The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, April 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

W O R L D

Allies hold talks with Iraqi groups
Tallil Airbase (Iraq), April 16
The USA and Britain began talks with Iraqi factions on reshaping Iraq today urging them to bury their differences and work to build a democracy. The religious and political leaders, who met at a makeshift US airbase beside the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur in southern Iraq, agreed to meet again in 10 days, according to a statement published on the website of the US Central Command.

Iraqi oil production to resume soon

Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri is seen in this April 2002 file photo. He submitted his resignation on Tuesday, a move that a senior official said was triggered partly by mounting US pressure on Lebanon's neighbour and political master Syria. — Reuters

USA nets man behind Achille Lauro hijacking
Mohammad Abbas Baghdad, April 16
The capture of the Palestinian mastermind of the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking boosted Washington’s case against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, as Iraqis began the tortuous process of replacing the regime toppled a week ago.

Holes found in war briefing
London, April 16
British war correspondents showed how easily they could be misled when a member of the Britain’s Royal Marines allowed them to believe his helmet had stopped several bullets, the Sun has reported.

EU leaders build bridges with USA
Athens, April 16
European Union leaders built bridges among themselves and with the USA today to span bitter divisions set off by the Iraq war. Meeting in Athens to sign a treaty and opening their bloc to 10 new members, the leaders of the 15 EU states worked on a surprise joint statement on how the UN and the European Union could work in Iraq in a way acceptable to Washington.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives at the Stoa of Attola ancient site in Athens to sign an accession treaty for the 10 new member states of the EU on Wednesday. On the first day of the two-day EU Summit, it was hoped differences between members over the war in Iraq would be healed over, and plans for the reconstruction of Iraq would be cemented. — Reuters photo

GLOBAL MONITOR

A mother and her baby wear protective masks as they wait for their luggage in Manila's International Airport in suburban Manila, Philippines, on Wednesday. Many arriving passengers from international flights wear face mask in the airport as a preventive measure against the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus. The Philippines continues to be SARS free.
— AP/PTI

EARLIER STORIES

	Veiled US threat to Syria continues April 16, 2003
	2 to die for US consulate bombing April 15, 2003
	First anti-US protest after Saddam’s fall April 14, 2003
	France, Russia want key role for UN in Iraq April 13, 2003
	Anti-war protests flare up April 12, 2003
	China, Russia block US move on N. Korea April 11, 2003
	Putin invites Chirac, Schroeder for talks April 10, 2003
	SARS claims 4 more lives April 9, 2003
	NBC reporter dies in Iraq April 8, 2003
	SARS claims 8th victim in Canada April 7, 2003

Talks alone can solve Kashmir issue: Powell
Washington, April 16
The USA does not think that resorting to force by India is an appropriate solution to the Kashmir problem, Secretary of State Colin Powell has said. Dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the issue had been “difficult over the years,’’ Mr Powell conceded at a news conference.

Opposition disrupts Assembly session in Pak
Islamabad, April 16
The constitutional crisis in Pakistan over President Pervez Musharraf’s presidency and his controversial constitutional amendments deepened with the Opposition disrupting the National Assembly session, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House till Friday.

Indian millionaire to divorce wife
London, April 16
Indian millionaire businessman Arun Nayar is in the process of divorcing his model wife Valentina Pedroni before wedding English actress Liz Hurley. Liz is said to have got engaged to 37-year-old Arun, according to a report in The Sun, the largely circulated British tabloid.

SARS due to coronavirus

Huang Huahua, Governor of Guangdong province, China, speaks during a news conference in the capital city of Guangzhou, on Wednesday. Huang said more than 100,000 tourists had cancelled their visit to Guangdong province, where the first Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) case appeared. SARS has already hit regional travel and could damage economic growth in the southern province. — Reuters

Allies hold talks with Iraqi groups

Tallil Airbase (Iraq), April 16
The USA and Britain began talks with Iraqi factions on reshaping Iraq today urging them to bury their differences and work to build a democracy.

The religious and political leaders, who met at a makeshift US airbase beside the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur in southern Iraq, agreed to meet again in 10 days, according to a statement published on the website of the US Central Command.

The 13-point statement, approved by consensus according to one group that attended, advocated a federal democracy and the dissolution of Saddam Hussein’s once-feared Baath party.

But the meeting, which spurred protests in the nearby town of Nassiriya by crowds denouncing any form of American rule, raised as many questions as answers in a country split along ethnic, religious and political lines.

In Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, US and British troops worked alongside local police to try to restore order on the streets after the 26-day war that ousted Saddam, but troops remained wary of possible attacks by diehard Saddam loyalists.

Mr Jay Garner, retired US General leading the effort to rebuild Iraq, opened the conference. Mr Garner will be in charge of an interim administration that Washington hopes will be set up in about two weeks and will remain in force until an Iraqi government takes over.

“We want you to establish your own democratic system based on Iraqi traditions and values,” US President George W. Bush’s special envoy on the region Zalmay Khalilzad, said. “I urge you to take this opportunity to cooperate with each other.”

“We cannot be part of a process which is under an American general,” a spokesman for the Iran-based Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said, explaining its boycott.

The start of the meeting was delayed for unexplained reasons and thousands of Iraqis protested in Nassiriya, saying that they wanted to rule themselves and making clear they opposed rule by the USA as much as by Saddam.

