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| Tuesday, January 9, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Israel accepts Clinton proposals US envoy to make last-ditch bid JERUSALEM, Jan 8 — Israel said today it had accepted US President Bill Clinton’s ideas for a peace deal as a basis for negotiations but was discouraged by the Palestinian rejection of his proposal. China sees key role for India |
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| Pinochet defies fiat on tests GENERAL Augusto Pinochet defied a court order to submit to medical tests at a hospital in Santiago yesterday (Sunday), and instead remained holed up with military allies in his seaside home, south-west of the Chilean capital.Former dictator Augusto Pinochet stands surrounded by friends and family members while leaving a church at his estate in Bucalemu, 130 km south west of Santiago on Sunday. — Reuters photo. Coup crushed in Ivory Coast Death penalty for converts, say Taliban India seeks review of decision on Nadeem |
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| Kiwi plans hotel on Mt Everest base LONDON, Jan 8 — The Mount Everest will soon have the world’s highest hotel. According to a report published in The Sunday Times today, planning permission has been granted for the £ 2.3 million hotel to be built by a New Zealand-born climber, Mr Russell Brice. Norway may give up mediation bid Snowstorms cut off Inner Mongolia
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| Israel accepts Clinton proposals JERUSALEM, Jan 8 (Reuters, AFP) — Israel said today it had accepted US President Bill Clinton’s ideas for a peace deal as a basis for negotiations but was discouraged by the Palestinian rejection of his proposal. “We consider his ideas as a basis for the continuation of negotiations,’’ Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh told newsmen. In New York yesterday, Clinton outlined in public for the first time what he called parameters for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal to end the 52-year-old conflict. Senior Palestinian officials rejected the ideas, including those for dividing Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. “It’s regrettable that Palestinian officials flatly reject his ideas,’’ Mr Sneh added. US President Bill Clinton pushed on with his last-ditch effort to resurrect Middle East peace negotiations by sending a diplomatic envoy to the region. Mr Dennis Ross will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat early in the week as part of President Bill Clinton’s drive to clinch a deal before he steps down on January 20. More violence in which a young Palestinian woman was shot and killed yesterday underlined the immense difficulties US mediators face in trying to repair the breach between Israel and the Palestinians after the deaths of more than 350 persons in 14 weeks of bloodshed. The final status of divided Jerusalem, one of the biggest obstacles to a deal, will become the focus for what organisers said would be hundreds of thousands of Israelis encircling the city walls. CIA head George Tenet was reported to have been preparing the groundwork for fresh peacemaking in talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian security officials at an undisclosed location in Cairo on Sunday. A CIA official said the spy chief’s talks were “related to combating terrorism and violence in the Middle East”. It was a task Israeli media, said made even more difficult after security officials said the man who detonated a bomb on a Tel Aviv bus on December 28 had been recruited by Palestinian security officials in West Bank. The head of Palestinian military intelligence, Moussa Arafat, dismissed the report as an Israeli fabrication. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s peace cabinet met yesterday and stressed that a drop in violence was a precondition for relaunching peace talks with the Palestinians. A statement said the peace cabinet said: “The Palestinian Authority’s respect for its commitments on security is key to the renewing of negotiations.” WASHINGTON: US President Bill Clinton has outlined his vision of an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord that would “entail real pain and sacrifices for both sides”. The proposals would give the Palestinians Gaza and most of West Bank, would deny Palestinian refugees a “right of return” to Israel and would create an international force in Palestine to provide border security to Israel along the Jordan valley. They would also give the Palestinians control of Arab areas in Jerusalem and offer an unspecified compromise on the city’s holy sites. “This, I believe, is the outline of a fair agreement. It will entail real pain and sacrifices for both sides, but the benefits of agreement far outweigh them,’’ Mr Clinton said in a prepared text of the speech released by White House. Meanwhile, the White House called for compromise to resolve the impasse in peace talks after senior Palestinian officials rejected President Clinton’s proposals to end the conflict. Asked about a statement by senior negotiator Ahmed Korei which said the Palestinian Authority could not accept Clinton’s ideas as a basis for future talks, Mr P.J. Crowley, National security council spokesman, said Washington aimed to narrow the gap between Israel and the Palestinians. “The President heard directly from both the Palestinian and Israeli sides last week and took their views into account,’’ Mr Crowley said. “He (Clinton) is now sending (envoy) Dennis Ross to see if we can narrow the gaps. But in order to reach an agreement both sides have to compromise.’’ |
