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DUBAI, Nov 29: You can fit it out with bedrooms....more
Bush aide defends foreign policy credentials WASHINGTON, Nov 29: Republican presidential front-runner....more
India’s nuke-prog aimed NEW YORK, Nov 29:External Affairs Minister Jaswant....more
Prison conditions KARACHI, Nov 29: An anti-terrorist court agreed...more |
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Protests
against religious conversion blown NEW YORK, Nov 29: External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has said that the protest against religious conversion in India has been blown out of proportion and the issue needs to be put in perspective.....more Agri appears to have SEATTLE, Nov 29: Agriculture appears to have sown the seeds of discord at the crucial World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference beginning here tomorrow. ....more Global ozone conference opens in Beijing BEIJING, Nov 29: More than 1,000 delegates representing more than 180 countries and organisations today gathered in Beijing for the opening of a global conference aimed at stopping the destruction of the ozone layer, state media reported. ...more
Mixed reaction in Colombo
to Prabhakaran’s COLOMBO, Nov 29: Prabhakaran’s offer to the Sri Lankan Government to de-escalate the ethnic war and initiate peace talks under an international third party mediation, has drawn cautious and mixed reactions from the media and different political parties here. .....more |
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DUBAI, Nov 29: You can fit it out with bedrooms, showers, and even a gym, while satellite communications and hi-tech entertainment systems come as standard. Sounds better than your average home? welcome to the luxurious world of the executive jet. For most mere mortals the concept of a private aeroplane, which can cost anything between 5 million dollars and 38 million, dollars goes hand-in-hand with inconceivable wealth and a pop star lifestyle. But industry officials say that as more and more large companies are turning to corporate jets to keep pace with their worldwide businesses and fractional ownership programmes are making such planes available to a wider market, the private jet is no longer purely the preserve of the rich. When it does come to high-net worth individuals, who officials say are still a vital part of the private jet market, West Asia, and in particular the oil-rich Gulf Arab region, provide an important market for their products. Exec jets on the rise "We have had an amazing resurgence (in this business) in the last few years, tied to the globalisation of business and growing prosperity," John Lawson, President for Sales of Business Aircraft at Canada’s Bombardier Inc told Reuters at the Dubai airshow. He said many customers in North America and Europe tended to be large corporations, with North America holding the bulk of the business jet market. "And quite clearly the Middle East has its fair share of people who have the wherewithal to own private aircraft," he said. Industry officials say the corporate jet market is a growth sector, with more and more companies acknowledging their practical business uses and high net-worth individuals increasingly relying on them for privacy and security. The choice of jets ranges from the whippet-like learjet 45, which seats around eight passengers, to the wide-bodied boeing business jet which can accommodate 30-40 passengers in first-class comfort and is often fitted with conference facilities and bedrooms. Jets seen more as tools than perks Lawson said attitudes towards executive jets had changed noticeably in recent years. "You never hear anymore that (a jet) is an executive "perk" — it’s interesting that that value has changed," he said. Testament to the growing market and awareness of the executive jet sector in the Gulf region is Dubai civil aviation’s decision to include a dedicated business centre to cater for corporate jets in its new terminal two building — due to open early next year. Bryan Moss, Vice Chairman at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp, said there were currently 58 gulfstream aircraft based in West Asia, with Saudi Arabia owning the most as a single country. A report by Aerospace Research Firm the teal group on the business aircraft market said preliminary numbers indicated 1999 would see delivery of 582 jets worth some 8.3 billion dolars, compared to 511 worth 6.7 billion dollars in 1998. It added that 2000 was expected be "almost as good" as 1999. "After spending the late 1980s and early 1990s in the doldrums, the bizjet market is in the midst of a terrific growth spurt," it said. The report forecast that over the next ten years to 2008, business jet deliveries would total 5,067 worth 64.5 billion dollar. Five major international players currently dominate the business jet market: Raytheon Co., Bombardier, Dassault Aviation, Gulfstream and Cessna. The big two commercial aircraft makers, Boeing Co. and airbus industrie, now also provide their own private jets, but these are seen to cater to a slightly different market that may not otherwise have bought traditional business jets. This category includes heads of state and rich individuals who simply want a personal jetliner. More baggage means more jet space Manfred Schindler, Vice President for International Sales at Boeing Business Jets, said the demand for larger private aircraft had originated largely in the Gulf region. This was particularly related to the need for increased cargo space. Boeing now offers its customers the original Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) and the