claim LONDON, Oct 12 (PTI) — The undisguised policy of Pakistan has always been to grab the whole of Jammu and Kashmir through direct or indirect force and the sole basis for the existence of the dispute is Islamabad’s military invasion and occupation of part of Kashmir, a Kashmiri leader today said. “I know about the invasion, the pillaging, the looting and the human rights abuses, because I was there when the Pakistani army invaded,” M. Anwar Khan, Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peace Committee, Europe, said in a rejoinder to former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto, who claimed that India was responsible for the plight and suffering of the people of Kashmir. Anwar Khan who hails from Pakistan-held Kashmir said in a statement that the true history of the ruling classes of Pakistan is that they have always been power hungry. “In order to remain in power it is imperative they continue to mislead their people, sometimes in the name of Islam and sometimes in what they call democracy,” he said. “It is that the people in Pakistan-occupied Azad Kashmir who might still be undecided should choose now. Do they really believe that they, their wives and their children will have a safe future under the ever more desperate rule of theocratic suppression and terror?” “Or would they be better off under a stable secular democracy with a chance for a growing economy? As far as I can see, the choice is clear. I am sure, if she was to be completely honest, it is also clear to her,” he said. Stating that the fact remains that the undisguised policy of the Pakistani authorities has always been to “grab the whole of the state” through direct or indirect force, Anwar Khan said “they (Pakistan) started the Operation Gulmarg in 1947, continued with Operation Gibraltar and Grand Islam in 1965 and in 1989 commenced Operation Topac which has continued unabated to the present day. “Most recently, in 1999, the world saw their actions in the region of Kargil. This was a blatant invasion, with the full support of the Pakistani army, and yet they continued with crude attempts to pretend to the world that it was the Indian forces which were the cause of the conflict,” he said. He said the people of
Kashmir have never been politically alienated by India in
the Indian part of Kashmir. “However, it is again
Pakistani authorities who have been imposing their
occupation upon the Kashmiris and, at the same time,
doing all in their power to disrupt the peaceful
political process in the Indian part of Kashmir by
exporting Islamic terrorists into that part of the
state,” he added. |
Blair shuffles Cabinet LONDON, Oct 12 (AP) — The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, shuffled his Cabinet yesterday, handing the job of running Northern Ireland to Mr Peter Mandelson, a controversial ally who resigned as the Trade Secretary last year after failing to disclose a huge loan from a multimillionaire colleague. The Northern Ireland Secretary, Ms Mo Mowlam, will take over as the Minister for the Cabinet office, overseeing implementation of key aspects of the government policy. The main pro-British Protestant party in Northern Ireland welcomed her departure, but the largest Catholic party said it was sorry to see her go. Mr Jack Cunningham, the previous Minister for the Cabinet office, resigned from the government, saying in a letter to Mr Blair that he wanted to go. In other changes, Mr Geoff Hoon, previously the Labour party government’s Minister for Europe — a job that does not carry Cabinet status — was appointed the Defence Secretary, succeeding Mr George Robertson, who is the new NATO Secretary-General. Mr Alan Milburn, a Cabinet minister who was the Treasury Chief Secretary, becomes the Health Secretary, succeeding Mr Frank Dobson. Mr Dobson quit this weekend to seek the Labour nomination for the first Mayor of London. Mr Milburn’s job went to another Cabinet newcomer, Mr Andrew Smith, formerly an Employment Minister, who in the past has sharply criticised the previous Conservative government’s plans to sell off the private enterprise the air traffic control facilities. The shuffle,
precipitated by the resignations of Mr Robertson and Mr
Dobson, was the first significant change in Mr
Blair’s 22-member Cabinet since Labour won a
landslide election victory over the Conservatives in May
1997. |
5,000 tonne chemical arms ‘with N. Korea’ SEOUL, Oct 12 (Reuters) — North Korea now has around 5,000 tonne of chemical weapons, or up to five times the previous estimate of its chemical warfare capabilities, South Korea’s Ministry of defence said today. In its 1999 White Paper, the ministry said a 1997 US-South Korean study raised its estimate of North Korea’s chemical weapons stockpile to between 2,500 and 5,000 tonne from the previous year’s 1,000 tonne. North Korea is also estimated to have at least 10 different kinds of biological weapons, the paper said. “We have so far underestimated the North’s chemical weapons capacities,” the White Paper said. “If North Korea launched missiles with biological and chemical warheads, they could reach as far as the southernmost cities of Pusan and Mokpo (in South Korea),” the ministry said in a separate press note. North Korea stunned the region last year by test-firing a three-stage, solid-fuel missile, part of which flew over Japan before splashing into the Pacific. US defence analysts believed North Korea was preparing to test an even longer range missile, capable of reaching Hawaii and Alaska before Pyongyang agreed to suspend missile tests, while it was in talks with the USA. The agreement was made in exchange for Washington’s relaxation of long-standing trade sanctions. In the face of the North’s potential use of weapons of mass destruction, the ministry said it has been developing comprehensive counter measures, including strengthening of chemical warfare military units, jointly with the USA. The ministry said it is spending $ 292 million over the next five years to beef up chemical and biological warfare protection equipment and materials. The White Paper said
