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Blair
puts Britain on LONDON, May 7: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has ordered his ministers to give up a public holiday today for a special meeting — a sure-fire signal that he is poised to call a general election for June seven........more Heroin
is out, young BERLIN, May 7: Alcohol and nicotine are still the number-one drugs in Germany and although heroin is now considered out of fashion by young people, cocaine and the former hippy drug, hashish, still have a strong following.......more Israel
enters Palestinian JERUSALEM, May 7: Israeli troops battling Palestinian gunmen briefly thrust into the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town of Tulkarm.....more Huge
security operation HONG KONG, May 7: Hong Kong is battening down for one of the biggest security operations seen here as protesters threaten to disrupt a global. .....more |
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Japan PM pledges to take TOKYO, May 7: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in his debut performance in Parliament, pledged ........more Puerto
Rico wins miss SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, May 7: Miss Puerto Rico won the Miss photogenic title at the Miss Universe contest, giving the hosts .......more
Maneka
arrives to file suit LONDON, May 7: Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi has arrived here to file a .......more
Wahid
won’t dissolve JAKARTA, May 7: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has no intention of dissolving Parliament even..........more |
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Blair puts Britain on alert for general poll LONDON, May 7: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has ordered his ministers to give up a public holiday today for a special meeting — a sure-fire signal that he is poised to call a general election for June seven. Blair, buoyed by huge opinion poll leads, cut short celebrations for his 48th birthday on Sunday to return to his downing street office in central London to finalise strategy to win a second term of power for his Labour Party. His original plans to seek re-election on May 3 were dashed by the wildfire spread of foot-and-mouth livestock disease across Britain, but opinion polls show he remains firmly on course for a second landslide victory in four years. Final details of the labour election manifesto would be decided at Monday’s cabinet meeting and Blair would probably formally announce the June 7 date to the nation on Tuesday, authoritative sources said. Blair would simply need to take the short drive from downing street to Buckingham Palace for a traditional audience with Queen Elizabeth, dissolve Parliament and launch a four-week election campaign. The sources said Blair would deliver a stern warning to his cabinet against taking victory for granted, even though the main opposition conservative party seems to be in disarray. Surveys suggest the Prime Minister may romp home with a majority of over 200 in the 659-seat Parliament. "The polls say we’re ahead. The only poll which counts is on election day," said a Blair aide. "Every vote will be fought for." Blair’s effort to portray the election as hanging on a knife-edge may raise some eyebrows, but he is desperate to avoid apathy among grassroots labour supporters, warning that a relatively modest fall in labour votes could translate into a big conservative recovery. Conservative Chairman Michael Ancram said on Sunday that if his party could win over an average of just 3,000 voters in target seats across the country, it would emerge victorious. "All the indications from the work we’re doing on the ground persuades us we can do that," he said. Blair, who swept to power in 1997 with a 179-seat majority, does not need to call an election until mid-2002, but it has been an open secret for months that he wants to take advantage of a buoyant economy. The foot-and-mouth epidemic is now officially under control, so Blair believes now is the time for an election. The election is likely to be fought mainly on domestic issues, with Blair keen to neutralise the divisive question of Europe, particularly over Britain’s membership of the single European currency. Blair says he favours joining the Euro in principle as long as it meets Britain’s economic interests. Conservative leader William Hague, campaigning to "save the pound" for at least the next five years, is convinced his "Euro-scepticism" is more in tune with public opinion and wants to make Europe an election issue. Surveys regularly show that a majority of Britons are opposed to joining the Euro. But former conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath said his party could not win as long as it continued to rule out joining the single currency in the next Parliament. "You won’t get a tory victory like that," Heath said. Despite criticism of his failure to turn around Britain’s creaking transport network and health services, Blair has enjoyed four years of big opinion poll leads — sometimes as high as 20 points and more. (REUTERS) |
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Heroin is
