Pak ready for N-restraint
ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 — Pakistan today said it is ready to enter into a mutual nuclear restraint arrangement with India and ruled out any unilateral step toward nuclear non-weaponisation.

US probe takes off for Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida), Dec 12 — A Delta-II rocket thundered skywards from the Kennedy Space Station swooshing into the heavens on a pillar of flame to speed a new US probe to the planet mars.

30 p.c. of Russia’s weapons “unfit”
MOSCOW, Dec 12 — Highlighting the moribund state of the cash-strapped and disorganised military, Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said at least 30 per cent of Russia’s weapons were no longer fit for combat.

Typhoons to get oriental names
BEIJING, Dec 12 — Typhoons hitting Asian coasts may soon sport exotic oriental names if the international authorities approve a proposal to this effect.

50 hurt in Bangladesh clashes
DHAKA, Dec 12 — At least 50 persons were hurt in sporadic clashes between rival political groups in Bangladesh’s northern district of Pabna following a parliamentary byelection, the police said today.

Hillary’s hairstyle in ‘Vogue’ WASHINGTON, Dec 12 — Not long ago, Isabelle Goetz left her small town in eastern France with a hairdressing diploma. Now she travels on Air Force One and parks her Harley Davidson at the White House. In one year, Mr Goetz has become indispensable to Ms Hillary Clinton and is widely credited with making the First Lady more alluring.

Pact on satellite parking
MANILA, Dec 12 — The Philippines has signed an accord with Indonesia on an exclusive slot in space to park the Indonesian satellite Agila II, which is the most powerful satellite of its kind in the Asia-Pacific rim.

Vajpayee talks to Primakov
MOSCOW, Dec 12 — Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee today held telephonic talks to chalk out the agenda of their meeting slated for December 21-22 in New Delhi, the Russian Government press service said.

17 LTTE rebels killed
COLOMBO, Dec 12 — Seventeen LTTE rebels have been killed in separate encounters with Sri Lankan armed forces during the past two days, a defence press release said here today.

Impeachment debate turns nasty

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (PTI) — The us House Judiciary Committee today opened fiery debate on its fourth and final impeachment article against President Bill Clinton, a day after it voted to send three impeachable charges accusing him of perjury and obstruction of justice to the full House of Representatives.

In a bitter exchange of accusations, Democrats and Republicans, still reeling from yesterday’s vote to impeach a President for only third time in US history, spoke with anger and emotions as fiery rhetoric engulfed the House panel with a key Democrat linking the impeachment process to ‘a coup’.

"This does sometimes, to some people, begin to take on the appearance of a coup", ranking panel Democrat John Conyers said. "It’s staggering. It’s frightening".

Republicans said they resented the comparison. "This is the orderly process of Constitution, not troops in the streets", said Republican Representative Ed Bryant.

The deeply divided panel yesterday voted on party lines to carry forward the three articles to a full House, in a move fraught with unpredictable political consequences for Mr Clinton’s scandal-tainted presidency and what is expected to be a very close vote next week.

The yesterday’s vote came despite Mr Clinton’s last minute appearance in the White House Rose Garden to apologise again for misleading the nation over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

But the Republican-dominated committee brushed aside his apology to approve the first article of impeachment 21-16 seeking his removal from office on grounds of having “wilfully provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony.”

The voting, the third time in the U.S. political history that impeachment articles against a President had been carried through, came after days of political high drama.

The House panel will debate and vote on a fourth article of impeachment today.

If the charges are voted through next Thursday in the full House of Representatives, the Senate will convene for the second time in the US history to try a President.

No impeachment article is, however, expected to stick to President Clinton, as it requires the backing of an unprecedented two-thirds majority of the upper chamber.

In an emotional speech aimed at swaying Republican panel members, Mr Clinton briefly spoke of his pain and said he was prepared to face a censure for his past actions.

“Like anyone who honestly faces the shame of wrongful conduct, I would give anything to go back and undo what I did. But one of the painful truths I must live with is the reality that it is simply not possible.”

