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| Friday, July 14, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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G-8 asks India, Pak to resume talks MIYAZAKI (Japan), July 13 — The G-8 nations today called on India and Pakistan to resume their stalled dialogue at the earliest in the spirit of the Lahore Declaration and refrain from taking any step that could aggravate the tense situation in the sub-continent. Negotiators ‘agree on’
Jewish settlements Pak fanning terrorism in Kashmir: USA |
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Pak tells Taliban not
to train terrorists ISLAMABAD, July 13 — Pakistan has asked Taliban not to let its nationals receive training in Afghanistan and deport those wanted in sectarian terrorism, media reported today. White House threat
to veto US aid Bill Don’t prolong kid’s life: court Suharto has ‘brain damage’ 40 die in Kurds clash |
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| Daughter swapped
for 200 pigeons ISLAMABAD, July 13 — In exchange for 200 pigeons and 10 partridges, Momin Ali, a resident of a village near Dharki in Sind province, married off his 13-year-old daughter to a 35-year-old man, reports said. Separate jail for
cops
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G-8 asks India, Pak to resume talks MIYAZAKI (Japan), July 13 (PTI) — The G-8 nations today called on India and Pakistan to resume their stalled dialogue at the earliest in the spirit of the Lahore Declaration and refrain from taking any step that could aggravate the tense situation in the sub-continent. A joint
communiqué issued at the end of the two-day meet of G-8 foreign ministers here to prepare a blueprint for the Heads of Government summit in Okinawa later this month, also asked New Delhi and Islamabad to join international efforts to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime. “We are deeply concerned at the level of tension between India and Pakistan. We call on both countries to refrain from any action which would worsen the situation in South Asia,” the
communiqué said. Asking New Delhi and Islamabad to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime, including continuation of their unilateral undertakings and not to resume nuclear testing, the ministers said both countries should sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and take further steps to meet non-proliferation goals. The G-8 ministers unveiled an action plan to prevent conflicts across the globe and ensure international peace and security, while underlining their commitment to dealing with disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, UN reforms, international organised crime, terrorism, environmental and regional security issues. The Miyazaki action plan commits the G-8 nations to comprehensively deal with a “full spectrum” of political, economic and social problems in states or areas vulnerable to conflict, currently in crisis, or coping with the aftermath of a strife. The plan features six key measures — tightening controls on the diamond trade, stemming arms purchase in war-torn African countries such as Sierra Leone,
pressing countries to stop recruiting children as soldiers, strengthening regulations on export of small firearms to strife-torn areas, promoting the eradication of poverty and helping nations establish and train civilian police. The
communiqué said the foreign ministers stressed the need to strengthen the international non-proliferation regime, and remained committed to universal application and full implementation of the CTBT and Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). They agreed on the immediate commencement of negotiations on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. On terrorism, they renewed their commitment to fighting the menace and ensuring that no sanctuary was given to terrorists, no support granted and no criminal act tolerated. Reuters adds: Eight of the world’s most powerful nations today welcomed North Korea’s new-found willingness to talk to the West but stopped short of offering any hard cash to coax the hermit kingdom further out of its shell. Foreign Ministers from the Group of Eight nations who gathered in this southern city said in a statement that they welcomed last month’s historic summit meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas. But while it offered support for the Korean peninsula energy development organisation, a consortium building nuclear reactors in North Korea in return for Pyongyang’s suspension of its own nuclear development programme, the statement contained no other G8 pledges of aid for the impoverished stalinist state. Instead, it urged North Korea to tackle international concerns over “security, non-proliferation, humanitarian and human rights issues” — a veiled reference to worries over Pyongyang’s missile programme and charges that its agents kidnapped Japanese nationals in the past. The USA, which has cited the threat of North Korean missiles as one reason it needs to build a national missile defence shield, issued a reminder of the regional danger today. “North Korea’s missile is a reality. It is especially palpable for Japan,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott, referring to Pyongyang’s firing of a rocket in August 1998, which flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean. |
