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| Thursday, November 2, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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48 killed in
Angolan plane
crash Taiwan air
crash toll 79 Typhoon lashes Taiwan: 32
killed Lankan air force kills 40 Tigers |
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Gore ‘still
trails’ Bush Peres to meet
Arafat Will B’desh Opposition end boycott? China asked to lift ban on
fruits
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48 killed in
Angolan plane
crash LISBON, Nov 1 (Reuters) — A Russian-built passenger plane that crashed in northern Angola was carrying 48 Russians and all are believed dead, Portugal’s Lusa news agency said today. Quoting an official of the plane’s operating company, Guicango, Lusa said Antonov-26 was carrying 42 passengers and six crew, all Russians, and nobody had survived the accident last night near the northern Angolan town of Saurimo, some 700 km east of Luanda. The official told the agency the plane “exploded in the air” after taking off from Saurimo for Luanda. LONDON (ANI):
However, no immediate explanation was given for the disaster. The plane had left Luanda yesterday morning and had made stops at two towns in between. It was not immediately clear what the Russians were doing in the area. However, a Foreign Ministry source in Moscow said today that no Russian national were aboard the plane which was piloted by Ukrainian crew. The Russian Foreign Ministry source said: “According to the latest information, there were no Russians aboard and the crew were Ukrainian. The plane was Russian made, but it belonged to an Angolan company.
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Taiwan air crash
toll 79 TAIPEI, Nov 1 (Reuters, PTI, AFP) — Taiwan aviation officials said today the final death toll from the crash of a Singapore Airlines flight last night was 79, and all bodies had been recovered. “There are 79 dead, 16 escaped injury, and 84 were hospitalised,’’ an official with the Civil Aeronautics Administration of Taiwan told reporters. The Los Angeles-bound flight, SQ 006, was carrying 179 people, including 20 crew, when it crashed in a fireball at 11.18 p.m. (local) last evening. Rescue workers pulled out the last bodies from the wreckage on this morning, about 12 hours after the airliner crashed in the midst of a typhoon, the official said. Seventy-nine of the 179 people, including at least 11 Indians, were killed when it crashed at Taipei International airport last night while taking off in darkness and rain after slamming into an object on the runway. The following is the list of 11 Indians on board the Singapore airlines flight bound for Los Angeles which crashed at Taipei airport last night: Sangeeta Koommera, S.V. Koppaka, Surya Narayana Marellapudi, Mohammad Moinuddin Khan, Noorjehan Begum, P Poddar, P Raju, K Saahil, Akasa Volam, Janardhan Volam and Neelima Vuppala. The list also mentions Sneha Koommera and Srinivas Koommera and Rabia Aliniazee, all US passport holders. Air-India sources in Mumbai, however, said 14 Indians including two infants died in the crash. The Boeing 747-400 with 159 passengers and 20 crew on board broke into three pieces and burst into flames after it hit the unidentified object on the runway before it crashed at 8.48 p.m. IST. A statement issued by the airlines in Singapore said the Flight Commander Capt. C.K. Foong, who survived the crash, reported hitting an object on the runway on takeoff. “He (the pilot) saw something there.... it might have been a vehicle, it might have been a tyre, I don’t know,” Airline public affairs Vice-President Rick Clements said. Taiwan’s Deputy Head of the Civil Aeronautics Administration Chang Kuo-Cheng said while 79 people were killed, fifty-six were hospitalised and 44 sustained minor injuries. The airline earlier said of the 159 passengers 55 are Taiwanese, four Americans, 11 each from India and Singapore, eight from Malaysia, five from Indonesia, four each from UK and Mexico, two each from Thailand, New Zealand and Vietnam and one each from Australia, Canada, Cambodia, Germany, Japan, Philippines, Ireland and the Canary Islands. Air-India sources in Mumbai, however, said 14 Indians, including two infants, died in the crash. Air-India sources said 12 passengers boarded the flight from Hyderabad while the other two took it from Mumbai and Chennai respectively. The passengers from Hyderabad had boarded an Air-India flight (AI-122) and were connected to the ill-fated flight (SQ0006) for which AI has a code sharing agreement for the Singapore-Los Angeles sector, the sources said. Foong, the co-pilot and flight engineer, all of whom survived the crash have been debriefed but Taiwanese officials stressed there was still no indication of exactly what caused the mishap. Several survivors said the plane seemed to strike something just before the plane lifted off. Taiwan television TVBS speculated the wrong runway theory showing footage of a heavy hydraulic mechanical shovel and cement blocks littering the runway, closed for maintenance and repair. It was Singapore Airlines’ first major accident since its operation 28 