Chinese Army on alert in Hong Kong
HONG KONG, Aug 15 — People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces in Hong Kong have been placed on alert amid increasing China-Taiwan tensions, the Sunday Morning Post said, quoting “well-informed sources’’.

Nirad’s books for ‘people of Bengal’
LONDON, Aug 15 — The entire “literary estate” of renowned author Nirad Chaudhuri, who was criticised throughout his life for being too British and anti-India, will be gifted to the “people of Bengal”, his son said today.

Suharto’s condition stable
JAKARTA, Aug 15 — Former Indonesian President Suharto remained in stable but serious condition with intestinal bleeding today, as doctors considered whether to operate on the former strongman.

Emergency in Chechnya
GROZNY (Russia), Aug 15 — The breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya has declared a state of emergency from August 16 to September 16, in connection with the conflict in neighbouring Dagestan, a presidential spokesman said.

2,000 guerrillas in valley: report
LONDON, Aug 15 — India is facing a new offensive from Islamic militants following a decision by Pakistan’s military chiefs to allow more than 1,000 heavily-armed mercenaries to open another front in Kashmir, a leading British newspaper said today.

40 churches destroyed
BELGRADE, Aug 15 — More than 40 Serbian orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo have been destroyed by ethnic Albanians since the Nato-led-Kfor mission took control there in mid-June, spokesman for the church was quoted on Sunday as saying.

Palestinian threat on Wye talks
RAMALLAH, Aug 15 — A top Palestinian official today issued what sounded like an ultimatum to the Israelis, insisting that negotiations over implementation of the Wye river land-for-security accord could not continue indefinitely.

Over 80 rebels die in Dagestan

MOSCOW, Aug 15 (DPA, AP) — Fighting in the Caucasian republic of Dagestan has escalated with Russian forces killing 80 rebels and losing three of their own soldiers during the past 24 hours, Russian news agencies reported today.

Muslim separatists have lost 280 men since the start of the Russian offensive a week ago. Russia has moved several combat units to the area, the reports said.

Russian forces suffered 14 dead and 40 wounded, the report said. Villages and positions where rebels were suspected of hiding were attacked from the air and with artillery yesterday, reports said.

The reports, citing the Russian authorities, added that the Russians were supported by “armed volunteers from Dagestan’’ and that panic had broken out among the rebels.

There were no independent reports from the battle zone.

Russian forces, Dagestani police and armed volunteers were said to be entering what they saw as the final phase of driving the rebels out. Russian battle helicopters again attacked rebel positions overnight.

Russia’s designated Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, has said the Muslim rebel insurgency would be put down by the end of the month. Russian forces were also authorised to fire at targets in the breakaway Chechen republic, if necessary.

Russian Su-25 warplanes and combat helicopters raided rebel targets in Dagestan today and paratroopers backed by artillery advanced on strategic heights, officials in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala said.

The air raids around the villages of Ansalta, Rahata and Shodroda in Botlikh district were a prelude to the ground offensive aimed at capturing the Miarsinskiye Heights which hangs over the rebel-controlled villages from the south.

The paratroopers, supported by artillery, launched their attack at 0520 GMT (1050 IST). By mid-day, fighting was reported near Ansalta and further to the south, district officials said.

Russia’s Air Force commander Col. Gen. Anatoly Kornukhov, meanwhile, said the elimination of Islamic rebels in Dagestan would be completed soon, the Interfax news agency reported.

New clashes were reported elsewhere in Dagestan overnight and in the morning, including fire exchanges along the Chechen-Dagestani border, while rebels apparently trying to expand their zone of control battled police and local volunteers.

Much of the civilian population has, meanwhile, fled from the disputed border area between Dagestan and Chechenia, according to Russian reports which gave the number of refugees as 5,700.

News agency reports said earlier on Saturday that Russian troops had partially surrounded Muslim rebels in Dagestan. The rebels were said to have suffered heavy losses in the Tsumadi region.

However, the insurgents were still in a stronger position in the border region of Botlikh, the reports said.

Russia’s designated Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, said the Muslim rebel insurgency would be put down by the end of the month. Russian forces were also authorised to fire at targets in the breakaway Chechen republic if necessary.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov warned against any attempt at “outside intervention’’ in the conflict, which he called an attempt by “armed terrorists to set up an unconstitutional order in a part of the Russian federation’’.

