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China rules out strategic triangle with India, Russia BEIJING, May 3: China has virtually ruled out formation of a "strategic triangle" with India and Russia saying that Beijing prefers to develop ties.........more Vegetarian
sues SEATTLE, May 3: A vegetarian lawyer is claiming millions of dollars in damages from McDonald’s Corp. accusing the fast food company in a.......more Pentagon
retracts WASHINGTON, May 3: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has withdrawn a directive suspending military-to-military contacts with China,......more |
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Pak stops Taliban ISLAMABAD, May 3: Pakistan stopped four ministers of Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban Islamic militia from visiting the country and has tightened ......more Activists
demand GENEVA, May 3: Flaws plague the draft of an international anti-smoking treaty being discussed....more Missile
shield may BRUSSELS, May 3: Anyone who has seen "gladiator" will know that, in mortal combat, the shield can be just as vital as the sword. ........more |
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China rules out strategic triangle with India, Russia BEIJING, May 3: China has virtually ruled out formation of a "strategic triangle" with India and Russia saying that Beijing prefers to develop ties with New Delhi and Moscow through "bilateral channels." "Russia and India are two big neighbouring countries of China. We want to continue developing good-neighbourly and cooperative relationship with the two countries based on equality and trust through bilateral channels," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue said. Zhang said this when asked to state the Chinese Government’s stand on a "strategic triangle" between India, Russia and China, which was first openly mooted by former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov during his visit to New Delhi in December, 1998. Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, who was in Moscow last week for talks with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov, had said that it was "premature" to talk about a strategic alliance between the three countries. "Time for this has not yet come. We are for discussion on issues of mutual interests, but it is premature to set up any mechanism at the Government level," he told reporters. Tang, however, called for moving in this direction "gradually and step-by-step." "It would be desirable to begin with close contacts between the scholars and political scientists of the three countries," he said. Commenting on the possibility of a trilateral partnership, Deputy Director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Sun Shihai, said it was worthwhile to look into such a possibility. "China, Russia and India are major countries and it is important for them to have a mechanism to cooperate in international affairs," Sun said while pointing out to the convergence of interests of the countries on issues like the establishment of a multipolar world, a just and equitable international political and economic order as well as opposing neo-interventionism in the name of human rights. At the same time, Sun said the trilateral partnership should not become a strategic triangle with military components that could be against a third country, especially against the United States. However, Sun noted that much needs to be done on this front as bilateral relations between India and China have not reached the level of China’s strategic partnership with Russia. (PTI) |
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Vegetarian sues McDonalds over meaty fries SEATTLE, May 3: A vegetarian lawyer is claiming millions of dollars in damages from McDonald’s Corp. accusing the fast food company in a lawsuit of "secretly" lacing its French fries with beef fat. Citing an e-mail in which the oak brook, Illinois company discloses its suppliers use tiny amounts of beef flavoring, the suit charges McDonald’s with fraudulent claims for saying its fries have been cooked in pure vegetable oil. "We will seek injunctive relief to stop this practice ... And we are seeking damages, including punitive damages, that will easily be in the hundreds of millions of dollars," Harish Bharti, said yesterday who filed the class action suit in king county superior court on Tuesday. A McDonald’s spokesman said the restaurant chain had never claimed to offer vegetarian food and that it freely provides ingredient information to anyone who requests it. Stressing all of its food products are approved by the US Food and Arug Administration, spokesman Walt Riker said McDonald’s fries contain "minuscule" amounts of beef products, not the beef fat alleged by the lawsuit. "We are very open," Riker said. "We have probably 25 million people a day come to our restaurants in the United States. I don’t think anybody is coming in thinking that we are marketing vegetarian items." Bharti, an Indian native who avoids meat in adherence to his Hindu religion, said he filed the suit on behalf of the million or so Hindus in the United States and 15 million vegetarians who may have unknowingly eaten meat products. "McDonald’s didn’t have any right to deceive people this way," Bharti said. In some overseas markets, including parts of Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, McDonald’s does offer fries with no meat or pork content in order to conform to Islamic Halal standards, Riker said. (REUTERS) |
