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JAKARTA, May 7: At least 20 people were killed today when an overloaded ferry carrying more than 100 passengers sank in the waters off Ambon.......more
Russia hopes to stage MOSCOW, May 7: Groping in the darkness of economic decrepitude for sound reforms ever since....more UN retracts report FREETOWN, May 7: The United Nations spokesman in Sierra Leone, Philip Winslow, today....more
Definition of national WASHINGTON, May 7: The US needs to expand its definition of national security in the wake .......more |
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Development loan
sanctions to go when India signs CTBT: US WASHINGTON, May 7: Sanctions under which development loans amounting to 1.5 billion....more
William ‘besotted’ with Aussie pop singer Natalie LONDON, May 7: Prince William, Prince Charles’ son, is "besotted" with Natalie Imbruglia, bombarding the ......more
Arafat seeks India’s economic assistance Ramallah, May 7 : Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has lauded India’s political support to the Palestinian.......more ZEGREB, May 7: Twenty years after his death, Yugoslavia’s Communist ruler Marshal Josip Broz .....more |
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JAKARTA, May 7: At least 20 people were killed today when an overloaded ferry carrying more than 100 passengers sank in the waters off Ambon Island, the official Antara news agency reported. Rescuers found 20 bodies in the sea at the spot where the ferry went down and have so far rescued 27 survivors, the agency said. The fate of the other passengers and crew members was unknown. Navy vessels have been dispatched to aid in search efforts, the report said. The ferry KM Masnait was en route from Ambon to the Port of Waipirit on Seram Island, about 2,300 km east of Jakarta. It sank about five hours after leaving port. Antara reported that the ferry, which was overloaded with four vehicles and 60 tons of cement and fertilizer in addition to more than 100 passengers, was swamped by two large waves and then capsized. The issue of overloading is a chronic problem in Indonesian shipping, and maritime disasters are frequent. Insurers say weight regulations are routinely ignored and enforcement is sporadic at best. In one of the worst recorded disasters, an overcrowded passenger ship sank in February 1999 with 332 people aboard. There were only 20 survivors. (AP) |
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Russia hopes to
stage a major comeback MOSCOW, May 7: Groping in the darkness of economic decrepitude for sound reforms ever since the break-up of USSR, Russia now hopes to stage a major comeback into world affairs with its second elected President, the ‘enigmatic’ Vladimir Putin, assuming office today. Mr Putin succeeds Mr Boris Yeltsin, who abdicated office on December 31, 1999. He won the March 26 Presidential election with 52 per cent of votes against communist rival Gennady Zyuganov. Often referred to as an ‘enigma’, Mr Putin steered his way to winning the average Russian’s heart through the Chechnya offensive. However, some unknown parts of Putin’s past life came to the fore recently when a news report said that he was a Tass News Agency correspondent in the 1970s in Bonn and was asked to leave by the West German authorities because of spying activities. Then, again in recent times, when a Canadian listener of the ‘Voice of Russia’ asked its radio commentator Joe Adamov whether Putin had a rasputin lineage, Mr Adamov quoted some excerpts of a book named ‘First person conversations’, which read: "Putin was the grandson of a chef who worked for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Josef Stalin." ‘First person conversations’, authored by N Gevorkhin, a Kolesnikov and N Timakova, is a compilation of interviews, yet to be released, given by the new Russian leader and his closest family members and friends. Born on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad (now known as St Petersburg), Mr Putin, who was the head of Federal Security Service (formerly KGB) and Vice-Mayor of St Petersburg, was a lawyer too. The book, which gives some insight into Putin’s charisma and unpredictability, quotes Putin’s wife - Lyudmila Putin - as saying that "me and my husband had flown in to battle zones in Chechnya on the new year eve to celebrate new year with the soldiers and the soldiers could not believe their eyes when they saw us both." "The roads in caucasus through which we travelled, were blown up a few minutes after our cavalcade had just passed the area," she was quoted as saying in the book. The book mentions Putin’s meeting with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger while he escorted Kissinger in his native city as a vice mayor. During their meeting, Kissinger asked Putin (as said in the book), "where had he been working earlier?" to this putin replied, "I worked overseas, in East Germany, and was associated with the intelligence." Then, Kissinger too disclosed to Putin that "he himself had once worked in the intelligence." As per the book, Kissinger told Putin that "he was always opposed to the dissolution of USSR" Kissinger had also questioned