Winnie set for comeback
WINNIE Madikizela Mandela looked likely to make a comeback as a major player in South African politics on Monday when the African National Congress announced that she was ranked 10th in the list of preferred candidates for the forthcoming general election.

Clinton may face contempt petition
WASHINGTON, Feb 17 — A Little Rock, Arkansas, judge could hold the President Mr Bill Clinton, in contempt of court for providing misleading testimony about his affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky, The Washington Post said today.

40 pc US women ‘lack interest in sex’
CHICAGO, Feb 17 — More than 40 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men in the USA regularly have no interest in sex, can’t have an orgasm or suffer from some other sexual dysfunction, according to what researchers say is the most comprehensive US sex survey since 1948.

No alien troops ‘to be tolerated’ in Kosovo
BELGRADE, Feb 17 — Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic stood by his refusal to countenance deployment of foreign troops in Kosovo, in talks with US Kosovo envoy Christopher Hill, the presidency announced here.

Bali is chief of UN mission
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 17 — Major-General Jozef Bali of Hungary has been appointed chief of the United Nations Observer Mission on India and Pakistan.

Iraq executes 15 political detainees
DUBAI, Feb 17 — Four people accused of trying to assassinate Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were among a group of 15 political prisoners executed in Iraq on December 26, an Opposition party said today.

USA warns of strikes on Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (PTI) — The USA has warned that it might strike again at terrorist bases in Afghanistan if the Taliban regime did not yield Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden, CBS-radio reported today.

Disbelieving the Taliban's claim that Bin Laden was "missing" and convinced that the Taliban was shielding him in Afghanistan, U.S. officials were to again demand the expulsion of the Saudi billionaire, who is the prime suspect in the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania last August.

Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth was to meet Mr Abdul Mujahid, the Taliban's representative in New York, today to reiterate demands that Bin Laden be brought to justice.

The meeting was to take place amid a renewed warning by the USA that it reserved the right to strike again at terrorist bases in Afghanistan if the Taliban regime did not yield Bin Laden, the radio said.

The Taliban said on Saturday last that Bin Laden had gone missing from his southern Afghan sanctuary, but denied it had bowed to U.S. pressure and asked him to leave the country.

DUBAI AFP adds: Osama Bin Laden has moved to a military base in eastern Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban militia, an Arab newspaper said on Wednesday.

The London-based Al-Hayat, quoting a source close to the Saudi Islamic fundamentalist who is America's most wanted man, said Bin Laden was at Tora Bora base in Ningarhar province, in a small town surrounded by mountains.

"Bin Laden chose this base because he has known it ever since 1989 when he fought alongside the Afghan Mujahideen in repelling an offensive by troops of the former Soviet Union on the (nearby) town of Jalalabad, it said.

Tora Bora was a key base of the Hezb-i-Islami faction of Yunes Khales during the Soviet occupation. It is now under Taliban control.

Al-Hayat said Bin Laden chose to move to the base rather than northern Afghanistan as originally planned because of kidney trouble for which he needed treatment.

One of his three wives and Ayman al-Zawahri, leader of the Muslim fundamentalist Al-Jihad which is outlawed in Egypt, are with Bin Laden, said the daily. The other wives and their children stayed in south Afghanistan.

Bin Laden disappeared several days ago from southern Afghanistan, also under Taliban control.

Clinton may face contempt petition

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (AFP) — A Little Rock, Arkansas, judge could hold the President Mr Bill Clinton, in contempt of court for providing misleading testimony about his affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky, The Washington Post said today.

US District Judge Susan Webber Wright, who handled the now settled Ms Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit against Mr Clinton, said she would explore civil sanctions against the President and has given his lawyers time until Friday to file the first motions related to the process, the daily said.

A contempt citation could lead to a hearing in a court room and provide ammunition to the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, on whether to indict Mr Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, on which the President was acquitted after an impeachment trial in the senate that ended last week.

Ms Wright made her announcement during a conference call with Ms Jones' lawyers yesterday on how they were to divide the $ 850,000 settlement Mr Clinton paid Ms Jones to drop her appeal of Ms Wright’s decision last year dismissing the case.

In his deposition on January 17, 1998, Mr Clinton had denied before Judge Wright having had sexual relations with Ms Lewinsky. His lawyers later admitted that while the denial may have been true to the definition stipulated in ground rules, it was nonetheless deliberately misleading and even "maddening."