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Pentagon retracts suspension of military-to-military ties WASHINGTON, May 3: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has withdrawn a directive suspending military-to-military contacts with China, said a Pentagon spokesman, who blamed the mix-up on a misunderstanding of the Secretary’s intentions by a lower level official. The bureaucratic bungle came amid tensions between the United States and China over the collision of a US surveillance plane with a Chinese fighter, Chinese demands for an end to the surveillance flights, and US approval of a major arms package for taiwan. The directive suspending the contacts went out in a memorandum dated April 30 and was signed by Rumsfeld’s Senior Assistant for Policy, Chris Williams, Pentagon officials said. "The Secretary of Defense has directed the suspension of all department of defense programs, contacts and activities with the Peoples Repu Blic of China until further notice," the memo said. But shortly after news of the memorandum broke yesterday, the Pentagon spokesman called reporters in to say that the writer of the memorandum had misinterpreted Rumsfeld’s directives. "The memo called for a suspension of the mil-to-mil prgram. That is not his intention," said Rear Admiral Craig Quigley. Rumsfeld’s "true intention" was to order all elements of the military-to-military contacts to be reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis by the Department of Defense, Quigley said. Asked whether rumsfeld had read the memo before it went out, the Admiral said, "certainly not." (AFP) |
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Pak stops Taliban ministers’ visit, tightens security ISLAMABAD, May 3: Pakistan stopped four ministers of Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban Islamic militia from visiting the country and has tightened security. The Taliban ministers were coming to Pakistan to attend a conference organized by a Radical Islamic Party in northwestern Pakistan last month, english-language daily Dawn quoted Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider as saying. But they were stopped at Torkham, the main crossing between the two countries, and turned back, he said. This is the first time that Pakistan - considered a close ally of the orthodox militia - has refused entry to Taliban high officials. The decision was made in line with UN sanctions that ban supplying weapons to the Taliban and restrict foreign travel by their officials, Haider said. The UN imposed sanctions on the Taliban for its support of Osama Bin Laden, whom Washington accuses of running a global terrorist network. Pakistan opposes sanctions on the Taliban, but says it will abide by the UN decision. (AP) |
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Activists demand tougher anti-tobacco fight GENEVA, May 3: Flaws plague the draft of an international anti-smoking treaty being discussed this week in talks sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO), charge civil society groups, particularly because proposed bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship have been watered down. The text lacks teeth in several key areas so will do little in achieving the objective of significantly curbing tobacco consumption, says the Framework Convention Alliance, a network of some 100 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from around the world. The weeklong negotiations on the draft agreement include the participation of representatives from Government, industry, tobacco farmers and anti-smoking groups. The objective of the treaty, as summarised by Brazilian Ambassador Celso Amorim, who is presiding over the talks, is "to continually and substantially reduce the prevalence of tobacco use." The treaty - intended to enter into force in 2003 - should "protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke," says Amorim. The debate under way in this Swiss city is based on the text presented by the Brazilian diplomat, which summarises the results of the initial round of talks last October. Amorim, a former Minister of Foreign Relations, rejects charges launched by NGOs that the text is "Weak." He argues that the negotiations are taking place in an inter-Governmental process with two basic requirements: "A convention that is meaningful, but one that also - at least in principle - is ratifiable." The draft was written within these limits, Amorim emphasised. Sources involved in the negotiations point out that even delegations coming from the same country hold deeply divided opinions because they include representatives from Government health entities, who tend to favour a strict anti-tobacco agreement, and from industry and farming, who reject the plan outright, or will accept only a very lenient compromise. Representatives of the framework convention alliance said they "were greatly encouraged" by the many commitments delegates expressed at last October’s meeting, which included a total ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and strong measures to combat contraband. Nevertheless, they said they are "greatly concerned that the chair’s text falls short in several critical areas, especially tobacco advertising and