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| Sunday,
October 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Poll campaign in Lanka ends amid LTTE threats Annan for
war crimes court
Harry Potter makes debut in China Yugoslav Parliament
in sitting |
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Milosevic’s son
leaves for Moscow Diana’s was complex character: ex-aide
Japan imposes
ban on human cloning Doctors set to deliver children to order Abu Sayyaf hostages sighted Musharraf for talks Dawn group moves SC Yet another case
against Sharif
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Poll campaign in Lanka ends amid LTTE threats COLOMBO, October 7 (PTI) — The bitterly fought campaigning for the October 10 parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka came to an end today amid threats of more LTTE bomb attacks even as President Chandrika Kumartunga said the Tigers were trying to emerge as an “insidious political force” by sabotaging the poll process with a series of attacks. Media reports here said that the police has asked the leaders of the Peoples Alliance (PA) to cancel all its poll rallies before the closure of the election campaign formally tonight due to threats of more rebel bomb attacks. However, campaigning has ended all over the island. Meanwhile, addressing newspersons here last night Ms Chandrika said that the “LTTE was attempting to take part in the elections with bizarre bombing campaign to emerge as a fourth force in addition to the ruling Peoples Alliance, (PA), the United National Party, (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna, (JVP)”. Ms Chandrika said “over 100 people” along with two candidates of her alliance were killed in the run up to the elections, while two ministers managed to escape assassination attempts. Alleging that the opposition UNP and the LTTE formed a “dubious” alliance to obstruct her government’s efforts to restore peace, she said that the LTTE’s bombing campaign against the PA was in sharp contrast to the rebel groups permission to let the UNO conduct a poll campaign without any hindrance. Continuing her tirade against the LTTE, Ms Chandrika said that the rebel group was attempting to sabotage the PA. “Therefore there was more at stake in Parliament polls than
I thought at stake, she said, adding that a large number of foreign independent monitors should take serious note of poll violence perpetrated by the LTTE. However, Ms Chandrika’s allegations that there was a pact between the UNP and the LTTE were staunchly denied by UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, who yesterday said that there was no truth in the allegations that his party had a secret pact with the rebel group. Over 12.07 million voters were expected to cast votes for the 225-member Parliament on October 10. A record number of 5500 candidates were taking part in the polls. |
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Argentine V-President resigns BUENOS AIRES, Oct 7 (Reuters) — Argentine Vice-President Carlos Alvarez yesterday resigned in protest at the government’s handling of a bribes-for-votes scandal but said he would not break the ruling alliance coalition. “I am presenting my irrevocable resignation as Vice-President. I do so to be able to say freely what I think and at the same time not to cause trouble for the President,’’ a stony-faced Alvarez told a crowd of emotional supporters who roared his name in a packed Buenos Aires hotel. The popular 51-year-old politician heads the Left-leaning Frepaso, which is junior partner to President Fernando de La Rua’s Centrist Radical Party in the 10-month-old alliance coalition government. Alvarez had called for heads to roll in the government over suspicions officials bribed opposition Senators to pass a labour market reform bill in April. He also had criticised the failure to end more than two years of economic stagnation. But when De La Rua changed half his cabinet on Thursday, he confirmed or promoted officials suspected in the bribes case and strengthened Economy Minister Jose Luis Machinea. “I respect the President’s decisions. But I cannot passively sit by in silence, because they go against what I have been calling for in the senate,’’ said Alvarez in a speech. “I feel great shame that young people who are 16 or 17 or 18 years old feel that politics is like crime, that they feel that we who work in politics and who have official jobs are just doing it to get rich,’’ he said, promising to fight to change the way politics is done in Argentina. The alliance came to power last December promising honesty, riding a wave of popular revulsion at endemic corruption in the 10 years of administration of Peronist leader Carlos Menem. Alvarez, whose Frepaso has 36 Congressmen and women in the 257-member Chamber of Deputies, said that he would continue to support De La Rua. “I am going to continue defending the alliance programme and our government,’’ he said. Government officials also rushed to say that the alliance would hold together. “I don’t think the alliance will have problems because one or two men leave,’’ commented Health Minister Hector Lombardo, a member of the radical party. But Interior Minister Federico Storani, a radical, warned earlier when the resignation was a rumour that “any gesture of that type would cause a very, very serious crisis. ... This is a coalition government and the leader of one of the coalition partners is Alvarez.’’ For political analyst Rosendo Rraga it was clear ‘’Alvarez’s departure ... “means the break-up of the alliance. It deprives De La Rua’s government of the transparency banner that differentiated it from the Peronists and got it elected.’’ Frepaso’s clout in the government was sharply reduced by Thursday’s reshuffle, which benefited the two officials most sullied by the bribe scandal. Intelligence chief Fernando de Santibanes kept his post, and Labour Minister Alberto Flamarique was moved closer to the President as De La Rua’s new chief of staff. But Flamarique enjoyed his new job for less than 24 hours. He too resigned after the news of Alvarez’s departure, saying that he felt it impossible to continue. Both Flamarique and de Santibanes have denied any involvement in the case, which is being investigated by a federal court. A judge has named 11 Senators under suspicion, but has not identified members of the government who might have paid bribes. Alvarez defected from Peronism in 1991. Disgusted with the corruption he formed Frepaso and teamed up with the radicals in the alliance six years later. Together they ended 10 years of Peronist rule. However, he was never entirely trusted by the conservative business sector and financial markets. “Alvarez is not reliable from the markets’ view. The proof is that every time De La Rua went abroad, everyone trembled,’’ said analyst Rafael Ber. Machinea played down the significance of Alvarez’s departure and said: “The Vice-President’s resignation has nothing to do with the progress of economic policy, which he has supported. And I don’t believe this constitutes a crisis.’’ Judging by historical precedents in Menem’s era, Alvarez’s post will not be filled. But his function as head of the Senate will be covered and that person would be next in line to the presidency and interim President when De La Rua is abroad. |
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Annan for war crimes court UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7 (PTI) — The united Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended the setting up a special war crimes court to prosecute those responsible for killing and maiming thousands of people during the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone. The report on the setting up of the court was sent by Annan to the Security Council on Thursday which includes the controversial provision on trying child soldiers between the ages of 15 and 18. But Annan left the decision about child soldiers to the council even as human rights and child advocacy leaders sharply attacked the proposal, pointing out that the child soldiers were abducted and were, in effect, themselves victims of torture, rape and other abuses. Annan conceded the “terrible dilemma” that the council faced in deciding whether to allow prosecution of the children who were themselves “abducted, forcibly recruited, sexually abused, reduced to slavery of all kinds.” But he expressed the view that they should not be initially excluded from the jurisdiction. “If the council approves prosecution of children, they should not be imprisoned but given alternative sentences, their identities should be protected and they should be given psychological counselling,” Annan said. He also recommended a separate trial chamber for them. Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) leader Foday Sankoh and some of his colleagues, now under arrest, would be among the first to be prosecuted but officials do not expect more than 24 prosecutions. The court’s jurisdiction will cover the practices of mass killing, extra-judicial executions, widespread mutilation, sexual violence against women, abduction of thousands of children and adults, hard labour and forced recruitment into armed groups, looting and setting fire to large urban dwellings and villages. The report says the jurisdiction of the court would be from November 30, 1996, when the Abidjan agreement between the government of Sierra Leone and the
RUF was signed in the first attempt at a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.
