Gujral questions US authority
TOKYO, Oct 27 — Former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral today questioned the authority of the USA to impose sanctions against countries conducting nuclear tests.

Deputies vote Schroeder to power
BONN, Oct 27 — Gerhard Schroeder was today confirmed as Germany’s seventh post-War Chancellor after the new Bundestag (Lower House of Parliament) elected him by a simple majority paving the way for the first Centre-Left Government in the country in 16 years.

Beijing denies amassing troops
BEIJING, Oct 27 — China today dismissed as “inaccurate” ITBP Director-General Gautam Kaul’s charge that Beijing was “flexing its muscles” along the Sino-Indian border and claimed it was doing its bit in preserving peace along the boundary.

China detains two dissidents
BEIJING, Oct 27 — The Chinese police today detained two veteran pro-democracy campaigners for unspecified reasons and released a third after holding him overnight, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said.

USA rebuffed on sanctions

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 (PTI) — In a major rebuff to the USA, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted an India-backed resolution calling for “immediate repeal” of all unilateral sanctions imposed on “corporations and nationals of other states.”

In a resolution adopted by 80 votes to two with 67 abstentions yesterday, the assembly asked the member-states “not to recognise or apply” extraterritorial coercive economic measures or legislative enactments unilaterally imposed by any country.”

The USA and Israel voted against the resolution moved by Libya.

The resolution said that such sanctions had an adverse impact on trade and economic cooperation and created serious obstacles to the free flow of trade and capital at the regional and global levels.

It called for “immediate repeal of unilateral extraterritorial laws that impose sanctions on corporations and nationals of other states.”

The assembly reaffirmed the “inalienable” right of every state to seek economic and social development and to choose a socio-economic and political system that it deemed appropriate for the welfare of its people.

Britain and France were among those who abstained, while Russia and China cast vote in favour of the resolution.

TOKYO: Japan has denied that it was lifting economic sanctions against Pakistan while maintaining them against India, but said a discussion on the issue was underway with both countries.

Foreign office chief spokesman Sadaaki Numata told reporters here that a Japanese press report saying Tokyo and Washington were ending the sanctions early was “incorrect”.

“Mr Numata said Japan was in touch with Pakistan on the conditions for the resumption of aid, but no decision to resume aid to Pakistan or lift sanctions had yet been made. “The situation with regard to India is the same,” he said.

Gujral questions US authority

TOKYO, Oct 27 (PTI) — Former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral today questioned the authority of the USA to impose sanctions against countries conducting nuclear tests and said the USA had itself not only conducted nearly 2,000 such tests but actually used nuclear weapons against Japan.

“Who applies sanctions against the USA?”, he asked an international gathering while speaking at a symposium sponsored by “Economists allied for arms reduction” here.

In his key-note address, Mr Gujral admired Japan’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation but asked whether Japan would have remained a non-nuclear power had it not enjoyed the protection of American nuclear weapons.

Charging the recognised nuclear weapon states with being dishonest in their profession of complete disarmament, Mr Gujral said if this trend persisted, more countries might carry out nuclear explosions.

“The restraint (by India not to conduct nuclear tests) could not have gone forever without loud and clear demonstration by the nuclear powers that they were honestly and truly moving towards complete nuclear disarmament,” Mr Gujral said in his keynote speech.

“Such demonstration failed to come. The result was the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests in May” of which, he “was neither proud nor ashamed sad”, but he said.

F-16s for Pak to go to N.Zealand

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (PTI) — The USA is likely to lease and eventually sell to New Zealand 28 F-16 fighter planes, originally purchased by Pakistan but not delivered to it because of the Pressler amendment, "Defence News" weekly has reported.

The Pentagon officials were busy working out a lease-purchase and final price formula even as the deal was awaiting a formal approval by the New Zealand Cabinet, the weekly said.

The deal between the USA and Wellington caps a three-year search by the former for a buyer for the Pakistani planes.

US government officials were directed by President Bill Clinton to find a buyer for the planes so the USA could reimburse Islamabad for the $ 658 million it paid for the fighters.

Pakistan is reportedly planning to file a lawsuit against the USA next month for the recovery of its $ 658 million paid for aircraft a decade ago.