A rather subdued Clinton said he was prepared to accept a censure for his actions but refused to admit to perjury to cover up his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

“I must be at peace with the fact that the public consequences of my actions are in the hands of the American people and their representatives in Congress. Should they determine that my errors of word and deed require their rebuke or censure, I am ready to accept that,” he said.

The first article charged Mr Clinton with wilfully misleading independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s probe into his affair with Lewinsky and his attempts to cover it up.

The second article was voted 21-17 with a Republican, Lindsey Graham, throwing his weight behind the hugely popular President who has enjoyed consistently high public approval ratings despite his philandering ways.

It accused Mr Clinton of lying in a civil deposition in the Paula Jones case.

The third article, which sought to impeach the president for encouraging Monica Lewinsky to lie, was voted 21-16 as the White House stepped up efforts to woo certain Republicans to stave off possible impeachment.

But Mr Clinton’s desperate plea left his detractors cold. They said his apology did not go far enough as it did not admit any wrongdoing on his part and did not expand on his apology offered earlier.

The President, in his speech, said “painful though condemnation of Congress would be, it would pale in comparison to the consequences of pain that I have caused to my family. There is no greater agony”, vowing to redeem the people’s trust.

“These past months have been a tortuous process of coming to terms with what I did. I understand that accountability demands consequences and I am prepared to accept them”, he said.

Pinochet declares innocence in letter

SANTIAGO, Dec 12 (AP) — In a so-called letter to Chileans, General Augusto Pinochet has declared himself “absolutely innocent” of all the accusations against him and expressed “sincere pain for all the Chileans who lost their lives” during his regime.

In the 13-page letter sent from London, where he is under house arrest, and released by his supporters in Chile, Mr Pinochet called his arrest in London and threat of extradition to Spain “the most difficult and unjust experience in my life.”

He proclaimed he was “absolutely innocent of all crimes and all facts of which I am accused” and charged he was “the victim of a cowardly political-judicial plot.”

The letter was read at the Pinochet Foundation yesterday as the 83-year-old former dictator went before a British court, his first public appearance since his arrest almost two months ago.

Mr Pinochet’s appearance was broadcast live on Chilean television and followed closely both by foes and supporters of the former ruler.

“I have never desired death to anybody and I feel a sincere pain for all Chileans who have lost their lives during these years,” Mr Pinochet wrote.

At the Pinochet Foundation, several supporters followed the transmissions in an atmosphere of frustration and rage.

Solzhenitsyn turns down award

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (PTI) — Russian Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn has refused to accept post-Communist Russia’s highest civilian award — the order of St Andrew.

While thanking President Yeltsin for honouring him on his 80th birthday yesterday, Solzhenitsyn declined to accept the offer, saying, “I cannot accept any award from the regime which has led Russia to the perilous state it is in now.”

The towering literary giant was instrumental in hastening the downfall of erstwhile USSR’s Communist regime by exposing the chilling reality of Stalin’s labour camps in his magnum opus “Gulag Archipelago.”

“When people are starving and striking just to get their wages, I cannot accept this award,” he said in an apparent snub to the beleaguered Yeltsin under fire for his inability to come to grips with the country’s collapsing economy.

Addressing fans shortly before the stage performance of a play based on his novel “The First Circle”, he said, “May be, may be, in a long, long time, when Russia overcomes its insurmountable problems, my sons may accept such an award.”

The writer, who has single-handedly kept aloft the hoary Russian literary tradition, has been dubbed by Russian media “the living Tolstoy” for his outstanding contribution to world literature.

The presidential felicitations had already been handed over to Solzhenitsyn by Mr Yeltsin’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Oleg Sysuyev, who later told Russia’s main “ORT” TV station that it was up to the writer to accept or decline the award.

“It is the President’s duty to honour such an outstanding person on his birth anniversary,” Mr Sysuyev said, adding, “If Solzhenitsyn has specific views about today’s Russian reality and the state authority, it is right”.

