Yeltsin rushes PM to Dagestan
MOSCOW, Aug 8 — Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin to fly to Dagestan today to help put an end to fighting in the troubled Caucasus republic.

Tarar, Sharif may go without power
ISLAMABAD, Aug 8 — Pakistan’s army-controlled Power Department has threatened to cut off supply to the President’s and Prime Minister’s houses and other government departments if its massive outstanding dues were not cleared by August 15.

UK readies for eclipse visitors
PREDICTING the date of the eclipse is the easy bit. Working out how many people will head west to be within the event’s zone of totality is a less exact science. Forecasts of the number of visitors the south-west of England can expect on Wednesday, to witness the first total solar eclipse over mainland Britain in more than 70 years, have varied hugely since the region first woke up to the opportunities and challenges the event would bring.

Laziness a costly affair
SYDNEY, Aug 8 — Laziness is proving hugely costly in Australia where every other adult takes no exercise at all and hospitals struggle to cope with an epidemic of broken bones, doctors warned today.

Clinton vows to erase poverty
HELENA (Arkansas), Aug 8 — US President Bill Clinton has promised to devote the rest of his presidency to erasing the poverty that clings to places like the neglected corner of his home state. “We ought to really make an effort,” he said.

Pak militants deny meeting Laden
ISLAMABAD, Aug 8 — A Pakistani Islamic militant group today denied issuing a statement saying it had met and expressed solidarity with Saudi-born terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden.

10 Tamil rebels killed
COLOMBO, Aug 8 — At least 10 Tamil rebels were killed in fresh fighting in the embattled northeast Sri Lanka, while the security forces completed arrangements to send the first batch of 500 civilians for their resettlement in the rebel-controlled areas of Wanni tomorrow.

Arafat accepts Barak’s date

GAZA, Aug 8 (Reuters) — Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat today said he had accepted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s offer to begin implementing in September outstanding pledges made under the Wye River land-for-security accord.

“He had promised me that implementation would be in August but if he wants to implement in September we accept,” Mr Arafat told reporters in Gaza.

It was unclear from the statement whether Mr Arafat would go along with Mr Barak’s request to delay implementation of a third and final stage of an Israeli West Bank redeployment under the US-brokered Wye deal signed last year.

The original deal called for the land handover to be completed within 12 weeks. The new timetable meant Palestinians could get control of more West Bank land by early October, several weeks after implementation moves forward.

In a communiqué issued after a weekly cabinet meeting, Israel said Mr Barak reiterated at the session a commitment to begin the Wye countdown on September 1 should the Palestinians continue to reject his proposal for a delay.

“In any case Israel is waiting for a Palestinian answer in the coming days about the possibility of extending the timetable...for several months,” the statement said. Mr Barak wants to convert final stage of a pullback into a permanent agreement with the Palestinians, a move they have rejected.

Meanwhile a top Palestinian negotiator today said that U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had decided to postpone a mid-August peacemaking visit to West Asia until early September.

“We have been informed that Ms Albright will delay her visit until the beginning of September may be to coincide with the start of Israli withdrawals (from the West Bank). We can only accept her delay,” Mr Nabil Shaath told reporters here.

Israeli media reported earlier that Mr Barak had asked Ms Albright to delay her trip to give him time to iron out problems with the Palestinians. The daily Ha’aretz said Mr Barak wanted Ms Albright’s visit to focus on mediation with Syria.

Mr Haim Ramon, a Cabinet minister in Mr Barak’s office, said Israel wanted time to come to terms with Palestinians over implementation of the interim land-for-security Wye River peace accord.

JERUSALEM: Despite recent delays, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak today pledged to begin carrying out a US-brokered peace accord with the Palestinians within the next three to four weeks.

He repeated his promise that Israel would honour the Wye accord, a land-for-security agreement frozen by the previous hard-line government.

Peace talks have been deadlocked over Israel’s reluctance to implement the agreement in totality, under which it must withdraw from 13.1 per cent of the West Bank.

The Israeli Prime Minister said he expected further dialogue with the Palestinians on whether they would accept Israel’s request to delay the third and final troop withdrawal called for in the deal until an outline for a permanent peace accord was reached.

Rebel chief orders hostages’ release

LONDON, Aug 8 (AFP) — A Sierra Leone rebel leader has said he had ordered renegade troops loyal to him to free some 30 hostages they have been holding since Wednesday.