years ago. SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines said it could not confirm speculation that a Boeing-747 which crashed on take-off in Taiwan was on the wrong runway and hit construction equipment. “I cannot confirm that,” airlines Vice-President Rick Clements told a briefing here. “There are a lot of rumours circulating, of speculation but we cannot comment on those.” Mr Clements said the 48-year-old Malaysian pilot, C K Foong, who survived the crash, saw something on the runway and hit it just before take off. Taiwan television TVBS speculated the wrong runway was used for the takeoff, showing footage of a heavy hydraulic mechanical shovel and cement blocks littering 05R runway which had been closed for maintenance and repair. The two-metre high shovel had clearly been hit in the front by something, the footage showed. A member of the investigating team from Taiwan’s flight safety commission told reporters the wrong runway may have been used. Investigators have questioned the three pilots, who survived the crash, and obtained copies of conversations between them and air traffic controllers. |
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Black boxes found TAIPEI (Taiwan) Nov 1 (AFP, Reuters) — Rescue officials have recovered both black box recorders of the Singapore Airlines jet which crashed shortly after taking off from Taiwan’s international airport, local cable television reported today. The voice recorder and data recorder were “complete” and content was clear enough to provide information, Chief Investigator Chou Kuang-tsang told reporters. A follow-up probe and formal analysis would start from Friday. Meanwhile, Boeing Company said it had sent a team to Taiwan to investigate the crash. “We have dispatched an investigation team to begin investigations into the accident immediately, but have no further comment or information at this time,” a spokesman told a news conference in Tokyo. |
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Typhoon lashes Taiwan: 32 killed TAIPEI, Nov 1 (AFP) — At least 32 persons were killed and another 10 were missing today as typhoon Xangsane battered Taiwan after it stormed through the Philippines, the National Fire Administration (NFA) said. Ten Taoist followers were drowned in a basement in northern Keeling county while 11 elderly persons were also killed in a flooded basement, the NFA said. The rest died in mudslides or were washed away by floods, it said. With a radius of 230 km and packing centre winds of 120 km per hour, the typhoon was moving away from the island at a speed of 33 km per hour, the Central Weather Bureau said. Air and ground traffic was crippled and several areas along the typhoon’s forecast route had closed schools for today. The typhoon, upgraded from a tropical storm, brushed past the northern Philippines after killing 26 persons and displacing 150,000 others. |
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Lankan air force kills 40 Tigers COLOMBO, Nov 1 (AP) — Air force MiG-27 and Kfir fighter jets destroyed a Tamil Tiger camp south of Trincomalee port, killing at least 40 militants, a military spokesman said today. The rebel camp, knocked out on Monday, was used as a base to stage attacks in the area, said a military spokesman, Brig Sanat
Karunaratne. He said a guerrilla suicide assault on the Trincomalee port on October 23, which left at least 20 combatants dead, had been launched from the camp. Brigadier Karunaratne said, “The air force saw a large cloud of smoke rising from the destroyed camp,” 230 km northeast of the capital, Colombo. He said 40 rebels were believed to have been at the camp, 15 km south of the Trincomalee port. The rebels made no comment on the government
attack. AFP: Tamil Tiger rebels ambushed a military truck in northern Sri Lanka by exploding a landmine and killed two officers and a soldier, the government said today. The attack came in Manthovil in the Jaffna peninsula, the government’s Special Media Information Centre
(SMIC) said in a statement, adding that six more soldiers were wounded in the blast. Norwegian envoy
meets LTTE chief COLOMBO, Nov 1 (PTI) — Norwegian peace envoy Eric Solhiem, mediating in the Sri Lankan ethnic crisis, today met LTTE chief V. Parbhakaran in the rebel-held northern Vanni region and discussed peace proposals, the clandestine rebel radio reported. The LTTE radio, Voice of Tigers, announced tonight that the envoy, who is visiting Sri Lanka, crossed over to the rebel-held areas and met Parbhakaran and his associates. Government officials here attribute a great deal of importance to the meeting as this is for the first time in recent years that the LTTE chief met a foreign envoy to discuss peace proposals. The radio said that Parbhakaran, during the meeting, explained the LTTE commitments in talking part in the peace process initiated by Norway early this year. |
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Gore ‘still
