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| Wednesday, November 1, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Revolt crushed in Peru: 40 held Gore, Bush make final sprint |
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Troops kill 8 Abu Sayyaf rebels New US law
on visa waiver
Milosevic under
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Missile attacks
on Arafat’s Fatah HQ JERUSALEM, Oct 31 (Reuters) — Israel launched helicopter missile attacks on three headquarters of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying that it would not tolerate a burgeoning guerrilla war. There were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage after what Israeli army radio described as pinpoint attacks yesterday on buildings that were empty late at night. “Since the Palestinians are beginning to wage something that approximates a guerrilla war, our helicopter attack was a signal that if there is one, we have the answer to it,” Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh said on television. A wave of violence that began more than a month ago with clashes during mass demonstrations by Palestinians has settled into a pattern of daily attacks by armed militiamen on Israeli army posts and settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Mr Sneh described the rocket attacks on Fatah buildings in the West Bank towns of Nablus and Ramallah, and on Fatah’s elite Force 17 militia in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, as “a warning operation”. Palestinians would “pay a price” for Lebanon-style guerrilla warfare, he said, referring to daily attacks Israeli occupation forces faced from Lebanese Hizbollah gunmen before ending a 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon last May. An Israeli security guard was shot dead in Arab East Jerusalem yesterday by what the police said was a Palestinian gunman. The bodies of two other Israelis — one was stabbed and the other shot — were found in the West Bank over the weekend. Prime Minister Ehud Barak, addressing the opening of parliament’s winter session earlier on Monday, said Israel would not tolerate attacks on its soldiers and citizens. “We will do everything to protect (them) and attack anyone who wants to kill us — I will say no more,” he said. After his speech he convened his security chiefs, apparently to put the helicopter operation into motion. In a 30-minute speech in parliament, interrupted more than 12 times by Israeli Arab and Right-wing legislators, Mr Barak said a window of opportunity for peacemaking was closing. “I turn to Mr Arafat: You should know you will achieve nothing through violence,” Mr Barak said. The Israeli leader said he still believed peace could be possible. But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called Mr Barak’s speech disturbing and said the Prime Minister’s “language confirms his strategic withdrawal” from the peace process. Meanwhile, the ultra-orthodox Shas party, which has 17 seats in the 120-member Knesset and bolted Mr Barak’s coalition in July, signed an agreement yesterday to give him a month-long “safety net”. Shas, which had already announced the “safety net”, said it did not want to stir political trouble while the bloodshed continued. Earlier, it was reported that talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Opposition leader Ariel Sharon on forming a “national emergency government’’ have apparently failed. Mr Sharon told Israeli radio that his Right wing Likud bloc would not accept that Mr Barak goes ahead with the peace process with the Palestinians on the basis of ‘’the Camp David proposals’’. Media reports said during the Camp David talks in July Mr Barak had offered the greater part of the West Bank and limited sovereignty in parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The summit ended without an agreement. The Palestinian leadership reacted with anger and defiance to the helicopter strikes. “The Israeli aggression against our people is escalating in accordance with Mr Barak’s plans,” said Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, a senior Arafat aide. “This provocation will only increase our people’s steadfastness and determination to confront these attackers,” he said. In Ramallah, two flashes lit the night sky as the rockets struck. They punched holes in the facade of the Fatah headquarters, where water dripped from a pipe broken by the blast. A photo of Mr Arafat still hung on the wall. After the attack, residents gathered in the town’s main square, chanting “with blood and spirit, we will redeem you, Palestine”. The Israeli army said the Fatah headquarters it attacked were used by gunmen who carried out hundreds of shootings. “Tonight’s operation was part of a military initiative to strike directly at elements responsible for escalating the violence,” it said in a statement. Army Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz said on Sunday that the army should “move to a level where our operations are more initiated and less retaliatory.” GAZA: Israel closed the Palestinian international airport in the Gaza Strip for the third time since the outbreak of violence a month ago, citing security concerns, a Palestinian official said today. The airport, hailed as a symbol of an emerging Palestinian state when it opened two years ago, was ordered shut on Monday night until 1 a.m. today but the closure was then extended until Wednesday, said Mr Sulaiman Abu Haleed, Director-General of the airport. |