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Harry Potter makes debut in China BEIJING, Oct 7 (Reuters) — Harry Potter has made a splashy official debut in China, despite anxious debate within the people’s literature publishing house over whether the schoolboy wizard was politically correct. An initial print run of 600,000 copies of the first three children’s books by British author J.K. Rowling was rushed to market to beat pirates already making a killing. The biggest first edition run of a work of fiction in the 51-year history of Communist China attracted long queues outside Wangfujing bookstore in Beijing’s main shopping district that stretched halfway around the block. Wang Ruiqin, children’s editor for people’s literature publishing house — publisher of the collected poems of Mao Zedong — said she fought criticism that Harry Potter with his vampires, zombies and trolls promoted superstition. After the Communists took power in 1949 they outlawed “feudal superstition” along with a host of other evils, including prostitution and drugs. “Some who have not read the book feel it is just like witchcraft, but after you read it you will not feel that way,” she said. The editorial board was persuaded by the argument that Harry Potter was a fine role model for children. “Harry Potter’s courage, his willingness to help people — this is universal,” she said. Cultural clash? Customers paid a hefty $ 8.20 for the books printed on special green-tinted paper to foil counterfeiters. The Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets and the Prisoner of Azkaban are being sold as a trilogy. People’s literature publishing house is negotiating for rights to the fourth in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and could bring it to market next year depending on the response to the first three, Wang said. “For Chinese readers, it has been a long wait,” said publishing house President Nie Zhenning. First in line on Friday was Zhang Huitou, who waited more than three hours to get his hands on the set for his 11-year-old daughter after reading a newspaper account of the exploits of the boy wizard “Hali Bote”, as he is known in Chinese. “This really makes Chinese kids excited,” said Zhang. The publisher moved the launch in major cities up by a week to cut down on counterfeiting, but already three or four pirated versions are circulating on the streets. |
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Plane crashes into homes,
kills 6 MEXICO CITY, Oct 7 (AP) — An aeromexico plane carrying 83 passengers skidded off runway in pouring rain in northern Mexico, hitting cars and smashing through houses, killing at least six persons in its path. The brakes gave out on the DC-91 plane that ran off a run way yesterday in the border town of Reynosa, the airline said in a statement. But the passengers and crew, who climbed out of the crumpled plane that laid to rest in a ditch, escaped with only scrapes and bruises. “Please tell my family
I'm ok,” passenger Raul Galuvez told Mexico’s national Radio Formula, before breaking down and sobbing. “The people were crying and shaking,” said Paul Ponce, Director of Emergency Services for the Red Cross in Reynosa, who was at the scene. “On top of that, it was raining hard, there was mud everywhere, and we’re trying to help the people out of the ditch after they opened the door of the plane and climbed out.” At least 60 passengers and four crew were treated for minor injuries at hospitals in Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen, Texas, Red Cross officials said. All aboard were Mexican citizens. Aeromexico said the crew received approval to land from the control tower, but “the climatic conditions prevented the plane from braking.” |
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Yugoslav Parliament in sitting BELGRADE, Oct 7 (Reuters) — Yugoslavia’s Parliament began a meeting today that will formally end 13 years of rule by Slobodan Milosevic and usher in what has been hailed as a new era of hope under President Vojislav Kostunica. The 178 newly elected members of the two houses of Parliament began separate sessions, mostly to take care of formal protocol. They will then gather for a joint session to witness the swearing in of Mr
Kostunica. Mr Milosevic, who after days of protests finally admitted defeat yesterday in September 24 elections, was not present despite having said he wanted to retain a political role. His wife, Mira
Markovic, who has a seat in the Parliament, was also absent. However, many members of Mr Milosevic’s old entourage were there, including Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, who along with Mr Milosevic has been accused of war crimes by the Hague tribunal. Some legislators booed and whistled at him. Mr Slobodan
Milosevic, who presided over the destruction of Yugoslavia, has accepted election defeat at the hands of President-elect Vojislav Kostunica in what appeared to be a bloodless transition of power. Addressing the Yugoslav nation on the only major television station still under his control, Milosevic yesterday congratulated Mr Kostunica on his election victory and said his Socialist party would be strong in the Opposition and he would play a part. Looking weary and drawn before the TV cameras, Mr Milosevic made his address just an hour after meeting Ms Kostunica alone in their first ever face-to-face encounter. “I congratulate Vojislav Kostunica on his election victory and I wish our nation success over the next term,” Mr Milosevic said in a brief recorded statement to yu-info television. The meeting between the two men in a government building in
