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| South Africans
pray for 11yrs old AIDS sufferer JOHANNESBURG, Jan 13: South Africans gathered in a Johannesburg Church to pray for Nkosi......more George Bush seeks ‘healing AUSTIN, TEXAS, Jan 13: President-elect George W. Bush holed up at his Texas Ranch yesterday......more Florida’s top election TALLAHASSEE, FLA, Jan 13: A federal civil rights panel blasted Florida’s top election official......more Bill Clinton doubts WASHINGTON, Jan 13: President Bill Clinton says he doubts he will fall into a post-White....more |
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US not averse to
dialogue with Taliban: Inderfurth ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: US has not closed the course of dialogue with Taliban and has provided to........more Australia to SYDNEY, Jan 13: As part of the process of restoring military ties, an Australian military attache........more Australia to SYDNEY, Jan 13: An Australian military attache will resume his post in India two years after he....more Boy with rifle RENNES, FRANCE, Jan 13: A 14-year-old boy armed with a rifle prompted the evacuation of a......more |
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South Africans pray for 11yrs old AIDS sufferer JOHANNESBURG, Jan 13: South Africans gathered in a Johannesburg Church to pray for Nkosi Johnson, the 11-year-old AIDS sufferer who has moved the country with his campaign against the disease. Pastor Peter Lenkoe of the Anglican Church yesterday led the emotional service with an appeal to the Government and drug companies to provide cheaper drugs to stop the transmission of AIDS from infected mothers such as Johnson’s to their unborn children. "The time has come when Government and drug companies must make a deal to make drugs available that will halt the spread of AIDS from mother to child," Lenkoe said. "If ever there was a time, if ever there was a case...This is the time, because we are looking at a young, young life, and through no fault of his we’re watching this life just being swept away," he told the 300-strong congregation. Nkosi, who became a leading public figure in the fight against an epidemic that has devastated huge swathes of Africa, has been unable to talk since suffering brain damage last week as AIDS spread further through his frail body. He was infected at birth by his hiv-positive mother. After she was ostracised by her community when her condition became known, he was adopted by a white foster mother, Gail Johnson. The boy became a potent symbol after being labelled the longest living AIDS child and being accepted by a Johannesburg primary school despite opposition from parents and the school. His calls for safe sex and for more use of drugs to stop HIV transmission from mother to child have become a rallying cry in the battle against the virus, with which some 4.2 million South Africans, or one in 10 of the population, are infected. His message has contrasted sharply with the views of President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki has declined on cost and safety grounds to make drugs such as AZT that have cut down mother-to-child HIV transmission more widely available. Mbeki’s questioning of the causal link between HIV and AIDS has also sparked uproar in scientific circles. Activists have accused the President and his Government of confusing the public at a time when the epidemic is reaching crisis levels. Former President Nelson Mandela has praised Johnson as an icon of the struggle against AIDS. More than 70,000 babies will, like Nkosi, be born HIV-positive this year in South Africa. Few will have the same privileges and attention that Nkosi, in his short life, has managed to enjoy. (REUTERS) |
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George Bush seeks ‘healing tone’ nominees under fire AUSTIN, TEXAS, Jan 13: President-elect George W. Bush holed up at his Texas Ranch yesterday polishing an inaugural address he hopes will set a "healing tone" as two of his cabinet nominees came under fresh fire in Washington. Groups that favor the separation of Church and state took Bush’s nominee to be Attorney General, former Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri, to task for his statement in a May 1999 speech that Americans "have no king but Jesus." Environmental and civil rights groups mobilized to oppose Gale Norton, his choice for interior secretary, arguing she favors logging, mining and grazing interests over conservation and accusing her of insensitivity on racial matters. Neither Ashcroft nor Norton is expected to be defeated in the U.S. senate, which is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, but their confirmation hearings are likely to be an early test of Bush’s strength on capitol hill. The Bush team attributed the opposition to partisanship stemming from lingering bitterness about the 36-day post-election battle over Florida’s vote in which Republican Bush prevailed over Democratic Vice President Al Gore. "One of the things you have seen as a result of Florida is there are a group of people .. Who are engaging in lots of levels of partisanship," Fleischer told reporters. "They are not toning it down." Fleischer also sought to play down Ashcroft’s May 1999 speech at Bob Jones University, which bans openly gay students and long prohibited interracial dating, comparing it to comments by former Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Lieberman’s comments during the 2000 campaign. "I think Sen. Lieberman’s remarks and Sen. Ashcroft’s remarks are both reminders of the important role that faith plays in the individual lives of the American people," Fleischer said. According to a transcript of his commencement address at Bob Jones, Ashcroft told students that "unique among the nations, America recognized the source of our character as being godly and eternal, not being civic and temporal. And because we have understood that our source is eternal, America has been different. We have no king but Jesus." Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans for separation of Church and state, fired back in a statement on Friday, "for a nominee for U.S. Attorney General to say that this country has ‘no king but Jesus’ is completely unacceptable. In the United States, it is the constitution that serves as the basis for laws and national life, not one faith tradition." At a joint news conference in Washington, environmental and civil rights groups announced plans for a campaign to defeat Norton, including radio and television advertisements. "Gale Norton would be a natural disaster as interior secretary — her extremist agenda clashes with mainstream americans who love our national parks and wild lands," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said it would also oppose Norton, citing a 1996 speech in which she likened the struggle to preserve states’ rights to the cause of the confederacy and said "we lost too much" when the South was defeated in the civil war. On Thursday, bush strongly defended Norton and called any suggestion that her 1996 speech might imply a retreat from federal protections "ridiculous." Bush aides said the President-elect, who will take office in eight days, was spending his final weekend as a private citizen packing up at his Texas ranch and polishing an inaugural address that aims to bring Americans together. "It’s a speech designed to unite our country," top adviser Karen Hughes said of the speech, which Bush will give after taking office as the 43rd U.S. President on Jan. 20. Asked what note he wanted to strike, she replied: "a healing tone." (REUTERS) |
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Florida’s top election
officials criticized by TALLAHASSEE, FLA, Jan 13: A federal civil rights panel blasted Florida’s top election official yesterday for not providing leadership or adequate oversight in a Presidential election that became a national embarrassment and prompted a federal investigation. For most of an hour, members of the US Commission on civil rights grilled Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris over her hands-off approach to the state’s recently concluded election, a convoluted spectacle that kept the fate of the US presidency in doubt for more than a month. "I heard, today especially, from supervisors (of elections) who were desperate, desperate for your help," Commissioner Victoria Wilson said. "And the word that comes to mind is that you abandoned them. They were abandoned by your department." Harris, a Republican who served as co-chair for George W Bush’s campaign in Florida, was widely criticized by democrats during the fierce fight over Florida, the state both Bush and Vice President Al Gore needed to win the White House. Bush ultimately won the state and the presidency by 537 votes after the US Supreme Court ended ballot recounts Gore believed would produce enough votes to win the state. The Civil Rights Commission convened in Tallahassee for two days of hearings to investigate allegations that thousands of voters were denied the opportunity to vote on Nov 7 and that tens of thousands more had their ballots rejected. The panel has scheduled a public hearing in Miami next month. The eight-member panel unanimously agreed to investigate the 2000 Presidential election after civil rights leaders including the Rev Jesse Jackson alleged widespread disenfranchisement of voters due to technical snafus, poorly trained election workers and intimidation. Despite Harris’s repeated assertions that Florida’s constitution places the primary responsibility of elections oversight on local supervisors of elections, Commission panelists bristled at Harris’ apparently lack of knowledge of election law or her department’s procedures. Harris repeatedly deferred questions to the director of the division of elections, clay Roberts. Citing testimony earlier in the day, Commissioners said Harris’ office had ample indications that turnout would be high and local supervisors of elections were facing challenges. Following the election, Harris gave local officials little if any direction in how to react to recounts, challenges and other post-election issues. "The