Violence mars stir in Dhaka
DHAKA, Oct 18 — Normal activities were shut down in the capital as violence erupted at the start of a general strike today enforced by an anti-government alliance.

UK-Chile row over Pinochet’s arrest
LONDON, Oct 18 — The arrest of former Chilean dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, here on charges of genocide has sparked off a diplomatic row between Britain and Chile.

Everest scaled in record time
KATHMANDU, Oct 18 — A Sherpa guide, determined to set a world record as the fastest climber of Mount Everest, has scaled the world’s highest peak in 20 hours and 24 minutes, expedition organisers have said.

UNSCOM men spies: Iraq

China refuses to accept free Taiwan

BEIJING, Oct 18 (PTI) — China today rejected Taiwan’s bid for independence and stuck to its demand for early reunification under the ‘one China’ principle.

Advocating early political dialogue between the two sides, Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen said: “We are not in favour of statements and actions about ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan’ nor will we tolerate ceding of Taiwan.”

Calling for reunification through peaceful means’, Mr Qian, who met Taiwan’s top negotiator Koo Chem-Fu here, said: “By reunification, we mean to safeguard the state territorial integrity and sovereignty, not to argue over systems.”

Mr Qian rejected Taiwan’s demand that the Communist Party on the mainland should relax its grip over the country and adopt multi-party democracy and achieve reunification, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

“It is obviously not realistic for some people in Taiwan to preach that a Taiwan-style democracy should be the decisive factor for reunification,”. The Chinese Vice-Premier said.

The Jiang-Koo meeting is the highest-level contact between Beijing and Taipe’ in almost 50 years since the Communists under Mao Zedong drove away Chiang Kai-Shek’s nationalists from the mainland in 1949.

Jiang’s protege opposed
China’s youngest Vice President Hu Jintao, widely believed to be the hand-picked successor to President Jiang Zemin, seems to have encountered stiff resistance within the ranks of Communist Party with the just-concluded party plenum failing to appoint him to a top military post, analysts said here.

Hu (55), was expected to be made first vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s top military organ, during the third plenary session of the 15th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, they said.

The move to promote Hu, who like Jiang does not have a military background, met stiff resistance from the top military brass. If appointed to the new post, Hu would have superseded the two vice chairmen Gen Zhang Wannian and Gen Chi Haotian, who is also the Defence Minister.

While there is no word about Hu’s appointment, another key protege, Gen Cao Gangchuan, was inducted into the CMC at the party plenum.

The head of the PLA’s newly-created General Equipment Department, Gen Cao is reportedly one of Jiang’s key men on army modernisation.

But, analysts said, all is not lost for the energetic Chinese Vice President, as he enjoys the backing of Jiang, who is state President, CPC general secretary and CMC chairman.

Hu, who ranks fifth in the CPC’s seven-member Politburo standing committee, is also its youngest member.

While Jiang, the successor of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, is lauded by the state-run media as the core of the third generation leadership, analysts said Hu represents the fourth generation.

Violence mars stir in Dhaka

DHAKA, Oct 18 (DPA) — Normal activities were shut down in the capital as violence erupted at the start of a general strike today enforced by an anti-government alliance spearheaded by the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Transport remained off the roads, shops and business establishments closed and schools and other educational institutions shut down as supporters of the ruling Awami League clashed with Opposition activists leaving 25 persons injured.

More than 5,000 para-military policemen were deployed in the capital city. The government is facing stiff protests over the recent arrest of three prominent opposition figures accused of the murder of four leading members of the Awami League 23 years ago.

The police has detained 15 Opposition activists for street rioting as more than a dozen cars were smashed and home-made bombs blasted in the city centre.

Opposition chief Khaleda Zia accused the two and a half-year old Centre Left secular government of corruption and mismanaging distribution of relief materials among tens of thousands of families stricken by last month’s floods.

The dawn-to-dusk strike was imposed by the Right-wing alliance despite warnings of stern actions by the authorities.

Taliban free 25 Iranians

ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban army freed 25 Iranian captives as gesture of goodwill, Radio Shariat reported today.

The Taliban’s radio broadcast, monitored here, said the international Red Cross sent an aircraft yesterday to the Taliban headquarters at Kandahar, picked up the freed Iranians and took them to Iran.

Twenty-six truck drivers arrived at an airport outside Teheran on two Red Cross planes, according to Iran’s official news agency. The discrepancy in numbers could not be immediately be explained.

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said with the release of the 26, the Taliban has freed 51 Iranians. The first batch of five truck drivers were released days after the Taliban admitted the diplomats’ killing in early September.

The Taliban seized the truck drivers while they were carrying “humanitarian goods” to northern Afghanistan, the agency said.

The Iranians were captured in August during the Taliban’s takeover of the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Renegade soldiers killed eight Iranian diplomats and an Iranian journalist during the fighting.