Belgrade began with the words “good evening”. They introduced themselves and shook hands before retiring behind closed doors for talks lasting almost an hour. The events appeared to diffuse remaining tension in Yugoslavia, where opposition supporters feared Mr Milosevic and his backers would use violence to keep hold of power. But in a city rife with rumour, unconfirmed reports said two buses packed with police loyal to Milosevic were headed for the capital after nightfall, suggesting confrontation. Adding to the fresh uncertainty, a leading Serbian economist Mladjan Dinkic, tipped to be the next governor of the Yugoslav Central Bank, said Mr Milosevic was attempting to fly the country’s dwindling state gold reserves out to China. MOSCOW: The Russian press praised Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Saturday for promoting a peaceful transition of power in Yugoslavia with a mission to Belgrade in which he withdrew Moscow’s support for Slobodan Milosevic. Mr Ivanov’s lightning trip on Friday to congratulate opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica on winning a presidential election appeared finally to prompt Milosevic, to concede defeat. PARIS: U.N. War Crimes Tribunal President Claude Jorda on Saturday said all countries should cooperate to ensure Slobodan Milosevic is brought before the court. Milosevic, should either hand himself in or be arrested for trial at the Hague-based court, Mr Jorda told France Info radio. BEIJING: China, one of the staunchest supporters of Slobodan Milosevic, has strongly denied reports that the defeated President was trying to fly Yugoslavia’s state gold reserves to Beijing. “We resolutely deny this,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told Reuters on Saturday by telephone. BERLIN: (AFP) — NATO must maintain its presence in the Balkans and particularly in Yugoslavia, a NATO commander said on Saturday. In an interview with the German daily, Bild, General Klaus Reinhardt, Commander of NATO ground forces in central Europe said: “we must stay in the region for as long as its people continue to rely on outside help to live peacefully together.” |
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Milosevic’s son leaves for Moscow BELGRADE, Oct 7 (AFP) — The son of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Marko, left for Moscow with his family today, Beta news agency reported. Milosevic junior left Belgrade with his wife Milica and their son on a Yugoslav Airlines (JAT) plane (flight 132), the agency quoted the company’s traffic center as saying. Officials refused to confirm whether Marko Milosevic (26), and his family were on the plane, saying only that the regular flight for Moscow left on schedule. During 10 days of protests in Serbia over last month’s electoral dispute, Marko Milosevic’s businesses in the family’s hometown Pozarevac, 40 miles southeast of Belgrade, were ransacked. A luxurious perfume shop in central Belgrade, named Scandal, and believed to belong to Milosevic junior, was totally smashed and looted by rampaging anti-regime protesters on Thursday. |
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Diana’s was complex character: ex-aide NEW YORK, Oct 7 (PTI) — Princess Diana was neither a “fairy-tale figure” nor a “disturbed, damaged, unfortunate, put-upon creature,” says Patrick Jephson, the former private secretary to the Princess of Wales for eight years. That was why he decided to break the confidentiality agreement he signed near the end of his time with the Princess, Jephson said in an interview to ABC television. “She was a real person, and as
I saw the two false impressions being left in her memory, I thought it was imperative that a truthful impression should also be left,” said Jephson whose book “Shadows of a Princess: An Intimate Account by her Private Secretary” will be released on Monday. According to ABC, in his book the former private secretary reveals a woman with an overpowering need for attention and sympathy, difficulty sustaining romantic relationships, and a sense of paranoia and vindictiveness that ultimately forced him to resign. Jephson, a former Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, started as Diana’s bag carrier and ultimately became her private secretary which is comparable to being her chief of staff. He arranged all of Princess Diana’s public engagements, travelled with her and was so trusted by the Princess that she made him the executor of her will. But once Diana died, he told ABC that he no longer felt bound by the confidentiality agreement he had signed. “It was a very, very difficult decision and
I agonized over it but eventually it was quite plain to me that it was more important to write the book and take the risk.” While his decision to betray her confidence caused a furore in London and prompted international headlines, Jephson said “I don’t think the truth can ever be treason.” |
