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India, Pakistan waiting for
WASHINGTON, Oct 2: United States has said....more Lap dancing protected LOS ANGELES, Oct 2: A California appeals court has....more India-born British SAN DIEGO (CALIF), Oct 2: An India-born British...more UN force clarifies ‘hot pursuit’ policy in Timor DILI (EAST TIMOR), Oct 2: International forces....more |
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Court orders compensation for woman who bumped head during sex DUESSELDORF (GERMANY), Oct 2: A German woman left paralysed after banging her head on a metal bedpost during sex with her boyfriend has been awarded substantial compensation by a Duesseldorf court......more UN Timor forces push DILI, EAST TIMOR, Oct 2: International troops pushed into East Timor’s West on Friday, raising the spectre of a confrontation with thousands of.....more Thai embassy siege ends BANGKOK, Oct 2: A siege of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok.....more Safety fears recede in MITO, (JAPAN), Oct 2: Safety fears began to subside in Japan today following the country’s....more |
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India, Pakistan waiting for CTBT ratification by US WASHINGTON, Oct 2: United States has said India and Pakistan may sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) once the US Senate ratifies it and hoped the upcoming conference on CTBT will pass a strong resolution urging both the countries to initial the treaty. India and Pakistan have expressed interest in signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. An opportunity to make the case with our efforts to persuade them to do so, in the near term, will be more powerful if we have ratified this agreement, State Department Spokesman James Rubin said yesterday. Asked whether New Delhi and Islamabad have raised the issue of ratification of the treaty by the US, Rubin said: Secretary of State (Madeleine) Albright met with the Foreign Ministers of both India and Pakistan last week. It is certainly true that in numerous contacts with the Indians and Pakistanis and with many other countries, the question of Senate ratification and American ratification of CTBT came up. Meanwhile, US Under-Secretary of State-Designate for Non-Proliferation John Holum told reporters yesterday that he expected the conference on accelerating the entry into force of the CTBT, to be held in Vienna from Wednesday, to pass a resolution urging India, Pakistan and several other nations to sign and ratify the treaty. He conceded that the US would be in the painful situation of being able to attend the conference only as an observer as the senate has not yet ratified the treaty. He however, exuded confidence that the Senate would ratify the treaty later this month. (PTI) |
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Lap dancing protected by US constitution LOS ANGELES, Oct 2: A California appeals court has thrown out the criminal conviction of seven lap dancers, saying that the sexually intimate art form is protected by the U.S. constitution. Lap dancing involves the erotic movement of scantily attired women who sit themselves on clients’ laps, and is a popular trend in men’s entertainment in the United States and elsewhere. The seven dancers were convicted for violating "a sex-oriented business permit" after undercover officers secretly videotaped them lap dancing on patrons in the Sahara theater in Anaheim, California, South of Los Angeles. They were arrested and convicted by a jury for violating a city code which prohibits erotic touching between entertainers and patrons. But the appeals court ruled that although the city can regulate lap dancing establishments, it lacked jurisdiction to prosecute for violations of a "sex-oriented business permit." It said the previous judge failed when he didn’t instruct the jury that it could consider exotic dancing a form of expression protected under the first amendment. Such dancing, when it does not include skin-to-skin contact, "is entitled to the same protection as a D.H. Lawrence Novel, a painting by Goya, a Fellini movie, or one of the Bard’s (Shakespeare’s) plays," said the court which noted that American theater often includes audience volunteers in acts by comedians, hypnotists and jugglers. (DPA) |
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India-born British Nanny convicted SAN DIEGO (CALIF), Oct 2: An India-born British Nanny convicted of causing the death of a California toddler by shaking him has been sentenced to a mandatory 25 years to life in jail by a judge who described the punishment as appropriate. Judge William Kennedy said yesterday he had considered probation for Manjit Basuta, a 44-year-old India-born Briton who ran a day care facility, but decided it was unrealistic because Basuta would have been deported back to Britain and the probation could not be monitored. The case has drawn comparisons to that of British Nanny Louise Woodward, convicted in 1997 of killing a baby boy in Massachusetts by shaking him violently. The judge in that case reduced the verdict to manslaughter and sentenced Woodward to "time served" — 279 days. But Mr Kennedy said that in his case, his "hands were tied" by the California state legislature which mandated that anyone convicted in the death of child under the age of eight had to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison. Basuta was convicted on June 14 of assaulting a child and causing his death. A jury heard evidence from a witness that the day care centre operator grabbed 13-month-old Christopher Oliver Smith on March 17 of last year, shook him violently and then banged his head on the floor when he refused to have his diaper changed. Kennedy postponed sentencing Basuta last month, saying he had been "tortured" by the case and wanted to consider options that included not sending the woman to jail. (REUTERS) |
