![]() |
W O R L D | ![]() Tuesday, July 13, 1999 |
|
weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
![]() |
|
Kargil
crisis Clinton unwilling to get involved WASHINGTON, July 12 U.S. President Bill Clinton, who successfully prevailed upon Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif to withdraw troops from the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kashmir recently, is unwilling to get any more involved in Kashmir, media reports said here today. China to stick to one-child policy BEIJING, July 12 China, the worlds most populous country and home to 22 per cent of the globes population, will stick to its one child per family policy to curb population explosion, an official newspaper reported today. |
![]() |
![]() EREZ CHECKPOINT: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (right) watches as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat kisses the Koran, the Muslim holy book, during their first meeting at the Erez Checkpoint on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Sunday. Both the Israeli and Palestinian sides said they hoped to rebuild trust and revive the peace process. AP/PTI
|
|
Hillary Senate run better story: Bill WASHINGTON, July 12 President Bill Clinton says while issues like healthcare reform are important, his wifes likely run for the Senate from New York is a better story. Hearing on Suharto case in Sept
Time
to get angry, exhorts Greer Hunt
for Gandhi look-alike on Central
America quake: 1 killed |
||||||
![]() ![]() |
Kargil crisis WASHINGTON, July 12 (PTI) U.S. President Bill Clinton, who successfully prevailed upon Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif to withdraw troops from the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kashmir recently, is unwilling to get any more involved in Kashmir, media reports said here today. President Clinton does not want to get any more involved in the Kashmir mess, Newsweek reported in its latest issue referring to Mr Sharifs claim that after withdrawal of Pakistani troops from Kargil Mr Clinton was committed to mediating with India on Kashmir. Quoting US officials, Newsweek said Mr Clinton rejected Mr Sharifs request to mediate with India over Kashmir during their Blair House meeting, insisting instead that Islamabad withdraw without delay from Kargil to defuse tension with New Delhi. The weekly said Mr Clinton also asked Mr Sharif to sign the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) and resume diplomatic talks set in motion by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during his historic Delhi-Lahore bus ride in February. It quoted a senior Clinton Administration official saying that when Mr Clinton received Mr Sharif in Blair House in response to a call from Mr Sharif begging Mr Clinton for a meeting he found a President who was very very clear that there was not going to be any reward for what he had done. What he got was, here is what you need to do demand: pull the invaders out of Indian territory, the official said. The Americans, said the weekly, didnt offer Mr Sharif much in return for his peace deal. They told him that he must not only withdraw the intruders but also resume diplomatic talks begun by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayees historic Delhi-Lahore bus ride in February. In return, said U.S. officials, Mr Clinton vaguely promised to visit Pakistan if the withdrawal goes ahead and Islamabad signs the CTBT. But he offered no mediation, rebuffing Pakistans effort to counterbalance Indias military strength by internationalising the search for a solution, the magazine said. The weekly noted that Mr Sharif sought a meeting with Mr Clinton when he got no support for his cause from China. US officials, the weekly reported, said pressure from China was critical. They were not going to stand behind (Sharif) as he precipitated a broadscale conventional or worse conflict, said a US official. Nawaz, said the senior Clinton Administration official, has created a mess for himself. I hope that what he heard not only from here (Washington) but also from the Chinese and British is that of the no good options, persevering with this (trying to hold the hills the Pakistanis seized) is the worst. Rejecting
Pakistans official line that the infiltrators were
freedom fighters from Kashmir, the weekly
said some 2,000 men, Mainly Pakistani troops mixed with a
few hundred Kashmiri fighters, were involved in the
infiltration. |
China to stick to one-child policy BEIJING, July 12 (PTI) China, the worlds most populous country and home to 22 per cent of the globes population, will stick to its one child per family policy to curb population explosion, an official newspaper reported today. China, whose population has reached 1.25 billion, reiterated that it would continue to adhere to its present policy and contribute towards stabilising world population growth, an official from the state Family Planning Commission told The China Daily. The Chinese resolve to curb population growth, which had a crippling affect on its economy, came on the occasion of World Population Day, which was observed yesterday. Chinese demographers say the countrys population will stabilise and then decrease over the next two to three decades. Like most developing countries, China is confronted