 |
| Wednesday, March 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
|
Schoolboy opens fire, kills
two Sharon takes over as PM today Heart artery of Cheney
cleared Clinton says no to Senate probe Lakhs of pilgrims stone
Satan |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Release of hostages delayed No-trust move
in Duma on March 14 18 per cent hike in China’s
defence outlay New Evidence
|
|
Schoolboy opens fire, kills two Santee (California), March 6 It was the worst act of violence at an American school since the April 20, 1999, attack by two teenage gunmen at Columbine High School in Colorado in which 15 persons were killed. The incident threw the San Diego suburb of 58,000 into shock and panic. A stunned Santee Mayor Randy Voepel told a news conference: “I’ve been Mayor for nine weeks and if I was Mayor for 900 years, it would not prepare me for this moment ... We’re a town of little leagues, soccer, community meetings ... And this is one of our children.” “This could happen in any town in the USA if it could happen in a town such as Santee” he added. The shooting was the latest of more than 12 incidents of gun violence to have claimed casualties in US schools in recent years, including multiple killings in Oregon, Arkansas, and Kentucky, as well as Colorado. The police said the suspect — a high school freshman treated like a weakling by some of his classmates because of his small frame and scrawny looks — used a .22 caliber revolver, which he reloaded once after emptying its chambers to shoot people at random in a hallway and the boys’ bathroom of Santana High School. At first the students at the 1,900-pupil school thought a cap pistol was going off. But as students fell bleeding, they realised it was a gun and they started fleeing the school in droves. As they ran one way screaming, San Diego county Sheriff’s deputy Ali Perez and three other officers headed the other way and cornered the unidentified teenage gunman in a boys’ restroom. “When we found him, he was inside the bathroom in a kneeling position with his hands out holding the butt of the gun. He dropped it and surrendered,” Mr Perez said. The police said two of the shooting victims were killed. They were identified as Brian Zuckor, 14, and Randy Gordon, 15. One student reportedly died at the scene of the attack. The other died later at a local hospital. The shooter had apparently told several friends over the weekend of his plans but no one believed him or reported him to authorities, according to accounts from students. The police said it was still investigating and would not comment. Although it said the youth would be charged as an adult with murder, it declined to reveal his name. Josh Stevens, 15, who identified himself as the boy’s closest friend, told local television stations that the youth joked all weekend that he was going to go to school and shoot people. “He had it all planned out but at the end of the weekend he said he was just joking. I would never have thought he would have had the nerve to do it,” Stevens said. President George W. Bush decried the shooting as “a disgraceful act of cowardice,” while California Governor Gray Davis and his wife Sharon expressed sorrow and horror over the attack. San Diego county District Attorney Paul Pfingst said the boy would be arraigned tomorrow and would face charges in an adult court thanks.
Reuters |
|
Sharon takes over as PM today Jerusalem, March 6 Mr Sharon has promised to restore security, but has not detailed how he plans to achieve this in the month since he won a landslide victory over outgoing premier Ehud Barak. A former general with the reputation as Israel’s most prominent hawk, Mr Sharon has built a diverse coalition with the aim of giving his government a more moderate image and making it less susceptible to collapse in the fractious Parliament. However, Palestinian militants have threatened to welcome Mr Sharon with an onslaught of bombings. Four Israelis and a Palestinian suicide bomber have been killed in turn blasts over the past week. The Israeli police is working on emergency footing, cancelling courses and putting more officers on the streets, while asking the military for reinforcements to help prevent any future attacks. After several weeks of negotiations, Sharon’s proposed government includes at least 68 members of the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset. He needs a simple majority of 61 votes when he presents his government for formal approval tomorrow. Heart artery of Cheney cleared Washington, March 6 Doctors at George Washington Medical Center said it did not appear that Mr Cheney (60), had sustained a heart attack. He has already had four such attacks since 1978, and the latest problem for Mr Cheney was likely to raise anew questions about his fitness to hold high office. Dr Jonathan Reiner, one of Mr Cheney’s physicians, told reporters Mr Cheney suffered a mild episode of chest discomfort for three to five minutes on Saturday after exercising at his residence. He had the pains again on Sunday, and then twice yesterday, said Mr Reiner. Mr Cheney checked himself into the hospital at 2 a.m. and doctors upon examination found a “focal area of narrowing” in the same artery that produced a mild heart attack last November, Mr Reiner said. Doctors performed a balloon angioplasty procedure in which a tube was inserted in the upper leg and into the afflicted artery. A balloon was inflated to clear the blockage, and a mesh pipe called a stent was inserted to hold the artery open. The procedure took barely an hour to do, Mr Reiner said. A stent had been placed in the same artery last November. Mr Reiner said this stent was holding fine except for “one spot at the origin of the stent which was about 90 per cent narrowed,” and this was the spot where the new angioplasty was performed. Doctors contacted separately and not caring for Mr Cheney said it was not unusual for a stent to become re-clogged.
