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Conflict
in Kosovo WASHINGTON, Apr 7: The Clinton administration has approached Moscow .....more
Russia sends aid to
Yugoslav, Yeltsin MOSCOW, Apr 7: Russia sent its first batch of humanitarian aid to.....more Cost of bombing may WASHINGTON, Apr 7: The cost of bombing Yugoslavia could reach 2 billion...more Readers relish daily COLOMBO,
Apr 7: Sri
Lanka’s bloody ethnic conflict.....more |
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Chandrika’s PA sweeps provincial elections COLOMBO,
Apr 7: Sri
Lanka’s ruling Peoples Alliance (PA) swept polls to....more BELGRADE, Apr 7: The West dismissed Yugoslavia’s declaration of a....more Cancer-stricken ex-smoker awarded $ 26.5 million SAN FRANCISCO, Apr 7: A woman who smoked three packs of cigarettes.....more Premier postpones visit
to US WASHINGTON, Apr 7: Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji’s visit to the United.....more |
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Conflict
in Kosovo WASHINGTON, Apr 7: The Clinton administration has approached Moscow to serve as a go-between with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in a new attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Kosovo, reports the New York Times. Vice President Al Gore called Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov on telephone and spoke to him for 40 minutes yesterday, asking Russia’s help in getting the Yugoslav leader to take steps that would lead to a resumption of negotiations, the daily says quoting Mr Gore’s office. Mr Gore’s contacts with Russia were reported as the administration continued to explore other strategies to resolve the conflict without using allied ground forces to fight the Serbians. The daily, however, says the administration officials gave no explanation for the timing of the overture, and there was no indication of what had led up to it. Mr Primakov had travelled to Belgrade on March 30, a week later the NATO bombing began, but that attempt at mediation was rebuffed by NATO. While Mr Gore’s office did not disclose Mr Primakov’s response yesterday, an aide to the Vice President said the two talked about "how we might cooperate to urge Mr Milosevic to take steps to end the conflict." The Vice President made the point there is a diplomatic track and we’d prefer diplomacy of bombing," the aide added. Using the Russians as a bridge to the Yugoslav President would help resolve the problem than the administration and NATO would have dealing directly with Mr Milosevic after denoucning him so fiercely for the operation to drive ethnic Alabians out of Kosovo, the daily adds. Mr Milosevic has told officials in Europe that he is not willing to deal directly with the United States. It quotes senior administration officials having said that actively involving the Russians would help soothe relations with Moscow, which has vehemently opposed the NATO bombing. Administration officials said the Russians would be asked to urge Mr Milosevic to accept the four points that the NATO allies outlined last weekend as a condition for ending the NATO bombing. These are the withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo, the return of the refugees, the introduction of an international security force and self-Government for Kosovo. (UNI) |
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Russia sends aid to Yugoslav, Yeltsin assails NATO raids MOSCOW, Apr 7: Russia sent its first batch of humanitarian aid to Yugoslav to help ease the impact of NATO raids that President Boris Yeltsin called "barbaric." Mr Yeltsin welcomed Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s declaration of a unilateral cease-fire with Kosovo rebels yesterday. Western leaders and a rebel spokesman dismissed the offer as a sham. "Any peace initiative must be useful," Presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin quoted Mr Yeltsin as saying. Yeltsin reiterated that Russia would only respond to the attacks on its ally yugoslavia with diplomatic initiatives, not military action. "The situation is favorable for our energetic political, but not military steps,"Mr Yeltsin told reporters before a meeting Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov in the Kremlin."One can’t help expressing indignation over the barbaric bombardment of Belgrade." In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac joined other Western leaders in dismissing a unilateral cease-fire called by Belgrade, saying military strikes against Yugoslavia must continue. "These strikes must continue...Until the regime stops its criminal repression and allows refugees to return home or until it no longer has the means to continue its murderous designs," Mr Chirac said on national television, yesterday. Mr Chirac called Belgrade’s cease-fire "necessary but insufficient," noting that Uugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had to meet NATO conditions to insure a return to peace and security in Kosovo. (AP) |
