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| Sunday,
November 5, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Clinton
likely to meet Arafat, Barak
Gore strives
to win home state Germany to
support India 3 pilots to
be charged with manslaughter |
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| Interpol
takes on Internet ATHENS, Nov 4 — Interpol is turning its attention to preventing Internet crime, the newly-appointed chief executive of the world police organisation has said, warning legislation was not keeping up with technology.
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Clinton likely to meet Arafat, Barak WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) —
President Bill Clinton expects to meet Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, hopefully in the “near
future” in a new West Asia peace effort, the White House said.
“We expect that the meetings will take place, but can’t predict
at this point when exactly that will happen,” US National Security
Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said yesterday.
Earlier, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters that Mr
Arafat had accepted an invitation to meet Mr Clinton in Washington after
weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has brought talks on a
permanent peace deal to a halt.
Mr Erekat, speaking after talks with US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, said, “President
Arafat accepted the invitation to come to Washington, but we are trying
to work out the precise dates because the schedules are very tight
nowadays.”
Mr Erekat said yesterday that there would be no three-way meeting.
“The President hopes to meet with them in the near future,” Mr
Crowley said. Mr Clinton is due to leave Washington on a trip to
South-East Asia next weekend.
Mr Clinton wanted to evaluate implementation of the Sharm el-Sheikh
accord to end the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and to
discuss how to revive the talks on a permanent peace deal, Mr Crowley
said.
Mr Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres agreed on
Thursday morning to a new truce, which has helped to reduce the level of
violence.
Mr Erekat said he had told Mr Albright and Mr Berger the Palestinians
wanted international protection, understood to mean a U.N. peace force
for the Palestinian territories, but that the USA was cool to the idea.
The Palestinians have called on the U.N. Security Council to dispatch
a 2,000-member U.N. force to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza, where more than 165 persons have been killed in the violence,
mostly Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.
The Security Council has scheduled closed-door consultations for
November 8 on the West Asia, and is expected to discuss a possible
protection force.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said on Thursday the USA had
promised to veto any move in the Security Council to send in U.N.
forces.
Mr Erekat, asked what response he received, said: “Secretary
Albright was not enthusiastic about the idea of what is being discussed
in the Security Council but we agreed that we would continue discussing
the matter.”
The USA has consistently opposed or had reservations about proposals
for UN action in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said.
But Mr Arafat, in an interview this week with CBS television that was
made available yesterday, said the USA should do more to pressure Israel
to end the violence, citing the US military aid to Israel. |
|
Gore strives to win home state ALCOA, Tennessee, Nov 4 (AFP) —
Vice-President Al Gore upped the decibel level of his attacks on
Republican rival George W. Bush as he strove to avoid becoming the first
major-party presidential candidate to lose his home state since 1972.
The Democrat and his allies rejected any ties to a newfound Bush
drunk-driving arrest even as they portrayed him as ill-prepared to be
president, and all-too ready to do the bidding of big corporate
interests and imperil historic US economic growth.
At a rally here in his home state, which polls show is up for grabs,
Mr Gore doffed his suit jacket, stretched his tired features with a
smile, and in a worn voice confidently predicted victory come November
seven.
“I want to give you a report from the battleground states and from
the heartland ... I’m telling you right now, and you can write it down
and book it, we’re going to win the White House on Tuesday,” he
shouted.
Thousands of supporters massed at Knoxville airport cheering and
waving pro-Gore banners, and many pointed to a massive orange sign
declaring the southern state “Gore Country.” Mr Gore represented
Tennessee from 1976 to 1992 in the US House and the US Senate.
“But I need your help” he said - before the crowd interrupted him
with a chant of “we want Gore” — and in a rare move explicitly
appealed for support “not only to Democrats, but to Republicans and to
Independents, to those of every political persuasion.”
Bush, he charged, will work to aid big corporate interests — oil
companies, drug companies, health insurers — “instead of the people,”
and Bush backs a tax cut for “the wealthiest of the wealthy.”
National opinion surveys show Mr Gore running just behind Mr Bush,
but leading in several vote-rich states still up for grabs. This means
that Mr Gore could still obtain the 270 Electoral College votes needed
to unlock the doors to the White House.
No major-party US presidential candidate has lost his home state
since 1972, when Republican President Richard Nixon swept Democratic
challenger George McGovern.
Meanwhile, Mr Gore’s campaign chairman William Daley and Democratic
Senator from Iowa Tom Harkin, said that recent revelations that Mr Bush
was arrested for driving drunk in 1976 raised questions about whether he
was ready to occupy the Oval Office.
Mr Daley “categorically” denied any involvement in an alleged
Democratic plot to leak the conviction to reporters. “Whatever
questions remain unanswered are the responsibility of Governor Bush and
his campaign, not ours.”
Mr Harkin said that the relevance “is one of character, one of
trust. One of honesty and openness. The issue here is he covered it up.”
In the latest Reuters/MSNBC tracking poll, Mr Bush led Mr Gore by
46-42 per cent, a one-point increase for Mr Bush over the past 24 hours.
Other surveys were roughly in line with that finding. Green Party
candidate Ralph Nader had 5 per cent and was hurting Mr Gore in several
states.
But the vice-president was ahead in Florida, Michigan and Illinois,
giving him hope of reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to be elected
president. The latest Reuters Electoral College count had Bush with 212
firm votes, Gore with 211 and 115 too close to call. However previous
tight presidential elections have often swung decisively in the final
weekend and the drunk driving incident could provide just the kind of
lever to alter the picture. |
|
Fight
against terrorism BERLIN, Nov 4 (PTI) — Sharing India’s
concern over cross-border terrorism, Germany has agreed to “fully
support” New Delhi’s initiative in framing a new comprehensive
global convention to fight international terrorism.
