Tuesday, June 1, 1999
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W O R L D | Tuesday, June 1, 1999 |
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SC asks govt to produce
Najam Sethi Anwar’s
‘letter’ to be probed UK
nurses provide call girls to disabled Gay
Muslims hold first meeting |
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 Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon (right) during his visit to a Sikh Temple, in Southall, London, on Sunday, as part of a recruitment initiative to encourage members of Asian communities to consider careers with the Metropolitan Police. — AP/PTI
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Poverty explodes in
Russia
2 found guilty of murders |
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16-member Nepal Cabinet named KATHMANDU, May 31 (AFP) — Nepal’s King Birendra today formally appointed a 16-member Cabinet headed by new Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, state radio announced. Bhattarai, 75, will also hold the Defence, Royal Palace, Foreign, Home, Women’s Welfare and Social Services portfolios. All members of the Council of Ministers are from the Nepali Congress party, which swept to an overall majority in elections this month. The outright victory raised hopes for political stability in a country which has seen six governments since 1994. The Finance Ministry went to Mahesh Achayra, while former Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi took the Ministry of Water Resources. Purna Bahadur Khadka is in charge of Press information, communications and industry. Former Nepalese Ambassador to Washington Yog Prasad Upadhyay, second in rank to the Prime Minister, has been given the Education Ministry. The Cabinet is expected
to be expanded in a couple of weeks, sources close to the
Premier said. |
SC asks govt to produce Najam Sethi ISLAMABAD, May 31 (DPA) — Pakistan’s Supreme Court today ordered the federal government to produce journalist Najam Sethi before a magistrate for recording his statement in connection with charges that he delivered an anti-Pakistan lecture. Mr Sethi, Editor of The Friday Times newspaper, has been held by the Army-run inter-services intelligence (ISI) agency since May 8 on charges of delivering the lecture on April 30. The court instructed the authorities to produce Mr Sethi before a judicial magistrate directly from ISI custody after his counsel, Dr Khalid Ranjha, expressed fear that the police may manhandle Mr Sethi. The Attorney General, Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq, who had earlier told the court that the ISI was interrogating Mr Sethi on various counts, failed to file a reply by the government on the journalist’s continued detention without charges. Mr Farooq had last week argued that since Mr Sethi had been arrested under the Pakistan Armed Forces Act, the authorities could hold him for 32 days for interrogation, and were not bound to state reasons for his arrest. This argument prompted some critical remarks by Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi, who is heading the three-member bench hearing the petition on Mr Sethi’s detention. "This is a question of fundamental public liberties and of great concern, and we would therefore like to first settle the question as to whether the ISI was a part of the Army and whether arrest under the Armed Forces Act shuts out recourse to civilian courts,’’ said Justice Siddiqi. Mr Sethi’s arrest
came in the wake of intimidation of several critical
journalists and sparked protests at home and abroad. |
Giant fag explodes BANGKOK, May 31 (DPA) — A giant cigarette effigy filled with helium exploded during a World No-Tobacco Day event in Thailand's capital Bangkok today, injuring several well-known Thai entertainment personalities, news reports said. The accident occurred when Paiyong Mookda, a well-known song writer, slashed the five metre-long cigarette effigy with a knife, apparently hitting its steel frame and creating a spark that caused the minor explosion and a small fire, reported ITV Television. Mr Paiyong and several other entertainment figures attending the anti-smoking event at the Siam Commercial Bank park in a Bangkok suburb, sustained minor injuries and were visibly rattled by the blast. The effigy was filled with helium to make it look more like a real cigarette, said members of the Action on smoking and Health Foundation, the event's organisers. NEW DELHI (UNI): The last two decades have seen a phenomenal growth in the chewing tobacco industry in India with tobacco exports totally $ 127.7 million in 1990 compared with $ 122.2 million in 1985. A personal testimony against the disastrous healthy effects of tobacco was given at a press conference by former US film star and model Alan Landers. Mr Landers, who was known as the "Winston man" and for several years appeared on billboards and print advertisements urging the young and old to smoke, said for him the result of constant smoking was two lung surgeries and cardiac bypass surgery. "The warning on the cigarette packet is inadequate as it does not tell you cigarettes cause lung cancer, emphysema or heart attacks", he said. Cigarette companies had known this for years through studies carried out by them but had deliberately kept the information secret, he added. Mr Landers has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation against the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company for the damage. According to WHO statistics, in India an estimated 65 per cent of all men use some form to tobacco. In 1997, it was reported that about 194 million men and 45 million women above 15 years of age used tobacco which caused 800,000 deaths annually. Tobacco-related cancers