Ms Wright, in a public filing yesterday in Little Rock, said she had raised the possibility of contempt in September, but that she waited to follow through to avoid interfering with the impeachment proceedings then underway in the Congress.

Turkey vows fair trial to Ocalan

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (PTI) — Turkey today vowed to give captured Kurdish guerrilla chief Abdullah Ocalan a fair trial, even as the USA described him as "a terrorist who ought to be brought to justice".

"Nobody can deny that Turkey has an independent and functioning legal system," Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said in a television interview after announcing the arrest of Ocalan in Kenya.

Dismissing the concerns of European countries over the trial, Ecevit said they had "no right to lecture us on the subject. Despite prosecutor’s warrants for Ocalan they were too afraid to try him."

The USA meanwhile, said a lasting solution to the situation of the Kurds lay in the long-term enhancement of democracy and added, "We certainly hope Ocalan will receive a fair and open trial (in Turkey) in a manner consistent with international standards of due process."

The USA also believes that Ankara and all of its citizens "would take this opportunity to redouble their efforts at reconciliation, in line with Ecevit’s recent plea," US State Department spokesman James Foley told reporters yesterday.

"We don’t have any reason to expect otherwise, but certainly the world community will be looking forward to a trial of that nature," he said while denying any "direct role" by USA in helping Turkey arrest Ocalan in Kenya where he had taken asylum in the Greek Embassy.

However, Washington had been in "frequent diplomatic contact" with all governments concerned, including those of Turkey and Greece, the spokesman said.

The Kurd leaders’ capture has provoked furious demonstrations from Kurdish communities around the world and Washington is taking special precautions to ensure that the anti-Greek protests do not turn anti-American.

Meanwhile, in an interview to CBS-TV earlier, Ocalan had alleged that but for US aid, Turkey would not have been able to face the Kurds.

CBS-TV said in fighting the Kurds, Turkey used American-supplied aircraft and weapons.

The USA supports autonomy for Kurds in Iraq and enforces it by a no-fly zone which keeps out central government aircraft as well as troops from the region. Turkey, being a NATO ally, is, however, treated differently.

ATHENS (Reuters): Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis has warned supporters of rebel Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan that Athens would take all measures needed to end the occupation of its embassies across Europe.

"The part of the Kurdish Workers Party that holds women and children hostages at our mission must understand that we will take all measures, whatever is needed, to protect those threatened by terrorist actions," Mr Simitis said in a statement on Tuesday.

He was responding to the occupation of Greek embassies and consulates across Europe, in Canada and Australia by Kurds protesting the arrest of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan by Turkey after spending 12 days under Greek protection in Nairobi.

Winnie set for comeback

from David Beresford in Johannesburg

WINNIE Madikizela Mandela looked likely to make a comeback as a major player in South African politics on Monday when the African National Congress announced that she was ranked 10th in the list of preferred candidates for the forthcoming general election.

Opposition politicians reacted with shock to the announcement, which suggested that the ex-wife of the outgoing President, Mr Nelson Mandela, was in line to get a ministerial post in Thabo Mbeki’s first cabinet.

The decision to place Mrs Mandela in the top 10 of candidates for the elections on May 18-27 was made despite the fact that she has been denounced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, for her knowledge of and possible participation in killings and torture during the apartheid regime.

(On Tuesday sources had said that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and several leaders of Indian origin were likely to be appointed to the Cabinet after the second general election in July.

The President of the women’s league of the ruling African National Congress was elected to the ninth spot in the top 10 list of leaders at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting here. Her election will mean that she cannot be left out of the next Cabinet and ignored, an ANC spokesman had said.)

The leader of the liberal Democratic Party, Mr Tony Leon, described the move as an insult to the nation.

"If Winnie Mandela were to get high office, it would finally convince the world that we are not to be taken seriously and that we are becoming a third-rate African country", he said.

But Mr Kgalema Motlanthe, secretary-general of the ANC, said: "This is a reflection of how ANC members feel [about Mrs Mandela]. It is an expression of confidence". Mr Motlanthe dismissed the scandal surrounding Mrs Mandela as "something that happened within the context of constant harassment by the old regime".

But he added that her high placing was no guarantee of a seat in the 27-member cabinet.

