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2 killed, 13 hurt in Calif SANTEE, CALIF, Mar 6: After telling disbelieving friends all weekend that he was going to shoot up the school where he was taunted for being...more Infant
sleep position in CHICAGO, Mar 6: Some US maternity ward nurses may be placing infants on their side to sleep rather than on their back, the safest position to avoid ....more Supreme
Court to decide WASHINGTON, Mar 6: The U.S. Supreme Court said it will decide whether a zoning ordinance that bars operation of more than one adult entertainment.....more Muslim
pilgrims stone MENA, (SAUDI ARABIA), Mar 6: Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Haj pilgrims threw pebbles at three pillars today in a ritual symbolising the...more |
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Buddhist monks protest destruction of statues by Taliban COLOMBO, Mar 6: Buddhist monks in two Sri Lankan cities today carried out demonstrations against the ...more China to boost military BEIJING, Mar 6: China, warning of drastic military changes in the world, said today it would boost defence .......more Fiji Govt mulls next SUVA, Mar 6: Fiji’s ousted Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was under growing pressure today not to ...more Taliban actions likely ISLAMABAD, Mar 6: Mounting worldwide condemnation of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime for destroying...more |
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2 killed, 13 hurt in Calif high school shooting SANTEE, CALIF, Mar 6: After telling disbelieving friends all weekend that he was going to shoot up the school where he was taunted for being skinny, a smiling 15-year-old boy opened fire in his high school, killing two teenagers and injuring 13 other people. It was the worst act of violence at an American school since the April 20, 1999 attack by two teenage gunmen at Columbine High School in Colorado in which 15 people were killed and it threw this san diego suburb of 58,000 into shock and panic. A stunned Santee Mayor Randy Voepel told a news conference: "I’ve been mayor for nine weeks and if I was mayor for 900 years, it would not prepare me for this moment ... We’re a town of little leagues, soccer, community meetings ... And this is one of our children." He added, "this could happen in any town in america if it could happen in a town such as santee. We are America." Santee is a suburb of San Diego. The shooting was the latest of more than a dozen incidents of gun violence to have claimed casualties in American schools in recent years, including multiple killings in Oregon, Arkansas, and Kentucky, as well as Colorado. Police said the suspect — a high school freshman treated like a weakling by some of his classmates because of his small frame and scrawny looks — used a .22 caliber revolver, which he reloaded once after emptying its chambers to shoot people at random in a hallway and boys’ bathroom of Santana High School. At first the students at the 1,900-pupil school thought a cap pistol was going off. But as students fell bleeding, they realised it was a gun and they started fleeing the school in droves. As they were ran one way screaming, San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputy Ali Perez and three other officers headed the other way —where they cornered the unidentified teenage gunman in a boys’ restroom. He gave up without incident. "When we found him, he was inside the bathroom in a kneeling position with his hands out (holding) the butt of the gun. He dropped it and surrendered," Perez told reporters. Then when the boy heard that police were searching for a possible second suspect, perez said, "he looked up from the bathroom floor and said ‘it’s only me."’ Off-duty San Diego Police Officer Robert Clark, who was at the school to register his daughter, took part in the arrest and said he found two shot students in the stalls of the bathroom —one who was conscious and speaking and the other "unresponsive." Police said two of the shooting victims were killed. They were identified as Brian Zuckor, 14, and Randy Gordon, 15. One student reportedly died at the scene of the attack. The other died later at a local hospital. The shooting just before 9:30 a.m. Ist (2300 hrs Ist, yesterday) at Santana High Cchool in this suburb about 16 kms northeast of San Diego. The shooter had apparently told several friends over the weekend of his plans but no one believed him or reported him to authorities, according to accounts from students. Police said they were still investigating and would not comment. Although they said the youth would be charged as an adult with murder, they declined to reveal his name. Josh Stevens, 15, who identified himself as the boy’s closest friend, told local television stations that the youth joked all weekend that he was going to go to school and shoot people. "He had it all planned out but at the end of the weekend he said he was just joking. I would never have thought he would have had the nerve to do