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Monday,
May 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Gloria lifts state of rebellion Indian babies sold in
Australia?
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Pope holds Mass in
Syria Pak faces tighter C’wealth
sanctions Scandal rocks art
world PML faction’s offer to
Musharraf First cyborg couple soon 18 killed as bus falls into ravine
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Gloria lifts state of rebellion Manila, May 6 “Effective at 12 midnight, I am lifting the order declaring a state of rebellion,’’ she said on television. Arroyo declared a state of rebellion — two constitutional steps short of martial law — on Tuesday after thousands of supporters of her detained predecessor Joseph Estrada tried to storm the Malacanang Presidential Palace. Four people died and more than 100 were wounded in clashes between security forces and protesters. Estrada is in custody on corruption charges, although he has denied any wrongdoing. One charge, that of economic plunder, is punishable by death or life in prison. The Philippine authorities are still hunting for opposition leaders they accuse of inciting thousands of Estrada supporters to storm Malacanang as part of a plot to kill the Arroyo — and Estrada — and take power themselves. An hour before her announcement about 40 people were wounded when thieves exploded a grenade while robbing a jewellery shop in a crowded shopping mall in the Manila suburb of Quezon city, the second violent mall robbery in the capital in a week. Police blamed the attack on the gang which wounded 36 people last week when they exploded grenades while robbing another shopping mall in a different part of the city. The group is known as the “Hammer Gang” because of its practice of using a hammer to break into shops. Police detained two people for questioning. The attacks added to tension in the capital caused by anti-government protests which led to violent clashes with security forces when demonstrators tried to storm the presidential palace. Senior intelligence officials said they were not ruling out other motives in the two robberies because of similarities in the way they were carried out and in their timing. The police said two men came in to the Farmers’ Plaza Mall and shot a security guard before smashing the window of Crystal Time Jewellery with a hammer and stealing an unknown amount of jewellery. As in the first incident, they threw a grenade to cover their escape, police said. “I heard a shot, it turned out to be a .45 (caliber pistol),” said 13-year-old Jeffrey Mendoza, who received a shrapnel wound on the back of his left hand. “People scampered for safety. We went down (the escalator), my momma and I. Then there was Armalite (M-16) firing from where we came from. When we got down, there was a grenade explosion. I used my arm for cover.” A series of bomb blasts also hit Manila shopping malls last year. Police blamed the attacks on Muslim separatist guerrillas fighting for an Islamic state in southern Philippines.
Reuters |
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Tito’s space sojourn over Astana (Kazakhstan), May 6 Just over three hours earlier, the Russian Soyuz capsule had undocked from the International Space Station and embarked on its lightning return to earth. Before their flight, Tito and his two cosmonaut colleagues, Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, gathered with the three astronauts staying on at the station for a final video linkup with mission control in Korolyov, outside Moscow. “Personally, I’ve had the time of my life. I’ve achieved my dream and nothing could have been better,” Tito said. “I thank everybody that supported my mission.” Musabayev and American astronaut Jim Voss Hugged, but Voss gave Tito a more formal farewell, shaking his hand. Tito and the cosmonauts then floated headfirst into the Soyuz, their stockinged feet disappearing from view before the hatch connecting the capsule with the station was closed.
