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| Sunday, January 2, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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3 New Zealand babies share millennium spotlight
Britons let their hair down |
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US to uphold torch of freedom LOS ANGELES, Jan 1 — President Bill Clinton pledged the USA would uphold the torch of freedom as North America became the last continent to usher in an apparently crisis-free millennium with extravagant celebrations. Panama takes over full control of canal Putin visits troops in Chechnya
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3 New Zealand babies share millennium spotlight WELLINGTON, Jan 1 (Agencies) — A baby boy was born at one minute past midnight in New Zealand, but two other babies have shared the spotlight of being the first to arrive in the new millennium. Waitemata health spokeswoman Caroline MacKersey said a boy was born at Waitakere hospital in the western suburbs of Auckland at 12:01 a.m. local time (4.31 p.m. IST). “The family have asked for total privacy at this stage, including their names, and so we are not releasing any details until they authorise us to do so,” Ms MacKersey said, adding that the family had not given reasons for their privacy. Respecting the family’s wishes, New Zealand’s television station TV3, with a team dedicated to finding the millennium baby, picked a baby girl born at 12:10 a.m. At the National Women’s Hospital in Auckland. An Israeli television station had asked TV3 for the name of the millennium baby as soon as possible so that it could plant an olive tree in honour of the child in a traditional ceremony screened live throughout the country. The baby, Tupou Ta’ane Fetuani, is the seventh child of Milika and her husband Sifoni Fetuani. TV3 millennium spokeswoman Jude Turner said they were unaware of any babies being born in Pacific Islands such as Tonga and Kiribati which greeted the millennium an hour before New Zealand. “There was a second baby born at 12:08 (in New Zealand), but we didn’t find out about that until one o’clock in the morning,” Turner said. The second baby was Hallum Osborne, born at Palmerston North Hospital, North of Wellington. The mother and the baby boy were well and discharged from the hospital today afternoon, a hospital official said. New Zealand media today reported up to six babies were born in the country in the first 20 minutes of 2000. BERLIN: Twin baby boys born in Berlin overnight have double birthdays, being born on two different days, in two different months, two different years, two different centuries — and even two different millennia. The first twin was born four minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999 at St Joseph hospital in the Tempelhof section of the German Capital and his younger brother was born one minute after midnight on January 1, 2000. It was unclear whether the younger twin would qualify as Berlin’s first baby of the new millennium because another infant male was born almost simultaneously across town in Charite Hospital in the eastern half of the long-divided city. ROBBEN ISLAND (S Africa): Former South African President Nelson Mandela marked the turn of the century by lighting a symbolic “Flame of Hope” in the cell on Robben Island where he was imprisoned for 18 years. During the ceremony on Friday, Mr Mandela handed the flame to his successor Thabo Mbeki, the host of a special premier millennium celebration attended by about 500 local and international guests on the island off the Cape coast. GAZA: More than 200,000 Palestinians packed the centre of Gaza for a show of fireworks and political fervour to mark 35 years of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah Movement and the start of the new millennium. Revellers held aloft flaming torches, Palestinian flags and posters of Mr Arafat on Friday as the PLO leader lit a main torch and pledged to give Palestinians an independent state in 2000. “By the beginning of the third millennium we will celebrate the establishment of the Palestinian independent state with Holy Jerusalem as its capital,” Mr Arafat said in a speech. In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, which Christians revere as the birthplace of Jesus, Manger Square echoed to the beat of Palestinian nationalist songs a few hours before a midnight millennium celebration. CAIRO: Egypt ushered in the new millennium with thousands of revellers cheering amid massive fireworks over the pyramids, while the Indian community chose to celebrate by sailing down the Nile from midnight till dawn. “Going down the Nile is like taking a trip down history and what better place to be than here in a country which has a recorded history of six millenniums,” Deven Virani, an Indian businessman based in Cairo, said. A 12-hour-long concert at the pyramids by French composer John Michel Jarre recounting the journey of the sun from dusk to dawn drew huge crowds, President Hosni Mubarak being prominent among them. As the rest of the world went wild ushering in 2000, for Iranians and its Gulf neighbours it was almost a non-event as the day fell during the fasting month of Ramzan. In Dubai, five-star restaurants and nightclubs confined festivities to a celebration dinner. Saudi Arabia on Wednesday had banned New Year festivities saying the holiday was not mentioned in Koran and celebrating holidays of infidels was not allowed. In the Jordanian capital Amman, shops and nightclubs remained closed on Friday as it was a Friday and serving alcohol is banned in the