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| Thursday, August 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Two Caucasians held for Moscow blast MOSCOW, Aug 9 — Russia’s FSB domestic security police said today it had detained two men, one from Chechnya, over a bombing in a busy Moscow underpass which killed up to eight people and injured more than 90. Fiji chiefs under house arrest Nigerian Senate leader impeached Buddhist monks warn govt on reform Bill Japan remembers Nagasaki victims Russian ship docks
with space station Curbs eased on Suharto Lonely hearts ‘are often sick’ |
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Two Caucasians held for Moscow blast MOSCOW, Aug 9 (Reuters) — Russia’s FSB domestic security police said today it had detained two men, one from Chechnya, over a bombing in a busy Moscow underpass which killed up to eight people and injured more than 90. The site of yesterday’s blast, tunnels leading from one of the city’s busiest underground railway stations, had become a scene of mourning, with people laying flowers and standing, some in tears, staring at the devastation. Although no one has claimed responsibility, officials have linked the explosion to Chechen rebels or sympathisers. However, President Vladimir Putin warned today against jumping to conclusions. “According to early estimates by experts, it was a crime which may have been the result of a settling of accounts among criminals or a terrorist act,” Interfax news agency quoted Mr Putin as saying. “I must say it is wrong to look for an ethnic connection, Chechen connection in this or any other crime,” he said. The blasts were one of the reasons Russia invaded Chechnya and launched its second war in the region in three years. “We have detained two citizens, one Chechen and the other an ethnic Dagestani. We do not exclude that they were both behind the terrorist act,” Mr Vladimir Pronichev, First Deputy Chief of the FSB, told ORT public television. “For the time being, we can draw one conclusion - there is no doubt that this was a terrorist act.” On RTR state television, Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo showed photo-fit pictures of three suspects in the blast, which tore through tunnels around Pushkin Square underground station. Two of the men in Rushailo’s pictures had short, dark hair and were described as being of North Caucasian origin. The North Caucasus region on Russia’s southern rim includes rebel Chechnya and neighbouring Dagestan, which comprises hundreds of obscure ethnic groups. The third man was fair-haired and round-faced and described as a Slav. Ria news agency quoted Moscow police official Alexander Oboidikihin as saying a fourth person, believed to the main culprit, was also being sought. Mr Rushailo said the official death toll now stood at seven, with 93 people receiving medical treatment. But Ria news agency reported that another badly injured person had died overnight. Russian media said witnesses described seeing two men leave a bag or bags near a kiosk to go and change dollars into roubles. They were then seen rushing away and driving off in a Russian-made car moments before the blast. Experts said the blast beneath Central Tverskaya Street, just a few blocks from the Kremlin, was caused by between 400 gm and 1.5 kg of explosives. Despite the damage, police was able to reopen the tunnels after an initial clear-up operation. In the gloomy light of makeshift lamps, people walked hurriedly down the tunnel which the night before was filled with blackened debris, shattered glass and twisted metal. They walked past burned out shops, the once carefully laid out displays turned into a charred ruin. Many seemed to want to get out of the tunnel as fast as possible although others stopped to lay flowers. Some cried. A wave of sympathy for the injured caused people to stand in long queues to give blood “I am sad for the people, I just had to come and give blood. It’s terrible,” said Yevgeny, (23). Meanwhile, Russia stepped up efforts today to avert new attacks after a rush-hour bomb blast blamed on Chechen separatists killed eight persons and wounded dozens in a Moscow underpass. Amid fears of a repetition of a series of apartment block blasts last year which killed nearly 300 persons, President Vladimir Putin has taken the investigation under personal control. The police resumed blanket checks of basements and cellars here today. Nearly every truck entering the capital — a city of 10 million with thousands of visitors each day — was being checked for explosives. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said late yesterday he had no doubts that guerrillas from the rebel region of Chechnya were behind yesterday’s attack. He appealed to people to be vigilant. Amid the climate of fear, police said more than 500 calls about suspicious packages were received overnight. News agencies reported a bomb alert at a mainline railway station. The police was quoted as saying a case with explosives had indeed been discovered, although it did not seem to be linked to any intended bombing. It also evacuated the head office of state-controlled bank, Sberbank, after a bomb threat. No one has ever been formally charged for last year’s blasts, two of which destroyed large apartment blocks in Moscow and unleashed panic among ordinary Russians who until then had had virtually no experience of urban terror attacks. In the meantime, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov has denied his separatist fighters were behind a bomb blast in Moscow yesterday, a Chechen representative office said today. The denial was quoted in a statement by Maskhadov placed by the Chechen Press Agency, based in Georgian capital Tbilisi, on its internet website. The agency said it was the official voice of Maskhadov, believed to be in the southern Chechen mountains. |
