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Ackerman hails
decision WASHINGTON, Oct 9: Veteran democratic Congressman Gary L. Ackerman has ....more
Pop star Michael Jackson LOS ANGELES, Oct 9: Pop star Michael Jackson and his second wife ...more
Clinton urges senate WASHINGTON, Oct 9: With defeat staring him to get the senate ratify the....more |
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Tony Blair congratulates
LONDON, Oct 9: British Premier Tony Blair has congratulated Atal Behari Vajpayee ...more Pentagon ready WASHINGTON, Oct 9: Pentagon has established.....more Heart disease top SHANGHAI, Oct 9: Over 100 million Chinese are....more
Sheikh Peace Accord DUBAI, Oct 9: Israel has indefinitely postponed the.....more Nepal AIDS support KATHMANDU, Oct 9: "I have AIDS. Please hug me.....more |
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Ackerman
hails decision WASHINGTON, Oct 9: Veteran democratic Congressman Gary L. Ackerman has hailed the house-senate committee decision to accord a broad-based authority to President Clinton to waive the nuclear-related sanctions, thus, placing U.S. India relations on a new and exciting foundation. Mr Ackerman, who is co-chairman of the congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans, said it was "a superb legislative achievement and a political triumph for pro-India forces in the United States." In a statement last night, he said this could not have happened but for the transformation in the image and credibility of India. The turning point was Kargil. "This Sanctions Relief Bill is the manifestation of both Congress and the administration taking India very seriously and wanting to engage New Delhi in a higher-level of relationship," he added. He, however, said, "I now also respectfully urge the new Vajpayee administration, which will shortly be inaugurated in New Delhi, to continue to shed old suspicions and bugaboos toward Washington’s intentions and join with pro-India forces in the United States so as to elevate the relations between our two great nations to yet a higher plane." Mr Ackerman, a leading member of the house International Relations Committee, said, "this Bill also signifies the end of cold war thinking and clears the deck for a fundamentally new kind of relationship between our two great nations." "This legislative initiative on sanctions allows for a defence relationship to begin and develop between the United States and India, which is currently not possible because of legislative restrictions," he added. He said a high-level of military contact and cooperation was a pre-requisite for any strategic partnership to evolve between Washington and New Delhi and this legislation helped in making that happen by opening the door for military co-operation. He said it was in the interest of the United States for the administration ‘’to have as much flexibility as possible to pursue a new, broader and substantive relationship with India and this Bill empowers them to do so .’’ (UNI) |
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Pop star Michael Jackson and wife to end marriage LOS ANGELES, Oct 9: Pop star Michael Jackson and his second wife, former nurse Debbie Rowe Jackson, have agreed to divorce after nearly three years of marriage and two children, court papers filed in Los Angeles have said. Rowe filed for divorce in Los Angeles superior court, saying the couple had been separated since July 15 and citing "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for ending the marriage. But a spokesman for Jackson, New York publicist Howard Rubenstein, said the couple had "mutually agreed to end their marriage." "Michael and Debbie remain friends and they ask that the public respect their desire not to further comment or speculate upon the reasons for their decision," Rubenstein added. He also declined comment on the details of the settlement, including which parent would receive custody of the children, prince Michael Jackson Jr., 2, and Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson, 1. The divorce petition, filed using a standard check-box form, stated that "all ... Assets and debts have been disposed of by a stipulation of the parties." The section dealing with child custody, visitation and spousal support was left blank, except to request that the court enter (a) judgment pursuant to stipulation of the parties. That stipulation was not detailed in the petition. The personal wealth of the self-style "King of Pop," whose 1982 release "thriller" is the biggest-selling album of all time, has been estimated at 150 million dollars. Press reports have painted his marriage to Rowe as one of the oddest in show business, with the the 41-year-old singer living with his children at his heavily guarded Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara, California, and his 40-year-old wife residing 240 kms South in Los Angeles with little involvement in the children’s upbringing. (REUTERS) |
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Clinton urges senate to postpone vote on CTBT ratification WASHINGTON, Oct 9: With defeat staring him to get the senate ratify the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty), president Bill Clinton has called upon senators to postpone a vote taking whatever time is necessary to craft satisfactory safeguards in an orderly, non-political process. I have asked them to put it off because we don’t have the votes, Clinton said in Ottawa yesterday. Clinton had already assured the senate that any time he feels that US supreme national interests cannot be served without testing again, he would withdraw from the treaty and order renewal of the tests. And that would be put in writing. However, this and other assurances were teemed too vague and inadequate by the majority of Republicans, who were also not satisfied with the arrangements for on-site inspection. They pointed out that at present the CIA says it has no capability to monitor all small-scale explosions. At the State Department, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright endorsed the call for postponement of the vote, but expressed the hope that the delay would not be too long. She made it clear that she would prefer postponement of the vote to defeat. It would be a very bad signal for this treaty to be voted down in terms of diplomatic activities that I must carry on with India and Pakistan and the discussions with our NATO allies who are in favour of it. The signal would be that the US would not be in a leadership position on non-proliferation issues, Albright said. Some Republican senators have said that the CTBT ratification issue should be put off till the next President is in office and the new Congress has been sworn in 2001. State Department spokesman James Rubin said that the administration does not want ratification postponed for a very long time. Asked to define very long time, he said he meant many years. Ratification vote has been scheduled for Tuesday. Earlier, speaking in the senate debate senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said that one reason why he wanted India and Pakistan to be brought into the CTBT, which would be possible only if the US ratified the treaty was that while the nuclear bomb in India was in civilian and not in military hands, in Pakistan, it is in military hands and the Pakistan army is not under civilian control as in India. (PTI) |
