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Saturday,
August 11, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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31 killed in Aceh shooting
Indian American is adviser to
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NRI staunch Indian even after 53 yrs Laser route to enrich uranium apt for
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Belfast, August 10 Britain today said it was suspending Northern Ireland’s devolved government to give feuding Protestant and Catholic politicians more time to try to settle their differences over guerrilla disarmament. USA to pay China $ 34,000 for spy
plane Bush to allow limited stem-cell
research Chandrika offers to quit in 30 days Koizumi remains
party chief
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31 killed in Aceh shooting Jakarta, August 10 The police and separatist rebels have blamed each another for the bloodshed early yesterday in East Aceh district. "The confirmed death toll is 31, including a five-year-old child," deputy Aceh police spokesman Sudarsono said. "It was an attack by GAM," he said referring to the armed Free Aceh Rebel group. The victims were plantation workers and were shot down when lining up for their monthly payment, he said. But senior GAM official Teungku Amri Bin Abdul Wahab denied any involvement in the killings, blaming the military, who, he said, was patrolling in the village after an attack on a security post in the area the previous day. The province on the northern tip of Sumatra island will be one of the biggest headaches for President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s new government. But GAM leaders this week warned peace talks slated for September would be in danger if Megawati did not free officials arrested last month, including its chief peace negotiator and its spokesman. The Indonesian police arrested six key Acehnese figures for inciting rebellion, including GAM spokesman Amni Marzuki and chief peace negotiator Nashiruddin Ahmad. Meanwhile, President Megawati Sukarnoputri today swore in her new Cabinet, a day after unveiling a line-up of 32 ministers that received mostly positive reactions from economists and political analysts. The President, who took more than two weeks to choose the Cabinet from a broad array of political interests, the armed forces, professionals and technocrats, administered the path during a nationally-televised morning ceremony at the state palace. “I call on all ministers to work hard because there are only three years before the next election to resolve our problems,” she said during a brief address. “We expect the Indonesian people to give full support and work hard in order for us to move out of this crisis.” Megawati yesterday announced her new Cabinet line-up, which was a combination of political appointees from parties that helped her oust Mr Wahid, as well as technocrats and professionals. The President was lauded for her new economic team, led by prominent economist Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti as Coordinating Minister for the Economy, and Boediono, a former National Bank Deputy Director, as Finance Minister. Meanwhile, the Indonesian police today said the family of former President Suharto would hand over a fugitive son in what appears to be a breakthrough in bringing the former playboy to justice. Jakarta police chief Inspector-General Sofjan Jacoeb said Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana had contacted police saying her younger brother Hutomo "Tommy" Mandalaputra would soon be surrendered to the authorities. "I received a letter yesterday afternoon from Tutut which said Tommy would be surrendered (to police) in a short period of time," Mr Jacoeb told reporters. Reuters, DPA |
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Indian American is adviser to
Blackwill Washington, August 10 Mumbai-born Ashley Tellis, who had since 1994 been a senior policy analyst at Rand Corporation — considered the Pentagon’s think tank — has already
traveled to New Delhi to serve as an aide to Ambassador Robert Blackwill. Mr Tellis thus becomes the first Indian American to hold such a high-level foreign policy-oriented position, and at 40, he is among the youngest in a job that is certain to boost his career as a nuclear expert. Mr Tellis is an alumnus of the University of Bombay from where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in political science. After coming to the USA in 1985, he did a second master’s degree in political science at the University of Chicago, from where he also received his Ph.D., and then joined Rand. Senior administration officials said Mr Blackwill had read some of Mr Tellis’ recent articles and his just published book by Rand titled, “India’s Emerging Nuclear Posture,” and been so impressed by his scholarship that he insisted on having Mr Tellis as his chief adviser. The sources said Mr Blackwill believed “whether we like it or not, the nuclear issue is going to be an issue that we are going to have to deal with, if for no other reason, but to get it off the table.”