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Revolt crushed in Peru: 40 held LIMA, Oct 31 (AP, AFP) — Peru’s army said a mutiny against President Alberto Fujimori was nearly crushed, but the nation still waited for a fallout from the armed insurrection that challenged the iron-fisted leader’s authority. The army announced yesterday it had rounded up more 40 rebels soldiers and civilians in the remote southern Andes a day earlier. Only eight remained at large. While some military experts and political leaders agree there is now virtually no chance that the uprising will spark a larger military rebellion, many say they share the rebel soldiers’ disgust with Fujimori’s regime. “This can be seen as a message that the President and the government cannot ignore,” retired army chief Daniel Mora said, adding “The political crisis we have seen for weeks is not over yet.” The once 51-man revolt demanding Fujimori’s ouster and the imprisonment of his former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos consisted of only eight rebels after yesterday’s operations, the army said. The army statement referred to the “rescue or capture” of 44 rebels, saying that they rescued an unspecified number of soldiers who had been forced to take part in the rebellion and captured those who did not come willingly. Among those still at large were a disgruntled Lieutenant-Colonel and his brother, a former army Major, who led the revolt, the statement said. The statement did not say whether any of the rebels were injured during their arrest, but said the army respected the human rights of all involved. It further reported that Peruvian forces had rescued a Brigadier-General held hostage by the group. The Southern Peru Copper Corporation said the four company employees taken hostages were released near the lake of Suches, 40 km northeast of where the rebellion started. Peruvian General Carlos Bardales who was taken hostage by the rebel soldiers led by Lt-Col Humala Tasso, in the south of the country on Sunday, was rescued last night, the army announced. Humala Tasso and followers were still on the run in the desolate highlands of southern Peru. Meanwhile, police here used tear gas yesterday to disperse hundreds of young people demonstrating outside the presidential palace in downtown Lima in support of the revolt The protestors — mainly students and former members of the armed forces — expressed support to the rebels. |
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Gore, Bush make final sprint FOND DU LAC, (USA), Oct 31 (AFP) —Rivals George W. Bush and Al Gore have begun a gruelling final sprint through key states seven days before voters decide who wins their neck-and-neck race for the White House. Mr Bush, the Republican Governor of Texas, kicked off a multi-state campaign trip with a visit to California, until recently considered an easy win for the Democratic Vice-President, but no longer safe, according to recent polls. “My opponent cannot bring America together, because he will not confront the hard issues, and by his delay he makes them harder,” he told a rally in new Mexico, painting Mr Gore as part of a Washington paralysed by partisan bickering. Focusing on an issue atop voters’ agenda, Mr Bush, who enjoys a slight edge in most national opinion polls ahead of the November 7 vote, promised that “on education, I will challenge the status quo. He is the status quo.” Mr Gore and his allies, meanwhile, also ratcheted up rhetoric critical of Mr Bush as woefully unprepared to lead the country as the Vice-President barnstormed through Michigan and Wisconsin, two of the so-called battleground states still up for grabs. Mid-size states like Wisconsin — as well as others like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Missouri — will likely decide what is shaping up to be the tightest us presidential contest in 40 years, because they hold a large number of the 270 electoral college votes needed to become President. Meanwhile, Green Party presidential nominee and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has said he finds “a lot of things” to be optimistic about India but one negative aspect is the brain drain that the USA is causing in India. “The first thing I would do (if elected President) is make sure that the USA does not brain-drain India,” Mr Nader told an election meeting. He said the H-1B visa, designed to bring scientists, physicists, computer programmers and others to the USA “so they can be paid less than readily-available US counterparts”, should be revoked. “If any other country brain-drained us the way we brain drain the rest of the world, we would be very, very upset,” he said. Mr Nader, one of the six candidates on the ballot for the November 7 poll, said, “There are a lot of things going on in India that are very, very optimistic-the decentralised use of solar digesters, growth of village businesses; enormous educational level of tens of millions of young people.” |
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Troops kill 8 Abu Sayyaf rebels JULO, Oct 31 (AFP) — Eight members of the Abu Sayyaf group were killed in two separate clashes on Jolo island, the Philippine military said today. The rebels, who are fighting for an independent Islamic state in the sourhern Philippines, are holding an American and a Filipino on the island. Five Abu Sayyaf members were killed today in a 30-minute firefight that broke out after troops looking for the hostages cordoned off a street block in Talipao town, where about 40 guerrillas had taken refuge. An infantry unit cordoned off at daybreak a street block in the Jolo town of Talipao where 40 members of the Abu Sayyaf group had taken refuge, leading to a 30-minute shooting, said the commander of the military unit, Lieut Ajijul Wilson. The operation left five guerrillas dead and two soldiers wounded, he added. The rest of the rebel band escaped. No hostages were found. “We have been tailing this group for three weeks,” a member of the military raiding party told AFP. |
