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Cunning US
criminals WASHINGTON, Oct 18: Anthony turner had everything worked out right down to the....more
Gore trails behind WASHINGTON, Oct 18: Texas Governor and Republican George W Bush.....more
Musharraf rules out WASHINGTON, Oct 18: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has ruled out....more |
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India seeks UN convention to prohibit use of N-arms UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18: India has introduced a resolution in the UN General Assembly calling for commencing talks on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances......more India calls for UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18: India has called for comprehensive reforms of the United Nations, including financial, to ensure the world body’s continued relevance and responsiveness to the needs of the new century as well as the new millennium. Regretting that non-payment of assessed dues by some member states is holding up payment for troops and equipment to the countries participating in peacekeeping operations, Indian representative, Vaiko, asked all .....more US will make more WASHINGTON, Oct 18: President Bill Clinton yesterday signed into law legislation increasing the number of visas available for skilled foreign workers, handing a victory to high-tech companies desperate for computer-savvy employees. Overwhelmingly approved.....more |
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Cunning US criminals try to outwit DNA tests WASHINGTON, Oct 18: Anthony turner had everything worked out right down to the last detail. Last year he was convicted on three counts of rape after tests using human genetic material, so-called dna evidence, were carried out on traces of semen found on the victims. Shortly after the conviction though traces of identical semen to Turner’s were found during the medical examination of a fourth suspected rape victim. This was a big setback for prosecutors since at the time of that crime turner had the best alibi of all - he was behind bars. The question facing the state prosecutor’s department was a clear one. Was this a case of the genetic code of two people being identical although the chances are three billion to one against? Not at all. In the end it transpired that it was Turner’s Semen. He had managed to smuggle a sample of it out of prison and paid a woman 50 dollars to fake being raped. The aim was to cast doubts on the scientific reliability of DNA testing. This is only one example of many and crime fighters in the United States are increasing voicing concern at attempts by suspected criminals to outwit DNA technology. "The methods are getting more clever and more audacious," said DNA specialist and state attorney clay strange of Austin, Texas. These days dna tests play an important part in U.S. court cases and experts estimate that upwards of 10,000 genetic code tests are ordered by prosecuting authorities each year. For people like turner DNA testing is a curse but it has proved to be a blessing for others. In 1990 around 100 convicts were able to walk from prison as free men after lengthy periods of detention and after new genetic testing methods proved their innocence. A man in Maryland was recently released from death row after 17 years following a DNA test. The reliability of the procedure has encouraged rapists, in particular, to become more resourceful, say police. Last year there were dozens of cases of men who donned a mask, gloves and a condom before setting about a victim. One offender was caught red-handed while trying to wash off tell-tale traces. In other instances victims say the rapist forced them to have a bath or shower after the crime was committed. In several prisons convicts have taken DNA tests in the name of others to prevent criminals being brought to justice for unsolved offences outside while at a prison in Utah prisoners quickly taught each other how to squirt the blood and semen of other people at the scene of a crime in order to confuse the forensic scientists. Judicial experts point out that hoodwinking DNA technology is going to get harder thanks to further refinement of the scientific technique. Tiny particles of hair, skin or fingernail along with dried saliva can be enough to provide the basis of a reliable test. Police believe that short of wearing an astronaut’s suit criminals will soon never know for certain whether they have left some trace of activity at the scene of a crime. The cleverness of criminals is blamed to a certain extent on television crime shows in which police detection tactics are often demonstrated in detail. Suspects are said to be now well aware that it’s not a good idea to spit or smoke during police interrogation since saliva contains all the DNA an investigator needs. (DPA) |
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Gore trails
behind Bush after wrap-up WASHINGTON, Oct 18: Texas Governor and Republican George W Bush was firmly in the saddle against US Vice President and Democrat Al Gore in the Presidential race after the third and final campaign debate here yesterday, according to opinion polls held soon after the debate. Sharp differences on domestic policy issues marked the wrap-up debate of the Presidential campaign but foreign policy issues hardly mattered for the select audience of St Louis who were given the opportunity to shoot questions to Gore and Bush. During the 90-minute discussion, there were neither questions on the blast on the US destroyer USS Cole at Yemen’s Aden Port nor on the West Asia crisis. The candidates fielded interjections mostly on medicare, social security, decline in moral standards and scepticism of the youth in the electoral process. While Gore used almost every available opportunity to take a dig at his Republican opponent for supporting the privileged sections, Mr Bush concentrated on policy differences between the two parties. Both the candidates, however, agreed on the needs for capital punishment to put down crime, preventing children from watching violence and pornography on internet and television and checking the gun culture infiltrating in schools. Bush made a scathing attack on President Bill Clinton for his policies on West Asia, saying that "we cannot put West Asia peace process on our time table. It should be on the time table of those participating in the peace process (Israel and Palestinians)." He further said, "the United States cannot dictate the terms of peace." When Al Gore attacked bush for announcing lesser quantum of investment in defence, the Republican retaliated, saying he could