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bail, allies seek clarification on stand DHAKA, Apr 9: Former Bangladesh president and Jatiya Party chief H M Ershad was today released on bail after serving above four months in jail here......more US warns of harm WASHINGTON, Apr 9: U.S. officials warned on Sunday of damage to long-term relations with Beijing over the detention of 24 air crew as China’s politically powerful.......more New treatment could save LONDON, Apr 9: A pioneering cancer treatment that prevents patients from losing limbs to the .....more Separation surgery SINGAPORE, Apr 9: Complex surgery to separate a pair of Nepali twins who were born conjoined...more |
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‘Brother’ Bill NAYLA (RAJASTHAN), Apr 9: A Nayala woman has forced a "non-responding" brother Bill Clinton ......more Father kills himself PARIS, Apr 9: French teen-ager Frederic Vivaroli shot himself in the head after his father berated him .....more Peace talks between Govt, LTTE COLOMBO, Apr 9: Even as Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Jon Westborg briefed President..more |
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Ershad granted bail, allies seek clarification on stand DHAKA, Apr 9: Former Bangladesh president and Jatiya Party chief H M Ershad was today released on bail after serving above four months in jail here. He was sentenced in the Janata tower corruption case on November 20 last year. Yesterday, Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge had granted him bail in two corruption cases, filed in 1994 and 1996. But he was not released as bail bond and other related papers could not reach the lower court. Mr Ershad, who was to be released on February 28 after paying half of the amount fined in the Janata tower case, was however, detained under the Special Powers Act. Earlier, he served over six years in jail from December 1990 on corruption charges while in power. He was forced to quit power on December 6, 1990. Immediately after his release, Mr Ershad went straight to his Gulshan residence. Political observers here said that the former President was released following a behind-the-scene understanding with the Government. Recently, he was transferred to a Government hospital in Dhaka from the central jail for treatment of his heart ailment. Mr Ershad has held parleys with party leaders and MPs including his wife Begum Rawshan Ershad MP on current political affairs. Jatiya Party (Ershad) is a major ally of the four-party alliance, which is demanding resignation of the Shiekh Hasina Government. The reported clandestine understanding with the Government has created doubt among the alliance leaders about his political role, observers said. Yesterday, the alliance led by BNP chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia told reporters that the former President should clarify his stand. The alliance had already expelled Ershad’s party and recognized the anti-Ershad group. Earlier, MPs loyal to Mr Ershad joined the current session of Parliament on the pretext of proving their majority in the house to retain their party election symbol plough. The dispute surfaced when another faction of the JP led by Communication Minister Anwar Hossain staked its claim on the symbol plough. Mr Hossain had joined the "consensus Government" of Sheikh Hasina in 1996 after an understanding. Political observers said after his release, Ershad may not turn to the opposition camp and might go slow to determine his future political line. There is speculation that he may launch a new political alliance with pro-Islamic and Nationalist Party or could go out of the country, the observers added. (UNI) |
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US warns of harm to relations in China plane crisis WASHINGTON, Apr 9: U.S. officials warned on Sunday of damage to long-term relations with Beijing over the detention of 24 air crew as China’s politically powerful military underscored a hard-line stance that risked prolonging the crisis. With China insisting on a U.S. apology for the collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter and the United States continuing to refuse, the firm positions maintained a week-old standoff despite a diplomatic search for a solution. U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell said there was no evidence of U.S. responsibility for the crash over the South China sea that left the Chinese pilot and his F-8 jet missing. The Ep-3 surveillance plane made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan island and has been detained since yesterday. "The relationship is being damaged," Powell told the "Fox News Sunday" program. "In order for the damage to be undone and for no further damage to occur, we’ve got to bring this matter to a close as soon as possible." Powell said China and the United States were still in "intense negotiations" and "things are moving along" Albeit more slowly than hoped toward ending the worst foreign relations crisis of the bush administration. Bringing the crew home appeared to hinge on finding the words in a letter being jointly drafted about last Sunday’s crash that would allow a face-saving way out for Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President George W.Bush. In a sign Washington was exploring ways to help appease Chinese sentiment, Bush planned to send a letter to the wife of the missing Chinese pilot, personally expressing his regret at the collision. The pilot’s wife Ruan Quoqin had accused bush of cowardice in his handling of the incident. Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian said the United States would not be allowed to escape responsibility for the crash. The main military newspaper, the liberation army daily, quoted him as saying the crash was "entirely caused by the U.S. side." China "will not let them push the blame onto others," Chi said during a visit to the pilot’s wife. On Hainan island, U.S. diplomats spent the day fruitlessly waiting for permission for a fourth meeting with the crew. The White House revealed that only eight of the crew, including the pilot, had been at the last meeting on Saturday. "With regard to future access, we are still working hard for unfettered daily access to the crew and we asked to see them twice a day," defense attache Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock said. In a sign the Chinese military could delay any quick resolution of the crisis, the liberation army daily said Chinese authorities had the right to conduct "a full and thorough investigation of the entire incident, including those responsible on the U.S. military plane and the U.S. military plane itself." It demanded that the United States halt all surveillance flights off China’s coast. Amid signs of a hardening line among U.S. lawmakers, Powell suggested that bilateral damage could extend to the lucrative trade front where Beijing risks losing additional votes to keep its favorable trading status. Top Chinese leaders are anxious to avoid a meltdown in Chinese-U.S. ties, but any compromise they make would have to take into consideration the reaction of Hawkish generals in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Political analysts said it was likely that some factions in the PLA were keen to use the detained americans to humiliate the united states as payback for a string of perceived insults and aggressive actions toward China. China’s military brass is still smarting from the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999, which Washington said was an accident. The PLA is alarmed by the prospect of U.S. sales of high technology weapons to Taiwan and U.S. plans for a missile defense shield that would emasculate China’s nuclear arsenal. Defense Minister Chi was quoted by the army newspaper as saying the incident showed China needed to beef up its military to defend against "hegemonism," a code word for United States. "We must turn our anger at hegemonism into tremendous motive force," Chi said during his visit to Ruan. (REUTERS) |
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New treatment could save cancer patients’ limbs LONDON, Apr 9: A pioneering cancer treatment that prevents patients from losing limbs to the disease has been developed by British scientists, reports said. The new technique, developed at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, involves cutting off the blood supply to legs or other limbs where tumours are sited and blasting them with massive doses of a powerful new drug. It means that patients with inoperable tumours who previously would have had the affected limb amputated will not have to go under the knife. Led by surgical oncologist Joseph Meirion Thomas, the Marsden team has now treated 12 patients using the process. It has had an 80 per cent success rate in treating melanoma, a form of skin cancer, and is now being used on soft tissue tumours called Sarcomas, of which there are 1,300 new cases every year in Britain. The size and position of tumours in the legs of some cancer patients can mean it is impossible to operate to remove them and amputation has been the only answer. Now, the royal Marsden team has developed a technique called isolated limb perfusion, where the blood supply to the affected limb is cut off by clamping the main arteries. Fresh blood is circulated around the limb via a bypass machine, normally used in heart surgery, to give it a separate blood supply. The limb is then heated to 39 degree celsius, the most effective temperature for drug treatment. A powerful new drug called Tnf Alpha which breaks down the vessels supplying blood to cancerous tumours is then injected into the bloodstream of the limb. Up to 10 times the normal dose of the drug can be injected into the limb using the "cut off" technique. (DPA) |
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‘Brother’ Bill apologises to Nayala woman NAYLA (RAJASTHAN), Apr 9: A Nayala woman has forced a "non-responding" brother Bill Clinton to apologise in a rare show of new woman power. Mohini caught the former US President off guard when she asked him had he received the ‘rakhi’ sent by her in August last year. When Clinton said "Yes", she shot off another question: "then why didn’t you acknowledge it?" Now the former President knew he had to apologise. Clinton, however, told Mohini that the ‘rakhi’ and other gifts sent by her are safely kept in his house. The village panchayat played folk music to welcome Clinton, who spent an hour in the village last evening talking to its "empowered" women in a repeat of his visit last year with his daughter Chelsea. Praising the Nayla women, Clinton said he talks about their abilities wherever he goes. This time too the women tied ‘rakhis’ on his wrist and put ‘tilak’ on his forehead. (UNI) |
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Father kills himself after son’s suicide PARIS, Apr 9: French teen-ager Frederic Vivaroli shot himself in the head after his father berated him for a bad school report. When his father saw him lying dead, he picked up the same gun and killed himself too. The double suicide took place last Thursday in a village near Avignon, after Frederic, 15, returned home with a disappointing school report and a note asking his parents to come and meet his teacher, newspapers reported. After his father told him off, Frederic went to get a luger pistol his grandfather had confiscated from retreating German troops in World War two, went to his bedroom and shot himself. His mother Paule found him dying in a pool of blood with the report card on the floor next to him, police in the Southern French city said. When a doctor arrived and declared Frederic dead, Alain Vivaroli picked up the gun in front of his grieving wife and shot himself in the head as well. He died in hospital shortly afterwards. Police said Frederic, fearing an argument with his parents after seeing the report card, had given some friends little presents before leaving school that afternoon. "Just in case something happens to me," police quoted his classmates as saying. (REUTERS) |