In 1996, USA came close to selling off some of them to Indonesia which was later rejected by the then President when the American congress sought for partition of Indonesia.

Since then, Washington has unsuccessfully tried to sell the embargoed fighters to several Central European nations aspiring for membership in NATO and to the Philippines, which dismissed the offer for budgetary reasons.

New Zealand’s agreement to take all 28 single-seater and twin-seater planes to replace its A-4 Skyhawk fleet, has been enthusiastically received by the US Officials.

"We did not transfer the titles to Pakistan and these aircraft belong to the USA even though Islamabad has paid the whole amount," Mr Louis Samuelson, research director at the Defence Institute of Security Assistance Management, Wright-Patterson air force base said.

Air Commodore James Barclay, Attaché at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, said "the lease-to-purchase option seems to be the most cost-effective option, but, of course, we still need to see the final figures."

"The aircraft are in an exceptionally good condition with very few flight hours and are completely usable and can be easily integrated into any coalition force," he said.

Meanwhile, Information Minister in the Pakistan Embassy at Washington, Mr Malik Zahoor Ahmad, said his government has not yet been informed about the pending US-New Zealand deal.

Deputies vote Schroeder to power

BONN, Oct 27 (PTI) — Gerhard Schroeder was today confirmed as Germany’s seventh post-War Chancellor after the new Bundestag (Lower House of Parliament) elected him by a simple majority paving the way for the first Centre-Left Government in the country in 16 years.

The newly elected 14th Bundestag, which convened its inaugural session today, backed 54-year old Schroeder by 351 votes to 287, with 27 abstentions and one invalid vote. Three deputies not present in the 669-member House.

“I am pleased about every vote I received,” a jubilant Schroeder exclaimed after the ballots were counted.

The coalition of Mr Schroeder’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the environmentalist Greens have a majority of 21 seats in Parliament.

Dr Helmut Kohl, who was trounced by the Schroeder in the federal elections exactly one month back, was the first to greet the new Chancellor as the result was announced. He will be administered the oath of office later by President Roman Herzog.

Mr Schroeder, who made history by becoming the first Opposition candidate to dislodge a sitting Chancellor, got 16 votes more than the required 335. The coalition has 345 seats with SPD (298) and the Greens (47). The vote was announced by Bundestag Speaker Wolfgang Thierse, elected yesterday to the post.

The Christian Democrats and its sister party — CSU -account for 245 seats with their junior partner (during Kohl’s tenure) Free Democrats, having four seats. The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the reformed Communist Party of erstwhile East Germany, with 35 seats, accounted for most abstentions.

Along with Mr Schroeder, his 16-member Cabinet will also be sworn in by Mr Herzog. The new Cabinet has three representatives from the Greens party, including their leader Joschka Fischer as the Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Health and Environment are the other two portfolios which will be with the Greens.

Dr Kohl, (68), Europe’s longest-serving leader, stepped down as Chancellor yesterday. He received a letter of discharge from President Herzog after the inaugural session. However, he will remain in Bundestag as an ordinary deputy of his Christian Democratic Union.

Indian beauty tips catch on in UK

LONDON, Oct 27 (IANS)— Traditional Indian beauty treatment methods and Ayurvedic health remedies are fast becoming popular in Britain with an estimated 2,000 centres offering herbal beautification services.

Clinics have sprung up across London offering traditional Indian beauty treatments with ‘haldi’ (turmeric) and ‘besan’ (gram flour), lemon juice and honey as well as scalp and body massage in an upmarket version of the evergreen Hindi film song “is champi mein bade bade gun”.

When Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife Cherie went to an Indian beautician at Chiltern Street she attracted a lot of interest. Every newspaper described at length what her beauty therapist Bharati Vyas offered that brought Cherie Blair, musician Cher and other celebrities rushing to her clinic.

Ms Vyas announces a “special and unique brand of wisdom” at £ 30 ($ 50) for 30 minutes plus tax. “Everybody that matters is with me,” she says quite simply.

But how wisdom? “Beauty on the outside begins on the inside,” she says. “I give hands-on therapy on how to feel well inside and outside, and that brings beauty.”

