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Hopes for middle East JERUSALEM, Dec 18: Efforts to revive a moribund peace process shift to the United States.....more Experts fear new eruption MEXICO CITY, Dec 18: Authorities recommended that 41,000 residents around central Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano ...more Keep taking the vitamins LONDON, Dec 18: A vitamin tablet a day could help stave off heart disease away in middle age.....more
Military-civil panel ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: A military-civil group will soon be formed in Pakistan to review the military regime’s ......more |
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Hindus in
Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Dec 18:Hindus in Pakistan staged a rally at Jacobabad demanding restoration of the joint electorate system in the country. Under the present system, minorities including Hindus constitute a separate electorate in Pakistan........more Bush names Rice as national security adviser WASHINGTON, Dec 18: US President-elect George W Bush has named an African-American woman, Condoleezza Rice, as his national security adviser, the top foreign policy post directly under the President......more
Americans believe Bush WASHINGTON, Dec 18: Most Americans believe Republican George W Bush will be a legitimate President despite the fact that he was able to claim the White House thanks to a favorable US Supreme Court ruling, two opinion polls showed yesterday.....more Lankan to build new COLOMBO, Dec 18: Sri Lanka is setting up a new force to fight Tamil tiger terrorism and eradicate the separatist war with Dailin....more |
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Hopes for middle East peace back with Bill Clinton JERUSALEM, Dec 18: Efforts to revive a moribund peace process shift to the United States on Monday as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators go to Washington for separate talks with US officials against a backdrop of continued bloodshed. Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and peace negotiator Gilead Sher are to leave today night for the talks, as are Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, senior negotiator Saeb Erekat and preventive security chief Mohammed Dahlan. The diplomatic offensive may be US President Bill Clinton’s last chance to score a middle East peace accord before his successor George W Bush takes office on January 20. In Ramallah Abed Rabbo told Reuters: "we will start consultations with the americans on Tuesday in Washington and the israelis will have their own consultations with the Americans, and if there is a need, there will be trilateral meetings." Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said he was ready to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, but only after proper preparation. "If it is needed, why not? but...We have to prepare for this meeting," Arafat said. Abed Rabbo, however, played down hopes of a summit and said there had been no progress in exploratory talks with Israel. "We want to guarantee the success of such a meeting and it should be clear that a summit is not for negotiations but for signing," he said. Israeli political sources said a Barak-Arafat meeting would be possible only after the round of Washington talks. Despite the diplomatic efforts to ease the 12th week of violence raging in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the blood continued to flow. Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians have resulted in the deaths of at least 329 people, most of them Palestinians. Thirteen Arab Israelis and 38 other Israelis have also died. In two separate incidents in the West Bank yesterday, two Palestinian men accused of being collaborators with Israel were killed by Palestinian gunmen, hospital sources and Palestinian villagers said. Also in the West Bank, the body of an 18-year-old youth was found in the village of aboud, near Ramallah. He had been killed by a bullet in the head, Israeli police said. Palestinian radio reported that villagers said Jewish settlers killed him. In Qalandia refugee camp, an explosion killed an activist in Arafat’s Fatah movement, which blamed an Israeli assassination. Israeli army sources said the Fatah man had apparently blown himself up while preparing a bomb and the army was not involved. In Gaza, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians near Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Palestinian witnesses and hospital sources said. Abdallah Abu Samhadaneh, Governor of Rafah district, said the two had been unarmed. The army said its troops returned fire after Palestinians fired at a military base. Witnesses said Israeli tanks on Sunday fired heavy machine guns and at least 15 tanks shells at Yabne refugee camp on the Egyptian border with Gaza after Palestinians fired at the tanks. The witnesses said residents of five houses damaged by the shelling left their homes. The Palestinians returned fire at the tanks with automatic weapon fire and hand grenades. The army denied that there was a clash at Yabne. An Israeli official was expected to set out to brief Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the US talks, Israeli political sources said. (REUTERS) |
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Experts fear new eruption at Mexico’s "Popo" volcano MEXICO CITY, Dec 18: Authorities recommended that 41,000 residents around central Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano leave their homes, a possible eruption in coming days despite the volcano’s apparent calm. Experts determined that a dome of lava had formed in the crater of the volcano 64 kms from the capital, which could cause a build-up of pressure and lead to stronger emissions than in recent days, the Interior Ministry said in a report. "It is impossible to predict the volcano’s behavior, but it has been determined that a dome of lava has formed in the crater of Popocatepetl," the Ministry said. Officials called on residents living within a 12-km radius of the volcano to evacuate to 180 refugee centers. Some 10,000 residents had been evacuated by yesterday, but many were refusing to leave their homes, according to official and news reports. Popocatepetl, or "smoking mountain" in the indigenous Nahuatl language, picked up in activity earlier this week, sending plumes of gas, smoke and ash as far out as 50 miles (80 kms), an area that includes parts of greater Mexico city. The volcano, 17,884 feet (5,451 metres) high, showered several communities with a rain of ash for several days. The Interior Ministry increased the radius of security around the crater to 12 kms from miles 10 kms. In early November, heightened activity from Popocatepetl prompted authorities to expand the radius of security from 7 kms. "Popo" as it is known locally, was inactive from 1927 to 1994, when there was a moderate eruption. Since then it has been increasingly active, sending up smoke and ash columns. In November, 1998 the volcano spewed fragments of lava rock. (REUTERS) |
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Keep taking the vitamins and ward off heart disease LONDON, Dec 18: A vitamin tablet a day could help stave off heart disease away in middle age, say American scientists after finding that people may live longer if they took daily multivitamins containing recommended doses of folic acid and b12. Both nutrients help lower levels of homocysteine - a common substance found in the body that can harm blood vessel walls and encourage blood clotting, said the report in the journal archives of internal medicine. Up to 10 per cent of all heart deaths are thought to be associated with homocysteine. Clinical trials have not yet demonstrated precisely how much benefit can be derived from lowering levels of the substance. The new study by scientists at the University of Michigan in Ann arbor suggests that even a small amount of benefit would make it worth taking vitamins. (DPA) |