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13 die as clashes spread RAMIEH Gate (Lebanon), Oct 7 (Reuters) —Israeli troops killed at least two Palestinian refugees and wounded about 15 others today when they fired on a demonstration at the Lebanese-Israeli border, witnesses and security sources said. In Israel itself nine Palestinians were killed in clashes and another succumbed to injuries. Israeli warplanes attacked
Hizbollah-held hills in South Lebanon today after Hizbollah said it captured three Israeli soldiers in the area, witnesses reported. It was the first Israeli Air Force action since the Jewish state pulled out its troops from South Lebanon in May, ending a 22-year occupation. A Reuters correspondent said Israeli fighter jets fired rockets on the hills near the border village of Kfar
Shouba, from where Hizbollah guerrillas shelled Israeli positions across the border earlier this morning. Security sources said Israeli helicopters were combing the area in the search for the three Israeli soldiers which Hizbollah said it captured during an attack on an Israeli position along the border. Israeli helicopter gunships also pounded a road in the area and four civilians — a father and his three children — were reported wounded. Israel regularly launched air raids on South Lebanon during its 22-year occupation. Palestinians using iron bars, pickaxes and hammers demolished a Jewish shrine here today after the Israeli army pulled out of what has been a deadly flashpoint over the past nine days of violence, an AFP correspondent said. They were among some 2,000 people who swarmed past Palestinian police posted to protect the site, and ignored the governor of
Nablus, Mahmud al-Alul, who said the shrine was also holy to Muslims and called on them not to damage it. After several hours, only the outer walls of the small, five-room building remained standing. That section of the building which housed the tomb was in flames, but there was no immediate indication of what started the fire. Demonstrators hoisted an Islamic flag over the site, bearing the words “There is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet.” Hundreds of Palestinians converged on the defunct Ramieh border gate, which faces an Israeli settlement, to protest at the killing of scores of Palestinians in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank, Gaza strip and Jerusalem. The protesters threw stones at an Israeli observation post and shouted slogans. Witnesses said Israeli soldiers at the post responded by opening fire, killing Ihab Afifi and Hassan
Hassanein. A Reuters correspondent said the Israeli army had strengthened its presence at Ramieh Gate with several armoured vehicles. Hundreds of Palestinians were still facing them. Shells were fired at Israeli positions along the Lebanese-Israeli border today, immediately after the death of the two Palestinians in Lebanon during protests, witnesses said. A Reuter correspondent saw at least 50 shells hit Israeli positions across the town of Kfar
Shouba, some 500 metres from the Israeli border. It was not immediately known who fired them but Shi’ite Muslim Hizbollah Guerrillas control the area. It was the worst escalation of violence since Israeli troops withdrew from south Lebanon in May, ending a 22-year occupation. Both Hizbollah and Israeli forces were exchanging fire in south Lebanon after the firing incidents. In Jerusalem Israeli police commandos stormed a shrine holy to Muslims and Jews ripping down a fluttering Palestinian flag, and nine Palestinians were killed in gun battles with Israeli troops throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A tenth Palestinian died of wounds inflicted a day earlier. A combative Prime Minister Ehud Barak spoke, for the first time, in terms of war. “With the same determination we had in leaving no stone unturned to find a way toward peace, with the same determination ... we will fight and defend our soldiers and our citizens, even if it is against the whole world,” Mr Barak told Channel Two Television. Mr Barak has resisted international pressure to allow the U.N. Commission to investigate the latest outbreak of violence, which has so far taken 80 lives and left more than 1,900 hurt. In the gaza strip, Palestinian gunmen kept up attacks on flashpoint, the isolated Netzarim settlement. Thousands of Palestinians today celebrated Israel’s withdrawal from a Jewish shrine in the West Bank town of Nablus that has been a scene of fierce fighting over the past week. UNITED
NATIONS: The USA threatened yesterday to use its veto power against a draft resolution
condemning Israeli “provocation” and “excessive use of force” against Palestinian civilians. US Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard
Holbrooke, told the un Security Council he rejected the draft resolution negotiated for several hours with the Palestinians, after consulting with us Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The 15 members of the un Security Council had been close to an agreement on the text, which already has been toned down from the original proposal submitted by the Palestinians before Mr Holbrooke’s consultation with Washington.
