Benazir contempt plea against Ehtesab chief
ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 — Pakistan Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has filed a contempt petition against the Ehtesab Bureau chairman, Senator Saifur Rehman, for what she termed his unwarranted comments about the cases before the Ehtesab Bench against her.

PML split on Islamisation
ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 — Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Islamisation plan is now facing opposition from within as reports indicate that a section of leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, including a woman minister, expressed reservations about the proposed legislation.

Taliban repulse attack
ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 — Taliban troops today repulsed a major offensive by forces of opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood in the north of Kabul, Afghan Islamic Press reported.

I am very sorry, says Clinton
WASHINGTON, Sep 4 — In his first public apology about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, US President Bill Clinton today said he felt sorry about the relationship that he had earlier termed “inappropriate.”

Idol installation in Nov, 2001 : Singhal
CERRITOS, California — The Vishva Hindu Parishad working president, Mr Ashok Singhal, who is on a six-week tour of the USA, claims the idol installation ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya is scheduled for November 1, 2001.

Rwandan ex-PM gets life term
ARUSA, Tanzania, Sept 4 — Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda was today sentenced to life imprisonment by a United Nations court for his role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Duma puts off vote on PM

MOSCOW, Sept 4 (PTI) — The Russian Duma today postponed till Monday the crucial vote to confirm Boris Yeltsin’s nominee Viktor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister following a last-minute proposal for more consultation from the President.

The Lower House Speaker Gennady Seleznyov said Mr Yeltsin called him with a proposal to conduct a round-table discussion over Mr Chernomyrdin’s candidacy with the heads of party factions on Monday morning.

The crucial second-round of voting on Mr Chernomyrdin, originally scheduled for today, will be held later that day, he said.

Earlier, the Upper House of Parliament gave its backing to Acting Premier Chernomyrdin just hours before a scheduled key vote on his candidacy by the Duma.

The federation council voted 91 to 17 for a statement expressing support for Mr Chernomyrdin’s candidacy. Six members abstained.

Even though the vote is not binding, it will send a strong signal to the Lower Chamber which will now hold a second and penultimate vote on Mr Chernomyrdin.

Earlier, in a speech seeking support for his Prime Ministerial bid in the Upper House, Mr Chernomyrdin outlined draconian measures to pull Russia out of crisis and promised an “economic dictatorship”, a currency backed by gold and a shift away from reform policies.

“The choice is — either the abyss of hyperinflation or the mobilisation of control over the economy,” he told the Upper House.

“From January of 1999 the country moves to economic dictatorship,” he said.

His proposals, which could only be put into action if he were confirmed, were clearly designed to woo Opposition deputies, but unlikely to please President Boris Yeltsin’s western backers.

He outlined an economic plan which would mean a radical change in the economic policy presided over by Mr Yeltsin since 1991. The aim is to restore stability in the battered rouble, he said.

Measures included backing the rouble with the country’s gold and foreign reserves and moving to a genuinely floating rouble.

USA, Japan warn North Korea

TOKYO, Sept 4 (PTI) — Japan has warned North Korea of taking a “resolute stance” if Pyongyang goes ahead with its reported plan to conduct a fresh missile test, saying that it can legally play offensive to any move to undermine its security as the USA said it might change its East Asia policy.

Japanese defence agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga today said Japan can legally attack North Korea’s launch site if it is hit by a missile saying that Japan’s Constitution would not bar it from attacking the launch site if warranted.

A senior Japanese official, who apprehended Pyongyang could test-fire again tomorrow, said the new launch would be “totally unacceptable” and meet with a “resolute stance”.

However, North Korea today clarified it had launched its first-ever satellite on the day when Japan “mistook” it for a ballistic missile, reports said.

Referring to a government statement backing such defensive action, Mr Nukaga said “such a way (to attack) might be allowed, rather than just sitting and waiting for death,” adding “the view (in 1956) is still alive.”

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia Kurt Campbell today warned North Korea against any fresh test-firing, which he said, may change Washington’s East Asia policy and result into serious consequences, Kyodo said.

North Korea fired a missile on Monday that flew over Japan, intruding its airspace into the Pacific.

Japan has blocked air connections with North Korea and froze its commitment to a US-brokered plan to give Pyongyang two commercial nuclear power plants in exchange for the country’s decision to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

It also halted food aid and other assistance to North Korea and suspended normalisation talks on Tuesday following the test that strained ties between the two neighbours.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Japan would consider additional punitive measures against North Korea.

Meanwhile, North Korea today demanded cash compensation from the USA in return for halting its missile exports to many West Asian countries, ministry sources said.

10 b tonnes of water on moon

WASHINGTON, Sept 4 (AP) — As much as 10 billion metric tonnes of water may be frozen in soil near the moon’s poles, according to new data from a spacecraft orbiting the moon.