it." Another friend, Neil O’Grady said the youth was always picked on at school because "he’s scrawny. He was telling us how he would bring a gun to school and we thought he was joking." Witnesses to the shooting said he was "grinning" or "smiling" as he fired. Chris Reynolds, an adult who knew the alleged shooter, said the boy began talking about the violent plan over the weekend and that he even frisked him before he left for school but found nothing. "Everybody kind of thought he was joking around," Reynolds told a television reporter from local station KGTV. Reynolds said the suspect was often the butt of jokes at school, but that he usually replied with a joke and smile. "He’s a kid who gets picked on a lot because he does not stand up for himself. Most of the time he just takes it. He is joking around about it ... I didn’t think he was serious." San Diego County Sheriff William Kolender said, "we do not know the motivation. We do not know the motive at this point." President George W Bush decried the shooting as "a disgraceful act of cowardice," while Calif. Gov. Gray Davis and his wife Sharon expressed sorrow and horror over the attack —noting that Santana High Cchool was Sharon Davis’ Alma Mater. San Diego County District Attorney Paul Pfingst said that the boy would be arraigned Wednesday and would face charges in adult court thanks to California’s Prop. 21, a youth crime initiative voters passed last year. It mandates adult trials for juveniles 14 or older charged with murder or specified sex crimes. (REUTERS) |
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Infant sleep position in dispute, finds US study CHICAGO, Mar 6: Some US maternity ward nurses may be placing infants on their side to sleep rather than on their back, the safest position to avoid crib death, according to a report. The finding came from a survey of nurses working in 94 hospitals in Iowa in July, 1999. The side sleeping position was frequently used, the survey found, because the nurses were afraid of vomiting and aspiration in children sleeping on their back. In addition, earlier recommendations issued when stomach sleeping was first linked to sudden infant death syndrome about 10 years ago held that back and side positions were equally safe, the study from the University of Iowa said. It said more recent data has found that the side position is unstable, and that there is no data to support vomiting and aspiration as a cause of death for children placed on their back. "We believe that all information about infant sleeping position should recommend only the supine (back) position. The brochure provided by the US public health service and others is recognized as an authoritative source and thus, as shown by our data, influences behavior ... Accordingly, we urge that the next edition of the brochure no longer list the side position as an acceptable alternative," the study said. The report was published in the March issue of "pediatrics," the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. What happens in the hospital setting is important, the study added, because parents are likely to mimic what they see nurses doing after they take their child home. The highest risk of sudden infant death syndrome occurs not during the period immediately after birth but later in the first year of life. (REUTERS) |
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Supreme Court to decide adult business case WASHINGTON, Mar 6: The U.S. Supreme Court said it will decide whether a zoning ordinance that bars operation of more than one adult entertainment business at a single location violates constitutional free-speech rights. The High Court yesterday agreed to hear an appeal by Los Angeles defending its ordinance prohibiting the operation of adult businesses that both sell adult products and contain facilities to view adult movies or videos. A federal judge in California and a U.S. appeals court said the ordinance violated free-speech rights because the city had failed to study and provide adequate evidence of negative effects from the combinations, such as an adult bookstore with an adult arcade, in the same location. The justices will hear arguments in the case, in which more than 100 California cities supported the Los Angeles appeal, and then will issue its decision during its term that begins in October. The case involved Alameda Books Inc. and Highland Books Inc., two adult businesses that rent and sell sexually oriented products, including videotapes. They both provide booths where customers can view videotapes for a fee. In 1995, a city building inspector found that Alameda was operating both as an adult bookstore and arcade in the same building in violation of the 1983 zoning ordinance. The two businesses then joined together, asking a federal judge to prevent enforcement of the ordinance on first amendment grounds. The judge agreed, and the appeals court also ruled against Los Angeles. The city in 1978 adopted an ordinance that prohibits the establishment of an adult business within 1,000 feet (305 metres) of another such business or within 500 feet (152 metres) of a religious institution, school or public park. The regulations followed a comprehensive study that found a connection between concentrations of adult businesses and increases in crimes, such as prostitution, robberies and assaults. The city amended the ordinance in 1983 to prohibit so-called "multiple use" adult businesses, but did not document the harm from such combinations, relying instead on laws from other jurisdictions. (REUTERS) |