Major Johnny Paul Koroma told the BBC late last night that the rebels had “promised faithfully” to release the hostages, along with a large number of children abducted during the conflict with government forces.

Speaking from Liberia, Koroma denied that he was being held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which signed a peace deal with the government on July 7.

“I am not a prisoner at all, I am a free man,” he said, in response to demands by the hostage-takers that he be released.

Major Koroma headed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council AFRC, a military junta which overthrew the elected government of the President in May, 1997, then was ousted by a west African intervention force, ECOMOG, the following February.

The AFRC was allied to the RUF during and after its rule, and the RUF had also denied detaining Major Koroma.

The former junta leader said he would try to meet RUF chief Foday Sankoh today to prove to his own men that he was a free man, and hopefully bring about the hostages’ release.

The hostages were being held in the Occra Hills, 40 km east of Freetown.

Lanka: talks on safe corridor begin

COLOMBO, Aug 8 (PTI) — Ending six weeks of deadlock, Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger guerrillas and government officials had a face-to-face meeting to work out the logistics of opening a safe corridor for civilians in the rebel-held areas.

For the first time in four years, army commanders and senior LTTE leaders were seen exchanging pleasantries near the government-held northern Mankulam town where they had met under the auspices of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) yesterday.

Significantly, both the LTTE and government troops video filmed the mines being cleared and fencing being removed on Friday and state television broadcast the “event” late last night.

The Lankan government till recently supplied large quantities of rice and other essential commodities to be sold to over three lakh civilians in LTTE-held areas. The supplies were meant to be sold to civilians through government shops.

The safe road through the northwest Mannar was closed following government offensive in the area and what followed was the LTTE and the army trading charges for not agreeing for a safe corridor.

Latest reports said the road would be ready by tomorrow and the LTTE has agreed to receive the supplies along with 500 of 2000 civilians who were stranded in Vavuniya following the closure of the route.

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has put off plans to seek parliamentary approval for her peace package for the embattled northeast and accused the LTTE and the opposition United National Party (UNP) of ganging up to block her autonomy proposals.

The draft proposals, to be put up before parliament on August 19, have been deferred following the killing of the Tamil moderate and key architect of the package on July 29, media reports here said even as Ms Chandrika accused the LTTE and the UNP of joining hands to “prolong the war.”

Yeltsin rushes PM to Dagestan

MOSCOW, Aug 8 (DPA) — Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin to break off a tour of the Volga region and fly to Dagestan today to help put an end to fighting in the troubled Caucasus republic.

More Russian troops were to be rushed to the area today, Interfax news agency reported, after Moscow ordered a crackdown the day before on Islamist rebels who have sneaked through mountains into the southern republic.

Dagestan officials said between 200 and 500 more fighters came across the border yesterday as Russian warplanes carried out air strikes against unspecified targets.

Mr Stepashin had yesterday instructed Chief of Armed Forces Staff, Anatoly Kvashnin and the Interior Ministry’s paramilitary command to secure control, saying they should “normalise the situation on the Dagestan-Chechenia border’’.

Mr Stepashin, who was on a provincial tour in the Volga region, was briefed by telephone by Dagestan officials and told the Russian military to act with “maximum effectiveness”.

Meanwhile, Russian helicopter gunships pounded positions held by apparent Islamic militants in Dagestan in one of the most serious incidents in the troubled north Caucasus region since the 1994-96 Chechnia war.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said Russian ground forces had also exchanged fire with the armed men yesterday.

Officials in Dagestan said fighting stopped as night fell “All forces remain on alert” said the ministry spokesman.

Russian news agencies said the armed men included Chechens and Central Asian nationals as well as Dagestanis.

Chechen officials denied any armed groups had crossed its border into Dagestan. One Chechen official said Russia risked sparking a war in the region again.

Tight security for Americans in Pak

ISLAMABAD, Aug 8 (PTI) — Pakistan has ordered unprecedented security measures for American nationals and installations in the country amidst retaliatory threats from Islamic hardliners as the USA plans to launch attacks to nab Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, believed to be in Afghanistan, media report said.

The authorities have issued a red alert and security around the US Embassy, American Centre and apartment blocks have been tightened with a round-the-clock monitoring of these places, the Nation reported quoting sources.

A special drive has been launched specially against Afghan and Indian nationals who have been registered with the security branch during the last couple of months and they have been asked to obtain clearance certificate while their particulars have been provided to all police stations, the paper said.

