Pinochet: UK not to intervene
LONDON, Nov 28 — Britain told Chile’s Foreign Minister that London could not interfere in a decision on whether Augusto Pinochet should be sent to Spain to face charges of murder and genocide.

‘Suharto family owns 3m hectares’
JAKARTA, Nov 28 — Former President Suharto and his family were found to own or have shares in nearly 3 million hectares of land in four Indonesian provinces, a report here said today.

Students interrupt Jiang’s speech
TOKYO, Nov 28 — Students protesting about China’s human rights record and nuclear weapons twice momentarily interrupted a speech by President Jiang Zemin at a major Tokyo university today.

Pak to rake up J&K issue with USA
ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 — Pakistan will raise the Jammu and Kashmir issue and seek a mediatory role by the USA during the forthcoming meeting of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US President Bill Clinton on December 2.

‘Growing up without tobacco’ BANGKOK, Nov 28 — Even though dangers to health from smoking are well known, tobacco’s threat to children is greatly underemphasised, anti-smoking activists have said.

Way to heaven made easy
IN A MOVE with echoes of the Roman Catholic Church’s past, the Pope on Friday issued a Papal Bull reviving on a grand scale the practice of granting indulgences.

Conduct wrong: Clinton
Answers 81 questions

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (AFP) — Replying to questions by a house panel weighing his impeachment, President Bill Clinton reiterated that his conduct in the Monica Lewinsky matter was “wrong” but denied committing any serious offences.

“I have asked my attorneys to participate actively, but the fact that there is a legal defence to the various allegations cannot obscure the hard truth, as I have said repeatedly, that my conduct was wrong,” Mr Clinton said yesterday in his 24-page response to 81 questions from the House Judiciary Committee.

“It was also wrong to mislead people about what happened, and I deeply regret that,” Mr Clinton said in an introductory statement. “For me this long ago caused to be primarily a legal or political issue and became instead a painful personal one...”.

“I hope these answers will contribute to a speedy and fair resolution of this matter,” he said.

The release of his responses so late yesterday in the midst of the holiday weekend assures the White House that this latest move in the unfolding impeachment drama will receive minimal news coverage.

The President responded to a number of questions en bloc and appeared to contain no new information about his conduct regarding Ms Lewinsky, a former white house intern with whom he has admitted having an inappropriate relationship.

While he acknowledged misleading family, friends, and senior staff, Mr Clinton insisted in his responses that he never lied, obstructed justice, or instructed anyone to lie under oath.

“I did not tell Lewinsky to life, and I did not tell anyone to lie about my relationship with her,” he said.

Asked if he admitted or denied giving “false and misleading testimony under oath” in the Paula Jonex sex harassment case and before a grand jury about any gifts he received from Lewinsky, the President replied: “My testimony was not false and misleading.”

Asked about his often-replayed, finger-wagging denial last January of having any “sexual relations with that woman, Lewinsky,” he stuck to his defence that the answer was accurate because “I was referring to sexual intercourse.”

Citing senior Republican committee members. “The New York Times” said the articles of impeachment alleged perjury, obstruction of justice and witness-tampering, and the abuse of power.

The panel aims to conclude its work by the end of December, as efforts to secure a formal censure of the President — a stern rebuke, most likely accompanied by a fine — gain momentum.

All 81 queries begin: “Do you admit or deny... ” many focus on Clinton’s repeated denials of what he termed an “inappropriate relationship” with Lewinsky.

While Mr Clinton’s removal from office is unlikely, the tone of panel Chairman Henry Hyde’s letter and continued sniping between the Republicans and the Democrats on his committee suggests a deal to end the probe won’t come soon.

Ending seven months of denials, Mr Clinton publicly admitted in August to an inappropriate relationship with Ms Lewinsky, formerly an unpaid White House assistant and less than half his age.

But he insisted his vague, sometimes hair-splitting sworn testimony about their liaison — in an unrelated sex-harassment case and again before a grand jury — has been legally accurate.