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Peace talks between Govt,
LTTE COLOMBO, Apr 9: Even as Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Jon Westborg briefed President Chandrika Kumaratunga on his talks with the LTTE leadership in Wanni, the opposition United National Party (UNP) has called for a national consensus on the outcome of peace talks between the Government and the Tamil Tigers. Mr Westborg, who called on the President yesterday, apprised her of his recent meeting with Mr S P Tamilchelvan, head of the political wing of the LTTE. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was also present during the briefing. The Norwegian Envoy is understood to have told the President certain concerns expressed by the ltte on holding of peace talks in an environment absent of hostilities. They (LTTE) also raised a number of questions concerning a proposal for building of understanding and creation of a foundation for direct talks, the President was told. The official response of the Government would be released after proper consultations, Foreign Ministry sources said. The Government is, however, likely to remain firm on continuing the peace process with Norwegian facilitation despite obstacles. The LTTE issued its own statement on Saturday saying it would not participate in peace negotiations as long as it was outlawed by the Government and the Lankan military stoped all hostilities. But it is not known from the Norwegian Ambassador that lifting the ban and immediate cessation of hostilities are pre-conditions of the LTTE before the commencement of talks. A statement issued by the Norwegian Embassy later said the issues presented by the LTTE leader as concerns needed deliberations. However, it did not specify the issues. Norway will continue its efforts of consultations between the Government and the LTTE, the embassy statement added. In a related development, the United National Party said whatever agreement is reached between the Government and the LTTE, it should have a national consensus, failing which it would not be a durable solution. On the latest hurdles put by the tigers on the prospects of peace talks, UNP’s media spokesman Karunasena Koditawakku said has he is yet to see a formal statement to that effect from the LTTE. Since we do not want to make any assumptions based on various reports, we will wait a little longer to get a clearer picture of the exact situation and pre-conditions reported to have been made by the LTTE, he said. Meanwhile, Sihala Urumaya (SU), a hardcore party of the Sinhalese, said it would start a campaign against the peace talks between the Government and LTTE from April 25. The campaign would demand the Government stop all peace talks and force it to finalise the ongoing war against the terrorists. It is evident that terrorists s strength is weakened as their lifeline has been cut off through recent international restrictions. It is a pathetic situation because the peace talks are to be held over the assurance given by the Government to norwegians that it will stick to the peace process without getting the same assurance from the LTTE, its propaganda secretary Udaya Gammanpil said. (UNI) |
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Separation
surgery SINGAPORE, Apr 9: Complex surgery to separate a pair of Nepali twins who were born conjoined at the head entered a fourth day in Singapore today, with doctors working around the clock to try to give the 11-month-old girls a normal life. "They’re still alive. They’re doing well," a Singapore general hospital spokeswoman told Reuters. The marathon operation started late on Friday afternoon, with doctors originally expecting it to last up to 36 hours. But separating the myriad veins joining their two brains —both contained within one skull — proved more difficult than was first thought. "There are so many veins. That’s the part that you cannot estimate and that’s why the operation is dragging on," the hospital spokeswoman said. Teams of specialists relying on a battery of high-tech tools to guide them have been taking short breaks and working in shifts as the rare operation stretches to a fourth day. Doctors now expect the operation to be completed on Monday evening, bringing the total surgical procedure to almost 75 hours. Doctors say splitting Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha is essential if they are to survive and have a chance at a normal life. The Nepali twins, along with their impoverished grandfather and parents, have been in Singapore since October. Doctors have volunteered their services for free and hospital costs are being covered by a flood of public donations. "We are very worried. The operation’s not finished," Arjun Dev Shrestha, the twins’ maternal grandfather, told Reuters on Sunday. "The mother is crying, crying." Conjoined twins fused at the head are rare, occurring only once in about two million live births. Successful separations, while not unprecedented, are even more uncommon. Last october, Australian doctors split twins Tay-Lah and Monique Armstrong who were joined at the back of the head. The royal women’s hospital in Brisbane is preparing for the birth of its second pair of joined twins in 12 months and will assess the chances of separating them once they are born. The twin girls, joined at the side of the head and facing the same direction, are due in May to a Brisbane woman who has not been identified. In 1997, surgeons successfully split twins in South Africa who shared the same skull cavity, Keith Goh, the paediatric neurosurgeon heading the Singapore team, told Reuters. (REUTERS) |
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