Special security arrangements are being taken as the August 20 anniversary of the US attacks on hideouts of Laden in Afghanistan approaches amidst rumours that Washington is planning to launch another attack to nab him.

The USA accuses Laden of being the mastermind behind the bombings of American Embassies in east Africa on August 7 last year that killed at least 225 persons.

"We will not rest until justice is done", US president Bill Clinton said in Little Rock yesterday expressing his determination to track down those involved in the bombings.

Islamic hardliners in Pakistan have threatened to target American nationals and installations if Laden was attacked with Al-Badr Mujahideen, which had been one of the prominent militant groups active in the Kargil conflict recently, said it would not spare even Mr Clinton.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam has repeated his warning that any attack on Laden would be immediately retaliated and any American commando seen in the tribal areas near the Afghan border would be killed by Islamic warriors.

Tarar, Sharif may go without power

ISLAMABAD, Aug 8 (PTI) — Pakistan’s army-controlled Power Department has threatened to cut off supply to the President’s and Prime Minister’s houses and other government departments if its massive outstanding dues were not cleared by August 15.

"Warning notices have already been issued to the persons concerned on August 3 and no department will be spared except hospitals and schools if dues are not cleared by the given date," Chief Executive of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) Brigadier Waseem told reporters here yesterday.

The government departments owe nearly Rs 500 crore to IESCO and the Capital Development Authority (CDA), to whom IESCO sold electricity, is the main defaulter, he said.

If the CDA fails to cough up the money by the due date, all government departments and President Rafiq Tarar’s and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s houses will plunge into darkness on August 15.

Brig Waseem appreciated private consumers for paying their bills regularly and said arrears from them have reduced from Rs 59.30 crore to 58.40 crore during last year even as government arrears jumped from Rs 330 crore to Rs 480 crore in the same period.

UK readies for eclipse visitors
From Geoffrey Gibbs

PREDICTING the date of the eclipse is the easy bit. Working out how many people will head west to be within the event’s zone of totality is a less exact science. Forecasts of the number of visitors the south-west of England can expect on Wednesday, to witness the first total solar eclipse over mainland Britain in more than 70 years, have varied hugely since the region first woke up to the opportunities and challenges the event would bring.

The initial estimate — based on the 3 million persons who travelled to view the 1927 eclipse, in the days before mass car ownership — was that 4 million visitors or more might make for Cornwall and south Devon, the only parts of the mainland to experience total eclipse.

That figure is now thought to be an exaggeration, but planners acknowledge they still have no precise way of knowing how just how many people will make the journey.

All that is known is that hundreds of thousands of drivers will make for the south-west in the next few days, putting the region’s infrastructure under severe pressure unless motorists stagger their journeys.

Tourism leaders in Cornwall believe the county’s population of 5,00,000, which normally swells to around 7,50,000 at the height of the summer, may double or treble, depending on the weather and the extent of any last minute rush.

In Devon, it is thought the eclipse could attract around 6,00,000 visitors.

Hotel and bed and breakfast accommodation is still available in parts of Cornwall. But with many owners continuing to insist on a minimum four-night stay the advice being given is to book before leaving home. Basic campsites are being set up for the period.

“If you are looking to go to west Cornwall you will struggle to get

somewhere to stay. St Ives, Penzance and Falmouth are virtually full,” said Teresa Timms of the Cornwall Tourist Board.

Newquay, Padstow, Wadebridge and St Austell, which lie in the zone of totality, all report that accommodation is still available.

Planners are advising motorists to arrive early and stay long to avoid the worst of the delays. They are urging eclipse chasers not to travel today or on eclipse day itself.

“Allow plenty of time, check travel conditions and listen to the radio,” says highways agency eclipse coordinator Malcolm Wilkinson.

Train tickets for journeys into the area have all but sold out. “If customers have not by now got a reservation, it is most unlikely they will be able to secure a seat for trains to the west country,” said a spokeswoman for First Great Western, which is running 21 extra services between London Paddington and Penzance during eclipse week. — The Guardian, London.

Laziness a costly affair

SYDNEY, Aug 8 (DPA) — Laziness is proving hugely costly in Australia where every other adult takes no exercise at all and hospitals struggle to cope with an epidemic of broken bones, doctors warned today.

