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| Tuesday, August 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Russian N-sub sinks
to sea bed NATO troops enter Serb enclave, shut plant Gore gets into upbeat mood S Korea frees last two North spies |
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| ‘A little bit of Monica...’
at Democrats’ meeting LOS ANGELES, Aug 14 — ‘‘Mambo no. 5’’ — the flirtatious pop hit about the delights of having ‘‘A little bit of Monica in my life’’ — is set to keep delegates at the Democratic national convention amused between speeches, Time magazine has reported. But the original lyrics to the Lou Bega dance number that features Monica, Erica, Rita, Sandra in the sun and Mary all night long, were judged too near the mark in view of President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal. Clinton ready to call
West Asia meeting Pak separatists at Geneva meeting Imran go-between in Di affair? |
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| Mujib killers out to
topple me: Hasina DHAKA, Aug 14 — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has charged the supporters to the 1975 killing of country’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, with hatching a conspiracy to protect the killers by toppling the democratic Awami League government. Crowds throng Jewish Museum
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Russian N-sub sinks to sea bed MOSCOW, Aug 14 (Reuters) — A Russian atomic submarine was crippled by technical faults today and forced to run itself aground on the sea bed, the navy said. A navy spokesman said “Kursk” submarine had sunk to the bottom of Barents Sea, in Russia’s Far North near a navy training area. The spokesman said the submarine had no nuclear weapons on board. The nuclear reactor had been shut down but that the fault was not there. He said rescue vessels had been rushed to the scene and contact had been established with the stricken submarine. Meanwhile, Russia’s NTV television said today the front section of a crippled nuclear-powered submarine lying at the bottom of Barents Sea had been flooded with water. The television station’s correspondent, reporting from the Northern Fleet’s base of Severomorsk, said the crew of “Kursk” had been forced to ground the vessel on the sea bed after its torpedo tubes became inundated and the front section flooded. The reporter gave no source for his information and said a power shutdown on the vessel might lead to problems with supplies of oxygen on board. The navy said “Kursk”, believed to have more than 100 men on board, had been grounded by its crew due to technical faults. A navy spokesman said the vessel, classed as Antyei by Russia and known as Oscar-2 to NATO, was not carrying nuclear weapons. There was no risk of radiation leak and the captain of the submarine has stopped the reactors, the sources said. The Russian navy has been conducting exercises in the Barents Sea and the submarine had been participating. The submarine is powered by two nuclear reactors and can carry up to 24 Cruise missiles and four torpedo tubes. Russia’s navy denied today that a submarine lying crippled at the bottom of Barents Sea had been immobilised due to water flooding its front section. Asked if the report was true, a spokesman for the navy said: “No, we do not confirm this information.” Asked if this meant the report was not true, he said: “Yes”. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin will reduce spending on nuclear forces and shift some of its responsibilities to conventional forces, an Air Force commander said. The decision came at a meeting on Friday to debate the future of Russia’s beleaguered military and defuse tensions over control of the country’s nuclear arsenal. Putin is in favour of nuclear disarmament. No details of the meeting were officially released. One of the meeting participants, Air Force Commander Anatoly Kornukov, said the space missile defence troops, currently a branch of the Strategic Rocket Forces, would be put under Air Force command by 2002. He also said that some anti-aircraft missiles now used by the Air Force could be downgraded because of funding cuts. |
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NATO troops enter Serb enclave, shut plant MITROVICA (Yugoslavia), Aug 14 (Reuters) — A group of 250 Serbian workers clashed today with French riot police at a lead smelter in northern Mitrovica earlier seized by NATO peacekeepers, a French spokesman said. Col Henry Aussavy told reporters that the Serbs had hurled stones at French gendarmes but the situation had calmed down. British, French and Danish troops swept in force into Serb-held Mitrovica around dawn to shut down the lead smelter that had been pumping toxic fumes into the air. The action, billed as a public health measure, will also stamp NATO’s authority on the divided northern Kosovo city, a persistent trouble spot since international forces arrived in the Yugoslav province in mid-1999. Colonel Aussavy said a British military