newly launched and expanded BBJ2 model. "When you know how people travel in this area you can see why...When a single person may take 80 or so cases for a trip to Paris there is soon a need for more space," Schindler said. There are around 34 cubic metres of baggage space in the BBJ2 — doubling the capacity of its smaller sibling, the BBJ. The new enlarged model also has 24 percent more cabin space. He said boeing had already sold 16 BBJs to 10 customers in the Gulf region. The first BBJ2 will be available from December 2000. Castles in the air ? Lufthansa technik outfits corporate and private jets according to customers’ wishes and serves the larger end of market, such as boeing and airbus corporate jets. "More and more people who have to travel a lot like to travel in privacy and have a home from home," Director Hans Indlekofer told Reuters. "Typically (these jets) would have private rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and conference areas," Indlekofer said. "In most cases the customer will come with his own interior designer and then (the designs) are adapted to fit aircraft specifications," he added. Many of the jets also carry so-called "offices in the sky" comprising satellite communications, data links, stock quotations, satellite telephones and so on. The stuff our popstar dreams are made of. One industry source tells of a client who asked for a swimming pool to be fitted in their jet. "We had to tell the customer that if they were to have a swimming pool they could only use it while the plane was on the ground, otherwise the movement of the water could displace the aircraft’s centre of gravity." "They decided not to bother with it after all." (REUTERS) |
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Bush aide defends foreign policy credentials WASHINGTON, Nov 29: Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush sought on Sunday to polish his foreign policy credentials — tarnished by his failure earlier this month to name the leaders of India, Pakistan and Chechnya. Mr Bush sent his aide, Condoleezza Rice, who advised his father on Soviet relations when he was President and overseeing the end of the cold war, spinning into action in an interview with ABC Television’s "This Week" programme. A leading academic taught by the father of the current Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Ms Rice rejected the idea that she had in turn become the younger Bush’s teacher. "This is not a pupil. Governor Bush is very much driving this train," she said, trying to erase the impact of Mr Bush failing a pop quiz during a television interview. "I think he will bring a new bipartisan centre to American foreign policy here at the end of the 20th century," she said. Mr Bush struggled with a surprise quiz during a television interview this month, managing to come up only with "lee" for Taiwan’s Lee Teng-Hui and failing to name the other three leaders of current world hot spots. In her comments, Ms Rice reiterated Mr Bush’s support for suspending international loans to Russia if it kept killing civilians in Chechnya and a harsher stance on China. Striving to dispel any impression that Bush is a foreign policy lightweight compared to his father, she said it had been a "little joke" when he asked her if women and children were still being killed in Chechnya. "One thing that I’ve learned about the Governor is that he has quite a sense of humour so you have to be ready for that," she said. "I was really impressed with the degree to which Governor Bush came to these issues with very strong instincts about what he wanted to do with America’s role in the world," added Ms Rice. Mr Rice took a swipe at President Bill Clinton for not securing "fast track" trade negotiating authority from Congress, a failure which has weakened the hand of trade representative Charlene Barshefsky at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Seattle this week. "Distinctive American internationalism" Mr Rice called Mr Bush’s foreign policy — spelled out November 19 in a speech in California — "distinctive American internationalism." She made clear the Texas governor was fully aware of the consequences of suspending International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to Russia if it kept killing civilians in Chechnya. On a day when Russian forces were shelling the Chechen capital, grozny, against Muslim separatists, she said it was right to link loans to the bloody campaign, a situation which IMF managing director Michel Camdessus said on Saturday could emerge if the rest of the world wanted it that way. Ms Rice noted that the consequences for the Russian economy could be "quite dire" and added: "but Russia has to understand that there’s a link between its international behaviour and the kind of state that it wants to be." Ms Rice said Mr Bush’s foreign policy perspective would be very much based on free trade. "One difference is that I think Governor Bush will pursue free trade in a more aggressive fashion, for instance insisting on fast track," she said. She also signalled stronger support for the military, saying their salaries were 15 percent below civilian ones and adding: "it’s no wonder we can’t recruit anyone." But she stepped back from a direct question about whether Washington should promise military support to Taiwan. "He has said that we must help Taiwan to defend itself and I think that that is all that need be said," she said. Ms Rice said a tilt by Mr Clinton’s administration toward Beijing was contributing to turmoil between China and Taiwan, which Washington sees as its ally but Beijing has seen as a rebel province since the two split after civil war in 1949. "I think that the specific statement that we will help Taiwan and that Beijing should not under any circumstances contemplate the use of force is a pretty powerful statement." Since Mr Bush promised last week that he would be "very harsh" on China, and hinted that he might provide theatre missile defences to Taiwan, China’s Foreign Ministry has responded by issuing a clear warning against such a move. (REUTERS) |