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Tony Blair congratulates Vajpayee LONDON, Oct 9: British Premier Tony Blair has congratulated Atal Behari Vajpayee on the victory of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Lok Sabha elections, calling it a personal triumph for the Indian Prime Minister. Blair called up Vajpayee yesterday and told him that he was looking forward to meeting him at the forthcoming Commonwealth Summit in South Africa. Vajpayee thanked his British counterpart and said he too wanted to meet him at the earliest. (PTI) |
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Pentagon ready for cyberwarfare WASHINGTON, Oct 9: Pentagon has established new centres as part of preparation for cyberwarfare to defend the United States from hackers and to plot ways to attack the computer networks of America’s enemies. US Secretary of Defence William Cohen described the new centres, inaugurated yesterday, as answers to the newer threats faced by the United States. We are stepping into the future, to deal with the kinds of threats we are likely to face from chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons, Cohen said. The Pentagon yesterday established a new centre, headquartered at the space command in Colorado Springs, to defend the United States from hackers and to plot ways to attack the computer networks of America’s enemies. This is an acknowledgement that in the world where communication is critical, our ability to protect our systems and potentially get inside an adversary’s system and after his decision, is critical, said General Henry S Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the occasion. He revealed the US had tried to mount electronic attacks on the Serbian computer networks during the air campaign against Yugoslavia. We only used our capability in a very limited degree, Shelton said. Government officials disclosed over the summer, the New York Times noted, that US intelligence was mounting computer attacks on foreign bank accounts held by President Slobodan Miloevic and other Serbian leaders, with the goal of draining their assets or alter banking records. In future wars, US cyberwarriors will try to disable air defence systems, upset logistics and infect software through advances made by the Colorado Centre, a Pentagon official said. The new cybercentre, under General Richard Myers of the Airforce, will take over what is now a scattered series of operations. Admiral Harold W Gehman was put in charge of a centre at Norfolk, Virginia which will coordinate military actions should an enemy target the US with biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. General Shelton told reporters that the new cybercentre in Colorado will have far-ranging responsibilities in future wars. He said that the Pentagon detected efforts to enter its computers by unauthorised people in the Kosovo campaign. During Kosovo, he said, there is no question that day in and day out we got hundreds if not thousands of hits. He added classified US computers are well protected but he wants the centre to figure out how to improve protection for both classified and unclassified computer systems. In the last five years, said William Arkin, an expert on cyberwar, we have certainly seen a proliferation of information warfare organisations, and if this new centre will put all the focus and energies of the military in one place, then it is a big deal. (PTI) |
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Heart disease top killer in China SHANGHAI, Oct 9: Over 100 million Chinese are suffering from heart disease, which was the number one cause of death in the country in 1998, the Shanghai news said today. Citing official statistics, it said cardio-vascular disease accounted for 40 per cent of deaths reported in 1998, up from 10 per cent in 1957. In Shanghai, 15.41 per cent of the population over the age of 35 was suffering from high blood pressure, it said. The newspaper said the nationwide average age of heart patients was becoming younger, but it did not elaborate. Shanghai kicked off a "cardio-vascular awareness week" yesterday, promoting a healthier life style to prevent the deadly disease. (REUTERS) |
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Sheikh
Peace Accord DUBAI, Oct 9: Israel has indefinitely postponed the promised release of 151 more palestinian prisoners, raising serious doubts with regard to the faithful implementation of the Shram Al Sheikh Peace Accord signed last month. The prisoners were to be released yesterday under the deal but a dispute arose between the two sides over which of the inmates would be freed. "The release of prisoners will not take place at this stage due to the refusal of the Palestinians to accept the list which was presented to them", media reports from Jerusalem quoted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s office as saying. Palestinians accused Israel of violating the September five accord by refusing to release more than 40 long-serving prisoners. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat charged Israel with imposing terms for the release of the prisoners. Israel had last month released 199 Palestinian prisoners soon after the signing of the peace accord to revive the Wye river agreement between the two sides. This was followed by Israel handing over seven per cent of the West Bank territory to Palestinian civil control. Under the agreement, a total of 350 Palestinian prisoners were to be released. Mr Erekat said, under the accord, the prisoners to be freed must have committed their offences before an interim peace deal signed in 1993. "They (Israel) removed 47 names from this criteria. They want to release prisoners arrested after 1995 and 1996...They still have the attitude of either take it or leave it. I don’t think we can accept it this time. We have to respect the agreement signed", he added. Israel, however, did not appear prepared to release any of the prisoners charged with murder or other major offences. Israel Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said Israel would continue to deny freedom to any Palestinian prisoner who "murdered Israelis or wounded them". Meanwhile, Palestinian president Yasser Arafat called for quick resolution of the dispute. "We do not consider it a crisis but it is an interruption of the peace process. We have to solve this issue as soon as possible", he told reporters yesterday after talks with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vaderine. The delay in the release of the prisoners came close on the heels of the dispute between the two sides over the opening of a "safe passage" route linking the West Bank and Gaza Strip to enable Palestinians to meet their relatives and friends. The route was to have opened tomorrow but would now open sometime next week. (UNI) |
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Nepal AIDS support KATHMANDU, Oct 9: "I have AIDS. Please hug me. I can’t make you sick." In a few words, the colourful poster sums up the objectives of ‘Prerana,’ Nepal’s only support group of and for people living with the virus. Wary visitors entering Prerana’s modest premises are instantly put at ease. A handwritten notice on the wall reads: "our goal is to enable people living with HIV/AIDS and their families to live dignified and fulfilling lives without fear of prejudice or discrimination in society." "All are positive, all are negative within these four walls," says of Deepak Devkota, an outreach worker with Prerana since 1997. A former drug addict, Devkota, 30, holds HIV prevention classes in schools in and around Kathmandu, the Nepali capital. He addresses students, their parents and teachers and shares his experience at workshops and seminars. "I make home visits, talk to the families of people living with HIV/AIDS, try to make them understand that these people require love, care and support and should not be looked at with disgust. I try to increase their understanding about HIV/AIDS," says Mr Devkota. The outreach worker, who knows the CIT’s alleys and drug pockets like the back of his hand, takes pains to get through to drug addicts - identified as a high risk group. "It’s easy to spot an addict or a person with AIDS," he says. "Talking to them, convincing them about the dangers of sharing needles is harder. Often they have suspicions about having contracted the virus but are afraid to seek help. I try to convince them to take a blood test. Or to talk to peer educators and counsellors at Prerana." At the support group’s premises in Kathmandu, people are welcome to drop in for a game of chess or carroms, sometimes partake in a meal or to just talk and be with peers who don’t care about their HIV status. Despite the AIDS hype and the millions spent on prevention and awareness campaigns, support for people with HIV/AIDS is sorely lacking. The stigma attached to the disease makes it difficult for people to seek help. Prerana’s hotline service, operating since July 1998, tries to fulfill that gap by providing confidential information and counselling to callers. "People usually ask about the time it takes for HIV to develop into AIDS, where to take a blood test, or about HIV/AIDS symptoms," says Sita Bogati, a hotline counsellor. "Calls range from the personal to the medical. Concerned wives call about their husbands and how to ensure that they take a test." Husbands who have contracted the virus ask about ways to protect their wives and children and queries about the safety of condoms in preventing HIV/AIDS are quite common, she said. As of May 1999, a total of 256 AIDS cases and 1287 HIV positive cases were reported to the ministry of Health’s National Center for AIDS and STD control. Surveys indicate that the majority of people with HIV/AIDS are sex-workers and their clients followed by injecting drug users. More than fifty per cent fall within the productive age group of 20-29. No specific studies are available to estimate how incomplete or inaccurate the ministry’s reports may be, given the existing medical and public health infrastructure and the limited HIV/AIDS surveillance system in place in Nepal. However, there are indications that the actual number of AIDS cases that have occurred could be at least five to 10 times the reported number and the actual HIV prevalence at least 20 to 30 times greater. By the year 2000, the cumulative prevalence of HIV infections is projected to be 25,000 cases and the cumulative total number of AIDS cases close to 5000. First detected in Nepal in the 1988, the potential for the spread of HIV in Nepal is considered high because of a large number of commercial sex workers, high rate of STDs, low condom use and pockets of intravenous drug users. While the who-supported national AIDS and Prevention Control Project and the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control screen blood samples, develop educational material, treat STDs, and train health workers, such organisations do little to provide emotional and peer support. "Prerana tries to fulfill that need," says a 24- year-old Peer Educator. "Sometimes clients come with high expectations like a place to live, meals, good care without prejudice and doctors who won’t treat them like dirt. When we can’t provide all that, they become frustrated." the Educator said. Prerana, registered as an NGO in March 1998, was started as a small support group by three people - two housewives and an odd-job man all of whom were HIV positive. "We used to meet informally for the first four or five years," says 35-year-old Chettri founder member of Prerana. A counsellor with the organisation, Chettri recently married Asha, another founder member. A garlanded photo of Kopila, a third founder member occupies a special place on the office wall. Kopila succumbed to the virus last year. Chettri, a former addict, doesn’t know how long he has left himself but would like to see Prerana grow into a bigger, stronger, more effective support group. "Coming out into the open, letting people know that I was HIV positive was a big step. Initially I was afraid. But I wanted people to become aware, learn from my experience," says Chettri, who between bouts of illness, visits Prerana to offer counselling. (IPS) |
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