Lack of exercise is behind the exponential growth of osteoporosis among older people, chiropractors association spokesman Andrew Vincent said at the start of the national bones week.

A sedentary lifestyle leaves older people with brittle bones and poor muscle tone, the factors behind an explosion in fractures.

Hip fractures, which each cost Australian $ 16,000 to treat, are expected to double in number over the next 20 years.

Clinton vows to erase poverty

HELENA (Arkansas), Aug 8 (AP) — US President Bill Clinton has promised to devote the rest of his presidency to erasing the poverty that clings to places like the neglected corner of his home state. “We ought to really make an effort,” he said.

Mr Clinton stopped in Helena for a private meeting with 54 local officials, who are organising a commission to take on the enormous problems of the Mississippi Delta, from education to housing and civic infrastructure.

The visit also was designed to assuage hurt feelings — Mr Clinton opted to stop in nearby Clarksdale, Mississippi, rather than Helena, during his national poverty tour last month.

Pak militants deny meeting Laden

ISLAMABAD, Aug 8 (Reuters) — A Pakistani Islamic militant group today denied issuing a statement saying it had met and expressed solidarity with Saudi-born terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden.

Al-Badar Mujahideen, which is waging a guerrilla war in disputed Kashmir, said in a statement that no one from its organisation had met Bin Laden, who is living in hiding in the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

“No one from any cadre of Al-Badar has contacted Osama nor was a press note about such a meeting issued from our office,’’ a statement faxed to Reuters said.

“We have checked with all our media centres and no one issued this press note,’’ an Al-Badar spokesman told Reuters.

10 Tamil rebels killed

COLOMBO, Aug 8 (UNI) — At least 10 Tamil rebels were killed in fresh fighting in the embattled northeast Sri Lanka, while the security forces completed arrangements to send the first batch of 500 civilians for their resettlement in the rebel-controlled areas of Wanni tomorrow.

The operational headquarters of the Defence Ministry in a release said that four militants were killed in the general area of Pulumaichchinatikulam in an encounter with troops.

Elsewhere in Nedunkerni, troops killed three terrorists while one escaped with injuries.

Three other rebels were killed in other clashes yesterday, the statement said.

Meanwhile, security forces in Wanni have completed arrangements to send the first batch of 500 civilians and 12 lorries of essential food items for people in the uncleared area of Wanni tomorrow.

This has become possible after prolonged negotiations between the LTTE and the army through the Red Cross.

18 killed in air crash
LISBON: All 18 persons aboard a coastguard plane were killed on Saturday when it crashed into a mountain in misty conditions on Santo Antao Island in the Cape Verda Islands, Portuguese Television said. It quoted the President of the former Portuguese colony, Mr Carlos Alberto Veiga, as saying there were no survivors when the Dornier 228 aircraft crashed while on a flight from Santo Antao to Sao Vincente. The pilot reported bad weather and said he was turning back. It then disappeared from radar screens. — DPA

90-year-old jailed
LONDON: For 25 minutes he was the oldest prisoner in England, but then 90-year-old Stanley Casson was bailed and his lawyers intend to appeal his one-year sentence for running down and killing a woman and her grand daughter. Casson, who wears thick glasses and failed two police eyesight tests after the accident, admitted causing death by dangerous driving at the court in Manchester in northwestern England. — Reuters

Woman cop & model
SYDNEY: An Australian police officer who moonlighted as a centrefold for raunchy men’s magazines is likely to get off with a caution after her commanding officer admitted on Sunday that he had approved her request to take part-time job as a model. Superintendent Bob Waites said no police could take second jobs if they had permission from their superiors. But she said: “If people see the police as something to be ogled and given no respect, then we are faced with conflicts that could have been avoided”. — DPA

Former PoWs’ wrath
LONDON: Former prisoners of war (PoWs) have called for a British museum exhibition depicting the suffering of Japanese people in the wake of the atomic bomb attacks to tell “the whole story”. Entitled “Hiroshima and Nagaski: the Fall-out”, the exhibition is being staged at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. — DPA

Drought sparks fires
NEW YORK: Wildfires were burning on more than 1 million acres across four states on Saturday as the country sweltered in hot and dry weather in the worst drought to hit some regions in 60 years. Blazes were raging across Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the National Interagency Fire Centre in Boise, Idaho, reported. Nevada suffered the most wildfires, with 23 fires burning 992,300 acres in the state alone. — AFP