 |
| Wednesday, May 31, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
|
Russian forces cut off 400 rebels MOSCOW, May 30 (Reuters) — Russian forces today pressed a large-scale offensive in Chechnya into a third day, sealing off more than 400 rebel fighters in the region’s south-eastern mountains, a Kremlin aide said. Mr Konstantin Makeyev, the Kremlin’s deputy spokesman on Chechnya, also said five Russian servicemen had been killed during fierce fighting in the Nozhai-Yurt district but denied reports the rebels had ambushed an armoured column. Former President to be jailed Recognise India as N-state: Russia |
|
|
50 massacred,
250 houses burnt
Revolutionary
cleric elected Iran Speaker Wealthiest man
in jail for fraud Call for global effort on terrorism |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 UNIONDALE, USA: Aishwarya Rai, center, performs during a musical number at the Bollywood Awards on Saturday in Uniondale, N.Y. Thousands of fans of India's gigantic film industry filled the Nassau Coliseum on Saturday to pay homage to their favorite actors, actresses, musicians and singers at the Zee Gold Bollywood Awards. AP/PTI.
|
|
Russian forces cut off 400 rebels MOSCOW, May 30 (Reuters) — Russian forces today pressed a large-scale offensive in Chechnya into a third day, sealing off more than 400 rebel fighters in the region’s south-eastern mountains, a Kremlin aide
said. Mr Konstantin Makeyev, the Kremlin’s deputy spokesman on Chechnya, also said five Russian servicemen had been killed during fierce fighting in the Nozhai-Yurt district but denied reports the rebels had ambushed an armoured column. “We can say a large-scale special operation is in progress,” Makeyev told Reuters on the telephone, adding that commando units were involved in the offensive rather than regular troops. “The aim is twofold — to ensure that the bandits don’t break out of Chechnya and to destroy them, especially their leaders,” he said. The military has said its priority in Chechnya is to capture or kill Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, Russia’s most wanted man, and his sidekick, Arab-born Khattab, believed to be coordinating rebel resistance to Moscow. RIA news agency said the rebels had mounted a new ambush on Monday against a Russian army column — a practice which has claimed the lives of many servicemen in recent months. Mr Makeyev denied any ambush but confirmed that five Russians had been killed during a “heavy battle” with a band of fighters. He said “more than 15 rebels” had been killed in the clash. He said the Russian forces involved had been Interior Ministry troops and paratroops, not regular conscripts. The clash happened on Monday. Both sides in this war tend to exaggerate the other’s losses and play down their own. Mr Makeyev said Russian forces had discovered a rebel base near Kharsenoi in southern Chechnya believed to be used by around 150 fighters. He said the troops had seized equipment including two satellite dishes, shells, grenades and 20 tonnes of fuel. He was not able to confirm an Interfax report that a bodyguard of Basayev had been captured by Russian forces. The campaign has coincided with talks in Moscow between President Vladimir Putin and leaders of the European Union, who repeated their call for an end to the war and the start of peace talks. It also comes days before the arrival in Moscow of US President Bill Clinton, another critic of Russian tactics. Today, Interfax news agency quoted Foreign Ministry official Alexander Yakovenko as criticising the OSCE, saying it could set up shop “even tomorrow” but was dragging its feet. In the past, OSCE officials have said they want firm security guarantees before returning to a region long plagued by kidnappings for ransom and other crimes. |
|
Former President to be jailed HARARE, May 30 (AFP) — Former Zimbabwean President Canaan Danana will soon start serving a one-year prison term for homosexual rape and other offences after the Supreme Court having rejected his appeal. The white-haired former Methodist minister was found guilty in December, 1998, of forcible sodomy and other homosexual offences, mostly committed while he was President from 1980 to 1987 and involving his aides and bodyguards. He was on bail pending the outcome of his appeal. His lawyer, Josephine McNally, said yesterday that sentences usually started about a week after such a ruling. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, but with nine years suspended on several conditions. One of the conditions is that he pays $ 6,400 in damages to Jefta Dube, a former aide whom he repeatedly raped. Dube first exposed the former President’s sexual abuse during his trial for shooting dead a policeman who taunted him as “Danana’s wife.” Dube was sentenced to 10 years in jail in February, 1997, for murder with diminished responsibility. In yesterday’s judgment, Supreme Court judge Anthony Gubbay said Danana “used his immense superiority of status to beat down all resistance from the young and inexperienced complainant (Dube).” McNally said Danana, now 64, was in Harare yesterday and that she was still to take instructions from him on whether he would appeal for clemency from President Robert Mugabe. |