The German support for the proposed convention was conveyed to the
Indian delegation during the second round of the Indo-German “strategic
dialogue” which ended here last evening.
Visiting Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh and his German counterpart
Wolfgang Ischinger led the respective delegations at the one-day meeting
in which disarmament officials also participated.
Mr Mansingh told mediapersons after the meeting that the strategic
dialogue helped Germany appreciate India’s security concerns.
“The positions taken by India and Germany on disarmament issues may
not coincide but we have been able to make them appreciate our security
concerns,” he said.
Germany was told that the Indian Government was trying to attain a
national consensus on the CTBT issue and that it was seeking support of
the “full spectrum of national parties”.
The Berlin meeting covered a range of bilateral, regional and
international issues, including the situation in the sub-continent,
nuclear disarmament, terrorism, Indo-German economic ties and the UN
reforms.
An Indian official said difficulties and delays faced by Indian
businessmen in getting visas to come to Germany was raised by the
visiting delegation at the meeting.
“The German Government has agreed to look into the matter,” he
said.
Calling for streamlining German visa procedures, the Indian side said
the visa problem was one of the impediments in forging close Indo-German
economic ties.
The German side wanted intensification of cooperation in civil
aviation and suggested increase in flight frequencies on the
India-German route. |
|
3 pilots to be charged with manslaughter TAIPEI, Nov 4 (AFP) — Three pilots
will be charged with manslaughter for the Singapore Airlines crash which
killed 81 persons, including 13 Indians, as evidence indicated pilot
error put the doomed plane on the wrong runway, a prosecutor said today.
“If it is proved that pilot error had caused the air disaster, the
three pilots would face manslaughter charges,” said Song Kuo-Yeh, a
prosecutor from Taoyuan county who is leading the investigation into the
causes of the crash, told AFP.
The plane’s Malaysian pilot, Capt Foong Chee Kong, and co-pilots
Latiff Cyrano and Ng Kheng Leng, who all survived the crash, could face
up to five years in jail, Song said. They have been barred from leaving
Taiwan, he said.
“Since the crime occurred in Taiwan, the Taiwanese authorities have
jurisdiction over this case,” Song added.
Taiwanese authorities would consider sending the three pilots to
Singapore for trial if Singapore agrees to help Taiwan in similar cases,
said Ching Chih-jen, a prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice.
Taiwan and Singapore have no extradition treaty nor are there
precedents of mutual judicial assistance between them, Ching said. |
|
ATHENS, Nov 4 (Reuters) — Interpol is
turning its attention to preventing Internet crime, the newly-appointed
chief executive of the world police organisation has said, warning
legislation was not keeping up with technology.
Mr Ronald Noble told Reuters yesterday that cybercriminals caused
untold damage at little cost to themselves and that law enforcement
lagged behind the criminals in Internet know-how.
“The technology is light-years ahead of the legislation and the
police know-how,” he said.
Mr Noble was speaking by telephone from the Greek island of Rhodes at
the end of a week-long meeting of Interpol’s assembly, representing
139 countries.
The group had made Internet crime a priority, along with tackling the
trafficking of women and stamping out police corruption.
It also appointed Mr Noble, a former Undersecretary of the Treasury
for Enforcement in U.S. President Bill Clinton’s administration, as
its secretary general.
Mr Noble said there were two main types of Internet crime — the
theft of intellectual property and cybercrime, epitomised by
high-profile virus attacks on worldwide computer systems.
In both cases, a little effort by criminals could cause huge amounts
of loss, he said.
“One of the problems with it is that it takes so little investment
on behalf of the criminal,” he said.
“Its the kind of crime where you want to work on prevention because
the prosecution comes too late and...the cost outweighs by a
thousand-fold or a million-fold what you can expect to recover from the
individual or individuals involved.”
Mr Noble said endorsement by the governing Interpol assembly meant
the organisation, based in Lyon, France, had leverage with worldwide
police forces to develop cooperation.
But one problem with fighting cybercrime, particularly virus attacks,
was that not all countries had relevant laws to enforce, he said.
“There hasn’t been a data base established for what laws exist
(or) a structure for police to work together,” Mr Noble said, adding
Interpol would now work to correct this. |
|
LTTE
suffers heavy losses
COLOMBO, Nov 4 (PTI) — At least 62 LTTE rebels were killed in
aerial and naval attacks by Sri Lankan troops this week in the island’s
north and east, an army spokesman claimed today.
Quoting LTTE wireless radio intercepts, Brig Sanat Karunaratne said
32 Tigers were killed in aerial bombardment on several LTTE camps by
Israeli made Kfir jets in eastern Trincomalee district on October 31.
Besides suffering heavy casualties, the rebels lost vast amounts of
fuel and other essential supplies in the attack, he claimed. |
|
England
still in grip of floods
LONDON, Nov 4 (DPA) — Several regions of England remained on high
alert today as severe flooding continued following days of heavy rain.
Meanwhile, weather forecasts predicted that a further deluge was on the
way.
At the historic city of York in northern England, the Ouse river
reached its highest recorded level, swelling to 5.9 metres above normal
this morning.
The army, police and fire services have helped to evacuate thousands
of residents, although city officials say their worst fears seem to have
been averted.
The Environment Agency said efforts to shore up the city’s flood
wall defences with sandbags appeared to be working at present.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott today called an emergency meeting
with senior government ministers to discuss flood measures. |
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