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Fiji chiefs under house arrest SUVA, Aug 9 (AFP) — Fiji army has placed five tribal chiefs under house arrest after they were implicated in the racial violence that has plagued the country since a coup on May 19. Major Howard Politini, who is spearheading the army’s campaign against anti-Indian unrest in Fiji’s north, said: “Their movements are restricted. They cannot leave the house except to report to the authorities every day.” Among the five chiefs under house arrest is former Information Minister Ratu Josefa Dimuri, who identified himself as a Speight supporter within days of the hostage crisis. The violence, including the ransacking and looting of Indian businesses and harassment, even kidnapping, of Indian families by armed ethnic Pacific islanders, had threatened to turn into a full-scale rebellion on the island of Vanua Levu. It came as the country’s first ethnic Indian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, was being held hostage in the capital Suva in the south of the country by coup leader George Speight and a band of rebels. Taking his cue from Speight, on July 4 Lt Rupeni Vosayaco led a mutiny in the army’s Sukanaivalu barracks in Labasa, the north’s main town, and took command of the army arsenal. Within days, the Labasa police station and others across the island were in the hands of renegade Speight supporters. The ethnic Indian population found themselves at the mercy of armed outlaws, who terrorised farmers and shopkeepers. The rebels in Labasa held out until two weeks ago when the army forced their surrender and began a major mop-up campaign, rounding up 150 rebels and their leaders. The others put under house arrest were Labasa chief Josefa Ritova, Nadogo chief Ratu Viliame Rovabokola, Nubu chief Ratu Sepeca Sawaki and the chief of Dreketi, Ratu Mavileko Rokocegu. Most will face a charge of unlawful assembly and were expected to appear in court in the next few days. They have all been placed under house arrest because the town has no more cells to accommodate all the arrested rebels, said Politini. Of the 150 rebels arrested, 10 face arson charges for the burning of a farm house and sugar cane crop belonging to deposed President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara in Seaqaqa, 40 km out of Labasa. They also torched a taxi parked at the farm house. So far, 69 rebels have appeared in court and have been released on bail. “We put them into trucks and took them out to their villages in Dreketi,” Politini said. Many of the 37 who appeared in court today were charged with seizing the government irrigation station in Dreketi. They have been ordered by the court not to go within a kilometre of the irrigation station, to report twice a week to their local police station and are forbidden to assemble in groups except in church. The men return to court on August 31. He said all rebel weapons stolen from the army had been confiscated, except for one of two missing rifles. |
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Nigerian Senate leader impeached ABUJA, Aug 9 (Reuters) — Nigeria’s Upper House impeached its leader Chuba Okadigbo in the climax to a parliamentary inquiry into contract awards. Jubilation erupted in the Senate chamber after last night’s vote that looked certain to bolster President Olusegun Obasanjo’s drive for accountability in Nigerian public life. Many Nigerians blame widespread corruption, especially during decades of military rule that ended last year, for retarding economic development in Africa’s leading oil exporter. The 109-member Senate voted 81 to 14 in favour of removing Okadigbo after he refused to comply with an earlier resolution asking him to resign or be impeached, lawmakers said. “We now proceed to the next segment of our resolution which is to commence impeachment proceedings,” Senator John Mbata, who presided in the absence of Okadigbo, told the House. The process itself took less than 20 minutes as each senator present was called to answer “yes” or “no” as to whether Okadigbo should be impeached. Okadigbo and 13 other senators were absent. Mr Mbata said the senate would reconvene later on Wednesday to elect a new president. The post ranks third in Nigeria’s constitutional hierarchy after the president and vice-president. Many outraged
Nigerians had voiced support for the removal of the senate’s leadership after revelations at the public hearings into contract deals and shareout of huge financial perks by parliamentary officials. Earlier on Tuesday Okadigbo’s deputy, Haruna Abubakar, and Senate leader Samaila Mamman, tendered their resignations. Although Okadigbo is a stalwart of the PDP, which has solid majorities in the Senate and the lower-chamber House of Representatives, his relations with President Obasanjo have been rocky in recent months. |