Ms Vyas has a three-month waiting list of women she calls “high-powered ladies.” They include television personalities, stage and cinema stars, the rich and the social climbers.

Her nine studios, numbered Cave 1, 2, 3 etc improve beauty and wisdom for 920 clients a week, but London wants more. The treatments are more than a million-pounds-a-year business, and that is besides the bottled wisdom she sells through the House of Frasers stores. She is not a beautician but a wisdom guru; she does not talk about beauty, she gives statements on it.

“There’s a wealth of knowledge in India but the trouble is that it is not organised,” Ms Vyas said. Her follow-up treatments include considerable work with besan, a well-known Indian treatment for a good skin. She mixes this with a hair scan, tweezer electrolysis, mineral therapy and magnetic therapy.

Much of the Indian treatment is being blended with the new boom in herbal care and remedies developed in America. Beauty that begins on the “inside” is worked usually through a diet that stresses simple and natural foods.

The upmarket Harvey Nichols store has begun to offer Ayurvedic massages at its Urban Retreat. Books specifying Ayurvedic diets and tips from ever-ready beauticians offering diet charts are circulating in London to add to the growing British fondness for Indian food.

Travel agents are also promoting Ayurvedic health holidays in Kerala. A woman wrote in The Daily Telegraph about her greatly toned down legs after a stay in a Kerala herbal clinic.

“We have been sending health tourists every year but now the demand is very high,” says Dandapani, a travel agent.

Beijing denies amassing troops

BEIJING, Oct 27 (PTI) — China today dismissed as “inaccurate” ITBP Director-General Gautam Kaul’s charge that Beijing was “flexing its muscles” along the Sino-Indian border and claimed it was doing its bit in preserving peace along the boundary.

Asked to comment on Mr Kaul’s recent statement that China had increased its forces along the border by three times in Ladakh and Uttar Pradesh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang Guoqiang said it was not based on facts.

“I think the report is not in conformity with the facts,” he told reporters here at a Foreign Ministry briefing.

He claimed China was doing its bit by making efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity along the Sino-Indian border in accordance with the confidence-building measures (CBM) agreed to by leaders of the two countries.

China detains two dissidents

BEIJING, Oct 27 (Reuters) — The Chinese police today detained two veteran pro-democracy campaigners for unspecified reasons and released a third after holding him overnight, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said.

The police took XI Wenli and Sha Yuguang from their Beijing homes to an undisclosed destination shortly after dawn, the Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

Another dissident, Qin Yongmin, was released in the central city of Wuhan after being detained for 10 hours, the centre said.

All three are veterans of the 1978-79 Democracy Wall Movement.

Interpol strategy
CAIRO: The International Police Organisation (Interpol) has ended its 67th general assembly with a new strategy to combat terrorism and other modern organised crimes with state-of-the-art technology. The two most important results of this meeting are the adoption of the strategic development plan and the stance against international terrorism”, said Mr Serge Sabourin, Assistant Director of Communication, of the Lyon-based world body on Monday. — Reuters

Lockerbie trial
WASHINGTON: The USA has said it will seek global support for a tougher stance towards Libya if Tripoli snubs and offer to hold a trial in the Netherlands for the two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger told families of the victims of the Pan Am flight 103 bombing here that the offer to hold the trial in the Netherlands would “not remain on the table indefinitely”, State Department spokesman James Rubin said. — AFP

Maid’s torture
BEIRUT: The savage torture of a young Lebanese girl at the hands of her employers has caused a nationwide outcry and so moved a Saudi prince he has offered to fund her treatment. Fatima Jassem is being treated at American University Hospital for severe cigarette burns, knife wounds and bruises to the head. — AFP

EU sanctions
LUXEMBOURG: The European Union (EU) has tightened sanctions on Myanmar, voicing concern at its failure to promote democracy and human rights. EU foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, extended the existing sanctions against Myanmar, adopted in October, 1996, and due for renewal this week. — Reuters

Nerve agent
UNITED NATIONS: A French laboratory found decomposed nerve agent on an Iraqi missile warhead that could be from VX or sarin or another agent, UN and international chemical weapons experts have reported. The experts reconfirmed the validity of tests by a US Army laboratory in June that found decayed VX nerve agent on missile warheads. — AP