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New US law on visa waiver WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters) — President Bill Clinton Yesterday signed a legislation that would allow citizens of many countries to enter the USA for business or tourism without first obtaining a US Visa. The visa waiver will be granted to citizens of countries that grant similar privileges to US Citizens. “By facilitating travel to the USA in this manner, the visa waiver programme is helping to generate billions of dollars in tourist and business revenues for US Companies,’’ Mr Clinton said in a statement. The USA had been running a pilot programme for 12 years to see if the visa waiver would work. Mr Clinton said the programme would also allow the State Department to reallocate resources as it would not need to issue routine visas in low-risk waiver countries. |
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Russian-US crew blast off for ISS BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan), Oct 31 (Reuters) — Two Russians and an American blasted off for the $ 60-billion International Space Station (ISS) today on an expedition that heralds a new era in the history of space exploration. The 40-metre white, orange and grey Soyuz TM-31 rocket roared into the foggy autumn sky at 0752 GMT from Launch Pad One — the site from which Yuri Gagarin had blasted off to become the first human in space 39 years ago. American William Shepherd and Russians Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalyov will be the first humans to live on the station, blazing a trail for possible missions to other planets. The crew, in white and blue space suits and carrying portable ventilation systems, flashed broad grins and waved to the crowd as they headed to the launch site. Contrary to forecasts, the launch site was covered in a thick fog that space officials said, presented extra problems, but would not delay lift-off. Within seconds of the rocket clearing the launch site, live television pictures showed the crew reporting to mission controllers. Before leaving for the launch site, the men, set to be the first to inhabit the ISS on a voyage seen as the start of a new era in space exploration, were blessed by a Russian orthodox priest and drank champagne with journalists and colleagues. “We have done everything it takes to make this flight a success,” said Mr Pyotr Klimuk, head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre where the crew were prepared. The ISS is a 16-nation project aimed at realising man’s dream of living in space. Apart from Russia and the USA the project includes Canada, Brazil, Japan and member countries of the European Space Agency. hailed as one of humanity’s greatest engineering feats, the ISS will eventually be the brightest object in the night sky and the only artificial heavenly body visible to the naked eye. When finished in 2005, it will be seven storeys high, weigh 418 tonnes and have as much living space as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The first crew will focus on building up the ISS. |
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From black & white to coloured turbans KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (DPA) — Women lawyers will soon be allowed to wear trousers in court while Sikh lawyers can don multicoloured turbans under a move to ease a stringent dress code for Malaysian lawyers, a news report said today. However, the trousers to be worn by women lawyers must be in black or navy blue. Malaysia’s Chief Justice Eusoff Chin had given a verbal agreement to the Bar council, which represents practising lawyers, on the new dress code, council’s vice-president Roy Rajasingam said. Malaysia, a former British colony, has adopted much of Britain’s laws and court tradition, such as lawyers and judges wearing black robes, although the practice for judges to wear wigs was dropped two decades ago. Currently, lawyers appearing in Malaysia’s courts are only allowed to wear black or navy blue outfits, with Sikh lawyers are permitted to wear only black or white turbans. Women lawyers must wear only white shirts or blouses, while skirt hems cannot be above the knee. Those who opt for traditional Malay dress must use black, white or navy blue colours and wear a jacket. The strict dress code in court also applies to the public, who are not allowed in if they wear tee-shirts, sleeveless tops, slippers, and jeans, while women must wear skirts with hems below the knee. Rajasingam advised lawyers to wait for an official notice from the Chief Justice’s office before adopting the new dress code, the Star daily said. It said two women lawyers, who read the dress code in a legal magazine, turned up recently in court in black trousers but were forced to postpone their cases when the judges refused them an audience because of the way they were dressed. |
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Milosevic under
guard in Belgrade BELGRADE, Oct 31 (DPA) — Ousted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic lives in a “secure’’ state-owned house in Belgrade, according to an official of the ruling Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS). “He (Milosevic) is temporarily staying in a secure, state-owned object in Uzicka street’’, Zoran Djindjic, chief of the DOS-member Democratic Party said in an interview with Montenegrin state television RTCG late yesterday. |
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