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| Sunday, May 28, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Curb J&K violence for talks: USA
Most UN hostages released FREETOWN, May 27 — Another 180 of the UN peacekeepers held hostage in Sierra Leone have been released, leaving nearly 70 still in the hands of Foday Sankoh’s rebels, the Liberian Government said. Music, aromas to fix legal battles Teacher shot dead by 13-year-old Israel admitted to UN group
for first time Laser weapon to alter military balance ‘Killer resume’ bug
hits computers Lawyers for Kennedy
assassin for new trial |
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Vanessa
swaps sex to play Prospero Students protest
against Milosevic Serial killer gets 835-yr jail term
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Curb J&K violence for talks: USA ISLAMABAD, May 27 (AFP) — US Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering today asked India and Pakistan to reduce violence in Kashmir and start talks to resolve their disputes, Pakistan’s official news agency said. Mr Pickering’s comments came after intensive talks with Pakistani Government officials and a meeting yesterday with military ruler General Pervez Musharraf. He stressed that a reduction of violence in Kashmir could help open dialogue between the two countries and that both have to contribute towards this end, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said. However, Mr Pickering, who flew to Pakistan after holding talks in India, said he did not expect an early resumption of dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi. “We do not yet see a dialogue being started. We believe the dialogue is important to calm the situation and increase a search for peace,” he said. Mr Pickering said long-standing and serious differences over Kashmir had aggravated tensions between the two neighbours. Mr Pickering added that he believed the two countries would be able to iron out their differences without the involvement of a third party. However, he said the wishes of the people of Kashmir would have to be sought as well. Meanwhile, the issue of nuclear proliferation “must be tackled by both states urgently,” Mr Pickering said, rejecting the notion that progress on Kashmir was necessary for this. “The US would be the last to believe there is any justification,” for linking progress on the nuclear issue to Kashmir, he said. |
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Most UN hostages released FREETOWN, May 27 (Reuters) — Another 180 of the UN peacekeepers held hostage in Sierra Leone have been released, leaving nearly 70 still in the hands of Foday Sankoh’s rebels, the Liberian Government said. A UN spokesman in Freetown confirmed the arrival in Liberia’s capital of 46 hostages, who were among almost 500 seized by the rebels when a 1999 accord to end eight years of civil war collapsed three weeks ago. ‘‘They are staying overnight in Monrovia and we’re hopeful there will be more arriving there soon,’’ UN spokesman David Wimhurst told Reuters in Freetown late yesterday. Liberian President Charles Taylor, who has close ties to Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front, has been trying to negotiate freedom for the hostages. Government officials in Freetown said the releases could be timed to coincide with this weekend’s 25th anniversary meeting of leaders of the Economic Community of West African States in Nigeria, where Sierra Leone will also be discussed. Sierra Leone’s President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah said on Friday that Sankoh, who has been detained at a secret location since May 17, would be put on trial soon. Although Sankoh benefited from an amnesty under the 1999 peace deal, Mr Kabbah’s spokesman said the case was being built on evidence of atrocities committed since then and of a plot against the government. ‘‘Justice delayed is justice denied. We don’t want to hold on to Sankoh for ever, but on the other hand justice hastened is also justice denied,’’ said Mr Septimus Kaikai, who told Reuters he could give no date for a trial. Meanwhile, a motley array of loyalist factions has driven the rebels back up the main axis leading from Freetown to RUF heartlands in the north and the east, where the diamonds that have helped fuel the war are mined. But the coastal capital remains on edge and state television yesterday said the government had told various militias to issue identity cards to fighters to try to avoid infiltration by ‘‘unfriendly forces’’ in disguise. Among those now fighting on Mr Kabbah’s side are soldiers who toppled him in a 1997 coup and formed an alliance with the rebels they have now turned against. The UN mission in Sierra Leone said on Friday there was evidence of human rights abuses by both rebels and government forces since the latest round of fighting in the war begun by Sankoh in 1991. ‘‘Civilians have been subjected to forced labour, their property has been looted and destroyed and food and money stolen by the RUF... There are reports of abduction, rape and physical harassment,’’ the mission’s human rights section said. ‘‘UNAMSIL has also received reports indicating that government-allied forces have been responsible for extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions and beatings,’’ it added. |