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Cost of bombing may reach $ 2 bn for US WASHINGTON, Apr 7: The cost of bombing Yugoslavia could reach 2 billion dollars for the US military, and is in danger of exploeing into the US budget debate, the Los Angeles Times has reported. Already, about 500 million dollars were spent in the first two weeks, according to calculations by the centre for strategic and budgetary assessments, a non-partisan group that counted primarily the cost of cruise missiles fired at yugoslav targets since March 24. The cost figures do not include money spent by other NATO allies participating in the bombings. Nor do they include the cost of rushing relief aid to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Kosovo as Serb troops and paramilitary forces systematically expel ethnic Albanians from their homes. But with President Bill Clinton vowing that the bombing will "persist until we prevail" and will be "unceasing and relentless," the cost could quickly escalate to between 2 billion dollars and 4 billion dollars, the centre said. The Pentagon has not issued its own cost projections. But cruise missiles cost between 1 million dollars and 2 million dollars while a single B-2 stealth bomber mission from Missouri to Yugslavia uses 300,000 dollars worth of fuel. Paying for the US share of operation allied force will probably require an emergency spending legislation by Congress and will certainly eat into the projected budget surplus, the times reported, yesterday. That might endanger democrat Clinton’s prized social programmes and hurt the Republicans’ chances of enacting a tax cut in advance of the 2000 Presidential elections. (DPA) |
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Readers relish daily dose of violence COLOMBO, Apr 7: Sri Lanka’s bloody ethnic conflict running into its 17th year in 1999 tops the list of stories followed avidly by newspaper readers, according to a new survey that puts local news and crime stories in dailies well behind war stories. The survey, conducted by the University of Colombo for the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, also found that less than 0.2 per cent of Sri Lankans speak mainly in English, contrary to popular belief that English is widely used. "The news item most popularly read is ‘news regarding war’ followed by ‘local news’ and ‘information on crime’. Most readers ignore editorials and features that tend to highlight positive values or enhance general knowledge," the 1998 survey of newspaper readers said. It also revealed that most of this island’s people are monolingual. While the principal language of communication for the majority Sinhalese community was Sinhala (86.7 percent), for 12.7 per cent it was Tamil, and for 0.2 per cent it was English. The findings of the research team from the University’s Department of Sociology are expected to help educationists and policy planners in disseminating knowledge among the people through newspapers and other forms. Of those whose principal language of communication was Sinhala, only 16.1 per cent could read in English and 0.9 per cent in Tamil, the survey said. However, among the minority Tamils, 35.4 per cent could read in Sinhala and 4.8 per cent in English. This is significant because language has often been cited as the cause of the ethnic tension between majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils. Observed Cultural Affairs Minister Lakshman Jayakody, "all this while we thought English was being widely spoken," he said. "English is being promoted as a link language to bridge the Gulf between the Sinhalese and the Tamils," he pointed out. Mr Jayakody told that it was significant that minority groups like the Tamils knew Sinhala, the language of the majority community much more, than the other way round of Sinhalese having a knowledge of Tamil. Prof Siripala Hettige, Sri Lanka’s well-known sociologist who co-ordinated the survey as head of the Colombo University’s Sociology Department, told it came up with some disturbing issues. "Apart from the fact that people have a thirst for war news, the fact that fewer people are speaking or reading in English is a disturbing thought. The knowledge of English is not only a way out of the ethnic conflict, but also a necessity in the global context," he said. The survey, also aimed at clearing doubts about whether the reading habits matched the high literacy rate amongst the population, covered 10,000 respondents in 3,000 households in seven provinces in Sri Lanka. This excluded the North and the East where fighting between Government troops and Tamil rebels made it difficult to seek public responses. Since 1983, Tamil rebels have been fighting for a separate state for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. The roots of the conflict lie in the Sinhala-dominated Government’s decision to make Sinhala the national language, sparking ethnic tension. Under Colonial British Rule, many more Tamils than Sinhalese had held high positions due to their better education and excellent command of the English-language. The Colombo University survey is also food for thought for those who believe people are tired of the daily menu of crime provided by the newspapers and that "positive" stories about other issues would be more interesting. Shirani Tilakawardene, a respected woman judge of Sri Lanka’s appeals court, told a group of journalists discussing the reporting of issues relating to women and children that she believed stories portraying public deeds was more interesting to readers than crime. Sociologists have also partly blamed the rapid breakdown in social values in Sri Lanka on excessive reporting of crime and suicides by the media, and violence on television. The survey shows that the newspaper-reading habit is not widespread, as believed, and that the Sunday or weekend papers were the most popular. Fewer people were reading books, nowadays. "Of the population in the seven provinces, just above half (54.7 per cent) read newspapers. The habit varies significantly between provinces," it said. The level of education also positively influences the newspaper-reading habit. A higher prevalence of the newspaper-reading habit was seen amongst young people between 12 years and up to high school. It dropped among those who had higher qualifications. The survey found that more men read newspapers than women, because men had more time than women who were engaged in domestic activities. This was not so in the case of books, where more women, 40 per cent, read than men (37 per cent). (IPS) |
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Chandrika’s PA sweeps provincial elections COLOMBO, Apr 7: Sri Lanka’s ruling Peoples Alliance (PA) swept polls to all five provincial councils in the Sinhala-dominated South today in tightly contested polls largely seen as a test of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s popularity ahead of key national elections. The ruling party, at the heart of an intense controversy over rigging in polls to the Northwest Council last February, secured a simple majority in all the councils, staving off a powerful challenge from its arch rival and principal opposition United National Party (UNP). Final results announced by the Election Commission this morning after overnight counting said the ruling alliance wrested control of UNP-held Northwestern, Sabarugamuwa, Uvva and Central provinces and retained power in capital Colombo. Kumaratunga’s own party, the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP), won more seats than UNP in all five provinces which would enable it to form the Government with its allies. The party bagged 19 of the 32 seats on stake in the Sinhalese-dominated rural province of North-Central Anuradhapura, in a strong vindication for the President’s peace package for the Northeast. The UNP won 12 and the left wing Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP) two seats. The alliance also won 22 of he 44 seats up for the grabs in South Central Sabaragumuwa province and 17 of 34 seats in South Eastern Uvva province. The UNP won 19 and 14 seats respectively in the two provinces. The ruling party made surprising inroads into strongholds of former Premier Ranil Wickremasinghe’s UNP in the Western provinces, comprising Central Kandy and Colombo. The party secured 26 out of 58 seats in the Central province, home to over six lakh Indian Tamil tea estate labourers. Its ally, the National Union of Workers, recently floated by cyclone Workers Congress president S Thondaman, a moderate, won six seats. The UNP bagged 23 and JVP one. The alliance won 46 of the 104 seats in the Western provincewere the UNP had fielded its front line leader and Colombo Mayor Karu Jayasurya as the Chief Ministerial candidate. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the National Union of Workers won a seat each. The UNP too put up a strong show winning 44 seats mostly from Colombo’s urban areas. The JVP secured eight seats and the new Left Front three. Ideological differences among the three opposition parties will not let them form a Government. (PTI) |
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NATO answers Yugoslav ceasefire with bombs BELGRADE, Apr 7: The West dismissed Yugoslavia’s declaration of a ceasefire in Kosovo as a hollow ploy and underlined its response with another night of bombing. U.S. officials rejected an announcement by Belgrade yesterday that it was marking the Orthodox Easter with a unilateral ceasefire from Tuesday evening and an offer to allow refugees to return to Kosovo. President Bill Clinton insisted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accept all NATO demands on Kosovo. The U.S. would never choose force as anything other than a last option, Clinton said at the White House yesterday as NATO’s air bombardment of Yugoslavia entered its third week. Milosevic could end it now by withdrawing his military police and paramilitary forces, by accepting deployment of an international security force to protect not only the Kosovar Albanians...But also the Serbian minority in Kosovo, he said. Yugoslavia’s official news agency Tanjug said eight NATO missiles ploughed into the Milan Blagojevic chemical complex in Central Serbian town of Lucani overnight, igniting a big fire. Three powerful blasts shook Belgrade last evening as NATO warplanes roared overhead. Maintaining unity in NATO’s ranks, French President Jacque Chirac said the Yugoslav ceasefire was insufficient and promised the air campaign would go on until this regime cease its criminal repression and really allows the refugees to return to their homes. Russia alone welcomed the ceasefire, saying it represented an important chance for peace that should not be missed. Chirac urged on TV that a European Council meeting on April 14 should consider an emergency plan to help Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro deal with 430,000 refugees the U.N. says have fled Kosovo since strikes began on March 