Pinochet: UK not to intervene

LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) — Britain told Chile’s Foreign Minister that London could not interfere in a decision on whether Augusto Pinochet should be sent to Spain to face charges of murder and genocide.

That verdict, following a British Law Lords ruling that the 83-year-old former dictator did not enjoy diplomatic immunity, will be made by Home Secretary Jack Straw who now has until December 11 to decide.

Amid the growing tension over Pinochet’s fate, Britain closed its Consulate in Chile’s second biggest city and scrapped a visit by a British warship at Santiago’s request.

“Given the current situation, it is impossible to continue the normal functions of the British Consulate in Valparaiso and it has been decided to close the office temporarily,” the British Embassy in Santiago said.

“Also for reasons of security, the visit to Valparaiso of the frigate, HMS Sutherland, has been cancelled...”

In London, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told his Chilean counterpart Jose Miguel Insulza that there was nothing he could do to influence Mr Straw “and that this was not a matter for collective ministerial decision”.

Mr Insulza flew into the British capital to plead his government’s case that Pinochet, a Senator for life, enjoyed immunity.

‘Suharto family owns 3m hectares’

JAKARTA, Nov 28 (AFP) — Former President Suharto and his family were found to own or have shares in nearly 3 million hectares of land in four Indonesian provinces, a report here said today.

Some 2.44 million hectares were in forested areas of East Kalimantan, where Suharto family owned 12 logging concessions.

“The findings have been reported to the Attorney-General’s office,” the head of the East Kalimantan Higher Attorney’s office, Mansyur Kertayasa, was quoted as saying by The Kompas Daily.

Some 16.2 million hectares or 77 per cent of East Kalimantan, which is located in the Island of Borneo, are forest areas.

Some of the concessions were held jointly with Suharto’s business partner, plywood tycoon Bob Hasan, some wholly owned and others as individual or Suharto-foundation shares in joint-venture foreign logging companies.

Kertayasa said besides the land holdings, his office had traced 29 additional assets in the form of chemical and coal companies, as well as factories and buildings.

Meanwhile, the South Kalimantan Higher Attorney’s office found more than 3,50,000 hectares of land in the form of a palm oil plantation owned by the former first family.

The National Land Agency in West Sumatra has also traced some 38,280 hectares of palm oil plantations belonging to the family, while Yogyakarta’s Higher Attorney’s office found 150 hectares of land used for several businesses including a hotel and a car-racing circuit.

The National Land Agency is working with the Attorney-General’s office on a nationwide probe into the wealth of Suharto and his family.

The government has claimed to have unearthed only 21 billion rupiah ($ 2.6 million) of Suharto’s money in 72 banks across the country, while the probe into his accounts abroad, which the former President says were non-existent, is still underway.

President B.J. Habibie has been pressured to speed up the probe into Suharto’s wealth after the former President’s name was included in a draft decree on eradicating corruption.

Anwar case: bail plea hearing put off

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 (AFP) — An appeal for bail by ousted Malaysian Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim who faces 10 charges of corruption and sodomy, was today postponed for a week.

“We will come back on December 5,” Appeal Court President Lamin Mohamad Yunus said after defence counsel Raja Aziz Adduse sought more time to prepare his submission.

“It is important...to prepare a comprehensive argument as the liberty of a subject (Anwar) is involved,” Aziz said. “I am asking one week from today.”

The appeal was filed after an initial bail application was rejected by the High Court on October 5.

Anwar, sacked on September 2, was arrested 18 days later after leading an anti-government rally calling on Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to resign. He has also filed a civil suit challenging Mahathir over the legality of his dismissal.

Chief Prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail objected to the postponement, saying: “I do not see the need for the case to be heard another day if you look at the interest of the appellant.”

Anwar’s first trial on four of five corruption charges started on November 2. The other six charges will be heard later.

Pak N-expert’s warning
Indian towns can be destroyed in 15 min

ISLAMABAD, Nov 27 (PTI) — A top Pakistani nuclear scientist has warned that his country was capable of destroying all Indian nuclear installations and major cities within 15 minutes and that very soon Pakistan was going to develop another missile.

