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US asks Pak to use WASHINGTON, Oct 30: United States has asked the new military regime in....more New age leaders call for millennium wave of prayer LOS ANGELES, Oct 30: Leaders of the "new age"..more India, Russia, China WASHINGTON, Oct 30: United States should update..more Endangered
wildlife not BEIJING, Oct 30: The growing use of substitutes for prized...more |
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Muslims issue fatwa LONDON, Oct 30: British Muslims have issued a "fatwa" condemning....more DUBAI, Oct 30: In a revolutionary initiative, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ....more Africa’s
wars generate NAIROBI, Oct 30: The Ugandan Air Force pilots were unimpressed. The......more
Clinton
grants a ATLANTA, Oct 30: She made her way to the front of the crowd and..more |
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US asks Pak to use its influence in getting Bin Laden WASHINGTON, Oct 30: United States has asked the new military regime in Pakistan to use its influence with the Taliban militia to expel international terrorist Osama Bin Laden from Afghanistan if it wants to be considered a responsible member of the international community. We would want to see the new Government of Pakistan apply pressure on Taliban that would be consistent with being a responsible member of the international community, State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters yesterday. Referring to the UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Taliban if they failed to extradite Bin Laden by November 14, Rubin said, if Pakistan wants to be considered a responsible member of the international community, then one way in which they could demonstrate that is to use their influence to bring to bear on the Taliban to comply with this resolution. That would be something we would encourage then to do, Rubin said. However, he quipped we will have to see if that yields any success. Meanwhile, Bin Laden has offered to conditionally leave Afghanistan. In a letter to the ruling Taliban Chief Abllah Mohammad Omar, the terrorist mastermind said he was ready to leave Afghanistan provided the Islamic militia undertook to help him reach the place of his choice and promised secrecy about his intended destination, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported yesterday. I can reveal the name of the place to one or two people in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan which should not give out this secret to anyone else, AIP quoted Bin Laden as saying in the letter. Washington blames Bin Laden for two bomb attacks last year against its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed over 200 people. (PTI) |
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New age leaders call for millennium wave of prayer LOS ANGELES, Oct 30: Leaders of the "new age" spiritual development movement are calling for "wave" of prayer around the world on new year’s eve — with prayers spoken, sung, chanted or even typed into the electronic realm of cyberspace. Best-selling author James Redfield, whose "celestine prophesy" series created numerous spiritual support groups, says the aim of the mass prayer is to do nothing less than "heal the world." Redfield, in a telephone interview with Reuters yesterday, said he hopes the moment of prayer that he and other spiritually concerned people are calling for will turn into the biggest ecumenical prayer vigil ever. "We’re calling for a moment of prayer for the new millennium right before that millennium arrives," he said, adding: "In the last moments of 1999, just as everybody focuses on the clock no matter where they are, we’re just asking that everybody join with everyone else and pray in their own way for a better world in the next century and millennium, for an increase in peace and freedom, and a general uplifting in the human race." The new millennium does not actually begin until January one, 2001 but most of the globe is intent on marking its arrival a year earlier, with a raft of celebrations planned around the world to welcome in 2000. Redfield said the worldwide call for a global moment of prayer would begin on December 31 at 2359 hrs (local time) in the south pacific and roll across the earth as people welcome in the new millennium, Redfield said. "Every hour a new group in their time zone will hold a moment of prayer. There will be a wave of prayer that encircles the globe," Redfield said. "It’s a way to connect everybody with everyone else in their time zone." Celebrities such as actor Levar Burton and Marianne Williamson, the founder of detroit-based church of today will lead prayer groups at various spots around the country which will be broadcast live on the internet via Redfield’s web site, www.celestinevison.com. Burton will be broadcasting live from Walt Disney world in Orlando, Redfield said. From next Monday, the site will also contain information and chat rooms relating to the vigil, Redfield said. People will be asked to download flyers from the site to pass to friends and family members who want to participate in the worldwide prayer. "The opportunity to envelop the planet in a blanket of prayer, has the power to literally intercept the processes of history. We can interrupt the fear-based mind-set that literally threatens the human race," Williamson told Reuters. "A moment of powerful prayer when millions of people are already in a state of hope and expectation could literally tip the scales toward a more compassionate future," she added. Many celebrities and spiritual leaders are coming on board as sponsors, said Redfield. He is starting on Monday promotion of his newest book, "the secret of Shambhala," the third in a runaway best-selling series of novels about an ongoing quest. (REUTERS) |
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India, Russia, China
increasing influence WASHINGTON, Oct 30: United States should update its policies to accomodate India, China and Russia and prevent them from becoming adversaries of American interests and leaders of a new anti-Western global coalition, a leading US defence think tank has said. The US must forge policies that must balance support for traditional friends and allies with engagement of India, Russia and China...And require interacting with all three countries on equitable terms if American interests are to be advanced, the National Defense University (NDU) said. NDU in its 1999 strategic assessment suggested that US policy must use its current preeminence to shape tomorrow’s world to be more favourable to itself and its allies. Engaging the transition states (India, China and Russia) has become an important strategic requirement. The updated US policy should aim at integrating these three countries further into the Western community. If that is not possible, the US should cooperate with them when mutual interests permit but react firmly when legitimate US interests are opposed by them, the report noted. Pointing out that US relations with all the three countries had suffered during the past year, the report said At a minimum, US policy should prevent them from becoming adversaries of US interests and leaders of a new anti-Western global coalition. These policies must combine more sophisticated initiatives and constraints to respond adequately to the challenges posed by China, India and Russia, it said. India, China and Russia, the NDU report noted, are unlikely to advance US interests and goals in coming years though all three seem willing to oppose US policies occasionally while cooperating on others. None are rogue, but none seems likely to join the Western democratic core anytime soon..., it added. India, Russia and China are key transition states pursuing foreign policies anchored in state interests and seek to establish themselves as leading powers of the world scene. Each seeks a revision of the status quo that will increase its influence at the expense of the US. Though none of the three states seeks hegemony, the US has enduring interests in the region and Washington cannot be indifferent to the rise of these states to global status. It must be concerned about the size and shape of their armed forces, regional ambitions and political and economic power, it said. However, the report said a particularly difficult task will be regarding nuclear India which in the long term has the size to become a regional hegemony... It is able to assert a maritime presence in the Indian Ocean. With regard to China, the NDU recommended a combination of firmness and restraint. A new containment strategy may be needed if a stronger China seeks hegemony in Asia, it said. (PTI) |
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Endangered wildlife not best Chinese medicine BEIJING, Oct 30: The growing use of substitutes for prized remedies in Chinese medicine such as tiger bones and rhinoceros horns could help save the endangered animals from extinction, conservationists and academics have said. "Some of the substitutes have been proven effective in labora-tory tests by TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) specialists," said Judy Mills, Director of the Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce in East Asia. "And there is the "sailong gu" (bone of the sailong rodent) which can replace tiger bones," she told Reuters, yesterday. Mills said dog bones and some herbs were also showing promise as an alternative to tiger bones, often ground to powder and mixed with Chinese herbs to make medicinal plasters. Some plaster makers are also switching from tiger to ginger, which is known to be a "warm herb" and has proven its efficacy for rheumatism, academics said. There are now a mere 7,000 tigers in the world. Half a century ago there were 150,000 and those that remain are threatened by poachers keen to make a profit from tiger parts. Mills said though the world wide fund for nature classifies as endangered only four animals and one plant from among the more than 1,000 plant species used in traditional Chinese medicine, there should be no slackening in conservation work. "It’s a small percentage of the chinese pharmacopoeia that is in trouble in the wild, but now is the time to make sure that the other animal species and plants do not become threatened or endangered because of medicinal use," she said. The WWF, which is holding a three-day symposium in Beijing on the use of wildlife in tcm, says the global TCM industry is likely to soar to 12 billion in the decade