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India’s nuke-prog aimed at strategic autonomy: Jaswant NEW YORK, Nov 29: External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has said India’s nuclear programme is neither country-specific nor threat-specific but aimed at acquiring strategic space and autonomy, an aim which it has achieved. It was a well-thought out project. It was a continuity —rather than an aberration — of policy and it achieved its objectives of giving India additional strategic space and autonomy, Singh told ‘Time’ magazine in an interview. The programme, he said, is an answer to a wholly iniquitous new nuclear security paradigm that has come into existence since the end of the cold war. But India remains committed to a wholly defensive posture with minimum credible deterrence and is for global disarmament and for global elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, he emphasised. On Defence Minister George Fernandes’ controversial description of China being a potential threat to India, Singh said he has been inaccurately put across. Asked if taking over of power in Pakistan by Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf, who is believed to behind the Kargil intrusions, indicated anything about the direction Islamabad may be moving in, Singh said I won’t comment on the direction on which Pakistan has already set itself. We’ll watch the situation. Questioned whether any new initiatives are being undertaken to end militancy in Kashmir and what is the solution to the problem, Singh asserted, stop cross border terrorism. He said it is an externally inspired and aided insurgency. The armed forces of India have to be present in the state of Jammu and Kashmir to perform a duty which any armed forces of any country will be required to perform—to safeguard its borders and to take necessary action against externally aided terrorism. Replying to a question, he said a general election has just been held there (in J and K), and the Chief Minister of the state has been talking of local-body elections. But if terrorists continue to come from across the border and infiltrate the urban centers, the security forces will have to be present to take action, he added. He replied in the affirmative when asked whether he attributed low turnout in election in the state to intimidation by militant groups. I am aware of the challenges and difficulties that we face, but we will answer those difficulties and meet those challenges, Singh said. If this cross-border terrorism is discontinued, the people will be at peace. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. The difficulties in Jammu and Kashmir are as important to our Government as are, for example, the difficulties that we are encountering in the Eastern state of orissa, which was recently devastated by a cyclone, he added. Asked about his biggest foreign policy challenge, Singh said how to distill the lessons of 20th century so that the world is able to move into a better future as 2000 dawns. But that, he added, is not simply India’s but a global challenge. If the 20th century was marked by the ascendancy of the importance of man and was the century of democracy, let us then convert political democracy into real economic democracy, he said. (PTI) |
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Prison conditions improve for Sharif KARACHI, Nov 29: An anti-terrorist court agreed today to improve deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif’s prison conditions, which means he can now have a television set, food from home, a private bathroom and a personal attendant. The same court also banned political statements by Sharif, his co-defendants as well as the Army-led Government in the case of alleged treason and hijacking. Anti-terrorist court judge Rehmat Jaffery said political statements have been banned because they are harmful to the proceedings. He also outlawed speculative reporting and statements attacking the character or conduct of anyone involved in the case. Sharif has been accused by the Army that overthrew his elected Government last month of trying to kill the Army Chief by refusing to allow the aircraft returning him to Pakistan to land in Karachi. The incident occurred on Oct 12, the same day the Army took control. The aircraft was eventually allowed to land, but reportedly with only seven minutes of fuel remaining. Sharif and seven others including his brother, Shahbaz, have been accused of treason and hijacking, charges that carry the death penalty or life in prison. Thus far only the police complaint has been filed. Formal charges are to be filed in court on Saturday, when Sharif will be present in the courtroom. The trial is being heard by the anti-terrorist court his Government set up to hand out quick justice for serious crimes. The regular judicial process in Pakistan can take years to complete. According to Pakistani prison rules prisoners with education, economic and political status are given improved conditions, such as a cell with a television set, bathroom, access to newspapers and radio and a personal attendant. He also will be able to receive food from outside the prison. There also have been complaints from Sharif’s