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China
sentences 10 to BEIJING, June 17: A Chinese court has sentenced 10 people to death for ......more
Albright to visit WASHINGTON, June 17: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ......more 1999 another grim year WASHINGTON, June 17: Last year saw little improvement in global ....more Chief Army Medical Officer SINGAPORE, June 17: The city-state’s Chief Army Medical .......more |
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Businessman
to be NEW YORK, June 17: A real estate American moghul, who shot into fame when he offered Paula Jones one million dollars to drop her sexual charges against President Bill Clinton, has been found guilty of trying to hire a hit man to kill his long time business partner.......more Albright to visit China, WASHINGTON, June 17: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will embark next week on a round-the-world diplomatic mission, with talks on Asian security in China ......more Need for intensive CAIRO, June 17: India today underlined the need for a frank and intensive dialogue between the....more 3-day agony of stranded MADURAI, June 17: Three-day agony of the 51 Sri Lankan refugees who got stranded in the........more |
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China sentences 10 to death for murder-fraud scam BEIJING, June 17: A Chinese court has sentenced 10 people to death for murdering 28 migrant workers and then collecting dlrs 62,000 in insurance benefits, the state-run China Youth daily reported. The intermediate people’s court in the central city of Jinzhong gave four other ring members suspended death sentences, effectively life imprisonment, and sentence to death in prison, the newspaper said. It gave the following account of the crime. For nearly two years ending in October 1998, the 16 gang members lured the migrants with promises of work in coal mines in Central Shanxi province. They killed the migrants and staged mine cave-ins and explosions to cover up the murders. Ring members posed as relatives of the migrants to claim death benefits. The China youth daily provided few other details of the case and did not say when the court had ruled. Death sentences are supposed to be reviewed by a higher court before being carried out, usually by gunshot. The rulings are seldom overturned and executions are usually carried out swiftly. (AP) |
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Albright to visit S Korea, China WASHINGTON, June 17: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will travel to China next week, her spokesman said yesterday, in what will be the highest-level US delegation to Beijing since NATO aircraft bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999. Ms Albright is also scheduled to visit South Korea — as close as she can get to stalinist North Korea whose missile programme has prompted President Bill Clinton to consider building a new defence system costing tens of billions of dollars. The June 22-23 meetings in Beijing will be seen as one of the last steps in a process of getting relations back on track after US aircraft hit the embassy during a 78-day campaign directed at forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. NATO has insisted the attack was an accident. On the June 23-24 visit to Seoul, Ms Albright will seek to capitalise on signs of an opening in North Korea, whose leader this week hosted a historic North-South summit and last month made his first foreign trip in 17 years when he travelled to Beijing. US officials have made it clear there will be no quick changes, saying they will maintain the 37,000 US troops in South Korea still in place after a 1950-53 war that followed the Communist-backed North’s invasion of the South. US relations with China have improved recently after hitting their lowest point in decades because of the bombing that killed three Chinese journalists and sparked violent anti-NATO protests across China. NATO and the United States say the bombing was a mistake caused by shoddy targeting, and Washington has apologised to China and agreed to pay 28 million dollars in compensation. Last week China said it was resuming talks on arms control and nuclear non-proliferation — a move sought by Clinton’s national security adviser Samuel Berger on a visit in March. Defence Secretary William Cohen is due to visit China in July to set the seal on restored military-to-military ties. One issue Ms Albright is expected to discuss is Clinton’s plan for a national missile defence, which has upset Beijing as well as Russia and Washington’s NATO allies. All are concerned it could undermine existing arms control arrangements. One area both sides agree on is China’s entry to the world Trade Organisation (WTO), expected to take place this year, which will open its markets to the world. Another subject bound to come up during her visit is Beijing’s human rights record, which the Clinton administration argues will be helped by the influx of Western business. Critics say it will hurt, not help, human rights. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told his regular news briefing that Albright’s trip would also include stops in Poland and other European destinations. He had already announced on Thursday that she would visit the Middle East either before or after a two-day meeting of Foreign Ministers called "towards a community of democracies" in Warsaw, which she will attend and which starts on June 26. Her trip to Seoul will follow the official easing of some non-strategic US economic sanctions against North Korea on Monday, officials said. The easing of sanctions, imposed 50 years ago, was first signalled last September and was part of a strategy begun after the United States determined Pyongyang had produced enough plutonium for one or two nuclear bombs. Mr Boucher declined to specify which measures would be scrapped, but the State Department previously has said the softening of sanctions would allow for trade in a wide range of goods, direct personal