the then Vice-Mayor that "why did Mikhail Gorbachev do it ? (dismantling the Soviet Union at the end of 1991). Putin says, "he was then surprised to hear such a question from the US statesman... But today I think he was correct. We could have avoided many problems if there had been no such hasty race (to wind up the USSR)." "These views of Putin could have been dubbed as blasphemy had he said these earlier. But, at present, riding high on popularity, his adversaries may not dare criticise him for it," leading political analysts feel. One of Putin’s dare-devil stunts in recent times that made him famous was his single-handed piloting of a SU-30 fighter plane to war-ravaged Chechnya, besides spending a night in a submarine while cruising deep under the Northern seas. On the personal life of the newly-elected President, Ms Lyudmila Putina says in the book, "my husband swims daily, does some physical exercises daily...Earlier, he had tried his hand at wrestling, judo and karate." Speculations are rife about Putin’s character. Some political observers point out that "he is everything to everybody. But one thing is for sure, he is in for a strong state, powerful economy and formidable armed forces." In the book, Putin says, "the state must fulfil its obligations towards the society, which in the past few years it has failed to do ... This failure is the source of immense deficit of trust in the power today. A power which does not carry out its obligations is in general no power at all." After the resignation of Mr Yelstin, when the change of guard was taking place, only two persons were wary of the prospects of donning the mantle of presidency: Vladimir Putin himself and his wife. Putin told the authors of the book that "when Boris Yeltsin broached the subject of my being successor, I was not ready. I tried to divert his attention from the topic. But he looked into my eyes and said - you have not replied to my proposal." ‘First person conversations’ also reveals that when Ms Putin heard about Yeltsin’s decision to quit presidency and hand it over to her husband, "she wept for a whole day, lamenting that politics is boring." The Putins have two daughters. When the first lady was asked by the authors of the book whether her husband is fond of women, her reply was spontaneous: "If a male does not appreciate the beauty of the opposite sex, he is bereft of aesthetic sense." The newly-elected President of the state would also be visiting India in the first week of October this year and enter into a strategic partnership with New Delhi. "United by many bonds of friendship existing for the past five decades, Russia and India today find themselves facing common dangers of separatism and unipolarism in world politics... Putin’s visit may prove to be a milestone in resolving such issues," political analysts say. Former President Boris Yeltsin witnessed the new head of the state taking the oath this afternoon. Today’s ceremony was attended by more than 1,500 VIPs coming from various walks of life. (UNI) |
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UN retracts report of rebel offensive on Freetown FREETOWN, May 7: The United Nations spokesman in Sierra Leone, Philip Winslow, today retracted his earlier claim that rebels were advancing on the capital Freetown. He said the report of up to 1,000 fighters using human shields in an advance on the city was "not right" and blamed the generally chaotic situation in the West African country for the error. Residents of the capital, who have anticipated an offensive for days, were terrified by the report, which revived memories of battles there last year that claimed some 5,000 lives. "We, the peacekeeping mission here, made a rather serious error in our earlier statement to you when we stated that the RUF rebels were on the outskirts of a part of freetown," he told CNN. Later today, the United Nations was scheduled to join rebels on a one-day trip to the jungle in an effort to negotiate the release of some 500 UN troops and staff believed to be held hostage there. The fighters - loyal to veteran rebel leader Foday Sankoh and officially part of a power-sharing Government - deny having have taken prisoner some 300 UN peacekeepers from Zambia, Kenya, India and Nigeria. The United Nations has also lost contact with a second Zambian contingent of some 200 troops, who are also believed to be held by the RUF. The prisoners were being held near the towns of Makeni and Kailahun, close to the country’s rich diamond fields, which are the source of the rebels’ wealth. Sankoh, the former RUF leader who has been made Sierra Leone Vice President under a peace agreement meant to be supervised by the UN, has denied responsibility for taking the troops hostage. It remains unclear if he is in charge of the RUF or if local warlords have assumed control. More than 8,000 blue berets, the largest UN peacekeeping force, are meant to be disarming the rebels, but 25,000 still carry weapons. (DPA) |
