Sunday, August 1, 1999
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W O R L D | Sunday, August 1, 1999 |
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Pak for peace talks
before LS elections |
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Neelan Thiruchelvam
cremated South Korea to buy US missiles Malaysian PM woos ethnic Indians US legislators’ caution Suicide letter explains Atlanta
rampage |
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Pak for peace talks before LS elections ISLAMABAD, July 31 (Reuters) — Pakistan today accused India of trying to delay peace talks between the two countries and said they should begun before the Lok Sabha elections due in September and October. Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz told a news conference on return from a European visit there was "total support’’ for Pakistan’s demand for early and unconditional talks for a settlement on Kashmir. "The substantive talks will obviously take place after the new government comes (after the Indian elections) because that will have a stronger mandate,’’ he said. "But that doesn’t mean that we should not utilise these two months to prepare for dialogue, to see the contours, to discuss various things because these dialogues for the last 10 years have seen so many governments.’’ Mr Aziz said he hoped the two months before the Indian elections could be used "to prepare the right atmosphere’’ for a settlement on Kashmir. Mr Aziz visited Finland, the current chairman of the European Union, Romania and Britain during his European tour. "There is total support for Pakistan’s point of of view,’’ he said of international opinion concerning Islamabad’s demand for "unconditional talks’’ to settle the Kashmir dispute. "India’s efforts to delay the dialogue, either by confusing the freedom movement with terrorism or by imposing conditions on the sanctity of the LoC or by trying to talk of abetting of cross-border terrorism will not receive (support),’’ he said. Mr Aziz accused India of resorting to "diversionary tactics to take attention away from dialogue’’. "India’s desperate effort to mislead world opinion by confusing the freedom movement in Kashmir with terrorism has already failed miserably,’’ he said. The minister said all leaders whom he met in Europe "strongly endorsed our call for the early resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue’’ under the framework of a declaration signed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries in Lahore in February. "At the same time
they stressed the talks must be meaningful and serious
and directed towards finding a durable solution of the
Kashmir dispute that is acceptable to the Kashmiri
people,’’ he added. |
US satellite hits moon to look for water WASHINGTON, July 31 (AFP) — The US satellite Lunar Prospector, slammed into the moon at 3.22 pm (IST) today in an attempt to confirm the presence of water there, a NASA spokesman said. "We have impacted the Lunar Prospector on the moon," David Morse said. The satellite fired up its engines before impact in a bid to hit a crater near the moon's south pole 50 to 60 kilometres in diameter thought to conceal pockets of ice. Although NASA confirmed the probe had landed right on target, it was still unclear whether it had proved the existence of ice. It might be hours or even days before that could be confirmed, Morse said. The satellite, which was
launched on January 6, 1998, and had already completed
6,800 orbits of the moon, was also carrying the cremated
remains of famous geological astronomer Eugene Shoemaker. |
Feng Shui for modern living CHICAGO, July 30 (Reuters) — Gaining success at work, at home, in your finances and in your relationships could be as simple as rearranging furniture, adding colour or tossing out clutter. Feng Shui (pronounced “Fung Schway”), the ancient art of placement to direct energy flow used by the Chinese for more than 4,000 years, is emerging in the West as a tool to create a sense of well-being in any environment. Donald Trump used it in one of his developments. Actress Halle Berry employed its principles in her Hollywood Hills home. And it is finding its way into office buildings and homes around the USA. “Feng Shui is growing in momentum and popularity,” Ms Pamela Kai Tollefson, founder of the Feng Shui Institute in Milwaukee, said. “It’s very hot. People are getting the idea and understanding the principles,” she added. The number of businesses seeking her advice has jumped 50 per cent in recent years, she said. Internet book seller Amazon com lists more than 120 books on the subject, more than half of them published in the past two years. Feng Shui planted roots in the mid-1980s in the San Francisco Bay area, where martial arts academies and health clinics using acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine were already becoming popular. As word of this growing interest in Asian culture and philosophy spread, experts from Hong Kong and Taiwan began to travel back and forth to teach the principles, said Mr James Jay, co-director of Feng Shui Designs of Nevada City, California. Lin Yun, a Tibetan Buddhist priest and grand master in Feng Shui, was one of the