trails’ Bush ALARM bells are ringing within the Democratic Party as the US presidential race enters its final week. All but one of the six national tracking poll show Mr Al Gore trailing his Republican rival, Mr George W. Bush. After months of ups and downs, the past three weeks have shown Mr Bush maintaining a slim but steady advantage. The picture in key states like California, Florida and Michigan is more confused, changing almost day by day. But the impression has been gained that of the two Mr Gore is the more likely loser. Britain’s bookies see it that way: Ladbroke’s was quoting Mr Bush at 13-8 yesterday with Mr Gore at 6-5 against. If the theory that floating voters prefer to back the winning side holds true and the Democrats fail to turn out key voting blocs, like blacks and Hispanics, next Tuesday’s result may not even be that close. As Democratic nerves jangle, Mr Gore is increasingly campaigning against the backdrop of an internal inquest, a sort of antedated postmortem. He has failed to connect with voters, say the despairing spin doctors, scanning their charts and graphs. His body language is unintelligible, his alpha male traits too aggressive and inflated. According to assorted poll pathologists, he has blown the suburban women’s vote, the youth vote, the Arab vote, the Catholic vote, even the “Dubya-gets-my goat” vote. The Greens are his nemesis: if Mr Bush does not dish him, then Nader’s Raiders will. Mr Gore’s failings as a candidate are more than matched by his opponent’s vacuity. Yet in all pre-match analysis, one crucial Gore handicap has been consistently underplayed. It can be summed up in three words: William Jefferson Clinton. For a significant number of registered independents, the undecided voters who may swing the election, Mr Clinton’s name is best not mentioned. But his close, eight-year association with the man who dilly-dallied into impeachment is hard to erase, especially with Mr Bush regularly alluding to the Clinton scandals and questioning the Democrat’s own credibility. Mr Gore’s understandable, necessary need to portray himself as his own man, and not the creature of his more famous master, has also inhibited his campaign strategy. His strongest card is the long, unbroken spell of prosperity since he took office as the Vice-President in 1993. But some leading Democrats complain that Mr Gore has failed fully to exploit this core achievement for the fear of once again subordinating himself to the leader, whose shadow he must escape. Instead of celebrating the past, he focuses on the future — which suits Mr Bush just fine. If Big Al wins, bumptious Bill will try to claim credit. If he loses, the Clinton factor will figure in the autopsy. (Guardian) WASHINGTON (Reuter): One week before the election day, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush battled in the West today and the Texas Governor launched a new TV ad accusing Mr Gore of “bending the truth.” The Gore campaign dismissed the ad as a sign of desperation. The latest Reuters/MSNBC national tracking poll showed Mr Bush with a five-point lead over the Vice-President — his biggest margin since the survey began on September 29. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader was drawing 4 per cent, but still hurting Mr Gore in several states that he badly needs to win, including Minnesota, Oregon and Washington. But Gore was making headway in some other key states, including Florida. In separate Reuters/ MSNBC state poll, Mr Gore led by 12 points in Florida and expanded his thin margins in Pennsylvania to 4 points and Michigan to 2 points. Both those states were within the margin of error. |
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Peres to meet
Arafat IN WRETCHED refugee camps and the chaotic urban sprawl of the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians stood defiant yesterday (Tuesday), uncowed by the latest Israeli missiles that escalated a horrible cycle of violence and retribution. Israeli combat helicopters had fired rockets at two branch offices of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organisation on Monday night - one for each of the two Jews killed earlier in the day - in so-called precision attacks that also struck a neighbouring home in Ramallah, and a synagogue of the Samaritan sect in Nablus. Amid the cycle of killing, however, there were the tiniest slivers of hope yesterday. A midnight meeting was scheduled between Mr Arafat and the last Israeli to retain some measure of trust from the Palestinians, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Mr Barak also surprised onlookers yesterday when he said he had personally spoken by telephone with Mr Arafat last week. But the hawkish sentiments of his message - that he would intensify Israel’s responses to attacks on its soldiers and civilians - failed to curb the violence. And in Gaza yesterday, Israeli troops shot dead one Palestinian teenager and four other men near the Karni border crossing in the east, as the toll for this month of carnage rose to 154 people, the vast majority Palestinians. If the Israelis were hoping to harvest panic and submission by unleashing their war arsenal, anger mixed with resignation were the only emotions visible on Sharafa street in Ramallah, where one of Fatah’s offices was bombed. “The Palestinians are not going to bury their people endlessly without the Israelis paying a price,’’ said Mr Marwan