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Saturday,
May 26, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
25 dead in wedding hall collapse
Afghan Hindus “did not seek” identity badges |
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Senator changes face of US politics Dalai Lama seeks
autonomy Islamic parties hail
talks offer |
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25 dead in wedding hall collapse Jerusalem, May 25 The newlyweds, who had a miraculous escape, their families and the guests plunged down three stories when the crowded hall on the top floor of the building in
Versailles caved in suddenly, they said. About 750 persons were attending the reception in the hall located in an industrial section of Jerusalem. By daybreak, six hours after the disaster, 19 bodies had been recovered from piles of rubble while many more lay buried in the debris, rescuers said. The bride and groom were also injured in the mishap, but not very seriously, the eyewitnesses said. Initial rumours of an explosion were ruled out by the police which said the collapse might have occurred due to a “structural failure.” “This is a major disaster. I don’t think we have anything similar in the state of Israel, and certainly not in the city of Jerusalem,” city Mayor Ehud Olmert said. “We were dancing and within seconds were under the rubble, dead, half dead and badly wounded. There was no sign of any crack or shaking and suddenly the ceiling gave way, sending us down to the ground floor. It happened suddenly,” said a young girl who escaped the tragedy with a few bruises. Searches will last at least five days and perhaps a week, Ophir, in charge of the rescue work, said. “From past experience, we are hopeful of finding survivors during this time.” Through the night, rescue workers combed for survivors and removed bodies from the rubble, carrying them on stretchers covered with blankets. Soldiers in yellow helmets, some of them with flashlights, dug through the wreckage, sometimes by hand, trying to reach the trapped victims. Public Security Minister Uzi Landau said a committee of experts would be set up to investigate the cause of the collapse, media reports said. Israel Radio reported that the police was questioning the owner of the hall, the engineer who had designed it and others connected with the structure of the building which was used for weddings and as a discotheque.
PTI |
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Afghan Hindus “did not seek” identity badges Jalalabad, (Afghanistan) May 25 Jalalabad has the main concentration of the small Hindu community of Indian origin in the country, not more than 100 families in all. “I came from Kabul last night. There I met Hindu compatriots too. Nobody made any such (identity mark) request to the Taliban,’’ Amar Das, head priest of the temple and political leader of the Hindu community in Jalalabad told DPA.
Das (52), said when the radical Islamic Taliban captured Jalalabad in 1996, their “Virtue and Vice’’ department asked its non-Muslim men to wear a cap and women put on the veil which was accepted. But its demand that the cap be red, or they should have some other identity mark, was rejected. “We will not accept the latest order (about a yellow mark) also. If they forced it upon us, we will try to leave the country. But we prefer to live in Afghanistan because it is our homeland,’’ he said. Taliban officials claimed that the decision to make Hindus wear a yellow badge was taken on the community’s request because Hindus, who look like ordinary Afghan Muslims otherwise, were feeling harassed by the religious police. The police has the task of seeing that Muslims in Afghanistan do not from Islamic norms in public. Men are required to wear beard and women the veil. Both sexes have to offer Islamic prayers. There are Indian-origin Sikhs also in the country but they are distinguishable as non-Muslim in their religion-mandated beards, turbans and metal bangles. The Taliban order applies to Afghan nationals only and Hindu and Christian visitors are exempted from the identity order.
OTTAWA: Canada condemned Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban for a proposal that would require non-Muslims to wear yellow badges, saying it hoped Kabul would decide not to impose “this terrible edict’’. Foreign Minister John Manley, alarmed by reports of the decree, said in a statement on Thursday that Canada’s High Commission in Pakistan was raising the issue with Taliban diplomats stationed there. The Taliban has been condemned for the decree, which critics say evokes memories of Jews forced to wear a yellow star of David in Nazi Germany. “I am shocked by these reports — discrimination on the basis of religion is abhorrent and is an affront to values held by all Canadians. I hope the Taliban will come to its senses and not implement this terrible edict,’’ Manley said. Canada has not had diplomatic relations with Afghanistan since 1979.
WASHINGTON: The USA has said the policies being pursued by the Taliban pose a common threat to both the USA and Russia as well as to the regional stability. “The USA and Russia agree that the situation in Afghanistan, and especially the Taliban leadership’s support for terrorism, continues to be a threat to the interests of both countries, as well as to the regional and international stability,” US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said
yesterday. Referring to a meeting between the US and Russian delegations here, Mr Reeker said, “The talks were focussed on the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and efforts to seek the Taliban compliance with UN Security Council resolutions”. The Russian delegation to the talks is led by Deputy Foreign Minister Viacheslav Trubnikov while the US side is headed by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Asked whether the two sides would discuss the Taliban militia’s order forcing non-Muslims to wear distinctive clothes, he said “it may come up in the course of discussions”. The talks, which are to continue today would focus on security issues, including efforts to end drug trafficking and the ability of central Asian states to counter threats emanating from Afghanistan, he said.