Any support for the “terrorists’’, in whatever form, would be regarded by Russia as a “crude intervention in its internal affairs’’, Mr Ivanov warned.

His remarks were taken as being mainly aimed at Islamic countries. Mr Ivanov said he was convinced that the Islamic states also condemned the terrorists who were using Islam as a cover for their criminal deeds.

He said it was indisputable that the rebels in Dagestan were getting outside help, but he did not name any names.

Indians across world celebrate I-Day

BEIJING, Aug 15 (PTI) — Indians across the world today celebrated the 52nd Independence Day, with heads of embassies and consulates unfurling the national Tricolour and reading out the message of President K.R. Narayanan.

Special programmes were organised to mark the last Independence Day of this millennium and enthusiastic participants rendered patriotic songs and paid tributes to the Indian armed forces for displaying valour during the recent Kargil conflict.

At Beijing, Indian Ambassador V. K. Nambiar presided over the main function. Reading out the President’s message, he said Mr Narayanan had expressed delight over the improvement in Sino-Indian relations.

The day was also celebrated in other Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In Nepal, the main function held at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu was attended by Prime Minister K.P. Bhattarai. The special attraction at the programme was a musical recital by renowned vocalist Pandit Jasraj.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador K.V. Rajan announced that India would extend all possible help to the Nepal Government for modernising its health services.

The day was also celebrated in Bhutan, where Chairman of Royal Bhutan Advisory Council Dasho Rinzin Gyeltshen was the notable guest at a function organised by Indian Ambassador P.K. Singh.

Special programmes were also organised in Arab countries to mark the day. In Abu Dhabi, Indian Ambassador K.C. Singh presided over the main function which was attended by prominent nationals, students and office-bearers of all Indian associations.

In Dubai, Consul-General Ashok Mukherjee hoisted the Tricolour. Similar functions were organised in other emirates of the UAE, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.

The largely-circulated dailies of the UAE, Khaleej Times, Gulf News and Gulf Today, brought out special supplements detailing India’s achievements in different fields.

At the Indian embassy in Doha, Qatar, Ambassador R.L. Narayan hoisted the flag.

In Muscat, the Sultanate of Oman, Indian Ambassador S.J. Singh, unfurled the Tricolour.

In the Japanese Capital Tokyo, unfurling the Tricolour at the Indian embassy, Ambassador Siddharth Singh said more high-level Indo-Japan meetings were expected to further bilateral ties following External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s meeting with his Japanese counterpart during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore recently.

In New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, Indian Ambassador S Kipgen unfurled the national flag.

In Cairo, India’s Ambassador to Egypt Shiv Shankar Mukherjee hoisted the flag.

Teheran police chief, 6 others to
be tried

TEHERAN, Aug 15 (Reuters)— Seven top security officials and a group of hardline vigilantes are to stand trial in Iran for their role in an attack on a student dormitory which led to riots last month, an official report said.

A widely anticipated report by the investigative committee of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said the seven security officials included Teheran’s police chief and commanders of several special anti-riot police forces.

The report was published by the official news agency Irna late yesterday and by newspapers today.

It also blamed a number of lower-ranking security men for the overnight raid on Teheran University dormitory on July 8-9, which left hundreds injured and at least one dead.

The report withheld the names of suspects pending their trial.

“The forces broke the law by entering the dormitory, beating up students and destroying the premises. Those who made this decision and took part in it are guilty,” the report said.

“The committee has indicted the guilty ones identified in the report to the judiciary,” it said.

The attack on the dormitory followed attempts by the police to disperse an angry student demonstration protesting against a ban on a pro-reform newspaper and other measures by conservative clerics to muzzle the liberal Press.

The assault led to a series of pro-democracy student demonstrations, which culminated in major street riots in Teheran and scattered violence in other cities, the country’s worst since the consolidation of the Islamic republic in the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, Iran’s former Foreign Minister was appointed Secretary-General of a powerful and extremely active political-religious institution in the Arab Islamic world, reports said today.

Mr Ali Akbar Velayati, currently a close advisor on foreign affairs to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was nominated head of the Ahlul Bayt World Assembly, the paper, Hamshahri, said. He replaces Ayatollah Ali Tashkiri, a conservative cleric well known among religious circles.