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Music, aromas to fix legal battles RIO DE JANEIRO, (Brazil), May 27 (Oana-Kyodo) — Soothing music, relaxing wall colours and therapeutic aromas are the revolutionary tools a court in Southern Brazil is employing to help judges fix leagal battles. The aim is to create a positive, stress-free atmosphere in the courtoom to smoothen litigants’ path to a faster, less bitter solution for their cases, says Justice Roberto Bacelar, the brain behind the new strategy. He said he was tired of working in an atmosphere full of negative, tense feelings people usually brought to courtrooms. “People usually come to us in a state of anguish, nervousness and tension and these feelings always generate negative energies in the environment,” Bacelar said. Bacelar ordered the walls of his courtroom to be painted pinkish purple instead of the traditional white, but he soon found light green to be more effective. “People tend to associate white with hospitals and very few of us have positive memories of hospitals,” Bacelar said. The unorthodox hearings are always permeated by soft music, and relaxing aromas such as jasmine fill the air. Bacelar is experimenting with classical music and says the preliminary results have been positive. “I have found that Beethoven’s 9th symphony is constructive for our purpose, but the 5th makes people feel stressed and does not help us,” he said. The judge says he wants people to feel they are in court to reach an agreement, not to fight, and the relaxing environment is playing a crucial role toward that goal. Since he adopted what other judges at first called “esoteric therapy”, the proportion of cases that produced a “fast” agreement has jumped from the usual 50 per cent to 70 per cent in about a year. The judge said he was amazed by how many persons thank him at the end of a session — even those who lost their cases. The method has overcome skepticism and opposition from the judge’s colleagues and become a judicial attraction among the 1.6 million population of the city of Cruitiba in the southern state of Parana. A local university has assigned a team of psychologists, therapists and legal experts to analyse the scientific aspects of the practice, which is on the verge of adoption by other local courts. The court deals with civil cases and minor criminal delinquencies and on average fixes battles among some 6,000 people monthly. Most of the cases involve traffic violations, but sometimes include wife beating. |
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Teacher shot dead by 13-year-old LAKE WORTH (Fla), May 27 (Reuters) — A 13-year-old student who had been sent home early for bad behaviour returned to his middle school and allegedly shot and killed a male teacher yesterday, just minutes before classes ended on the last day of classes, the school authorities said. The killing was the latest in a series of shooting incidents in US schools that have led to increased calls for gun control laws. “A male teacher was shot in the face and was killed by a student,” said a spokesperson for the school district, Ms Mabel Cardec. She said the student, who had been suspended earlier in the day, apparently for throwing water balloons, returned to the school, pulled out a gun and shot the teacher in the face at Lake Worth Middle School near West Palm Beach. The student was detained and nobody else was hurt in the incident at the middle school, which has 1,535 students from 11 to 15 years old. Ms Cardec said the children were waiting for the bell to ring at the end of classes when the shooting occurred at about 3.30 p.m. (1930 GMT). The teacher, 35, was married and had three children. Ms Cardec said the student was thought to have a good school record and was not known as a troubled child. “It was said that he got suspended and it looks like he retaliated,” she said. Weeping students recounted their fear and shock to reporters just hours after the incident as the police interviewed witnesses and anxious parents converged on the school to collect their children. “How could he do that?” said one student, while another said that when they saw the gun, students hid under the tables in the classroom. |
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Israel admitted
to UN group for first time UNITED NATIONS, May 27 (Reuters) — Israel was given temporary membership yesterday of one of the UN’s regional groups, opening the way for its eventual election to key UN Bodies after being shut out for the past 40 years. Israeli UN Envoy Yehuda Lancry confirmed the receipt of a letter from the current chairman of the West European and Others Group (WEOG), Ambassador Peter Van Walsum of the Netherlands, informing him of the group’s decision. Mr Lancry called it “a historic turning point” in the relationship between Israel and the UN and said his government would respond formally within a few days. Van Walsum said the letter, the result of months of negotiations, was circulated among WEOG members on Wednesday and despatched after none of them raised any objections by a Friday afternoon deadline. Israel’s temporary membership will be for an initial four years, after which it will be subject to confirmation by the group’s other members. |
