 |
| Saturday, November 4, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Israel sets 24-hr deadline
to quell violence
Gloves off as White House race gets nasty Conflicting signs over Lanka talks |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Legal snag keeps
Suharto’s son free Pilot’s use of ‘wrong
runway’ caused crash More rain as UK reels under floods Cleric, 6 others
indicted for Bid to kill Hasina
|
|
Israel sets 24-hr deadline to quell violence JERUSALEM, Nov 3 (AFP) — The Israeli security Cabinet decided late yesterday to give the Palestinian authorities 24 hours to implement measures to quell the violence, Israeli radio reported. The Cabinet meeting to decide on possible reprisals against the Palestinians following the car-bomb, granted the 24-hour delay in the hope of salvaging the deal, the report added. Reacting to the Cabinet decision, senior Palestinian officials said today that Israel must take action to bring calm. “As they want US to respect it (the truce), they must respect it. The pullback of the Israeli forces, the halting of firing, and the lifting of the closure (on the Palestinian territories) are the path to returning to calm and stability,” Palestinian International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told AFP. A senior Israeli official admitted today that Arafat had no magic wand to stop the violence and played down the reported 24-hour deadline. “We have noted that orders and instructions (from Arafat) have been given, but the results do not satisfy us at all,” Danny Yatom, principal adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Danny Yatom said on Israeli army radio. But he added, “it’s a process. It was quite clear that Yasser Arafat could not stop all violent activities with a magic wand.” Referring to the deadline, Yatom said, “I suggest we should not be constantly looking at our watches and counting every minute”. Panic struck a popular market in Jewish west Jerusalem yesterday when the explosives-laden car blew up, wounding at least nine persons besides those who died. The blast, claimed by the hardline Islamic Jihad movement, brought the death toll from five weeks of violence to 174, most of them Palestinians. The police also announced that only Palestinians aged 45 or over would be allowed to attend Friday prayers at the sensitive al-Aqsa mosque compound, just one week after the minimum age was lowered to 35. Earlier, An Israeli man and woman — the daughter of Opposition National Religious Party Leader Yitzhak Levy — were killed in the explosion and 10 others were wounded. Israel said it held out hope that the ceasefire, forged in the early hours by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Nobel Laureate Shimon Peres, would take effect. Prime Minister Ehud Barak demanded that Mr Arafat’s Palestinian Authority round up all Islamic militants it had freed from jail in the past five weeks of confrontations. “The attack...is another grave incident in the violence that has been forced upon us and which stems from a loosening of the reins by the Palestinian Authority and the release of Hamas and Islamic Jehad prisoners,’’ a statement from Mr Barak’s office said. Palestinian officials say militants have been released from prisons out of fear Israel would bomb the jails. They said they had expressed sorrow to Israel over the bombing, and Mr Arafat spoke out against the attack. “We are against it completely,’’ Mr Arafat told reporters in English when asked for his reaction to the bombing. In Washington, U.S. President Bill Clinton condemned the bombing and said he hoped the ceasefire deal would bring the parties closer to peace. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright singled out Mr Arafat, saying it was essential that he rein in violence. “I do believe that it’s essential for Chairman Arafat to do everything to control the violence, and I believe that he can and that he should,’’ she said. |
|
Gloves off as White House race gets nasty VOTERS in America’s battleground states cannot turn on their television this week without exposing themselves to a bombardment of increasingly aggressive election advertisements as election day nears. The George W Bush campaign may be all sweetness and light on the surface, but its latest ad accuses Al Gore of “bending the truth”. The Gore campaign, meanwhile, has just launched a new ad which attacks Mr Bush’s record in his home state, Texas, and warns that his tax cuts “hurt many”. But that is just the start: the real nastiness in the battle of the airwaves is waged not by the campaigns themselves, but by their surrogates; the organisations and special interest groups which say the things that the candidates desperately want said — provided it’s by someone else! Yesterday, a Texas-based group called Aretino Industries began airing an ad targeting Mr Gore as weak on defence and a puppet in the hands of Communist China. The commercial, which deliberately echoes a famous anti-Barry Goldwater ad from the 1964 election, shows a girl pulling the petals off a daisy as a nuclear explosion begins. “China has the ability to threaten our homes with long range nuclear warheads,” the commentary says, as the words “Vote Republican” appear on the screen. From the other side, two ads by the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People urge black American voters to support the Democrats by invoking the racial murder of James Byrd, who