|
Recognise India as N-state: Russia MOSCOW, May 30 (PTI) — A senior Russian atomic energy official has called for recognition of India and Pakistan as nuclear weapon states (NWS) and involving New Delhi and Islamabad in the global non-proliferation regimes as members of the nuclear club. “After the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan a very unnatural situation has emerged and recognition of nuclear status to New Delhi and Islamabad is inevitable,” chief of the International Relation Department of the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry Mikhail Ryzhov told reporters here. When asked whether Russia would take any initiative for the official entry of India into the club of 5 recognised NWS — USA, Russia, Britain, France and China — Ryzhov said, “The decision has to be taken by the politicians. When it would be taken, I cannot say, but it is inevitable.” He, however, stressed that nuclear status of India and Pakistan should be recognised in such a way that it does not promote and encourage further proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world. When asked to comment on former President Boris Yeltsin’s reaction on Indian nuclear tests in May 1998, who had said “India has let us down”, Ryzhov responded: “I don’t know when India had let Yeltsin down, in 1974 or in 1998, but for the Russian experts it never was a surprise. We were aware that India was working on its nuclear weapons programme and the government of India had made it clear to the world that it was keeping its nuclear option open.” Ryzhov, who is the first senior Russian official to publicly justify India’s nuclear weapon programme, also expressed Moscow’s keen interest in developing peaceful nuclear cooperation with New Delhi. He also briefed reporters about the recent decree signed by President Vladimir Putin allowing export of Russian nuclear technology to countries like India and Cuba which have refused to put their nuclear activities under the full-scale safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exceptional cases. |
|
50 massacred, 250 houses burnt JAKARTA, May 30 (AFP) — At least 50 persons were killed and more than 100 wounded in the second Muslim attack on two Christian villages in Indonesia’s north Maluku islands in five days, a local priest said today. Waves of Muslim fighters launched the pre-dawn attack on the Galela district villages of Makete and Duma on Halmahera island yesterday, a priest with the Synod of Halmahera churches in neighbouring Tobelo district said. “Up until now, 50 persons have died in the attack. Seven of them were women. We’re still trying to figure out how to bury all of them,” said the priest, who asked not to be named. He said 102 persons were wounded and 250 homes and a church were set ablaze or destroyed in the raid. “According to reports from a two-way radio ... They were carrying automatic rifles and home-made bombs,” he said, adding that some of the attackers were wearing white robes. Galela could not be reached by telephone. A policeman in Tobelo, who confirmed yesterday’s attack, said telephone lines in Galela were cut during the previous attack on Thursday, which left 34 dead. But Maluku military commander Brigadier-General Max Tamaela put the death toll in the Galela district villages of Makete and Duma at 44, the Jakarta Post reported today. Tamaela said he had ordered reinforcements of troops and marines to secure the villages. “The attackers mostly came from (the island of) ternate and we’re investigating all the facts and the possibility of the alleged involvement of the Laksar Jihad,” Tamaela was quoted as saying. He was referring to some 2,200 radical Muslim militant “jihad warriors” who have sailed from Java to the Maluku islands in the past month to reinforce Muslim militants in a year of sectarian violence there. Another member of the Synod, the Reverend Biso, was quoted by the Post as saying the attackers used the same pattern as they did on May 25, when they swooped down on the sleeping villagers from the sea and the mountains. |
|
Revolutionary
cleric elected Iran Speaker
TEHERAN, May 30 (Reuters) — Iran’s new pro-reform Parliament elected a veteran revolutionary cleric to the post of Speaker today, subject to confirmation. The unopposed choice of Mehdi Karroubi, a mid-ranking Shia cleric and leading Leftist figure, headed off a potentially divisive fight within the pro-reform camp. Parliament, which was elected in March and April, opened on Saturday and is widely expected to boost President Mohammad Khatami’s movement for political and social change. Karroubi secured 186 votes in the 290-seat chamber. Sixty MPs abstained and some of the seats remain vacant until future runoffs. Deputies said he was certain to be confirmed once the credentials of the members of the chamber were debated and approved. Two other revolutionaries, both from the previous Parliament, were appointed as Deputy Speaker of the assembly. Majid Ansari, a close ally of Karroubi, was appointed first deputy, and Abolqassem Sarhadi-zadeh, a non-cleric Labour Union leader, second. The true test — and the magnitude of the reformers’ influence — will not be known until members vote on key issues. |