out, young Germans prefer BERLIN, May 7: Alcohol and nicotine are still the number-one drugs in Germany and although heroin is now considered out of fashion by young people, cocaine and the former hippy drug, hashish, still have a strong following. The trends have been detected by the German Government’s addiction and drug report 2000, which its commissioner on drugs, Marion Caspers-Merk, has just presented. The study shows contradictory tendencies. It seems youngsters are turning less to cigarettes and beer yet experts have noticed a new trend towards unrestrained "binge drinking" and excessive use of both alcohol and other stimulants. No other drug claimed as many lives as the legal drugs nicotine and alcohol, however. Caspers-Merk says that 100,000 people die in germany as a direct or indirect result of their nicotine addiction, while 40,000 fall victim to alcohol abuse. Four million adult smokers are regarded as addicted and 1.5 million people alcoholics in Germany. The report also points to another worrying trend in daily drug use: Namely that "as a rule" their use usually proceeds that of illegal drugs. Nevertheless, the Government’s information campaign appears to have had some effect. Since 1997, the number of adult smokers has declined from 17.8 to 16.6 million. Youngsters are also smoking less. Despite the warnings, 38 per cent of 12 to 25-year-olds puff away regularly or occasionally. Youngsters tend to smoke the first cigarette when aged between 13 and 14 which means that 11 and 12-year-olds are also getting hooked, says Caspers-Merk. Alcohol consumption among young Germans has been steadily declining over the last 20 years, according to the report. It says 30 per cent consume alcohol at least once a week. Experts have been observing a pan-european trend among youngsters to unrestrained "binge drinking" and deliberate intoxication through party drugs. Caspers-Merk suspects this is all to do with a "culture of fun" which dictates that everyone at a party or over the weekend must remain "cool, fit and happy." Cannabis is by far the most popular illegal drug in Germany. The number of users among 18- to 24-year-olds has risen, says the report, with 22 per cent of those asked in western states and 17 per in the east saying they smoked cannabis or marijuana in the last 12 months. In contrast to cannabis, heroin appears to be out of fashion among young people these days. "Heroin consumption has been considered increasingly ‘out’ by young people in the last few years," says the report. "H" is generally seen at a loser’s drug, although among youngsters from the former Soviet Union this is not the case. Drug advice centres are reporting an increase in such people among regular heroin users. The number of ethnic-German immigrants, mostly from Central Asia, who have died as a result of drugs rose from 36 in 1999 to 162 in 2000 - a fourfold-plus increase. Caspers-Merk is now calling for specific help for this group. (DPA) |
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Israel enters Palestinian ruled area in gunfight JERUSALEM, May 7: Israeli troops battling Palestinian gunmen briefly thrust into the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town of Tulkarm overnight, officials on both sides said today. The brief incursion on the edge of the town followed heavy Israeli Machinegun and tank fire in which at least 11 Palestinians were wounded and several buildings were damaged, Palestinian hospital sources and witnesses said. Tulkarm Governor Izz El-Din Al-Sharif told Reuters that Israeli troops entered ten metres into Palestinian-controlled territory before being rebuffed by Palestinian security forces. Israeli Border Police Commander in the West Bank, Israel Yitzhak, said the Army issued a "massive response of shooting, both of individual weapons and of tanks" to Palestinian gunfire. The raid followed a green light from Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer for the Army to enter Palestinian-ruled territories when it sees fit in fighting a seven-month-old Palestinian uprising against israeli occupation. The Palestinian authority, the report said, should make clear "through concrete action" that "terrorism is reprehensible and unacceptable, and that the PA will make a 100 percent effort to prevent terrorist operations and to punish perpetrators". In its recommendations, the panel did not suggest sending a peacekeeping force to the region as demanded by the Palestinians. It said such a force would be effective only if both parties supported its deployment. In a statement after its weekly meeting on sunday, the Palestinian authority said the mitchell committee findings "represent a way to put an end to the aggressive war launched by Sharon’s Government against the Palestinian people". It hailed the committee’s call for a settlement freeze, saying the findings showed that settlements, illegal under international law, are "the greatest danger threatening the peace process". Israel has said it will not build new settlements but will expand existing ones to take into account the "natural growth" of their populations. Some 200,000 settlers live in the West Bank and Gaza, home to two million Palestinians. But the findings fell short of Palestinian expectations by not placing blame for the eruption of the violence on now-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s September 28 visit to a sensitive Jerusalem shrine holy to Muslim and Jews. "The Sharon visit did not cause the ‘Al-Aqsa Intifada," the report said, referring to a mosque on the site, revered by Muslims as Haram Al-Sharif and by jews as temple mount. "But it was poorly timed and the provocative effect should have been foreseen." The report listed what it said were "more significant events", such as "the decision of the Israeli police on September 29 to use lethal means against the Palestinian demonstrators, and the subsequent failure...Of either party to exercise restraint". (REUTERS) |