with many problems as a result of rapid population growth, experts say. The increase of population in China has placed considerable pressure on the economy, social development, natural resources, the environment, education, health care, housing, employment and social welfare, the report said quoting senior officials. Chinese leaders recently ruled out relaxation of Chinas one-child family planning policy and urged planners to concentrate on the vast rural areas to further curb population growth. Recently, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said population control dealt with a wide range of difficult issues and must not be relaxed. Urging for strengthened family planning work, Mr Jiang, also general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, said education, legal, economic and administrative measures should be adopted to ensure effective population control work. China should further
improve its population macro-control, family planning
management and social insurance systems in accordance
with the development needs of socialist market economy,
he said. |
Panel to probe PTV failure ISLAMABAD, July 12 (PTI) Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed displeasure over the state-run medias failure to win the media war against India during the Kargil crisis and set up a Cabinet committee to probe lapses on its part, media reports here said today. Mr Sharif decided to set a committee to probe PTVs dismal performance during the Kargil crisis after several Cabinet members criticised the governments media and information policy during Saturdays crucial Cabinet meeting, leading daily The News reported. During the meeting, Mr Sharif expressed dissatisfaction with the media policy totally under Information Minister Mushahid Hussains control during the two-and-half-year rule of the government. He even referred to some of PTVs follies, the report said quoting insiders. It said two senior ministers made a special reference to PTVs failure to properly project Pakistans position in the face of an onslaught from private Indian channels, leaving Mr Mushahid in an embarrassing position during the meeting. Mr Mushahid, however, did not utter a single word in his defence. The eight-member committee, including Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz and Deputy Muhammad Siddiqui Kanju, will be headed by journalist-turned-politician Hussain. It has been charged with the responsibility of creating awareness about the Washington agreement, boosting the nations morale and allowing private channels in Pakistan. The report quoted Mr Hussains friends as saying that this was a ploy by some ministers to force him to call it a day. Earlier, media reports had also said some senior ministers in Mr Sharifs Cabinet were unhappy with Mr Hussain for projecting himself too much on official media. The ministers also
criticised PTV for failing to live up to the task and
losing the battle again the round-the-clock onslaught of
Indian TV channels, several of them private, during the
Cabinet meeting. |
Hillary Senate run better story: Bill WASHINGTON, July 12 (AP) President Bill Clinton says while issues like healthcare reform are important, his wifes likely run for the Senate from New York is a better story. Shes a better story, Mr Clinton said in an interview with New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. The President made his remarks during his recent trip to California to promote his ideas for changing medicare, a federal health care programme for the elderly. The President also said hed be happy to live in New York after he leaves the White House. Im going to divide my time between New York and Arkansas no matter what happens, Mr Clinton said. First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton is seriously considering seeking the seat
that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat of New
York, will vacate when he retires in 2000. |
Hearing on Suharto case in Sept JAKARTA, July 12 (AP) Legal proceedings in a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit involving Indonesias former President Suharto and Time magazine are to start in September, a Jakarta court said today. Mr Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years before being forced to quit last year, has sued Time over a report claiming that his family had accumulated $ 15 billion in assets. In a cover story in its Asian edition in May, Time claimed Mr Suhartos family transferred $ 9 billion from Switzerland to Austria just before he quit amid riots and protests against his authoritarian rule. Mr Suharto is seeking up to $ 27 billion in damages from the New York-based news magazine. It is the biggest lawsuit ever filed in Indonesian courts. The hearing will
open on September 9, said a court officer who
identified herself only as Zulis. |