only come second in the spending therapy suggested by his opponent. "There will be no money in the coffers if we went by the doles announced by the democratic candidate," he said. Gore also said that the tax cuts offered bush would benefit only one per cent of the wealthy persons. Emphasising the need for electoral reforms, Gore said he would move the Congress for campaign reforms bill at the first given opportunity. He said special interest groups have developed lot of stakes in our electoral process and "we need to give our democracy to the american people." While the drug companies opposed his proposal on prescription drugs, for it would cut into their profits, the oil industry opposed his move for energy independence and spending more funds of renewable energy sources. Gore also attacked the drug industry for spending more on advertisement rather than research and development. "They want monopoly patent protection so that they could price their drugs high," he said. He intends to streamline the approval of competing generic drugs so that people could get affordable medicine. (UNI) |
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Musharraf rules out
possibility of nuclear weapons falling WASHINGTON, Oct 18: Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has ruled out the possibility of the nuclear weapons falling into the hands of religious fanatics and said he would not like to use these weapons unless his country’s security was jeopardised. "They (nuclear weapons) are secure. The national command authority is in place. They are extremely secure and that is my guarantee," General Musharraf told American television channel CBS in an interview last week. He also ruled out the possibility of the weapons falling into the hands of Islamic militants, saying, "never has a religious party won seats in our Assemblies. Pakistan is a moderate Islamic country and I mean it. Stating that he was "proud" of Pakistan’s nuclear capability, the general said he would never like to use it unless his country’s security was jeopardised. Significantly, General Musharraf parried a pointed question that the weapons might be secure but Pakistan’s political leadership was not. The last leader to give his guarantee on nuclear weapons was Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, now serving a double life sentence for terrorism. To this query, General Musharraf merely said he was sure that people of Pakistan were fed up of what was going on. On Washington’s viewpoint that the military regime in Pakistan was supporting militants, using that country as a base, to carry out violence in Jammu and Kashmir, the general repeated Islamabad’s oft quoted reply, "there is no Government sponsorship of any kind of military activity in Kashmir. There is no such thing." General Musharraf also ducked the question whether the line between Pakistan military and some of the Islamic militant groups was fuzzy and whether he was confident that the Army was absolutely trustworthy, saying he was proud that Pakistan was not a banana republic. Meanwhile, one of the most revered and radical Islamic leaders of Pakistan, Saimul Haq has warned that the Pakistan Government will be gone in a few days if it dared close down Islamist militant-run ‘Madrasas’ (religious schools) as the army would not put up with any such intervention suggested by the United States. The views of Samiul Haq, whose Madrasas are sought to closed by the US for their links with Saudi billionaire Osama Bin Laden and who was also interviewed by the American TV channel in a sixty-minute programme titled Pakistan’s military programme: America’s nightmare’ telecast a few days ago, were in sharp contast to Gen Musharraf’s claim that his country was a moderate Islamic state where no religious party has won seats in the national Assembly. The stranglehold of the Islamic militants, running more than 4,000 Madrasas dotting Pakistan’s countryside bordering Afghanistan, on the Islamabad administration was brought out by American television channel CBS in a sixty-minute programme titled Pakistan’s military programme: America’s nightmare’. "If any one even dares to close down these Madrasas in Pakistan, the Government will be gone within days. Our Army is also a Muslim Army. So if any general tries to do this, the Army will turn against him," he said. A Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Rasheed, considered a leading authority on Islamic militants, said there was considerable support for the Islamic parties in the military. Mr Haq was of the view that "Osama Bin Laden was the Abraham Lincoln of the islamic world". Ninety per cent of Taliban leadership ruling neighbouring Afghanistan were graduates from the school run by him. The students interviewed by the American channel openly lavished praise on Bin Laden. The interviewer concluded that it is Haq’s graduates who are now Bin Laden’s protectors. According to Mr Ahmed Rasheed, between 60,000 to one lakh Islamic militants, who have fought and trained in Afghanistan, have returned to Pakistan in recent years. They were a very powerful force in the country and could bring down any Government or the economy to a grinding halt by using their street power, he said. The Army cannot afford to crack down on the fundamentalists for this simple reason, he added. General Antony Zinni, the outgoing commander of US forces in South Asia, said Pakistan might become another fundamentalist state like Iran soon and in his assessment General Musharaff might be the last hope to prevent this from happening. "We could have complete chaos in the region, something that looks like Afghanistan," he told the channel . He also agreed with the questioner that nuclear weapons in Pakistan could go into the hands of extremist religious leaders. "I believe that is very much possible," he said to a pointed question. What concerned the American general the most was that the tens of thousands of Islamic militants were not only battle-tested but well armed. General Zinni said, "we do not need another failed state with nuclear weapons which could end up in a nuclear war with India, adding it was what could happen to Pakistan if Musharraf fails." He therefore supported lifting of sanctions against Pakistan’s military regime and providing more assistance through International Monetary Fund (IMF). (UNI) |