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Muslim pilgrims stone Satan after fatal stampede MENA, (SAUDI ARABIA), Mar 6: Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Haj pilgrims threw pebbles at three pillars today in a ritual symbolising the stoning of Satan, a day after at least 35 worshippers died in a stampede. Pilgrims packed the .6-km Jamarat Bridge in Mena outside Mecca in Saudi Arabia and pelted the concrete pillars to chants of "in the name of god, god is greatest". At least 35 people, including 23 women, were crushed to death or suffocated on the bridge on Monday, the first day of the devil-stoning ritual, a Saudi official said, as overzealous pilgrims tried to push their way through to the main pillar. A Saudi source later said the death toll had risen to 38, but there was no official confirmation of this. The dead and dozens of injured were taken to Mena general hospital. Some of the injured were released after treatment while others were said to be in serious condition. The nationalities of the victims had not been released more than 24 hours after the incident. Today, crowds were moving smoothly under the watchful eyes of hundreds of police as loudspeaker announcements in eight languages guided the pilgrims, who were given free chilled water in temperatures that reached 35 degrees celsius (93 fahrenheit). Police formed human chains in an attempt to limit the number of people going through to the pillars. Medical teams stood by and helicopters hovered above. Yesterday’s accident appeared not to have dimmed the enthusiasm of the pilgrims. "It was unfortunate what happened yesterday," said Abdullah, from Egypt. "But accidents happen and let’s hope it will not be repeated." Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef was quoted in local newspapers as expressing grief at the deaths. He said they occurred because many pilgrims arrived on the bridge at the same time and they rushed to complete their rituals. He urged Muslim countries to intensify programmes to make pilgrims more aware of proper rituals and the need to avoid overcrowding. Official Saudi figures showed that 1.36 million pilgrims from around the world performed the Haj this year, joined by 440,000 from inside the kingdom. The pilgrims will sleep in mena for another night before a third day of devil-stoning tomorrow, the fifth and last day of the Haj. Yesterday’s tragedy occurred as the world’s one billion muslims began celebrating Eid Al-Adha (feast of sacrifice), which marks god’s last-minute command to Abraham to slaughter a sheep after asking him to sacrifice his son to test Abraham’s faith. The five-day ritual, marked by repeated fatal incidents in recent years, had been proceeding smoothly before the stampede. The Jamarat bridge was the scene of a stampede in 1998 in which at least 119 people were killed, including some Saudi policemen. In 1994, 270 people were killed there in a stampede. In 1997, 343 people died in a fire that swept through thousands of tents in Mena, another holy site near Mecca. Saudi Arabia has since spent millions of dollars on fire-proof tents. The biggest reported tragedy was in 1990 when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a stampede in a tunnel. Large teams of cleaners and sweepers were deployed at Mena and garbage bins were placed every 10-20 metres (yards). Traffic jams blocked roads as thousands of pilgrims rode buses heading to Mecca for prayers at the grand mosque, Islam’s holiest site. The pilgrims had prayed for mercy and forgiveness at Mount Arafat on Sunday, the high point of the Haj, and on Monday sacrificed hundreds of thousands of cows, sheep and camels at the start of the four-day Eid Al-Adha. Before starting to leave for home on Wednesday, pilgrims will return to Mecca for another round of circling the cube-shaped Kaaba, which muslims around the world turn to when they pray five times a day. Every able-bodied Adult Muslim who can afford the trip must complete the Haj at least once in their lifetime. Muslims believe that pilgrims who perform the Haj with a sincere heart return home as pure as the day they were born. (REUTERS) |