Teaching English brings big bucks LONDON, July 12 (ANI) Teaching English to foreigners is claimed to be one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and is set to expand even further, as people all over the world turn to English as the medium of international communication. Not surprisingly, the business is biggest in Britain. The number of students who come here each year to learn to speak English is estimated to have passed the 7,00,000 mark and is increasing every year. They have a choice of 1,500 schools, which jointly earn a billion pounds of foreign currency every year. They face competition from schools in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, but six out of 10 students world-wide come to Britain. Europe accounts for more than half the students who come here, Italy being the largest European source, with 12 per cent of the total. But the largest single source world-wide is Japan, with 16 per cent. Countries where English is traditionally a second language, such as Holland and Norway, send few students, and even fewer come from Commonwealth countries, such as India, where English is taught widely because it is the language of administration and commerce. As the language of instruction is English in most of the schools although many of the teachers are at least bilingual most students must have a basic knowledge of it before attending a course. The range of courses is enormous, many lasting only three weeks, others going on for a year. The average period for which students remain in the country is 42 days, at a cost, including tuition and accommodation, of £ 1360. Some courses prepare students for entry into a British University. Many combine learning English with vocational subjects and leisure activities. Others specialise in English for specific professional purposes, such as banking or marketing. General English is the most popular option, but many students, with an eye on their careers, opt for courses which carry an examination qualification. Anyone in Britain can set up an English language school, as the industry is not regulated by the Government. But there is an efficient inspection scheme to ensure that accredited schools offer a satisfactory standard of teaching. This is run jointly by the British Council, which promotes British culture, the British Association of Schools of English Language Teaching (BASELT), which represents state colleges and some universities, and the Association of Recognised English Language Services (ARELS), which represents the private sector. Altogether only 350 of the total of 1,500 English language schools are accredited under this scheme. This does not necessarily mean that the remainders are sub-standard, but students from abroad are advised either to follow a personal recommendation, or to choose a school that is English in Britian accredited. Last month the government launched a scheme to attract more university and higher education students to Britain from abroad, and the performance of English language schools is important to achieve this aim. The English language is
proving to be one of Britains greatest assets. Is
there any easier way for Koreans to talk to Swedes, or
Germans to Japanese, or Thais to Italians ? For India, it
must be regarded as one of the most important assets
inherited from the British Raj. |
Time to get angry, exhorts Greer SAFFRON WALDON, England, July 12 (AP) Germaine Greer is angry. Thirty years after she wrote her landmark treatise, The Female Eunuch, she feels women are still trivialised and degraded. Millions of women are slaving in Asian sweatshops for almost nothing an hour. She says, they are also raising families alone and mutilating their bodies to conform to male ideals of feminine beauty. Irked by the lifestyle feminists who claim todays women can have it all, the feisty Greer has penned the book she swore I would never write. Titled The Whole Woman, it is a major stock-taking of the state of womens liberation. Instead of being liberated to lead valued, joyous lives, Greer argues in the book women have been sold a dud ideal of equality that dictates they become like men in order to succeed. |
Hunt for Gandhi look-alike on JOHANNESBURG, July 12 (PTI) Organisers of the Anglo-Boer war centenary commemorations in South Africa are looking for a Mahatma Gandhi look-alike to re-enact his role in assisting wounded British and Boer soldiers. A member of the centenary committee and the Education Superintendent, Dr Isri Bedassai. He must be slim in
stature, but he must necessarily be bald. We can create
the baldness, but he must display Gandhis spirit of
humanity, said Dr Bedassai. |
Central America quake: 1 killed GUATEMALA CITY, July 12 (AFP) At least one person was killed and 27 others were injured when a powerful earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale rocked Central America early yesterday, felling power lines and damaging houses. Tremors were also felt in Honduras, El Salvador and Belize, but no major damage was reported in those countries, officials said. Puerto Barrios, 295 km North-east of here, received the most damage and several people were injured by fallen walls and shattered windows, rescue official Jairo Arrego said. The quakes epicentre was located north of Puerto Barrios, under the Caribbean 29.3 km deep. TAIPEI (AP): An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 rattled northern Taiwan before dawn today shaking buildings in Taipei and elsewhere, although there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicentre was
located 19.3 km south of the city of Ilan on
Taiwans quake-prone East Coast and 45 km south of
Taipei, the Central Weather Bureaus Seismology
Centre reported. |
H |
![]() |
![]() |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |