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Advani: ostracise states which sponsor terrorism

Singapore, February 4 Asserting that the recent Bali blast in Indonesia had brought home the reality of international terrorism and the urgency of fighting it, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today said India expected the global community to “ostracise” those nations which flouted UN resolutions on terrorism and not render any help to them.

Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani answers questions from the audience while Singapore Trade Minister George Yeo listens during a public lecture organised by the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore on Tuesday. — AP/PTI photo In video (28k, 56k)

Bush announces ‘Bioshield’
Washington, February 4
US President George W. Bush has announced a multi-billion-dollar ‘Bioshield’ for America in order to make available safer and more effective vaccines against agents like smallpox, anthrax and plague to defend the nation from terrorists who may use bioweapons.

GLOBAL MONITOR

The police escorts Mas Selamat Kastari (C), suspected of being the head of the Singapore branch of the Muslim militant network Jemaah Islamiah, in Tanjung Pinang on the Indonesian island of Bintan on Tuesday. Authorities have been searching for Kastari, accused by Singapore of planning to crash a plane into Singapore's Changi airport, since last year.
— Reuters

President Chandrika Kumaratunga, right, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, longtime political rivals, during a ceremony to mark Sri Lanka's 55th independence celebration in Colombo on Tuesday. For the first time in 20 years, Sri Lanka marked its Independence Day on Tuesday without the spectre of civil war.  — AP/PTI

War will trigger biggest oil crisis
London, February 4
The world will suffer a bigger oil crisis than that during the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1973 if the USA declares war on Iraq, according to leading US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Japan to host Lankan peace talks
Tokyo, February 4
Japan will host the sixth round of Sri Lankan peace negotiations from March 18 to 21, the Foreign Ministry said today. The talks between the Colombo Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are to be held in Hakone, a hotspring resort town, some 70 km west of Tokyo, the ministry said.

Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim Opposition leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim speaks during an interview at his Tehran headquarters on Tuesday. Al-Hakim, who heads the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq — the largest single Iraqi dissident group — warned that the USA risked dragging a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq into chaos if it chose to go it alone without involving Iraqi Opposition groups in toppling the Iraqi leader.

Armed Iraqi men ride motorcycles during a parade in the city of Mosul, 460 km north of Baghdad, on Tuesday. Thousands of armed volunteers paraded in Mosul in defiance of US threats to invade Iraq to oust President Saddam Hussein. — Reuters photos

Advani: ostracise states which sponsor terrorism

Singapore, February 4
Asserting that the recent Bali blast in Indonesia had brought home the reality of international terrorism and the urgency of fighting it, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today said India expected the global community to “ostracise” those nations which flouted UN resolutions on terrorism and not render any help to them.

“There should be a conscious approach by the world community to see that those who violate UN resolutions on terrorism, they are not given assistance by any country. They should be ostracised. This is what India expects from the world,” he said in reply to a question after delivering a lecture on ‘New Approaches to Security and Development’ here.

Mr Advani said there was “a well-grounded apprehension” that Southeast Asia could have been chosen as the “new theatre for the spread of jehadi extremism.”

Emphasising that there was still a disconnect between the kind of instruments for dealing with terrorism, he stressed the need for formulating and implementing an integrated and cooperative approach to security.

“We have proposed a draft for a comprehensive resolution for combating terrorism in the United Nations and felt that its adoption now will be timely,” Mr Advani said.

“We need to enforce compliance by states known to be sponsoring, sheltering, funding, arming and training terrorists,” the Deputy Prime Minister said without referring to Pakistan.

About Ayodhya Mr Advani said the problem had to be resolved either through a dialogue between parties or a court order.

“The government is of the view that this is a matter which needs to be resolved, either by mutual talks or a court order,” Mr Advai, said: His remarks assume significance in the light of VHP’s demand that the government hand over land in Ayodhya to it for temple construction by this month end.

Describing communal violence in Gujarat as a “strong reaction” to the Godhra carnage, Mr Advani said BJP’s landslide victory in the state assembly elections was a result of the “campaign of calumny” unleashed against it by the opposition.

“The state government suppressed these riots using force... about 200 persons were killed in police firing. This fact was disregarded ... and a campaign of calumny was unleashed against the government of the state,” he said when asked whether Godhra and its aftermath pointed towards the emergence of Hindu extremism and whether India would become “less secular”.

“The ghastly tragedy in Godhra created a strong reaction which led to the unseemly and indefensible incidents and similar killings in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in the state ... Both (Godhra and the following riots) are indefensible,” Mr Advani said, adding that such riots have earlier taken place in other parts of the country as well. PTI

Bush announces ‘Bioshield’

Washington, February 4
US President George W. Bush has announced a multi-billion-dollar ‘Bioshield’ for America in order to make available safer and more effective vaccines against agents like smallpox, anthrax and plague to defend the nation from terrorists who may use bioweapons.

Mr Bush said he requested the Congress almost $ 6 billion for such vaccines in his budget for fiscal 2004 yesterday.