starting 2000, compared to the current decade’s 1 billion. One major hurdle in persuading people to accept substitutes in Chinese medicine is the glamorous image of animals like tigers and rhinos, practitioners said. "Other than its clinical effect, another reason for using tiger bones is that the animal is often portrayed by the Chinese as ferocious and heroic," Huang Lixin, president of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. "On the other hand, sailong is a type of mouse that drug makers wouldn’t draw on their labels," she said. Conservationists say there is added concern about protecting tigers and rhinos as they are at the top of the cites (convention on international trade and endangered species) list of endangered species, followed by deer and bears. "They keep bears in the farm and extract the bile while they’re alive. Of course, many people say that’s cruel, but at least they don’t have to kill that animal like they do to tigers," said James Harkness, Director of Species Campaigns at WWF International. (REUTERS) |
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Muslims issue fatwa over ‘gay Jesus’ play LONDON, Oct 30: British Muslims have issued a "fatwa" condemning playwright Terence McNally to death for depicting Jesus Christ as a homosexual in his play "Corpus Christi". Muslim Cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad said McNally would face arrest and execution if he travelled to Muslim countries. "This should only happen on their own soil. We do not believe in political assassination but obviously he would face capital punishment," he told reporters. He issued the warning after copies of the fatwa were passed to the audience outside the London theatre where the play is being staged. The British media today reported that McNally had been alerted about the fatwa by police at his New York home. Muslims regard Jesus as a "messenger of god" and that is why the play was declared blasphemous by the Al-Muhajiroun group and Sheikh Muhammed, judge of the Shari’ah Court. The London-based cleric criticised Christian churches for not taking stronger action against the play, which sparked protests when staged in new york and at the Edinburgh Festival. "The church of england has neglected the honour of the Virgin Mary and Jesus," he told reporters. "It is blasphemy for them not to take action." The play shows a gay Jesus betrayed by his lover Judas and crucified as "king of the queers". Britain has a Moslem community of several million people, many of whom are immigrants from former British Colonies or their descendants. (REUTERS) |
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DUBAI, Oct 30: In a revolutionary initiative, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that it would set up the world’s first free trade zone for E-business in Dubai within a year and create a pool of specialists drawn from India and other countries to position it as a cost-effective alternative to the Silicon Valley. "The Dubai Internet City" would be built at a cost of 200 million U.S. dollars to offer companies, in addition to 100 per cent foreign ownership, tax exemptions for both corporate and personal incomes, land on renewable 50-year leases and a "single window" for all Government clearances, including those related to trade licenses and work permits, UAE Defence Minister and crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum told reporters here last evening. He said the "Dubai Internet City" would also be home to the world’s first Internet University, which would offer international quality courses in areas like E-business, E-finance, E-marketing, multimedia, E-design and and E-management. The city would also have a research and development centre for new technology initiatives and a state-of-the-art science and technology park that would support all residential E-enterprises. Permanent exhibition and display facilities would ensure that the city became a frequently visited destination for all leading-edge companies, Sheikh Mohammed said. He said programmers for running the city would be hired from major software development centres like India and some Arab countries. Aheikh Mohammed said "my vision is simple. While the commercial action will happen in cyberspace, what Dubai internet city will provide is a modern, high-technology, international class ground base in the physical world. I want Dubai to be the best physical location in the world for any company". Welcoming global internet industry players to the city, he said "what Dubai offers is its stragetic location as the business and leisure hub of nearly two billion consumers, in a region that stretches from the middle East to the sub-continent and from Africa to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). Dubai is the preferred destination for software, it and E-commerce professionals and companies in this part of the world, especially the sub-continent". Observers here say the "Dubai Internet City" plan seeks to seize the opportunity to provide an attractive base to global information technology majors who are keen to move some of their operations away from home. Many international majors already have these "offshore centres" working out of indian cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore. But given the poor infrastructure support available in these cities, Dubai should appeal to them as an unbeatable option. In any case, Dubai is a natural gateway to a vast reservoir of programming talent, Indian as well as Arab. (UNI) |