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Definition of national security should be widened: CIA WASHINGTON, May 7: The US needs to expand its definition of national security in the wake of disparate challenges from lesser developed and less disciplined states, well-financed international terrorist and criminal groups with easy access to conventional and biological weapons and to lesser extent nuclear missiles also, the powerful CIA-led National Intelligence Council has said. Global change now and in the decades ahead will broaden our definition of national security and expand the US intelligence agenda, Chairman of the CIA-led National Intelligence Council, John C Gannon said, adding that these new adversaries are often motivated by ideological rage or ethnic hatred and although they will have less powerful weapons than the soviets, they are more likely to use them. Gannon made these, among other, points in an analysis he made recently before the Columbus Council on World Affairs. Progress in the next 15 years will be accompanied by increasing economic volatility sharpening inequalities in income, at least some of which will have political and security implications and growing threats from adversaries with relatively small-scale programmes of weapons of mass destruction, and from international terrorist and criminal networks, he said. The analysis also pointed out that in some countries, criminal networks will be better armed han the Government and will be able to control portions of national territory. (PTI) |
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Development loan sanctions to go
when WASHINGTON, May 7: Sanctions under which development loans amounting to 1.5 billion dollars are being withheld at the World Bank and further large amounts at the Asian Development Bank due to US opposition, will be lifted when India signs the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a top US official has said. Drawing a distinction between signing the CTBT and taking time to ratify it, US Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth told PTI here that India’s signature on the treaty would be a clear statement of intent. Inderfurth said: I urge you to speak with the World Bank officials on the status of those loans. There had been a number of loans that have gone through despite the US abstaining in the last several months. The US, he said, has made it clear that we would certainly recommend immediate removal of the G-8 (US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada plus Russia) restrictions which were imposed after the nuclear tests. We would recommend immediate removal of that restriction at the time of India’s signature on the CTBT. We are hopeful. We know there is still an active debate within India, he said. Inderfurth said that India’s signature on the CTBT would be a statement that it wished to be a part of what the US believed was an international consensus of almost 160 nations that nuclear weapons testing was a thing of the past and not of a future. India would be signalling that by signing the CTBT. It has already done that through adopting a unilateral moratorium. By signing the CTBT, India would be joining the US and others in confirming that they wish to see no further nuclear testing, he said. When the treaty (CTBT) will come into effect, said Inderfurth, is problematic because of the need for the signature of 44 countries that have a nuclear programme of one type or another, including the United States. We have continued to work on developing our own national consensus and we have General Shalikashvili (former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) working on it to address the concerns of senators without revising the treaty but through clarifications and understandings. The administration official pointed out that Prime Minister Vajpayee has said that India would not stand in the way of the treaty coming into effect, meaning that if all other countries ratified it, so would India. We are under the impression that commitment remains. But again, we think that signature at this stage would be a positive step which we would certainly very much want to see, he said. (PTI) |
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William ‘besotted’ with Aussie pop singer Natalie LONDON, May 7: Prince William, Prince Charles’ son, is "besotted" with Natalie Imbruglia, bombarding the Australian pop singer with E-mails, flowers and chocolates after meeting her in a London bar. "William woos a pop queen," Britain’s Sunday people newspaper headlined alongside pictures of the two. "Wills", as he was known to his mother, Princess Diana, told friends he thought Natalie, 25, was "gorgeous". Natalie’s boyfriend, rock-singer Daniel Johns, 19, was not amused. "He’s a prince so I guess he thinks he can send flowers and E-mails to who he likes. That doesn’t mean I have to like it," Johns told the tabloid. According to recent reports, William, 17, had bestowed his affections on United States singer Britney Spears, 19, inviting her to his millennium party, but the Sunday people reports Natalie has supplanted her. William is reported to have met Natalie in a fashionable bar on Fulham road in West London, where he is a regular with the children of Camilla Parker Bowles, his father’s current consort. The Australian pop star recently spent 1.5 million (2.4 million dollars) pounds on a Spanish villa near Windsor Castle, a royal family home West of London. The Villa is not far from Eton, the renowned school William attends. Britney, meanwhile, has recently bought a mansion close to highgrove, a home used by Prince Charles in the Cotswolds. (DPA) |