IANS |
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NRI staunch Indian even after 53 yrs Dubai, August 10 But his love for India has not diminished in any way even after living outside the country for 53 years. Now based in Dubai, people can see Shah driving a Premier Padmini car, an old version of Fiat, in a land where Indian made vehicles are no status symbol. This he does to show where his loyalties lie. He has been travelling only by Air-India for the past 35 years to places
wherever the airline flies. After a nine-day journey from Saurashtra in the 1940’s for Aden in Yemen, Shah had to struggle a lot before he found work as a clerk in a shipping company owned by a Briton. His job involved counting bags that were loaded into ships. India’s business magnate Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the diversified Ambani group, was a co-worker of Shah. “I had a salary of Rs 225 which in 1949 was very handsome,” he said, adding that Dhirubhai used to get Rs 25 less.
IANS |
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Laser route to enrich uranium apt for
India San Francisco Until a few years ago, the major competing enrichment technologies that held sway were the gaseous diffusion process (GDP) and gas centrifuge process (GCP). Both were unattractive for India. Dr Bhabha rejected the GDP for the enormous input of electricity and other scarce resources it entailed, which would impose a harsh burden on the Indian economy. For the atomic bomb, 90 per cent enrichment of uranium (U235) was the minimum requirement, while for reactors which use enriched uranium as fuel, low enriched uranium of 3 to 6 per cent was adequate for most reactors, though some countries, such as Germany use as much as 12 per cent enriched uranium as reactor fuel. In the early 60s the centrifuge process was still being developed by the major European powers. The focus was on the Eurenco gas centrifuge plant built by a three-nation European consortium located in Holland. It is from here that Dr Qadir Khan, who was employed as a metallurgist, took off with Eurenco GCP plant design and work experience to set up the Kahuta uranium enrichment plant in Pakistan. Financially, the centrifuge plant built at Kahuta has been ruinous for Pakistan. The centrifuge process represents a significant advance over the diffusion enrichment process. And further more, for operational costs even of this magnitude to be applicable, economies of scale can be achieved only if the plant has a capacity of at least one million separative work units per year. The Eurenco GCP plant has a two million separative work unit capacity. Although Kahuta plant’s capacity has not been officially made known, it is likely to be less than half that required to attain economies of scale. Which naturally made the Kahuta operational costs even more prohibitive, imposing a very harsh burden on Pakistan’s crisis-ridden economy. India was able to side-step both the GDP and GCP enrichment process by virtue of an early break-through in the advanced technology of reprocessing nuclear spent fuel from reactors to extract the valuable fissile element, plutonium. Reactor grade plutonium obtained by reprocessing spent fuel from the chain of pressurised heavy water reactors in operation in India served to develop fuel for advanced reactors — such as fast breeders and the upcoming Advanced Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (APHWR). Weapon grade plutonium (Pu239) extracted by reprocessing spent fuel of the high flux research reactor Dhruva became the mainstay for atomic weapon stockpile, providing India the nuclear deterrent that it aimed at. Indian scientists have thus been able to bypass the enormously costly uranium enrichment processes both for India’s power programme and for the weapon option. In some respects, plutonium as fissile core in weapons and as component of fuel for advanced reactors is better than enriched uranium. However, the latest technology advances in uranium enrichment widen India’s nuclear option, primarily in applications for the power programme and other peaceful uses. Laser isotope separation technology, which has made major strides during the last few years, has made this possible. Advanced separation technology at low work cost has now been established with use of lasers, and India cannot afford to keep away from this major technological advance. Initially, many agencies involved in the development of laser isotope separation process concentrated on what is known as Molecular Laser Isotope Separation. The process employs a laser beam to excite uranium molecules containing uranium-235, and not molecules containing uranium-238, so that these molecules with U-235 could be separated. But further advances have established a laser process that is very much superior — the Atomic Vapour Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) process. The big question is whether India can develop capability to go in for the laser isotope separation process. The answer is a categorical ‘yes’. With the Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT) as well as BARC leading the way in laser technological development, the laser isotope separation for uranium can be developed by Indian scientists.