and commercial financial transactions and lighter restrictions on investments. North Korea gave US policy planners even greater cause for concern when it test-fired a long-range missile over Japan in 1998, proving it had ended big powers’ monopoly on the weapon. Though North Korea has since called a moratorium on testing, Mr Clinton is still considering the defence system, which he says is only aimed at protecting US territory from hostile states like North Korea, Iran or Iraq. Ms Albright’s visit will also give her a chance to discuss with Chinese leaders their intentions towards Taiwan following the March 18 election of President Chen Shui-Bian, a member of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. Washington was quick to try to defuse tensions between Beijing and Taipei after the elections and has been promoting talks across the Taiwan strait. Former US Defence Secretary William Perry, who has acted as a mediator for Clinton on North Korea, is now on a private visit to Taiwan and China as part of so-called "track 2" informal efforts to encourage cross-strait relations. Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province and vows to retake the island by force if it declares independence. (REUTERS) |
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1999 another grim year of abuses, says amnesty WASHINGTON, June 17: Last year saw little improvement in global human-rights conditions, as imprisonment, torture, and political killings continued to be used by many Governments to silence opposition and maintain their hold on power, according to the annual report by Amnesty International released here this week. "For the majority of the world’s population 1999 brought repression, poverty or war," according to the report, which catalogues human-rights developments in 147 countries around the world. While the international community responded with determination to serious human-rights crises in Kosovo and East Timor, ‘massive suffering in other countries went virtually unnoticed,’ the report found. Little attention was paid, for example, to ‘the most serious and wide-ranging crackdown on peaceful dissent for a decade in China,’ according to the report, which cited the repression of religious groups and ‘intense repression’ in the autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. And while the Western press focused on the intensive Russian bombing campaign of Chechnya, it ignored the ‘systematic harassment and intimidation of Chechens in Moscow and elsewhere. Yet the news for the year was not all bad. The decision by the British courts that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet could face prosecution for crimes against humanity committed during his rule created a ‘very important precedent for the future of human rights.’ And other steps by many Governments to end impunity and torture offered glimmers of hope. Still, many parts of the world continued to suffer grave abuses, with torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees reported in 132 of the 147 countries covered by the report. In Africa, ravaged by civil and interstate conflicts from Sierra Leone in the West to Angola in the South and the Horn in the East, the situation was particularly grim, according to the 294-page report. Summary killings were carried out in 17 countries of the region - almost half of the 38 countries where extra-judicial killings were confirmed during 1999. Rebel groups in 18 African countries were found responsible for serious abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians, torture, and hostage-taking. ‘Armed conflict, mass displacement of people, torture, ill-treatment and endemic impunity continued to be rife in the African region,’ according to the report, which said abuses against civilians by rebel forces in Sierra Leone ‘have been among the worst known.’ They included killings, cutting off of limbs, most frequently hands and arms, rape and other forms of sexual abuse and abductions. Thousands of unarmed civilians, including women and children, were killed in Burundi, Congo, Angola, Sudan, and the democratic republic of Congo by both Government forces and rebel groups, the report noted. Armed and inter-ethnic conflict also claimed the lives of thousands of civilians in the Asia-pacific region and facilitated other human rights abuses, including torture, disappearances and arbitrary detentions. After the inhabitants of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence, hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands more forced to flee violent attacks orchestrated by the Indonesian Army. Hundreds more have since been killed in Indonesia in the context of counter-insurgency operations, communal violence, and political protest. Elsewhere in the region, violent ethnic conflict in the solomon islands left hundreds dead or injured and thousands displaced. Armed conflict in India also resulted in hundreds killed in the North-Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir. Taliban forces in Afghanistan burned homes, destroyed orchards, wheat fields and irrigation systems in their drive to defeat Tajik opponents in the northern part of the country, while in Burma, the military pressed counter-insurgency campaigns against ethnic minorities that included the practices of forced labour and relocation, the report said. In the Americas, violent armed conflict continued in Colombia, where human rights abuses by the armed forces, army-backed paramilitaries, and guerrilla groups actually escalated in 1999. Despite the ongoing efforts to bring Pinochet to justice, according to the report, impunity remained ‘rampant’ in most of the region, including Colombia. Police harassment and brutality - especially against members of the most vulnerable sectors of society such as indigenous people, street children, and migrant workers, also remained a major problem throughout the Americas, including the United States, where many unarmed suspects shot by police were members of ethnic minority groups.’ Torture of prisoners was also widespread with reports registered in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru. Several Governments, notably Peru, also took steps to reduce the jurisdiction of regional human-rights mechanisms. In the Middle East and North Africa, widespread and serious abuses continued to be reported throughout 1999. Torture and cruel treatment continued in Saudi Arabia where amnesty recorded 103 executions for the year. In Israel, most members of the security forces continued to enjoy impunity for abuses. In Iraq, hundreds of people, including possible prisoners of conscience were executed during the year. While the number of killings fell sharply from previous years in Algeria, the authorities failed to take concrete measures to clear up past cases of disappearances. While NATO’s campaign in Kosovo and the Russian bombing of Chechnya dominated the human-rights news from Europe, less reported were the rise in the number of reports of torture in Turkey, the persecution of the Roma throughout much of Eastern Europe, and a worsening of repression in former Soviet states in the Caucasus and Central Asia. On the more positive side, the situation in Nigeria continued to improve in 1999 as political prisoners were released, and a commission of inquiry was established to investigate past abuses. In Guatemala, the UN-sponsored commission for historical clarification released its report, blaming the armed forces for the vast majority of atrocities committed during the civil war, and the Governments of Sri Lanka and Morocco took some steps to address past abuses. Amnesty also reported progress in its campaign against the death penalty. Bermuda, East Timor, Turkmenistan and Ukraine abolished the death penalty for all crimes and Latvia abolished it for all but exceptional crimes. Turkmenistan and Lithuania also commuted all their death sentences to life imprisonment, while former Russian President Boris Yeltsin commuted more than 700 death sentences. On the other hand, Trinidad and Tobago resumed a five-year de facto moratorium on executions during 1999. Almost 2,000 people were executed in 31 countries during the year, the vast majority of them carried out in a tiny handful of nations: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Congo-Kinshasa, and the United States. (IPS) |
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Chief Army Medical Officer demoted in sex case SINGAPORE, June 17: The city-state’s Chief Army Medical Officer has been demoted from Colonel to Major for making sexual advances toward a married woman subordinate, it was reported today. Low Wye Mun pleaded guilty in a subordinate military court to two charges of disgraceful conduct and admitted having "inappropriate intimate contact" with the 34-year-old woman, The Straits Times said. Suspended from duty since May 19, low stands to lose more than 324,000 Singapore dollars (188,000 US) in retirement benefits. The hearing was held yesterday at the court martial centre. The woman had accused Low, 43, of sexual harassment between April and July 1998 and on January 4, 1999. Married with three children Low has served in the Singapore armed forces for more than 17 years and received the public service medal bronze award in 1992. Military prosecutor Luke Tan said the investigation started in April after the woman, a non-uniformed service officer, said Low came to her office, hugged and kissed her, unbuttoned her blouse and touched her breasts in 1998. She claimed he tried to have sex with her last year. Three other similar charges were considered in his sentencing. As a senior officer with the headquarters army medical services, Tan said Low had acted disgracefully and compounded his offences by making the sexual advances on armed forces premises. Defense counsel Eugene Lee said in mitigation low’s conduct had been exemplary until he committed the acts "in a moment of indiscretion." Low suffered two career setbacks in 1998 when he failed to make chief of the medical corps and a posting to New York in the United States fell through. The woman was a "bright spark in his life" and had sent him flattering e-mail messages, The Straits Times quoted Lee as saying. Low had brought "untold shame and dishonour" upon himself and the probe has taken a heavy toll on his family, Lee said. (DPA) |
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Businessman to be sentenced for trying to murder partner NEW YORK, June 17: A real estate American moghul, who shot into fame when he offered Paula Jones one million dollars to drop her sexual charges against President Bill Clinton, has been found guilty of trying to hire a hit man to kill his long time business partner. His partner died last year of a stroke. Abe Hirschfeld, who now faces up to seven years in jail, was accused of trying to hire a man to kill business partner Stanley Stahl. Investigators said they had discovcered a tape in which Hirschfeld, who made a fortune by building parking garages here, "makes his intentions clear". The jury in state Supreme Court in Manhattan gave the verdict after deliberating for less than two days. Hirschfeld made headlines when he offered Jones one million dollars in 1998 to drop her case against Clinton, whom she accused of making an unwanted sexual advance when he was Governor of Arkansas. In February, Jones sued Hirschfeld for backing out of a signed contract to pay her the one million dollars. (PTI) |