was dragged to his death behind a truck in Mr Bush’s state two years ago. One of the ads features a pick-up truck pulling a heavy chain like the one to which Byrd was tied, with a commentary by Byrd’s daughter, Renee Mullins. The other, also featuring Ms Mullins but without the picture of the truck and chain, says: “We will not be dragged away from our future: vote on November 7, please.” An ad from the Reform Party’s presidential candidate, Pat Buchanan, is not for the faint-hearted, either. It features a mock auction in which the two main candidates are for “sale”. Mr Gore is bought by “Red China” while Mr Bush is purchased by “the drug lobby”. At local level, the ad war has been just as fast and furious. Early research suggests that the Democrats, who have officially pledged to ban the “soft money” that supports the ads by independent groups, are making much greater use of the system than their Republican rivals. A New York University report this week said that pro-Democratic groups’ spending on television advertising totalled more than $9m, compared with less than $500,000 spent by pro-Republican groups. Negative campaigning of this kind is universally condemned by politicians and the public. But as long as it works — and it seems to — neither party is prepared to disarm itself of such an effective weapon. (The Guardian, London) Reuters adds: Democrat Al Gore yesterday questioned Mr George W. Bush’s readiness to lead the nation, as public opinion poll showed the Republican nominee narrowly ahead in the presidential race. With five days of campaigning left before the election on Tuesday, the latest poll showed the Texas Governor with a lead varying from three to five per cent. The
Reuters/MSNBC daily tracking poll on Thursday had Mr Bush leading Mr Gore 45-42 per cent, within the margin of error and unchanged since Wednesday. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader continued to poll 5 per cent. But some surveys have suggested as many as half his supporters could change their minds if it looks like Mr Gore is losing to Mr Bush. But Mr Gore drew encouragement from separate poll in nine battleground states that showed the Vice-President leading in some of the most crucial battlegrounds in next Tuesday’s election, including Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania. His lead in Florida and Pennsylvania narrowed to four points in Thursday’s surveys but his lead stretched to 10 points in Michigan, seven points in Illinois and five points in Wisconsin. The daily Reuters Electoral College survey had Mr Bush with 217 votes, Mr Gore with 215. A candidate needs 270 votes to win the presidency. The Vice-President’s schedule took him to Chicago and Scranton, Pennsylvania, before heading to new Mexico in a bid to spur Hispanic support. “My opponent likes to say we were a lot better off eight years ago than we are today,” Mr Gore said, prompting boos from the racially mixed crowd, which included civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and many union workers. “That was my reaction.” Mr Bush was working his way through Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin, promoting his $198 billion plan to reform the medicare health insurance system for seniors and denouncing Mr Gore for what he has called broken promises and failed leadership. “This is a man who wants the federal government to be making health care decisions on behalf of the American people,” Mr Bush said at St Charles, Missouri. Mr Bush crossed paths in St Louis with Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Sen Joseph Lieberman as their campaign planes were parked next to one another. Mr Lieberman’s motorcade was just pulling up to his plane while the Bush entourage was departing. Mr Bush was seen giving the Lieberman entourage a thumbs up as his motorcade passed by. Mr Lieberman accused the Texas Governor of doing the “Texas two-step” regarding distribution of $1 trillion in social security money. Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans campaigned furiously for the control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Democrats need to pick up seven seats in the House and five in the Senate to regain control. Several experts said that was a longshot but still possible. The half-forgotten man of the 2000 campaign, President Bill Clinton, was planning to resurface on Thursday in California to campaign for Mr Gore and key congressional candidates. |
|
Conflicting signs over Lanka talks COLOMBO, Nov 3 (AFP) — There were conflicting signs today about the chances of new peace talks to end the two-decade Tamil Tiger conflict which has claimed 60,000 lives amid a bid by Norway to bring the sides together. Norwegian Special envoy to Sri Lanka Erik Solheim, yesterday had announced that the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were serious about opening negotiations without preconditions. He was upbeat about prospects saying Norway would not have got involved in trying to bring the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan Government to the peace negotiating table if Oslo thought the situation was hopeless. He held landmark talks with LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in the rebel-held region of Wanni yesterday — the rebel chief’s first meeting with a foreign delegation in five years. But Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake went on television late yesterday denying any knowledge of Solheim’s talks with Prabhakaran and vowed the Tamil Tigers should be crushed. Mr Wickremanayake has been taking a hawkish stance in resolving the drawn-out conflict and is dismissive of any peace talks with the Tamil Tigers who are fighting for an independent homeland in the island’s northeast. “As far as we are concerned, the LTTE has to be finished,” he told reporters here last month. |