“In case of any eventuality we can destroy India’s major cities and all nuclear installations within 15 minutes with nuclear weapons,” said Dr Samar Mubarakmand, a scientist with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), who led the team on scientists in carrying out nuclear tests in May last.

Pakistan’s defence has now been made “impregnable” and Islamabad was afraid of neither India nor Israel, Mubarakmand was quoted by the media as saying at a function here.

Incidentally, his comments came only a day after chief architect of Pakistan’s nuclear programme Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan said that the range of Pakistan’s nuclear capable ‘Ghauri’ missile was being extended up to 1700 to 1750 km and that it could now hit far-flung Indian cities like Calcutta and Chennai.

Dr Khan also said that serial production of Ghauri had begun and Islamabad had now acquired a stockpile of these missiles.

Dr Mubarakmand also said that his country was soon going to hear good news about a new missile named ‘Shaheen’, though he did not elaborate about its range and capability.

40-year-old rocket revived for trip to Mars

PASADENA (California), Nov 28 (AP) — NASA’s latest plan to seek signs of life on Mars revives a 40-year-old rocket that would vault Martian rock samples into space for an eventual ride to earth, the first time pieces of any planet will have landed here.

When robotics expert Biran H. Wilcox was asked what it would take to launch a light spacecraft from the surface of Mars, he turned to declassified plans for the solid-fuel rocket his father, Howard A. Wilcox, worked on during the cold war.

Father and Son often discussed the rocket, which was developed in 1958 at the China Lake naval weapons station in the shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada near Ridgecrest.

After some tweaking, that concept has now become the basis for the mini-Mars ascent vehicle, part of NASA’s $ 3 billion plan to reorganise Mars exploration for the first decade of the new millennium.

At a relatively inexpensive $ 30 million, the so-called Mini-Mav is consistent with NASA’s faster, cheaper, better — era of space exploration.

A draft of the Mars programme overhall, including the Mini-Mav, was reviewed this month. In February, NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena will announce whether it can carry out the programme within a strict $ 300 million annual budget.

NASA wants to mount the Mini-Mav at about three feet and 200 pounds, smaller than comparable liquid-fuel rockets on Rover-Lander missions flown every two years. Each Rover would place rock cores in canisters that the rocket would shoot into low orbit. The canisters later would be retrieved by Mars orbiters for return to the earth.

NASA’s revised blueprint for Mars exploration also incorporates low-cost micromissons, balloons, airplanes, or little devices that dig into the surface that could act as scouts for larger missions.

“Conceptually, it appears doable, but you’ve got to look at this very closely, make sure you’ve got your (financial) commitments”, said Mr Carl Pilcher, NASA Science Director for Solar System Exploration in Washington.

With the international space station project sucking up federal dollars, NASA’s new Mars plan relies on the participation of the French, European and Italian space agencies as well as private industry.

If life never arose there, scientists also want to understand why not, how far the chemistry got, how the climate changed and whether it influenced the formation of life.

The Mars programme will eventually help NASA decide whether to put humans on Martian soil. There has been talk of a July 2019 manned touchdown to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

“Ultimately, the nature of our questions will reach a level that we will need human explorers to obtain answers,” Mr Pilcher said.

Mr Louis Frideman, Executive Director of the Planetary Society, compares the coming decade of Mars travel to the 16th and 17th centuries when England and Portugal sent explorers across the seas every few years. “We’re going to hear about new discoveries all the time”, — he said.

NASA’s Martian blueprint imposes order on plans that until months ago were in disarray and shadowed by international failures. The $ 1 billion Mars Observer disappeared in space in 1993 and Russia’s Mars 96 exploded, leaving NASA’s modest Mars Pathfinder as the sole recent red planet success. Mars Global Surveyor has yet to begin its mapping.

On the more immediate horizon, NASA plans a December 10 launch for the Mars Climate Orbiter, part of the Mars Surveyor 1998 project, which should begin orbiting in September 1999. Next up will be the Mars Polar Lander, which is set for a January 3, 1999, liftoff and should land at the planet’s south pole on December 3, 1999.

