Fresh Iraqi letter to UNSCOM chief
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3 — Iraq has submitted a new letter to the UN’s top weapons inspector, refusing to surrender a key document detailing Iraqi chemical weapons munitions.

Raid on Anwar lawyer’s office
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — The Malaysian police raided the office of one of the lawyers defending ousted Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim, chief defence counsel Raja Aziz Addruse told the court today.

Funding research into disease sought
WASHINGTON, Dec 3 — Researchers who created controversy by growing human stem cells have asked Congress to allow federal funding of such work, saying it might provide a cure for Parkinson’s disease within a few years.

Israel halts Wye pact execution

JERUSALEM, Dec 3 (AP) — The Israeli Government reacted to a West Bank ambush yesterday by halting the latest West Asia peace accord until the Palestinians complied with a list of demands, including a promise to publicly abandon plans to declare a state in May.

Palestinian officials rejected the demands outright and charged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was looking for excuses to knock the peace process off track.

An Israeli Government statement said its decision was prompted in part by the attack on an Israeli soldier and a civilian by an angry Palestinian mob in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank earlier yesterday.

The attack followed the stabbing death earlier yesterday of an Arab street cleaner in Jerusalem, apparently by an Israeli extremist. During the funeral procession for Osama Natche, a 41-year-old father of six, mourners torched an Israeli car and stoned Israeli police who fired rubber bullets.

Hours later, rioting throughout traditionally Arab areas of Jerusalem continued, with masked Palestinians throwing stones at cars and blocking roads with burning tyres. Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said five Palestinians were arrested for throwing stones that shattered a bus window and injured the driver.

The Israeli announcement that it was suspending further troop withdrawals from the West Bank came 10 days before US President Bill Clinton was to arrive in the region to usher in stage two of the Wye river land-for-security agreement he helped negotiate in October.

The announcement raised questions about whether the Clinton trip could take place while Israel was holding up the agreement.

“Mr Netanyahu is trying to create a crisis before the arrival of President Clinton. We consider his conditions unacceptable. Every day he imposes new conditions, this is an attitude that must not continue, it will not be tolerated,” said senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat.

The conditions also drew a sharp reaction from the USA. In Washington, US State Department spokesman James Rubin said “the Israeli troop withdrawals were obligations which Israel must carry out. We do not think it is appropriate to add new conditions.” He also condemned the attack on the Israeli soldier.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority blamed each other for the violence.

Mr Netanyahu yesterday issued a statement saying the Palestinian Authority was encouraging acts of violence, such as the attack in Ramallah, in an attempt to pressure Israel with regard to the matter of prisoners.

His senior adviser, Mr David Bar-Illan, said Israel would not allow the peace process to continue under threats of violence. The bottom line was that there would be no further withdrawals unless the Palestinian Authority lived up to all its commitments.

A statement from Mr Netanyahu’s office said the Palestinians must acknowledge that Israel had not agreed to release Palestinian prisoners who had committed acts against Israel.

Israel also demanded that the Palestinian Authority announce clearly that it was abandoning its intention to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state, that it was committed to continuous negotiations and that it immediately stop acts of violence and incitement and punish rioters.

In the Wye agreement, Israel promised to withdraw from 13 per cent of the West Bank and release 750 Palestinian prisoners by January. In a first stage last month, it withdrew from 2 per cent of the area and set free 250 prisoners, but most were criminals, not those held for anti-Israeli activities as the Palestinian Authority had expected.

Mr Arafat raised the issue earlier this week with Mr Clinton at meetings with Washington, and Erekat said Mr Clinton promised to make every effort to solve this issue.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters): The UN General Assembly has called for self-determination for the Palestinian people, demanded Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and deplored the presence of a tiny number of embassies in Jerusalem.

These were among key elements of two resolutions on the situation in the Middle East and four on the question of Palestine. The two issues are debated separately each year by the assembly.

The resolutions, similar to those adopted in previous years, were again endorsed by overwhelming majorities on Wednesday.

The USA joined Israel in casting the only negative votes against five of the resolutions, while abstaining on the one concerning Jerusalem.

A resolution on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine was adopted by a vote of 154 to two with three abstentions.

Indonesian poll on June 7

JAKARTA, Dec 3 (AFP) — Indonesia will go to the polls on June 7 next year in the first elections since the fall of Suharto in May last, Parliament Speaker Harmoko said today.

“The executive and the legislative (branches), after absorbing the aspirations of the people and adjusting it to the reform schedule, agreed that the holding of the general election will, God willing, be held on June 7, 1999,” he said after meeting President B.J. Habibie at Parliament.