Mrs Mandela, aged (64), was fired from her post as Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in 1995 after going on a trip to north Africa without informing her husband, as President.

The move to rehabilitate Mrs Mandela reflects Mr Mbeki’s determination to keep potentially troublesome politicians on his side. He has gone to considerable lengths to woo Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, reportedly offering the controversial leader of Inkatha the post of Deputy President in his new administration.

— The Guardian, London

40 pc US women ‘lack interest in sex’

CHICAGO, Feb 17 (AP) — More than 40 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men in the USA regularly have no interest in sex, can’t have an orgasm or suffer from some other sexual dysfunction, according to what researchers say is the most comprehensive US sex survey since 1948.

The study’s lead author, University of Chicago sociologist Edward Laumann, called the findings stunning. The study was published in the journal of the American Medical Association.

"I think it gives us a base for explaining why we had this enormous response to (the anti-impotence drug) Viagra," he said.

The researchers said problems with sex were often coupled with everything from emotional and health problems to lack of time, job pressures and money trouble. But they said they were not sure which came first — stress or problems with sex.

The researchers based their findings on the 1992 National Health and Social Life survey, a compilation of interviews with 1,749 women and 1,410 men.

The participants, aged between 18 and 59, were asked if they had experienced sexual dysfunction over several months in the previous year. Sexual dysfunction was defined as a regular lack of interest in or pain during sex or persistent problems achieving lubrication, an erection or orgasm.

Lack of interest in sex was the most common problem for women, with about one-thirds saying they regularly didn’t want sex. twentysix per cent said they regularly didn’t have orgasms and 23 per cent said sex wasn’t pleasurable.

About one-thirds of men said they had persistent problems with climaxing too early, while 14 per cent said they had no interest in sex and 8 per cent said they consistently derived no pleasure from sex.

Overall, 43 per cent of women and 31 per cent of men said they had one or more persistent problems with sex. The researchers had expected the overall numbers to be closer to might be 20 per cent for each sex.

Study co-author Raymond Rosen, co-director of the Centre for Sexual and Marital Health at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said the findings were the most reliable since Dr Alfred Kinsey did his landmark studies 50 years ago.

Dr Kinsey got similar results regarding impotence and failure to achieve orgasm, but didn’t ask about the lack of sexual desire.

Saddam plans to use Laden’s network?

KUWAIT, Feb 17 (AFP) — Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein plans to use alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden’s network to carry out his threats against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, an Iraqi Opposition figure charged today.

"If the threats are carried out, they will be implemented by groups of Arab Afghans whom Saddam Hussein is sheltering, in the form of bomb attacks," Mr Bayan Jaber told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam.

Mr Jaber, a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said Iraq had "offered to shelter Bin Laden under the precondition that he carry out strikes on targets in the neighbouring countries."

But an exiled Saudi dissident has said the Bin Laden, who has been missing from his base in Afghanistan, would never seek refuge in secular Iraq on ideological grounds.

"I think Bin Laden would keep quiet or fight till death rather than seek asylum in Iraq," the London-based dissident, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

Iraq has since Sunday levelled threats at Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for allowing their air bases to be used by US and British warplanes enforcing a no-fly zone over southern Iraq.

The air patrols have since December triggered several clashes in which US warplanes have targeted Iraq’s air defences and other installations.

No alien troops ‘to be tolerated’ in Kosovo

BELGRADE, Feb 17 (AFP) — Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic stood by his refusal to countenance deployment of foreign troops in Kosovo, in talks with US Kosovo envoy Christopher Hill, the presidency announced here.

A communiqué said yesterday that Mr Milosevic had restated Belgrade’s "negative position" regarding the deployment of a foreign peace force in the southern Serbian province.

"Our negative view regarding the presence of foreign troops in Kosovo is not only that of the Yugoslav leadership, it is also that of the citizens of our country and is the unanimous view of the representatives of the people in the Assembly (Parliament), whatever their political persuasion," said MrMilosevic, quoted by Tanjug news agency.

Mr Hill left Belgrade late yesterday to return to Rambouillet near Paris, where Serbs and Kosovar Albanian separatists have been holed up for the past 10 days under fierce diplomatic pressure to agree to an international settlement plan for Kosovo before a deadline on Saturday.

