by Abhik Kumar Chanda
NEW DELHI, Jan 31 (AFP)
An increasing number of rich, young Indians are flouting the law with seeming impunity, confident that their family connections will protect them from even the most serious criminal charges.
The latest incident, where the grandson of India�s former naval chief ran down and killed six people in New Delhi after a drunken party, before fleeing the scene, mirrors the attitude of the new affluent generation, experts say.
The offender, Sanjeev Nanda, a student at a prestigious US business school, was driving a BMW valued at six million rupees (143,000 dollars). The car had been illegally imported and did not even have a valid number plate.
Although Nanda is in police custody, there is wide scepticism that he will be punished. The case follows several burglaries, shootings and fatal instances of drunken driving where the well-connected young offenders have got off lightly, or not been punished at all.
Sociologist Ashish Nandi told AFP the �brat pack� was increasingly taking to �a hedonistic lifestyle across India� and looking to crime for thrills and excitement.
�In north India, they come from nouveau riche families as well as scions of old families,� he said. �In other parts of the country, old money shows more restraint in these things.
�The values of society have gone wrong. Austerity is ridiculed now and the idea that wealth can be invested into good work and charity as an obligation is scoffed at. Consumption for the sake of consumption is valued and celebrated.�
Before the Nanda case, a 19-year-old Delhi woman rammed into a New Delhi policeman trying to stop her after she jumped a red light. She drove on with the injured man on the bonnet, until he fell off.
Another New Delhi 20-year-old whipped out a gun and shot his friend�s gardener, saying: �I kill people like this.� The rich builder�s son is currently in jail serving time.
Nandi warned the phenomenon would increase and that �nobody can do anything about it.�
�It is the Americanisation of violence here. More than 32,000 people die of homicide every year in the US and we are going to reach that level soon,� he said.
�The affected people are almost psychopathic. If the meaning of life comes from driving a BMW and drinking expensive Scotch and doing what one pleases, there can be no checks. Perhaps a satiation of luxury could reverse the trend.�
New Delhi joint commissioner of police Amod Kanth, also a social activist, said the new generation of urban rich was going astray because of indulgent parents, who showered them with gifts and huge sums of money.
�It�s the money that makes them go blind,� he added.
�They don�t respect the law.�
Child psychologist Gurmeet Kaur, who counsels students from elite New Delhi schools, said absentee parents, busy making money or leading hectic social lives, were also part of the problem.
�In many cases where parents don�t give time, I find the kids grow up with misshapen personalities. They are prone to violence if they don�t get what they want.�
Media commentator Sumer Kaul said crime was also rising because it went unpunished.
�They bribe the concerned functionaries,� he said, adding the �rich and influential� went �scot-free� every time.
Kaul said the glorification of consumerism had changed the �very concept of a �good life�� which was �unabashedly mammonish, devoid of any perspective, any restraint, any morality.�
�Everyone wants a slice of the new cake and sets out to grab it. The rich want to flaunt the goodies the richer are flaunting. The �demonstration effect� is affecting all classes.�
by Philip Pank
LONDON, Jan 30
(AFP)
A dramatic surge in attacks on ships by pirates, who more often than not are never caught, has inspired pessimism among British police due to attend a piracy convention in Singapore next week.
Detective Chief Superintendent Jeffrey Rees of Scotland Yard�s organised crime unit said prior to his departure for Singapore: �I do detect a certain feeling of hopelessness within the industry as to what can be achieved.�
But he insisted: ��Too difficult� is not an acceptable option.�
The high seas, notably in Asia, have suffered a dramatic increase in violent and fatal acts of piracy in recent years, but pirates seldom end up behind bars.
�Currently there seem to be very few arrests for piracy,� said Rees.
There were 229 incidents reported in 1997, the last year for which official figures exist, compared with just 90 in 1994. Of these, 110 were in southeast Asia and 28 in South America, notably Brazil.
The violent spate will be the subject of International Maritime Organisation seminars in Singapore on February 3-5.
Rees, who will speak at the conference, said that pirates often slipped through the judicial net because it was unclear just who was responsible for crimes committed on the sea.
Effective action is often hampered by the current web of navy and police jurisdiction.
�In each country there should be one investigative body,� said Rees, who returned late last year from a piracy fact-finding mission in Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, the world�s indisputed leader in the piracy league. He has identified complicated maritime law, late reporting of incidents, land-based investigators who are ill versed in martime rules and naval officials with little grasp of wider legal issues as barriers to the successful prosecution of pirates.
Complicity with corrupt officials has also been identified as an escape route.
Officers are keen to dispel the romantic images of bearded brigands sporting gold jewellery and parrots, which do not fit today�s highly organised gun-toting pirates.
