House reveals more of Monica’s tale
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 — Monica Lewinsky said she feared for her life as her clandestine affair with President Bill Clinton was drawing to a close, but could not “get him out of my heart,” according to transcripts of her taped conversations released by the House of Representatives.

Turkish jets pound Kurd hideouts
ANKARA, Oct 3 — Some 10,000 Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early yesterday for an operation against armed Kurdish rebels fighting the Ankara Government, the daily Hurriyet newspaper reported today.

Taslima appeals to ‘Pen’ for help
DHAKA, Oct 3 — Feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, facing death threats, has appealed to the international literary organisation ‘Pen’ to press Dhaka for her safety, family sources confirmed today.

World Bank, IMF rift comes to fore

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters, AP) — A feud between top economists at the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) boiled over this week exposing a rift between sister institutions on policy advice to Asia’s crisis-hit economies.

The IMF Chief Economist, Mr Michael Mussa, launched the first salvo on Wednesday, when asked if the fund made policy mistakes in Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.

“I think those who argue that monetary policy should have been eased rather than tightened in those economies are smoking something that is not entirely legal,” Mr Mussa told a news conference, without mentioning any names.

When asked yesterday about Mr Mussa’s remarks, the World Bank Chief Economist Mr Jospeh Stiglitz, shot back.

“I wasn’t even smoking,” Mr Stiglitz told newsmen. “He hasn’t looked at the econometric evidence and statistical evidence on this...we go through both the theory and the evidence on the issue and you’ll see that Mr Mussa’s wrong.”

The IMF has taken some heat from Mr Stiglitz and other economists over the past year for its policies in Asia.

The IMF initially urged the one-time Tiger economies hit by the crisis to raise interest rates and run budget surpluses. But the IMF has eased those demands in recent months, clearing the way for more social spending for the poor.

The rift between sister institutions became obvious in January, when Mr Stiglitz told the Wall Street Journal: “One ought to focus... on things that caused the crisis, not on things that make it more difficult to deal with.”

In March, Mr Stiglitz said the IMF had “overstepped the bounds” by insisting in its reform programme for South Korea that the nation’s Central Bank focus exclusively on price stability.

House reveals more of Monica’s tale

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) — Monica Lewinsky said she feared for her life as her clandestine affair with President Bill Clinton was drawing to a close, but could not “get him out of my heart,” according to transcripts of her taped conversations released by the House of Representatives.

The transcripts, among thousands of pages of evidence in the likely impeachment inquiry of Clinton by the House, showed the raw side of an affair going bad and how people around the President were swept into the scandal.

“For fear of my life, I would not cross these, these people, for fear of my life, number one,” she said. “But number two, I... some people would see it differently... I look at that woman (Jones) with such loathe and disgust”.

Lewinsky was referring to Paula Jones, whose lawsuit started Clinton’s current trouble.

On the tapes, made by Linda Tripp, Lewinsky also called the President a “creep”, said she got a job at Revlon with the help of Clinton friend Vernon Jordan and defined sexual relations in the same way the President did.

“I hope the creep and I can still have some contact. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I can’t get him out of my heart”, Lewinsky said more than two months before the scandal became public.

CLEVELAND (AP): Mr Clinton told Democratic campaign donors to set aside fears that the Lewinsky controversy would hurt their party at the polls next month.

Referring to his personal trouble as “this adversity”, he said yesterday that it would not endanger democratic candidates and might even bring out more supporters interested in big issues “such as saving the social security system and strengthening education.

In this election, all this adversity is not our enemy,’’ he said at a luncheon that raised at least $ 100,000 for Democrat Mary Boyle in her uphill race against Republican Governor George Voinovich for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat John Glenn.

The adversity is our friend,’’ Mr Clinton said after stopping to greet people on a street in the West Park section of Cleveland.

They might vote now,’’ he said, because they are getting the message that there are big issues at stake.’’

As a lead-in to those comments, Mr Clinton alluded obliquely to the Lewinsky affair.

We all have to live with the consequences of our mistakes in life,’’ Mr Clinton said. He added with a rueful chuckle, most of us don’t have to live with it in quite such a public way. But nobody gets out of this life for free, nobody does.’’

Later, at a fund-raising dinner in Philadelphia, Mr Clinton acknowledged that his presence had attracted protests from people who turned out in both Cleveland and Philadelphia to condemn him as a liar and a cheat. He said he was heartened to see that most people cheered and urged him to persevere.

I was so moved today by all the things that were said to me on the streets,’’ he said. I didn’t even mind the protestors, that’s the American way. You like it even more when they’re not in the majority.’’

He encountered some harsh rebukes. “Liar, loser, jerk,’’ read one sign held by a man on a suburban lawn. “Resign in ’99,’’ read another.

There also were supportive signs and cheers from onlookers along the way. He who is without sin cast the first stone. You are forgiven,’’ one said.

Islamisation Bill
Sharif fails to get support

ISLAMABAD, Oct 3 (PTI) — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to build up consensus over his controversial Islamisation Bill suffered a setback when the veteran Pathan leader, Khan Abdul Wali Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) refused to discuss the Bill with him.

Sharif had to cancel his proposed trip to Charsada, home of Wali Khan in Frontier Province, at the eleventh hour yesterday when the ANP leader refused to meet him to discuss the 15th constitutional amendment.