checkpoint at the factory gate had been replaced by a squadron of French soldiers, more acceptable to the angry Serbs. “It seems the Serbs don’t like the English,” he told reporters. UN officials say the rundown Zvecan smelter is pumping 200 times the safe level of lead into the atmosphere. “We’ve noted a significant increase in the level of lead in the air, which was dangerous for the people of Mitrovica and for KFOR (NATO-led) troops,” said Colonel Aussavy. “We had to react.” It was the most vigorous action in Kosovo by NATO forces and was spearheaded by the French, who have been criticised in the past for failing to control the volatile city. Zvecan’s Serb managers, who reported to Belgrade, had refused UN entreaties to shut down the plant and would not accept the UN’s right under Security Council resolutions to manage former Yugoslav state property, such as the smelter. |
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Gore gets into upbeat mood WASHINGTON, August 14 — Vice-President Al Gore, seeking to succeed President Clinton in the White House, and trailing in the opinion polls behind Republican nominee George W. Bush, is getting into an upbeat mood, hoping that the four-day Democratic Convention beginning today in Los Angeles would give him the much-needed boost and help him to narrow the gap, if not move ahead of his rival. Mr Gore’s selection of Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate in the November presidential election has been widely welcomed and is expected to prove a favourable factor for the Democrats. Equally though, Mr Bush’s choice of Mr Richard Cheney had also had a positive reaction. While the Gore campaign has attacked Mr Cheney as a “tool of Big Oil”, Mr Bush greeted Mr Lieberman’s selection as “a good pick”. The American media has hailed Mr Lieberman—the first Jew on a major presidential party ticket — as a ground-breaking choice”, “a respected voice of independence and integrity” and “a thinking person’s choice.” What is being stressed by several political commentators in Washington is that Mr Lieberman’s real strength is the moral character he adds to the Democratic ticket. He was the first prominent Democrat to condemn unequivocally President Clinton for lying about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, although he later voted against Clinton being removed from office. He had argued that the first question a public figure must always ask himself when making a decision about his personal behaviour or actions is not “is it legal”, but “is it right?” For Mr Gore, who at the time of impeachment proceedings against his boss had declared that President Clinton would “go down in history as one of our greatest presidents”, the choice of his running mate could help in neutralising the effect of the Lewinsky scandal on the White House. Mr Gore may also draw comfort from the appeal of President Clinton to American voters not to hold the Vice-President for his failings. “Surely, no fair-minded person would blame (Gore) for the mistakes I have made,” he said last week at a gathering of evangelical ministers, while expressing remorse for the White House sex scandal two years ago. Mr Bush agrees that Mr Gore should not be held responsible for the president’s moral lapses. In an exchange with reporters over the weekend, he also agreed that Mr Gore could restore honour and dignity to the White House. This comment was interpreted by the Washington Post as seeming to undercut one of his campaign’s major arguments in recent weeks about the damage President Clinton had done to the dignity of the White House. Although both Mr Bush and Mr Gore have been praised for their respective choice of running mates, analysts discount their significance and ultimate impact on the outcome of the presidential election. As Republican campaign consultant Eddie Mahe points out, “By September 5, the day after Labour Day, both (selections) become irrelevant. The American people do not vote for the veep.” If caste politics dominates the Indian election scene, religion seems to be an important factor in the current presidential election campaign. The Washington Post warned in an editorial on Saturday that the parties and candidates ought not to engage in a “bidding war” on religion in which the question becomes which side is more devout. “Religion is a mighty force in American life,” the editorial said, “but Americans are famously as diverse as in their views as some are fervent, and some are not religious. |
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S Korea frees last two North spies SEOUL, Aug 14 (AFP) — South Korea today announced the release of thousands of prisoners, including the last two North Korean spies in jails, in an amnesty to celebrate reconciliation with the Communist North. The 3,586 prisoners will be set free tomorrow, when both Koreas celebrate the 55th anniversary of Liberation Day, marking the end of Japanese colonial rule over Korea, with joint events for the first time ever. Chong Su-iL, an ex-Seoul University professor, and former Seoul subway official Shin Jong-ung were the two North Korean spies to be released, said a Justice Ministry official. All North Korean spies have now been released from South Korean jails — most of them hard-core who refused to denounce Communism have already been released over the past few years. Of around 80 released spies living in South Korea, around 60 have requested a return to the North and will be repatriated in September under the agreement reached at the inter-Korean summit in mid-June. |