A Western diplomatic source close to the Rambouillet conference said of Mr Hill’s meeting with MrMilosevic that "the talks lasted just about four hours."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, while urging MrMilosevic to meet Mr Hill carrying an ultimatum, has warned the President of the "stark choice" he faced, State Department spokesman James Foley said yesterday.

The USA and its NATO allies are determined to force a settlement in the conflict, which they consider a threat to peace in the whole Balkan region.

Stating that the USA was committed to the Saturday deadline to the Rambouillet talks, Mr Foley said, "If he (Milosevic) refuses to agree to the interim settlement or to agree to a NATO peace implementation force, (he faces) the prospect, the very real prospect, of NATO air strikes,".

Bali is chief of UN mission

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 17 (PTI) — Major-General Jozef Bali of Hungary has been appointed chief of the United Nations Observer Mission on India and Pakistan.

Mr Bali replaces Major-General Sergio Espinosa Davies of Chile who was recalled by his government and left the mission on December 15.

In another senior appointment announced last night, former French representative to the United Nations Jean-Bermard Merimee has been appointed Special Advisor to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on European matters.

Iraq executes 15 political detainees

DUBAI, Feb 17 (AFP) — Four people accused of trying to assassinate Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were among a group of 15 political prisoners executed in Iraq on December 26, an Opposition party said today.

The Iraqi Communist Party, in a statement received here, said the executions were ordered by special courts "which do not respect even the most elementary rules of justice."

It listed the 15 convicts executed by firing squad and said three soldiers were among those condemned to death for the alleged attempt on Saddam’s life. The sentences were carried out at Abu Gharib prison, west of Baghdad.

Global conference on corruption

WASHINGTON: In a bid to chalk out anti-corruption measures globally, an international conference to "target corruption from the receiving side" will be organised here next week. The three-day conference, the first of its kind, beginning on Wednesday will be hosted by US Vice-President Al Gore at the State Department, spokesman James Foley said at the daily briefing on Tuesday. Mr Foley said the conference would "target corruption from the receiving side — in other words, among police, prosecutors, judges, military personnel, customs officials, border guards, financial regulators and budget and procurement officials." — PTI

‘Release’ scribes

BEIJING: International press freedom groups on Wednesday welcomed China’s release of dissident journalist Gao Yu and pushed Beijing to free other journalists jailed under state security laws. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said while it welcomed Gao’s release, China’s press freedom climate "has worsened in recent months" and several people were in prison on journalism-related charges. Beijing should also "drop all parole conditions imposed on Gao Yu and remove a restriction prohibiting her from talking to reporters," the group said in a faxed statement. — AFP

Brit Awards

LONDON: Robbie Williams, the bad boy of British pop music, took top prizes at Brit Awards — the Oscars of the music world. Former "Take that" star Williams was nominated in every category for which he was eligible and walked off with three prestigious awards, including the best Male Performer. His song "Angels", which won the Best Single Award, is about his mother, a drugs counsellor who helped him to put his wild days of drink and drugs addiction behind him. The other winners were Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers, who were voted the Best British Band and who also won the Best Album Award.— Reuters

Nobel laureate dead

CRAWFORDVILLE: Henry Kendall, a Nobel prize-winning physicist and pioneer of the environmental movement among scientists, had died in Florida while exploring the nature he fought to preserve. Kendall (72) was taking photographs during a scuba dive with the National Geographic Society at the Wakulla springs state park when fellow divers found him lying unconscious on the bottom in shallow water on Monday, said Capt Gene McCarthy of the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Department. — Reuters

Charity hurts

NEW YORK: A beggar who received $ 2 when he knocked on a priest’s monastery door went back a second time and got another $ 2. The third time, he robbed the place. After knocking on the Brooklyn monastery door the third time on Monday evening, the beggar shoved his way in and demanded more money from the 74-year-old Roman Catholic priest. When he was turned down, he started pummelling the priest, the police said. Two other priest jumped into the melee to try to stop the beating. The robber fought all three priests before running away. — AP

Pill scare

LONDON: A 1995 scare over certain contraceptive pills has left its mark in Britain, according to an official report, showing the abortion rate rising for the third straight year. There were 179,700 terminations in England and Wales in 1997 compared with 177,500 in 1996 and 163,600 in 1995, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Before the scare, which created a "crisis of confidence in contraception", the rate had fallen for five consecutive years. — AFP