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UN force clarifies ‘hot pursuit’ policy in Timor DILI (EAST TIMOR), Oct 2: International forces in East Timor today reserved the right to return fire into West Timor if under attack from across the border. But a spokesman for the force striving to restore order to East Timor suggested foreign troops would stop short of pursuing militias into the neighbouring Indonesian-ruled province. "Our mandate is quite clear. We’re here to provide security in East Timor. That task actually stops at the border," Colonel Mark Kelly told reporters in the East Timorese capital, Dili. The international force (interfet) has a UN mandate to quell the bloodshed that engulfed East Timor after it voted overwhelmingly on August 30 for independence from Indonesia. But the pro-Indonesia militias responsible for much of the violence have retreated into West Timor since the Australian-led force arrived in Dili on September 20. There are now fears the militias plan to mount cross-border raids. "We do not pursue across the border...," Col Kelly said. "If we find that we actually have interfet soldiers being attacked by indirect fire, that is by mortars or artillery (from across the border), it would be within our mandate to prosecute that offensive fire to protect our force." This week, Australia’s Defence Minister said Interfet might cross into West Timor if in hot pursuit of militia, prompting an angry demand from Jakarta for clarification. Australia’s Premier yesterday played down his minister’s comment. Interfet today pushed into the Western area of Bobinaru in East Timor as humanitarian relief efforts widened. The violence has scattered the tiny territory’s population of 800,000. About a quarter of them are now thought to be in West Timor, many said to have been herded there against their will. A UN official said that in three of six refugee camps visited in West Timor on Friday the people had no shelter at all and were living in the open in appalling conditions. Interfet troops who surged into Bobinaru today were consolidating their positions on Saturday, bringing in command and control, armoured and logistics support vehicles. The push is part of operation lavarack to secure East Timor’s Western region against the militias. Eight militiamen encountered near the town of Batugade yesterday quickly fled into the jungle. UN officials said the security situation in the East of the territory had improved to the point where widespread relief programmes could begin there. "We feel pretty certain that in the East of the island we now have the capacity to reach out to the people by road with the setting up of the baucau staging area," said Michel Barton, a UN spokesman in Dili. "We feel that the vast majority of the population can be supplied by road." In Dili, where most Interfet troops are deployed, New Zealand forces detained five militiamen on Friday and Australian soldiers accepted the surrender of three pro-independence guerrillas. (REUTERS) |
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Court orders compensation for
woman who bumped DUESSELDORF (GERMANY), Oct 2: A German woman left paralysed after banging her head on a metal bedpost during sex with her boyfriend has been awarded substantial compensation by a Duesseldorf court. The bench stipulated yesterday that the 35-year-old secretary receive 774,325 German marks (428,000 dollars), more than seven times the amount first paid by an accident insurance company after the incident five years ago. The woman was knocked unconscious at the time and was too ashamed to tell doctors the circumstances of her injury. The insurers had refused to pay the full amount, saying they doubted the woman’s story. During the case experts said they thought it was plausible that the woman had sustained the injuries during energetic lovemaking. (DPA) |