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Military-civil panel being
formed to review ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: A military-civil group will soon be formed in Pakistan to review the military regime’s performance, consider proposals for constitutional reforms and take measures to accomplish Government’s agenda within a time-frame, the news daily reported today. The group, headed by military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf, will comprise six top military aides, civilian lawyers and prominent persons to be picked up in a search already underway, an official was quoted as saying. "Musharraf has ordered that these people should form a consultative group which should start its meetings once the nominations are finalised," he said. He said the decision was taken after Musharraf held Broad discussions with some of his military and civil associates. "The final outcome of the discussions was to form a group comprising all the six members of the inner circle, one or two Cabinet and National Security Council members, a few private legal practitioners and some prominent figures with deep political knowledge," said the official. He described as "rubbish" speculations that the meetings were meant to take a decision on various issues including the future setup of the country, restoration of assemblies, holding early elections and shifting Musharraf to the presidency as figure-head. The official said it was agreed to form a consultative group for three broad-based subjects — to review the performance of the Government, to consider matters relating to constitutional reforms, and accomplishment of the Government’s agenda within the timeframe which expires in October 2002. "Once the meetings of the consultative group begin, a broad-based thinking would start taking shape," the official told the the news. "We are not in a hurry, but we are going to consider our performance first, which would be followed by discussions on constitutional reforms," he added. This exercise, he said, would be most important in the context of any future political setup, as it has already been decided that there should be no role for exiled ex-premier Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party chief Benazir Bhutto in any future arrangement. "Sharif and Bhutto will not be allowed to play any role in any future setup which would succeed the military Government," said the official. (PTI) |
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Hindus in Pakistan protest separate electorate system ISLAMABAD, Dec 18:Hindus in Pakistan staged a rally at Jacobabad demanding restoration of the joint electorate system in the country. Under the present system, minorities including Hindus constitute a separate electorate in Pakistan. Hundreds of Hindus, including women and children, attended yesterday’s rally led by Sadham Chand Chawla, president Hindu general panchayat Jacobabad and convener All Hindu General Panchayats of Larkana division. The Hindu community had earlier decided not to participate in local council elections. Leaders of different political parties attending the rally supported the boycott of polls by the Hindus, saying "the minorities’ demand was genuine." Chawla said the struggle would continue till the restoration of joint electorate system in the country. General secretary of Hindu Panchayat, ladies wing, Sunita Devi said minorities in Pakistan were being neglected for over a decade "under a conspiracy by successive Governments." Sikh and Christian leaders also expressed solidarity with the Hindu community. (PTI) |
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Bush names Rice as national security adviser WASHINGTON, Dec 18: US President-elect George W Bush has named an African-American woman, Condoleezza Rice, as his national security adviser, the top foreign policy post directly under the President. Bush also announced appointment of hispanic Texas Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales, 45, as White House counsel and his current spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, 43, as counsellor to the President to help oversee "strategic planning." Rice, who in a recent article in foreign affairs, had strongly urged closer relations with India, is a highly qualified academic who earned Kudos helping former President George Bush, engineer a soft landing to the cold war. However, it will take some time to know whether and when bush will lift all the post-nuclear sanctions against India imposed by the Clinton administration. (PTI) |
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Americans believe Bush will be legitimate President WASHINGTON, Dec 18: Most Americans believe Republican George W Bush will be a legitimate President despite the fact that he was able to claim the White House thanks to a favorable US Supreme Court ruling, two opinion polls showed yesterday. Fifty-three percent of the electorate believe Bush legitimately won the election while 40 percent disagree, according to a survey conducted for CBS news. In a CNN/USA today/gallup poll, 48 percent of respondents said the Texas Governor had won fair and square. At the same time, 32 percent said he had won on a technicality and 16 percent accused him of stealing the election. A slim majority of Americans are satisfied with the outcome of the US Presidential elections, according to the CBS news poll. Just 50 percent of the 1,046 adults surveyed for CBS television said they were satisfied with Bush’s victory after 36 days of bitter, post-election controversy that ended with the Supreme Court blocking further manual recounts in Florida. Forty-five percent said they were unhappy about the resolution of the election dispute, the survey indicated. However, the CNN poll showed that a solid majority of americans, 59 percent, had a favourable opinion of Bush while 36 percent viewed him negatively. This is about the same favourability rating President Bill Clinton enjoyed when he was about to assume office after winning the 1992 election. Both surveys had a margin of error of plus or minus three percent. (AFP) |
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Lankan to build new anti-tiger force COLOMBO, Dec 18: Sri Lanka is setting up a new force to fight Tamil tiger terrorism and eradicate the separatist war with Dailin three years, a state-run daily said today. The Dinamina Sinhalese language daily quoting Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said here that the new force will be set up with the objective of protecting the country’s territorial integrity. "Volunteers will be chosen from several areas and the force is being set up with the objective of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country and end terrorism in three years," the Prime Minister said. The Dinamina newspaper said the Prime Minister announced the plan at a school ceremony yesterday in his home constituency of Horana, outside the capital Colombo. Details of the scheme were immediately announced. However, the Prime Minister who is also the acting Defence Minister said volunteers would be given "proper training." The Prime Minister has vowed to militarily crush LTTE rebels who are fighting for an independent homeland in the island’s northeast. (PTI) |
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