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Negotiators ‘agree on’ Jewish settlements THURMONT, (Maryland), July 13 (AFP, AP) — Israeli and Palestinian leaders tried to tackle key issues stalling peace in the holy land here as US President Bill Clinton today slipped out of Camp David to attend to other business. A dinner hosted by Mr Clinton closed out yesterday’s summit events after a full day of meetings “in every conceivable configuration” between Mr Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat, White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said. Immediately preceding the dinner, Mr Clinton met Mr Arafat during a stroll through the wooded Camp David compound followed by a meeting between the President and Palestinian negotiators, Mr Crowley said. Only the announcement that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had cancelled a US-opposed $ 250-million Phalcon airborne warning and control system (AWACS) for China to improve its leverage at the bargaining table penetrated the wall of silence surrounding the talks. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said negotiations on the core issues dividing the two sides were well underway but refused, citing the news black-out, to answer any questions relating to their substance. Meanwhile, an Arab member of Israel’s parliament said in Jerusalem today that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators at the summit have agreed that no Jewish settlements will remain in the Gaza strip. “Not a single settler will be allowed to remain in the Gaza strip,” Mr Ahmed Tibi told the Knesset in comments aired on Israeli radio. “The settlements in the region will not be dismantled, but no settlers will remain.” JERUSALEM: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators attending the Camp David West Asia peace summit have agreed to start work on the future of Jerusalem immediately, The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported today, citing “a source close to the talks”. The source added that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is prepared to offer the Palestinians a compromise proposal on the disputed city. The Israeli Ha’Aretz daily reported on Thursday that Mr Barak will propose “a relatively high degree of autonomy” for Palestinian neighbourhoods in Jerusalem. Basing its report on a briefing that Joseph Alpher, a Barak advisor at the talks, gave correspondents on the eve of the summit, Ha’Aretz said the Barak proposal would also include an exchange of territory, in which Jewish neighbourhoods in or bordering East Jerusalem would be incorporated into Israel, while some Palestinian neighbourhoods would be handed over to the Palestinians. |
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Pak fanning terrorism in Kashmir: USA WASHINGTON, July 13 (PTI) — Senior US officials have termed Pakistan as a “fertile breeding ground for terrorists” with its intelligence wing’s support to foreign mercenary groups active in Kashmir and ascribed it to the collapse of the country’s political, social and economic structures. “The USA has had concerns about the Pakistani Government, particularly their intelligence service’s support to groups we have designated as foreign terrorist organisations — support for those groups that are operating in Kashmir”, the State Department Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, Mr Michael Sheehan, told the House International Committee yesterday. Attributing Islamabad’s failure to take on the issue of terrorism to its lack of “political space”, he said this has led to failure of its social, economic and education systems. Young people are turning toward madrassas (religious schools) for free education “which inculcate extremism and violent anti-Americanism in their students”, Mr Sheehan said. “These schools, a rigid condemnation of western culture, coupled with local conditions of failed societies, produce young men inclined to support the same causes championed by Osama bin Laden and other terrorists”, Mr Sheehan said, adding that resources should be channeled to the right sectors if Pakistan wants to move in the direction of anti-terrorism. Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia Alan, W. Eastham, told the House that acts of terrorism in Kashmir and the cold-blooded murders of political leaders and innocents were “deliberate” and “reprehensible”. |
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Pak tells Taliban not
to train terrorists
ISLAMABAD, July 13 (PTI) — Pakistan has asked Taliban not to let its nationals receive training in Afghanistan and deport those wanted in sectarian terrorism, media reported today. “We have asked Taliban not to train Pakistanis there and deport those who are wanted in Pakistan in criminal cases,” English daily The News quoted official sources as saying. “We will continue to talk to them and will try to bring them round to our standpoint. We are talking in plain terms and are discussing specific issues,” the daily quoted sources as saying. Pakistan on its part, said a highly authoritative source, had taken effective measures to control its borders with Afghanistan to ensure that there was no movement of Pakistanis and other nationals crossing the borders without valid documents. |
