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August 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Israeli tanks destroy Palestinian building
Tamil parties reject Chandrika’s offer |
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Abu Sayyaf beheads
4 more hostages Manila, August 4 Abu Sayyaf extremists have beheaded four more captives, bringing to eight the number killed since they raided a village and abducted 36 persons two days ago, an official said today. China punishes officials $ 5,50,000 pledged for
Gujarat |
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Heart cells cloned from embryo cells Fairytale wedding for Brosnan
Biggest waterfall
being built Wahid back
home Floods render 10,000
homeless Be tolerant, Carter tells B’desh leaders Clinton announces
$ 2,50,000 aid
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Israeli tanks destroy Palestinian building Jerusalem, August 4 Palestinian security officials reported that eight Israeli tanks and four bulldozers entered Palestinian territory near the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement in central Gaza and destroyed a two-storeyed police building. The Israeli army said the pre-dawn raid was in response to mortar fire on Kfar Darom yesterday which slightly wounded a father and his young son in the settlement. A military spokeswoman said the mortar rounds had been fired from the police building destroyed in today’s incursion. “There was a direct connection between the mortar fire and the building that was destroyed,’’ the spokeswoman said. The operation was followed by a fierce gun battle between Palestinian security officials and gunmen and Israeli soldiers near the settlement, but there were no reports of casualties. In the divided West Bank town of Hebron, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen exchanged heavy fire in the early hours of this morning. The army said a five-year-old Palestinian boy, critically wounded by Israeli gunfire near the West Bank town of Tulkarm yesterday, had been transferred to Israel’s Tel Hashomer hospital for surgery. Israeli soldiers guarding a checkpoint opened fire at a vehicle in which the boy and his grandfather were travelling. The army said the car had been driving at full speed towards a group of soldiers manning the checkpoint. Tension has heightened over the past few days after Israel killed two senior Islamic militants and six other persons, including two children, in a helicopter strike in the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday. The Israeli police, which for weeks has been on alert for a fresh round of bombings by Palestinian militants, foiled a bomb attack at Tel Aviv’s main bus station today. Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the device could have caused heavy casualties.
Reuters |
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Tamil parties reject Chandrika’s offer Colombo, August 4 The three parties — the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), All-Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and Upcountry People’s Front (UPF) — were invited for talks on August 8, but they rebuffed the overture, saying that the referendum was a “futile exercise” when parliament had been prorogued and democracy stifled. An ACTC leader, Mr A Mr Vinayagamoorthy, and UPF leader P. Chandrasekaran have written to Ms Kumaratunga, declining the invitation, with the latter saying that parliament was the proper forum for any such discussion. The main moderate Tamil party, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), which also opposed the prorogation of parliament and the referendum seeking a new constitution, will decide on a response to the President’s invitation at its central committee meeting on August 6. Meanwhile, a section of the People’s Alliance regime has revived efforts to form a government of national reconciliation with the Opposition, United National Party (UNP). Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremenayake, who had called off talks with the UNP a month ago after failing to get a response from its leaders, has sought the party’s backing for a reconciliation government to overcome the present impasse.
PTI |
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Abu Sayyaf beheads 4 more hostages Manila, August 4 Four decapitated bodies were recovered this morning and last night as police, soldiers and militiamen pursued Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who raided a remote village of Lamitan town on the Basilan island, said Lamitan Mayor Inocente Ramos. Social workers said 47 families, mostly relatives of the victims, have fled their homes in fear of more attacks. Mr Ramos, interviewed by Radio Mindanao Network, said the four victims were among those abducted on Thursday from Balobo village on the outskirts of Lamitan. He said a fifth body, already decomposing, was found last night, but the victim was believed to have been seized by the Abu Sayyaf from another village earlier. Soldiers and police found four decapitated bodies yesterday as they pursued the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who were already holding about 20 hostages, including at least two Americans, in the remote jungles of Basilan. An armed forces spokesman Brig, Gen Edilberto Adan, said troops were “closing in” on the Abu Sayyaf militants holding the hostages. “It will be a matter of time,” he said. “They’re having a hard time now getting food supplies because of the intense pressure, so they have to resort to this desperate move of abducting civilians so our forces would be split.”
AP |
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China punishes officials Beijing, August 4 “The people responsible for three coal mine accidents in Henan province received severe punishment yesterday, and 12 of them will face penal charges,” an official with the provincial coal safety supervision bureau in Zhengzhou was quoted by Xinhua news agency. He said those in charge of the three coal mines ignored circulars issued by the state council and local governments on closing small coal mines, and continued production without improving safety conditions, causing severe accidents and killing 19 persons. The three coal mine accidents, which occurred on June 28, 29 and July 19 have resulted in a loss of 1.39 million yuan (about $ 167,500). Despite the Chinese Government’s repeated pledges to improve safety standards, accidents at China’s poorly regulated mines kill thousands of workers every year. The government ordered all small state-owned mines to shut down for safety checks in mid-June and ordered closure of several illegal, privately run mines so as to prevent accidents. The government’s efforts have, however, not had the desired effect as mines keep reopening in rural areas where unemployment is high and revenue is the mainstay of the local governments. Meanwhile, more than 70 miners have been confirmed dead in a south China tin mine that flooded, the Communist Party’s leading newspaper said today after days of official denials. The People’s Daily also confirmed that efforts were made to cover up the accident last month. A government minister was dispatched to the Guangxi province yesterday to investigate. The mine owner has been detained, the newspaper said.
