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Chandrika wants to COLOMBO, Dec 25: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who...more Millennium? what’s all fuss, it’s our 7th, Egyptians say CAIRO, Dec 25: Jean Michel Jarre must have suspected that his staging of the millennium celebrations at the pyramids of Gizeh would pose problems. .....more Russian forces tighten squeeze on rebels GROZNY, Dec 25: Russian forces have tightened their squeeze on rebels hiding in Chechnya’s....more |
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Afghan
Taliban refuse KABUL, Dec 25: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia today refused India’s ......more Hijackers of IA plane DUBAI, Dec 25: The hijackers of the Indian Airlines IC-814 released 25 ....more Army rushes more troops COLOMBO, Dec 25: The Sri Lankan Army has rushed more troops to the rebel-besieged.....more Astronauts complete CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA, Dec 25: Space-walking astronauts completed .....more Iran flogs two for TEHRAN,
Dec 25: Two
Iranian men have been flogged in Tehran for ......more |
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Chandrika wants to form ‘peace force’ to end ethnic strife COLOMBO, Dec 25: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who returned to power for the second consecutive term in the recent polls, has sought the support of opposition parties to form a ‘national force for peace’ to wipe out the politics of terror by LTTE,. The Government of President Kumaratunga has commenced the process of consensus-building and the creation of a national force for peace, a Government communique published in the official media said here today. The main theme of Kumaratunga’s acceptance address after her re-election was to wipe out the politics of terror by LTTE, establishment of humane and democratic administration and build a national consensus with the help of opposition, including the UNP headed by her main rival in the election, Ranil Wickramasinghe. Despite the recent murderous suicide bomb attack on her, Kuamaratunga has invited the misguided LTTE cadres to eschew political violence and join her efforts to bring peace, the release said. All Sri Lankans, irrespective of religion or community, have been invited to join hands to help this not so impossible dream, it added. (PTI) |
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Millennium? what’s all fuss, it’s our 7th, Egyptians say CAIRO, Dec 25: Jean Michel Jarre must have suspected that his staging of the millennium celebrations at the pyramids of Gizeh would pose problems. "Our project has got to a scale as if one had to make the film ‘apocalypse now’ in a single night," the French musician said, referring to the Francis Ford Coppola film about the Vietnam war which is legendary for the massive problems and costly delays in its production. A few days before the millennium changeover, the pyramid spectacle is threatening to become Jarre’s version of what Coppola went through. Jarre started out planning a 12-hour multi-media opera. But massive public criticism, especially from Islamic fundamentalists, forced the organisers, out of respect for the fasting month of ramadan, to shorten the main show to two and one half hours. So very little is left over from Jarre’s original idea, which was meant to reflect on pharaonic tradition and to stage a show following the sun’s path at night - from sundown until sunrise. The organisers also faced problems with their plan to give the 136-metre-high pyramid of cheops a golden crown. The idea was quickly attacked from two sides: Islamic clerics charged that the golden crown was meant, in a plot by dark forces, to be a "symbol of freemasonry zionism". Monument preservation specialists warned that the metal crown, weighing three tons, could harm the 4,600-year-old pyramid. In the end Culture Minister Farouq Hosny announced that the controversial plan to install the cap was being abandoned. He noted that the decision would not influence his show because installing the cap was only supposed to last for four minutes. Meanwhile the Giza Plateau has been turned into a huge construction site. In addition to a stage the size of 18 football fields, workers are also setting up 15 huge heated tents with wooden floors. They will house 7,500 guests who are paying 400 dollars a head to watch the spectacle while eating a dinner catered by a five-star hotel. Guests can even enjoy a glass of wine with their meal, something normally forbidden during Ramadan ... If the Government does not at the last minute instruct otherwise. Whether the guests really will get the best seats for their money has been called into question, because the acoustics at the huge party site are turning out to be more difficult than expected. It could be that the 50,000 people in the standing area directly in front of the stage will enjoy better acoustics. Many Egyptians shrug their shoulders at all the fuss. While the Culture Ministry is promoting the show with the slogan "the third millennium for the world, the seventh for Egypt", Muslims say the second millennium is far from over. We are still in the year 1420 of the Islamic calendar. For the coptic Christian minority, it will be the year 1716. In the travel bureaux in Cairo, what is being promoted is not the millennium celebration, but special Ramadan season trips to Mecca. (DPA) |