that despite its famine and economic difficulties, North
Korea was estimated to have spent more than 30 per cent
of its national budget on defence, although
Pyongyang’s official announcements point to smaller
figures. |
Chechens may target N-sites MOSCOW, Oct 12 (AFP) — Chechen guerrillas are preparing strikes against Russian nuclear installations and are engaging in hit-and-run attacks on federal forces in Chechnya, defence officials said today. Chechen warlord Salman Raduyev is “preparing a series of terrorist acts in Russia, mainly nuclear sites”, a Defence Ministry spokesman said. Mr Raduyev “has set up small commando groups of up to 15 persons of mainly Slav origin, a ruse which would make it easier for Grozny’s forces to infiltrate Russia,” the official said. He did not elaborate. Mr Raduyev hit international headlines in January, 1996, when he led a spectacular raid on the Dagestani town of Kizlyar in which 2,000 hostages were taken. The Chechens managed to give the Russians the slip after they and 160 hostages were attacked near the village of Pervomayskoya inflicting Russia with another humiliation during its disastrous 1994-96 attempt to crush Chechnya’s independence drive. Another war-famous
commander Shamil Basyev has been asked to train women
terrorists to strike in southern Russia. |
UN Mission man killed PRISTINA, Oct 12 (Reuters) — An international staff member of the UN Mission in Kosovo was shot dead in the centre of the capital Pristina yesterday, the United Nations said. He was the first international staff member of the UN mission to be killed since it moved into Kosovo in mid-June to step up an interim administration. The man had just arrived in the Serbian province earlier in the day to begin his assignment, UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes told Reuters. “He went to his hotel, had dinner and went out for a walk,” Younes said. “He was shot dead in the street.” The victim’s name
and nationality would not be released until next of kin
had been informed, she said. Several sources told Reuters
a US driving licence had been found on the man. |
Elvis shirt fetches $ 8,500 LAS VEGAS, Oct 12 (Reuters) — An Elvis impersonator had his dream come true on Saturday night — he outbid the competition to buy one of the king’s sleek 1960’s black polyester shirts for $ 8,500, and doesn’t know whether to wear it or put it on a pedestal. Anthony Ciaglia is sure of one thing, though: “If it wasn’t for Elvis I might not be here today.” Ciaglia, 22, bought the shirt at the second day of an unprecedented three-day sale of Elvis Presley memorabilia being auctioned off on behalf of the singer’s estate. Ciaglia, who earns his living impersonating Elvis in local restaurants and nightclubs, said when he was 15-years-old, he met with an accident and was brought back from the dead four times, only to lapse into a coma for 31 days. To help get him out of it his parents played Elvis Presley tapes for him around the clock. “When I came to I had to learn to do everything all over again — eat, walk, talk, swallow, you name it. But in the back of my mind I kept hearing this guy singing,’’ he said. Ciaglia was one of
hundreds of persons — ranging from corporate
executives to diehard fans — who have turned a
ballroom at the MGM Grand Hotel into a miniature
graceland admiration society in an auction expected to
raise $ 4.5 million for a housing project for the
homeless. |
Kazakh’s PM named ASTANA (KAZAKHSTAN) Oct 12 (Reuters) — Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev named former Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev today as the country’s new Prime Minister and asked Parliament to approve his choice. "I propose the
candidacy of Mr Kasymzhomart Tokayev for the post of
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan,’’ Mr Nazarbayev
told a joint meeting of both Houses of Parliament.
"I hereby request Parliament to approve this
appointment.’’ |
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| Galileo flys by volcanic moon PASADENA (US): The Galileo space probe, in a do-or-die effort, came within 612 KM of Jupiter’s volcanic Moon IO on Sunday in a splendid finale to its four-year mission. The intense radiation emanating from IO risked crippling the spacecraft’s computers and guidance systems, but an hour after the craft had its closest encounter with IO at 10:06 p.m. Pacific time project manager Jim Erickson said all systems were functioning normally. — Reuters Bombing suspect Accused of
killing Blobel’s
donation Mexico floods Indologist dead Six billionth
baby Oldest inmate Zhirinovsky hit 46 die in mishap |
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