24. His Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine called for an urgent response from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milsovevic to five conditions, a demand echoed by U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin. Rubin said these were: a halt to all combat activities withdrawal of military, police and paramilitary forces from Kosovo deployment of an international security force unconditional return of all refugees and access to aid and a political framework for Kosovo autonomy. Yugoslav state television said all Yugoslav army units in Kosovo were complying with the ceasefire. Yugoslav officials said ethnic Albanian refugees — who have arrived in neighbouring countries telling of being ordered from their homes and seeing relatives murdered by Serb forces in Kosovo - would be welcomed back. One said an amnesty might be declared for the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The KLA’s news agency published the names of 178 Kosovo Albanians it said had been executed by Yugoslav firing squads. The list, made up overwhelmingly of men, included a teenage girl of 19 and a great-grandfather of 90. (REUTERS) |
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Cancer-stricken ex-smoker awarded $ 26.5 million SAN FRANCISCO, Apr 7: A woman who smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for more than 30 years and was then diagnosed with lung cancer is to be paid 26.5 million dollars in damages by cigarette-maker Philip Morris, a judge has ruled. The amount of the award, which includes 1.5 million dollars in compensatory damages, is adequate to punish the company for concealing the dangers of cigarette smoking, judge John Munter said yesterday. Ms Patricia Henley, 52, began smoking at age 15 and inhaled 60 cigarettes a day until 1997. She was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer last year. Ms Henley originally had been awarded 51.5 million dollars in an earlier trial but Mr Munter, while lowering the damages, refused to overturn the earlier jury verdict against Philip Morris. (DPA) |
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Premier postpones visit
to US WASHINGTON, Apr 7: Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji’s visit to the United States comes amid particularly tense relations between Beijing and Washington, including a stark dispute over the bombing of Yugoslavia. China has called for an immediate halt to the NATO airstrikes. And Chinese leaders even considered postponing Mr Zhu’s six-city, nine-day visit that began yesterday in Los Angeles. Even so, Mr Zhu still hopes to close a deal with the White House to allow Beijing to join the World Trade Organization, which regulates international trade, after 13 years of trying. In advance of his coming to Washington on Thursday, US and Chinese trade negotiators worked furiously to try to strike a deal that could be announced during the visit. Mr Zhu also will visit Denver, Chicago, New York and Boston, courting the political and business elite at each stop. He might observe financial markets, possibly the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. While in Washington, Mr Zhu was to dine with President Bill Clinton on Thursday night, hold meetings with officials of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and meet Friday with a handful of lawmakers. "We hope that they will understand better the importance of China-US relations," said Mr Yu Shuning, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy. Criticism in Congress of China’s human rights record is bipartisan and widespread. Adding to the tensions are concerns particularly among Republicans who see it as a good 2000 campaign issue over alleged Chinese nuclear espionage, Pentagon reports of a missile buildup against Taiwan. "Of course, it will not be an easy task," Mr Zhu told reporters in advance of his trip."But I will go anyway." And, in an interview published in yesterday’s editions of the wall street journal, Mr Zhu asserted that the administration had recently backed away from closing a deal on trade due to pressure from Congress. Congress is still in its spring recess probably sparing Zhu the harshest of criticism of China’s human-rights record. "We want to work with the Premier, we want to advance our national interests to work with China where we can on areas of interest," said Mr James P Rubin, the State Department spokesman. He cited recent developments in North Korea, India and Pakistan’s nuclear programs and international terrorism. As to China’s membership in the WTO Rubin said: "If the Chinese meet the objective criteria, we would like to see a situation where our exporters can get access to the Chinese market." Not only are the meetings being eclipsed by the bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, but the NATO airstrikes have soured the atmosphere for the visit. Chinese leaders have condemned the bombings as a violation of the UN charter and interference in a sovereign country’s affairs. Mr Zhu’s determination to go ahead with the visit demonstrates the importance Beijing gives to smooth relations with Washington. In contrast, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov canceled his visit to the White House at the last minute as NATO airstrikes got under way March 24. (AP) |
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