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UN Timor forces push into militia heartland DILI, EAST TIMOR, Oct 2: International troops pushed into East Timor’s West on Friday, raising the spectre of a confrontation with thousands of pro-Jakarta militiamen. Several hundred Australian troops from the International Force for East Timor (Interfet) yesterday swept into the territory’s West only hours after Britain’s Gurkha soldiers fired the first shots in the UN-mandated mission. The Gurkhas fired warning shots late on Thursday as they chased militiamen who had been holding 2,000 people at gunpoint in the remote Eastern Port town of Com. Three militiamen were arrested and the detainees were set free. The militia have forcibly evacuated thousands of East Timorese on foot and by boat. Security, however, is still a problem in dili, the capital, with five buildings — a family planning clinic, two police stations and the Justice Department buildings, set on fire yesterday, Chief United Nations spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. The United Nations also turned up the diplomatic heat on indonesia, directing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to set up an inquiry into atrocities in East Timor. Ms Robinson said she would have specialists on the ground next week, adding that there were many witnesses who could give first-hand information against the perpetrators. Interfet said the Western push, called Operation Lavarack, would be a "decisive phase" of efforts to restore order to East Timor after a month of violence and should last several weeks. (REUTERS) |
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Thai embassy siege ends in helicopter escape BANGKOK, Oct 2: A siege of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok ended dramatically today as a group of five heavily armed attackers released 89 hostages and escaped by helicopter to the Thai-Myanmar border. The attackers, who stormed the mission last morning, were flown to Ratchaburi, about 100 kms West of Bangkok where they were dropped off. Thai acting Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra and another official, who had flown with the dissidents to the border as a guarantee of their safety, then returned to Bangkok. Thai Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart said all 89 hostages — 51 Myanmar nationals and another 38 people of other nationalities — were released unharmed by the assailants. Earlier reports by police and other officials had put the number of hostages at up to 40-45. "During this 25 hours, we are pleased that no one was harmed and now everyone is free," Sanan told a news conference. He said the Thai Government had given the attackers safe passage out of Bangkok because it did not consider them "terrorists" but people seeking democracy in their own country. The attackers, calling themselves the "vigorous burmese student warriors", had been demanding the release of all Myanmar political prisoners, a dialogue between the Myanmar Military Government and the pro-democracy opposition — led by nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi — and a democratic Parliament. Sanan said it was up to the hostage-takers where they went from now on. He said a criminal case would be opened and Thai law would be applied, but gave no details. The hostages were freed in two large groups today: some as the attackers departed the Embassy compound in two cream-coloured minivans and another group of around 27 at the airfield from which the helicopters took off, witnesses said. The hostages appeared exhausted but unharmed and relieved that their ordeal was over. One Canadian hostage, who declined to give his name, told Reuters the whole group had been well treated. "I am glad I’m free now," he said after getting out of a minivan in which he had been taken to the airfield. "I was awake all night and only got to eat at 2 a.m. We were treated fine." The release of the hostages ended an intense standoff around the Myanmar mission, which had involved many hundreds of police and a large security operation throughout the Thai Capital. Negotiations were broken off by the attackers at one point during the night and food was delivered to the Embassy to the gunmen, who were armed with AK-47 assault Rifles and grenades. A deadline by which the dissidents had vowed to start shooting hostages every half an hour if their demands for a getaway helicopter were not met passed early on Saturday morning without incident. In the end, the attackers, wearing red bandanas, agreed to leave the Embassy but took with them two busloads of hostages. They were driven to a Military Academy in Central Bangkok and were met by a helicopter, which the attackers boarded with Sukhumbhand and the other Thai official. Another helicopter followed the dissidents as they took off, witnesses said. The dissidents had earlier chopped down the Embassy flagpole from which they had flown their "fighting peacock" democracy flag, apparently to make way for a helicopter. The attackers fired several times in the Embassy, but none of the hostages were harmed. The attack on the Embassy put the Thai Government in an embarrassing position. Officials said Thailand was not in a position to negotiate many of the demands of the dissidents that involved a change of the military Government in Myanmar or its political system. A statement from the attackers said the group was not connected with Myanmar dissident student organisations, the country’s opposition or international support groups: "This action is our own movement and our own ideas," it said. Many Myanmar students fled to Thailand after the military killed thousands when it crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. But the storming of the Embassy marks a radical departure from years of peaceful protests by opponents of Myanmar’s military rule. US State Department spokesman James Rubin said Washington strongly condemned "this terrorist attack", regardless of the motives and demands of the perpetrators. (REUTERS) |