Reuters |
|
Clinton says no to Senate probe Washington, March 6 Republican Senator Arlen Specter invited Mr Clinton last week to a private meeting at which he could answer questions about the pardon, which has sparked criminal and congressional investigations of a possible link to political donations by Rich’s former wife, Denise. “It’s not anything we’re inclined to do,” Mr Clinton's spokeswoman Julia Payne said about the possibility of meeting with Mr Specter, who is leading a probe into the pardon by the Senate judiciary committee. The House of Representatives’ government reform committee and federal criminal investigators are also looking into charges that Denise Rich’s donations of more than $ 1 million to Democrats and $ 450,000 to the Clinton library played a role in obtaining the pardon. Mr Specter said he made the offer to let Mr Clinton meet him and a Democratic Senator in private to avoid the “circus-like atmosphere” of forcing the former President to testify at a public hearing. Mr Specter has said he is not inclined to call Mr Clinton to testify in person because of the sensitivity of bringing a former President before the Congress and because of the media storm it would generate. Marc Rich fled to Switzerland 17 years ago to avoid prosecution on charges of racketeering, fraud, income tax evasion and illegal oil trading. Mr Clinton pardoned Rich and his business partner Pincus Green on his last day as President over the objections of top White House aides. White House investigators received more information on selected contributors to Clinton’s presidential library, including amounts and dates of donations, during a visit to Capitol Hill by Mr Clinton's attorney David Kendall yesterday.
Reuters |
|
Lakhs of pilgrims stone Satan Mena, (Saudi Arabia), March 6 Pilgrims packed the Jamarat bridge in Mena outside Mecca in Saudi Arabia and pelted the concrete pillars to the chants of “In the name of God, God is greatest”. At least 35 persons, including 23 women, were crushed to death or suffocated on the bridge yesterday, the first day of the devil-stoning ritual, a Saudi official said. A Saudi source said later that the death toll had risen to 38, but there was no official confirmation of this. The dead and dozens of injured were taken to Mena General Hospital. Some of the injured were released after treatment while others were said to be in a serious condition. Crowds were moving smoothly today under the watchful eyes of hundreds of policemen as loudspeaker announcements in eight languages guided the pilgrims, who were given free chilled water in temperatures that reached 35°C. The police formed human chains in an attempt to limit the number of people going through to the pillars. Medical teams stood by and helicopters hovered above. Yesterday’s accident did not appear to have dimmed the enthusiasm of the pilgrims. The Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, was quoted in local newspapers as expressing grief at the deaths. He said the deaths occurred because many pilgrims arrived on the bridge at the same time and rushed to complete their rituals. According to official Saudi figures, 13.6 lakh pilgrims from around the world have performed the Haj this year, joined by 4.4 lakh from inside the kingdom. The pilgrims will sleep in Mena for another night before a third day of devil-stoning tomorrow, the fifth and last day of the Haj.
Reuters |
|
Release of hostages delayed Dhaka, March 6 Earlier there was an assurance by the captors to free the hostages by Monday morning. All preparations were made to receive the hostages expected anytime from Sunday midnight to Monday morning. Road markings with red and yellow flags were placed indicating safe passage of the kidnappers. But the news of payment of ransom has angered the captors who have requested for further contacts to know about the development. Mr Kalpa Ranjan Chakma, Minister for CHT Affairs, told newspersons on Sunday at Rangamati Circuit House that the news of payment of ransom had created the confusion. However, despite the preparations for the safe passage of the captors, security cordon around the place of captivity of the hostages has been relaxed but not withdrawn. Security forces can start combing operation anytime. Besides Mr Kalpa Ranjan Chakma, representatives of the Danish construction firm and Danish and British embassies staying at Rangamati denied having agreed to payment of any ransom. |
|
No-trust move
in Duma on March 14 Moscow, March 6 The leading members of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, scheduled a no-confidence vote in the Cabinet for March 14, Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov told reporters. If the motion is passed twice within three months, Mr Putin must fire Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his ministers or disband parliament, prompting early elections. |
|
18 per cent hike in China’s defence outlay Beijing, March 6 The defence budget of 141 billion yuan ($17 billion ) is 20.5 billion yuan, or 17.7 per cent up from the 2000 budget, Mr Xiang said. Last year’s defence increase was 12.7 per cent. The additional funds are mainly to pay for a modernisation drive, he said. “This (increase) is mainly to meet the need to raise the salaries of officers, enlisted men and women and office staff, as well as the need to adapt to drastic changes in the military situation of the world and prepare for defence and combat, given the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology,’’ he said.
DPA |
|
New Evidence Recently a transfer of an astonishing quantity of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli’s memos and the Chief of Staff’s jottings to Public Record Office, London, reveal how Disraeli had distrusted Foreign Secretary Lord Salisbury by double-crossing during the Afghan crisis in 1878. Originally the evidence, as revealed in Disraeli’s Private Secretary Algernon Tarnor’s archives, was auctioned by his family. During the Afghan crisis, Lord Lytton was the Viceroy of India. The British were locked in a tense political struggle for domination in Asia. Lord Salisbury was suspicious of the Prime Minister’s machinations. The devious duplicity on the part of the British Prime Minister by ignoring the Foreign Secretary and conducting secret and direct negotiations with the Viceroy and other foreign powers is a complete departure from the British diplomatic norms which work within the framework of parliamentary democracy. Andrew Roberts, the British historian, has revealed Disraeli’s sinister methods in BBC History Magazine recently. Andrews wrote: “It is astonishing it has taken us 123 years to find out Disraeli’s deceit”. In one letter Disraeli instructs his Private Secretary, Algernon Tarnor: “I wish you to take the most careful steps, that the enclosed should at once reach Russian Chancellor Prince Gortschakoff. I think His Highness is at Wildbad. The Russian Embassy will tell you it had better not go through our Foreign office. Seal it well.” Disraeli was a novelist, a brilliant orator, and was considered the founder of the British Conservative Party. His motto was “As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.”
— V.N. Datta |
 |
| 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 | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