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Huge security operation as
Jiang, Clinton HONG KONG, May 7: Hong Kong is battening down for one of the biggest security operations seen here as protesters threaten to disrupt a global economic forum which Chinese President Jiang Zemin and former US leader Bill Clinton will attend. Up to 3,000 police officers will be deployed around the Hong Kong Convention Centre for the three-day forum of leading Government and business leaders from tomorrow. The demonstrations by the Falungong spiritual group, banned in China, and possibly anti-globalisation groups threaten to overshadow the event which could include private meetings between Clinton and Jiang. With Sino-US ties plummeting since George W. Bush took the reins from Clinton, Jiang is expected to use the occasion for face-to-face talks with his former sparring partner. A source in Washington said Jiang had requested a meeting although white house officials have struck a nonchalant posture. The White House said it was not opposed to Clinton’s trip despite strained relations with Beijing stemming from the collision of a US spy plane with a chinese fighter jet and the 11-day detention of the plane’s 24 crew members. "He’s a private citizen," White House spokeswoman Mary Ellen countryman said. But "he’s not going to be taking a message for us," a Bush official said. Jiang had originally planned to spend a week in Hong Kong but the spectre of being dogged by protesters led him to shorten his stay to just 24 hours. (AFP) |
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Japan PM pledges to take politics to the people TOKYO, May 7: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in his debut performance in Parliament, pledged today to take politics to the people to restore their battered trust and to enact painful reforms to fix Japan’s long-stagnant economy. Pledging Japan would never again go to war, Koizumi, elected last month as the nation’s 11th Prime Minister in 13 years, also committed Tokyo to a leading role on the world diplomatic stage. Financial markets as well as Japanese voters, both of which have given Koizumi rave reviews in his first days in office, have been looking to the speech for clues as to whether the maverick politician — propelled to power by rank-and-file ruling party members — will match reformist rhetoric with concrete action. Asian neighbours are also watching closely to see whether Koizumi, known for his nationalist tinge, will work to repair ties frayed by disputes over war-time history and modern trade. Koizumi’s policy speech today was liberally laced with precisely the rhetoric that has made him — for now — the darling of financial market players praying he’ll deliver on his promises of tough changes needed to pry the world’s second largest economy out of its decade-long Stupor. "The most important issue is to rebuild the economy and to create a Japanese society filled with self-confidence and pride," Koizumi said. "The prescriptions have already been indicated. What I must do now...Is to carry them out with determination." "Adopting a stance that does not fear pain, does not flinch at the barriers of vested interests, and is not bound by the experience of the past...I want to establish an economic and social system suitable for the 21st century." Mindful of voters’ ire at his long-ruling party’s penchant for scandal, Koizumi pledged to retore public trust in politics by making the policy process transparent and expanding the scope for the people to participate. "Through dialogue...I want to realise a ‘politics of trust’, he said, in an echo of the first policy speech by his predecessor, Yoshiro Mori, whose scandal-tainted year in office saw his popularity plummet to single-digit record lows. It was Mori’s vanishing public support that prompted ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers to decide to hold an early party election to replace him ahead of a key election for Parliament’s upper house in July. As one way to achieve his goal, Koizumi said he would set up a body to ponder introducing the direct election of Prime Ministers —a proposal he personally favours. Koizumi also said he planned within six months to begin ‘’town meetings" in which cabinet ministers would take part and to start a "Koizumi cabinet e-mail magazine" to foster that dialogue. On the diplomatic front, Koizumi — echoing words spoken in his first news conference as Prime Minister — promised Japan would never again become isolated from international society or go to war. Promising to let the private sector handle activities it could do best, Koizumi said he would set up a body to study his pet proposal of privatising the postal service and would review quasi-public corporations to achieve cuts in public spending. (REUTERS) |