A new legislature would be convened on August 29, 1999.

The announcement was made after Habibie and several ministers, held closed-door talks at Parliament with Harmoko and his four deputies.

The first business of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) would be to swear in new legislative members with working committees deciding a time-table for election of the President and Vice-President, Harmoko said.

Indonesian state secretary Akbar Tanjung said today the government would not declare a state of emergency or martial law despite outbreaks of rioting, the Antara news agency said.

The government realised that any step taken to uphold order and security would “promptly be seen as efforts to continue the ways of the (Suharto) authoritarian new order government,” it said. He said the government would instead leave it to the public to make sure protests were not destructive.

“Of course, this rather permissive policy also carries its own risks. Not only the possibility that the government will be accused of always being late in overcoming the conditions, but also the reality that is not easy for the leaders of society to control the actions of their people,” the agency added.

Meanwhile, amid mounting pressure and student unrest for a probe into former President Suharto’s wealth, the Indonesian Government promised today that it would be speeded up, adds ANI.

Suharto has been widely accused of corruption and human rights abuses besides amassing vast wealth running into $ 40 billion.

Parliament Speaker Harmoko told newsmen that the President and executive “have agreed to carry out the MPR decrees more effectively especially in relation to the investigation into former President Suharto”.

Indonesian newspapers earlier quoted an administration official as saying that there would be an important announcement concerning the possible trial of Suharto within two or three days.

In the meantime, tension surfaced again after miscreants burned down a mosque on the island of Borneo this morning.

Reports reaching the capital from Noabang near the West Kalimantan provincial capital of Pontianak said residents had stepped up security around churches and mosques in the area fearing possible rioting. Police also confirmed that they had arrested a mentally deranged man suspected of being behind the arson attack.

Army role ‘confined to military courts’

ISLAMABAD, Dec 3 (ANI) — Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussein has said that the role of the army in Karachi would only be limited to the setting up of military courts.

Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Shujaat Hussien said: “The army has been given only judicial powers and they are not being given powers to conduct raids as this job is satisfactorily being done by the police and the Rangers”.

The minister said the military courts were being established to try cases related to terrorism, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. “The army officials are currently finalising various details to set up military courts in Karachi.

Responding to a question, the minister said the army had been called in to Karachi under Article 245 of the constitution to aid the authorities. However,he added that the provincial government would be the deciding authority on how to use the army’s services.

Mr Hussain said the Prime Minister wanted to avoid prolonged involvement of the army in civilian duties as it would affect their professional duties. “We have instructed the Sindh Governor that cases related to usual murders committed on the basis of personal rivalry should not be referred to military courts”, he said.

To another question the interior minister said that as long as peace was not achieved, there was no question of restoring the Sindh Assembly. “We have told everybody to forget about restoration of the assembly unless certain peace is achieved in Karachi”.

Afghanistan
Neighbours promoting unrest: Annan

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3 (AP) — Despite knowing that fighting in Afghanistan threatens their own security, neighbouring nations are still interfering in and exacerbating the conflict, the UN chief said in a report.

A ceasefire and the start of peace talks to create a multi-ethnic and representative government for Afghanistan could not be attained without a concerted effort by all outside powers concerned, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in the report to the General Assembly released yesterday.

Reports of mass killings and other human rights violations by the Taliban religious militia were of major concern, Mr Annan said. He said he planned to ask that a UN mission begin monitoring parts of Afghanistan to promote respect for humanitarian law and human rights.

Mr Annan didn’t name specific nations contributing to the Afghan conflict, but the Taliban, who now control about 90 per cent of Afghanistan, accuse Iran, Russia and the Central Asian nations of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan of arming and financing their opponents.

The anti-Taliban alliance, which controls about 10 per cent of the country, says Pakistan is arming the Taliban and sending in military advisers and soldiers to bolster their ranks, a charge Pakistan denies.

While Mr Annan welcomed efforts by eight nations that were trying to work out a solution to the Afghan situation — Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China and the USA — he said he was disappointed that some of those countries were still supplying weapons and other war material which were fuelling the conflict.

Afghanistan, once a flashpoint of superpower rivalry, had now become the stage for a new, regional version of the great game, in which the domestic, economic and national security interests of Afghanistan’s neighbours and their supporters were played out, the Secretary-General said.

A vicious cycle had developed in which the inability of the Afghan factions to agree to a political settlement was both the cause and the effect of persistent outside interference in the affairs of Afghanistan, he said.