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Safety fears recede in Japan as outrage grows MITO, (JAPAN), Oct 2: Safety fears began to subside in Japan today following the country’s worst-ever nuclear accident, but outrage and incredulity spread as details of the incident emerged. Calls rose for industry-wide reforms in the wake of shocking new revelations about practices at the plant in Tokaimura, 140 km Northeast of Tokyo. Employees apparently used buckets to transfer a uranium solution into a mixing tank, officials at the firm running the facility were quoted by japanese newspapers as saying. Because they were doing the job by hand, instead of using a required apparatus, they mistakenly loaded 16 kg of uranium into a container, nearly eight times the normal amount, the officials at JCO Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, were quoted as saying. This may have created the "flash criticality" which was not halted until yesterday morning. They also appear to have transferred the uranium to the wrong tank, the officials were quoted as saying. Safety experts pointed to a number of other problems, including possible structural points, that also may have allowed the accident to happen. Fifty-five people, mainly plant workers and emergency personnel who responded to the accident, were exposed to radiation. Three were in serious condition, with some experts saying their chances of survival were slim. Doctors said on Saturday that two of the three may need bone-marrow transplants. Normal life slowly returned for many of the more than 300,000 people living near the site of the accident, who were told not to venture outside their homes after the Thursday accident. Women swept the streets in front of houses and children set off for school as they would on any other Saturday. But the orders applied only to those within a 10 km radius of the plant. Some 80 people living within 350 metres of the plant, evacuated soon after the accident, remain barred from returning to their homes. "When will we be able to go back?" one woman asked. "And will we know if it’s really safe even if we do?" Officials said it was safe to drink tap water but warned against drinking water from local wells which was being tested for possible contamination, a process which would take days. They also said that no signs of radiation had been found in some locally-grown vegetables, although questions remained about whether harvesting and shipping could proceed as normal. The Government declared the incident to be "level four" on a scale of nuclear accidents, making it Japan’s worst. The United Nations’ atomic watchdog said in Vienna that the accident could be given a higher rating after a comprehensive investigation. Level four means that there has been a leak of a small amount of radioactive material outside a nuclear facility. The 1979 US three mile island incident was level five, and the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine, the worst in history, was at the maximum, level seven. US nuclear safety expert Felix Kilar said he was baffled at how the Japanese workers miscalculated the uranium amount so badly. They "were not aware of the concentrations of uranium," he said. "It is kind of hard to understand how they got this far out of control." Both the United States and the Britain dismissed the chance of a similar accident happening in their countries, citing procedures to minimise human error, but US President Bill Clinton ordered a safety review as a precautionary measure. Government under fire, may pass new law The Government came under fire for its handling of the accident amid questions about how it all happened in the same town that suffered a nuclear accident only two years ago. Chief Government spokesman Hiromu Nonaka admitted the Government was slow to respond to the accident. "As a modern nation, it’s shameful that this kind of accident happened," Mr Nonaka said. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said today that the Government had decided to look into stiffening laws to prevent similar accidents in the future, and that it also hoped to strengthen the capacity of local Governments to respond to them. But observers remained critical. "This is what always happens in Japan - they wait for an accident to happen before doing anything," said one nuclear safety expert on NHK television. "You can’t just blame this accident on the workers. There are much more fundamental problems that must be addressed." The accident, the latest in a string of mishaps for Japan’s nuclear industry, is likely to spur renewed public opposition to its nuclear programme. "It is an accident of unprecedented seriousness," said Hideyuki Ban, co-director of the anti-nuclear citizens nuclear information centre. "The situation (facing the industry) is more serious than ever before." Japan is heavily dependent on nuclear power, with some 35 percent of its electricity coming from its 51 nuclear reactors. (REUTERS) |
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