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Buddhist monks protest destruction of statues by Taliban COLOMBO, Mar 6: Buddhist monks in two Sri Lankan cities today carried out demonstrations against the destruction of Buddhist statues by Muslim zealots in Afghanistan. Buddhist monks held two peaceful demonstrations in the capital Colombo and the central town of Kandy, 117 km east of the capital, while a separate campaign to collect signatures for a mass petition was underway. The signing of the petition to protest against the destruction of the Buddhist statues is expected to continue in the next few days. Public appeals have been made to go to Buddhist temples and sign the petition. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry last Friday summoned heads of foreign missions based in Colombo and called for their support to carry out a campaign to prevent the destruction of the statues in Afghanistan. About 70 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 18.2 million population are Buddhist. (DPA) |
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China to boost military spending by 10 percent BEIJING, Mar 6: China, warning of drastic military changes in the world, said today it would boost defence spending by almost 18 percent this year in a sign of growing concern about US arms sales to Taiwan. Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng told Parliament he would give the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — the largest standing Army in the world — a record budget of 141 billion yuan ( 17 billion). But defence analysts estimated the real defence budget could be up to four times that figure as China upgrades the PLA into a high-tech force capable of backing up a threat to invade Taiwan if the island declares independence. Xiang told the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s Parliament, the budget increase was mainly to raise salaries of officers and soldiers. But it also addressed "the need to meet drastic changes in the military situation of the world and prepare for defence and combat given the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology", Xiang said. That was seen as a clear reference to US plans to build a National Missile Defence (NMD) system protecting itself from attack and a Theatre Missile Defence (TMD) in East Asia which Beijing fears would protect Taiwan. China is lobbying Washington hard not to sell Taiwan high-tech weapons, including the aegis and patriot anti-missile defence systems. "That is an oblique reference to the Americans and the potential ill of selling things like aegis-equipped vessels to Taiwan," one western diplomat said of Xiang’s speech. Beijing fears the US technology could diminish the threat of hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan from China’s eastern province of Fujian. Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said the budget increase was not directed at Taiwan. "You shouldn’t artificially connect China’s natural increase in military spending and the Taiwan question," he told a news conference. Defence analysts say the PLA lacks the air and amphibious naval capability to invade taiwan at present, but is seeking it. China has spent billions of dollars in recent years on arms purchases from Russia, including SU-27 and SU-30 warplanes, four kilo class submarines and sovremenny destroyers, to boost its potential attack force, they said. The budget reflected the growing cost of maintaining high-tech equipment and hiring skilled personnel to operate it. "The guys you want to do the software support are the same guys nortel would like to hire," said one diplomat. "It’s standing hand on heart saluting the red flag in a drab uniform for 2,000 yuan a month or living in Shanghai and doing software development for 6,000 yuan a month." The budget increase would also compensate a military ordered out of commerce in 1998 and curry favour with generals before a crucial communist party congress next year, analysts said. President and party chief Jiang Zemin, NPC head Li Peng and Premier Zhu Rongji are due to retire from their party positions at the Congress, but Jiang is expected to try to keep his position as head of the Central Military Commission. "This is in part a continuing adjustment by the government to compensate the PLA for their withdrawal from purely commercial business activities," said Robert Karniol, Asia Pacific Editor of Jane’s defence weekly. "Anybody who is jockeying for position to move into Jiang’s slot needs the PLA’s support," he said. "The PLA doesn’t decide who gets the job, but they’re one of the key players." (REUTERS) |
