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	W O R L D	Monday, July 6, 1998
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India, Pak N-devices ‘not so advanced’
NEW YORK, July 5 — Neither India nor Pakistan has nuclear devices as advanced as they claim, according to Newsweek magazine, quoting experts at the Lawrence Livermore Weapons Laboratory in California and US officials....
N. Ireland tense on eve of march
London, July 5 — Tension prevailed across a volatile Northern Ireland today as Protestant stalwarts prepared to confront British forces barring them...

Albright assails India on N-tests
WASHINGTON, July 5 — US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has severely criticised India for its nuclear blasts and said New Delhi was not going to “blast its way into nuclear power status or greater respect.”
Crises engulf Yeltsin
MOSCOW, July 5 — President Boris Yeltsin is facing growing pressure from his political rivals as Russia enters into a new decisive phase of financial and economic crises with the Kremlin awaiting $ 15 billion bailout by IMF and the World Bank....

India, Pak N-devices ‘not so advanced’
NEW YORK, July 5 (PTI) — Neither India nor Pakistan has nuclear devices as advanced as they claim, according to Newsweek magazine, quoting experts at the Lawrence Livermore Weapons Laboratory in California and US officials.
The scientists, who have measured the intensity of the blasts and their conclusion were of the opinion that both the nations have exaggerated the size of their weapons and at least one test never took place, it says.
In its upcoming issue, Newsweek says India on May 11 claimed to explode a 43 kiloton H-bomb, a 12 kiloton atomic bomb and three smaller bombs. The data, it adds, shows a combined force of no more than 15 kilotons.
A Geosciences Professor at the University of Arizona Terry Wallace was quoted as saying there was probably no H-bomb. On May 13, India annoucned tests of 600 ton and 200 ton nuclear mini-weapons. But nearest sensor in Nilore, Pakistan, did not register anything. There is no objective evidence those tests took place, it quoted Gregory Vandervink of Iris, an International Seismology Research Consortium, as saying.
Pakistan announced on May 28 that it had fired multiple nuclear devices. The verdict 10 to 14 kiloton in total one third of the claim, Newsweek said
Meanwhile, even one month after Pakistan conducted its nuclear blasts, the war of words between country’s scientists claiming credit for the tests continues.
The cold war between Kahuta’s Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) headed by Dr A.Q. Khan and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was taken to the streets when banners of the former were replaced by posters of PAEC Chairman Dr Samat Mubarak Mand, reports The Herald, on monthly magazine in Pakistan.
Noted scribe Zaffar Abbas in his article “sibling rivalry” says the war between the KRL and the PAEC is as old as the country’s nuclear programme.
Dr Khan, father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, lost no time in claiming the responsibility for conducting the blasts while the PAEC Chairman countered it saying “the KRL had nothing to do with the blasts.”
Even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who asked both scientists to show restraint, has failed to prevent the “war of words” between them, The Herald said.
In an interview to the magazine, Dr Mand said Dr Khan was present only as an observer and had nothing to do with the actual test.
“At the time of testing we invited him (Khan) to see what an atomic test looked like”, Dr Mand said
Initially the war of words was carried through the local media but with the passage of time both scientists are publicly accusing each other, Mr Abbas noted.
Dr Khan had accused former Chairman of PAEC Munir Ahmed Khan of creating divisions within the scientific community. But his charge was openly ridiculed by the PAEC Chairman, Mr Abbas said.
PAEC scientists had downplayed Dr Khan’s credibility and called him a “mere metallurgist” with the knowledge only of enrichment of uranium which he acquired from a foreign country, he said.
As the war of words continues, the Nawaz Sharif Government seems to have made up its mind to put its weight behind PAEC Chairman, Mr Abbas noted.

