Sunday, January 24, 1999
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W O R L D | Sunday, January 24, 1999 |
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US warplanes bomb Iraqi missile
sites WASHINGTON, Jan 23 — American warplanes patrolling the "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq bombed two surface-to-air missile installations today after encountering Iraqi MiGs darting in and out-of the "off-limits airspace", US officials said. Pak
agrees to raise power tariff by 30 pc |
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Serbs
carried out massacre: OSCE USA
to press for arms pact changes Indian
for hereditary peerage Prosecutors
seek Starr’s help EU,
MEPs clash on fraud likely People
work ‘more than they want to’ Campaigning
for key poll ends |
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US warplanes bomb Iraqi missile sites WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (AP) — American warplanes patrolling the "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq bombed two surface-to-air missile installations today after encountering Iraqi MiGs darting in and out-of the "off-limits airspace", US officials said. The two American F-14 Tomcats and two F/A-18 Hornets returned safely to the USS Carl Vinson in the Gulf, according to the US central command outside Tampa, Florida, and the Pentagon. The bombings, the latest in a string of clashes, occurred at 1145 hrs IST when American planes on routine patrol detected two Iraqi warplanes darting in and out of the restricted airspace over southern Iraq, a US Official said. The Americans responded to a threat by two Iraqi MiG-21s flying south of 33rd parallel in Iraq and ground fire from anti-aircraft artillery, said Lt. Col. Mike Milord, a Pentagon spokesman. The American planes dropped laser-guided bombs on two Iraqi surface-to-air missile systems. A damage assessment of the sites was still under way. At the White House, National Security Council Spokesman David Leavy said today’s incident would not alter US resolve to enforce the flight-interdiction zones that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein agreed to at the end of the 1991 Gulf war, which followed his 1990 invasion of Kuwait. "As the President has made clear, we will continue to enforce the no-fly zone vigorously and take appropriate action to protect our aircraft and continue to contain the threat Saddam poses to the region and international community," Mr Leavy said. "Today’s actions are consistent with both." Aircraft mainly from a
NATO base in Incirlik, Turkey, are maintaining a similar
no-fly policy in northern Iraq. Officials there said no
northern watch missions were flown today because of bad
weather conditions. |
Council’s bid to end Iraq stalemate UNITED NATIONS, Jan 23 (AFP) The UN Security Council appeared today to inch towards ending a stalemate on how to inspect Iraq’s disarmament, as the chief of the UN Atomic Energy Agency called for an end to UNSCOM. The council’s 15 members discussed a proposal presented by Canada and amended by Argentina to end the stalemate stemming from deep disagreements on the issue within the UN body, diplomats reported. They also received a proposal from Mr Mohamed Elbaradei, head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that “competent international agencies” conduct the Iraq arms inspections rather than “subsidiary bodies of the Security Council”. UNSCOM — the existing UN inspection team for Iraq — is a special commission of the council. “This would not weaken the authority of the inspecting bodies, but rather strengthen it,” he said. BAGHDAD (Reuters): Iraq has slammed Kuwait for threatening the region by providing bases for US warplanes, countering Kuwaiti accusations of an Iraqi threat, the official Iraqi news agency reported. “It is the Kuwaiti regime which represents the real threat to the security and stability of the whole region after it violated and continues to violate all Arab and international conventions,” a spokesman for the culture and Information Ministry was quoted as saying on Friday. The Iraqi spokesman said the Kuwaiti regime had “turned Kuwait into an American military base” and was a threat by allowing US and British planes to fly from its territory to patrol the no-fly zone imposed on southern Iraq. Iraq on Thursday had alleged the USA was trying to stage manage Sunday’s meeting by urging some Arab states to adopt Washington’s line against Iraq. “We do not say the Arab conference is a conspiracy. What we are saying is that the USA is conspiring against Iraq,” Foreign Minister Al-sahaf told reporters in Baghdad. CAIRO (PTI): The Arab League will meet here on Sunday for crucial discussions on the Iraqi standoff with the UN over arms inspections, as league chief Esmat Meguid urged the group to act in unison. The one-day meeting of the foreign ministers of 22 member states will be a test for the Arabs, Meguid said and appealed to the participants to patch up their differences. The Egyptian Gazette, however, expressed scepticism over the meeting making a breakthrough in pan-Arab unity. In theory, the ministers would look into the possibility of holding an Arab summit whose declared aim would be healing inter-Arab rifts, but such a meeting looked distant in the foreseeable future, the paper said, “as many Arab states do not favour a summit meeting which will most likely degenerate into squabbling and even an exchange of recriminations”. Tomorrow’s meeting