�You have to look on them as organised criminals,� said Rees.
The logistics of the biggest acts of piracy are considerable. Vast bulk carriers and oil tankers have recently been highjacked and their cargos landed then sold.
In September, a Japanese-owned cargo vessel carrying aluminium ingots worth 1.9 million dollars, the Tenyu, was boarded in the Straits of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia.
It was found renamed and operating in the Chinese port of Zhangjiagang earlier this month. All 15 crew were missing, presumed dead.
The British government has warned of what it calls �state involved highjacking� of ships.
�Mainly in the South China Sea off the Chinese coast, a ship in international waters is boarded by men in Chinese Navy uniforms, forced to enter Chinese waters and, after being accused of smuggling, the owners are forced to pay large sums to have the ship released,� the Foreign Office warned.
A spokeswoman urged international cooperation to beat the pirates. �Regional cooperation is the ideal way of tackling the issue,� she said.
According to government data, 51 seamen were murdered by pirates and 412 crew taken hostage in 1997.
Despite the threat, �the government�s recommendation is that ships should not arm themselves against pirates,� a transport ministry spokesman said. He feared an escalation of violence if ships took up arms against the pirates.
by Kianouche Dorranie
TEHRAN, (AFP)
Iran, the world�s leading producer of saffron, is facing a growing problem with smugglers who are stealing more than half the nation�s output of the rare spice and selling it on the black market in Europe.
Known as �desert gold� in the Islamic republic, the much sought-after spice can fetch up to 600 dollars per kilogramme (2.2 pounds) on the black market, half its actual market value.
�About 40 tonnes of the roughly 70 tonnes of saffron produced in Iran in 1996 were smuggled into Europe,� said Muhammad Reza Alavi-Nik, who heads one of the country�s largest saffron cooperatives.
The rash of smuggling is hampering Iran�s hard currency revenues, which have already been hard-hit by the plummeting crude oil prices. Oil generates 80 percent of the nation�s hard currency, and state revenues are down 40 percent as oil has hit a 10-year low on world markets.
The black market is also bad news for the roughly 40,000 Iranians who make their living from saffron, which is grown primarily in the southern desert fringe of the vast eastern Khorasan province along the Afghan border.
Saffron has been produced for centuries in the dry belt running from the Iranian plateau to Spain, with the dry weather being a crucial ingredient for the spice�s flavour.
But even in ideal conditions, saffron is a tremendously difficult crop to cultivate. Each hectare produces only five to seven kilos (11 to 16 pounds) annually, or 12 kilos (28 pounds) for those acquainted with state-of-the-art methods.
It takes some 150 of the purple flowers to yield just a gramme (less than 0.5 ounces), and the international Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates annual world production at less than 160 tonnes.
Iran is the leading producer and Spain the second largest, followed by India, Singapore, Malaysia, France and China.
Saffron growers in the Islamic republic must also deal with the frequent earthquakes that hit the Khorasan region, destroying the country�s fragile underground irrigation systems.
The Birjand region near the Afghan border, where saffron cultivation is the centre of the local economy, has been particularly hard hit by earthquakes in the past two years.
Iran�s saffron industry is also suffering on European markets because of inferior packaging � an important consideration as the expensive spice is sold mostly in gourmet markets.
�Iranian saffron is of excellent quality but it is not very well packed,� Alavi-Nik said, adding that the product often reaches European markets with Spanish packaging and labels.
�Iranian saffron arrives in Spain to be packed and sold in small portions on European markets as a Spanish product,� an industry expert told the Iranian newspaper Arya.
By Alessandro RAIMONDI
ANCONA, January 29
(THE GLOBE)
By now accustomed to relevant cultural events, Ancona, the most important Italian port city of the Adriatic Sea, has welcomed with an outstanding success of public an unprecedented display of articrafts, findings and art pieces all referable to an historic personality whom Ancona owes much of her importance: Marco Ulpio Trajan.
It was in fact due to this Roman emperor, who chose Ancona as the launching pad of his legionaries for the second Dacha campaign, 105-106 AD, that the city had its harbour enlarged and fortified, becoming that way one of the most important commercial centers of the empire. An international vocation that Ancona still holds and strives hard to highlight even today.
Of those glorious times it�s still witness the elegant, majestic Trajan Arch that enriches the southern pier of the harbour, and that was erected by Apollodoro of Damascus in 114-115 AD to honour the emperor�s success in that eastern campaign and the restructuring of the port of the city.