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Puerto Rico wins miss photogenic at Miss Universe SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, May 7: Miss Puerto Rico won the Miss photogenic title at the Miss Universe contest, giving the hosts the second prize decided among the 77 contestants from around the world. Local fans screamed and whistled their applause yesterday when she arrived, befeathered, in a dress representing her homeland. Denise Quinones, a 20-year-old journalism student, wore a bathing suit of feathers flanked by two large wings, representing a fighting cock and the sport that is popular in this US Caribbean territory and many other places in Latin America. She beamed with pride as she displayed her crystal trophy to the audience, who waved Puerto Rican flags. The winner was chosen by people who voted on the internet site of the contest. The event attracted only a small audience, apparently because of high ticket prices. The photogenic contest has no bearing on the coveted Miss Universe title. Last night, contestants donned swimsuits and evening gowns for the panel of eight judges to determine 10 finalists. While the judges arrived at decisions, their results will not be, adding to the suspense while people await the finals of the pageant Friday in the San Juan suburb of Bayamon. This year’s competition is the 50th. Last year’s, in cyprus, was won by Miss India, Lara Dutta. On Wednesday, Miss Korea - 23-year-old Sa-Lang Kim - won the costume contest. She sported a white traditional Hanbok dress and an elaborate Hairdo, to take home dlrs 1,000 and a crystal trophy. (AP) |
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Maneka arrives to file suit against author of ‘Indira’ LONDON, May 7: Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi has arrived here to file a defamation suit against Katherine Frank, author of Indira, a biography of Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister. She is accompanied by her son, Feroze Varun Gandhi, and lawyer Raj Panjwani, who had fought and won Maneka’s case against Khushwant Singh for a chapter in his autobiography. Maneka Gandhi, daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, has strongly objected to certain portions in Katherine Frank’s book, which does not show her husband Sanjay Gandhi and mother-in-law in good light. (PTI) |
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Wahid won’t dissolve Indonesian Parliament JAKARTA, May 7: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has no intention of dissolving Parliament even though legislators may be moving closer to impeaching him, a spokesman said today. Adhie Massardi said Wahid was asked at a meeting on Saturday with senior military officers about rumours earlier this year that he wanted to issue a decree to dissolve Parliament, which last week censured him again over two financial scandals. "All I know is that a decree (to dissolve Parliament) was mentioned in the discussion. Someone in the meeting brought up the issue, not the President," Massardi told Reuters. "The President has never had any intention to dissolve Parliament through a decree," he added. In March, the beleaguered Muslim cleric denied rumours he wanted to dissolve Parliament, saying he would not kill democracy in a country more familiar with despotic presidents and authoritarian rule. But speculation has been rife in Jakarta about Wahid’s political intentions since he abruptly left a cabinet meeting on Saturday after only 15 minutes. The cabinet meeting broke up soon after that, compared to the usual lengthy gatherings. Wahid’s meeting with the military had taken place just before the cabinet session. Wahid won the country’s first contested Presidential election in 1999 but was selected by the top legislature, the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), rather than by popular vote. It is unclear if he has the authority to dissolve Parliament. Political tensions have again come to a head in the world’s fourth most populous nation since Parliament censured Wahid a second time over the two scandals, taking him one step closer to impeachment by the MPR. He has until the end of the month to reply to the latest rebuke but many analysts say it is looking increasingly unlikely he will be able to hang on to his job much longer and he could face impeachment in August. The MPR comprises the 500 Members of Parliament and 200 appointed regional representatives. Only it has the power to sack Presidents, not Parliament. The military itself has repeatedly said in recent weeks it wanted to remain neutral in a long-running political brawl that threatens to keep Indonesia on knife-edge. While Wahid has largely sidelined the military from national decision-making, analysts say leading generals are trying to reposition the armed forces for any political realignment that would follow should the Muslim cleric be ousted. (REUTERS) |
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