was earlier scheduled for December 30 last year after the
four-day Anglo-US air strikes against Iraq, but was
postponed to January 24. |
No change in US policy WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (UNI) — US officials have expressed surprise over reports in a section of the Indian media suggesting that the Clinton administration is willing to lift economic sanctions without India signing the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) or abandoning its proposed missile tests. They dismissed these reports as “erroneous’’ making it clear that there was no change in the US policy. These were mandatory sanctions and would be withdrawn only after India had met the non-proliferation concerns outlined by the international community, including the UN Security Council. The reports, coming days before the eighth round of the US-India non-proliferation dialogue in New Delhi, created a virtual stir in the State Department’s South Asia Bureau yesterday. Originally it thought of issuing a “clarification’’ but a meeting of its senior officials decided against such a formal response, fearing that it might only add to the confusion on the eve of Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott’s visit to New Delhi. In fact, the reports were claimed to be based on a January 16 speech of Mr Talbott at Standford University and US officials maintained that the Deputy Secretary had not said what had been attributed to him. He had not given any indication of the unconditional lifting of the sanctions as had been made out in the news reports. According to the text of the speech, he referred to his trip to India next week for the parallel dialogues the USA had been conducting with India and Pakistan in the aftermath of their nuclear tests. “Because of those tests, we are confronted with a lamentable but for the foreseeable future, irreversible fact: India and Pakistan have formally and overtly demonstrated that they have nuclear weapons. In so doing, they made themselves in 1998 even more part of the problem of regional and global proliferation than they were before,” Mr Talbott said. He, however, said: ‘“They can, in 1999 , if they so choose, move back in the direction of being part of the solution — and they can do that while enhancing their own security at the same time.’’ “One way they can move back in the right direction in the political sphere is by intensifying contacts and confidence-building measures, including on the issue of Kashmir,’’ Mr Talbott remarked. He said they could also do so by taking four “important steps’’. These were: adhering to the CTBT, agreeing to a moratorium on the further production of fissile material, demonstrating prudence and restraint in the development, flight testing and storage of ballistic missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft and strengthening export controls. “The essence of the argument that we’re making to the Indians and Pakistanis is that in pursuing what we believe is their ill-advised reliance on nuclear deterrence, we hope very much they will not jeopardise the other, political and economic dimensions of their own safety,’’ he added. Then, Mr Talbott drew attention to what he called “quite a few experts and not a few members of Congress who believe that we should hold India’s and Pakistani’s feet to the fire, insisting on adherence to the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapons state and on a missile-flight test ban before we grant any significant sanctions relief.’’ He said: “We believe that following that stern advice would be to make the best enemy of the good but we can’t just say, trust us, but don’t ask us what is going in this black box.’’ We’ve got to make the case for what we’re up to and why. We must do the same with regard to international public opinion. Particularly in those countries — like Ukraine, for example, or Brazil or Argentina or South Africa — that had the option of going nuclear but instead decided, bravely and wisely, to join the NPT as non-nuclear weapon states”. It appears that perhaps these observations of Mr Talbott had been interpreted as the USA’s willingness to lift sanctions without insisting on attendant conditions. But here, he was referring to the NPT and not the CTBT. “In our dialogues with India and Pakistan,’’ Mr Talbott pointed out “we make no claim to having a formal mandate or proxy from any other country or international grouping — the P-5, the G-8, the South Asia Task Force. But we do feel a political and moral obligation to make sure that our position and proposals are consistent with the various communiqués issued by those bodies last June. And that we keep faith with the world community as a whole,’’ he added. Meanwhile, senior White House aide Bruce Reidel told newspersons yesterday that Mr Talbott would make new suggestions at next week’s talks in New Delhi and Islamabad for resolving the differences on the nuclear issue with India and Pakistan. He said the objective was to expand this relationship with South Asia “to see that it goes beyond the confines of discussing proliferation issues to as broad and rich an agenda as possible.’’ He also spoke of President Clinton’s desire to visit the region late this year and would recommend a lifting of sanctions if there was progress on nuclear issues. Replying to a question
about the proposed missile tests by India and Pakistan,
he said: “We hope the tests are not imminent.