Chinese Army on alert in Hong Kong

HONG KONG, Aug 15 (DPA) — People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces in Hong Kong have been placed on alert amid increasing China-Taiwan tensions, the Sunday Morning Post said, quoting “well-informed sources’’.

The PLA Garrison in Hong Kong about 1,000 soldiers, sailors and aircrew — have been placed on a third level of alert, the lowest of three rankings, the report said.

Helicopter gunships and missile boats are on 24-hour readiness and holiday leave for soldiers and officers has been cancelled.

Under a first-level alert PLA forces would have to be prepared for war at any moment and under second-level alert it would have to mobilise forces.

PLA troops in Hong Kong are not equipped to participate in a large-scale military offensive, according to the report.

“The PLA in Hong Kong is not so nervous as the army in mainland China,’’ the source said.

The alert in Hong Kong was in line with its status as part of the Guangzhou military region, which is on a similar level, the source said.

The Guangzhou military region’s forces would come to Hong Kong’s aid in the event of an attack as military helicopters and missile boats based in Hong Kong were merely symbolic presence, the report said.

Nirad’s books for ‘people of Bengal’

LONDON, Aug 15 (PTI) — The entire “literary estate” of renowned author Nirad Chaudhuri, who was criticised throughout his life for being too British and anti-India, will be gifted to the “people of Bengal”, his son said today. The youngest son, Mr Prithvi Narayan Chaudhuri (60), who was left with his father’s entire “literary estate” including books and copyrights in a will made last January said: “I have decided to gift the books, library and his personal belongings to the nation and to the people of Bengal.”

The latest copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and books on roses and trees would be donated to the “people of Oxford and the people of Summertown” where the author had spent over 30 years, he said.

Nirad Chaudhuri died on August 1, at the age of 101 at his residence on Lathbury Road, Oxford, where his possessions are still laid out in the front room.

Mr Prithvi Chaudhury said Indian High Commissioner to Britain Lalit Mansingh had assured him that Nirad Chaudhuri’s books would be sent to India and the cost would be borne by the government.

These would be sent to West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu so that the state government could establish a “museum-cum-library” in Calcutta to reflect the author’s varied interests.

He said he would discuss the details with the Chief Minister on his return to Calcutta.

He said his father’s solicitors told him on August 6 that the author had left the will entrusting him with the entire literary estate.

Mr Prithvi Chaudhury, who had “tea” with Lord Lt. Of Oxfordshire Hugo Brunner last evening, suggested that a “blue plaque” be put at 20 Lathbury Road, Oxford, stating “This is the place where the author Nirad Chaudhuri had resided.”

He said the house where the author had spent over three decades would be surrendered to the university college.

Nirad Chaudhuri’s two other sons — Dhruba, who is in Delhi and Kirti, who is in Florence, Italy, did not attend the funeral on August 5.

Suharto’s condition stable

JAKARTA, Aug 15 (AP) — Former Indonesian President Suharto remained in stable but serious condition with intestinal bleeding today, as doctors considered whether to operate on the former strongman.

Doctors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Suharto was conscious but very weak and unable to talk.

He was rushed to Jakarta’s Pertamina Hospital yesterday and doctors said they were planning a surgical procedure today to stem the bleeding.

Last month, Suharto suffered a minor stroke and spent 10 days in the same hospital before returning home to recuperate. His house is equipped with a private clinic.

“He is still in serious condition and we do not want to take any unnecessary risks,” said a physician who declined to be identified.

Three years ago, Mr Suharto underwent treatment in Germany for high blood pressure and kidney problems.

Since his resignation in May, 1998, Mr Suharto has led a reclusive life and has rarely talked publicly. When he has done so, it was to deny allegations about corruption and abuse of power during his time in office.

Emergency in Chechnya

GROZNY (Russia), Aug 15 (Reuters) — The breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya has declared a state of emergency from August 16 to September 16, in connection with the conflict in neighbouring Dagestan, a presidential spokesman said.

The spokesman, speaking on Chechen Television late yesterday and citing a presidential decree, said the state of emergency would include a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (1900-0300 GMT) and a ban on all media, except state-owned television.