supervisors are saying you’re responsible," Wilson said. "You’re saying Mr Roberts is responsible and Mr Roberts is trying to do the best job he can. In the meantime, I’m on a merry-go-round called denial." Harris, who read a prepared statement and then deferred most queries to Roberts, said her management style is to delegate many of her responsibilities to division directors, including Roberts, who have more specialized training. "With all due respect, I stand accountable and responsible as Secretary of State for these issues, but Mr Roberts is the one who (oversees day-to-day operations,)" Harris said. Commission chairwoman Mary Frances Berry called Harris’s inability or unwillingness to answer specific commission questions a "very sad commentary." Berry said she was not surprised but disappointed in Harris’s ignorance of the operations of the elections division and her willingness to abdicate her responsibilities to others. "If Mr Roberts was to be responsible for all the election procedures...Why isn’t Mr Roberts the Secretary of State?" Berry asked. (REUTERS) |
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Bill Clinton doubts he’ll fall into funk WASHINGTON, Jan 13: President Bill Clinton says he doubts he will fall into a post-White House funk when he gives up his job as the most powerful man on the planet, but will have to learn how to be a "real citizen" again. Come noontime on Jan 20, Clinton will no longer have a staff of hundreds waiting to carry out his commands. There will be no air force one, no massive police escorts, no nuclear codes, no "hail to the chief" played every time he enters a crowded room of admirers. On Jan 21, Clinton will wake up a 54-year-old ex-president entering a new phase of his life. "I don’t expect that I’ll have sort of a prolonged period of semi-depression because I’m not president anymore," he insisted during a farewell interview with Reuters late on Thursday as he flew home after a day of adoring crowds in new Hampshire and Massachusetts. During the interview, Clinton had all the trappings of power around him, a gaggle of aides waiting outside his spacious office. Waving an unlit cigar, an air force one flight jacket with his name emblazoned on it draped over his chair, he leaned back and pondered what life will bring him. How is it going to feel? "I’m not sure. But I’ll say this. Right now I just feel very at peace, and very grateful, and I’m going to start thinking about the rest of my life. Every stage of my life has been rewarding and good and I’ve been so fortunate and it’s a real challenge. I’m just going to try to imagine how I can make the most of it," he said. Do not expect Clinton to lead a reclusive life. There will be a book and speeches that can draw 100,000 dollars a pop, and a focus on public policy issues from his presidential library in little rock, ark. One city will not be enough for him. He will live in Chappaqua near New York city while spending some time in Washington with his wife, New York democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. And he will spend some time in Arkansas. "But if I get in the newspapers I probably won’t come anymore (to Washington). I’d like to keep an appropriate low profile for some time," he told reporters in the Rose Garden yesterday. "I think it’s important and I want to take a couple of months to rest." He said he was only half-kidding the other day when he said he would probably get disoriented when he goes into a big room and does not hear "hail to the chief." "I’m sure there will be some kind of things that’ll be tough and I’ll have to learn how to be a real citizen all over again," he said." "But that’s good. The presidency is what was so well taken care of, and a lot of the cares of normal daily life that I had never had to think about when I was in office. It’s probably healthy for a person not to have that kind of support for too many years in life. So I’m looking kind of forward to it," he said. The ups and downs of eight years in office have clearly aged the man from Hope, Ark. His hair has whitened and there are more lines in his face. Speaking to a large crowd on Thursday night at Northeastern University in Boston, Clinton recalled his lost youthfulness when he first met Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy in Memphis in 1978 at a Health Care Conference. "I was the governor-elect of my state, 32 years old, looked like I was about 20. You all, in the last eight years, have taken care of that," he chuckled. (REUTERS) |
