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| Thursday, December 28, 2000, Chandigarh, India    |
Cyclone
leaves 5,00,000 homeless Barak, Arafat to
meet today Alcoholism on the rise
among UK Punjabis Test run of bus from Dhaka to
Agartala |
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Tarsem’s debut movie invites critics’
wrath Russia equips regiment
with latest missiles Russia restores
contact with Mir Lanka to reconsider
ceasefire offer Baby drowned to death
by mother |
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Friend to testify against Estrada Negligent parents fight for child’s
custody
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Cyclone
leaves 5,00,000 homeless COLOMBO, Dec 27 (AFP) — About half a million people were homeless and five killed as a cyclone swept through Sri Lanka, compounding monsoon flood havoc for the second time in five weeks, officials said today. The cyclone, which struck the north-eastern port district of Trincomalee yesterday, exited the island early today leaving a trail of massive destruction in the region, the Social Service Ministry said. It said about 500,000 people were affected by the twin affects of the floods and the cyclone. Local officials confirmed that 75,000 families were rendered homeless while 6,600 homes were completely destroyed. The government cancelled leave for all public services required for relief operations as water levels eased, raising fears of water-borne diseases spreading in several areas. President Chandrika Kumaratunga, on a visit to Europe, expressed sympathy for the victims, her office said in a statement, adding that she was closely following the relief operations. A Social Services Ministry spokesman said five persons, including two children, died yesterday from falling trees and rising flood waters. At least 57 persons were admitted to hospital in Trincomalee after being hit by trees and flying debris during the peak of the cycle. “There are serious communication problems in some of the worst-affected areas and we are yet to get a clear picture from those villages,” a police spokesman said. Social Services Ministry officials said tens of thousands of people had been housed in temporary shelters in schools, temples and public buildings since Saturday when the winds swept away roofs. Official figures showed that 74,957 families were homeless in the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, Anuradha- pura, Trincomalee, Mannar and Polonnaruwa. Some of the worst-hit areas were inaccessible officials said. |
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JERUSALEM, Dec 27 (Reuters) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat are to meet in Egypt tomorrow on US peace proposals that have drawn reservations from both warring sides. Mr Barak convened his Security Cabinet today to formulate a response to US President Bill Clinton’s ideas on a framework for an elusive final peace agreement. Mr Arafat was to consult with the PLO’s Executive Committee. “Arafat is going to Sharam-el-Sheikh tomorrow,” a senior Palestinian official told Reuters. An Israeli official had said yesterday that Mr Arafat and Mr Barak would meet at the Egyptian Red Sea resort but Palestinian officials had spoken only of the possibility of a summit. As both sides pondered over president Clinton’s last-ditch bid to cap his presidency with a peace deal, Palestinians and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire overnight in the West Bank. No deaths have been reported over the past three days — a rarity in a three-month-old Palestinian uprising in which at least 343 persons, mainly Palestinians, have been killed. The dead include 52 Israelis, 13 of whom were Arabs. “My main mission is to keep to a minimum the number of military cemeteries, “the Israel Radio quoted Mr Barak as telling the Security Cabinet. Mr Clinton’s proposals for a final peace deal, both sides said, tackled issues at the heart of the 52-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict such as the future of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and final borders. Acceptance by both sides of president Clinton’s proposals, raised after five days of Israeli-Palestinian talks in Washington last week, was likely to bring Mr Barak and Mr Arafat to the US Capital for an intensive push towards a final deal. “We also have many reservations. They (the Palestinians) will present reservations, we will present reservations and on this basis, the President will decide if there is a platform for a summit,” the Israeli Foreign Minister said. “My assessment is both sides will answer, yes. |
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Alcoholism on the rise among UK Punjabis LONDON, Dec 27 (IANS) — New concern has arisen about the dangerously high levels of alcoholism among Britain’s Punjabi population. “The trouble is that many people do not even recognize this as a problem. There is still a sort of bravado people carry over this problem,” said a spokesperson for the Alcohol Concern, a de-addiction centre run by the local council in Southall. The Punjabi community in Britain, however, does not stand out. New figures released by the centre show that about nine million people in Britain drink above acceptable limits, suggesting that it is fast becoming a country of alcoholics. One in 20 people in Britain are hooked on to alcohol. Within the Indian community the problem is reported to be far more severe among Punjabis than among Gujaratis. Overall Britain loses about 2.8 billion pounds a year in alcohol-related sickness absence, unemployment and premature death. Four out of five emergency cases in hospitals at peak time are alcohol-related. Research also shows a 50 per cent increase in the incidence of women driving after taking alcohol above legal limits. The new findings by the centre show that twice as many children between 11 and 15 years drink regularly now as they did in 1990. About 37 per cent of all men and 23 per cent of all women between 16 and 24 years of age drink twice the recommended daily limits. Figures released by the Southall centre indicate that Punjabis are following the national pattern more than Gujaratis. Alcohol has been found to be involved in two out of three suicide attempts and in 76,000 facial injuries each year. It is also related to one in four child neglect calls. The number of deaths in Britain related to alcohol misuse is about 33,000 a year. Employers and practitioners are now being invited to a workshop on January 12 to address the growing problem of alcoholism among workers. A follow-up meeting has been called on February 20. |
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Test run of bus from Dhaka to
Agartala DHAKA, Dec 27 — A team of officials of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), a public sector transport company and engineers of Roads and Highways on December 25 conducted a test run of a passenger bus from Dhaka to Agartala. Chairman of the BRTC, Afzal Chowdhury, told The Tribune that out of the 140 km condition of 16 km road from Brahmanbaria town to Agartala would have to be expanded. He hopes to start operating of the Dhaka-Agartala bus service from next June. As per decision arrived at a meeting of the Foreign Secretaries held in New Delhi this month, efforts are being made to
expedite the passenger movement as early as possible. Moreover, there is possibility of running bus service from Dhaka via Karimganj, a north eastern Bangladesh border district Syshet, Tamabil
up to Shilong of Maghalaya and Guwahati of Assam. During the past few months people of Agartala raised the demand for bus services between Dhaka and Agartala so that they can travel to Calcutta by bus from Dhaka. The Dhaka-Calcutta passenger bus service was jointly inaugurated in Dhaka by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in May last year.
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Tarsem’s debut movie invites critics’ wrath SYDNEY, Dec 27 (PTI) — While Santosh Sivan’s “The Terrorist” received rave reviews here, India-born director Tarsem Singh’s Hollywood thriller “The Cell” has invited the wrath of critics who termed it too violent and “lacking in logic, coherence and any opportunity for acting”. Tarsem’s $ 40 m debut movie is about a psychologist (Jennifer Lopez) who enters the mind of a serial killer (Vincent D’Onofrio) through experimented technology. Lopez and an FBI investigator (Vince Vaughn) are trying to find where the killer is hiding his latest victim, who is still alive. “The film is a piece of pop baroque both gruesomely inventive and oddly familiar. There are bits of Hindu iconography, borrowing from Dali, Fellini and punk”, said one critic. Another critic described the movie as too violent and playing on pop culture’s fascination with gruesome murderers. Despite Lopez, one of Hollywood’s leading female stars, in the lead role, the film failed to attract viewers in Australian cinemas. The film invited mixed reactions in the USA where it was released in August. While one critic called in an “astonishing debut and one of the best films of the year”, The Los Angeles Times assailed it as “creepy and horrific film that puts viewers through as much misery as the people on the screen”. The director defended his work saying he had borrowed from the classics. “Whether it is the Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, opera or any Hindi movie, human suffering has always been a staple of theatre, literature and the arts”. In an interview to the Los Angeles Times, Tarsem, who shuttles between Los Angeles, London, Italy and India, said “If you see a Hindi movie, there are stories where a husband goes out to buy anklets for his wife, but when he comes home he finds the wife has had an accident and lost her feet. This is my background”. Playing contrasts is Tarsem’s trademark. In his 1996 Nike commercial the world’s best soccer players take on the devil’s XI in an ancient coliseum in Tunisia. Similarly, in The Cell the unbearable darkness of a serial killer’s mind is contrasted with the vibrant colours of operatic dream sequences. One of the highest-paid commerical and music video director, Tarsem has won many accolades including MTV’s best video award, Directors Guild of America award for commercials and the Britannia Award for commercials of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. |
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Russia equips regiment with latest missiles MOSCOW, Dec 27 (AP) — A third set of new Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles was deployed at a base in southwest Russia, officials said, as part of the government efforts to make the missile the backbone of its nuclear forces. A regiment at the Tatishchevo base in the Saratov region was equipped with the single-warhead missiles, Sergei Derevyashkin a spokesman for the strategic missile force, said yesterday. He did not say how many missiles were deployed. The small, rugged missile can be fired from a mobile launcher which means they would be hard to detect and therefore more likely to survive a first strike in a nuclear confrontation. Russia already has 20 Topol-M missiles in service, 10 per regiment, deployed in 1998 and 1999. Topol-M was designed to replace older missiles that have outlived their service or must be dismantled under the START II arms control treaty, ratified by Russia’s Parliament earlier this year but still awaiting final approval by the US Senate. Strategic Missile Force Cdre Vladimir Yakovlev hailed yesterday’s deployment. “This is a major achievement... Against the background of limited financing,” he said according to Russian news reports. The US State Department expressed little concern about the move. “We support very much their efforts to prepare for a post -START II environment,” spokesman Philip Reeker said in Washington. |
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Russia restores
contact with Mir MOSCOW, Dec 27 (AFP) — Russia fully restored contact with the ageing Mir space station late yesterday after more than 24 hours of frantic effort, news agencies reported. All communications with the 15-year-old Mir were restored after the station’s position shifted allowing its failed solar batteries to charge up, the space officials said. After more than 20 hours of black-out, Russian mission control center at the Korolyov suburb of Moscow managed three fitful communications sessions with the station, the Interfax news agency reported. The last session went “reliably and faultlessly,” the space officials said. However, scientists said that it might take days to find the reason for the batteries’ failure. In any case, the Russian space agency insisted that the 140 ton craft was in no danger of falling to the earth. Lanka to reconsider
ceasefire offer COLOMBO, Dec 27 (UNI) — The Sri Lankan Government is likely to reconsider its decision to reject a month-long ceasefire offered by the LTTE, say media reports, quoting cabinet sources. The issue was expected to be reviewed at a cabinet meeting on January 3 after president Chandrika Kumaratunga returned from her tour to Europe, the sources have reportedly said. |
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Baby drowned to death
by mother DURBAN, Dec 26 (PTI)-In a shocking incident, a one-year old baby boy was allegedly drowned to death in a toilet by his mother. The police said they have arrested the 34-year-old woman in connection with the brutal murder which took place in the town of
Mmabatho in Mafikeng in the northern province. The woman told her husband that their son had drowned in the toilet. On checking, he found the child with his head in the toilet. The child was dead by then, the police said. This is not the first time the woman had attempted to kill the child. On a previous occasion, she had tried to slit his throat but was stopped by her husband, they added. Meanwhile, in another gruesome incident, a 16-year old boy was found dead in a school yesterday with multiple wounds, apparently sustained during the severe beatings meted out in an ‘initiation to manhood’
ceremony, the police said. |
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Friend to testify against Estrada MANILA, Dec 27 (Reuters) — The prosecution in Philippine President Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial is interviewing a close friend of the former actor who is willing to testify against him, newspapers reported today. Opposition Congressman Mike Defensor was quoted as saying that the witness would provide testimony “even more explosive” than that of a senior bank executive who said she had seen Estrada sign a $ 10 m bank agreement under a false name. Defensor would not give detail but said the new witness was a close friend of Estrada who had intimate knowledge of his business dealings. The Senate has convened itself into an impeachment court to hear charges of bribery, corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust against Estrada. If the 22 Senators convict him on any one of the charges by a two-thirds majority, Estrada will have to resign. Estrada has denied all the charges. On Friday, the last day before the Senate went into recess until January 2, Equitable-PCI Bank vice-president Clarissa Ocampo said she had seen Estrada sign a $ 10 m investment agreement under a false name, Jose Velarde. She said the signing took place at Malacanang presidential palace in February. Estrada had declared his total assets at the end of 1999 at 35.8 m pesos. The prosecution has said it would prove the President held at least 1.2 b pesos in various Equitable accounts, which was proof of corruption. Opposition sources have said Estrada is close to resigning because of the revelations but the President has maintained he will finish out his six-year term, which ends in 2004. Ernesto Maceda, a spokesman for Estrada, said the reports on the new witness appeared to be geared towards gaining publicity. “The prosecution is basing its decisions not towards conviction but towards conditioning public perception,” he told a local radio station. |
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Negligent parents fight for child’s custody SYDNEY, Dec 27 (PTI) — A nine-month old Indian baby girl had to live with four sets of foster parents in the past one year, while her real parents have been struggling to get back her custody and return to their homeland. Thanks to the new child legislation Act here, the Department of Community Services (DOCS) took over the custody of the child since it felt that the baby sustained serious injuries due to parental negligence. The saga of the unfortunate family began in last August, a few months after their arrival in Australia, when while shopping in the local supermarket, the baby’s leg was injured as the pram was being pushed through a narrow checkout aisle. The baby was admitted in the Sydney children’s hospital, Randwick, for investigations where X-ray reports revealed two fractures above and below the right knee. The doctors felt that one of the fractures could have been the result of the supermarket accident, but not both. The case was referred to the Child Protection Team of the hospital and subsequently DOCS. The parents explained the other injury that while in Delhi, the baby had suffered seizures and was admitted to a hospital where it was discovered that she had a fractured skull, collarbone and ribs and suffered intracranial bleeding. They said the baby had a fall while in the care of a maid when they were away at work. The DOCS placed the baby in foster care on the grounds of unexplained injuries sustained here and while in India. The act of DOCS was backed by a local children’s court. The couple’s plea for restoring their daughter to them was turned down by the DOCS on the grounds of significant and life threatening nature of the injuries sustained in both countries; the non-accidental nature of the injuries sustained in India and Australia and the absence of any evidence that would support the plausible theory other than non-accidental injuries. A medical expert said, “There are known bone disorders that could manifest similar symptoms. It is important that detailed medical diagnosis is carried out and such causes are ruled out before determining the social future of a family”. The DOCS caseworker, supported by her manager, however, recommended that the baby be made a ward of the state until the age of 18 implying that the baby will grow up in an alien country and alien culture for no fault of her own. The President of the Indian Council for Child Welfare, Andal Damodaran, assured the authorities in Australia that the ICCW will take the responsibility of supervising the child, who should be restored to her parents who want to return to India. She said, “Australian authorities’ apprehensions regarding lack of required medical support in India are incorrect as India has very good doctors and hospitals”. The Consul General of India in Sydney has also asked for immediate restoration of the child to her natural parents. |
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