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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Investor Clouseau who wrote (16398)	6/12/2002 6:35:08 PM
From: Tadsamillionaire	Respond to of 27666

US demands jeopardise Milosevic's war trial By Carola Hoyos, United Nations correspondent Published: June 11 2002 21:15 \| Last Updated: June 11 2002 21:15 The US is jeopardising the testimony of some of the most important witnesses expected to be called in the international trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president accused of war crimes. Diplomats and US officials say the US State Department is pushing to have the court keep secret the testimony of Richard Holbrooke, the architect of the Bosnia's Dayton peace accords. The Bush administration is wary of setting any precedent of senior US officials testifying before international courts ahead of the creation of the International Criminal Court, which the US adamantly opposes. Negotiations with the department have become so difficult that Carla del Ponte, the UN's prosecutor who has been given 14 months to present her case, is said to be considering not calling the witness. "In general, for the office of the prosecutor and people in the region, the importance of the Milosevic trial is transparency," said one UN official, adding that hiding witnesses would risk the appearance of a show trial. If Ms del Ponte decides not to call Mr Holbrooke for the prosecution, he faces having to testify for the defence. His testimony would then be shaped to a larger extent by Mr Milosevic. In opening his defence in February Mr Milosevic sounded almost wistful as he recalled leaders, including Mr Holbrooke, whom he once saw as equals, saying he would call many of them to testify. The US supports the United Nations' international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which is trying Mr Milosevic. But US officials are concerned that witnesses with high security clearance may be obliged to reveal sensitive information in court. Meanwhile, Mr Holbrooke risks being embarrassed by Mr Milosevic, who could highlight his relationship with the former US special envoy during the Dayton negotiations, where Mr Milosevic was given a seat at the table. "The last thing he [Mr Holbrooke] wants is to have repeated his time drinking whisky with Milosevic after the agreement at Dayton," said one former US official in the Balkans. Critics say Mr Holbrooke helped legitimise Mr Milosevic by giving him such a prominent role at the peace negotiations for Bosnia. They say the experience helped embolden Mr Milosevic, who shortly afterwards sent his troops into Kosovo. Without the power to enforce a subpoena and limited by the need to maintain good relations with its most important financial supporter, there is little the judges could do to compel the US to co-operate. "It would set a terrible precedent," said one UN official. "Other countries would ask themselves why they need to co-operate if the court makes an exception for a member [of the UN] because of its political muscle." Most worrying to supporters of the trial is the possibility that, if too many witnesses fail to appear at the trial, the judges could decide Mr Milosevic was not given a satisfactory opportunity to defend himself. news.ft.com. Please Visit... Get the US out of the U.N @ Subject 52182

To: Investor Clouseau who wrote (16398)	6/12/2002 9:04:38 PM
From: Richnorth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27666

The Chinese, not the Arabs, were the first to invent the number system. Read on.... Chinese invented number system straitstimes.asia1.com.sg A SINGAPORE researcher has crushed the long-held belief that the Arabs and Indians invented the numeral system used today. In fact, they came up only with the written symbols, says acclaimed academic Lam Lay Yong, who believes the Chinese invented the numeral system and were adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing at least 1,000 years before anyone else, with simple bamboo rods. A retired National University of Singapore mathematics professor, Dr Lam, 66, told The Straits Times the universal system using the numbers one to nine - known as the Hindu-Arabic system - had its roots in the rod bundles used in China from as early as 475 BC. Merchants, scholars, monks and court officials carried these rods, which they whipped out and used like calculators, placing them on boards or on the ground. By putting one to five rods in various positions, they formed the nine numerals. Said Dr Lam, who recently won the Kenneth O. May medal, the highest honour for contributions to the history of mathematics: 'The ancient Chinese invented a notation such that with the knowledge of only nine signs, any number could be expressed. Without this, they would not have been able to develop mathematics.' And the rods were readily available to foreigners, she said. The system was picked up by traders and travellers on the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty, between the 5th and 9th century. The earliest known text on arithmetic based on the current number system was written by an Arab in AD 825, but the earliest Chinese treatise on the rod numerals and procedures for multiplication and division - the sun zi suanjing - was written about 425 years earlier. When Dr Lam compared the procedures in both, she found, to her astonishment, that they were identical. 'They could not have developed the same systems by sheer coincidence,' said the mother of three. Over more than 30 years, she pored over ancient Chinese texts written in highly technical language and travelled the world hunting down works on mathematics. She said: 'Many Chinese scholars did not have access to non-Chinese texts, and other researchers could not read the Chinese texts. I think I made the discovery because as a Singaporean, I had the best of both worlds.'