Friday, May 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India





National Capital Region--Delhi

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
W O R L D

Nepal honours Hillary, other Everest conquerors
Kathmandu, May 29
Nepalese Crown Prince Paras today conferred the “Sagarmatha Swarnamahotsav Padak’’ (Everest Golden Jubilee Medal) on Sir Edmund Hillary, 50 years after he became the first person to set foot on the top of Mount Everest.
In video (28k, 56k)

Sir Edmund Hillary greets Nepalese Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev during ceremonies in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Thursday. Sir Edmund Hillary (left) greets Nepalese Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev during ceremonies in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Thursday.
— AP/PTI photo

Woman who dared to climb Everest
Kathmandu, May 29
Almost 30 years ago, disapproving traditionalists in Japan’s deeply conservative society tried to persuade Junko Tabei that a woman could never climb Mount Everest — and shouldn’t even try.

USA must wait for UN verdict on Iran: Russia
Moscow, May 29
The USA should wait for UN inspectors to give their verdict on Iran’s nuclear programme instead of accusing it of developing nuclear weapons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said today.

It’s for India, Pak to strengthen ties: Rice
Washington, May 29
The USA is “encouraged” by recent peace initiatives between India and Pakistan and it is now upto the two neighbours to carry forward the relationship, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said ahead of President George W. Bush’s visit to Evian in France, where Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will also be present.

Ayaan Ali Bangash addresses a gathering

Ayaan Ali Bangash addresses a gathering on the occasion of the launch of the book Abba-God's Greatest Gift to Us written by the brothers Amaan and Ayaan, in London on Tuesday. Eminent author Vikram Seth released the book in the presence of former Prime Minister V. P. Singh, Indian High Commissioner Ronen Sen and sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his wife. — PTI


Justin Brash, who suffers from AIDS, lights up his pipe containing cannabis during one of his daily intakes
Justin Brash, who suffers from AIDS, lights up his pipe containing cannabis during one of his daily intakes of the drug in Sydney on Thursday. Brash is one patient who will benefit from the changes to the state laws allowing ill people to use marijuana as a medicine, following trials of the drug as a pain reliever in several states in the USA, Canada and Europe. Under the scheme, expected to be introduced to Australia's most populous state New South Wales by year's end, those suffering from cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other serious illnesses can register to use marijuana for pain relief. — Reuters

EARLIER STORIES

 
Two-year-old boy Tent Siharutai is pictured with a two-year-old male python in Chumporn province
Two-year-old boy Tent Siharutai is pictured with a two-year-old male python in Chumporn province, Thailand, on Wednesday. Besides sharing their daily activities, Tent and the python share the same birthday and have been raised together by Tent's parents at their house since they were born, according to the Daily News newspaper.— AP/PTI 

B’desh cops given orders to shoot on sight
Dhaka, May 29
Bangladesh has deployed paramilitaries and given the police shoot on sight orders in a bid to combat a crime wave that has seen over 300 deaths since the last month.

Miss Universe faces rain, protests, catfights
Panama City, May 29
The 72 most beautiful women in the world have descended on Panama City for the June 3 Miss Universe pageant, but so far have had to brave downpours, paparazzi, protesting students, money problems and even a fist fight.

 

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Nepal honours Hillary, other Everest conquerors

Kathmandu, May 29
Nepalese Crown Prince Paras today conferred the “Sagarmatha Swarnamahotsav Padak’’ (Everest Golden Jubilee Medal) on Sir Edmund Hillary, 50 years after he became the first person to set foot on the top of Mount Everest.

Junko Tabei, the first woman to reach the top of Everest in 1975, Reinhold Messner and others, who have climbed Mount Everest in the past 50 years, were also honoured today.

Nepal is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the conquest of the Everest by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Hillary, who reached the world’s highest peak on May 29, 1953.

Sir Hillary was the focus of attraction of a function held to commemorate the 50th year of Hillary-Tenzing duo’s successful expedition to the top of Mount Everest.

Sir Hillary was today conferred the honorary citizenship of Nepal during the golden jubilee celebrations of the conquest.

On behalf of King Gyanendra, Nepalese Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand conferred on him the Nepali citizenship here, for being the first person to conquer Mount Everest and for making valuable contributions in fields of health and society of Nepal.

Expressing concern about the future of the world’s highest mountain, Sir Hillary said, “The fact that there are more than 1000 people setting up 500 tents at the base camp and knocking down beer, before making an assault on the mountain is disheartening.”

“That simply belittles the charm of mountaineering.”