If that much water is there, more than 10 times previous estimates, it might one day be enough to build a moon village or to fuel rocket ships cruising even deeper into space, experts say.

“Our data is very clear. There is an abundance of hydrogen at both lunar poles, and we interpret that to mean there is water there,” said Mr Alan Binder, chief scientist for the lunar prospector spacecraft now orbiting the moon. There is at least one billion tonnes of water, but there could be as much as 10 billion tonne.” That, said Mr Binder, was enough to build a colony on the moon’s surface and to operate a rocket service station for journeys beyond.

In addition to sustaining life in such a colony, water also can be used for rocket fuel by breaking it into its constituent chemicals, hydrogen and oxygen. Propellant for the main engines on the space shuttle, for instance, is hydrogen and oxygen.

The lunar prospector was launched in January and has spent months orbiting the moon, gathering signals with four instruments.

Benazir contempt plea against Ehtesab chief

ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 (ANI) — Pakistan Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has filed a contempt petition against the Ehtesab Bureau chairman, Senator Saifur Rehman, for what she termed his unwarranted comments about the cases before the Ehtesab Bench against her.

The petition was filed by Raja Shafqat Abbasi in the office of the Registrar, Ehtesab Bench, yesterday praying that it be placed before the Bench when it assembled next.

The petition filed under Article 204 of the Constitution prays that the respondent, Senator Saif, be dealt with the accordance with law and punished for contempt of the court.

Giving details of the allegedly contemptuous statements made by Senator Saifur Rehman, the petitioner stated that on June 18, 1998, during the pendency of the reference pertaining to the freezing of her accounts, the respondent had said that the frozen property of the petitioner would be auctioned publicly. Again, on July 12, 1998, Senator Saifur Rehman had alleged at a press conference that the petitioner had sought the intercession of various heads of state in a case against her.

Senator Saif had also “wrongly asserted” that the Swiss judge had rejected an appeal filed by Bhutto whereas the Opposition leader had filed no such appeal.

The petitioner also quoted the EB chairman as having said that the cases against the petitioner would be decided within the next two months.

The Opposition leader questioned in her petition: “How can the respondent predict with such certainty that cases against her would be decided within two months especially when there are summer vacations in Punjab?”

LAHORE: A two-judge Ehtesab Bench of the Lahore High Court Comprising Mr Justice Malik Abdul Qayyum and Mr Justice Syed Najam-ul-Hasan Kazmi has said that indictment orders will be served on former Primer Minister Benazir Bhutto and her jailed husband, Asif Ali Zardari, on September 14.

Benazir and Zardari have been accused of receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks and commissions from the Swiss pre-shipment firms, SGS and Cotenca. The money was allegedly laundered through the Bomer finance company in Switzerland through secret accounts, operated by their frontman, Jens Schelegulmill.

PML split on Islamisation

ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 (PTI) — Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Islamisation plan is now facing opposition from within as reports indicate that a section of leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, including a woman minister, expressed reservations about the proposed legislation.

Contrary to earlier reports fed by official channels that the crucial parliamentary party meeting of the PML and its allies a couple of days ago expressed unanimous support for the government’s plan for Islamisation, media reports said that the meeting, in fact, projected a divided House on the issue and there was virtual split in the ruling party.

The ruling party members not only expressed apprehension that the proposed Bill for Islamisation process would lead to differences between provinces and a confrontation with the judiciary but also said that the controversy over it had enabled opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to stage a comeback.

Minister for Population Welfare, Syeda Abida Hussain, was reportedly very vocal about the proposed legislation as she cautioned the Prime Minister against playing into the hands of "those Maulvis who had opposed Quaid-E-Azam (Mohammed Ali Jinnah)."

She also said that the new law was being introduced to "appease" a small section of the people while claiming that "masses are against it", the Frontier Post claimed.

Another English daily "the Nation" quoted her as saying that the small provinces should have been taken into confidence. "We should not repeat the controversy generated over Kalabagh dam," she said.

M. Hamza, another PML member, was more blunt in his criticism of the party leaders saying that the parliamentary party was not consulted before the presentation of the proposed Islamisation Bill in the National Assembly and added that, "Nawaz Sharif is committing mistake after mistake as a result of which Benazir Bhutto, who was politically finished, has staged a comeback."

He also said that by inventing such issues like the Shariah Bill, Sharif government has, "infused life in the dead body of the Pakistan People’s Party."

He warned that passage of the Bill would lead to another confrontation with judiciary.

Treat India ‘on par with other N-states’

SYDNEY: A group of eminent international experts on Asia Pacific affairs has called on all governments to treat all nuclear weapons states equally, implying that sanctions against India and Pakistan were wrong.