promotion," and are calling for an "energetic and precise" agreement that is guided by the principle of protection and promotion of public health. Smoking and tobacco use in general cause four million deaths annually, and if this trend continues, tobacco-related death will reach 10 million annually by 2030, according to WHO statistics. As far as advertising, the anti-smoking activists maintain that amorim’s document focuses on youth prevention alone, while "ignoring the legitimate needs of adults, especially smokers seeking to quit." Amorim repudiated such claims, pointing out that the draft agreement contains some very restrictive provisions, such as phasing out tobacco companies’ transborder advertising and sponsorship of sports events. A ban on tobacco advertising in electronic transmissions targeting people under 18 is an enforceable measure that would also limit publicity for people over 18, commented the diplomat. One of the prickliest points included in the draft of the anti-smoking agreement involves the potential inclusion of clauses about liabilities and compensation for damages caused by tobacco use. The matter primarily affects the big tobacco transnationals, but also those Governments that hold monopolies, or at least major shares, in their domestic tobacco markets, such as Japan and China. Amorim stressed that at a seminar convened by the WHO in April, delegates were unable to reach concrete conclusions, therefore, he said, the debate remains open. (IPS) |
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Missile shield may require a gallery of systems BRUSSELS, May 3: Anyone who has seen "gladiator" will know that, in mortal combat, the shield can be just as vital as the sword. The remarkable fact about the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty is that the world’s two superpowers voluntarily agreed to set aside this age-old rule of warfare, foregoing anti-ballistic missile defences in favour of a naked "balance of terror". America’s NATO allies now know that President George W Bush intends to retire that concept and reinstate the classic precepts of defence not, he stresses, against Russia, but to blunt sneak attacks by new enemies. What the allies do not yet know, because the US itself does not know, is what shape the shield will ultimately take. Few expect to see a simple, single or immediate template. Diplomatic sources at NATO noted that debate in the last year of the Clinton era was fixed on a limited, US "national" missile defence of 200 ground-based interceptors to knock out missiles in space. Bush on Tuesday made his political point: No one should doubt such a development will go ahead. But he wants missile shields that can protect US forces as well as allies globally. "In a sense this restarts the whole debate at square one," said one diplomat. A Bush team is expected at NATO next week to flesh out the US proposals. Officials expect it to sketch a possible multi-layered "system of systems", designed to parry missile thrusts in different ways at different altitudes. Incoming missiles could be targeted shortly after launch while still in earth’s atmosphere, in mid-course in space, or in their terminal phase. Land, sea and air-based interceptors could be used. Potential components of such a three-dimensional shield already exist. Others are well along in developments not barred by the ABM’s limits on range, speed and altitude. "There are quite a lot of these systems around or on the drawing board. It’s not a new concept we’re talking about," said a NATO source. "The question is how they might be combined." In fact, anti-missile systems have adorned defence company drawing-boards since the days of Werner Von Braun, the former Nazi rocket scientist. Ideas include space-based energy rays and "brilliant pebble" kinetic arms explored in the star wars era. The Russians, who currently have the world’s only anti-ballistic missile shield in the form of limited defences around Moscow allowed by the 1972 treaty, say their new S-400 interceptor is better than the US patriot system. Both can knock out tactical-range ballistic missiles. Airborne lasers are being developed by the United States which, mounted on modified jumbo jets flying in pairs at high altitude, would neutralise missiles in their initial boost phase of flight when they are slow and easier to track. Moscow hints it has an effective land-based, boost phase system to contribute to any future joint programme. Like the US, Russia has also explored space-based weapons. Closer to earth, the US navy’s aegis (shield) system offers a fully integrated defence against some missile threats, be they from the air, at the surface, or below it. The US army’s Theatre High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system could form another layer of the anti-missile shield. High-profile test failures of the proposed ground based interceptor over the pacific last year encouraged opponents to assert that a system relying on hitting one missile with another missile in space was completely unrealistic. The Clinton administration, conceding privately that the project came across badly with allies, abandoned a timetable that had demanded a decision so that concrete for a radar station could be pored, this spring, on a remote aleutian atoll with a very short building season. (REUTERS) |
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