N. Ireland tense on eve of march
London, July 5 (ANI) — Tension prevailed across a volatile Northern Ireland today as Protestant stalwarts prepared to confront British forces barring them from marching through a Roman Catholic enclave.
Reports reaching here from Portadown said hundreds of troops and police had thrown a massive security cordon around the flashpoint in this bitterly divided town, blocking roads with iron gates and swathing fields and lanes with razor-wire.
Members of the Orange Order, the biggest of the province’s pro-British marching fraternities, accused Britain of turning the normally tranquil countryside into an anti-Protestant war zone to appease Irish Republicans. But they promised to be peaceful.
“Orangemen” made an eve-of-march plea for rescinding a ban imposed by a government-appointed independent commission. As dawn broke, however, it was clear the authorities were not giving way.
Protestant clergyman William Bingham, a chaplain to the Orange movement, said despite high emotions all members must “act with dignity in a peaceful manner showing respect to life, property and all classes, creeds and faiths”.
Mr Bingham also said it was not in the interest of the Protestants to see the province engulfed once again in trouble. The Orange Order, is named after William of Orange, who defeated a Catholic king in the 17th century. So far, it has rejected calls for a dialogue, adding that the traditional 3km walk to the Drumcree church at 10.30 a.m. (local time) wearing their traditional bowler hats and sashes will take place
Early this morning a British army helicopter broke an uneasy silence and spotlights shone across the farmland around the old church at Drumcree, the hilltop vantage point where Orangemen will hold a service in the afternoon.
The “Drumcree march” has been a focal point for clashes in recent years that has brought the province to the brink of disaster
Northern Ireland is in the early, tentative stages of a hard-won peace agreement aimed at ending guerrilla strife that raged for 30 years between opponents and supporters of British rule.
The shadow of Drumcree looms over it, fuelling fears that old sectarianism will make the task of forging stability in the region that much harder.

Albright assails India on N-tests
WASHINGTON, July 5 (PTI) — US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has severely criticised India for its nuclear blasts and said New Delhi was not going to “blast its way into nuclear power status or greater respect.”
“The international community does not believe India’s action in terms of nuclear explosions has increased its status or its security,” Albright said in an interview to Newsweek.
Albright was referring to India’s angry reaction denouncing the hegemonistic attitudes of the USA and China during the recent summit between President Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin asking India and Pakistan not to press ahead with nuclear weapons programme.
Replying to a question, she hoped that China would not transfer its missile technology to other countries.
Lauding the US-China summit, she said a host of issues, including taboo subjects like Tibet and Tiananmen Square massacre, were discussed during Clinton’s visit to Beijing. “I had a momentary sense of my goodness to be witness to this kind of development,” she said.
When asked whether this can be interpreted to mean China is democratising, Albright replied “I thnik President Jiang feels....He can have a different relaitonship with the public and may understand that trusting your own people is the best way towards stability.”

Crises engulf Yeltsin
MOSCOW, July 5 (PTI) — President Boris Yeltsin is facing growing pressure from his political rivals as Russia enters into a new decisive phase of financial and economic crises with the Kremlin awaiting $ 15 billion bailout by IMF and the World Bank.Not only Opposition but also liberal media is now describing the situation in the country as “crisis of system” similar to the last days of the Gorbachev regime which led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.“The President is not in best of his moods, due to situation in the country,” Chief Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky was forced to concede at last Friday’s briefing.While addressing the government meeting to discuss anti-crisis programme of Prime Minister Sergie Kiriyenko on June 23, Mr Yeltsin described the situation in the country as “alarming”. But a few days later in his televised remarks, he suggested Mr Kiriyenko to re-christen his anti-crisis programme to ‘stabisation’ plan as there was “absolutely no crisis”.One of the influential dailies next day printed its lead story with the headline “Russia struck by stabilisation” marking it the most popular joke in the state Duma, which was urged by Mr Yelstin to clear about two dozen austerity bills proposed by the Cabinet without any delay.
Putting aside the anti-crisis package, the Duma with an overwhelming vote enacted a Bill which stipulates the dismissal of the President on medical grounds at the intitative of one of the chambers of the Russian Parliament.
Though, this bill and parallel attempt to impeach Mr Yeltsin have hardly any chance of becoming a reality under the present constitution, they at least prepare a ground for tackling a repetition of Indonesian scenario in Russia, analysts said.
A new challenge has emerged for Mr Yeltsin from an unexpected quarter and virtually he has no means to tackle with it, they noted.