first Chinese experts to move to California in the 1980s and begin teaching the principles. Ms Tollefson and Mr Jay are both his students. Another student, Sarah Rossbach, wrote the first major US book on the subject in 1991, called simply “Feng Shui.” A follow-up book, “Interior Design with Feng Shui,” came out the same year. Rossbach’s books nudged the topic from the obscurity of little-known workshops toward the mainstream. Four years ago, real estate Mogul Trump hired a Feng Shui expert to help build a skyscraper in New York. He said he needed the expert because the buyers were Asian and wanted the principles used in the project. “They believe them and that’s good enough for me,” Trump told Dateline NBC. Feng Shui, based on the flow of energy called “Chi,” studies the electromagnetic energy that flows in and around everything. The words literally mean “wind and water” and Chinese believe Chi mimics the flow of these elements. With knowledge of how these energy patterns work, Feng Shui experts like Ms Tollefson said they manipulate environments to benefit nearly every aspect of life. Mr Mark Miller, a Chicago architect and builder, was so impressed with the effect of Chi on the human body he decided to bring the same energetic benefits to physical space. For Chicago-based Bhi Design, Miller got rid of square cubicles and glaring lights at employee work stations. He designed walls that curve up behind each computer to aid individual concentration, then swoop down to facilitate work with team members. He vaulted ceilings and hid florescent lights to create a sense of space and relax the eye. Bhi Design president Steven Reagan said sales rose 30 per cent and profitability 10 per cent after the changes. “I can’t ascribed it to Feng Shui specifically because that’s hard to quantify,” he said adding, “I do know the employees like the space better and our overall work product has improved.” Feng Shui is also being used in various stages of product development, marketing and advertising. Ms Nancilee Wydra, founder of the Feng Shui Institute of America in Wabasso, Florida, has consulted with Takasago International Corporation for the past year. Takasago conducted market research in March to test word recognition of “Feng Shui” and found 6 per cent of Americans recognised it, enough for them to think it useful for developing product lines. “She guides our
perfumers in what ingredients would be the most
harmonious, using the right balance of scents associated
with the five elements of earth, fire, water, air and
wood,” Ms Kate Greene, director of marketing for
Takasago’s fine fragrance division in Rockleigh, New
Jersey, said. |
Neelan Thiruchelvam cremated COLOMBO, July 31 (PTI) — Slain Tamil parliamentarian Neelan Thiruchelvam was cremated here today amid tight security and international condemnation of the LTTE, alleged to have carried out the assassination. Despite a red security alert about the likelihood of more suicide strikes by the LTTE suicide bombers six Cabinet Ministers, High Commissioner of India Shivshankar Menon, US Ambassador Shon Donally and a host of other diplomats, parliamentarians, and intellectuals attended the funeral. Mr Thiruchelvam (55) was killed last Thursday in an attack by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber as the Vice-President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) was coming out of his residence in his car. In an unprecedented gesture the resident representative of the UNHCR, which has offices in LTTE held areas, was one of the invitees who delivered the funeral oration condemning the moderate leader’s assassination. The police and commandos virtually sealed the cemetery during the funeral which was attended among others by TULF leader R. Sampanthan who delivered an emotional speech recalling the services rendered by Mr Thiruchelvam to establish peace in the strife-torn island. TULF sources said that
all their six MPs of Eastern Batticaloa district have
returned to the Capital after the Tamil Tigers warned
them not to visit their constituencies, some of those MPs
attended today’s funeral. |
South Korea to buy US missiles SEOUL, July 31 (AFP) — South Korea is to buy some 100 high-tech air-to-ground missiles from the USA which can pinpoint North Korean missile and artillery bases, the defence ministry said yesterday. The announcement came amid reports that South Korea would ask visiting US Defence Secretary William Cohen to allow it to boost the range of its ground-based missiles to 500 km from 180 km. South Korea will spend some $80 million on some 100 AGM 42 “Popeye” missiles from US-based Lockheed Martin between 2000 and 2003, a defence ministry spokesman said. “It is inevitable that we bring in this kind of precision defence weapon to cope with the North Korean missile threat,” he said as Cohen and Seoul officials began talks on North Korea’s suspected plans to launch a long-range missile. “With 100 Popeye missiles we will be able to attack North Korea’s Taepodong and Rodong missile batteries as well as most of its long range artillery batteries deployed along the border,” he added. The missiles, each worth
$800,000, can be attached to F-16 fighters as well as to