account for about half of all cancers among men and
one-fourth among women in India. Oral cancer accounts for
one-third of the total cancer cases with 90 per cent of
the patients being tobacco chewers. Though cigarette
smoking remained stationary or declined somewhat during
the 1980s, other forms of tobacco have increased
considerably over the years. |
Anwar’s ‘letter’ to be probed KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 (AFP) — Malaysia will hold an inquiry into a letter purportedly written from prison by ousted Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim which condemns government leaders, reports said today. “As far as I know Anwar has never been allowed to have his letters leave his cell,” Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times daily. “The prisons department has confirmed he never did so because it was not allowed. I have to check if the letter was really from him or it was written by a third party,” he said. Abdullah, who is also the Deputy Premier who replaced Anwar in January, said the government would want to establish the authenticity of the letter and whether it was actually signed by Anwar. His alleged letter was published in Malay-language tabloid Eksklusif in its latest issue. In the letter Anwar claims he is innocent and is being persecuted purely because he objects to corruption, croynism and nepotism practised by top ministers and their cronies. “I am ready to provide proof of a corruption case involving a senior minister, who was to be charged but was stopped by (Premier) Mahathir Mohamad. I have proof of a senior minister who received thousands of ring in bribes,” Anwar said. Eksklusif said the
four-page hand-written letter was sent by Anwar last week
from his prison cell. It touched on issues related to the
judiciary, corruption, croynism and the coming elections
and expressed hope that the opposition would defeat the
ruling coalition. |
Poverty explodes in Russia WASHINGTON, May 31 (PTI) — The number of Russians living in poverty has soared to 66 million from two million since the break-up of the Soviet Union and its transition from communism to capitalism, World Bank Vice-President and Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz notes. Mr Stiglitz gave these facts at a recent meeting of the annual development conference organised by the World Bank. Mr Stiglitz remarked that Russia has done particularly badly. In an apparent contradiction of the laws of economics, it had registered simultaneous output declines and increasing inequality of incomes. Mr Stiglitz said that a decade ago, many transition economies of central and eastern Europe had been regarded as being on the verge of success, but their future remained bleak today, with Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia being the notable exceptions. China by contrast, he pointed out, had achieved great success in both economic development and in making the transition from central planning to a market-oriented economy. He attributed the failure of Russia and eastern and central European countries of the former Soviet Union to the fact that early in the transition, they placed “excessive reliance on textbook economics” and too little on the political and economic environments in which transition was to take place. There had been a strong political imperative for transition economies to move quickly on reform to prevent their slipping back towards communism, and this had led to hasty and poorly conceived privatisation and restructuring efforts, the World Bank Vice-President said. He observed that experience had now made it painfully clear that privatisation alone could not create a market. Restructuring efforts that threw large numbers of people out of work had failed to generate new manufacturing and service sector investment and thereby to create large numbers of new jobs. Mr Stiglitz said that privatisation in the absence of a reliable regulatory environment had led to asset stripping in transition economies, particularly those with open capital markets that facilitated transfers of capital abroad. The need for better
corporate governance was particularly acute, since
transition’s “institutional blitzkrieg”
approach had destroyed the old forms of social capital in
these countries without creating new ones. |
Row over millennium dawn WELLINGTON (NEW ZEALAND), May 31 (AP) — The battle for the rights to the first dawn light of the millennium, which could bring a half-million dollar bonanza to a tiny island of 55 persons, has become a duel between the government and international television bidders. A knob called Mount Hakepa on Pitt Island on the Chathams, a New Zealand-owned island group, 800 km south-east of the mainland, will be the first in the world to see the light of the millennium dawn. Scientists at London’s Greenwich Time Centre have confirmed that the first sunlight will reach Mount Hakepa at 3.59 am New Zealand standard time (1559 GMT). USA-based CNN cable network is reported to be offering up to 5,00,000 New Zealand dollars ($ (us) 270,000), as much as 3,50,000 New Zealand dollars (190,000 US dollars) more than the New Zealand Government’s best offer. The government offer has been dismissed as “not enough” by Chatham Islands farmer Ken Lanauze, the owner of Mount Hakepa. The islanders rejected the offer because they thought it was too little for something that happened only once in 1,000 years. The lawyer for the island’s charitable trust, Ernie Gartrell, said today there were also other television groups seeking the rights. Gartrell said the Pitt Islanders expected to make a decision on a bid within two weeks. They didn’t expect many tourists to travel to Pitt Island for the first light celebration. Lanauze conceded