“We already have the knowledge and ability to manufacture some of the vaccines and drugs we need. Yet, we have had little reason to do so up until now, because the natural occurrence of these diseases in our country is rare. But the world changed on September 11, 2001, and we have got to respond to that change,” Mr Bush said in a speech at the National Institutes of Health.

He said: “In light of the new threats, we must now develop and stockpile these vaccines and these treatments.” PTI

Bush to attend memorial service

Washington, February 4
The US President, Mr George W. Bush, will pay tributes to the seven astronauts lost in the Columbia disaster and comfort grieving relatives during a memorial service to be held later today at the Texas nerve centre of NASA’s manned space programme. Mr Bush, breaking off from intense preparations for possible war with Iraq to serve as a healer, will travel to Johnson Space Center in Houston to attend the service.

He will also try to maintain public support for the space shuttle programme, rocked by its second catastrophe in 17 years and now grounded, while investigators seek the cause of the accident.

‘’He’s going to want to honour the lives of those who died aboard Columbia, talk about their dedication to our country, the cause of science and space exploration, and rededicate our nation to the mission of space exploration,’’ White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. ‘’The seven brave men and women from Columbia will be remembered for their achievements, their heroism and their sense of wonder,’’ Mr Bush said yesterday. Reuters

Powell to give evidence today

Washington, February 4
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell will present photographs of mobile biological weapons and transcripts of overheard Iraqi conversations to convince allies that Saddam Hussein has potent arsenals in defiance of UN disarmament demands, an administration official has said.

Mr Powell sifted through classified US intelligence to choose what he will make public tomorrow to the UN Security Council. He is expected to display the photographs and refer to transcripts, an official said yesterday.

The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Duncan Hunter, a Republican, said he expected the evidence to show details of a transfer of technology from other countries and the relocation of weapons systems within Iraq. Senator Jay Rockefeller, who like Hunter has received intelligence briefings, said he would not be surprised if Mr Powell disclosed to the Security Council information that had not been made available to Congress. AP

War will trigger biggest oil crisis
Faisal Islam

London, February 4
The world will suffer a bigger oil crisis than that during the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1973 if the USA declares war on Iraq, according to leading US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

“The combined effect of Venezuelan and Iraqi disruptions has the potential to be the biggest shock in oil market history, even allowing for offsetting supply increase by other players,” says Goldman’s respected analyst Jim O’Neill.

Crude oil prices of US dollars 31.10 per barrel — a two-year high — do not include any war premium, says the team. It argues that tight supply conditions, small inventories, and severe capacity constraints will see the price soar.

“A war could drive crude oil prices up by an additional US dollars 10-15 or 30 to 50 per cent to US dollars 461,” says Goldman’s report, “More perfect storm than Desert Storm”. Guardian

Japan to host Lankan peace talks

Tokyo, February 4
Japan will host the sixth round of Sri Lankan peace negotiations from March 18 to 21, the Foreign Ministry said today.

The talks between the Colombo Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are to be held in Hakone, a hotspring resort town, some 70 km west of Tokyo, the ministry said.

COLOMBO: In rare appreciation of her arch-rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickermesinghe, President Chandirka Kumaratunga on Tuesday hailed the United National Front (UNF) government for the on-going peace process and called for carrying forward the dialogue by addressing the ‘core issues’.

‘’We must try to reach beyond the ‘realms of nice words and colourful photographs’ to the depth of the causes of the ethnic problem,”President Kumaratunga said. AFP, UNI

GLOBAL MONITOR

MORE US FUNDS FOR PAK
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush has proposed $ 2.3 billion in assistance in 2004 for frontline states in its war against terrorism, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Jordan. In budget proposals sent to the Congress on Monday he said funding would provide economic and military support to enable these countries to strengthen their economies, internal counter-terrorism capabilities and border controls. UNI

BUSH’S CYBER-SECURITY CHIEF QUITS
WASHINGTON: Richard Clarke, official known for warning about a potential “digital Pearl Harbor” attack on computer networks, is resigning as the top White House Cybersecurity Adviser, officials said on Tuesday. Clarke, a special adviser to President George W. Bush for cyberspace security and Chairman of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, would leave his post February 18, said aide Tiffany Olson. “Mr Clarke has sent a letter of resignation to the president,” Olson said. AFP

27-YEAR TERM FOR AL-QAIDA OPERATIVE
JERUSALEM: An Al-Qaida operative, trained in the group’s camps in Kashmir and Afghanistan, was sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment by the military court at Gaza, reported local media. In a plea bargain Nabil Okal was convicted of several offences, including participation in military training overseas and conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks. Military prosecutor Capt Ronen Shor told reporters that Okal never joined Al-Qaida, but he underwent training with the intent of bombing Israeli targets. UNI

OIL SPILL KILLS OVER 1,30,000 BIRDS
SAN SEBASTIAN: The oil disaster caused by the sunken tanker Prestige has damaged between 60,000 and 1,30,000 marine birds in Spain, France and Portugal, the Spanish Ornithological Society has estimated. More than 13,000 oil-coated birds pertaining to 62 species had been retrieved in Spain, the group said on Monday. Only 10 per cent of these were expected to survive. DPA