Duma head asks Yeltsin to quit

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (AFP) — The Communist Speaker of Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, has called on president Boris Yeltsin to step down and said he would be a candidate for the succession, Interfax news agency reported.

Mr Gennady Seleznev said yesterday the resignation of ailing Yeltsin who is currently recovering from bronchitis, “would be the best thing for him and for the country.”

Itar-Tass also quoted Mr Seleznev as saying during a visit to Saint Petersburg that Duma could vote next month on Mr Yeltsin’s impeachment.

Left-wing parties which have the majority in Duma, told Interfax yesterday that they would decide in the coming week on their attitude to the impeachment proposals.

Mr Seleznev, who at one time was relatively close to Mr Yeltsin, said that in any case the “colossal” powers of the Russian President should be reduced to that of a figurehead, as in Germany.

UK-Chile row over Pinochet’s arrest

LONDON, Oct 18 (PTI) — The arrest of former Chilean dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, here on charges of genocide has sparked off a diplomatic row between Britain and Chile.

Questioning legal validity of the arrest, Chilean President Eduardo Frei said his country had formally protested to Britain on the ground that being a serving Senate member, General Pinochet was travelling on a diplomatic passport and hence was entitled to diplomatic immunity.

“We have presented formally a protest....because we believe it violates the diplomatic immunity parliamentarians have in Chile,” Mr Frei said in Oporto, Portugal, where he is attending the Ibero-American summit.

However, British Home Office Minister Alan Michael said that “does not guarantee him (Pinochet) immunity from prosecution.”

A Downing Street spokesman also clarified General Pinochet “was not accredited to the St James Court.”

Pinochet (82), was arrested by metropolitan police from the London Bridge Hospital on Friday night where he had checked in for medical treatment on an international warrant by Interpol alleging his involvement in atrocities against Spanish citizens between 1973 and 1983.

The former Chilean dictator was detained on an extradition warrant from Spain and a Spanish judge is arriving here on Tuesday to question him.

OPORTO: The news of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s arrest in London yesterday sent shockwaves through an annual Ibero-American summit being held in this Portuguese port city.

Cuban President Fidel Castro — like many of the 23 leader attending the one-day summit — was caught off guard by the arrest of his longtime ideological foe.

"Is it true? Is it confirmed?" The 72-year-old communist leader asked, enthusiastically pumping reporters for any information they had. "I'm very interested in this."

The 82-year-old Pinochet, convalescing after minor surgery in London, was arrested on an extradition warrant filed in connection with allegations that Spanish citizens were murdered during his military rule from 1973 to 1990.

The summit, which brings together the leaders of 19 Latin American countries plus former colonial masters Spain and Portugal, was meant to promote democratic values and economic cooperation among the member nations.

But speculation over Pinochet’s fate overshadowed other issues and reminded delegates of a recent Latin American part dominated by iron-fisted military dictatorships.

On Tuesday, Judge Manuel Garcia Castellon, investigating the deaths of Spaniards in Chile during Pinochet’s rule, asked Britain to allow Spanish authorities to take a statement from Pinochet.

And on Wednesday Justice Baltasar Garzon, investigating the disappearance of Spaniards under Argentina’s dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, also asked Britain to detain Pinochet.

Garzon wants to question him about an organised plan of repression allegedly implemented by various Latin American dictatorships in the seventies and eighties.

Indian art objects fetch huge sums

LONDON, Oct 18 — Priceless Indian art objects from the Mughal and later periods fetched huge sums at a Sotheby’s auction here.

Among the objects auctioned were a magnificent 19th century diamond and emerald-set enamelled gold necklace from Benares and a diamond emerald,ruby and pearl-set turban crown of early 20th century. Both fetched $134,000 each and went to buyers who did not declare their identity.

The two items fetched the highest prices at the auction of works of art of the Mughal period and later. Many objects, made over by a former Nepalese ambassador to Britain for auction, were several centuries old but the provenance of most of them was not declared.

The necklace in the pink-dominated palette of Benares has diamonds of staggering proportions increasing in size towards the middle. The central stones were of “an immense size rarely seen on Indian jewellery, indicating the high standing of the patron that had the necklace commissioned,” according to an accompanying note from Sotheby’s.

The other object auctioned is a diamond-studded crown in the shape of a bird of paradise, with a rich flowing plume. According to Sotheby’s, “this magnificent turban crown is perhaps the finest example in existence, surpassed only by crown of the king which is closely comparable in style and quality.”

The headgear, which seems a combination of turban and crown, “has been attributed to Nepal but it seems more likely that a piece of this nature was commissioned from a jeweller in India where highly skilled craftsmen would have been more readily available,” according to Sotheby’s.

The crown sold for almost twice the minimum price it was expected to fetch after competitive bidding.