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Arafat seeks India’s economic assistance Ramallah, May 7 : Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has lauded India’s political support to the Palestinian cause and sought New Delhi’s cooperation in the fields of infrastructure and technology. Arafat also said that commerce and economic relations between the two countries should match political ties, Indian Minister of state for Commerce and Industry, Raman Singh, who called on him here yesterday, told PTI. The Minister said New Delhi would further deepen economic and commercial interaction with Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and it was supportive of the legitimate right of the Palestinians for a homeland. India has already recognised the state of Palestine since 1988 based on the declaration of independence issued by the Palestinian National Council in Algiers. The Indian Minister, who was here to inaugurate the first ever Indian Trade Fair, also met PNA Trade Minister, Maher Al Masri and both the leaders agreed to the need of encouraging joint Indo-Palestinian ventures. Total annual trade between India and PNA is estimated at 18 to 20 million dollars which primarily consists of one-way Indian exports. This includes trade via Israel, Egypt and UAE. An Indo-Palestinian joint venture in the field ofI Information Technology has already been registered at the Gaza industrial zone while Indian giant firms such as Satyam and TCI are already present in PNA areas undertaking IT projects for Palestinian telecommunication company. (PTI) |
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ZEGREB, May 7: Twenty years after his death, Yugoslavia’s Communist ruler Marshal Josip Broz Tito is enjoying a public comeback. Tito, a flamboyant and often controversial figure, who ruled the multi-ethnic federation from the end of World War two until 1980, is the subject of a new film by young director Vinko Bresan called "The Marshal". Bresan’s surreal film poses the question: What would happen if Tito came back from the dead to his native Croatia, where a few of his die-hard followers, ageing Communists and anti-fascists, now live? The film is making many in Croatia, now an independent state, look again at the historic role of the wartime partisan leader turned world statesman. This year Croatia marked the death of Tito for the first time since gaining independence in 1991. Several thousand people gathered on May four in Kumrovec, his birthplace in Northern Croatia, where sirens wailed at 3:05 pm, the exact time of his death. The mourners, mostly elderly, laid flowers and sang patriotic songs. Many filed through the wooden cottage where Tito was born. A pub called "The Old Man" recently opened in Kumrovec and local leaders have restored the entire village in the hope of reviving once-thriving tourism. Tito’s Yugoslav Federation outlived him by ten years before it crumbled amid rising nationalism in its six constituent republics and the end of Communism. On April 15, "The Marshal" had its opening night in Belgrade, capital of the rump Yugoslavia, and Bresan received a long ovation from the audience. The movie is now being shown throughout Yugoslavia and is being promoted with the slogan: "The movie we have waited for 20 years." "One cannot avoid Tito. He is the only common ground we (the people of former Yugoslavia) have left now," Bresan told Reuters, explaining why the film was being received with enthusiasm in Serbia. Earlier this year, a Serbian film called "Tito and I", a parody of the Tito years as seen through the eyes of a young boy, showed in Zagreb and for days drew roars of laughter from the packed house of a small art house cinema. "This is a natural reaction of people who have realised after 10 years that they lived better before," said sociologist Slaven Letica, commenting on the blooming "Tito trade". "There is also a kind of nostalgia as people come to terms with their history," he said. This cultural exchange would not have taken place when Croatia was ruled by the nationalist Franjo Tudjman, who held power from independence to his death last December. Tudjman’s HDZ party lost a general election in January to a reformist coalition, led by former Communists. Tito remains a controversial figure in the successor states to the former Yugoslav Federation. For some he was a great statesman, for others a tyrant who tried to eradicate Croatian national sentiment. Some Serbs feel the same. Many still blame him for allowing the slaughter of thousands of Croatian troops who had collaborated with the Nazis after they surrendered to the allies in 1945. According to one recent survey, some 45.8 percent of those interviewed said they considered Tito a dictator while 55.6 percent said the same of Tudjman. In another poll, 60 percent of those questioned said Tito’s remains should be returned home from his stately tomb in Belgrade. (REUTERS) |
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