country during Ramzan. BANGKOK: Two thousand couples participated in a mass wedding on Friday, tying the knot for at least the next millennium as part of Thailand’s amazing “Love 2000” event. The mass millennium nuptial was launched on Friday with the unveiling of a 2.5 metre golden statue with the names of the couples engraved on it, followed by traditional Thai weddings, including the water blessing ceremony. The happy couples were all treated to a 72-tier, 9.9 metre tall cake, designed to commemorate Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 72nd birthday celebrations earlier this month. Thailand’s amazing event was organised by the local Wedding Business Consultant, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Fuji Film (Thailand). PARIS: Paris entered the new millennium on Friday with a glittering show of fireworks at the Eiffel Tower and giant ferris wheels along the Champs Elysees but the panel meant to count down the minutes to midnight failed. The Eiffel Tower looked like a giant sparkler as 20,000 flashing bulbs lit up its girders just before midnight and fireworks shot from its higher levels set the sky ablaze. The pyrotechnics had hardly finished when the Champs Elysees took up the baton, with a flood of lights illuminating the Arc de Triomphe and the giant ferris wheels lurching into motion to suggest movement down the avenue and into the new millennium. The panel on the Eiffel Tower counting down the hours and minutes to the New Year blacked out early in the evening and could not be repaired before midnight. HAVANA: Communist-run Cuba, which rejects January 1 as the start of the new millennium, ushered in the New Year with exhortations of revolutionary fervour instead of the fireworks and street-parties seen elsewhere around the world. State television began the first day of 2000 — also the anniversary of President Fidel Castro’s January 1, 1959 Cuban revolution — with a special midnight message to the people. “Comrades, our socialist revolution celebrates its 41st anniversary stronger than ever,” began the short address, narrated after the national anthem and against a backdrop of patriotic images of huge mobilisations here in the ongoing US-Cuba custody dispute over a 6-year-old boy. Mr Castro backs the view of some historians and experts that the new millennium does not begin until January 1, 2001, because the Christian era did not use the digit zero and therefore started with the year one. DHAKA: Cars were smashed, tyres burnt and firecrackers burst early on Friday as thousands of Bangladeshis sang and danced in the streets of the capital Dhaka to welcome the new millennium, the police and witnesses said. More than 50 persons were injured as millennium jubilations were marred by clashes between the police and unruly youths who stopped passing cars and danced on the roofs of the vehicles. The police said at least two dozen cars were damaged and many shops smashed in the street violence that erupted after midnight on Friday. About 35 revellers were arrested during the celebrations. Radical Muslim clerics reviled the celebrations, calling them a pagan custom. |
Charles celebrates with Camilla LONDON, Jan 1 (Reuters) — Britain’s Prince Charles saw in the new millennium at his country retreat with his lover Ms Camilla Parker Bowles. After a day visiting cancer patients and the homeless across Scotland, he flew home in time to celebrate with the woman who has never been officially welcomed into the royal fold by his mother, Queen Elizabeth. While the Queen was partying with her husband at London’s Millennium Dome, Charles was at his Highgrove rural home in western England for a far more intimate evening, the Daily Mail’s well-connected royal correspondent Richard Kay reported on Saturday. The Queen, as titular Head of the Church of England, has always opposed the Prince’s relationship with Ms Bowles, who was seen by Princess Diana as an arch rival for the affections of the future king. The heir-to-the-throne showed his reflective side as the new millennium dawned with a a radio broadcast revealing the depth of his religious faith. He took the “Thought for the Day” spot usually filled by religious leaders on BBC Radio’s Flagship Today programme and pleaded for a rediscovery of faith. “In an age of secularism, I hope with all my heart that in the new millennium we will begin to rediscover a sense of the sacred in all that surrounds us,’’ he told listeners in a pre-recorded message. |
Britons let their hair down LONDON, Jan 1 (Reuters) — They reworked “God save the Queen” into a blues number and let their hair down at Britain’s showpiece party of the century. With a television audience of one billion watching, Queen Elizabeth joined hands with Prime Minister Tony Blair to sing “Auld Lang Syne” as the British forgot their stiff upper lips to see in the new millennium in spectacular style. All reserve was abandoned as 10,000 revellers ended a breathtaking show at London’s Millennium Dome by launching into a giant impromptu conga. Champagne flowed in the gigantic dome — a glorified circus tent 10 times the size of St Paul’s Cathedral. Soul singer Ruby Turner turned Britain’s much revered national anthem into a bluesy revival number. Choirs then took “God Save the Queen” into double time. Meanwhile, five British women celebrated the new millennium with chocolate in the frozen expanse of Antarctica where they are bidding to become the first all-female expedition to walk to both poles. In a radio communication with their support group in London, the group — part of an all-women expedition which reached the North Pole in May 1997 — were around 400 km from the South Pole when they marked the arrival of 2000 with extra rations of chocolate. The expedition is led by 35-year-old Caroline Hamilton, from London, and includes writer Rosie Stancer, 38, a great-niece of Britain’s Queen Mother. |