“We have to recognise that India and Pakistan are nuclear weapons states and they should be treated as other nuclear weapons states,” Ms Marika Vicziany, Director, National Centre for South Asian Studies, who chaired one of the sessions of the Melbourne Group’s recent three-day meet on security and disarmament in the Asia Pacific region, said.

The group brought together academicians, journalists, bureaucrats and experts from Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Korea and the USA to discuss ways to strengthen security and disarmament in the Asia Pacific region.

“Some scientists in the USA and Australia and some governments have disputed that India and Pakistan have tested bombs. We are saying to them let us just accept it, it is a reality,” she said.

“Let us recognise that they are nuclear states and let us treat them as we treat other nuclear states. In other words, let’s not shut them out. Let us have a dialogue with them. After all, we have a dialogue with China, we have a dialogue with Russia,” Ms Vicziany said.

The group, an Australian initiative, in a communique from Melbourne also called on all governments to commit themselves to the ultimate elimination of all nuclear weapons.

The group also appealed to all countries, including India and Pakistan, to sign and ratify the CTBT and give serious and urgent consideration to ways of curbing missile development, transfers and use.

The participants at the meeting included Commodore Jasjit Singh, Director, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis in New Delhi, Prof Brahma Chellaney of the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, journalist Inder Malhotra and former Pakistani foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, among others.

Also present as observers were officials from the Australian Government, including those from the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

TORONTO: India acquired the capability to go nuclear within decades of becoming independent but it postponed its plan to conduct a test as the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was against it, a former Indian diplomat said yesterday.

A suggestion to explode a nuclear device was made by the architect of India’s nuclear programme, Dr Homi Jahangir Bhabha, as early as in 1957. But it was turned down by Nehru, who was committed to nuclear disarmament and wanted the country to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes only, former Indian Ambassador to Moscow Mr T.N. Kaul said.

Speaking at an international symposium on “India’s Nuclear Programme” organised by the Centre for South Asian Studies of the university of Toronto and the Indo-Canadian Advisory Group, Mr Kaul said Mr Bhabha had made this disclosure to him in Moscow in 1962 during his tenure as Ambassador to the former USSR. — PTI

Taliban repulse attack

ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 (AFP) — Taliban troops today repulsed a major offensive by forces of opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood in the north of Kabul, Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.

The pre-dawn surprised attack involving tanks and rocket launchers was mounted from two sides in the Bagram area, 50 km north of the Afghan capital, it said.

“The frontlines remain unchanged,” the spokesman quoted by the Pakistan-based Private News Service said.

The attack in the area was the first since the two sides clashed in early August after the Taliban militia seized opposition stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

It came a day after another anti-Taliban component, Hezb-i-Wahdat of the Shiite Muslim faction, launched an attack on the Islamic militia positions west of Kabul.

A Taliban spokesman claimed yesterday that their forces repulsed the assault and gained some territory around the town of Tizak in Wardak province.

The spokesman said the Taliban forces killed 40 opponents and captured 30. He put the Taliban losses at four killed and several injured.

I am very sorry, says Clinton

WASHINGTON, Sep 4 (PTI) — In his first public apology about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, US President Bill Clinton today said he felt sorry about the relationship that he had earlier termed “inappropriate.”

The apology about the controversial scandal came a day after Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman sharply rebuked the President for his involvement with Ms Lewinsky, saying his (Clinton’s) behaviour had been “immoral”.

“I have already said I made a mistake and it was indefensible and I am sorry, I am very sorry,” Mr Clinton told newsmen at Dublin in Ireland.

Before today’s changed tone, Mr Clinton had said only that he deeply regretted his-extra marital relationship with Ms Lewinsky inside the White House 18 months ago when the former White House intern was 21-years old.

Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman, a long-time Clinton supporter, had yesterday sharply criticised Mr Clinton for his “immoral” affair and called for a fuller acceptance of responsibility.

Idol installation in Nov, 2001 : Singhal

CERRITOS, California (IANS) — The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) working president, Mr Ashok Singhal, who is on a six-week tour of the USA, claims the idol installation ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya is scheduled for November 1, 2001.

“Although secularists have their eyes and ears closed to the Ram Janmabhoomi (birthplace), the work to erect the new temple has been going on a few kilometres away from the site (where the Babri mosque was demolished in 1992),” Mr Singhal told a meeting here.

“Sixty thousand cubic feet of marble will be carved...and the ‘pranapratishtha’ (idol installation) of the new temple at that site is scheduled for November 1, 2001,” Mr Singhal declared.

The 72-year-old Singhal, a metallurgical engineering graduate of Benares Hindu University, said the VHP adopted the project in 1984 when a former Congress minister of Uttar Pradash, Mr Dev Dayal Khanna, made a fervent appeal for the liberation of Ram Janmabhoomi at a religious meeting in Delhi.

