Firefighters struggling to control a blaze in Jesse in the oil-producing area of southern Nigeria on Monday. — AP/PTI

Spanish judges to decide Pinochet’s fate
MADRID, Oct 20 — While Chilean riots and government protests have been ineffective against the detention of Augusto Pinochet in London, the former dictator could now count with a surprising ally: the very Spanish judiciary which got him into trouble in the first place.

No solution without Kashmir: Aziz
ISLAMABAD, Oct 20 — The outcome of the just-concluded Indo-Pak talks was “far less than our expectations” as relations between the two countries cannot be normalised without some progress on the Kashmir issue, Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaz Aziz has said.

Rebels admit pipeline blast
BOGOTA, Oct 20 — Leftist rebels have admitted triggering the explosion at an oil pipeline over the weekend, but suggested the Colombian Army set a subsequent fire which engulfed a nearby village, killing 47

USA ‘undermining’ CWC
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 — The USA is undermining the chemical weapons convention by not passing the necessary legislation for its implementation, a Democratic Congressman on the House of International Committee has warned.

‘Shortest’ man yearns for bride
AMMAN, Oct 20 — Younis Edwan, who is just 65-cm tall, wants to be recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s shortest man, but that is not all he wants in life.

Chicken can cause cancer
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 — People who have quit eating steaks for health reasons but still eat chicken and fish may still have a higher risk of colon cancer, researchers say.

Mass burial for fire victims
Toll touches 600

LAGOS, Oct 20 (DPA) — The first group of victims of a explosion and fire at a fuel pipeline in Nigeria that may have claimed as many as 600 lives have been buried in mass graves, radio reports said today in the West African country.

President Abdulsalami Abubakar expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the explosion which occurred on Sunday in the village of Apawor in the Niger river delta, the news reports said. Most of the victims were children, women and young persons who lived in slums near the pipeline. Many of them had come to collect fuel after a leak was discovered in the pipeline.

Mr Abubakar said the government would do everything it could to solve the problems that led to "this human tragedy". He said attacks on facilities of the oil industry in southern Nigeria must stop.

News reports said the government did not have enough money in its coffers to pay compensation to the survivors of the victims.

A spokeswoman for the government-owned PPMC oil company said it remained unclear if the disaster was the result of an attack by anti-government groups.

Many witnesses criticised the rescue operations, saying it took hours before a single ambulance arrived in the scene. The police flagged down passing cars and directed them to take the severely injured to hospitals.

The witnesses said hundreds of people had gathered at the site of the burst pipeline to collect fuel spilling out it of when — because of an accidental spark — the explosion occurred. Some eyewitnesses said the spark came from a cigarette. Others said it came from a motorcycle.

The government-owned company that operates the pipeline blamed the original leak on sabotage. There have been several incidents of sabotage in recent weeks on facilities owned by international oil companies in the West African country.

Underground organisations who claim to have carried out the attacks are trying to force oil firms to distribute more of their profits to the impoverished people of the oil-rich regions in the country’s South.

Some corpses, including those of children, were found clutching plastic cups, funnels and cans to collect the fuel. The charred body of a woman was found with her dead baby strapped to her back. Many other victims were farmers and villagers sleeping in their homes.

Separate burials were held yesterday for at least 52 of the dead. Many people took corpses of relatives home. Firefighters, meanwhile, continued to battle the blaze, which was largely under control but flared occasionally.

Transfer powers to PM, says Yeltsin aide

MOSCOW, Oct 20 (UNI) — The head of the presidential administration and Kremlin’s most powerful leader, Mr Valentin Vumashev, today proposed that President Yeltsin’s powers be transferred to Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov, reports Novosti.

According to Mr Vumashev, who is close to the President’s daughter Tatynia Dyachenko, powers of the Ministries of Defence, Interior Security and Foreign Affairs, generally monitored under the President’s eye, should also pass into the hands of Mr Primakov. This observers say would virtually make Mr Primakov acting President of the country.

Such a move stems in view of the President’s inability to cope up with his work, which is making Russia a laughing stock the world over, believe analysts.

With this, political observers say Kremlin has admitted reports about the President’s precarious state of health, a prime speculation around the world.

Meanwhile, the widely circulated Russian daily Trud points out that contrary to the official claim of a mild infection President Boris Yeltsin is seriously ill.The sudden disruption in coordination of body movement and imbalance in communication of the President cannot be the result of a mere bronchitis, the paper says.