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Russian forces tighten squeeze on rebels GROZNY, Dec 25: Russian forces have tightened their squeeze on rebels hiding in Chechnya’s rugged Southern mountains, while Russia’s top commander in Chechnya said that the final assault on the capital Grozny had begun. After seizing most of Northern Chechnya, Russian troops have been pushing South in recent weeks and yesterday they repulsed three attempts by militants to escape south to Georgia, the military command said. Russian jets and helicopter gunships attacked three rebel bases in the Southern mountains. Russian paratroopers sealed a key rebel supply route in the Argun Gorge in Southern Chechnya, leading to Georgia, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. The Russian military said dozens of rebels had been killed but there were no losses among federal forces. The toll could not be confirmed and both sides tend to exaggerate the other’s casualties while playing down their own. Rebel fighters appeared unconcerned about the setback. Speaking from a cave base in the mountains stocked with food and vcrs, guerrillas said yesterday that small roads to Georgia remain open. Russia has accused Georgia, the only foreign country bordering on Chechnya, of aiding the rebels by allowing weapons and fighters to cross into the breakaway republic. Georgia has hotly denied th allegations. The fighters also said they were still able to get in and out of Grozny, despite Russian gains on the capital. (AP) |
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Afghan Taliban refuse Indian demands for hijack rescue KABUL, Dec 25: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia today refused India’s demands for a rescue attempt on a hijacked Indian Airlines plane which landed in Kandahar, in the South of the country, the Taliban Foreign Minister said. Troops from the militia surrounded the plane surrounded the aircraft and prepared to refuel but resisted Indian demands for a rescue. We are in contact with the Indian Government. They insist that we should save the passengers. But we think that it is too risky, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel said. We have given food and water for the plane. And we want to give fuel to it and dismiss it. There is a stalemate at the moment. We believe that the plane should be dismissed, but the Indians insist we save the passengers in some way. It is not easy to save the passengers. Nobody has been allowed inside the plane and we do not know the identity of the hijackers. God knows when this problem will be solved, he said We are in contact only with the pilots through their radio. We have not talked with the hijackers, the minister added. Nobody has been let in or out of the plane. He said the Taliban were not involved in the hijack. There is no link between the hijackers and the Islamic Emirate. Reports on this score are totally untrue, he said. Kandahar is Afghanistan’s biggest airport and houses the Taliban’s aging fleet of jet fighters and bombers. It served as a major soviet base during their occupation in the 1980s. (AFP) |
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Hijackers of IA plane release 25 people DUBAI, Dec 25: The hijackers of the Indian Airlines IC-814 released 25 people, including ten women, twelve children and three men, two of them above the age of 70, before taking off from the Umm-Nahad military base, 40 km from here early this morning. All those released were Indian nationals, UAE defence officials said here today. The hijackers also allowed the body of a person who was stabbed to be released. One of men released was seriously injured. The nationality of the hijackers, who were carrying grenades and knives, was also not known, UAE defence officials said. The plane, which had landed at the Umm-Nahad military base, 40 km from here at 0002 local time, took off at 0450 hrs, local time after refuelling. The two above 70-men, who asked not to be identified, were present at the press conference here. One of them told reporters that it was difficult to identify the hijackers as they were wearing turbans. "They asked us not to move or we’ll shoot. All the passengers were blindfolded by the hijackers. However, there were no gun shots," the released men said. "We were released because of our age," they said. Asked if any attempt was made to stop the aircraft, they declined to comment. The authorities said they allowed the plane permission to land at the military base, keeping in mind the safety of the hostages. Soon after the plane landed in UAE, the hijackers asked for food and water and also demanded that the plane be refuelled. The UAE Government established contact with the hijackers soon after it landed at the military base. Reporters at the military base saw food and water being taken into the aircraft. Thereafter, the plane was refuelled. About 30 minutes before the plane took off, wailing women and children were seen alighting from the aircraft. They were put in a Dubai police van. Some of the women were inconsolable as they tried to cover their children with woolens to protect them from the cold. Television pictures also showed one man, who had a bandage around his face, sitting in the bus. The body of the dead, which was off-loaded, was also shown on the small screen. Indian consulate sources here said the released passengers had been taken to a five-star hotel in Dubai. They might be going to Delhi later today by an Air India flight. The UAE official, asked if he could confirm reports that the hijackers had shot dead four people, he merely stated that one person had been found dead. When a reporter asked him if any attempt had been made to storm the aircraft, the official said "we can’t release this information." One of the two men said the hijackers entered the aircraft with knives and handgrenades. "They order us: Don’t move or we will shoot you", he added. This passenger said all the males in the aircraft were blind-folded by the hijackers. Asked if the hijackers had offered the passengers food and water, he replied in the affirmative. The two men denied that any gun shots were fired in the aircraft. "We did not hear any gun shot though one person was killed with a kinfe". (UNI) |