About 80 Iraqis, from radical and mainstream Shia and Sunni Muslim, Kurdish and monarchist groups, attended the talks near Ur, 375 km south of Baghdad.

The 13-point statement rejected political violence, meted out by Saddam to silence opponents or potential rivals. It said Iraqis must choose their own leaders and not have them imposed from outside. Reuters

USA nets man behind Achille Lauro hijacking

Baghdad, April 16
The capture of the Palestinian mastermind of the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking boosted Washington’s case against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, as Iraqis began the tortuous process of replacing the regime toppled a week ago.

Keeping up the pressure on Damascus, the USA said a suspected Iraqi terrorist was on the loose in Syria.

Associated Press added that US troops stormed buildings in Baghdad today in their hunt for illegal weapons and fugitive members of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle, raiding the home of Rahib Taha, a microbiologist nicknamed “Dr Germ” by UN weapons inspectors.

Meanwhile, US special operations forces backed by Army troops on Monday arrested Mohammad Abbas, the Palestinian radical known as Abu Abbas who masterminded the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship, Centcom said late yesterday.

He was sentenced in absentia in Italy to five life terms. AFP

Holes found in war briefing

London, April 16
British war correspondents showed how easily they could be misled when a member of the Britain’s Royal Marines allowed them to believe his helmet had stopped several bullets, the Sun has reported.

Commando Eric Walderman’s Kevlar helmet had in fact been lying on the top of his pack when it was peppered by fellow Marines trying to hit an unexploded anti-tank weapon.

Walderman, 28, put it back on after the incident in the early days of the Iraq war near the port of Umm Qasr, and willingly posed for photographs that were beamed all round the world.

Apparently, the reporters failed to inquire into the details — and Walderman did not volunteer anything. DPA

EU leaders build bridges with USA

Greek riot policemen fire teargas against anti-war protesters outside the Greek Parliament in Athens on Wednesday. The protesters threw Molotov cocktails during clashes with policemen, a few hundred metres from where an the EU Summit was in progress. — Reuters photo

Athens, April 16
European Union leaders built bridges among themselves and with the USA today to span bitter divisions set off by the Iraq war.

Meeting in Athens to sign a treaty and opening their bloc to 10 new members, the leaders of the 15 EU states worked on a surprise joint statement on how the UN and the European Union could work in Iraq in a way acceptable to Washington.

While the politicians sought harmony, the Greek police and thousands of anti-war protests traded tear gas and Molotov cocktail volleys at a central Athens square only a few 100 metres from the summit.

Britain, Washington’s ally in the Iraq campaign, and France, which had bitterly opposed military action, sought to calm their pre-war tensions at the meeting. Reuters

Indian millionaire to divorce wife

London, April 16
Indian millionaire businessman Arun Nayar is in the process of divorcing his model wife Valentina Pedroni before wedding English actress Liz Hurley.

Liz is said to have got engaged to 37-year-old Arun, according to a report in The Sun, the largely circulated British tabloid.

Arun and Liz, 37, were in New York to attend a charity ball yesterday. Gorgeous Liz flashed an enormous sparkler as she hugged her wealthy boyfriend Arun at the charity ball. PTI

SARS due to coronavirus

New York, April 16
Scientists have confirmed that the lethal new respiratory disease SARS is caused by a coronavirus, the WHO announced today. While many lines of evidence indicating strong association between the virus — a member of the coronavirus family never before seen in humans — and the disease emerged over the last few weeks, final confirmation came today, the WHO said. PTI

GLOBAL MONITOR

HINDI SECTION IN AUSTRALIAN LIBRARY
SYDNEY: In the wake of growing demand for Hindi literature among migrant Indians in Australia, the suburban Hornsby library here has opened a Hindi section. “The opening of the Hindi section in the main Hornsby library is a significant event as it recognises the importance of Hindi in multicultural Australia,” Consul-General M. Ganapathi, who donated 70 books from the Indian Consulate here, said. PTI

MONROE’S JEWELLERY STOLEN
LONDON: Jewellery that belonged to Marilyn Monroe has been stolen from an exhibition, the London police has said. A gold ring with an “M” motif, encrusted with a diamond, and a gold bangle, worth $ 65,000, were stolen from the Roald Dahl gallery in the city on Monday afternoon. DPA

LAW BANNING ADULTERY REPEALED
LOS ANGELES: A tiny US city has voted to scrap a 46-year-old law banning adultery, officials said. The city of Rolling Hills, a plush little community of 1,871 persons southwest of Los Angeles, decided late on Monday to repeal the statute that threatens to punish philanderers with a fine and up to three months in jail. AFP

JAIL INMATE CAUGHT WITH CASH IN HAIR
OSLO: A Norwegian jail inmate was caught with cash worth 2,500 euros ($ 2,688) hidden in his massive bush of dreadlocks, a prison official has said. “We’re used to finding things hidden on the body, but cash in the hair — that’s a new one,” Deputy Director Stalle Olsen of Aana prison in southwest Norway said on Tuesday. Reuters

HINDU ‘FAITH & DEVOTION’ CONFERENCE
DURBAN: More than 4,500 delegates will take part in a three-day international Hindu “faith and devotion” conference here this weekend. The meeting, “Faith and Devotion of Lord Hanuman”, jointly organised by the Ramakrishna Movement of South Africa and the Divine Life Society of South Africa, will be held at the Divine Life headquarters at La Mercy, north of Durban, from April 18 to 21. PTI