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Clashes leave 21
dead in Indonesia JAKARTA, Oct 7 (AP) — Clashes between security forces and independence activists armed with bows and arrows in Indonesia’s remote Irian Jaya province have escalated, leaving at least 21 persons dead, Indonesian media reported today. Hospital officials in the town of Wamena said two of the victims were young children who died in their houses when they were set on fire, the official Antara news agency reported. The report said at least 45 persons had been injured in the clashes, many of them shot by the police or hit by rebel arrows. |
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Clothes work of ‘Satan’, thus
spake Kadhafi
AMMAN, Oct 7 (AFP) — Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi told a group of Jordanian women that clothes were the “work of Satan” and denounced the restrictions imposed by Islam on the way women dress. The Libyan leader yesterday shared with his guests his views about the dress code from the time when Adam and Eve covered up their private parts with fig leaves. “Satan is the one who suggested to Adam and Eve to cover up with leaves” after he succeeded in having God throw them out of the Garden of Eden, said the flamboyant Libyan leader, flanked by three female body guards. “Clothes are the work of “Satan”. He invented them and we should not give them too much thought,” Kadhafi told the women, who included an Islamist militant, a poet, members of local non-government organisations. Kadhafi’s female guests showed their appreciation by applauding the Libyan leader several times during his expose which included a liberal view of what he considered restrictions imposed by Islam on the female dress code. Kahdafi remarked that everything changes, and religion must adapt to the changes of our era otherwise it will no longer be valid. |
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Japan imposes
ban on human cloning TOKYO, Oct 7 (Reuters) — The Japanese Cabinet has approved a Bill that will impose hefty fines and prison sentences for engaging in human cloning, a science and technology agency official said here today. The legislation follows the example of the European Union, which has already banned human cloning and the commercial use of human embryos. Japan’s proposed Bill, which was approved yesterday, will make it illegal to put a cloned human embryo into the womb of humans or animals. Violators could be sentenced to a maximum 10 years in prison and fined up to $ 91,670. According to Japan’s Kyodo news agency, the government will now set to work drafting separate guidelines allowing research into test-tube cloned embryos. Scientists in Japan and elsewhere have been working to develop techniques to clone livestock such as cattle that yield leaner meat, cows that produce more milk and sheep with finer fleeces. Some people have the apprehension that techniques developed for animals might be abused in case of human beings. |
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Doctors set to deliver children to order LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) — God created Adam and now American scientists have come up with Adam Nash. And their decision to select him, over potential siblings in the petri dish, is raising fears of a brave new world where doctors get to play God and deliver children to order. Doctors in Chicago brought Nash to life in August after screening his embryo to ensure he was healthy and could provide cells that might save his sister from a life-threatening blood disorder. “For decades there has been talk of designer babies but now we are confronted with the reality. For the first time, a human being has been created to order,’’ said Dr Anthony O’Hear, Professor of Philosophy at Bradford University in England. “Adam Nash exists for the best of reasons. But he has set us on a journey whose destination we cannot see — one which ought to fill us with foreboding,’’ he wrote in Britain’s Daily Mail. In this case, Nash was born after ground-breaking genetic screening of a group of embryos pointed to him offering the best hope of life for his chronically sick sister Molly. He was both a healthy child and a potential donor — a win-win for the Nash parents — but experts say the Chicago lab procedure had contravened a key tenet of medical ethics. “There is a widely accepted principle in ethics that human beings are ends and not means,’’ John Polkinghorne, chairman of the Church of England’s Science, Medicine and Technology Committee, told Reuters. “This steps onto a very slippery slope.’’ The US procedure set off Alarm bells across Europe, where laws governing such controversial techniques vary widely. A panel would have to approve a new baby Nash in Britain, which operates strict controls on pre-implantation genetic screening. France’s Professor Jacques Montagut, pioneer of in vitro fertilisation, said the case set a dangerous precedent if Adam was born to save Molly. “It would inaugurate a new form of biological slavery,’’ he told Le Parisien newspaper. “A child can never be a means to an end. That would be unethical. A child is an end in itself,’’ Hubert Hueppe, co-chairman of the German Parliament’s Rights and Ethics in Medicine committee, told Reuters in Berlin. The Chairman of the Danish Ethical Council, Erling Tiedemann, said it was a “frightening’’ development when parents got to design babies like motorists picked marques. “It is just like when buying a car, going for a two — or a four-door model, with or without electrical windows,’’ he said. It is still too soon to say if Nash has given the gift of life to his sister — the siblings underwent a transplant aimed at curing her blood disorder last week — but who is to say the Nashes should have acted differently. Certainly not those in the same sad position. “People worry about genetic dabbling or whatever you want to call it, but in a situation like this, they should understand the hope it will give the families,’’ David Westmoreland, whose son died of the disease afflicting Molly, told BBC radio. Charles Strom, Director of Medical Genetics at Illinois Masonic Medical Centre, denied breaching any ethical line in creating Adam. “it has been