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White House threat
to veto US aid Bill
WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) — Despite the delicate Middle East peace summit under way at Camp David, two of President Bill Clinton’s top Economic Advisers said they would ask him to veto a bill containing aid for Israel unless Congress increases the money available for Third World debt relief. The Republican-dominated House of Representatives yesterday kicked off its annual fractious debate on foreign aid funding and ran into immediate flak from administration officials and democrats for slashing Mr Clinton’s $ 472 million request for debt relief for some 40 of the world’s poorest countries to just $ 82 million. |
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Don’t prolong kid’s life: court LONDON, July 13 (DPA) — A British judge has ruled that doctors should not prolong the life of a 19-month-old boy suffering from an irreversible lung disease, rejecting a plea from the child’s parents in a path-breaking ruling, press reports said today. The ruling is believed to set a precedent and was condemned yesterday by the boy’s parents and anti-euthanasia campaigners, who said it placed “vulnerable” patients at even greater risk. Doctors said the boy was likely to die within weeks. The judge said the boy should be provided with “palliative care to ease his suffering, but doctors should not try to revive him as that would cause further pain. Anti-euthanasia campaigners opposed the ruling. “This incredibly irresponsible judge has created a monstrous precedent which must be reversed immediately for the protection of all vulnerable patients whose lives are now more at risk from doctors who kill and then hide behind the medical profession’s code of secrecy,” said Mr Julia Quenzler of the
SOS, an anti-euthanasia group. Mr Gerard Wright, a senior lawyer with Alert, another anti-euthanasia group, said: “I am astonished that the Judge should make a decision of this kind. It sets a dangerous precedent because it is all too easy for doctors to say there is no point fighting any longer.” The court was told that the boy — born prematurely — was found to be suffering from a severe and irreversible lung disease as well as a brain abnormality, giving him a very low life expectancy. UK’s National Health Service has been hit by a series of scandals this year, including widespread allegations that junior hospital doctors are taking decisions not to resuscitate elderly patients, without consulting the families concerned. |
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Suharto has ‘brain damage’ JAKARTA, July 13 (DPA) — Former Indonesian President Suharto’s defence team claimed today that an independent medical examination had concluded the ex-strongman had brain damage and was unfit to stand trial for corruption. Juan Felix Tampubolon, Suharto’s lead attorney, said the medical team from Jakarta’s Harapankita hospital that conducted a brain scan on Suharto during a private examination last month would soon make their conclusions public. “The results are similar and back up previous medical check-ups that show Suharto is suffering from brain damage,” Tampubolon said. “The independent medical team, along with Suharto’s doctors, are expected to explain to reporters in the coming day about Suharto’s medical condition.” If true, the results would conflict with a previous independent medical examination that concluded Suharto was fit to undergo questioning by state prosecutors. Today, Suharto failed again to answer questions posed by prosecutors during a morning session at the former leader’s residence, which was abandoned after only 20 minutes. |
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40 die in Kurds clash DUBAI, July 13 (AFP) — Clashes between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have left 40 dead in northern Iraq the London based ‘Al-Hayat’ newspaper reported yesterday. Clashes broke out after PKK fighters “launched an attack” on the inhabitants of a KDP-controlled region to steal “money and provisions”, sources from the KDP-headed by Masua Barzani and considered an ally of Turkey — told Al-Hayat. KDP fighters “forced the PKK elements to withdraw into the mountains where they followed them and destroyed several of their camps”, the sources said. |
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Daughter swapped
for 200 pigeons
ISLAMABAD, July 13 (UNI) — In exchange for 200 pigeons and 10 partridges, Momin Ali, a resident of a village near Dharki in Sind province, married off his 13-year-old daughter to a 35-year-old man, reports said. According to the villagers, Momin Ali, had earlier exchanged his another daughter with a man for four hunting dogs. |
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Separate jail for cops LISBON, July 13 — They joined up to protect and serve. Now the tables have been turned. Portuguese policemen serving jail sentences were last week given their own prison to protect them from other inmates. “The problem is that police officers incarcerated in ordinary prisons are often targeted by other prisoners,” explained a government official with regard to the decision to open the world’s first jail for crooked cops in Santarem, 40 miles from Lisbon. |
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