The Crown Prince also opened a symposium on mountaineering and development by planting an ice-axe on a three dimensional model of Everest.

He affixed a cancellation mark of the first day cover of a Rs 25 denomination commemorative stamp depicting Everest.

Nepal hopes to attract tourists to boost the fragile economy of the country.

The tourist arrival has decreased drastically due to hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu in 1999, royal palace massacre in June 2001 and terrorist threat around the world.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand marked Thursday’s 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s conquest of Mount Everest by announcing a major annual grant for charity work in Nepal.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government would give $ 144,000 a year to Sir Hillary’s Himalayan Trust for humanitarian work in Nepal, in addition to the $ 23,000 a year already provided.

Sir Hillary is regarded as a hero in his native New Zealand.

The grant was in recognition of Sir Hillary’s work with Nepal’s climbing Sherpas and “to ensure that the work of the Himalayan Trust can continue,” she said.

For the past 40 years Sir Hillary, now 83 years old, has dedicated his life to fund-raising for development work in Nepal’s mountainous Solu Khumbu region. He has estimated that 100,000 persons have benefited from the schools, hospitals, medical clinics, water supply, roads, airfields and other amenities the trust has built.

“He has generously given vast amounts of his time helping to improve the lives of the Nepalese and is clearly a national treasure,” Mr Bill English, leader of the opposition National Party, said in a statement of the adventurer who has been the trust’s main fund-raiser for the past 40 years.

Sir Hillary said earlier this year the fund, now controlled by a Nepalese council, needs about $ 500,000 a year.

Across New Zealand, some 40 communities and sports groups staged hill climbs, mass walks, galas and exhibitions to mark the anniversary. Agencies
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Woman who dared to climb Everest

Kathmandu, May 29
Almost 30 years ago, disapproving traditionalists in Japan’s deeply conservative society tried to persuade Junko Tabei that a woman could never climb Mount Everest — and shouldn’t even try.

Today, the 63-year-old mother of two is still climbing mountains and as the first woman to reach the top of the Everest, in 1975, is one of the key guests in Nepal’s celebrations marking today’s 50th anniversary of the first ascent.

“Some people really tried to stop me,’’ she said yesterday, her voice hoarse from too many official functions and interviews. “But I knew I could do it.

“In the 1970s in Japanese culture, the status of women was much lower than it is now. Usually, people think a woman should be at home looking after the children.’’

The diminutive Tabei is still fit and trim and roams the world each year climbing, often travelling to Nepal where she is also heavily involved in environmental work for the Sherpa communities near Mount Everest.

In 1992, Tabei also became the first woman to achieve mountaineering’s other holy grail, climbing the seven highest peaks on the seven continents.

“I like meeting unknown challenges,’’ she said. “When I meet an unknown challenge, I really feel alive.

“Life in the city is very very easy. When you are in the mountains you have nothing. You can look at what life really is. I like to take time to think about my life.’’

Like Sir Edmund Hillary, who along with Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first to reach the Everest summit on the morning of May 29, 1953, Tabei is scathing about the commercial climbing that dominates the mountain today.

Every climbing season now, companies lay ladders across the deep crevasses of the Khumbu icefall and rig ropes along the heights for clients who pay up to $ 65,000 for a shot at the summit at 8,850 metres (29,035 feet).

“When we climbed, everything had to be done by our own team,’’ she said. “Nowadays, they just follow other people’s trails — it’s like a toll way. I don’t call that real climbing.’’

Tabei and Hillary, now stooped and 83, are among about 450 Everest summiteers in Nepal for elaborate festivities that the country hopes will help revive a vital tourism industry. Reuters
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USA must wait for UN verdict on Iran: Russia

Moscow, May 29
The USA should wait for UN inspectors to give their verdict on Iran’s nuclear programme instead of accusing it of developing nuclear weapons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said today.

The IAEA Board of Governors would hold a meeting at its headquarters in Vienna on June 16-17 at which its chief Mohamed El Baradei would report on Iran’s nuclear activities.

The IAEA inspectors had been visiting nuclear sites that Washington had said might be hiding a nuclear weapons programme.

“We note that there has been unofficial information about a military aspect to the Iranian nuclear programme,” said a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Alexander Yakovenko.

“Russia’s position is that only the IAEA, as a specially mandated international body, can judge Teheran’s observation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he added in a statement.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, yesterday brushed off objections by the United States of America over its nuclear cooperation with Iran. Russia was building Iran’s first nuclear power station at Bushehr. AFP
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It’s for India, Pak to strengthen ties: Rice

Washington, May 29
The USA is “encouraged” by recent peace initiatives between India and Pakistan and it is now upto the two neighbours to carry forward the relationship, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said ahead of President George W. Bush’s visit to Evian in France, where Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will also be present.