Barghouti, the commander of the Fatah militias which have been at the forefront of the protests in the West Bank. We have been receiving a lot of missiles and tanks at the same time as they have gone on building bridges with Israel. But now we will work in unity, and the intifada will be more active,’’ Mr Barghouti said. In Washington today, Israel’s acting Foreign Minister, Shlomo Ben Ami, will further efforts to arrange separate meetings between President, Bill Clinton and Mr Arafat and Mr Barak. But on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank, there was only resignation to violence that shows no signs of ending. At the Amari refugee camp, a miserable warren of breeze-block homes, they carted out the computer and other valuables from the Fatah office, fearing another attack. It is a very small office, two tiny rooms and a toilet, but for Mr Barak, it sends a message to the Israeli people: they are bombing the Palestinians. At Nablus, Abid Muin, a Samaritan priest, said nine of the sect’s houses were damaged and a synagogue burnt when the missiles struck. — The Guardian, London AP adds: Funerals today for four Palestinians killed in a clash with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip threatened to set off another day of violence, following an Israeli warning of stiffer military action and a Palestinian warning of continued defiance. A reporter for the Cable News Network was wounded in the clash in Gaza, as Israeli forces and Palestinian police exchanged gunfi re at the Karni crossing point, the main gateway for farm produce and industrial goods in and out of Gaza. Ben Wedeman, CNN’s Cairo bureau chief, was taken to a Gaza hospital with a gunshot wound in the back. He said he did not know which side shot him. A day after Israeli helicopters fired rockets at Palestinian militia headquarters in four different locations, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned that his army could hit even harder. He told a visiting delegation of world Jewish leaders that he had talked with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat briefly a few days earlier and made Israel’s position clear. It was their first talk since the violence erupted. For the first time, Palestinians fired anti-tank weapons and machine guns at the Israelis during the daylong battle at the Karni crossing. Mr Arafat called his Cabinet into a late-night session yesterday. In a statement, the Cabinet called for international protection for Palestinians following the Israeli helicopter strikes. The Palestinian leadership pledged to rebuild all the structures hit in the attacks. Mr Hisham Abdel Razek, an official in Mr Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, said that if Israel stops firing, pulls back its tanks and agrees to an international inquiry into the clashes, the talks could resume. “If there is one victim or 1,000 victims, this must be settled,” he told Israel TV’s second channel. Israel has rejected calls for an international inquiry, fearing bias. Instead, Israel suggested that the USA conducts a study. Meanwhile, the
USA has blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for renewed tension with Israel and announced its decision to take up resumption of stalled Middle-East peace process during upcoming discussions with negotiators from the two sides. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that Mr Arafat “bears some responsibility” for the fresh clashes. “Mr Arafat has been saying things that are very difficult to swallow in terms of wanting to keep fighting. I hope he will exercise more control and I am sure he can, and that we can get back to the peace process”, she said. Ms Albright would hold talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-ami here tomorrow while Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat would meet the us leaders later this week. |
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Will B’desh Opposition end boycott? DHAKA, Nov 1 — The possibility of an end to the long months of stand-off centering the boycott of the Bangladesh Parliament by the legislators of the four opposition political parties is almost zero. The boycott by 133 of the 330 member of parliament since June, 1999, has turned it into a truncated one. Interestingly, the legislators of the boycotting political parties attend meeting of the parliamentary standing committees and draw remuneration, including monthly allowances. The number of legislators of the four parties are — Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — 112 members, the Jatiya Party (JP faction led by former President H.M. Ershad) — 17 members, Jamat-e-Islami (JI) three members and Islami Oikyo Jote (IOJ) with only one MP. The question whether the Opposition boycott will end came in the wake of summoning of the parliament session on November 9. The Opposition, however, faced bitter criticism by the media and political watchers when they enmass attended the budget session in May for a brief period just to register their presence. Legislators of the BNP, JP, JI and IOJ entered the House led by Opposition leader and BNP chairperson Ms Khaleda Zia. After few minutes they went out of