Last spring, scientists realised the elaborate Athena Rover, which was to be sent in 2001, was becoming too expensive and unwieldy to launch until 2003.

The decision to replace Athena in 2001 with Marie Curie, a space copy of the Sojourner Rover that roamed Mars last year, meant scientists would have to put hopes on hold.

However, the Congress appropriated enough money to have the 2001 mission at least conduct experiments for NASA researchers contemplating human Mars travel, such as measuring radiation and soil toxicity and exploring on-site fuel production to power the flight home.

A silver lining emerged after NASA tapped Mr Charles Elachi, Director for Space and Earth Sciences at JPL, to bring together experts and restructure the Mars programme. Their roadmap relies on robotic missions of increasing complexity as precursors to human travel.

Under the old concept, Rovers would collect and stash samples and later vehicles would scoop up the best samples for study.

Under the new proposal, Mini-Mavs would shoot rocks into the Mars orbit as they’re being collected. They would linger in space until the French Orbiter can rendezvous with them.

It’s fantastic. By returning the samples from the live Rover to the live ascent vehicle, the chances of success have gone up markedly, said Mr Squyres, principal investigator on the Athena Rover.

Students interrupt Jiang’s speech

TOKYO, Nov 28 (Reuters) — Students protesting about China’s human rights record and nuclear weapons twice momentarily interrupted a speech by President Jiang Zemin at a major Tokyo university today.

Jiang was mid-way through a 45-minute speech at Waseda University when two students started shouting from a balcony: “Down with nuclear weapons”, causing him to stop briefly.

Several minutes later, a single student in the same area again briefly halted Jiang’s speech with shouts against China’s treatment of dissidents held for political views.

Security guards carried the three students from the hall and Jiang appeared unconcerned by the interruptions at the university known for pockets of radical students.

Jiang’s six-day visit, the first to Japan by a Chinese Head of State, has already been marred by a row over Japan’s refusal to give China a written apology for World War II.

Outside the hall, there were several other demonstrations against Jiang, both by Left-wing students and several extreme Rightists.

A fight briefly broke out between the groups when the Rightists unfurled a banner saying China should apologise to Japan, not the other way round. “The Chinese Communist should apologise to the Japanese Emperor,” the banner read.

Some of the 31 Chinese exchange students at the university attacked the Rightists and pulled the banner down.

“It was an insult to us. These ultra-nationalists had the audacity to put a torn Chinese flag on top of that banner,” said Hou Weijie, a 28-year-old engineering student.

Pak to rake up J&K issue with USA

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 (PTI) — Pakistan will raise the Jammu and Kashmir issue and seek a mediatory role by the USA during the forthcoming meeting of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US President Bill Clinton on December 2.

"We are interested in engaging the international community, particularly the USA, in efforts for the just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute," Pakistani Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed told reporters here.

Mr Ahmed, who would be accompanying Mr Sharif during his trip to Washington, said the Prime Minister would brief Mr Clinton on all aspects of Jammu and Kashmir which was the "core problem that has engendered conflicts between the two countries."

Referring to India’s stand that there was no scope for a third party mediation, Mr Ahmed claimed: "New Delhi has always been negative in its approach but that does not mean that we should give up our efforts".

He said the recent talks between the two countries on eight issues, including peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir "could not achieve any result".

‘Growing up without tobacco’

BANGKOK, Nov 28 (AP) — Even though dangers to health from smoking are well known, tobacco’s threat to children is greatly underemphasised, anti-smoking activists have said.

Representatives of the World Health Organisation, the Thai public health sector, UNICEF and a worldwide coalition of private organisations, on Thursday spoke at a news conference announcing the Asian launch of a declaration on growing up without tobacco.’’ The launch, part of a wider anti-smoking campaign, came at an international meeting about tuberculosis and lung disease.

The WHO estimates that about 250 million children alive today will eventually be killed by tobacco if, in the future, children continue to take up smoking at the same rate as today’s adults and adolescents,’’ said Neil Collishaw of the U.N. health agency.