Asked by reporters yesterday about Mr Bush’s recent meetings with officials from the two countries, Ms Rice said: “We are, in fact, encouraged by recent trends in the relationship between India and Pakistan. I think that everybody in the G-8 is encouraged by those recent trends. I do believe that the core here, the key here, is that India and Pakistan themselves move the relationship forward.”

“It is not something that can be moved forth by the will of the G-8. But, but I know that members of the G-8 are welcoming what is happening with the Indians and the Pakistanis,” she said.

Mr Vajpayee will also have meetings with various Heads of State and the government present there but Ms Rice made it clear that there would be no “bilaterals” between Mr Bush and Mr Vajpayee.

She said Mr Bush was “very involved” with Indo-Pak ties and repeatedly talked to Mr Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf over telephone. PTI 
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B’desh cops given orders to shoot on sight

Dhaka, May 29
Bangladesh has deployed paramilitaries and given the police shoot on sight orders in a bid to combat a crime wave that has seen over 300 deaths since the last month.

An earlier crackdown launched in October with Army troops significantly lowered the crime rates, but the troops were pulled out after nearly 40 persons died in Army custody and following protests by civil and human rights groups.

“The shoot on sight in self defence has been part of Bangladesh criminal law but it is hardly used,” one senior police officer told Reuters. Legal experts said use of the provision could lead to excesses and abuses by the police. “Crime on the streets all over the country has increased... since the Army was withdrawn,” a Dhaka police officer said. Reuters
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Miss Universe faces rain, protests, catfights

Panama City, May 29
The 72 most beautiful women in the world have descended on Panama City for the June 3 Miss Universe pageant, but so far have had to brave downpours, paparazzi, protesting students, money problems and even a fist fight.

The contestants have been preparing here for a week to replace reigning Miss Panama — who was crowned in September after Miss Russia relinquished the title amid a swirl of reports about a secret marriage and pregnancy.

The contestants’ every move has been shadowed by the tabloids, one of which reported that Miss Spain (Eva Maria Gonzalez) and her roommate Miss Colombia (Diana Lucia Mantilla) got into a fistfight over Gonzalez’s smoking habit.

The two girls were all smiles later when they publicly denied the report. Mantilla also drew some attention when she gave fellow contestants copies of her rendition of the song, “I am Colombian...”

Despite the almost constant downpours since they arrived, the contestants’ grueling daily schedule remains on track: banquets, fashion shows by local designers, charity auctions and a candlelight vigil for AIDS victims.

And all of the “misses” are trailed by the paparazzi’s erupting flashes wherever they go.

However, the beauty queens had to cancel some public event yesterday, when hundreds of angry students took to the streets to protest tax reforms and the Miss Universe pageant itself.

The Miss Universe pageant got an unexpected shock early on when it was announced that money problems could force Miss Venezuela out of the competition. AFP
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GLOBAL MONITOR


Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair talks with Brigadier Adrian Bradshaw CBE
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) talks with Brigadier Adrian Bradshaw CBE, the Commander of 7th Armoured Brigade (The Desert Rats), at his headquarters in Basra, southern Iraq, on Thursday. Blair on Thursday became the first Western leader to visit Iraq since the war that toppled Saddam Hussein, but flew straight into controversy over Iran and weapons of mass destruction. — Reuters

SCHWARZENEGGER’S POLITICAL AMBITIONS
LOS ANGELES:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to let his wife decide whether he should make a run for the Governor of California. His wife, Maria Shriver, is a member of the famous Kennedy clan — a niece of President John F. Kennedy — and a correspondent for the NBC Schwarzenegger says he will make his final decision on whether to contest after the release in July of “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’’. DPA

PULITZER WINNER QUITS NY TIMES
NEW YORK:
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Rick Bragg has resigned from The New York Times after the newspaper suspended him over a story it said failed to acknowledge the contribution of a freelancer. The resignation of Bragg, a Times reporter since 1994, followed the departure on May 1 of Jayson Blair over fabrications. Reuters

OSCAR STATUETTE ON AUCTION
NEW YORK:
The Oscar statuette won by Orson Welles in 1941 for the film ‘Citizen Kane’ will be auctioned on July 25, and could bring up to $400,000, Christie’s in New York has announced. A 25-year-old Welles, won the Oscar for best script after nominations in four categories for the now legendary film, including the best actor, best film, and the best director. AFP
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