We’ve made clear our views that additional missile
tests at this time will not help encourage the atmosphere
which we think is important for bringing about
improvement’’ in relations. |
Pak agrees to raise power tariff by 30 pc ISLAMABAD, Jan 23 (ANI) — Adopting a programme for structural reforms, Pakistan has agreed to raise power tariff by 30 per cent in two stages by September this year, as also to introduce unified exchange rate in the country. Under the medium-term Policy Framework Paper (PFP) signed between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan has promised to effect a cut in the budget deficit by 3.3 per cent of GDP, and 5 to 6 per cent annual GDP growth rate. In an unprecedented move, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar placed the PFP for three years (1998-99 to 2000-2001) before the National Assembly on Friday. "We want to take the nation into confidence on all such matters and keep our actions transparent," Dar told reporters after making a statement in the National Assembly. The Pakistan-IMF medium-term PFP has set several macroeconomic objectives for these three years. It includes recovery of real GDP growth from 3-4 per cent to medium-term range of 5-6 per cent; reduction in annual inflation from about 10-11 per cent to about 6 per cent, contraction of the external current account deficit (excluding official transfers) from about 3 per cent of GDP in 1998-99 to less than 1.5 per cent of GDP in 2000-2002, and stabilisation of the total public sector debt-to-GDP ratio by 2001-2002. To underpin such objectives, gross capital formation, according to the PFP, would have to be increased from less than 15 per cent of GDP in 1998-99 to about 17 per cent in 2001-2002, largely reflecting a recovery in private sector investment. "To support higher investment rates and accommodate external adjustment, gross national savings would rise from about 12 per cent to about 16 per cent of GDP during the same period, largely on account of increased public sector savings," according to the PFP. The government also agreed to broaden the base of domestic taxes, revamp tax administration, implement the restructuring plans for the energy sector and a number of other public sector enterprises, and raise the productivity of financial institutions, trade liberalisation, and make further progress in the development of the market-based foreign exchange and payments system. It is also agreed that following a review of federal ministries and divisions, attached departments, and autonomous bodies, the government will complete operational plans for restructuring all 31 federal divisions and begin implementing the restructuring of these entities in 1999-2000. For public debt management and taking into account the high burden of public debt and its implications for the structure of the budget, the government has adopted a prudent debt management policy which will result in a reduction in the debt and debt-service ratios, says the document. In support of this policy, the government will limit its contracting of nonconcessional external borrowing and seek to reduce its more expensive domestic public debt. "Pricing reforms for natural gas and electricity aimed at reducing cross-subsidies and adjusting average tariffs to fully reflect changes in the costs have been implemented at a slower pace than originally envisaged," says the PFP, "Consequently, the financial situation of the energy utilities has rapidly deteriorated, and there has been a substantial build-up of cross-arrears between the government, the utilities, and the fuel suppliers." It adds, "WAPDA,
KESC, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL), and Sui
Southern Gas Company (SSGC) all have great difficulties
in meeting their financial obligations, and the situation
has become untenable." |
Serbs carried out massacre: OSCE PRISTINA (Yugoslavia), Jan 23 (AP) — International verifiers stood by their initial finding that the Serb police massacred ethnic Albanians in Southern Kosovo, as pressure mounted on the government of Mr Slobodan Milosevic to halt a crackdown on the beleaguered province. A report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), based on initial findings of the Kosovo Verification Mission, concluded that the police killed the 45 villagers in apparent revenge for the deaths of three policemen ambushed by rebels there. “The facts of the OSCE investigation include evidence of arbitrary detentions, extra-judicial killings and the mutilation of unarmed civilians by the security forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,” the report said. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report yesterday. The January 15 massacre was the biggest blow yet to the October cease-fire agreement in this rebellious province. It unleashed a storm of international condemnation and threats of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia for failure to comply with the peace agreement. NATO ambassadors, gathering in Brussels, Belgium, announced further preparations yesterday for air strikes against Yugoslavia and discussed new ways of “reining in” ethnic Albanian rebels, also blamed for escalating violence in Kosovo. NATO has already strengthened forces in the region. American and European diplomats meeting in London also drew up a political proposal to be put to the Belgrade Government and ethnic Albanians next week in an effort to bring them to the bargaining table to resolve the crisis peacefully. However, the Foreign Minister of Greece, a NATO member, said threatening air strikes against Yugoslavia was a mistake that would only lead to more bloodshed. For military intervention
in Kosovo to be successful, air strikes would have to be
backed up by ground troops, which both the USA and
European countries were reluctant to deploy, Foreign
Minister Theodoros Pangalos said yesterday at a
conference on the fighting between the Serb forces and
ethnic Albanian separatists. |
USA to press for arms pact changes WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (AP) — Declaring the USA must shore up its defences against “new threats,” Secretary of State Madeleine Albright intends to explore with Russian leaders changes in a historic arms control treaty. Ms Albright yesterday said she would push for changes next week in Moscow even though Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov claims Russia will oppose any US plan to amend the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty. It is a landmark in accords reached with the former Soviet Union to cap and then reverse the nuclear arms race between the two powers. Asked yesterday whether Russia might agree to modify the 1972 treaty under certain conditions, Mr Ivanov responded bluntly, “No.” “We proceed from the assumption that it mustn’t happen, and will actively be trying to convince our American partners,” the Foreign Minister said. Ms Albright was not deterred. She said she would assure Mr Ivanov that the USA was committed to key strategic aspects of the treaty. “We have many new threats with which to deal and we need to make sure that we are able to fulfil our responsibilities regarding our own defences,” Ms Albright said at a news conference. The treaty stripped the two sides of a national defence against missiles. The theory was that a country was unlikely to launch a nuclear attack if it was unable to defend itself against massive retaliation. President Bill
Clinton’s budget proposal for the year 2000 will
include an additional $ 6.6 billion for national missile
defence, with the cost rising to $ 10.5 billion through
2005 for a network of high-technology radars and missile
interceptors. |
Indian for hereditary peerage LONDON, Jan 23 (AFP) — A computer consultant is hoping to take up the only Indian hereditary peerage in Britain before he and more than 750 other nobles are kicked out of the House of Lords. The Daily Telegraph reported today that Anindo Kumar Sinha, officially the 5th Baron Sinha of Raipur, had died here on Monday, aged 68, without ever taking up his seat. His son Arup Kumar Sinha, (32), has flown to Britain from his home in Munich to try to push through the paperwork before he can assume the title. It was a race against time. Britain’s Labour Government earlier this week announced one of the biggest constitutional reforms this century — to end the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the upper chamber. Arup Sinha told the paper that his father wrongly assumed he was not interested in taking up the title. “But I am more than happy to take it up and help any legislation through.” He said he had to file a number of documents, including death certificates from the third Baron onwards, to prove his ancestry. Anindo Kumar Sinha did not
agree with the hereditary principle however, he worked as
a sales manager and did voluntary work at a London
hospital. |