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US not averse to dialogue with Taliban: Inderfurth ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: US has not closed the course of dialogue with Taliban and has provided to them all relevant information about international terrorist Osama Bin Laden’s involvement in the bombing of the American embassies in East Africa, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth has said. "We don’t believe that the course of dialogue with the Taliban is closed. We have presented very detailed information on Bin Laden to Taliban," he said in an interview to a local news agency. Inderfurth said US officials were in contact with the Taliban through their representative in New York and had held negotiations with them in Islamabad and Kabul on Bin Laden. However, he said, the US Government wasn’t able to reach an understanding with the Taliban on the issue. "But we will continue the dialogue," he said, adding the imposition of sanctions against Taliban were not an arbitrary action. "Bin Laden is there (in Afghanistan)", he said, adding "Afghanistan is a base for international terrorists, opium and narcotics," he said. Justifying the imposition of one-sided arms embargo on Taliban, Inderfurth said "there is a reason to impose ban on supply of arms to the Taliban because of terrorism. We are not taking sides but have proposed steps against the Taliban because they protect terrorists and giving safe haven to Bin Laden." Hoping that steps against Taliban would not turn them more extremist, Inderfurth said the international community was ready to help in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan provided terrorism and narcotics are eliminated. On reports of Bin Laden leaving Afghanistan for an unknown destination, he said: "We will certainly welcome (it) if Bin Laden leaves Afghanistan. It will be the best thing to happen to the people of Afghanistan." Inderfurth also hoped that Pakistan would help persuade the Taliban to hand over Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden as the UN sanctions against Afghanistan demanded. "Hopefully Pakistan will use its influence with the Taliban to encourage it to comply so that these sanctions can be lifted." To have the sanctions lifted, Afghanistan would have to turn over Bin Laden to face charges of bombing two us embassies in 1998, halt drug production in 95 per cent of the country it controls and close terrorist camps training extremists. "It will, of course, be the responsibility of all members of the international community, including Pakistan, to enforce resolution 1333 (against Afghanistan) and we believe that Pakistan will do this," said Inderfurth. "We do believe that Pakistan will comply with this resolution and that it will take the appropriate steps calling for an end to all forms of assistance to the Taliban", he said. (PTI) |
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Australia to restore military ties with India SYDNEY, Jan 13: As part of the process of restoring military ties, an Australian military attache will resume his post in India two-and-a-half years after he was withdrawn in protest against New Delhi’s Pokhran nuclear detonations. However, the defence attache’s post in Pakistan, which also conducted nuclear tests following the Pokhran II, would remain vacant, defence officials said. Army Colonel Paul Power would resmume his duties next week as military attache at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi, they said. His Indian counterpart was also expected soon in canberra, the officials said. The exchange of students in military academies had also resumed as part of the exercise to strengthen defence ties. In the past year, Prime Minister John Howard, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Communications Minister Richard Alston and Trade Minister Mark Vaile visited India. (PTI) |
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Australia to reopen military links with India SYDNEY, Jan 13: An Australian military attache will resume his post in India two years after he was ordered home in protest at New Delhi’s nuclear testing programme, officials said today. However, in a significant diplomatic signal, the defence attache’s post in Pakistan, which also conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998, will remain vacant. Army Colonel Paul Power will return to the New Delhi mission after being withdrawn in May 1998, defence officials said. He will resume his duties this month, with an Indian counterpart now expected to be posted to Canberra shortly, a defence spokesman said. A spokesman for Defence Minister John Moore said Power’s appointment was part of the process of restoring military ties. Ministerial contact resumed in February 1999, with further restoration of ties cemented by Prime Minsiter John Howard’s visit to India last July. (AFP) |
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Boy with rifle forces evacuation of train RENNES, FRANCE, Jan 13: A 14-year-old boy armed with a rifle prompted the evacuation of a high-speed TGV train, railway officials said. The adolescent, who had apparently run away from home, was intercepted by conductors while traveling without a ticket. He was found to be in possession of a .22-calibre long rifle and five bullets, railway sources said yesterday. The boy, whose name was not given, then locked himself in a rest room of a first-class wagon of the train, which was traveling from Quimper in Western France to Paris. Police evacuated the train in the Rennes train station and subsequently took the boy into custody. (DPA) |
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