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‘A little bit of Monica...’ at Democrats’ meeting LOS ANGELES, Aug 14 (Reuters) — ‘‘Mambo no. 5’’ — the flirtatious pop hit about the delights of having ‘‘A little bit of Monica in my life’’ — is set to keep delegates at the Democratic national convention amused between speeches, Time magazine has reported. But the original lyrics to the Lou Bega dance number that features Monica, Erica, Rita, Sandra in the sun and Mary all night long, were judged too near the mark in view of President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal. ‘‘Obviously we’re not using the original lyrics,’’ Time’s web site quoted convention producer Gary Smith as saying. Smith, who has served as executive producer for Democratic conventions since 1988, said he intended to rewrite the lyrics substituting the names of US states for the list of women. It will be played in the convention hall between formal proceedings. Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton has said Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore could overcome his gap in opinion polls ahead of the November 7 election but it would take hard work to convince an electorate made complacent by years of prosperity. Speaking ahead of the Los Angeles Democratic convention yesterday that will anoint Gore the party’s presidential nominee on Thursday, Clinton said the great challenge is to get voters to focus on the policy differences between the parties. ‘‘We can turn around these polls, but it’s not the work of a day. It’s going to take every day between now and November,’’ Clinton told a brunch honouring his Cabinet, one in a series of pre-convention tributes to his administration. ‘‘You’ve got to go out of his convention committed to telling people this is a big election, there are big differences, in spite of all the good that’s been done in the past eight years, you haven’t seen anything yet,’’ he added. While four polls on Saturday gave Republican nominee Texas Gov George W. Bush a lead of nine to 14 percentage points, two new ones published yesterday showed a much closer race. |
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Clinton ready to call West Asia meeting NEW YORK, Aug 14 (PTI) — The USA has calculated that the effective deadline for a final West Asia peace settlement during President Bill Clinton’s term is the end of September, a media report said today. Clinton is prepared to reconvene a meeting, intense but shorter than last month’s Camp David talks, but only if he is assured that the Israelis and Palestinians are ready to settle all outstanding issues, including Jerusalem, The New York Times reported quoting a senior official. Clinton has sent messages to both sides, the official said adding “there has also been a wide array of contacts between senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, although no direct contact between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.” The pressure to move quickly has intensified because the administration has concluded that the Israeli Government will not be able to survive very long after Parliament reconvenes. Recently published opinion polls in Israel suggest Barak’s popularity has dropped precipitously. If he is still in dire straits when Parliament returns, the rightist opposition party Likud is likely to succeed in manoeuvering for new elections. Palestinian leader Arafat has threatened to declare a Palestinian state on September 13, the deadline set by both sides for a final peace agreement, if there is no such accord by the time. Arafat did not get much support for such a unilateral move during a recent trip to Europe and Russia, the Times said quoting a senior administration official. Arafat is expected to continue to seek support for statehood when he visits leaders of Pakistan, China and India. Since the Camp David talks ended, “the Egyptians have made it clear to us that they are prepared to be helpful” in persuading Arafat to make tough decisions, the official said. One indication of that was the cool reception that President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt gave to Arafat’s idea of an Arab summit meeting on Jerusalem, another official said. But Mubarak has continued to sound a stern uncompromising note in public, saying in an interview published during the weekend that no Arab or Muslim state could relinquish the traditional claim to Jerusalem and its holy sites. |