the House. It was necessary to save their membership as the Constitution provides for automatically losing membership if any member remains absent from the sessions for continuous 90 days. The Opposition is following the precedence of the Awami League, who are now in power. The AL resorted to continuous boycott of parliament for almost two-and-a-half years when Ms Khaleda Zia-led BNP government was in power from 1991 till March, 1996. The media and political observers have criticised the boycott by the Opposition because, according to them, the Opposition don’t have any issue which has mass support. Whereas the AL had mass support to its demand for election under a caretaker government to end the corrupt practices in elections. The four parties have joined an alliance and launched an agitation on 29 occasions. Many lives were lost in bomb explosions resorted to by agitators and police firing and many were maimed due to injuries in clashes with rivals or the police. Recently the European Union representatives, US envoys openly criticised strikes and argued that this hampers industrial production ultimately resulting in economic losses. They also expressed views openly that the uncertain political situation had created apprehensions among the investors who were coming to Bangladesh. Now the Opposition hesitates to announce any such programme. Another interesting feature of the four-party opposition alliance is the strange partnership. They were opposed to each other in the past. In the past few years, the BNP and the JI joined street movement through identical programme with the AL to oust Mr Ershad’s Jatiya Party. The BNP formed government with the support of the JI when they secured the largest number of seats in 1991 parliamentary poll. The JP and the JI again followed identical agitation programmes with the AL to oust BNP government of Ms Khaleda Zia during the first half of this decade. Now the four-party alliance has raised the demand for an early poll. Mr Tofael Ahmed, Minister for Industries and a senior leader of the ruling Awami League, said they don’t have any scheme to hold the parliamentary poll earlier than schedule. The term of the government will end on July 13, 2001, and only then the caretaker government will hold elections to the next parliament. |
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China asked to lift ban on fruits BEIJING, Nov 1 (PTI) — India has asked China to act quickly on its promise to initiate steps to strike New Delhi off an archaic list of countries banned from exporting fruits and vegetables to the vast Chinese market. “We have sent a strongly-worded letter expressing our disappointment to the Chinese ministries and departments concerned over the issue,” an Indian embassy official said. The note, copies of which were sent to the state administration and the ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation, has demanded permission for entry, exit, inspection and quarantine to Indian products, he said here. It also sought Beijing’s compliance with its commitment made during bilateral trade negotiations on China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Accusing China of vacillating on a decision to send an official delegation to India for inspection of sanitary measures, the official said they had repeatedly met Chinese officials for early action on the matter. “However, much to our disappointment, the Chinese side is yet to act,” he said, adding that India’s absence in the Chinese market was exploited by Pakistan and other countries. China imposed a blanket ban 15 years ago after quarantine officials found ‘fruit flies’ in a consignment of mangoes. New Delhi’s concern over China’s inaction on a written deal with India comes amid reports that the USA and the EU are seeking clarifications and implementation of WTO agreements signed by China with 36 members of the body, including India. As per the Sino-Indian pact, signed during the visit of Commerce and Industries Minister Murasoli Maran in February this year, the two sides agreed to exchange information on the issue by May 31 this year. |
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China’s census begins BEIJING, Nov 1 (PTI) — Six million census workers today fanned out nationwide to compile China’s fifth national census which will become a key blueprint for the fastest developing country in the new millennium. The 10-day campaign is expected to collect up-to-date information about China’s 1.3 billion people from an estimated 350 million households, census officials said. Six million workers will collect door-to-door information in the first census for 10 years. The results are expected to be published by the end of next year. |
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Policeman hurt in N. Ireland blasts BELFAST, Nov 1 (Reuters) — Two bombs were thrown at a police station in Northern Ireland early today, injuring one officer, the BBC reported. It quoted the British province’s police force as saying that one of the bombs exploded in the attack at Castlewellan, about 25 miles (40 km) south of Belfast, at around 3 a.m. (0300 GMT). |
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