AP |
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Indian babies sold in
Australia? Sydney, May 6 Some India and Australia-based women’s and children’s rights campaigners have been quoted by the Sunday Herald as saying that Australians were buying Indian babies, especially girls, in a multi-million dollar international racket. Shobha Phanshikar, well-known Indian social rights campaigner, has cited one particular case in which one infant Indian girl was sold to a Melbourne couple for $30,000 Australian. The “adopted” baby’s mother received just $25. Phanshikar, who runs the Gramya Resource Centre for Women near Hyderabad, has alleged that the five adoption agencies in India’s newest information technology hub Hyderabad are involved in the baby selling racket. Two of these agencies, she alleges, hold Indian government licences. “We suspect there are several more,” Phanshikar was quoted as saying by Sydney’s The Sun-Herald newspaper. Phanshikar’s revelation has been supported by Melbourne academic Lynette Dumble, the international coordinator of the Global Sisterhood Network, who said Indian infant girls were being sold to Australian parents in the garb of adoption for as low as $2,500 to 10,000. Beside orphanages, unscrupulous agents who scour villages in India also steal babies. Some of the stolen babies are stated to be only a day old. Children are also stolen from playfields and maternity wards “within hours of their births.” Some parents also collaborate with the agents to get rid of their unwanted progenies. Agents also buy “hundreds of baby girls” for just a few dollars from needy impoverished parents who do not have enough to feed their children, which they already have. Numerous legal and illegal orphanages in India are also being made targets to get Indian babies. Such parents are ready to get rid of infant girls as they are considered burden on family resources.
IANS |
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Pope holds Mass in Syria Damascus, May 6 Waving yellow-and-white papal and Syrian flags and shouting “John Paul, we love you... John Paul, we welcome you”, the crowd gave the Pope a tumultuous welcome as he arrived at Abbassiyeen Stadium in the heart of the Syrian capital. People lined the street leading to the stadium to greet the Pontiff as he passed in his “popemobile” with a large motorcade. There are some 2.4 million Christians among Syria’s population of 17 million. The frail 80-year-old Pope, who arrived in Syria on Saturday, is expected to promote messages of inter-faith unity at the Mass for Syria’s various Christian sects, including the Greek and Syriac Orthodox. Religious dignitaries from the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Greek and Syriac Orthodox communities, foreign envoys and officials were present for the event. Yesterday, the Pope made an emotional plea to Israel and its Arab neighbours to turn “fear into trust” to end decades of war in West Asia. His tour, already a landmark of inter-faith unity for his groundbreaking gesture of reconciliation with the Orthodox Church in Greece, was to include the first visit by a Pope to a Muslim mosque in Islam’s 1,400-year history. Damascus, the world’s oldest inhabited city, has given the Roman Church six Popes as well as saints and priests over the centuries, and John Paul II acknowledged its ancient role as “the pearl of the East” in the history of Christianity. The Pope urged Christians, Jews and Muslims in West Asia to take bold action to bring about peace in their region. “In this holy land, Christians, Muslims and Jews are called to work together, with confidence and boldness and to work to bring about without delay the day when the legitimate rights of all people are respected and they can live in peace and mutual understanding,” the Pope said during a sermon at Sunday Mass.
Reuters |
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Pak faces tighter C’wealth sanctions London, May 6 “If Pakistan fails to announce the date for elections before CHOGM, there is a good chance of its full suspension from membership and even if it does announce a date, there will be pressure from a number of countries to have sanctions, a higher level of sanctions,” they said, quoting the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group of Foreign Ministers (CMAG). Though for long the Commonwealth has stressed speedy restoration of democracy, signals emanating from Islamabad are: Don’t tell us what to do, we will do at our pace and what we judge is in the best interests of our country...that democracy has done disservice to Pakistan,” the sources told PTI. “It is a very dangerous argument and the Commonwealth leaders have effectively rejected it,” the sources added. “The next step will be the suspension of membership — its name will not appear any more in Commonwealth conferences and its flag will not fly in Commonwealth meetings”, they said. Pakistan is currently suspended from the Commonwealth Council and cannot participate in official meetings — ministerial, official and inter-governmental — but can take part in Commonwealth games and cultural events. Also NGOs continue to have links with the country. India has been pressing for the implementation of the Millbrook Action Programme which stipulates a two-year time-frame for the restoration of democracy in countries where institutions are not in place to permit holding of elections, the sources said. A maximum of six months are given to states where the voters list and institutions such as the Election commission are in place. Pakistan has an Election Commission, though the voters list is stated to be faulty. As a prelude to CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon will undertake a four-nation tour to discuss issues including the restoration of democracy in Pakistan and constitutional rule in Fiji Besides India, Mr McKinnon will visit Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.