In an interview to commercial channel “NTV” Solzhenitsyn blasted Russian leaders for focussing “too much” on the economy and urged them instead to concentrate on rapidly evaporating spirituality.

“Today still the Russian spirituality is kindling. The teachers don’t get their salaries, but still they come to school to teach young children. They think about our future, our spirituality,” he said.

Pak ready for N-restraint

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 (AFP) — Pakistan today said it is ready to enter into a mutual nuclear restraint arrangement with India and ruled out any unilateral step toward nuclear non-weaponisation.

However, steps toward nuclear non-weaponisation and non development could be taken only "in tandem with India", Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad said, while spelling out the position during a press briefing on progress in the Pakistan-US dialogue on preventing an arms race in South Asia following nuclear tests by New Delhi and Islamabad in May.

"It is for India to respond and for the USA to persuade India", to move in that direction, he said.

Pakistan had shown its readiness to adhere to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in a coercion-free atmosphere and agreed to participate in negotiations on a fissile material cut off treaty (FMCT) due in Geneva early next year, Mr Ahmad said.

Pakistan had an ‘impeccable’ record on the issue of transfer of nuclear technology and it would further tighten export controls, Mr Ahmad said.

US wanted Pakistan to stop production of fissile material, he said and added that such a moratorium would amount to accepting an obligation under a proposed treaty which was yet to be negotiated.

US probe takes off for Mars

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida), Dec 12 (DPA) — A Delta-II rocket thundered skywards from the Kennedy Space Station swooshing into the heavens on a pillar of flame to speed a new US probe to the planet mars.

After a 10-month space odyssey the mars climate orbiter will begin circling the red planet to gather data about climatic changes on mars and send photographic images back to earth.

The mars climate orbiter, together with another probe, the mars polar lander, forms the second pair of probes dispatched to the planet by the US space agency, NASA, since 1996.

The mars polar lander is scheduled for takeoff on January 3. Ten minutes after it completes its 669 million-km journey and touches down on the surface of mars the spacecraft will release two smaller probes. These will burrow two metres beneath the planet’s surface near the South Pole to seek traces of water.

These latest probes come after the Global Surveyor and Pathfinder missions that were launched two years ago.

The launch of the mars climate orbiter yesterday came after a 24-hour postponement that was due to a software problem. Together, the two latest spacecraft cost $ 357 million.

30 p.c. of Russia’s weapons “unfit”

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (AP) — Highlighting the moribund state of the cash-strapped and disorganised military, Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said at least 30 per cent of Russia’s weapons were no longer fit for combat.

“The situation is especially alarming in the Air Force where only one-third of aircraft can now operate”, Mr Sergeyev said in a speech in Parliament.

The inadequate repairs and lack of training had contributed to an increasing number of crashes of military aircraft. Earlier this week, an SU-27 fighter jet crashed in the Far-East, killing its pilot.

“The state of airfields continues to deteriorate and the potential to defend the nation’s airspace has substantially decreased,’’ Mr Sergeyev said yesterday in Parliament’s Lower House, the Duma.

In the Russian Navy, over 70 per cent of the ships needed repairs, he said, according to Interfax.

The military modernisation programme has been crippled by the government’s severe cash shortage, further aggravated by the economic crisis that hit in August.

“So far this year, the armed forces haven’t received a single new nuclear submarine, tank, combat plane, helicopter or cannon,’’ Mr Sergeyev said.

As a result, only 28 per cent of all military hardware in the armed forces inventories were of modern design, he said. He did not explain what the military considered to be state-of-the-art weapons.

In the strategic missile force, 60 per cent of the missiles on combat duty had already served twice their service time, Mr Sergeyev told the lawmakers.

Typhoons to get oriental names

BEIJING, Dec 12 (PTI) — Typhoons hitting Asian coasts may soon sport exotic oriental names if the international authorities approve a proposal to this effect.

