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Sharif leaves for Malaysian Judge |
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Jiang returns home sans written apology from Japan
BEIJING, Nov 30: Chinese president Jiang Zemin today
returned back after completing a visit to Japan sans a
written apology from Tokyo to the Chinese people over the
Japanese aggression during world war II.....more |
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Malaysian Judge jails Anwar lawyer KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30: The Judge in the trial of sacked Malaysian Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim today ordered defence lawyer jailed for three months for contempt of court. In a dramatic twist to the corruption and sex trial, High Court Judge Augustine Paul ordered defence counsel Zainur Zakaria to surrender today. At issue was an an affidavit by Anwar accusing the prosecution of trying to obtain false testimony. Augustine also issued a warrant for the arrest of lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon, representing a businessman friend of Anwar’s being tried in a separate case over ammnitin. Both Zainur and Manjeet are former heads of the Malaysian Bar Council. The Judge’s shock moves pushed aside examination of the corruption charges which Anwar faces in his trial, at the Centre of Malaysia’s simmering civil unrest. In the affidavit, filed by Zainur at the High Court on Saturday, Anwar accused prosecutors of trying to get the friend, Nallakarruppan Solaimalai, to fabricate evidence of sex crimes by him. The affidavit cited a letter from Manjeet to Attorney- General Mohtar Abdullah, dated October 12 and accusing the Chief Prosecutor in the Anwar trial, Abdul Gani Patail, of seeking Nallakarruppan’s testimony against Anwar in exchange for a lesser arms charge against the businessan. Augustine ordered Zainur jailed after the lawyer said he would not apologise for filing the affidavit. (REUTERS) |
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First arrow anti-missile rolls off Assembly line JERUSALEM, Nov 30: The first operational arrow anti-ballistic missile has rolled off the Assembly line at Israel Aircraft Industries. Israel TV said the missile, part of a jointly funded Israel-U.S. Defense Project, would be used for further testing. An Israeli test of the arrow in September was successful. The entire project is expected to be fully operational by mid-1999. The defense establishment will not sell the arrow until all tests are completed, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai said at the ceremony at Israel Aircraft Industries, yesterday. Critics have said the Arrow will only be able to shoot down missiles close to base and not in enemy skies. The project got a boost after the 1991 Gulf war, when American patriot missiles failed in many cases to destroy Iraqi scuds fired at Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel hopes to use the arrow as a defense against threats from such countries as Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya. Israel is particularly concerned about Iran’s successful test in July of the Shahab 3 missile, which can reach Israel with it’s 800-mile (1,300-kms) range. (AP) |
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Russia asks empathy and money from IMF MOSCOW, Nov 30: Russia’s Finance Minister has asked for a little empathy and a lot of cash from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Money is not the main thing we need from the IMF, although we need that too," Mr Mikhail Zadornov yesterday said, according to the Interfax News Agency. "We, above all, expect understanding from the IMF, and a programme to relieve Russia’s debt that is, 17.5 billion dollars." Russia has been hoping the IMF would release the next installment of a 22.6 billion dollars loan package that was frozen in August after the Government effectively devalued the rouble and defaulted on its foreign debt. Those actions helped plunge the country into its worst financial crisis since Soviet times. Government officials have taken various tacks in asking for the money. Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov tried exasperation on Saturday, when he complained about the demands of "young boys" from the IMF, but said Russia would grudgingly give in to them. The IMF has demanded that Russia adopt a budget that is acceptable to fund officials before any more of the loan is released. Mr Zadornov said he hoped the IMF would not only release the next loan installment, but help Russia restructure its foreign debt and perhaps persuade some creditors to let Russia off the hook. "Without the consent of the IMF, creditors won’t agree to defer, or possibly partly write off, Russia’s external debt," Mr Zadornov said on Russian television, according to interfax. Another Government financial officer, Mr Alexander Pochinok, was yesterday quoted as saying that the draft 1999 budget assumes that Russia will receive the remaining 17.5 billion dollars in loans from the IMF, World Bank and Japan. (AP) |
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Army deployed for smooth conduct of entrance exams ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: The Pakistani Army has now been shouldered with the responsibility to invigilate entrance examinations to various professional courses in Peshawar. The Army has assumed the new role following conceding to the request of the Governor of North West Frontier province yesterday amid complaints of cheating from students. Earlier, the army was deployed outside the examination halls. But that did not prevent cheating. So, this time the Governor decided to let the Army invigilate. In recent months, the Army has been increasingly used in different fields where the civilians have failed. Of late, the control of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) was handed over to the Army as alleged corruption and inefficiency had turned this institution into a massive liability. Early this year, the Army was asked to conduct the much-delayed census and later it was assigned the job of locating ghost schools in Punjab. This month it was asked to maintain peace in the Sui region of Baluchistan which supplies gas to most of Pakistan. And now having failed to control lawlessness in Sindh, the government has handed over this province to the Army. The Army has ruled Pakistan directly or indirectly for most of its 51-year existence. The current spell of democracy started in 1988 but all successive civilian Governments since then have worked under the fear of its return. (UNI) |
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Jiang returns home sans written apology from Japan BEIJING, Nov 30: Chinese president Jiang Zemin today returned back after completing a visit to Japan sans a written apology from Tokyo to the Chinese people over the Japanese aggression during world war II. Jiang, who returned here after a nine-day high-profile visit to Russia and Japan, was received here by Prime Minister Zhu Rong Ji, Vice-President Hu Jintao and other senior official, Xinhua news agency said. Earlier today, Jiang, the first Chinese head of state to visit Japan since the end of the second world war, wrapped up his trip with a visit to Sapporo, capital of Japan’s northern-most prefecture of Hokkaido. However, Jiang’s maiden trip to Japan was marred by his failure to extract a written apology from Japan for its wartime atrocities in China from 1937 to 1945. He received only a verbal apology at his Tokyo summit on Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. A joint declaration issued after the summit mentioned Japan’s deep remorse but failed to offer a proper written apology as provided by Japan to South Korea. Analysts now doubt whether his visit will achieve complete reconciliation between the two countries after the ommission of a written apology from Japanese side. Jiang’s repeated references to Japan’s past militarism indicated a lingering mistrust between the two Asian giants, analysts observed. (PTI) |
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Sharif leaves for US, will rake up Kashmir issue ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said he will call for greater world attention to resolve the Kashmir issue, the root cause of tension and instability in South East Asia during his meeting with U S President Bill Clinton in Washington on December 2. I will underscore the need for greater world attention in resolving the (Kashmir) dispute within the framework of the UN security resolution, Sharif said in a statement before leaving for Oslo enroute to Washington. Sharif, who met President Clinton on the sidelines of U N General Assembly recently, said restoration of close ties between the two countries in the fields of economy and defence will be also on the agenda during the meeting. However, he avoided any specific comment on whether Pakistan will sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and said we will review the progress during Pak-US dialogue. His visit to Washington is taking place amidst widespread speculations here that he will have to give some certain commitments on the signing of CTBT in particular and on the non-proliferation measures in general. A high-powered delegation including foreign Minister Sartaz Aziz, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed, are accompanying Sharif. (PTI) |
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