Mr Yeltsin could not walk without support and could barely speak during his last week visits to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. He had to cut short the tour and return to the capital only to be lodged in his country residence equipped with life support systems.

Official explanation is that the President is suffering from bronchitis.

Mr Yeltsin (67), underwent a quintiple cardiac surgery in November, 1996, following a series of heart attacks and never appeared well since then.

Last week, a leading Russian psychologist said in an interview that Mr Yeltsin was suffering from Alzheimer's’s disease, later confirmed by an unidentified member of the President’s medical team.

‘‘Attempts are being made to persuade people that the President has slight indisposition whereas the real state of his health not only causes serious apprehensions but has even become a problem for society’s political health,’’ the daily says.

Pictures taken a few days ago have also confirmed that Mr Yeltsin is seriously ill, Trud says.

The emerging political scenario foresee all levers of authority passing into the hands of Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov with the President surviving as a figurehead till next election, the daily says, commenting on the demands of Mr Yeltsin’s resignation raised by his political foes.

‘‘This is the first and most probable event expected to take place,’’ comments columnist Yuri Lepsky. The Presidential election is scheduled to be held in 2000.

Schroeder signs pact with Greens

BONN, Oct 20 (Reuters) — Germany’s victorious Social Democrats and the Greens signed an agreement today to form a Centre-Left coalition government with Mr Gerhard Schroeder as the Chancellor.

The two parties agreed on tax reform measures, job creation and the scrapping of nuclear energy following Mr Schroeder’s ouster of Mr Helmut Kohl in a general election on September 27.

The coalition deal is expected to be formally endorsed by both parties at congresses this weekend. Mr Schroeder is then due to be confirmed as Germany’s next Chancellor by Parliament next Tuesday.

Mr Schroeder and other Social Democrat and Greens’ leaders signed the agreement at a brief ceremony in front of TV cameras in Bonn.

Under the agreement, the SDP Chairman, Mr Oskar LaFontaine, is named in charge of the Finance Ministry, expanded to have greater power over European and other policies.

The Greens’ leader, Mr Joschka Fischer, is to be appointed the Foreign Minister.

The pact also calls for reforms of Germany’s citizenship law, an “alliance-for-jobs” employment scheme with employers and unions, and added fuel taxes to offset planned cuts in non-wage labour costs.

Spanish judges to decide Pinochet’s fate

MADRID, Oct 20 (DPA) — While Chilean riots and government protests have been ineffective against the detention of Augusto Pinochet in London, the former dictator could now count with a surprising ally: the very Spanish judiciary which got him into trouble in the first place.

Pinochet, 82, was arrested late last week at the request of Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon who wants to interrogate him about the suspected killings of Spanish Citizens in Latin America during his dictatorship (1973-90).

But yesterday, Spanish state prosecutor Ignacio Pelaez filed an appeal against Garzon’s detention request, arguing that Spanish jurisdiction did not extend to Latin America.

The danger now looms that the Spanish judges will get muddled in their internal quarrels, and will not be able to file an extradition request for Pinochet until the 40-day deadline set by London runs out.

In tackling the crimes of the Pinochet dictatorship, judges Garzon and Nanuel Garcia Castellon have acted as torch-bearers for human rights and democracy, becoming the hope of Chilean and Argentine human rights groups whose own governments have not been able to bring tyrants to justice.

The judges are investigating the disappearance of hundreds of Spanish citizens in Chile and Argentina during military dictatorships from the 1970s to 1990.

No solution without Kashmir: Aziz

ISLAMABAD, Oct 20 (PTI) — The outcome of the just-concluded Indo-Pak talks was “far less than our expectations” as relations between the two countries cannot be normalised without some progress on the Kashmir issue, Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaz Aziz has said.

Drawing the attention of the international community to the “double standards” of India on the Kashmir issue, Mr Aziz said, “Ironically, while on the one hand India accepts the need of resolving the Kashmir issue, in the same breath they insist that Kashmir is a part of India and its future is not open to discussion.”

Mr Aziz, who took over as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister barely three months ago in the wake of growing tension between the two countries following their nuclear explosions in May, told The News that the just-concluded Foreign Secretary-level talks here did not show any change in India’s position on the basic issue of Kashmir.

“We find no change in India’s position on the basic issue’’, Mr Aziz was quoted as saying while commenting on the outcome of the four-day of talks in Islamabad which ended on Sunday.