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Africa’s wars generate profits for obsolete weapons NAIROBI, Oct 30: The Ugandan Air Force pilots were unimpressed. The Russian MiG-21S they had just been shown at Entebbe airport were "perhaps relatively cheap, but almost ripe for the scrapheap," one of them remarked. In Russia the three aircraft would have been regarded as long obsolete, but, at a price of 1.5 million dollars apiece, they are thought still good enough to fight a war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Whether jet fighters or tanks, grenade launchers or the famous Kalashnikov Rifles, the weapons used in Africa’s wars have often seen service in other conflicts. Nevertheless, despite the dumping prices, in particular for obsolete weapons from the former east bloc, sub-Saharan Africa’s expenditure on military equipment of every kind has once again risen significantly over the past year, by 14 per cent to 9.7 billion dollars. The region’s share in the international arms trade is still small - and nothing compared to the purchases of, say, Saudi Arabia - but it has almost doubled since 1977 to three per cent of the total, according to the latest study from the Institute of Strategic Studies in London. More than half of the world’s current armed conflicts are raging in Africa. Three quarters of the countries South of the Sahara are involved, directly or indirectly, in war or civil war, and Africa’s wars have in the highest number of victims, largely because they usually result in famine. More than 50,000 troops have died in the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia over a couple of economically insignificant border zones. Food donations from the international community were all that prevented the death from starvation of hundreds of thousands in the affected region. The situation in the Southern Sudan is little different. Here the continent’s longest-running civil war has been raging since 1983, claiming two million lives. Most of them are victims of starvation in the struggle by the region’s Christian and animist inhabitants for autonomy from the Moslem North. Although African states lack the funds for hospitals and schools, they are always able to find ready money for weapons. The continent’s resources are plundered without scruple, and some finance their arms purchases - even if they are cheap by international comparison - by secret drug sales. This, along with smuggling gold and diamonds, is how the rebel movements in the Congo and Angola finance their wars. Western companies often make their contribution to African war chests - probably unintentionally, nevertheless in full knowledge of the consequences. The practice is widespread that African Governments help cover their military expenditures from granting trading concessions, from returns on international investments or from licence fees from oil concessions. Conflicts are regularly financed by foreign powers. Iran covers a large part of the sudanese Army’s costs, and libya helps finance the deficit in the military budget in the democratic republic of the Congo. The IISS also believes that aid is often diverted, including funds from the World Bank’s programme for demobilizing armed groups and cutting back armies. This throws up questions on "the role of multilateral banks in financing Africa’s wars", the IISS says. The IISS is considerably more forthright regarding those who profit from the African arms trade. Apart from the numerous contacts and go-betweens, state-owned companies in Russia, other Eastern European states and China are the main beneficiaries from this trade in human misery, it says. (DPA) |
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Clinton grants a 93-year-old’s demand for a kiss ATLANTA, Oct 30: She made her way to the front of the crowd and demanded a kiss from U.S. President Bill Clinton. And though he seemed temporarily taken aback, she eventually got one. In situations like this, it probably helps to be 93 years old. Ginger gold, who described herself as being 93 and a half years old and a native of Hungary, interrupted the proceedings of the anti-defamation league in Atlanta yesterday where Mr Clinton was due to speak. Before he could begin his remarks, she shouted from the front row: "I came to kiss you" Mr Clinton had no snappy comeback handy and appeared momentarily flummoxed. He paused before beginning his remarks as gold blew him kisses with both hands. But after the speech was finished and he made his customary hand-shaking, back-slapping, hugging progress along the velvet rope at the front of the room, Mr Clinton repeatedly kissed the gray-haired woman. She kissed him back with gusto and said, "I love you." She told him she worked at a veterans administration hospital, and that she had a gift for Mr Clinton but had not been allowed to bring it into the room where he spoke. Mr Clinton aides asked her to send it to the White House. (REUTERS) |
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