B-52 bombers and can target objects with minute precision
at a range of more than 100 km. |
Malaysian PM woos ethnic Indians KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (AFP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad today asked the country’s ethnic-Indians to vote for the ruling National Front coalition in the forthcoming general elections. “There is no other choice for the Indian community in Malaysia except the National Front to ensure the aspiration, hope and fate of their children and their grandchildren,” he was cited as saying by the official Bernama news agency. Launching the 53rd annual assembly of the Malaysian Indian Congress an important component of the coalition, Mr Mahathir said he hoped that the Indians would not be deceived by promises made by opposition parties. The opposition, several of who are discussing a possible coalition pact, was only out to secure a few more seats and not to cooperate to form a government, he said. “After the
election, they will break up and go their own way,”
he told some 6,000 delegates and observers. |
Aid cut to India WASHINGTON, July 31 (PTI) — Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman and Republican Congressman James C. Greenwood have warned that the Burton amendment seeking to cut aid to India would “undo the progress in building a warm and constructive relationship” with a “sister democracy” and urged their colleagues to vote against it. “US aid to India makes a modest, yet important contribution to the welfare of the ordinary Indian. Cutting this would be a deliberate attempt not only to torpedo help for human welfare, but also stigmatise India just as relations between the world’s two largest democracies are on the cusp to attain a new and positive momentum,” they said. In a Dear Colleague letter on Thursday, Mr Ackerman and Mr Greenwood commended, among other things, “India’s Herculean restraint in the face of a dangerous and provocative threat of war” in Kargil and urged their colleagues to refrain from backing the Burton amendment. “India showed the world that it was a mature and responsible power. New Delhi cooperated with our efforts to defuse the volatile situation. There was much in common that we share with India and there were many issues that bind our relations with that ancient land. A similar amendment moved by the known India-baiter Dan Burton was defeated by a crushing majority of 382 to 82 votes in 1997. “The USA should not seek to punish but recognise and appreciate the extraordinary commitment that (India) has made towards protecting basic human rights...something that cannot be said of several nations in South Asia.” If passed it “would have serious consequences for the massive investment in India and would play right into the hands of those who would turn back the clock on the major economic reforms that have been put in place.” They noted that India
has one of the highest rates of growth (6 per cent) in
the world and lowest rates of inflation 2 per cent).
Moreover, about 100 US firms have significant investments
in India, including General Motors, Ford, AT and T,
General Electric, Boeing, Raytheon, Citicorp, US West,
Bell Motorola, Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett Packard,
Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Enron. |
Suicide letter explains Atlanta rampage ATLANTA, July 31 (Reuters) — A Georgia man killed his wife and then brutally bludgeoned his two children to death to save them from a “lifetime of pain” before embarking on a murder rampage that left nine persons dead and ended with his own suicide, the police said on Friday. In a neatly typed letter left in his suburban Atlanta home, mass murderer Mark Barton, 44, urged the police to kill him if they could, and indicated his rampage at two day-trading firms on Thursday was sparked by a grudge. “I don’t plan to live very much longer, just long enough to kill as many of the people that greedily sought my destruction. You should kill me if you can,” said the letter, read to reporters by Henry county police chief Jimmy Mercer. In the letter Barton gave the names of three persons, including the father of his first wife, who he was suspected of killing in 1993. Mr Mercer said the three were apparently named as next of kin, not as further targets for retribution. Barton carried out the
shootings in two day-trading offices where he may have
racked up tens of thousands of dollars in losses playing
the stock market, the authorities said. |
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| Astronomer to be buried on moon HOUSTON: Eugene Shoemaker may finally get his lifelong wish to go to the moon. If all goes as planned, a lipstick-sized vial carrying one ounce of the renowned astronomer-geologist’s ashes will slam into the moon’s south pole on Saturday. The vial will be aboard NASA’s lunar prospector, a moon-orbiting craft, scientists hope will teach them about lunar water reserves. It will be a fitting tribute for Shoemaker, 69, an authority on craters and the interplanetary collisions which cause them. — AP Row over miniskirts Plane missing Car bomb kills 9 Choppers collide |
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