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India seeks UN convention to prohibit use of N-arms UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18: India has introduced a resolution in the UN General Assembly calling for commencing talks on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances. Moving the resolution in the disarmament and International Security Committee of the UN General Assembly, on the lines of one adopted by the Assembly at New Delhi’s initiative last year, Indian Ambassador to the Conference Rakesh Sood yesterday strongly criticized the nuclear powers for claiming the right to possess such arms in perpetuity. In this context, he reiterated India’s demand for a step-by-step process to eliminate nuclear weapons backed by a legally binding instrument prohibiting the use or threat of use of such arms. "It is a matter of regret that due to inflexible position of certain delegations, the Conference of disarmament has so far not been able to commence negotiations on this subject," he said. The resolution would be discussed by the Committee which is expected to recommend to the General Assembly to adopt it during its current session. It expresses the conviction that a multilateral agreement prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons would strengthen international security and contribute to the climate for the negotiations leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons. The resolution, Sood said, goes to the very core of the nuclearised global order which persists even the end of cold war. "Doctrines of first-use of nuclear weapons have been re-validated and reaffirmed even though the threat perception that originally led to those doctrines have long disappeared," he emphasized. There is need, he told the Committee, to address this threat to humanity at various levels. "At the level of political commitments backed by legally binding agreements, it is important for nuclear doctrines to be reoriented towards a no-first-use and non-use against non nuclear states, thus beginning the process of de-legitimising nuclear weapons globally," he said. The resolution, co-sponsored by more than twenty member states, underlines that the use of nuclear weapons poses the most serious threat to the survival of humankind and refers to the international court of justice’s advisory opinion in 1966 that use or threat of use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable to armed conflicts. "At the beginning of the new millennium, a vote in favour of this resolution would also be a vote of confidence that the international community can take decisive steps towards the goal of freeing the world of nuclear weapons," Sood said. (PTI) |
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India calls for comprehensive reform of the united nations UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18: India has called for comprehensive reforms of the United Nations, including financial, to ensure the world body’s continued relevance and responsiveness to the needs of the new century as well as the new millennium. Regretting that non-payment of assessed dues by some member states is holding up payment for troops and equipment to the countries participating in peacekeeping operations, Indian representative, Vaiko, asked all members to jointly pledge to pay assessed contribution and arrears in full without conditions under any solution consensually arrived at. "Reforms in the organisation would be possible only if all of us are willing to abide by our commitments and display our unflinching and unconditional support to the organisation and its charter, including payment of assessed contribution and arrears in full and on time," he said, addressing the United Nations General Assembly yesterday. Out of the more than two billion dollars in arrears to the world body, the United States owes the maximum. The US wants its contribution to the regular budget as also to peacekeeping operation be reduced, arguing that the countries, whose economies have improved since the assessment formula was agreed to, should pay more. Vaiko, who is Member of Parliament, pointed out that the world body owes nineteen countries, including India, more than twenty million dollars each. Stressing the seriousness of the situation, he said, if the troops contributing countries are not reimbursed costs incurred by them towards troops and equipment, it would be "next to impossible" for national Parliaments to support peacekeeping operations on a continuing basis. "The need for rectifying this anomalous situation of financial insolvency is, therefore, an urgent one if the perceived need of the hour is effective implementation of the mandates for peace and security," he added. In this connection, Vaiko referred to non payment to troop contributors even for operations undertaken five years ago such as in Somalia and Cambodia. The situation in Sierra Leone is such that "terming it precarious is an understatement," he added. Welcoming the secretary general’s "ambitious proposals" for restructuring secretariat, he expressed doubt that they can be implemented even if approved by the General Assembly because of the present state of its budget. Speaking about incompatibility between approved mandates and the resources available, Vaiko called for immediate corrective action. (PTI) |
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US will make more high-tech work visas available WASHINGTON, Oct 18: President Bill Clinton yesterday signed into law legislation increasing the number of visas available for skilled foreign workers, handing a victory to high-tech companies desperate for computer-savvy employees. Overwhelmingly approved by Congress earlier this month, the new law will increase the number of H-1b temporary visas available for high-tech workers from India and other countries and double the fee charged employers using the programme. Despite strong support, the legislation got caught up in election-year politics and efforts to woo hispanic voters. But technology companies, facing a severe shortage of applicants with the skills they need, made passage of the H-1b legislation a top priority and put pressure on lawmakers to act. "My administration has made clear that any increase in H-1b visas should be temporary and limited in number, that the fee charged to employers using the programme should be increased significantly and that the majority of the funds generated by the fee must go to the department of labour to fund training for U.S. workers seeking the necessary skills for these jobs," Clinton said in a statement. "This legislation does those things." Still, the White House expressed disappointment that the Bill did not include broader immigration amendments to grant amnesty to some long-term illegal aliens and to address the legal status of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and Liberia. (REUTERS) |
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