The harbour needed to be protected by the sand brought by sea undercurrents which caused Roman seagoing vessels due to transport troops to Dacha to lull idly in the basin, so the emperor, that had already undertook a campaign against what today is known as Rumania in 101-102 AD, commanded the gigantic construction of a tall pier that from Guasco Hill entered the sea creating a safe screen to protect the natural harbour of the city.
Eventually by securing Dacha to the empire and following his eastward march Trajan�s empire reached its wider expansion ever in Europe.
The link between Ancona and �her� emperor is still tangible and this absolutely superb show, set by the City Municipality, serves as proof of evidence. The show organized in the occasion of the 1900th anniversary of Trajan�s ascent the throne (98 AD) has started last October and still delights huge crowds of visitors from the city and the region.
�Trajan at the borders of the empire�, this the exhibition name, enjoys the contribution of 17 Italian and foreign historic-archaeological museums and benefits of the high patronage of the President of the Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who visited the city last January 14th.
Hosted at the Mole Vanvitelliana, the ancient lazaret of Ancona, the show displays about 400 pieces, making it a wide cultural experience that to become real has required the combined efforts of Ancona City Hall, the Province of Ancona, the Marches Region, the Mole Vanvitelliana Fund and the Trajan Cultural Association.
Starting from a tile of Trajan Coloumn depicting the emperor�s departure from the port of Ancona toward Dacha, the exhibition final stage displays finds and pictures of the Doric harbour, closing an imaginary circle beginning and ending on the same spot.
2 February
Kazak Drama Theatre. S.Balgabayev, The Loveless Century; 18.30
Russian Drama Theatre. M.Zadornov. The Last Attempt; 18.00
Russian Drama Theatre, small stages. A.Ostrovsky; Talents and Admirers. 18.00
New stages. B.Pasternak. Doctor Zhivago; 18.00
3 February
Kazak Drama Theatre. M.Zhumabayev; The Morning Star�s Sin. 18.30
Russian Drama Theare. R.Lamouret; My Parisian Woman. 18.00
New stages. A.Dumas; Mademoiselle de Belle-Ile. 18.00
DK AkhBK. B.Asafyev; Bakhchisarai Fountain. 18.00
Kazak Drama Theatre. A.Chekov; Seagull. 18.30
Russian Drama Theater. A.Miller; The Price. 18.00
Russian Drama Theater. Small stages. D.Pergalesi; Maidservant-Mistress. 18.00
5 February
Kazak Drama Theatre. K.Ashir; Cain, Adam�s Son. 18.30
Russian Drama Theatre. E.Medvedkin; Felix. 18.00
New stages. P.M
�rim�; The Passion. 18.00Republic�s Palace. Blue Moon, show of B.Moiseyev and N.Trubach. 19.00
3 to 21 February
The Most Gallery. Trade fair of paintings by authors participating in Eurasia symposium from St-Petersburg, Tashkent, Bishkek, Dushanbe, and Almaty. Opening will take place on 3 February at 18.00 in Almaty. Working hours from 11.00 to 18.00. Saturdays and Sundays from 14.00 to 18.00.
21 January to 21 February
Kasteyev Museum. Works by German Painters. State Kasteyev Museum�s Collections.
Working hours 10.00 to 16.30, except for Mondays.
14 January to 16 February
Tribuna Art Gallery. Kazakstani painters� exhibition. Paining. Graphics. Sculpture.
Working hours daily from 11.00 to 19.00; no rest-days.
19 January to 8 March
St.-Petersburg Wax Figures Museum in the building of Archaeology Museum. Exhibition of wax figures of renowned historical figures and actors and people in Guinness Book. Exhibits from Kunstkamera.
Working hours from 10.00 to 18.00 without breaks and rest-days.
Kazak Drama Theatre � Kazak National Drama Academic Auezov Drama Theatre. 103 Abai Avenue, corner Mukanov. Phone 673307.
Russian Drama Theatre � Russian National Drama Academic Lermontov Drama Theatre. 43 Abai Avenue, corner Abylai Khan Avenue. Phone 628273
Republic�s Palace � Dostyk Avenue, corner Abai Avenue. Phone 620320
DK AkhBK � Culture Palace of Almaty Cotton Centre, 22 Shalyapin St., corner Altynsarin Avenue. Phone 281911
State National Kasteyev Museum - 30-a Satpayev St.. Phone 478356
Archaeology Museum � 44 Dostyk Avenue, corner Dzhambul St., Phone 618585
Tengri-Umai Art Gallery � in the building of the Russian Drama Theatre. Phone 620309
Tribuna Art Gallery - 14a Republic�s Square. Phone 694628
Most Art Gallery � Modern Art Gallery. 85-a Dostyk Avenue, corner Kurmangazy St., Phone 622136