lawyers that he was being restricted to a diet of vegetables. His eldest daughter, Maryam, said she worried about her father because he had lost weight. Sharif has said he is innocent of the accusations and accused the Army of hijacking democracy in Pakistan. Last week the prosecution says it has a statement from one of Sharif’s co-defendants who has agreed to testify against the former Prime Minister. Aminuddin Chaudhry, former Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority, has reportedly made a statement that has been sealed and will be presented as evidence during the trial. No trial date has been set. The court order banning political statements was issued as a result of a request from the Attorney General Raja Quereshi. Sharif’s lawyers supported the request, said Khawaja Sultan, a member of the defence team. The order does not mean the case will not be open and free. We are going to invite everyone, diplomats and the press, to attend, said Quereshi. (AP) |
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Protests against religious conversion blown up: Jaswant NEW YORK, Nov 29: External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has said that the protest against religious conversion in India has been blown out of proportion and the issue needs to be put in perspective. Conversion is touchy not simply among the Hindus. Conversion would be touchy in Islamic countries too, Singh told ‘Time’ magazine in an interview. If there were conversions to Islam in Christian lands, there would be protest. The protests in India were really far apart and very few. They were blown out of proportion, Singh said. Replying to a question about the Pope’s visit to India, he said the Pope was accorded the treatment due to a head of state as well as the head of the Catholic Church. My obligation to the head of state was to accord to him total cooperation to make his visit as successful as possible. As head of the church, we made all the arrangements to ensure his security and to ensure that no impediments were placed in his path, Singh said while declining to comment on religious matters. (PTI) |
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Agri appears to have sown seed of discord at WTO meet SEATTLE, Nov 29: Agriculture appears to have sown the seeds of discord at the crucial World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference beginning here tomorrow. The four-day ministerial meeting is likely to witness a showdown where European Union would raise the legitimacy of the ‘lame duck’ Clinton administration to take decisions on issues of wide ramifications to global traade. The issue of trade in agriculture is part of the built in agenda for the next round of trade negotiations which is expected to start on January 1, 2000. The Seattle conference of 135 nations would decide on the future work programme of WTO. United States may go with Cairo’s group of nations comprising 15 nations including Australia, New Zealand and several Latin American countries. India also wants agriculture and services, which are already mandated to be taken up for future multilateral trade negotiations. EU is against reducing agricultural subsidies which would open up its market for agriculture exports. It is therefore likely to question the propriety of the Clinton administration to negotiate as it did not have the legislative backing to take major decisions because 2000 is the year of presidential elections. WTO sources here said the third ministerial conference could run into rough weather as a result and thus the start of the next negotiations could get delayed. This may indirectly help India as delay in start of the fresh round of trade negotiations would give a breather, particularly on contentious issues like labour standards and environmental protection which US and EU are determined to get included in the future work programme. Indian officials agree that even though India and other developing countries stoutly oppose misuse of labour standards and environment for protectionist purposes, New Delhi had very little choice if US bulldozed it into getting them incorporated in the work programme. On agriculture, India could in no way compromise on the issue of providing food security to the vast majority of people and hence a delay in start of negotiations could provide that much time to articulate its position on this vital issue. Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran at the head of a high-power 40-member delegation has already arrived here to participate in the conference. Maran will attend a G-15 meeting here before the start of the WTO conference to evolve commonalty of approach among developing countries on some issues. Food and E-commerce are the hottest topic that will dominate the conference. Over 100 developing countries, led by India, Egypt, Brazil and Phillipines and Morocco have already rejected US and EU proposal for the conference to examine global trade rules and labour standards, trade official said. Meanwhile, thousands of environmentalists have gathered here to carry out protest demonstrations against WTO during the visit of US President Bill Clinton to the conference. (PTI) |