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Albright to visit China, South Korea, Middle East WASHINGTON, June 17: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will embark next week on a round-the-world diplomatic mission, with talks on Asian security in China and South Korea at the top of a crowded agenda. In Beijing and Seoul, the Secretary is to hear official assessments of this week’s historic North Korea-South Korea summit and the recent trip to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, officials here said. Albright’s stop in China, scheduled for June 22 and 23, will include discussions with Chinese officials on a wide array of other topics, including non-proliferation issues, China-Taiwan tensions, the recent approval of permanent normal trading relations for Beijing and human rights, they said. Reportedly among the most important issues for the US is North Korea’s long-range ballistic missile programme, against which Washington has has proposed a 60-billion dollar missile defense system. In warsaw, she will attend a two-day conference on democracy in poland before continuing on to the Middle East to push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, officials said. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters that the South Korea portion of the trip, on June 23 and 24, would be devoted almost entirely to issues regarding the divided peninsula. Albright then travels to the middle east for meetings with Israeli Premier Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to assess the chances for a three-way summit that would include President Bill Clinton. (AFP) |
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Need for
intensive discussion between CAIRO, June 17: India today underlined the need for a frank and intensive dialogue between the G-15 and the G-8 countries to wipe out disequilibrium in the world economy. "A dialogue is advisable before we, as individual countries, step into the negotiating confines of international bodies," Union Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran told the 20th meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of G-15 here. The meeting will be followed by the G-15 summit to be held on june 19 and 20 in the Egyptian capital. Vice President Krishan Kant will represent India in the summit. In today’s meeting, the minister suggested that the G-15 should take action to upgrade the level and content of its dialogue with the G-8, adding one of the missions of the G-15 should be to address the disequilibrium between the North and the South. "Technology is critical for environmental protection, population management and in promoting equity within and across countries," he said adding the G-15 has to ensure that arrangements reflected in international protocols, such as the WTO, promote the ability of developing countries to access technologies that are critical for increased economic prosperity". "It would be a good idea to initiate meetings between the trade as well as the foreign ministers of the G-15 and the G-8," the minister said. Observing that security issues arising out of or worsened by globalisation including terrorism, drugs, illicit arms, and its impact on people of G-15 states had never been systematically explored and discussed in multilateral fora, Maran said the group should consider how these issues could be highlighted in world agenda. He appealed to G-15 members to recognise terrorism for the evil that it is and called for needs to combat it at global levels by organised, determined and collective global action. The need, he said, was to maintain open, democratic, transparent and pluralistic societies and safeguard the rights of individuals and combat the scourge of terrorism. Emphasising the need for people-centric development, maran said it presupposes an active role for Governments. It is the essential complement of globalisation. Without enlightened Government involvement, there can be no real investment in human and physical infrastructure. Referring to the financial crisis that hit East Asia two years ago, Maran said that financial liberalisation without adequate institutional arrangements to manage the process, combined with speculative inflows and outflows of capital, resulted in a major instability in the international economy. "A more democratic ordering of mechanisms is necessary to increase the effective participation of developing countries in the management of the international economy," he said adding the reform of the financial architecture should squarely address the issue of financing for development instead of concerning itself narrowly to issues of financial stability. (PTI) |
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3-day agony of stranded refugees comes to end MADURAI, June 17: Three-day agony of the 51 Sri Lankan refugees who got stranded in the sixth sand dune off the Indian coast after being dropped by the country’s boat operators came to an end today with the island nation’s navy ferrying them back to Jaffna. The refugees could not be rescued by Indian officials from the sand dune, situated about eight kms from the Indian coastal village of Dhanushkodi, as it fell on the Sri Lankan border. Officials said though 56 refugees arrived at the sand dune, five of them managed to swim to the Indian Coast and were subsequently referred to the Mandapam Camp after initial investigation. The officials later refused permission to the five refugees when they wanted to go back to the sixth sand dune and join their relatives. They told the refugees that it was not possible to intrude into the Sri Lankan territory and rescue their stranded relatives. Meanwhile, the refugees kept starving and shivering in the open sand dune. However, they were rescued when the Sri Lankan navy men saw them and ferried them back to Jaffna today, officials said quoting naval sources. District Collector Mani Bharathi told PTI that the district administration informed about the stranded refugees on Thursday to the State Government, who in turn took up the matter with the Central Government. He said the Central Government had in turn informed the Sri Lankan Government and had requested them to ferry them back to their country. He said a ship and a small shipping boat arrived at the sand dune at about 15:30 hrs today and ferried them back. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi told reporters hre on Thursday that he had brought to the notice of the Prime Minister the ordeals faced by the stranded refugees dropped on sand dunes across the adams bridge with no food and shelter. (PTI) |
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