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Buddhist monks warn govt on reform Bill COLOMBO, Aug 9 (PTI) — Heads of four influential Sri Lankan Buddhist sects today issued a decree asking the government to completely withdraw the controversial reform Bill even as the latter maintained it had not withdrawn the measure aimed at ending bloody ethnic war in the country. “The mahanayake (high priests) have now issued a (religious) decree that the President (Chandrika Kumaratunga) must roll back the Bill,” leading monk Madihe Pannaseeha told a large gathering here today. The monk also warned Members of Parliament of the wrath of Sinhala Buddhists if they voted for the reform Bill. Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Buddhist monk Hedigalle Wimalasara Thra, who had been on an indefinite fast since Monday in protest against the Bill, today ended his fast. The monks, who held demonstration outside Parliament yesterday, scored a major victory when Fisheries Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, a staunch loyalist of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, joined their rally in protest against the Bill which makes Sri Lanka a quasi federal state. A government statement last night said the debate on the Bill was deferred to pave the way for a wider consensus as many Tamil parties and alliance partners had submitted over 40 amendments to
it. |
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Japan remembers
Nagasaki victims TOKYO, Aug 9 (AFP) — Thousands of people prayed in tears and silence today to remember the 70,000 killed when a Plutonium-239 bomb named “Fat Man” flattened Nagasaki on this day 55 years ago. Some 28,000 mourned at the foot of Nagasaki’s statue of peace — a bronze figure pointing one arm to the sky from which the bomb fell and another arm forward to a peaceful future. |
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Russian ship docks
with space station MOSCOW, Aug 9 (AP) — A Russian Progress cargo ship docked safely with the international space station today carrying 2.4 tonnes of fuel, clothing and other supplies, news reports said. The Progress blasted off on Sunday from the Baikonur launch pad in the former Soviet republic of
Kazakstan. It docked at about 2015 GMT, the ITAR-Tass news agency and Russian television reported. It is the first of two Progress missions ferrying supplies to the space station in preparation for the arrival of the first crew in October. The next will be in late August. Russia’s long-delayed Tvezda module of the international station was put into orbit last month. Russia’s inability to pay its bills and rocket problems meant the module, which contains living quarters and guidance systems, went up two years later than planned. But with Zvezda linked up, construction is now expected to speed up, and the ISS is scheduled to be complete by 2005, after more than 40 more launches. |
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Curbs eased on
Suharto JAKARTA, Aug 9 (Reuters) — An Indonesian court put disgraced former President Suharto back under city arrest today, slightly easing restrictions on the one-time autocrat, who is expected to face trial soon for corruption. The sickly 79-year-old Suharto had been under house arrest at his sprawling bungalow in Central Jakarta for two months. “The status of former President Suharto has been changed back to city arrest from house arrest,” Mr Lalu Mariun, the head of South Jakarta Court, said in a statement. No reason was given for the move, which took effect from August 8 and would remain valid until September 6. |
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Lonely hearts ‘are often sick’ CHICAGO, Aug 9 (DPA) —Loneliness is bad for heart in more ways than one, according to new research that shows the physiological toll of psychological isolation, the Chicago Tribune has reported. But the research, conducted by a team from the University of Chicago and Ohio State University, also suggests a remedy: just saying hello or being nice in other small ways can help prevent heart attacks among the lonely. The Tribune said yesterday that the study found that being lonely was a major risk factor of heart disease, as bad as a high-fat diet, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking or physical inactivity. Psychologist John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago was quoted as saying loneliness tends to raise blood pressure and disrupt sleep, both of which put people at greater risk of heart trouble. Population experts long have known that lonely people tend to be sicker and die younger, but they did not know why. Women with few social contacts and who feel isolated, for instance, have a greater risk of dying of cancer. Married cancer patients have better outcomes than unmarried cancer patients. “It was assumed that people who are lonely don’t take good care of themselves,” Cacioppo said. “We didn’t find that to be an important factor. Instead, we found two different mechanisms by which loneliness gets under the skin.” |
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