Several of the objects auctioned were of great historical interest, particularly a jade bowl made in 18th century China under Mughal influence. “The Chinese interest in Mughal-style carving, which flourished under the Emperor Qianlong (1736-96) gave rise to some exquisite interpretations of the Indian aesthetic,” according to Sotheby’s.

The jade bowl sold for $ 24,000. An accompanying jade oil lamp sold for close to the same price.

A ruby and diamond-set enamelled gold necklace and matching ear-rings crafted in India in the 19th century sold for $35,000.

A Mughal-period carved emerald with an inscription in praise of Ali fetched $ 30,000. A ruby-set gold turban ornament, and a sapphire and gem-set gold pendant sold for close to $25,000 each.

— India Abroad News Service

Everest scaled in record time

KATHMANDU, Oct 18 (AP) — A Sherpa guide, determined to set a world record as the fastest climber of Mount Everest, has scaled the world’s highest peak in 20 hours and 24 minutes, expedition organisers have said.

Kaji Sherpa (34) started his trek from the 5,300 metres base camp at 4 p.m. local time (3.45 p.m. IST) on Friday and reached the 8,848-metre (29,028 feet)-high summit last noon.

Kaji reached the 8,700-metre point at 6 a.m. but bad weather and high winds forced him to slow down. After losing three hours at that altitude, he resumed his climb.

UNSCOM men spies: Iraq

DUBAI, Oct 18 (PTI) — Iraq has asked the UN to probe the antecedents of UNSCOM members searching for weapons of mass destruction in the country charging them with being “linked” to intelligence agencies of “hostile” countries.

Iraqi newspapers on Friday openly made espionage charges against UNSCOM members quoting a letter sent by Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in this regard.

“I demand from your excellency to take necessary measures against those personnel of the commission, in addition to an official investigation,”Aziz’s letter delivered by Iraq’s UN Representative Nizar Hamdoun said.

“Continuation of such serious practices and not taking deterrent measures to put an end to them would compel Iraq to take appropriate measures to protect its security and sovereignty,” the letter said.

“I remind you that we already drew the attention to the unprofessional conduct of Scott Ritter which was not in compliance with that of an international official working under the United Nations,” it said.

UNSCOM had recently witnessed unseemly sparring between the sacked former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter and UNSCOM chief Richard Butler.

Workers attacked
NAIROBI: The Norwegian People’s Aid Agency (NPA) said on Saturday that three of its staff had been killed in North Uganda in an attack on an aid convoy returning from South Sudan. Two trucks in the convoy came under a heavy gunfire on Thursday 20 km from the town of Koboko, and the three aid workers, all Sudanese, were killed on the spot, NPA spokesman Dan Eiffe said in a statement. — Reuters

OSCE mission chief
VIENNA: US diplomat William Walker was named as head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) verification Mission in Kosovo, the OSCE announced here. The job would provide Walker with a “unique opportunity to contribute to peace and political stability in the Balkans,” in his nomination letter, OSCE Chairman Bronislaw Geremek said yesterday. — AFP

Stripped of title
ZAGREB: Muslim beauty queen Lejla Sehovic, who was stripped of her title of Miss Croatia, is hurt but optimistic in her determination to press charges for religious discrimination. “I was very hurt by all of this, but now I am pretty relaxed after these last frantic days. I am an optimist and I hope for the best,” 22-year-old Sehovic told AFP in a telephone interview from her hotel room in Zagreb. Beauty contest director Milan Seckovic deposed Sehovic on Friday and proclaimed runner-up Ivana Petkovic, 17, as Croatia’s candidate in the next Miss World competition. — AFP

Internet pioneer dead
WASHINGTON: Jon Postel, the Internet pioneer who wielded enormous influence managing technical details of the global computer network, has died of complications from heart surgery in Los Angeles, friends in Washington have said. He was 55. Postel, a crucial player in the future of the Internet, died on Friday while recovering from surgery to replace a leaking heart valve, said Vint Cerf, a Senior Vice-President for MCI Worldcom Inc. who worked closely with Postel. — AP

Fortensky held
INDIO, (California): Larry Fortensky, the blue-collar ex-husband of American actress Elizabeth Taylor, was arrested for investigation of felony domestic violence against his girlfriend. The 46-year-old Fortensky was booked on Friday for allegedly beating the woman, whose name has withheld, said Riverside County Sheriff’s Detective Mark Wasserman. Fortensky was jailed, with bail set at $ 25,000. — AP

Crash kills 17
RIO DE JANEIRO: Two buses collided in southern Brazil yesterday, killing 17 persons and injuring 48, the police said. The accident occurred when a bus taking tourists to the Iguacu waterfalls near Brazil’s border with Argentina and Paraguay collided with another bus heading in the opposite direction, said Parana state police spokesman. The accident occurred near the town of Candoi, 680 south-west of Rio De Janeiro. — AP