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Army rushes more troops to Jaffna, 9 rebels killed COLOMBO, Dec 25: The Sri Lankan Army has rushed more troops to the rebel-besieged Elephant Pass garrison in North Jaffna as the LTTE kept up its fierce week-long offensive on the town that has claimed nine rebel lives overnight. A defence press release issued here today on the latest round of fighting, said six rebels were killed in two separate encounters near Elephant Pass. The two sides continued to trade heavy artillery and small fire, it said. The LTTE launched an all-out offensive to secure the town days before the December 21 Presidential polls. Troops killed three rebels while they were attempting to cross the North Eastern Vettrilaikerni Lagoon near Elephant Pass Army Garrison yesterday. Three other rebels were killed yesterday when troops raided an LTTE bunker at the nearby Paranthan area, South of Elephant Pass. Three more were killed at Omanthai in North Vanni when troops engaged a group of rebels yesterday. Troops and rebels have engaged in heavy artillery fire at Tehnankilappu in Jaffna where the rebels managed to enter into the Peninsula. One soldier was injured in the fighting, it said. (PTI) |
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Astronauts complete space telescope CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA, Dec 25: Space-walking astronauts completed their overhaul of the hubble space telescope on Christmas eve, readying it to make what scientists hope will be new discoveries about the mysteries of deep space. Steve Smith and John Grunsfeld left the space shuttle discovery’s air lock yesterday for the third of three space walks set for the mission, which found the hubble disabled in space but restored it to its status as the finest observatory ever built. "Ah, John, another beautiful day outside," Smith called back to grunsfeld as he entered the shuttle’s cargo bay, where the four-story hubble was latched to a service platform. "Look at that earth." The two astronauts were working to replace a broken radio transmitter on the hubble and install a solid state recorder in place of the telescope’s older reel-to-reel model. Grunsfeld had the hardest job of the day replacing the transmitter. Unlike much of hubble’s hardware, it was not designed for easy servicing in space. Wearing bulky space gloves that were pressurized to protect him from the vacuum of space, grunsfeld had to disconnect and reconnect a series of coaxial cables thinner than those found on home VCRs. Even with a special tool NASA had designed to make the job easier, it took more than an hour and Grunsfeld had to stop and rest his hands at one point. Grunsfeld had more trouble with his suit when it was time to return to the air lock. An electrical problem with the suit was the main reason the astronauts were about an hour late pressurizing the air lock, said Linda Ham, the shuttle flight director. In the end, each of the three space walks on the mission ran over eight hours. Officials cited various reasons, including the difficulty in estimating the time it takes to perform certain tasks in weightlessness based on the simulations and training done on the ground. Ground controllers ran tests on the new systems as soon as they were installed, and even before the spacemen had finished their scheduled seven-hour walk, NASA declared that all important mission objectives had been met. With the repairs completed, senior hubble scientist dave leckrone said the best days were still ahead for the telescope. "I predict within the next few years that hubble will lead the way in giving us the first really clear understanding (of how) planets are formed," Leckrone said. "I think there are going to be some interesting surprises." On Wednesday, the astronauts replaced six navigational myroscopes, four of which were broken and had left the 12.5 ton observatory out of service since mid-November. Astronauts Michael Foale and Claude Nicollier on Thursday installed a new central computer and a refurbished guidance sensor. The crew was scheduled to return hubble to its own orbit on Saturday, Christmas Day. Discovery and the seven-astronaut crew are scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Monday. So far, all the new equipment aboard the 3 billion hubble has performed flawlessly. This rescue mission has ended the year on a hopeful note for NASA, which otherwise has struggled through a year of disappointments. Two mars probes were lost once they entered the martian atmosphere, and only three shuttle missions managed to launch, one of them limping to orbit after short circuits hit two on-board computers. The hubble’s failure was a particular concern. The space agency quickly assembled the crew and patched together a mission plan as the telescope reached the brink of failure in February. Discovery’s launch, first scheduled for October, was delayed nine times by mishaps, breakdowns and bad weather, and mission managers worried they might lose the hubble if the mission slipped into next year. Halfway through its 20-year life expectancy, the hubble has helped to rewrite the book on the age and size of the universe with the 259,000 images it has transmitted back to earth. Its pictures also have added valuable knowledge on planetary formation and the long-term effects of comet collisions on planets. (REUTERS) |
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Iran flogs two for smoking in public TEHRAN, Dec 25: Two Iranian men have been flogged in Tehran for smoking in public during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a newspaper reported on Saturday. The men received ten lashes each today after a court convicted them of smoking in the lobby of a judiciary building hours earlier, the daily Entekhab said. Iran’s Islamic laws forbid eating, drinking or smoking in public from dawn until sunset, the period of fasting during Ramadan. (REUTERS) |
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