“As the profits from sales in Asia grow, the importance of Asia’s youth market grows, and marketing to young people will not abate,” said Karen Slama of the International Non-governmental Coalition against tobacco.

“It is not only the effects of the marketing onslaught and the growing prevalence of tobacco use that is playing havoc with the future of children in Asia,” she said. “With little protection from the smoke from others’ cigarette use in addition to other pollutants, children and young people have more severe respiratory health problems more often.”

“But the omnipresence of tobacco marketing gives people the idea that exposure to tobacco smoke is not a problem,” she said.

“Maternal and paternal smoking both pose significant health risks to the foetus and newborn child,” said Rudolf Knippenberg, a regional adviser in UNICEF’s East Asian and Pacific office.

An expectant mother’s smoking caused carbon monoxide and nicotine to pass into the placenta and into the bloodstream of the foetus, he said.

The results included lower birth weight, 200 grams on average , which had an adverse effect on future health and growth.

They also included a 25 per cent higher risk of miscarriage and a 30 per cent increase in premature deliveries, stillbirths and perinatal deaths, he said.

The effects of secondhand tobacco smoke on pregnant women were also passed to the foetus, Knippenberg said.

“Being exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke all day is the same as smoking two to three cigarettes a day, and studies suggest that the level of tobacco products in the foetus are the same as in the mother,” he said.

Infants born to mothers exposed to passive smoke also experienced decreased birth weights, averaging 30-40 grams, he said.

The effects of secondhand smoke on young children included more respiratory infections, aggravation of asthma and more school days lost to sickness than among children from non-smoking families, he said.

Asian countries had made great strides in reducing the mortality rate among children under 5 years of age, said Knippenberg, but they risked losing the investment made to achieve this by neglecting to give serious attention to the dangers tobacco posed to children.

Way to heaven made easy
From John Hooper in Rome

IN A MOVE with echoes of the Roman Catholic Church’s past, the Pope on Friday issued a Papal Bull reviving on a grand scale the practice of granting indulgences.

The year 2000, which the Pope has declared a special Holy Year, is set to become the year of forgiveness, freeing sinners from time in purgatory. Smokers and drinkers will be able to earn the right to a full - or plenary - indulgence just by abstaining for a single day. However, Monsignor Crescenzio Sepe, the secretary of the Vatican’s millennium committee, emphasised that indulgence, purifying the soul of sins, would only be effective if the sinner had earlier confessed misdemeanours to a priest and taken communion.

Expanding the tradition, the Pope also invited acts of atonement by nations, suggested that wealthy nations should relieve debts of developing nations in order to remove “the shadow of death”. He said: “Some nations, especially the poorer ones, are oppressed by a debt so huge that repayment is practically impossible. It is clear, therefore, that there can be no real progress without effective cooperation between the peoples of every language, race, nationality and religion.”

A Bull is the most solemn form of papal decree. The 35-page Incarnationis Mysterium (The Mystery of the Incarnation), issued on Friday, detailed the arrangements for the Church’s Holy Year celebrations. A jubilee is due to be celebrated in 2000, but since the year will also mark the start of the third Christian millennium the Pope has declared it a grand jubilee.

The Bull confirmed that, as is traditional, the Holy Year would last for slightly longer than a calendar year. It is to begin at midnight on Christmas Eve, 1999, and run until Epiphany on January 6, 2001.

Rome is being given a thorough facelift as it prepares to welcome more than 20 million pilgrims. Scaffolding has been erected around many of the best-known monuments, including St Peter’s Basilica.

In the Bull, the Pope described indulgences as a “constituent element’’ of Holy Year. It decreed that “all faithful, properly prepared, should be able to make abundant use of the gift of the indulgence”. Traditionally, to receive plenary indulgence it has been necessary to make a pilgrimage to one of Rome’s four great basilicas. This time, Roman Catholics need just visit a cathedral or “other churches or sanctuaries designated by the Bishop” and it will be available to pilgrims who go to the great churches of the Holy Land. Forgiveness will be given to those who fast, or carry out charitable works or community services.