US to uphold torch of freedom LOS ANGELES, Jan 1 (Reuters) — President Bill Clinton pledged the USA would uphold the torch of freedom as North America became the last continent to usher in an apparently crisis-free millennium with extravagant celebrations. The South Pacific island nation of Samoa was the last inhabited place on the earth to enter the new millennium — with prayers, singing and dancing — as midnight completed its global circuit, sweeping away from the West coast of the USA. The western US cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas earlier joined New York and Washington in celebrating the new century with fireworks, balloons and confetti. “The sun will always rise on America as long as each new generation lights the fire of freedom,’’ Mr Clinton said before setting off fireworks in Washington. “Our children are ready and so again the torch is passed to a new century of young Americans.’’ Across the USA there were no reported major security breaches or incidents despite fears that extremist groups might try to launch attacks to mar millennium revels. Seattle had cancelled its planned downtown party because of fears of a terrorist attack after the arrest near the city two weeks ago of an Algerian allegedly transporting bomb-making equipment. Celebrations rolled across the Atlantic from Europe to Rio De Janeiro as millions of Brazilians led the Americas into the new millennium. Then it was the turn of Buenos Aires, Caracas and other South American cities. Communist-run Cuba, whose leader Fidel Castro rejects January 1 as the start of the new millennium, ushered in New Year with exhortations of revolutionary fervour instead of the fireworks and street parties seen elsewhere around the world. Castro, for whom January 1 marks the anniversary of his 1959 revolution, backs the view of some historians and experts that the new millennium does not begin until January 1, 2001, because the Christian era started with the year one. People across Europe, Africa and Asia had already enjoyed their millennium moment, celebrating through the night with fireworks, champagne, entertainment and prayer. Pope John Paul, praying before 130,000 young people in Rome’s St Peter’s square, asked God to “bless this moment of festivity and good wishes, that it may be the promising beginning of a new millennium filled with joy and peace.’’ |
Panama takes over full control of canal PANAMA CITY, Jan 1 (DPA) — Panama took over full control of the Panama Canal at 12 noon local time more than 85 years after the strategic water highway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was opened. Thousands cheered as the hoisting of the Panamanian flag yesterday signalled the transfer to Panama of full jurisdiction over the canal for the first time since the Central American state gained independence at the beginning of the century. “The call for sovereignty of so many generations is now a reality. The canal is ours,’’ said Panama’s President Mireya Moscoso at a ceremony at the administration building of the Canal Commission at the edge of Panama City. Mr Moscoso also remembered former military leader Omar Torrijos who died in 1981 four years after he signed the treaties with the then President Jimmy Carter for transferring control of the canal to Panama. The handover is seen as a milestone in relations between the USA and the whole of Latin America. A ceremonial handover took place on December 14 in the presence of Mr Carter. The USA built the canal between 1904 and 1914 and initially assumed control over a 16-km wide canal zone that covered more than 1,400 sq km. |
Putin visits troops in Chechnya MOSCOW, Jan 1 (Reuters) — Acting President Vladimir Putin flew unexpectedly to a Russian-held town in rebel Chechnya early on New Year’s Day to award hunting knives to troops and tell them their main aim was to keep the Russian Federation intact. ‘‘I want you to know that Russia highly appreciates what you are doing,’’ Mr Putin said in remarks to officers and soldiers broadcast live on television around 6 a.m. (0830 hrs IST) today from Gudermes, east of the regional capital Grozny. ‘‘This is not just about restoring the honour and dignity of Russia,’’ he said, his wife at his side. ‘‘It is rather more important than that. It is about putting an end to the break-up of the Russian Federation. That is the main task. Russia is grateful to you.’’ Moscow says Chechnya is one of the 89 regions in the Russian Federation. Chechnya says it is independent. ITAR-Tass news agency said Mr Putin handed servicemen hunting knives inscribed with the words ‘‘From the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation’’, indicating the visit was planned before Mr Boris Yeltsin resigned yesterday and handed power to his Prime Minister. Asked whether the trip was the start of his election campaign, Mr Putin said the visit had been planned a month ago. The presidential election is expected to be held on March 26. Mr Putin is by far Russia’s most popular politician, largely on the strength of his military campaign against Muslim rebels in Chechnya. The campaign began three months ago and 1,00,000 Russian troops now control much of the territory, but not the whole of Grozny or the southern mountains where rebels have strongholds. |
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