Clinton trapped in lift
HONG KONG, July 5 (AFP) — US President Bill Clinton fell victim to his own heavy security, which left him trapped in an elevator just hours before the end of his nine-day China tour.
Mr Clinton and his wife, Hillary, spent 10 minutes with their security guards trapped inside a VIP lift at Hong Kong’s Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The local Press blamed the malfunction on his security, the weight of the assembled guard overloading the elevator and triggering a shutdown as it reached the basement carpark.
A source was quoted as saying that “the Americans are all heavy people. The security guard was a huge, big guy.”
“The lift is okay. It was just overloaded,” the source told the South China Morning Post.

Global monitor
"Time to end Diana cult"
LONDON: The Archbishop of York — the second highest prelate in the church of England — hit out in an interview published on Sunday at what he called the “cult of Diana” — the late Princess of Wales. Archbishop David hope told The Sunday Times that he believed it was time “to end the cult of Diana.” He said the Diana Museum which opened to the public on July 1 at the Spencer family home of Althorp, was the last thing she would have wanted. — AFP
Frozen sperms
LONDON: Scientists are mounting an expedition to Siberia to seek out frozen mammoth sperm and bring the extinct species back to life, The Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said the plan was to use the frozen sperm to fertilise elephants’ eggs and breed hybrids. Mammoths — large hairy elephant-like creatures — died out some 30,000 years ago but their remains have been found in several places in Siberia. — Reuters
Child workers
DHAKA: Child workers driven out of Bangladesh’s clothing factories by importers’ protests will be given self-help training along with school education, their former employers have said. The project, called “Earn and learn”, was unveiled at a joint review of the status of ex-Child labourers in clothing factories by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the International Labour Organisation and the UN Children’s Fund on Saturday. — Reuters
Oldest church
AMMAN: US archaeologists say that they may have found the world’s oldest church in Jordan’s port city Aqaba, a local newspaper has reported. If it does in fact prove to date to the late third century, it would not only be the oldest church in Jordan, but the oldest building in the world built and designed as a church, Thomas Parker, Professor of History at North Carolina State University and head of the Roman Aqaba project, told The Jordan Times on Saturday. — DPA
Man scares bear
HELSINKI (Finland): Used to raising his voice when negotiating deals for paper workers, a union chief barked and drove a bear up a tree when it surprised his family during evening tea. Artturi Pennanen, 55, said the bear arrived at their camp site while they were grilling sausages and brewing tea on an island in southeastern Finland, the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper reported on Saturday. The bear couldn’t care less about human voices, so I tried to mimic the low growl of a sheepdog, and then threw in a few tight, vicious barks,” he was quoted as saying. “The bear jumped into the nearest pine and climbed to a height of five to six metres surprisingly fast.” — AP
Scorpion bites
MEXICO CITY: It’s not just the heat, it’s the scorpions. Officials in the northern state of Durango said reports of humans bitten by scorpions have increased by over 50 per cent this year, due to unusually high temperatures in recent months. Scorpions have bitten 1,227 Durango residents so far in 1998, compared to 800 in the same period of 1997, when temperatures were lower, the government news agency Notimex reported. — AP
Held for spying
MOSCOW: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had arrested a South Korean diplomat for spying and charged his Russian police contact with treason. “On the night of July 3-4, Russian FSB operatives intercepted espionage activity by a staff member of the Republic of Korea’s intelligence services, Mr Cho Sung Woo,” The service said in a statement on Saturday. The South Korean, an adviser at Seoul’s Moscow Embassy, was handed over to the Embassy after questioning by the FSB. — Reuters
Amnesty plea
COLOMBO: International rights group Amnesty International on Saturday welcomed the conviction of five Sri Lankan soldiers and a policeman for the rape and murder of a Tamil family, but pleaded that they shouldn’t be executed. We call upon President Chandrika Kumaratunga to commute the death sentences,” the organisation said in a statement faxed from London. No one has been hanged since 1977 in Sri Lanka, a mostly Buddhist country. Death sentences are usually commuted to life in prison, but the President may hesitate to do so in this case. — AP