used to just get a healthy baby, but not to save the life of a sibling,’’ he told Reuters. Either way, the Nash case shows how science is presenting doctors with ever more life-and-death decisions. While few believe it is acceptable to select a child’s eye colour or create a fast runner, when is it permissible to screen out a disorder or abandon a baby that is less than perfect? Disabled groups worry about the fate of flawed foetuses and the stigma of being born different in a perfect world. Last month, British judges said Siamese twins should be separated so that one girl lives even if the operation means her sister dies. The parents said God’s will should take its course, meaning death for both. Science and the law decided otherwise. “The Siamese twins set a very dangerous precedent that it is alright to kill one for the benefit of another,’’ said Dr Michael Jarmulowicz, who advises the Catholic Church on medical ethics. “We’re getting into a culture where people are being used for others’ benefit, which I think is a very dangerous scenario.’’ |
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Abu Sayyaf hostages sighted JOLO, PHILIPPINES, Oct 7 (AFP) — Three Malaysian hostages and an American captive have been sighted by Philippine government troops as the army expanded operations against the Muslim extremist group holding them, a regional military spokesman said today. Other military sources, meanwhile, warned that members of the Abu Sayyaf group, which had kidnapped dozens of hostages in recent months, were mingling with evacuees fleeing the violence in an attempt to evade a massive military assault against them. Regional military spokesman Colonel Hilario Atendido said there had been reports of sightings of the three Malaysian hostages in the custody of Galib Andang, popularly known as “Commander Robot.” The American hostage, Jeffrey Schilling, had been sighted elsewhere, he said, without specifying the location or confirming if they were still on Jolo where they were originally being held. Speaking at the regional military headquarters in Zamboanga City, Atendido said the military was expanding its operations against the Abu Sayyaf from the southern island of Jolo to Basilan island to the north and the Tawi-Tawi island group to the south. There have been reports that Abu Sayyaf members managed to slip through a military cordon around Jolo island and there are fears the kidnappers and their hostages could slip out too. |
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Musharraf for talks ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (AFP) — Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf today asked New Delhi to agree to talks with Islamabad to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. India should refrain from “provocative” actions and accept Pakistan’s offer for dialogue, an official report quoted him as saying. General Musharraf, addressing an official meeting here, accused India of trying to impose a military solution on Kashmir. “India wants to impose a military solution (in Kashmir) on the basis of the status quo consolidating its occupation in defiance of the charter, principles and resolutions of the UN Security Council,” General Musharraf said. Reaffirming support to the Kashmiri people, General Musharraf said India was trying to create differences between Pakistan and Kashmiri leadership “Pakistan is party to the Kashmir dispute and a durable solution to the festering dispute could only be achieved with full participation of Pakistan in any dialogue in future,” he said. |
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Dawn group moves SC ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (PTI) — Pakistan’s leading English daily “Dawn” has petitioned the Supreme Court to ensure freedom of Press in the country in view of the “increasingly hostile” attitude of the military regime towards the media. The newspaper, in whose headquarters, an Army team conducted a raid more than a week ago, said it had become exceedingly difficult for a free and independent Press to survive in the military regime which was “increasingly hostile” towards any criticism whatsoever in the media. Chief Justice Irshad Hassan Khan directed Attorney-General and the Chief Editor of the Dawn to appear in his chamber on October 26. The petitioner said there had been several warnings over the last few days, both direct and indirect, that the authorities were preparing for something “significant” against the Press. The petition referred to the September 27 incident when an Army team accompanied by three engineers of Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation raided the headquarters of Dawn Group of Newspapers. |
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Yet another case against Sharif ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (PTI) — Pakistan’s military regime has filed yet another case against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of allotting 400 plots of land worth Rs 1.50 billion to his favourites when he was Chief Minister of Punjab in 1990, a media report said today. The case has been sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for action, the English daily ‘Dawn’ report said. Mr Sharif has been accused of allotting the plots of land during a late night secret meeting at the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) office the day his government was dismissed in Punjab in 1990. The authorities claim that the plots were allotted to 399 members of Provincial Assembly belonging to Muslim League under fictitious names, the report said, adding references against them would also be filed. It was alleged that staff of the LDA and some banks were asked to sit in the meeting to complete the formalities and deposit fees. The LDA staff was given an honoraria of Rs 200 each for the night duty, it was claimed. |
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Starr’s ex-aide acquitted First Thai to win
TV quiz Injectable
contraceptive Genetically modified
rabbit created 10 tonnes of cyanide
spills into river Leap from Empire
State Building Fined for missing
royal wedding Holocaust victims
to get relief |
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