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Laser weapon to alter military balance THE USA and Israel are on the verge of completing the latest tests of a laser weapon which, within months, they claim, could profoundly alter the military balance on the Lebanon-Israel border in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. The tactical high-energy laser system has been specifically designed to shoot down Katyusha and other short-range missiles of the sort which the Hizbullah movement has repeatedly used in the past to attack Israel’s northern towns and villages. The latest tests of the limited-range combat laser — the world’s first — began at the White Sands missile range in New Mexico, but were interrupted by a faulty mirror on the laser. The crucial mid-air shoot-down phase, which will include the destruction of a single Katyusha and will be followed by tests involving the destruction of multiple missiles, has now been postponed until June. “The single rocket shoot-down is the most critical, because it will once and for all show that we’ve been able to design and develop a bonafide high-powered laser system,” US army programme manager Gerald Wilson said. The system concentrates a high-intensity beam on the incoming rocket, subjecting it to temperatures many times higher than the surface of the sun. “Not too many substances known by mankind can withstand that,” Mr Wilson said. If the tests are satisfactory, the system will be available for deployment by Israel before the end of September, a spokesman for the US Army Space and Missile Defence Command said on Thursday. “Our tests have been extremely successful. We are on course for delivery,” said the spokesman, Mr William Congo. Deployment of the laser weapons to defend frequently attacked northern Israeli communities such as Kiryat Shmona is seen as a decisive new military advantage in Israel’s favour, as the struggle on the Lebanon border shifts from troops to technology. The Israeli Defence Ministry said earlier this month that it would deploy the system along the northern border. “It is a system that is designed specifically to deal with Katyusha rocket attacks from across the border,” Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. The weapon has the capacity to deliver up to 60 laser beam shots without reloading. The beams can be moved around at will to defend against multiple targets, the designers say. The combat laser represents the first potentially successful development from research begun in President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” Strategic Defence Initiative of the 1980s. — Guardian News Service |
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‘Killer resume’ bug hits computers SAN FRANCISCO, May 27 (Reuters) — A computer virus disguised as a resume from a job hunter hit a number of corporate e-mail systems yesterday, posing a threat for computer users when they log on after the long US holiday weekend. The malicious programme deletes computer files on a user’s system if it is activated by clicking on an attachment, said Sol Viveros, anti-virus product manager at Network Associates Inc. The virus can be identified as it arrives by the greeting “The subject is: Resume — Janet Simons.” It appears to be a letter from a job seeker by that name, addressed to the head of sales, and invites readers to click on an attachment to check the phony applicant’s references. The attachment is labeled “resume.doc’’ or “explorer.doc,” as well as other names. Files can be recovered by running “undelete’’ software available from many vendors, although some users may not be able to get their computers running because operating software has already been deleted by the virus. A number of leading anti-virus companies said their clients had found the “killer resume” in e-mails, with more than a dozen hit by US companies by late Friday. “It is moving fairly quickly,’’ said a spokesman for security company Symantec Inc.. Anti-virus companies warned users not to click the attachment, which launches the automated programme, or macro, that wipes out files and sends the virus along to others using the Microsoft Outlook’s e-mail address directory. “With the recent outbreaks, people are more cautious,’’ said Dan Schrader, of Trend Micro Inc.. “So we wouldn’t think it will do as much damage as love bug, or some of the others.’’ Love bug, unleashed earlier this month, caused damages estimated into the billions of dollars. Network Associates rated the new outbreak a “medium, on watch’’ but Trend Micro has already given it a “high risk’’ assessment. |