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Pak separatists at Geneva meeting GENEVA, Aug 14 (UNI) — The first international conference on the right to self-determination, which was also attended by several Pakistan-based Kashmir separatist leaders, has urged the UN to appoint a High Commissioner to recommend measures for the resolution of conflicts in various parts of the world. The three-day conference, which was attended by representatives of various resistance movements and noted human rights activists recently, felt that the UN should play an effective role in ending conflicts in different regions. No separatist leader from Jammu and Kashmir took part in the conference although Maulvi Omer Farooq and Yasin Malik were invited. The conference debated on several issues, including Kashmir, Quebec, East Timor and Kurdish. Mr George Raid, Vice-President of the Scottish Parliament, Dr V.N. Kly, Chairman of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities, Ms Erica Daes, Chairperson of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Population, Ms Karen Parker, Daniel Trup, MP from Canada, Barrister Abdul Majid Tramboo, and Nazir Ahmed Gilani spoke on the occasion. Mr Raid, in his speech, said selfdetermination did not mean separation and referred to 40 conflict areas in the world which included Kashmir, Sri Lanka and Chechnya. |
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Imran go-between in Di affair? LONDON, Aug 14 (AFP) —Princess Diana asked Pakistani former cricket hero Imran Khan to act as her marriage broker with a top heart surgeon, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph reported, citing an upcoming television documentary. It said Khan had recounted how his private conversations with her in May 1997, in a visit to Pakistan a few months before she died, had convinced him of her love for Dr Hasnat Khan. “She had been involved with him for two years and she had wanted to marry him,” Khan told the programme, which will be screened on Tuesday, the newspaper said. He suggested Ms Diana’s relationship with Mr Dodi Fayed, playboy son of tycoon Mohammed Al Fayed, was little more than a summer romance. “It was clear that she was very deeply in love with Dr Hasnat, and I just don’t think she could have got over it that quickly,” Khan said. Mr Dodi Fayed died along with Ms Diana when the car they were travelling in at high speed crashed in a road tunnel in Paris early on August 31, 1997. Khan said the surgeon’s shy, dignified and reserved nature attracted the princess. “She had decided he was the man she wanted to live with.” The cricketer-turned-politician said he had already made plans to fly from Lahore to London to speak to Dr Hasnat Khan when he heard of Ms Diana’s death. “I had it in my mind that I was going to talk to him. At least to find out what was the reason (for his reluctance to marry Ms Diana), because maybe there was some reason she wasn’t aware of,” he added. “Maybe I could speak to him because having married someone from outside my culture, if there was something that could be cleared up or some advice that could be given, then maybe I would be able to help.” The documentary suggests that Dr Hasnat Khan ended his relationship with the princess partly because he disliked the media attention surrounding her and partly because his strict Muslim family did not want him marrying a divorced non-Muslim westerner. The surgeon, who works in London, attended Ms Diana’s funeral in Westminster Abbey. |
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Mujib killers out to
topple me: Hasina DHAKA, Aug 14 (PTI) — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has charged the supporters to the 1975 killing of country’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, with hatching a conspiracy to protect the killers by toppling the democratic Awami League government. Ms Hasina said the defeated forces of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, who killed Rahman in 1975, and the political parties which supported them, were protecting the killers. “They have joined hands again to unseat the government and are trying to assassinate the head of the government only to protect the self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”, Ms Hasina, said at a meeting here yesterday. |
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Crowds throng
Jewish Museum BERLIN, Aug 14 (Reuters) — There is nothing to see in Berlin’s new Jewish Museum. But some 2,00,000 visitors have passed through its bare, echoing chambers in the past year. They have come to experience the building. Many emerge so impressed with the design of US Architect Daniel Libeskind that they believe the museum should stay empty — a wordless monument to the victims of the holocaust planned in Berlin. Now curators are working to fill the museum with exhibits that tell the story of Jews in Germany from the middle ages to the present day while doing justice to the strange, zinc-clad building that has attracted so much attention in its own right. |
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