DPA, Reuters, PTI |
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Senator changes face of US politics Washington, May 25 Although his defection will not alter the overall complexion of the Senate, where centrists will continue to hold the balance of power, the chamber’s procedural rules mean that Democrats will gain control of its legislative agenda. Political analysts predicted that the change would block President Bush’s controversial programme, from his plans to build a missile defence system to his producer-friendly energy policies. Speaking in his home state, Vermont, Mr Jeffords said George Bush’s election had made it harder for moderates like himself to feel at home in the Republican party. “Looking ahead, I can see more and more instances where I’ll disagree with the President on very fundamental issues,” he said. “I have changed my party label, but I have not changed my beliefs. Indeed, my decision is about affirming the principles that have shaped my career.” Mr Jeffords (67) said his switch would not take effect until Congress approved President Bush’s $ 1.35 trillion tax cut, which is expected in the next few days. But the Democrats were already preparing to take command of the Senate yesterday. Tom Daschle, who will assume the powerful role of majority leader, said the defection would return a spirit of open debate to the senate. “As long as we are in the majority, we intend to govern in that same spirit,” he said. As majority leader, Mr Daschle will decide who will chair the committees that decide which legislation is channelled on to the floor for debate and votes. The takeover spells the political demise of Jesse Helms, the Senator from North Carolina who imposed his isolationist views on the Foreign Relations Committee. Orrin Hatch, another conservative, will be removed from the Judiciary committee, and Ted Kennedy, leader of the traditional liberals in the Democratic ranks, will take over the Health, Education and Labour Committee. The impact will be felt almost immediately. Many of the president’s conservative nominations for federal judicial positions will be blocked. “Judges will have to be moderate,” said Charles Schumer, a Democratic Senator from New York. Although the White House and the Democratic leadership argued yesterday that the switch opened up new opportunities for bipartisanship, some pundits said that it was more likely to create a gridlock in Washington. “Not much is going to happen from now on,’’ Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution in Washington said. “It’s not going to produce much more than some nice talk about bipartisan policies.” He said the missile defence scheme, which has outraged Moscow and Beijing, would be blocked and the Bush-Cheney energy plan, with its emphasis on oil, coal and nuclear production, had much dimmer prospects. “The loss of the Senate is, in part, a direct consequence of the President’s decision to mount a major attack on environmental protections over the past four months and to promote an energy plan written by the oil, coal and utility industries,” Philip Clapp, President of the National Environmental Trust,
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Dalai Lama seeks autonomy Washington, May 25 “An autonomous Tibet within China would benefit from China’s economic successes. The Chinese people, in turn, would “draw inspiration” from the culture and spiritual traditions of Tibet,” the Dalai, who is currently is visiting the USA, said in a carefully-worded address at the John Hopkins University. “China may regard Tibet as strategically important, but our greatest contribution to China’s security would lie in securing peace and tranquility on the Himalayan border and restoring Tibet’s role as a zone of non-violence,” he said. Both Beijing and Lhasa would gain from being united within one state, he said, adding the relationship can only work if it is based on mutual respect for the values and traditions of the other. “Understanding each other’s needs also means respecting the natural desire of a people to determine their own destiny and administer their own affairs, each within the framework of the larger state,” he told the gathering. “...I appeal to China’s leaders to join me in building a close friendship once more. Together, we have the ability and the means to solve our problems and, then, to help each other.” “Despite the great suffering the Tibetan people have endured and continue to face at the hands of the Chinese authorities...we need to find a way to live together in a manner that will allow both Chinese and Tibetans to live in dignity,” he said..
PTI |
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Islamic parties hail talks offer Islamabad, May 25 “We welcome India’s talks offer but it should be meaningful, with the sole aim of implementing the United Nation resolutions on a referendum in Kashmir,” the main fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami said. “India should admit Kashmir is not its integral part and must end the ongoing atrocities on Kashmiris to prove its sincerity for peace in the region,” party spokesman Amirul Azeem told AFP. The Jamaat violently opposed the February 1999 summit between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his then Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. Its workers pelted stones at the cars of diplomats attending Sharif’s banquet for Mr Vajpayee in the historic Lahore Fort. The spokesman said: “Our apprehensions in 1999 that the talks would focus on trade and culture and the Kashmir issue would be sidelined, proved correct.” He said the Jamaat was again sceptical over the latest peace offer from India, because “on the one hand they had ended the ceasefire, arrested a senior Kashmiri leader on his return from Pakistan, and on the other they have invited (military leader Pervez) Musharraf for talks.” Another fundamentalist party the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) also expressed surprise over India’s directive to its armed forces to lift the cessation of combat operations in Kashmir. “The talks offer is a welcome sign but war and peace cannot go together,” a JUI leader Karim Abid said.
AFP |
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Ban on LTTE
to continue: Lanka Colombo, May 25 “There will be no lifting of the ban. It is not even being considered. Not even temporarily,” Justice Minister Batty Weerakoon told Reuters. Norway, which trying to negotiate an end to the 18-year ethnic war, has reported progress on two other rebel demands — a truce and the easing of an economic embargo on rebel-held areas. “The removal of the proscription on the Liberation Tigers is an essential prerequisite for talks,” rebel negotiator S.P. Thamilchelvam told Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim at a meeting last week. Weerakoon said progress in the peace process would now depend on the rebels and
Norway.
Reuters |
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Third Russian frigate for India St. Petersburg, May 25 The first-of-the-class frigate, ‘Talvar’ (sword), was launched in May last year. Its delivery to India is scheduled for May next year after running state and acceptance trials. The second ship, ‘Trishul’ (trident), was launched in November last year. Its construction is nearing completion with mooring trials expected by September this year. Talking to ‘Novosti’, Director-General of the Baltiisky Shipyard Oleg Shulyakovsky said, “There is no precedence to this ship in Russia. Never before did our country sell first-of-the-class ships, more so, to a foreign country. Earlier, we only built for our allies the copies of the ships which we built on order for our navy.”
UNI |
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Washington, May 25
KATHMANDU: A 16-year-old Nepalese schoolboy scaled the Mount Everest, a year after severe frostbite forced him to turn back from an assault on the world’s highest mountain, a trekking company said on Thursday.
Temba Tsheri Sherpa, who lost several fingers from frostbite suffered during his last attempt to conquer the
Everest, was the youngest person to have climbed mountain, an official of the Thamserku Trekking company said.
Reuters