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Fiji Govt mulls next move as former Premier told to go SUVA, Mar 6: Fiji’s ousted Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was under growing pressure today not to seek reinstatement as the interim Government considered its response to a court ruling that it is illegal. The Cabinet met today and later briefed President Ratu Josefa Iloilo on possible options in the wake of the court ruling. Iloilo and Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase have said they would abide by a ruling restoring the multiracial 1997 Constitution, abandoned after last year’s coup. The Fiji appeal court last week ruled that Qarase’s interim Government, imposed by the military following the coup, was illegal, and said that Iloilo must recall Parliament and vacate his office by March 15. Troops ringed the Government building in Suva during the Cabinet meeting in a show of force by the military. Fiji Radio, citing sources, reported that Government lawyers told the Cabinet that it must resign, but it may be able to stay on in a caretaker role. The Cabinet was expected to meet again tomorrow, the station said. The Government did not make any statement on the meeting. With no timetable for restoring democracy, Chaudhry’s five-party People’s coalition was in disarray. Three of the parties said they support a Government of national unity, despite Chaudhry’s opposition. Chaudhry’s Fiji Labor Party was one of the three parties backing a unity Government. There is a growing belief in the coalition that an indigenous Fijian at the head of a Government of national unity is needed to unite the ethnically divided nation. Chaudhry was the country’ first ethnic Indian Prime Minister before being deposed by nationalist gunmen in the May coup. Ethnic Indians make up 44 per cent of the population. Indigenous Fijians account for 51 per cent. Relations crumbled as Indians gained more economic and political power, culminating with Chaudhry’s 1999 election. Chaudhry admitted today there were four other coalition candidates for his job, but maintained the alliance was not disintegrating. He said the leadership should be determined when Parliament is recalled. "The coalition is intact, we have had some problems on this score, and the decision is that when Parliament is recalled this matter will be settled," he said. Pressure for Chaudhry to step aside is growing, from within and outside Fiji. Former Deputy Prime Minister, Tupeni Baba, a leading candidate to replace Chaudhry, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Radio today the coalition has decided Chaudhry must go. A report in the Fiji Times newspaper said Army Commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama told National Security Council that Chaudhry was a national security threat. New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Suva, Tia Barrett, told Radio New Zealand the situation in the South Pacific nation is increasingly unstable.(AP) |
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Taliban actions likely to have impact on ties with Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Mar 6: Mounting worldwide condemnation of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime for destroying Buddha statues and surge of sectarian violence in Pakistan could have a serious fallout on ties between Islamabad and the militia, officials and diplomats here said. Officials here agree that more than the outside world, Pakistani establishment itself was aware of the consequences of the continuation of Taliban-friendly activities. "But Pakistan like the US cannot wish away Taliban as they still believe that it provides a strategic depth to any future confrontation with India," diplomats said. However, concern has started gripping some sections here. "Only God knows if Taliban-like militia would also eventually take over Pakistan," columnist Anees Jillani wrote in Pakistani daily `The News’ today. He said the few concerned over such a possibility remained in Pakistan — "those of us who remain in Islamic Republic or this world to analyse the causes of such a catastrophe." Officials here argue that it was important for Pakistan to continue to engage Taliban as it shared 2,040 km of porous border with Afghanistan and over 2.5 million Afghan refugees currently lived in Pakistan. Most importantly, Pakistan houses over 20,000 Islamic seminaries which have close ideological connections with Taliban. The Taliban regime, which is recognised by only Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, has friendly ties with Islamabad. Last week, when Taliban’s supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar issued an Islamic edict to destroy the Buddha statues, several Islamabad-based diplomats of both Western and Asian countries rushed to Pakistan’s Foreign Office for its intervention. "As soon as we heard the news of Taliban’s decision to destroy the Buddha statues, we rushed to Pakistan Foreign Office seeking their intervention as they are the only one to have enjoyed very close ties with Taliban," said a Sri Lankan diplomat here. Also causing concern for Pakistan is the Sunni extremist backlash after last week’s hanging of an activist of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Haq Nawaz, who was convicted for murdering an Iranian diplomat 10 years ago. The hanging plunged parts of Punjab and North Western Frontier Province in sectarian violence, which was blamed on Taliban-trained Sunni extremist groups. Pakistan has alleged that several terrorists wanted in connection with sectarian violence took shelter in Afghanistan. Taliban has, however, refused to sign an extradition treaty with Pakistan. (PTI) |
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