|
Wealthiest man
in jail for fraud
BEIJING, May 30 (AFP) — China’s most famous entrepreneur, Mou Qizhong, once dubbed the richest man in the country, was jailed today for life after being found guilty of swindling millions of dollars. “Mou was
sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of fraudulently using letters of credit,” said an official at the intermediate people’s court in the central city of Wuhan. Mou (58) was arrested in January, 1999, on charges of using falsified documents to obtain bank loans totalling $ 75 million which he could not repay. The trial began in November, but was adjourned after just one day. Five high-level managers from Mou’s corporation, the land economic group, were also on trial on similar charges. The court official declined to give any details about their fate. Mou’s rise to fame is a classic tale of rags to riches, and through his penchant for self-promotion he captured the imagination of the Chinese people. Mou started out as a farmer with only 300 yuan ($ 36) to his name but through a variety of businesses he built himself up to become one of the richest entrepreneurs in China. |
|
Call for global effort on terrorism BEIJING, May 30 (PTI) — The President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, today called for global cooperation, especially from China, to fight the menace of terrorism, which has become a ‘new threat’ to the international community. “We believe that it is in the interests of all nations, including India and China, to work together to eliminate the threat of international terrorism,” Mr Narayanan said while delivering an address to a select gathering of leading Chinese academics and students at the prestigious Peking University here. “There are new threats that the international community faces today. The scourge of narco-terrorism is casting a dark shadow across many parts of Asia and the world,” he said on the second day of his week-long state visit to China. The President informed the audience that India had taken an initiative at the United Nations for an international convention to counter this threat. Mr Narayanan’s reference to terrorism comes a day after he sought China’s support in fighting the menace of terrorism during his wide-ranging talks with the Chinese President, Mr Jiang Zemin. The President’s comments on terrorism are considered significant in view of China’s reluctance to come out openly with India to condemn terrorism. Diplomatic sources say though China is opposed to all forms of terrorism, it does not want to hurt its long-term ally and “all-weather friend” Pakistan by joining hands with India to condemn terrorism. Commenting on India-China relations, Mr Narayanan, a former Indian Ambassador to China, downplayed the differences between New Delhi and Beijing on some issues. “India seeks good relations with all its neighbours. China is our biggest and most important neighbour. It is perhaps inevitable that there would be some differences between neighbours,” he said. Dwelling on the unresolved Sino-Indian boundary dispute, the President called for joint efforts to seek a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement within the framework of national interests and sentiments of both people.” “We followed a principled one-China policy without any sort of reservation or equivocation,” Mr Narayanan said while blaming the misunderstanding between India and China in the 50’s and early 60’s as a “byproduct of the psychology and the circumstances of the cold war in the world”. Mr Narayanan said both the countries had broken out of economic stagnation and become “a moving, changing and progressive economy’’ thanks to the pursuit of economic reforms over the last two decades. The Chinese economy had witnessed the miracle of spectacular growth and was now recognised as one of the forward economies of the world. India too had taken the route of liberalising and opening up and has achieved substantial economic progress,” he said. Earlier, Mr Narayanan unveiled a bust of Rabindranath Tagore here at Peking University, reinforcing India-China cultural links. Lauding the role of India’s national poet and Nobel Laureate in bringing India and China closer, Mr Narayanan said Tagore laid the seeds of a new understanding and friendship between our two countries in the modern age. Tagore was a close friend of China, the President said while recalling his visit to China and Peking University in 1924 and his role in bringing together patriots and intellectuals of the two countries. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | In Spotlight | 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
NABIRE : Villagers holding bows and arrows from Nabire village, on Enarotai Island in West Papaua New Guinea, came into the local town to watch news broadcasts on TV believing they had gained independence from Indonesia which has ruled for more than 30 years. However, independence was not granted by Jakarta.
— AP/PTI