television broadcasters would be taking a gamble at down
on January 1, because there was a good chance that Pitt
Island would be shrouded in mist, blocking the sunrise. |
UK nurses provide call girls to disabled LONDON, May 31 (DPA) — Disabled people in Britain are being regularly provided with prostitutes by National Health Service (NHS) nurses and local government-funded carers, according to a published report. Carers interviewed for a study also disclosed that their everyday work often included acting as ‘sexual matchmakers’ for men confided to wheelchairs by conditions such as muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy, said the report in The Sunday Times yesterday. The revelations were said to be contained in a report by Dr Sarah Earle of Coventry University, to be published in respected Journal Disability Society. It is the first research to disclose how publicly funded carers in Britain are providing sexual services for their disabled clients and illustrates the chasm between the popular perception and the reality of caring for the disabled. “Sex is a key issue: many carers described it as a want, which can be a matter of choice, while the disabled regard it as a need that should be accommodated as part of the carer’s job description”, Dr Earle told The Sunday Times. She describes how many carers are reluctant to become involved in their clients’ sex lives, but come under pressure to help relieve their sexual frustrations by finding sexual partners for them. Dr Earle interviewed
disabled people aged between 18 and 54. One younger man,
identified only as Mark, described how he graduated from
pornography when his carer negotiated a rate for him with
a prostitute. “Before, I hadn’t had a
girlfriend so it was worth paying £ 20. I felt positive
inside”. |
Gay Muslims hold first
meeting NEW YORK, May 31 — They don’t expect centuries of intolerance to vanish overnight, but the 70 or more gay Muslims who gathered at a conference here said it was possible to reconcile their sexuality with their religion. “Unfortunately, there is a very big stigma attached to homosexuality (among Muslims) and people don’t really understand it at all,” said Pakistan-born Faisal, 21, founder and director of Al-Fatiha, which is an organisation of gay Muslims that is holding its first conference. The conference is not intended to be a theological debate, said Faisal, “but that doesn’t mean those at the conference won’t advocate a more open, tolerant attitude toward homosexuality among Muslims.” “The debate was moulded about 1400 years ago and it’s never been looked at again,” he said. “We are calling for a change in that, to really look at the scriptures and analyse them again. Are they talking about homosexuality or are they talking about some other evils in society that most homosexuals don’t commit anyway?” “The Koran has little to say about homosexuality and what little there is, has been embellished by later interpretations,” said Shaffiq, 33, a physician and an Al-Fatiha member. “But the Koran does have a lot to say about love — love between human beings — and tolerance and compassion. And we are trying to tackle some of those issues from a new perspective,” he said. Al-Fatiha was founded in October last year at a retreat for gay Muslims in Boston. Currently, it has 200 members, more than half of whom are South Asians. The organisation grew out of an e-mail discussion group for gay Muslims that was started by Faisal after he was forced out of two Muslim organisations because of his sexuality. Faisal, who was born in Pakistan, came to the USA with his family 11 years ago and is currently a college student in Washington. The conference, held at a gay community centre in Greenwich Village, opened with a session on immigration issues faced by gay Muslims, followed by discussions on human rights, theology and HIV/AIDS among Muslims. Homosexuality is not a topic that can be discussed lightly in the Islamic world. In some Islamic countries, like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, it is considered to be a capital offence. Even in more open countries, gay Muslims are often scorned and become the target of violence, say observers. In fact, the New
York-based Al-Fatiha (which means “the
opening,” named after the first chapter of the
Koran) took extra security measures for the conference
which opened recently. The location was not disclosed and
press coverage was limited. —IANS |
2 found guilty of murders LAHORE, May 31 (AP) — A special anti-terrorist court sentenced two Sunni Muslim militants today to death in connection with last year’s massacre of 24 Shia Muslims. Elias Gujar and Haroon Rashid, both members of the militant group, Lashkar-e-Janghvi, were found guilty on 24 counts of murder and sentenced to death but not before they serve 20 years of "rigorous imprisonment", the court said. Another four men are
still wanted in connection with the January 11 massacre
of Shia Muslim mourners at a graveyard in the heart of
the city. |
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| 54 dead, 100 hurt in stampede MINSK: Fiftyfour people died and more than 100 others were injured in a stampede in a passageway leading to a Minsk subway station after a concert, according to the first official toll early Monday. The accident occurred during a sudden storm around 11.30 pm (IST). The crowd of around 2,500, who had been to the open-air concert, rushed into the nearby passageway and many were crushed in the stampede. —AFP Chile poll Vintage plane
crash Ship blast Diplomat’s
murder Ban on smoking Hostages freed Politician shot |
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