| China sees key role for India BEIJING, Jan 8 (PTI) — China has described India as a “major country” in Asia destined to play a more prominent role in regional and international affairs in a multipolar world. “We think India is a major country in South Asia and also in Asia that will play a bigger role in the multi polar world,” senior Chinese leader Li Peng said here. He is scheduled to be in India on an official visit from January 9-17. Mr Li, a known critic of US attempts to wield global hegemony at the end of the cold-war era, said China supported a multi polar world which allowed each country to have its own say in international affairs rather than be dominated by one or a few big nations. Mr Li, ranked number two in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy, said he was keen to see the fast-paced developments in India as well as to enhance friendship with the Indian leadership and people. “To enhance our friendship and cooperation is the main purpose of my visit,” he said about his second visit to the country. “At the invitation of the two houses of the Indian Parliament, I am going to visit your country. I very much appreciate this opportunity,” he said. “During the past decade, major changes have taken place in the international scene and also in our respective domestic situation. India’s economy has been growing at a fast pace and the high-tech sector has mushroomed and thrived,” Mr Li said. “I wish to see with my own eyes the development so as to broaden my mind,” Mr Li, who will also tour Mumbai, Bangalore, Mysore and Agra, said. |
| Pinochet defies fiat on tests GENERAL Augusto Pinochet defied a court order to submit to medical tests at a hospital in Santiago yesterday (Sunday), and instead remained holed up with military allies in his seaside home, south-west of the Chilean capital. Investigating Judge Juan Guzman and a five-strong team comprising two psychiatrists, two psychologists and a neurologist had attended the hospital to conduct two days of examinations on the former dictator. They were seeking to determine whether he would be mentally fit to stand trial for his alleged role in masterminding hundreds of kidnappings and murders during his 1973-1990 rule. But Gen Pinochet (85), and his legal team are refusing to cooperate with the medical examinations in the hope that they can stall questioning of the General, scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday). The Chilean supreme court has ruled that the medical tests must precede questioning. In response to the refusal to be examined, human rights lawyers reiterated their calls for Judge Guzman to place Gen Pinochet under house arrest, to ensure that he will be questioned about his role in the executions known as the “caravan of death”. “The Pinochet family said long ago that he was not crazy and would not submit to tests,” said human rights lawyer Hugo Guttierez as he waited outside Hospital Militar. “This is the result of a strategy that was decided months ago.” Gen Pinochet’s defence had initially hoped to use the tests at the hospital to protect the former ruler from the courts. For months the team sought to have the medical exams conducted exclusively by the army-run institution. That request, however, was denied by Judge Guzman, who determined that civilian institutions must verify all tests to avoid charges that Gen Pinochet’s medical team would inject him with drugs to alter results. Judge Guzman’s suspicion that Gen Pinochet was guilty of “doping” infuriated the General’s defence, who requested that the Judge be removed from the case because of what they called his “perturbed behaviour and lack of serenity”. Few people expect Gen Pinochet to appear today for the second day of scheduled tests. Yesterday, relatives of Pinochet-era victims holding placards with photos of their executed family members protested outside the hospital, as a lone armed guard watched. According to Chilean press reports, the army is preparing to reinforce security at Hospital Militar to give Gen Pinochet the option of using the building as a refuge from justice. By declaring Gen Pinochet “suddenly ill”, the military could then transport him to the hospital and refuse to have him questioned, citing his fragile condition. This strategy has been used repeatedly by the Chilean army in the past to protect top officials facing murder and torture charges. Many opponents of the Pinochet regime died in Hospital Militar, including General Augusto Lutz, head of army intelligence, whose mysterious death was never cleared up. “My dad said `If anything happens to me, don’t take me to the Hospital Militar, because from there I will never leave alive’,” said Patricia Lutz, his daughter. “He was head of military intelligence, he knew there were strange operations going on inside. You have to remember that Pinochet had sophisticated chemists to destroy people,” she said, referring to the regime’s experiments with the nerve gas sarin. — The Guardian, London |
| Coup crushed in Ivory Coast ABIDJAN, Jan 8 (AFP) — Soldiers loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo battled today to crush an apparent coup attempt by rebel fighters against the Ivory Coast leader barely two months after he was elected to office. Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou said the government troops had managed to regain control of the television station from a group of rebels who seized the building late yesterday and were headed to the headquarters of the radio service which was still under control of the fighters. “The coup attempt has failed and the rebels have been routed”, said Boga Doudou following an evening of fighting that rocked Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan. The minister said several of the fighters had been arrested and that some were “dead, mostly among the assailants” from the fighting, which at times involved heavy machine guns and artillery. The rebels also attacked the President’s office in Abidjan’s Plateau sector, his official residence in Cocody and the Agban headquarters of the gendarmerie, but all the assaults were repulsed, officials said. Mr Gbagbo, who was swept to power by a popular uprising after Ivory Coast military ruler Robert Guei attempted to ignore defeat in October presidential elections, had left Abidjan for the interior of the country on Friday amid widespread rumours that a coup attempt was being planned. Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi said government troops were restoring order. Fighting broke out yesterday with the assailants concentrating their attacks on the radio building in the central Plateau district and the television station in the Cocody residential neighbourhood. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. |
| Death penalty for converts, say Taliban KABUL, Jan 8 (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers today announced death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to another religion and for any non-Muslim found proselytising. The newest pronouncement made by Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was given over the Taliban-run radio, Shariat. Omar charged other faiths, particularly Christianity and Judaism, of trying to convert Muslims and of seeking to demonise pure Islam practiced by the ruling Taliban. “The enemies of Muslims are trying to eliminate the pure Islamic religion throughout the world,” he said on radio. Meanwhile, the Afghan opposition today confirmed that it had lost the strategic town of Yakawlang in the central province of Bamiyan to the Taliban. |
| India seeks review of decision on Nadeem LONDON, Jan 8 (PTI) — India has appealed to the House of Lords seeking review of a London High Court decision against the extradition of Bollywood music director Nadeem Akhtar Saifi to stand trial in the Gulshan Kumar murder case. “We have filed our appeal before the Admissions Committee of the House of Lords within the stipulated period of 14 days from the date of judgement delivered on December 14. |
| Kiwi plans hotel on Mt Everest base LONDON, Jan 8 (PTI)— The Mount Everest will soon have the world’s highest hotel. According to a report published in The Sunday Times today, planning permission has been granted for the £ 2.3 million hotel to be built by a New Zealand-born climber, Mr Russell Brice. The 52-bed hotel will be built at a height of 17,000 feet above the sea level in the Rongbuk valley in the northern base camp on Everest’s Tibetan side. The hotel, which is yet to be named, will cover 22,000 square feet of base camp. The designers have ensured that the complex will be run with the aid of solar power and waste will be recycled into energy, using high-pressured tanks. The hotel is expected to cost £ 2.3 million to build. Mr Brice, who has already invested £ 85,000 into the project, is confident of raising the remainder in time to start digging in April, 2002. But the scheme has appalled mountaineers and environmentalists who fear it will make the area around the Everest a virtual theme park. “I don’t like the idea. This is commercialising Everest. It should be left aloof from the masses,” said Mr Bill Ruthven, Honorary Secretary of the Mount Everest Foundation. Mr Andy Macnae of the British Mountaineering Council also voiced concern. “There are far better ways of managing environment around the Everest base camps than building a hotel,” he said. Sir Chris Bonington, who led the first expedition to Everest’s southwest face in 1975, called the plans “regrettable but inevitable.” There is a huge garbage problem there already, which needs to be solved,” he said. 49-year-old Brice has been climbing and running expeditions on the Everest for more than two decades. He had the idea a decade ago after being impressed by a temporary camp set up by Swedish climbers. “It made sense to have this sort of set-up permanently, to serve not only other climbers, but also the majority of tourists who visit the base camp for a short time,” Mr Brice said. He first met representatives from China Tibetan Mountaineering Authority (CTMA) in Lhasa, accompanied by Ang Tshering Sherpa, his Nepalese business partner. He then had to seek approval from 88 government authorities before completing proposals for an eight-bedroom hotel and six chalets, with 36 beds. Buddhist monks blessed the site and advised on traditional Tibetan design. Permission was granted late last year. |
| Norway may give up mediation bid COLOMBO, Jan 8 (UNI) — Norway may withdraw from efforts to facilitate peace talks to end the ethnic conflict, if the Sri Lankan Government does not respond positively to its proposals to de-escalate the fighting. Quoting Norwegian sources, the Jaffna-based Tamil daily Uthayan said in its web-site that Oslo hoped the Sri Lankan Government would give positive response this week to its proposals for reciprocating measures to de-establish the conflict and bring about the proper atmosphere , the Tamil net reported. Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim is arriving in Sri Lanka this week in a bid to break the deadlock. During his visit he is scheduled to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. |
| Snowstorms cut off Inner Mongolia BEIJING, Jan 8 (DPA) — heavy snow has cut food supplies to around 120,000 people in northern China’s remote Inner Mongolia region and left 25 people missing, the state media said today. Local governments have appealed for 70 million yuan ($ 8.4 million) in relief funds after blizzards deposited up to 37 cm of snow mixed with sand on the mainly pastoral Xilin Gol area over New Year, the official China Daily said. At least 90 people were reported lost after the storms, but 65 were found alive by Sunday evening, the newspaper said. Local herders need an extra 50 million tons of forage for the area’s 10 million head of livestock, it said. Snow drifts up to 2 metres deep covered 100 sq km of Xilin Gol, where overnight temperatures remained as low as -40° Centigrade yesterday, Beijing Evening Post said. At least 12 people died as a result of the severe weather, regional officials said over the weekend. Heavy snow has hit many areas of northern China, delaying weekend flights and causing hundreds of traffic accidents in China’s capital, Beijing. |
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