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Global ozone conference opens in Beijing BEIJING, Nov 29: More than 1,000 delegates representing more than 180 countries and organisations today gathered in Beijing for the opening of a global conference aimed at stopping the destruction of the ozone layer, state media reported. The five-day montreal protocol meeting is the biggest international environmental protection conference ever hosted by China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of ozone-destroying chemicals. Frank Pinto, Principal Technical Advisor to the Montreal Protocol Unit, said it was in China’s best interest to halt the use of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons or lose its footing in the international market. "If China does not move quickly enough in the conversion to non-ozone depleting substances, China stands the problem of losing its market share abroad because very quickly countries like the United States and Japan will start restricting all products which contain CFCS, the China daily quoted him as saying. Senior United Nations officials said China’s work to protect the ozone layer was "positive and praiseworthy" and had established a model for ozone protection that developing countries could use, it said. The officials made the remarks at a ceremony hosted by the China Environmental Labelling Products Committee granting awards to ten mainland refrigerator makers that had reduced CFC production, it said. China hopes the award will encourage often heavily polluting small and medium-sized enterprises at adopting technology that does not harm the ozone layer, the daily said. The Executive Council for the Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund (MPMF), the fund set up to help developed nations phase out ozone-depleting substances, met last Wednesday. Under the Protocol, developing countries are expected to freeze CFC and halon emissions at average 1995-97 levels within a 12-month period that began on July 1. While developed nations phased out the use of the chemicals almost completely in 1996, Russia and several other nations have delayed meeting their deadlines, said a statement issued by the United Nations environmental programme, which administers the protocol secretariat. China remains the world’s largest producer and consumer of CFCS and halons. The executive committee wants to help China shut down production facilities for these chemicals over the next ten years. Xie Zhenhua, Director of the State Administration of Enviromental Protection, told the conference that China would make continuous efforts to reach the Montreal protocol’s targets to replace ozone-depleting materials with safer substitutes by in 2005 and 2010, the official Xinhua news agency said last week. China has already used 445 million dollars provided by the fund to eliminate 50,000 tonnes of ozone-depleting materials. More than 200 enterprises had profited from the fund, Xie said. The multilateral fund has so far approved some 940 million dollars for projects to phase out the consumption of some 122,000 tonnes and production of 42,000 tonnes of CFCS and halons in 177 developing nations. The World Meteorological Organization reported a hole in the stratospheric ozone shield exceeding 22 square km over Antarctica in September. Scientists predict the ozone layer will be able to replenish itself sometime in the 21st century, but only if production and consumption of CFCS and other harmful substances is effectively curbed. (DPA) |
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Mixed reaction in Colombo to Prabhakaran’s peace offer COLOMBO, Nov 29: Prabhakaran’s offer to the Sri Lankan Government to de-escalate the ethnic war and initiate peace talks under an international third party mediation, has drawn cautious and mixed reactions from the media and different political parties here. In an editorial on the LTTE leader’s birthday speech, the ‘Island’ newspaper said that the three conditions imposed by Prabhakaran - ceasefire, withdrawal of the Army from Tamil areas and lifting of embargo on all sensitive trade items like fuel, batteries and medicines - shows that he was not keen on talking. It should be clear that Prabhakaran has not said anything new at all this time as well, the paper said. He remains intransigent as ever and performs his annual ritual of waving a blood-stained olive branch tied to his rifle barrel. The editorial said that Prabhakaran had made an offer for peace because he knew he would not be able to hold onto the territory that the LTTE has recently gained in Vanni. He wanted to make the best use of this month’s military gains, it said. Moderate Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader R Sambandan, who recently met a close Prabhakaran aide in London to convey the Chandrika Government’s interest in reviving peace talks, said that it was futile to expect the rebel leader to give up his main demand for a separate state until an acceptable solution was worked out. However it was evident from Prabhakaran’s speech that a just solution could reached with the help of third party mediation, he said. The erstwhile Chief Minister of North-Eastern province, Varadharajha Perumal, who recently returned after a nine year self exile in India, said that Prabhakaran had imposed conditions for talks while demanding the Government come forward without any. He said the LTTE leader’s emphasis on third party mediation becomes meaningless unless the rebel group was willing to accept a solution within the frame work of United Sri Lanka. Perumal’s Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front, leader Suresh Premachandran said the Government should discuss any peace proposals with the moderate Tamil parties before setting out for any peace talks with the LTTE. M M Zhuhair, Member of Parliament from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, an ally of the Chandrika Government said peace offers from Prabhakaran should be welcomed so long he was willing to have a political settlement to the ethnic problem. (PTI) |
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