IPA |
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UK suspends home rule in N. Ireland Belfast, August 10 Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid told reporters: “I have decided to make an order...Suspending devolved government in Northern Ireland. The order comes into effect at midnight and I hope the period of suspension will be very short.’’ A crisis in the province’s peace process was triggered by the resignation of Protestant Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble as first minister of the power-sharing Assembly over the Irish Republican Army’s failure to disarm. Without suspension, Reid faced the collapse of institutions set up by the landmark 1998 Good Friday accord which underpins efforts to end 30 years of violence between pro-British Protestants and Catholics who seek closer ties with Ireland. The police in Belfast said two men had been shot — one in both legs and one in both arms and both legs — in separate paramilitary-style attacks in predominantly Catholic districts of the city overnight. Despite ceasefires being observed by the main guerrilla groups on both sides of the sectarian divide, "punishment" shootings and beatings remain relatively common. Unionist boss David Trimble said before leaving for a holiday in Austria late Thursday that, if the Assembly's powers were suspended, the Irish Republican Army, and its political wing, Sinn Fein, would have only themselves to blame. If IRA guerrillas gave up their weapons, the Ulster Unionist Party leader said, the peace process and the political institutions could be saved. "Republicans can still save the process and save the Assembly by acting," Trimble said. "But if they don't act, then it is they who have put the institutions at risk." The IRA issued a statement on Thursday confirming earlier pledges to put its arms "completely and verifiably beyond use". Ulster Unionists say they want actions not words. On the other side, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who held an hour-long crisis meeting with Reid on Thursday, said putting North Ireland's political institutions on ice would damage the credibility of the accord.
Reuters |
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USA to pay China $ 34,000 for spy plane Washington, August 10 “The Pentagon is paying China about $ 34,000 to cover some costs incurred over the navy surveillance plane incident”, the officials said. The US EP-3 spy plane and a Chinese F-8 fighter jet had collided over the South China sea on April 1, killing a Chinese pilot and crippling the US palne, forcing it to land at an air base in China’s Hainan province. China had sought $ 1 million as compensation from Washington for the incident. The crew of the damaged EP-3 plane was held at the base, and what followed was a prolonged diplomatic wrangle between Beijing and Washington with China demanding an apology and the USA rejecting it. The stand-off finally ended on April 11, when China allowed the US plane’s crew to leave the Hainan island.
PTI |
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Bush to allow limited stem-cell research Washington, August 10 Stem cell research, which scientists say holds promise of curing many diseases now regarded as incurable, is highly controversial and Mr Bush’s announcement during a televised address from Texas last night came after agonizing over it for weeks. The research will be supervised by a special council comprising both scientists and ethicists. In reaching his decision, Mr Bush took a middle course between the Pope and other ethicists and anti-abortionists who are opposed to any kind of stem cell research because it involves destruction of the embryo and scientists who want no restriction as they feel the research holds promise of medical breakthroughs. On the related issue of human cloning, Mr Bush was uncompromising. "I strongly oppose human cloning, as do most Americans," he said. Stem cells are created by removing an inner cell mass from a five to seven-day-old embryo. The procedure kills the embryo. Those in favour of the research say that the embryo is not yet at a stage when it has life.
PTI |
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Chandrika offers to quit in 30 days Colombo, August 10 "I am prepared to give up the Presidency in 30 days, if we can arrive at a workable solution to take this country forward and out of this morass of confusion and instability," Ms Kumaratunga told a large delegation of business leaders at her residence last night. She said her efforts to get the main Opposition United National Party to agree to a solution had not yielded results, but offered to convene the prorogued Parliament, if the Opposition agreed on some measures to end the political impasse.
UNI |
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Koizumi remains
party chief Tokyo, August 10 Liberal Democratic Party’s members of Parliament chose Mr Koizumi for a two-year term ending September 30, 2003, said party spokesman Kunihiko Kobayashi. Since the premier had no challengers, today’s decision was made by a clapping of hands rather than a tally of ballots. Mr Koizumi was first elected LDP President in April. The President of the LDP is virtually guaranteed Prime Minister’s job because of the party’s dominant position in Parliament.
AP |
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