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Lawyers for Kennedy assassin for new trial LOS ANGELES, May 27 (AP) — Lawyers for convicted assassin Sirhan have demanded a new trial in the federal court, one day after the California Supreme Court rejected a similar request. In a 300-page-long petition, Sirhan’s attorney said his client was innocent of the 1968 slaying of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was fatally shot moments after declaring victory in the California presidential primary. “The prosecution’s entire case was based upon fraudulent evidence,” said attorney Lawrence Teeter. “Overwhelming physical evidence of multiple shooter, extra bullets and extra guns was systematically destroyed by the police. Witnesses were intimidated. Physical evidence was altered or substituted,” he said. The petition, filed in the US District Court, seeks a new evidentiary hearing and ultimately a new trial. It contends that the police substituted another bullet for the one recovered from Kennedy’s neck. It also claims prosecutors covered up evidence that three weapons were used and a second gunman was involved in the killing of Kennedy at Hotel Ambassador in Los Angeles. Sirhan, who is serving a life sentence for killing the New York Democrat, has been denied parole 10 times. He has repeatedly asserted his innocence, claiming he was in a hypnotic state at the time of the shooting and that a second gunman might have actually killed Kennedy. The second gunman theory was rejected in 1975 when a superior court judge presided over a re-examination of evidence. |
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Vanessa swaps sex to play Prospero LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) — Vanessa
Redgrave, redressing the balance for actresses at Britain’s renowned
Globe Theatre, yesterday swapped genders to play Prospero, the Duke of
Milan, in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. For the Oscar winner, famed as much for her left-wing views as she is for her stunning stage presence, it was one of the most intriguing challenges of her career. “Bless her. She has more courage than most to come and do it,” said the Globe’s artistic director Mark Rylance who last year donned women’s clothing to play Cleopatra. “I had promised to rebalance after the nicking (stealing) of Cleopatra from the women”, he said of the summer season at the Globe which has already attracted more than £ 1 million in advance bookings. Redgrave, who first saw her father Michael playing Prospero back in the 1950s, had accepted the part with alacrity. “My dream is coming true. The globe is Prospero’s island and I thank you for inviting me to it”, she said of the theatre which is an exquisite copy of the original wooden playhouse on the banks of the river
Thames. It is close to the site where the bard’s immortal words first rang out 400 years ago. Redgrave has espoused many causes over the years from the Worker’s Revolutionary party to the Palestine Liberation Organisation. She saw “The Tempest” as a tale about refugees and exiles and this production is directed by Lenka Udovicki who fled the Balkans at the height of the conflict there in 1993. When Udovicki left with her husband and daughter, Redgrave put them up for seven months and persuaded Rylance she would be the ideal director for the play.
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Students protest
against Milosevic
BELGRADE, May 27 (AFP) — More than 5,000 Belgrade students marched here yesterday, in protest against the regime’s repression of its opponents and sought the resignation of President Slobodan Milosevic and his allies. The students gathered a day ahead of a major Belgrade rally called by the Serbian opposition parties to demand early elections, in a bid to oust Milosevic from power. The march was called by the student-led movement Otpor (Resistance), the main target of repressive measures by the regime. They were led by some 30 women dressed in white, carrying white flowers in their hands. Their march was to end at Belgrade’s main orthodox church, where student organisers said they would “pray for the souls of those who beat and kill us.” But they marched first to the Belgrade city hall, where the opposition leaders were meeting to discuss plans for today’s rally. They booed Belgrade Mayor Vojislav Mihajlovic, a member of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement, accusing his party of being slow in its response to the regime’s crackdown. There was no obvious police presence as citizens saluted marchers, waving black Otpor flags as they passed along the main Belgrade pedestrian avenue towards the church. |
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Serial killer gets 835-yr jail term BOGOTA, May 27 (AFP) — Colombia’s worst ever serial killer, Luis Alfredo Garavito was sentenced to a total 835 years’ prison for the murder of 189 boys aged between eight and 16, a court source here has said. The total sentence was the result of 32 separate judgements passed in the last few weeks at courts in 11 of Colombia’s 32 provinces, the court source said yesterday. Investigating judge Pablo Gonzalez, who has overall responsibility for the case, referred to Garavito’s “stupifying coldness” when, after his arrest in the town of Villavicencio, 110 km southeast of Bogota, he admitted killing 140 boys. He kept a record of his victims in a small notebook. Seven months later, the authorities were able to give a final figure of 189 killings, making Garavito the world’s worst ever mass murderer. Four of the murders were committed in Ecuador. |
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ISLAMABAD: Thomas Pickering, left, The US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, talks with his counterpart, Inam-ul-Haq, right, on Friday, May 26, 2000 at Forign Office in Islamabad. AP/PTI