Prosecutors seek Starr’s help WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (AP, Reuters) — US House of Representatives’ impeachment prosecutors obtained independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s help in attempting to force Ms Monica Lewinsky to talk to them, contending her immunity agreement requires it, two congressional officials have confirmed. Mr Starr’s prosecutors and lawyers for Ms Lewinsky went to court late last afternoon to argue whether she had to cooperate. US District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson made no immediate ruling. Lead prosecutor Henry Hyde wrote to Mr Starr on Thursday seeking his help with Ms Lewinsky, who rejected being interviewed by the House team. Two House sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Hyde cited Ms Lewinsky’s immunity agreement with Mr Starr in his letter. The July 28 agreement said she would “testify truthfully before grand juries in this district (Washington) and elsewhere, at any trials in this district and elsewhere, and in any other executive, military, judicial or congressional proceedings.’’ In a letter yesterday to Mr Starr, Ms Lewinsky’s lawyers contended that the immunity agreement with him does not require us to be interviewed’’ by the House impeachment managers. The Senate itself has provided its own rules for witness interviews. As we understand them, there must be a deposition with equal access. As of now, the Senate has not voted for depositions,’’ her attorneys wrote. Ms Lewinsky will of course respond to a subpoena to appear and testify before the Senate.’’ The House has urged the Senate to allow witnesses in Mr Clinton’s impeachment trial, a controversial issue that could be fought out next week along sharp partisan lines. Most Republicans have backed the call for witnesses and virtually all Democrats have opposed live testimony. Meanwhile, Mr Jim Nicholson, elected to a second term as Gop chairman, said Republicans had sustained “political damage’’ during the impeachment process. But he argued that Democrats would suffer more for defending Mr Clinton. Senators, meanwhile got a chance to unleash their pent-up questions in the trial, quizzing his accusers and defenders even as they scrambled to work out the next steps in the trial. After hearing six days of
legal presentations, the Senators began submitting
written queries through Chief Justice William Rehnquist
as only the second presidential impeachment trial in US
history entered a new and increasingly uncertain phase. |
EU, MEPs clash on fraud
likely A SURVEY of fraud and mismanagement in the Europe Union’s Leonardo education programme, run by French commissioner Edith Cresson, seems likely to lead to another clash between the European Parliament and the commission. The report by staff of Parliament’s employment and social affairs committee shows how the Leonardo programme’s US$32 million budget was mismanaged by the Technical Assistance Office (TAO), to which Mrs Cresson’s department sub-contracted the administrative work. “Mrs Cresson was in no sense acquitted by last week’s vote in Parliament,” said former Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens, who leads the Conservative group in Parliament. The report reveals the kinds of mismanagement, irregularity and even fraud that enraged Parliament when it came close to censuring the commission last week. The clash stemmed from Parliament’s refusal to approve the way the 1996 budget was spent. The following points are quoted from a report by the commission’s internal watchdogs, the Financial Control Directorate, on which the analysis was based: 1). An external expert received a hidden salary increase via invoices for fictitious services rendered by a company owned by his wife; 2). A sub-contractor submitted an invoice for 22 days of services during December, even though the TAO was closed for the holiday period; 3). The absence of an objective recruitment policy allows for undue influence. Both the director’s wife and his future daughter-in-law work at the TAO; the minutes of the TAO administrative board suggest close relations between the board and commission staff. A number of agents employed by the TAO are relatives of commission officials; 4). The salary of the TAO director is well above corresponding salary levels in the private sector (almost US$9,900 net per month). His wife, who was appointed as the head of administration/personnel, earns US $ 6,200 a month, despite having no academic degree or relevant qualification. The widespread use of TAOs to run EU programmes explains the commission’s boast that it runs Europe with an efficient bureaucracy of only 20,000 employees. But the TAO system has made the commission vulnerable to the charges of maladministration, for which it may not be directly responsible. In the case of the Leonardo programme, however, MEPs have noted the references to relatives of commission officials being employed. “This kind of
documented abuse of public funds and of the public trust
is now staring Parliament and the public in the
face,” the British Tory MEP (Member of the European
Parliament) leader, Mr Edward McMillan-Scott, said.