|
Legal snag keeps Suharto’s son free JAKARTA, Nov 3 (AP) — Prosecutors today considered postponing the planned imprisonment of former dictator Suharto’s youngest son until next week after his defence lawyers said he had not received paperwork necessary for his arrest. The prosecutor in charge of the case, Antasari Ashar, said Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, 38, might not go behind bars until at least Monday. Originally, the authorities planned to put him into custody today so that he could start an 18-month sentence for a corruption conviction. They had prepared a cell at Jakarta’s Cipinang Prison and warned he would be forcibly arrested if he did not comply with the summons to surrender himself. The last-minute hitch came when Tommy’s attorneys accused officials of undue haste to jail their client. They claimed the multimillionaire playboy was the victim of political manoeuvring to boost the sagging popularity of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who refused to grant him clemency yesterday. The move against Tommy came about six weeks after an abortive attempt to prosecute his father, ex-President Suharto, on separate corruption charges. |
|
Pilot’s use of ‘wrong runway’ caused crash TAIPEI, Nov 3 (DPA, AFP) — A Taiwan prosecutor said today that pilot error caused Tuesday’s crash of a Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 747-400 while Taiwanese media reported that the pilot and two co-pilots had been barred from leaving the country. “All evidence shows that the pilot tried to take off from the wrong runway which was closed for repair. The plane exploded after its left wing hit two hydraulic shovels and exploded,’’ Taoyuan County Prosecutor Yeh Soong Kuo-yeh told reporters. But Mr Soong said Taiwan’s Flight Safety Investigation Committee would announce the initial result of the probe at a news conference later. Taiwan press said Malaysian pilot Foong Chee Kong (41) and Singaporean co-pilots Ng Kheng Leng, 38, and Latif Cyrano (36) had been barred from leaving Taiwan pending the outcome of the inquiry. If convicted, the trio could face a maximum five-year sentence on charges of negligence causing the deaths of 81 people on board. Tuesday’s crash is the first SIA’s 28 years of operation. Flight SQ006 exploded into three parts when taking off during typhoon Xangsane from Taipei international airport. Seventy-eight people died instantly. The rest suffered injuries or climbed out unscathed. By last evening, the death toll had risen to 81. But as to why the Los Angeles-bound Boeing 747 carrying 159 passengers and 20 crew used a runway closed for repairs, Mr Soong said “It needs further investigation.” Most of the wreckage was found on the closed O5R runway — which was also littered with heavy mechanical excavators and cement blocks — even though the plane had been supposed to use the parallel O5L runway. “We will work with aviation investigators to determine who should be held responsible for the disaster,” Mr Soong said, as he helped relatives identify bodies of crash victims at Taoyuan funeral parlour. |
|
More rain as UK reels under floods LONDON, Nov 3 (AP) — More rain swept across the UK, swelling rivers already at bursting point as the country’s most widespread floods in 50 years showed few signs of abating. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Environment Agency officials toured flood-hit areas of the country by air yesterday in an effort to determine if emergency services need bolstering. “Thousands of people up and down the country have been amazingly stoical in these circumstances,” Mr Blair said during a stop at a emergency control centre in Shrewsbury, about 240 km northwest of London. “In the longer term, we have to try and work to deal with these problems on not just a national level, but on an international level. We have to put in the right protection for people against the possibility of floods and work to deal with the issue of climate change,” Mr Blair said. Scientists commissioned by the European Union reported on Wednesday that Europe can expect a dramatic climate shift over the next century as greenhouse gas emissions continue to trap heat inside the atmosphere. Weather forecasters warned yesterday that flooding would probably get worse over the next 48 hours with more rain on its way. |
|
Cleric, 6 others indicted for
bid to kill Hasina DHAKA, Nov 3 (DPA) — The police in Bangladesh indicted seven persons, including a prominent Muslim cleric, today for an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina more than three months ago. Of the seven indicted, Mufti Abdul Hannan and four others have disappeared since the police found two powerful bombs at the venue of a public rally in the southern Bangladesh town of Kotalipara. The police suspect Hannan, a well known local cleric, to belong to an underground radical Moslem group Harkat-ul-Islami. He is named as the mastermind behind the assassination attempt. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