While he recognised that countries had legitimate interests to protect in Afghanistan, Mr Annan said he found it paradoxical that instead of promoting peace these countries continued their clandestine military support for their favoured Afghan factions, despite their professed recognition that the prolongation of the conflict posed a threat to their own stability.

While the Taliban had scored military victories and taken control of most of the country, Mr Annan said their success on the battlefield appeared to have lessened the desire for a negotiated peace.

The Taliban victories had also increased the prospect of a deeper regionalisation of the conflict, Mr Annan said.

Mr Annan said it was his strong hope that UN staff would shortly be able to return to Afghanistan but stressed that the Taliban must provide complete reports on the slayings of three UN workers.

Fresh Iraqi letter to UNSCOM chief

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3 (AFP) — Iraq has submitted a new letter to the UN’s top weapons inspector, refusing to surrender a key document detailing Iraqi chemical weapons munitions.

In the letter sent late on Tuesday to the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) Chairman, Mr Richard Butler, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary, Mr Riyadh Al-Qaysi, stated: “Our position remains the same” regarding the document.

Mr Butler wrote to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tariq Aziz on Friday to demand the surrender of the file by Monday.

PARIS: Meanwhile, Mr Butler has said that a report on Iraqi disarmament could be completed despite Baghdad’s refusal to hand over certain documents, diplomatic sources said.

Mr Butler told French officials on Wednesday that the issue of Iraq’s refusal to hand over certain documents requested by UNSCOM was not an obstacle to completing the report.

Raid on Anwar lawyer’s office

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (AFP) — The Malaysian police raided the office of one of the lawyers defending ousted Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim, chief defence counsel Raja Aziz Addruse told the court today.

“We wish to register strong protest against this type of measure taken against defence counsel. It is tantamount to harassment,” Raja Aziz told Justice Augustine Paul.

The police raided the office of Pawancheek Merican, one of Anwar’s nine lawyers, last afternoon, Raja Aziz said.

According to a search warrant, the raid was based on a complaint by the prosecution that a “certain note of evidence” written by Deputy Public Prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman for the trial was missing, he said.

Funding research into disease sought

WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) — Researchers who created controversy by growing human stem cells have asked Congress to allow federal funding of such work, saying it might provide a cure for Parkinson’s disease within a few years.

However, they added yesterday, the breakthroughs may never be developed to their full potential if Congress decided that current laws forbid such funding.

‘The number of diseases that can be treated will increase exponentially (with federal funding),’ Dr James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, who led one of the teams that has grown the stem cells, told a senate panel.

‘The current ban in the USA on the use of federal funding for human embryo research discourages the majority of the best US researchers from advancing this promising area of medical research,’ he said.

War graves
BANGKOK: Excavation has begun for about 7,000 graves of Japanese soldiers who perished during World War II, the Japanese Embassy has said. Japan’s Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare is sponsoring the excavation in the hope of identifying some of the soldiers and providing answers for families of soldiers still listed as missing, Hideki Yamada, First Secretary in the Embassy in Bangkok, said on Wednesday. The site is an abandoned cemetery of Japan’s Imperial Army. — AP

Death sentence
BEIJING: A man accused of slashing 23 children during a schoolyard rampage in September last has been sentenced to death in southwestern China, the Beijing youth daily said on Wednesday. Lin Peiqing was convicted of attempted homicide and sentenced to death by a Sichuan province court. The court was told that on the morning of September 14, Lin entered a local schoolyard during a flag-raising ceremony and slashed 23 children with a kitchen knife. — AFP

Wearable computers
PITTSBURGH: In 2020, the fashionably wired mother of three will make no ordinary trip to the grocery store. After scanning her cupboards, she will recite a list into a microphone built into her eyeglasses. The items will be translated into text and appear in a computer screen built into the lenses. Inside the store, the woman’s identification ring will broadcast her buying habits to the store computers, which will beam back discount prices to the monitor in her eyeglasses. Those are some of the visions of the hundreds of computer engineers who came here recently for the second international symposium on wearable computers. — AP

Death sentence
SHANGHAI: A police official has been sentenced to death in eastern China for car smuggling, embezzlement and tax evasion, official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. A court in Lianyungang in Jiangsu province convicted Huang Ning and two other officials of smuggling 71 cars and evading tax on 22.2 million yuan (2.7 million dollars) in income, the report said. — AP

Space station
CAPE CANAVERAL: Four times as large as Russia’s Mir, the international space station will sparkle as one of the brightest objects in the night sky when it is completed in 2004. A spectacular undertaking involving 16 nations and requiring 45 space flights to haul its components into orbit, the space station nonetheless raises the question, at least in some minds: what use is it? — Reuters