Wali Khan’s wife and chief of the provincial unit of the ANP, Begum Nasim Wali Khan, while confirming that they had been informed about the proposed visit said they had refused to meet Sharif.

“Obviously, we were approached and a helipad was being prepared at Wali Bagh. But we said that there will be no meeting”, Begum Nasim Wali Khan was quoted as saying by the News today.

She further said there was no meeting on the card and wondered, “what purpose would a Wali-Nawaz meeting serve when the PML leadership had directed all its guns and crossed all limits of moral decency in bashing the ANP leaders”.

Media reports said that almost all arrangements had been made for the Prime Minister’s proposed visit to the area as all the intelligence and security agencies had been alerted.

But the local press corps including a crew of Pakistan TV, had to return disappointed after a nearly five hours wait at the helipad for Sharif’s arrival.

Ajmal Khattak, the national president of the ANP said in Islamabad yesterday, “we have commitment with the nationalist parties not to negotiate with the government. That is why we refused to entertain him (the Prime Minister) when he contacted us”.

Khattak was speaking at a nationalist conference where he along with other ethnic parties were chalking out strategies to counter the dominance of Punjab province in Pakistan.

This was the second failed attempt in as many days by Sharif to win support for his Islamisation Bill which has run into rough weather both inside and outside parliament since its announcement on August 28.

On Thursday, Sharif had flown to Baluchistan capital, Quetta, and met the Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) for support on the Bill.

Akbar Bugti had also refused to support the 15th amendment thus making Sharif return empty handed from Quetta which prompted him to head towards Frontier Province to win the support of Pathans, media reports said.

Turkish jets pound Kurd hideouts

ANKARA, Oct 3 (DPA) — Some 10,000 Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early yesterday for an operation against armed Kurdish rebels fighting the Ankara Government, the daily Hurriyet newspaper reported today.

In a parallel development, Turkish troops were preparing to carry out a military exercise along the Syrian border amid mounting tension with Damascus, Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yimaz was quoted by the daily Milliyet newspaper.

The Hurriyet report said that Turkish jets had carried out air raids on Zakho, Zeli, Hrlsinahd in the Kurdish enclave where fighters of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) were believed to be hiding.

The Kurdish rebels had suffered heavy losses under Turkish artillery fire, according to Hurriyet.

Turkish soldiers were reported to have been stationed in areas close to the Syrian and Iranian borders to prevent PKK fighters from fleeing to these two countries.

The report said that the operation would continue till all rebels had been ‘’cleansed’’ from the region.

Taslima appeals to ‘Pen’ for help

DHAKA, Oct 3 (PTI) — Feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, facing death threats, has appealed to the international literary organisation ‘Pen’ to press Dhaka for her safety, family sources confirmed today.

“Yes, she has made such an appeal to ensure her safety in view of the continuous threats,” Taslima’s father Dr Rajab Ali told PTI here today.

Dr Ali said his daughter appealed to the London office of the international organisation of ‘Pen’ (poets, essayists and novelists) which, he said, “assured her to write to the Bangladesh Government.”

Fake Diana papers
VIENNA: A 67-year-old man has been convicted of attempted fraud and given a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for trying to sell fake documents purporting to show that Britain’s Princess Diana was murdered. The Austrian news agency, APA, said a Vienna court on Friday found Oswald, Lewinter, who holds US and Israeli passports, guilty of trying to sell the documents for $ 15 million to Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi was killed with the princess in a car crash in Paris in August, 1997. — Reuters

Leopard killed
JOHANNESBURG: What do you need to defeat a leopard? A gun or a pistol will do? Believe it or not, at times an old screwdriver can silence the beast for ever. A South African man, while driving through the Krugar National Park, saved passengers travelling in his open pick-up truck by killing a leopard with a screwdriver. Fortynine-year-old Tinos Mkansi couldn’t find any weapon except the screwdriver, so he used it to stab the leopard from behind. — ANI

Singing cowboy dead
LOS ANGELES: Gene Autry, who played a $ 5 male order guitar into a career as Hollywood’s first singing cowboy, died on Friday. He was 91. Autry, who also built a multimillion-dollar fortune in broadcasting and was the original owner of the California Angels baseball team, died at his home in the city’s studio city neighbourhood, said Karla Buhlman, Vice-President of Gene Autry Entertainment. His death came less than three months after the death of his great rival, Roy Rogers. He ranked for many years on the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans, before he fell in 1995 to the magazine’s ‘near miss’ category. — AP

Sino-US summit
BEIJING: Chinese President Jiang Zemin and US President Bill Clinton will meet again next month to cement the evolving Sino-US strategic partnership, the official China Daily reported on Saturday. Quoting Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang Guogiang, the report said the two presidents are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of next month’s informal Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Malaysia. — PTI

Russian missiles
MOSCOW: Russia has decided to provide 50 new generation supersonic missiles to China, according to Radio Moscow. The missiles are so far unmatched in the world’s weaponry, the radio claimed on Wednesday. The decision of the Russian Defence Ministry is reportedly prompted by US allegations that Russia and China together pose a potential threat to the security of the USA. — UNI

Quakes in China
BEIJING: Two earthquakes hit China on Friday night and Saturday morning, but there were no reports of any casualties or damages to property as yet, reports said. An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit the Jiashi county of northwest Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Another quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit China’s southwest Yunnan province. — PTI