India “blocked any appreciable progress” on any issue, particularly on the basic issue of Kashmir, he said.

Mr Aziz drew the attention of the world community towards the “double standards” of India on the Kashmir issue and said, “It is now for the international community to see whether this contradictory position adopted by India is either reasonable or logical”.

He also stressed that the normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan depended on the resolution of the Kashmir issue saying, “It now remains to be seen whether India will recognise that relations with Pakistan cannot become normal unless there is some progress on the Kashmir issue.”

He also said the outcome of the latest round of talks with India was “far less than our expectations” but added that the only positive aspect is that “the two sides have agreed to continue the talks and keep up the efforts to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.”

The News also quoted senior Pakistani officials as saying the Foreign Secretary-level talks were a “non-starter” on the issue of Kashmir. They also said Pakistan wanted to have the next round of the Foreign Secretary-level talks earlier in December before the start of the Muslim’s fasting month of Ramzan, but India did not agree.

The two sides have now agreed to hold the next round of talks in the first half of February 1999 in New Delhi.

Rebels admit pipeline blast

BOGOTA, Oct 20 (AP) — Leftist rebels have admitted triggering the explosion at an oil pipeline over the weekend, but suggested the Colombian Army set a subsequent fire which engulfed a nearby village, killing 47 persons.The surprise accusation was made in a statement read last night to a radio station by Nicolas Rodriguez, top Commander of the 15,000-member National Liberation Army, or ELN, Colombia’s second-largest guerrilla group.“We assume the responsibility for the blowing up of the pipeline, but our conscience is clear because the criminals are not within our ranks,” the rebel chief said, breaking silence on the incident.

USA ‘undermining’ CWC

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (PTI) — The USA is undermining the chemical weapons convention (CWC) by not passing the necessary legislation for its implementation, a Democratic Congressman on the House of International Committee has warned.

“The USA is in non-compliance with its legal obligations under the CWC and cannot come under compliance without the implementing legislation,” Congressman Lee Hamilton said.

“Without legislation in place, the US chemical industry has no legal basis for providing data to the US government on certain chemical-related activities which the USA is required to submit under the convention” he said.

“If the USA is not full in compliance with the CWC, we cannot use our substantial influence for insisting on full compliance by others,” he said, adding more than 100 nations were party to the CWC, but some 28 had failed to submit information required on their chemical industries.

“We give comfort to the Russias, Chinas and Irans of this world that want to slip out of the treaty compliance when we ourselves do not comply,” Hamilton said.

Warning that the stature of the USA in its fight against terrorism is undercut, he said: “Many chemical companies in friendly European states are resisting inspections because US firms are not subject to similar inspections. While the House of Representatives is mired in a process of delay, ... rogue regimes have a convenient excuse for bad conduct.”

Other legislators have pointed out that while the USA is pressuring India and Pakistan to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), it itself is not ratifying the treaty.

The Republican-dominated Senate has refused to ratify the CTBT unless the government places before it the Kyoto environment treaty, which it wants to kill because India, China, Brazil, Indonesia and other major developing nations are not covered by it.

‘Shortest’ man yearns for bride

AMMAN, Oct 20 (DPA) — Younis Edwan, who is just 65-cm tall, wants to be recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s shortest man, but that is not all he wants in life.

Of course, the 27-year-old Jordanian would love to hold the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ “world’s shortest man” title, succeeding the late Gul Mohammad of India, who was 50 cm tall.

But Edwan also says he yearns for a “normal life” and “an understanding wife”. He often tells people that he is looking for the “woman of his dreams” with whom he will be able to bring up children of his own.

His stature is believed to be the result of a stunted bone growth caused by his mother accidentally taking contraceptives during her pregnancy. But the condition, according to doctors, would not affect any offspring.

“I am not a dwarf,” he told The Jordan Times in a recent interview. “If I have children of my own, they would be of normal height, as doctors, who have carried out tests on me, have assured me.”

He said he was once engaged to an Egyptian “of normal height”. Things did not work out and the engagement was eventually broken off but he is not despondent. “I still hope to get married soon,” he says.

Edwan complains that people do not treat him as an adult and that he is often subjected to ridicule. When he wanted to transfer some property to his brother, officials asked him to “bring his legal guardian” along, he says. Others have asked him for a certificate attesting to his mental health.

But Edwan, who has also lost his mobility because of an injury to his leg, says that he loves going out and having fun. He has finally managed to convince his family not to worry about his disability.