“It looks as if this commission is not so much a
civil service now as a self service.” |
People work ‘more than they want to’ ANAHEIM (California), Jan 23 (AP) — Bulletin from the job front; people work more than they want to. A new study of two-career couples finds that the number of hours they spend on the job has risen substantially in the past two decades. And they don’t like it. “People are working longer hours, and it’s not because they want to,” said Mr Marin Clarkberg, a Cornell University sociologist. Mr Clarkberg and other researchers presented their latest findings on the work-family time squeeze yesterday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Both sexes felt stressed by the competing demands of job and home. But in some ways, the situation could seem worse for women, said Mr Clarkberg, because they often had to choose between working full time or not at all. The reason: too few part-time jobs for women with families, and the ones that existed often paid poorly and did not offer health insurance or other benefits. Mr Clarkberg’s research showed that actually both men and women would often like to work something less than a standard 40 or 50-hour week. The results were based on surveys of 4,554 married couples. They were questioned in 1988 and 1994 as part of the national study of families and households. Among the findings: — 43 per cent of men and 34 per cent of women said they worked more hours than they wanted to. The number was smaller for women only because one-quarter of them did not have paying jobs. — Half of all the women and 20 per cent of the men said they wished they could work part-time. In fact, though, just 20 per cent of the women and 6 per cent of the men did this. — Only about 10 per cent of the couples said they preferred the traditional roles of the man as breadwinner and woman as full-time housewife. Yet 25 per cent of the couples fitted this mold. — Just 14 per cent of the couples said they wanted both spouses to work full-time. However, twice that number actually did. Part of the problem, said Mr Phyllis Moen, another Cornell Sociologist, was that the job market was still largely geared toward the traditional pattern of working full-time or not at all, a set-up suited best to working husbands and stay-at-home wives. “Workers increasingly are caught in a time squeeze’” said Mr Moen. “They have two jobs, one at work, one at home.” Home computers, e-mail, faxes and other innovations theoretically should make it possible for people to be more flexible about their work hours. But the researchers said the technology often seemed to result in people working still more. “People can work anyplace, anytime, but they can also work everywhere, all the time,” said Mr Moen. Other data collected by Mr Clarkberg showed that when couples’ work hours were added up, they were spending more time on the job than ever before. Between 1972 and 1994, couples’ total average working time had increased by seven hours a week. Another study by Mr Robert
Drago of the University of Wisconsin examined
teachers’ hours to see if they were really as cushy
as they were sometimes portrayed. He found that while
teachers were required by their contracts to work an
average of six and a half hours a day, they actually
averaged just under 10 hours when their extra hours at
school, commuting time and homework were added up. |
Campaigning for key poll ends COLOMBO, Jan 23 (PTI) — Suspected LTTE cadres blasted three power transformers in the heart of the Sri Lankan capital today even as campaigning for the key Provincial Council elections in North-Western province has ended. Three power transformers were destroyed at Kotehena in northern Colombo disrupting power supply in that area. Meanwhile, campaigning for
the January 25 council poll in the adjacent North-Western
province ended last night without any major incident. |
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| Jordan to replace crown prince DUBAI: In a surprising move, King Hussein of Jordan has indicated his intention to replace his brother Hassan as crown prince amid speculations that his eldest son Abdallah could be the new successor to the Hashemite throne. The 63-year-old king, who returned to Amman recently after six years of cancer treatment in the USA, told the CNN that he had “thoughts and ideas” about replacing the present incumbent, hinting that one of his five sons from four wives might become the heir designate. — PTI Files on Mata Hari Turkey’s
warning Rushdie’s
poem Child rapist to
die Miracle girl Quayle accuses
Gore |
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