Clad in a white dhoti and kurta, with a cotton scarf in the hues of the Tricolour around his neck, Mr Singhal claimed, “It was only a resurrection of an old issue,” saying that the battle had already started in the 16th century when Mughal ruler Babar built the mosque, allegedly over the razed Ram temple.

The objective of Mr Singhal’s US tour is to raise an Indian American volunteer team called “Vaanaprasthis” comprising people who plan to retire from their active careers in order to devote themselves wholly to the welfare of society.

“For many of those who have lived and worked in the USA for a number of years, this will be a major transformation. Develop lobbies like the Jews have done; the Vanaprasthi Hindus can do that,” Mr Singhal said.

Mr B.B. Lal, former head of the Archaeological Survey of India, claimed he had in the course of his career found evidence of the existence of a Hindu temple on the spot where the Babri mosque was constructed.

Mr Lal said he was part of a team that in the 1970s and 1980s found pillar bases and 14 pillars of a structure that clearly was a Hindu temple at the site. He claimed more evidence of the existence of a temple emerged when the mosque was demolished.

Several in the audience shared their own ideas such as encouraging Hindu youth in the USA into more involvement in Hindu culture, writing a curriculum of yoga, meditation and crisis management applicable in mainstream schools, opening a Hindu trust for those in need, creating a Hindu database of expertise and offering help to families caring for the elderly or the sick in their homes.

Rwandan ex-PM gets life term

ARUSA, Tanzania, Sept 4 (Reuters) — Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda was today sentenced to life imprisonment by a United Nations court for his role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

Presiding Judge Laity Kama said that despite Kambanda’s guilty plea, he was imposing a life sentence because of the ex-premier’s authority during the genocide and his voluntary participation in the crimes.

"The chamber is of the opinion that the crimes...Negate widely the mitigating circumstances since Jean Kambanda occupied a high ministerial level," Mr Kama told the court.

It was the first sentence handed down by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) since its inception in 1994 to try the chief culprits of the genocide.

It was also the maximum sentence the court could impose.

Over 8,00,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed earlier that year in a three-month slaughter during which Kambanda served as Interim Prime Minister.

Malaysian Dy PM sacked
KUALA LUMPUR: Anwar Ibrahim, sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Malaysia on Wednesday, was expelled from the ruling UMNO Party on Friday. The Supreme Council of the party unanimously expelled Ibrahim from the party at its meeting early on Friday. Prime Minister and UMNO president, Dr Mahathir Mohammad announced the decision after the four-hour meeting at the party headquarters at Menara Dato Onn here. The UMNO is the dominant party in the ruling national front.— Oana-Bernama

Recognise UNITA
LUANDA: The Angolan government has urged the national political forces, the United Nations and the “Troika” of observers of the peace process (USA, Russia and Portugal) to recognise and encourage the UNITA members who had abandoned their leader Jonas Savimbi. In a communique issued in Luanda on Thursday. The Angolan government has asked for the recognition to the rebel UNITA members “due to the need of the internal democratisation of the UNITA and the peace process getting a push.—Pool-ANGOP

Plane shot down
LUANDA: Twenty persons on board a Russia-made plane flying between Cafunfo and Caombo in the northwestern province of Luanda are feared to have been killed, when UNITA soldiers shot down the aircraft. The General staff of the Angolan armed forces has said. The Antonov-26 plane flying for ACA-an Cargo company, which among others had soldiers of the Angolan armed forces, crashed after being shot down by the UNITA on Wednesday, the sources said on Thursday.

Nepal insurgency
KATHMANDU: At least 568 persons lost their lives in the Maoist insurgency in Nepal which began in February 1996, a Home Ministry official said. The insurgency is waged by the underground Nepal Communist Party—Maoist, which opposes the constitutional monarchical system and wants to replace it with a “people’s republic.” The Maoists have repeatedly rejected the government’s offer of talks. — AFP

Stripper humiliated
WASHINGTON: A woman was not allowed to strip at a Winnipeg area club. The reason — she was too big ! Reports from Winnipeg quoted the 230-pound woman as saying that she planned to take the established “to the cleaners” if it did not apologise. Sherry Van Rooy said she was humiliated when the disc jockey at Balmoral Motor Hotel Club refused to allow her on stage on amateur night.— ANI

Venice film fest
VENICE: The 55th Venice film festival opened with the European premiere of Steven Spielberg’s World War II drama “Saving Private Ryan,” Spielberg and the film’s top star, Tom Hanks, were welcomed with hearty applause at the Lido in Venice, where they personally presented the film on Thursday. A total of 120 films will be shown at the festival up to September 13. — DPA