PTI |
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Scandal rocks art world London, May 6 A crisis is engulfing Sotheby’s and Christie’s that threatens to turn the art world on its head. Having agreed to pay out US $ 570 million in compensation to art dealers, private buyers and shareholders last year, the future of two of the most famous names in the art world is uncertain. Potential buyers are circling and hasty plans have been implemented by the two firms to slash costs. If found guilty, the former chairmen of the once-respected businesses could face prison sentences and fines running into millions. The US Department of Justice maintains the two firms colluded on raising commission rates, which they took from both buyers and sellers to salvage profits. It is just what America’s 111-year-old Sherman Anti-Trust Act was designed to prevent. In November 1992, Sotheby’s raised its buyer’s commission from 10 to 15 per cent. A month later, Christie’s followed. In March 1995, Christie’s increased its seller’s fees from a flat rate to a sliding scale of between 2 to 20 per cent. A month later, Sotheby’s did the same. Two former chief executives of the historic firms have already pleaded guilty to the charges. In much of the art world, there is glee at how the mighty are fallen. `They had it coming to them,’ said one Mayfair art dealer. `They had this paranoia that only exists in a duopoly. It led them to compete in the most ridiculous ways and spend far too much on overheads.’ In New York, Sotheby’s and Christie’s will auction a couple of Monet paintings and a famous Picasso portrait for US $ 71m in what is traditionally the most lucrative season in the impressionist, modern and contemporary art calendar - the spring sales. But in the Big Apple art dealers are expecting the sales to lack the normal pizzazz. Dealers seem to have lost faith in the houses. A spokesman for the group confirmed to The Observer that the world’s most powerful luxury brand group will not be bidding. Officially, Christie’s is not for sale. But Pinault faces a potentially ruinous legal tussle against insurance regulators in California for alleged fraud that could see him paying US $ 1 billion. Whatever happens, Sotheby’s and Christie’s are both selling their London homes. Christie’s could make more than US $ 114m from its Mayfair site in central London. Observer News Service |
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PML faction’s offer to
Musharraf Islamabad, May 6 “If he restores Parliament and wants to be elected President, we will give serious consideration to the matter,” Abida Hussain, Information Secretary of the breakaway faction of PML told Associated Press. Hussain, along with several other staunch Pakistan Muslim League members, revolted against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, following the bloodless military coup in October, 1999, that brought the Army to power in Pakistan and landed Sharif in jail on several charges. The dissidents formed a breakaway faction, dismissing Sharif as party leader. The dissident group says it has the support of 88 of the 133 former PML lawmakers in Parliament, which was suspended by the Army. There has been considerable speculation in Pakistani newspapers that Musharraf plans to appoint himself president. The military’s recent creation of the new position of the Deputy Army Chief was seen as a stepping stone towards making the Army Chief President.
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First cyborg couple soon London, May 6 The professor hopes it will show how two brains can interact, said the report in The Sunday Times. Doctors at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, who would perform the surgery, were quoted as saying they hope it would lead to new treatments for paralysis victims. Long the realm of science-fiction, a cybernetic organism or cyborg is a human being whose body has been “enhanced” by technical means. In the experiment Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at Reading University, and his wife Irena, will have silicon chips about 5 cms long implanted in their arms just above the elbow. Each chip will also have a power source, a tuner and a radio transceiver. They will be surgically connected to nerve fibres in the couple’s arms. The signals from Warwick will be converted to radio waves and transmitted to a computer which will retransmit them to the chip in Irena.
DPA |
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18 killed as bus falls into ravine Jakarta, May 6 “The bus fell into the ravine in Cipatat this morning and so far our reports show that 16 persons have been found dead. But search efforts are still going on ,” an officer on duty at the Bandung district police said. But five hours later, an officer from the same police post’s traffic department, said 18 persons were killed in the accident. The policeman on duty said the bus, which had left Bandung for the town of Sukambumi, some 75 km west, reportedly crashed after it tried to avoid a motorcycle. He also said the driver of the bus was missing and believed to have fled the scene. |
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