Warnings may soon be broadcast of the approach of “Typhoon Ma On” or “Typhoon Shan-Shan” if the authorities agree on a proposal to use names with “regional characteristics” from January 2000, a report said here today, adding 10 titles have already been selected.

“Using regional names was felt to be better for enhancing alertness among people to tropical cyclones,” an official from the Hong Kong observatory, which mooted the proposal, said.

American weather forecasters in Guam, who have previously named typhoons, assigned only women’s names until 1979 when criticism forced them to begin including male names.

Japan has opted for astronomical names; Vietnam for geographical names celebrating scenic spots such as Halong Bay; and North Korea has named a typhoon after a pine tree which “resembles the nature of Korea, growing green throughout the year, standing strong”.

Meanwhile, a British scientist has warned that Hong Kong was not prepared for a big typhoon and could suffer severe damages if hit.

“Many high-rise buildings in the island would not withstand debris crashing into them,” Prof Brian Lee, head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Portsmouth, said, adding it was pure luck that Hong Kong had not suffered a direct hit since 1983.

50 hurt in Bangladesh clashes

DHAKA, Dec 12 (Reuters) — At least 50 persons were hurt in sporadic clashes between rival political groups in Bangladesh’s northern district of Pabna following a parliamentary byelection, the police said today.

Battles erupted between supporters of the ruling Awami League and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) which lost the election held on Thursday.

The police arrested several militants from both sides, local officials said.

Awami candidate A.K. Khandaker, a retired Air Force chief, won the election by a margin of 20,000 votes but the BNP alleged the result was rigged.

The BNP has called for a countrywide protest strike tomorrow, a working day in Muslim Bangladesh. The government and the country’s Election Commission said the voting was free and impartial.

Independent monitors also said the voting was largely peaceful and fair.

Newspapers today quoted political sources as saying that the BNP, backed by the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Party, was planning another countrywide strike on December 17.

Hillary’s hairstyle in ‘Vogue’

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (AFP) — Not long ago, Isabelle Goetz left her small town in eastern France with a hairdressing diploma. Now she travels on Air Force One and parks her Harley Davidson at the White House.

In one year, Mr Goetz has become indispensable to Ms Hillary Clinton and is widely credited with making the First Lady more radiant and alluring.

“They all want the Hillary look,” 27-year-old Isabelle says of her other clients in Washington.

Ms Clinton’s transformation is nothing short of spectacular.

After years of criticism for her severe look and constantly changing style, this month the US President’s wife made the cover of “Vogue”, drawing public admiration like a Hollywood star.

“She wasn’t after a special look and we didn’t even talk about it. But little by little, I changed her hairstyle until the present one,” Ms Goetz told AFP.

Ms Clinton’s layered, swept-back hairstyle has become quite popular. “It suits her very well and everybody tells her so,” said Ms Goetz.

“Newsweek” magazine describes Ms Clinton as “radiant” and gives the reason for her transformation: “Isabelle Goetz of DC” (District of Columbia as the capital is known).

Being beautiful may be the best form of vengeance, said the weekly, referring to President Bill Clinton’s daunting legal problems.

Pact on satellite parking

MANILA, Dec 12 (Pool-PNA) — The Philippines has signed an accord with Indonesia on an exclusive slot in space to park the Indonesian satellite Agila II, which is the most powerful satellite of its kind in the Asia-Pacific rim.

The orbital slot agreement was signed between the Philippine long-distance company — Mabuhav Philippines Satellite Corp (MPSC) and Indonesia’s P.T. Pasfik Satelit Nusantra, with the support of the Japanese Government in Malacanang yesterday.

The $ 243 million Agila II, which was launched in August last year, is the most powerful of its kind in the region, with 10 KW of power that can service the whole Pacific rim, including the entire Southeast Asia, eastern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Hawaii for 15 years.

Hailing the agreement, Philippines President Joseph Estrada said, besides enhancing the country’s presence in the global network, this first fully Filipino-owned satellite would provide the region with the most modern telecommunication infrastructure to “enable us to sustain our growth and overcome barriers posed by time and space.”

Vajpayee talks to Primakov

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (PTI) — Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee today held telephonic talks to chalk out the agenda of their meeting slated for December 21-22 in New Delhi, the Russian Government press service said.

The two Prime Ministers discussed the content of the talks and the state of preparatory work on the Indo-Russian inter-governmental agreements to be signed in New Delhi.

India and Russia are to sign several bilateral agreements, including long-term defence cooperation pact and trade and economic agreement till 2010, which would become the major component of their strategic partnership.

17 LTTE rebels killed

COLOMBO, Dec 12 (PTI) — Seventeen LTTE rebels have been killed in separate encounters with Sri Lankan armed forces during the past two days, a defence press release said here today.

While six militants were killed when ambushed by the security forces in northern Vavuniya and eastern Oddusuddan towns on Thursday, nine ultras were killed in Oddusuddan and northern Pulimanchikulam yesterday.

Two Tamil Tigers were also shot dead and a soldier injured in search operations by troops in North-West Mannar district yesterday, the release added.

Gas main explosion
ST PAUL (Minnesota): Three persons have been confirmed dead and at least 20 injured in a gas main explosion that rocked Minnesota town of St Cloud and forced the evacuation of a six-block downtown area, the authorities said. The blast in St Cloud, about 140 km northwest of here, occurred on Friday when construction crew accidentally ruptured a gas main in the downtown area, a police spokesman told AFP. She said that three persons were confirmed dead and numerous injured had been rushed to area hospitals. — AFP

Rare transplant
ATLANTA: A rare blood transplant from an unrelated new-born’s umbilical cord has been used in an attempt to cure a 12-year-old boy suffering from sickle cell anaemia. Unrelated cord blood has been used to treat other blood diseases such as leukaemia and cancers, but this is believed to be the first time it’s been used specifically to treat sickle cell, an inherited, crippling and sometimes lethal disease prevalent among blacks. The boy, Keone Penn of Snellville, was partially paralysed after suffering a stroke. — AP

Bid to capture port
PEKANBARU: Hundreds of Indonesian students tried to “take over” Dumai, a sea port controlled by state-owned oil company, Pertamina, in support of local people’s demands for a greater share in oil revenues. The take-over bid by the students here on Friday resulted from lack of government response to demands voiced by local community groups in Riau recently that they should be given 10 per cent of the revenues from petroleum oil production in the province. — Antara

Typhoon toll
ZAMBOANGA (Philippines): The toll from typhoon “Faith’s” swift but deadly rampage across the central Philippines rose to at least five, officials said on Saturday. Coast Guard officials said 11 fishermen were reported missing and four were rescued after their boat, Myra-1, sank in heavy seas off Pilas island in the southern Philippines. The incident raised the number of missing to at least 29. — AFP

Cocaine seizure
HONG KONG: Hong Kong has made a record seizure of 156 kg of cocaine worth about $ 23.3 million, the authorities said on Saturday. Speaking at a news conference where the drugs were displayed, Chief of Customs Drug Investigation Bureau Chan Hon-Kit said the cocaine was found concealed inside an cargo aircraft tyre among items of a cargo aircraft under maintenance. Mr Chan said the plane arrived last week in Hong Kong from the USA. He said the cocaine was not destined for Hong Kong as it was only a small market. — DPA

Sino-Mongolian deal
BEIJING: China and Mongolia declared a new era in bilateral ties with the Presidents of the two neighbouring nations agreeing to forge relations based on mutual trust, media reports said on Saturday. China and Mongolia are determined to work together to bring a long-term, healthy and good-neighbourly relationship of mutual trust into the 21st century, the official China Daily quoted a Sino-Mongolian joint statement issued here after talks between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Mongolian President Nachagyn Bagbandy. — PTI