The Pope wants the church to enter the third millennium with a clear

conscience. He has expressed regret for some past actions of Catholics, including the church’s overall failure to do more to help Jews against the Nazis.

“May the joy of forgiveness be greater than any resentment,” he says. The papal Bull also addresses Israel’s claim to the entire city of Jerusalem, which the Vatican does not recognise. “May the jubilee serve to advance mutual dialogue until the day when all of us together — Jews, Christians and Muslims — will exchange the greeting of peace in Jerusalem.”
—The Guardian London

Six murdered
RIO DE JANEIRO: Members of a Brazilian sect murdered six persons, including three young children, in a “holy mission” in the Amazonian state of Acre, according to the police. Three of the victims — young boys aged three, five and 12 — were killed by their respective fathers and their bodies either burned or thrown to the buzzards. Six persons were arrested and jailed on Thursday in Tarauaca following the attack earlier this month. The six included the leader of the sect, Francisco Bezerra de Moraes, 35, and his wife Raimunda Gomes, 35, the police said. — AFP

Oldest flowering plant
BEIJING: Chinese and US researchers have identified the world’s oldest flowering plant, a scrap of vegetation believed to have been burried by volcanic ashes 145 million years ago. “This is the earliest verified flower in the world,” David Dilcher, former Vice-Chairman of the International Organisation of Paleobotany, said. Recent research has proved that the oldest flower on earth blossomed in China, and that their specimens are unlike any other flowers on record, according to the latest issue of the Science. This new discovery pushes the history of flowering plants back 15 to 20 million years earlier than previously believed. — PTI

Executive to die
SHANGHAI: The former head of a state-owned Chinese automaker has been sentenced to death for embezzling more than 55 million yuan ($ 7 million), the company said on Friday. Huang Peiyu, former Chairman of Xiamen Motor Company, was convicted of selling part of the government’s stake in his company and diverting the money to a foreign bank account. Huang’s sentence was suspended for two years, and his life might be spared if no other irregularities are found, said a spokeswoman for the company. She said Huang may appeal. — AP

Kurd chief’s extradition
ANKARA: Turkey has said that Germany’s refusal to extradite Kurd rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan from Italy was an “unfortunate” decision but made clear it would not deter Ankara from seeking to bring him back for trial. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Germany’s rejection put the ball firmly in Italy’s court. Ocalan was seized in Italy earlier this month. But Rome has refused to extradite him because its laws prevent it handing over people to countries operating the death penalty. Ankara wants to see Ocalan on trial for spearheading 14 years of armed struggle for Kurdish self-rule that has claimed nearly 30,000 lives. — Reuters

UN worker killed
ROME: The World Food Programme (WFP) has said that one of its Afghan workers was killed in August when the Taliban Islamic militia captured the city of Bamyan. The Rome-based United Nations Agency for Emergency Food Aid said on Friday it had only learned recently of the death of Sayed Essa, a caretaker in the WFP’s Bamyan office. Essa was the 11th WFP worker to be killed this year and the 45th in 10 years. — AFP

Russian tax cuts
MOSCOW: The Russian Government approved sweeping tax cuts at the heart of a crucial 1999 budget on Friday, hoping to encourage tax delinquents to pay their dues and boost the depleted public coffers. Announcing a compromise between officials sharply divided over the radical tax cuts, Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov said that on January 1, 1999, Acordis, while still Akzo Nobel, will be operated as a separate business as if it were an independent company, although of course, under Akzo Nobel’s responsibility. “This process will position Acordis as self-sufficient in every respect,” he added. — AFP

Cold kills 50
WARSAW: More than 50 persons, many of them homeless street dwellers, have died in Poland in the past two weeks as a result of the bitter cold weather which has hit central and Eastern Europe earlier than usual. The police said at least half of the 55 deaths so far recorded were of heavy consumers of alcohol, usually men over 50 living in rural areas. In many cases they went to sleep in the snow on their way home, and their frozen corpses were discovered the next day. The remaining victims were homeless people, of which Poland is estimated to have more than 34,000. — AFP