“Once I stayed out for two days and when I came back I had an argument with my family who told me that, unlike my brothers, I can’t take care of myself,” Edwan said. “I told them that I can and that was it. They never questioned me again for being late.”

But he protests that Jordan does not offer special centres for people like himself and that people’s tolerance with regard to the disabled was very low.

Being the sixth member of a family of seven sisters and brothers, he says he is surrounded with love and understanding from his kin as well as from friends.

Edwan’s “free spirit, outgoing personality and love for life” are his main characteristics, according to friends.

All he needs to make him really happy is a bride.

Chicken can cause cancer

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) — People who have quit eating steaks for health reasons but still eat chicken and fish may still have a higher risk of colon cancer, researchers say.

They say so-called white meat is no less likely to cause cancer than “red meat,” But the more peas and beans a person eats, the lower the risk of colon cancer, they found.

“There is evidence of an excess risk of colon cancer for higher intakes of both red meat and white meat,” Dr Pramil Singh and Dr Gary Fraser of the Centre for Health Research at Loma Linda University in California wrote in the latest issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“The strongest (food-related) risk factor...was found for total meat intake,” they added. Genetic makeup could also affect a person’s risk of colon cancer.

British honour
LONDON: Trevor Jones has been delivering milk since 1949 and sees no reason to disrupt his schedule even if it is to meet the Queen. The Welshman has turned down the chance to visit Buckingham Palace next month to receive an MBE, or Member of the Order of British Empire Honour, from Queen Elizabeth II. Instead, Jones will be given the MBE in a ceremony at EBBW Vale Civic Centre next month. — AP

Bus crash
IZMIR (Turkey): A bus carrying British holiday-makers crashed near this Aegean port on Tuesday killing at least seven persons, including two Britons, and injuring 35, the Anatolia news agency reported. The tourists were travelling to Izmir’s airport from Kusadasi, and were on their way home from the resort. According to the agency, the bus collided with a car, killing all five passengers in the car and the two Britons. — AP

Spice girl
UNITED NATIONS: Former Spice girl Geri Halliwell has joined a cast of global celebrities tapped by the UN to put the spotlight on global issues. Halliwell 26, has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the UN Population Fund in Britain to promote healthier choices about reproduction and greater awareness of reproductive rights. She will be working in Britain with Marie Stopes International and Population Concern which promotes reproductive health, especially among women. — AP

Bodies found
KAFR EL-DAWAR (Egypt): Rescue teams found five more bodies on Monday after a train jumped the tracks and crashed through shops in a town in northern Egypt, leaving at least 52 persons dead. About 101 persons were injured, according to a health official, Mr Nabih Yousef Shaltout. The town is 30 km south-east of Alexandria. The train, which was travelling south from Alexandria, left the rails when the driver changed tracks at high speed, the Interior Ministry said. — AP

Gayoom re-elected
COLOMBO: President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives has won a record fifth term in office, securing 90.9 per cent of the “yes” votes in the national referendum held on Friday, officials in the capital Male said on Tuesday. They said Mr Gayoom, who was the only candidate after the Citizen’s Majlis or Parliament rejected four other nominations, secured 86,504 votes out of a total of 95,168 polled. A high 75 per cent of the voters in the Indian Ocean atoll nation of 250,000 Sunni Muslims exercised the franchise.— UNI

Space agency
MOSCOW: The impoverished Central Asian country of Tajikistan plans to form a space agency, the Itar-Tass news agency has reported. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov issued a decree on Monday to create the agency and appointed a General Director, the agency said. It gave no other details. — AP

11 killed
KATHMANDU: At least 11 persons were killed and 44 injured when a bus carrying them met with an accident on Saturday in Dang district of mid-western Nepal. According to police, the vehicle was travelling from Nepalganj, on the Indo-Nepal border, to Salyan in central mid-western Nepal when the mishap occurred. — UNI

UNITA leader dead
JOHANNESBURG: General Arlindo Chenda Pena, the former military Chief of the Staff of the Angolan rebel group Unita, died in a South African hospital on Monday, Hospital officials said. They said Gen Pena, widely known as “Ben Ben” and a key negotiator and popular guerrilla leader, was a nephew of veteran Unita leader, Jonas Savimbi. Unita sources alleged that Gen Pena was poisoned but hospital officials said he was admitted suffering from cerebral malaria. — Reuters