PTI, AP |
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$ 5,50,000 pledged for Gujarat New York, August 4 A memorandum of understanding has been signed with the two organisations — Abhyan and Kala Raksha, the AIF said, adding that it planned to “significantly expand” its assistance in Gujarat in the near future. The AIF’s focus areas would include shelter reconstruction using new earthquake-resistant building techniques, livelihood regeneration, health and education. The foundation plans to spend $ 500,000 in constructing 1,000 quake-resistant shelters in the Kutch district in association with Abhyan. “Our program with the AIF focuses on the aspect of permanent shelter construction. These funds are meant for direct housing construction”, Abhiyan’s secretary Sushma Iyengar said. The AIF’s second project with Kala Raksha integrates shelter reconstruction with livelihood regeneration. The foundation is also contributing $ 50,000 to support Kala Raksha in re-building work areas-cum-residences for the families of 50 traditional artisans.
PTI |
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Heart cells cloned from embryo cells Jerusalem, August 4 Researchers at the institute in the northern city of Haifa said, “We have grown heart cell tissue which can spontaneously beat and has the electric and mechanical characteristics of young heart tissue”. Mr Lion Gepstein, one of the
scientists leading the research, said the findings could have far-reaching implications, as adult heart cells were not able to reproduce themselves, making damage to the heart muscle irreversible at present. The institute said in the future, single muscle cells could be injected into damaged heart muscles, or that tissue generated in the laboratory could be implanted.
AFP |
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Biggest
waterfall being built Beijing, August 4 Gushing water would cascade down a huge glass wall — 76 metres wide and 42 metres high — being built by Lijiang Hotel, Xinhua news agency said. The construction of the glass wall began in May and is expected to be completed in late September, General Manager of the hotel Guan Yueming said. The hotel wanted the man-made wonder, which would be open to visitors in October, to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records, he said. The city of Guilin, with a history dating to over 2,000 years, is famous for its lush green mountains, clear springs and strangely shaped stone formations.
PTI |
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Wahid back home Jakarta, August 4 Aides said Wahid was celebrating at home with family and friends over a meal of “nasi tumpeng,” a traditional saffron rice cake used for birthdays in Indonesia. It was the first day Wahid had woken up in his private residence in south Jakarta’s Ciganjur area since his ouster and replacement by Megawati Sukarnoputri on July 23. Wahid initially refused to leave the presidential palace, protesting that his dismissal by Indonesia’s Parliament was unconstitutional. He gave in three days later, citing his daughters’ and doctors’ fears that his rising blood pressure could bring on a third stroke and went to USA for medical tests. Returning home yesterday with a clean bill of health from doctors at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital, Wahid received several emotional welcomes as he vowed to keep fighting for democracy. Some 70 devotees greeted him at Jakarta’s airport with flowers and Muslim prayer songs, hundreds were waiting at his Ciganjur home and hundreds more supporters welcomed him with a rally and speeches at the city’s independence proclamation monument.
AFP |
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Floods render 10,000 homeless Seoul, August 4 Several regions on the east and west coasts of the country had been deluged by some 50-70 per cent of annual rainfall over the past three to five days after a severe drought, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. “This abnormal weather followed drought that persisted for more than 100 days, the severest in 1,000 years, going beyond the meteorologists’ prediction,” it said. Rainfall registered 661 mm in Phyonggang county in the south-eastern province of Kangwon, 622.5 mm in Paechon county and 555 metres in Yonan county, both in the western province of South Hwanghae. The southern city of Kaesong also received 495 mm of rain.
AFP |
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Be tolerant, Carter tells B’desh leaders Dhaka, August 4 He said two elections supervised by a caretaker government had been “basically honest — and free as well — as accepted by the contesting parties.” But Mr Carter said the problem facing the political system “was the animosity (between the political parties and their leaders) and the threat of violence and their inability to work together after elections are over.” But, he said, “If they complied with solemn commitments (made to him), including increased tolerance, Bangladesh was destined for a continuation and improved democratic process.”
AFP |
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Clinton announces
$ 2,50,000 aid Little Rock (Arkansas), August 4 The foundation is the philanthropic arm of the SBC Corp, parent corporation of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.
AP |
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