Dagestan has been plunged into turmoil as Russian federal forces are fighting Islamic rebels backed by Chechen warlords.

The decree also said all military units, especially the border guard, should be in the highest state of military readiness.

The rebels in Dagestan are led by Chechen fighters on whom the official Chechen administration in Grozny, led by President Aslan Maskhadov, seems to have little control. The rebels, led by a well-known Chechen fighter, Shamil Basayev, have declared a separatist state and a holy war of liberation.

2,000 guerrillas in valley: report

LONDON, Aug 15 (PTI) — India is facing a new offensive from Islamic militants following a decision by Pakistan’s military chiefs to allow more than 1,000 heavily-armed mercenaries to open another front in Kashmir, a leading British newspaper said today.

"The bands of predominantly Pakistani irregulars are mounting daily attacks on Indian security positions," the Sunday Telegraph reported.

According to the report, Indian Army has deployed many of its troops to defend the heights around Kargil leaving it exposed in other parts of the Kashmir valley.

It said India realised the scale of the latest incursion only nine days ago, after about 40 Pakistani mercenaries led by a Kashmiri militant crept into the mountain hamlet of Chak Nutnus and quietly occupied traditional wood-and-brick houses on three sides of an Army post.

As dawn broke, the militants opened fire, unleashing a deadly hail of rocket and Machine gun fire into the sandbagged post, and by the time the "short but lethal" firefight had ended, five Indian soldiers, including two officers from the 4th Rashtriya Rifles were dead and 12 injured.

The militants lost six men. They later were identified as belonging to the Harkat ul Mujahideen, formerly known as the Harkat ul Ansar, the group responsible for killing six western tourists, including two Britons, four years ago, the report said.

The guerrillas struck again the next day, August 7, ambushing and killing a Colonel and four of his men investigating the earlier attack, the newspaper said.

That night, more mercenaries fired rockets into the headquarters of the 68th Mountain Brigade, near the Line of Control. The following night yet another armed band attacked a security camp in Udhampur.

Although the Indian Army admits that it has no clear idea of exactly how many militants are now operating in the Kashmir valley, intelligence reports indicate that between 1,200 and 2,000 guerrillas have crossed the border, the report said.

"Most have entered near Kupwara, an impoverished region where strong local support exists for the militant cause," it claimed.

The militants crawled through highland forests described by a Brigadier as so thick that "a man could pass under your nose on a cloudy day and you wouldn’t see him". Some even bribed border guards to turn a blind eye, the report claimed.

Once in India, the militants dug themselves into the mountains. When the Army discovered one camp, they found 10 shelters, two of which were underground, stocked with weapons, ammunition, food, medical supplies, blankets and clothing, it said. Indian Army believes that about 70 per cent of the militants now operating in the valley are from Pakistani fundamentalised groups supported by a smaller number of local militants and some Afghans, Sudanese, Arabs and Chechens linked to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi terrorist, the report said.

Previously, each militant earned almost 4,000 pounds for a two-year stint, although the Indian Army now believes that the pay may be less as more men are sent into the valley, the report said.

In a recent interview, an organiser for the Lashkar-e-Toiba said they were training 80,000 young men in religious studies and warfare every month, and that many were joining the ‘Jehad’ (holy war).

Whether motivated by religious fervour or cash, the guerrillas are clearly brazen, the report said, adding that on the afternoon of the attack on the Chak Nutnus post, militants from the Lashkar and the Hizbul Mujahideen played cricket on a tightly-guarded pitch near the Army post.

In addition to their attacks on security forces, Pakistani militants have also been conducting recruiting drives in what the Indian Army believes is an attempt to reignite Kashmir’s virtually dormant local insurgency, it said.

"Indian officers, who recently captured a group of teenage recruits, estimate that about 75 locals have crossed into Pakistan in the past month for training," it said.

The Army believes that the current campaign is a last-ditch attempt by Pakistan to "prove to the world that the cause of Kashmiri liberation is still alive", the paper said.

Also, having failed to internationalise the Kashmir issue successfully in Kargil, it is Islamabad’s aim to try again to heighten militancy in Kashmir valley, it said.

40 churches destroyed

BELGRADE, Aug 15 Reuters — More than 40 Serbian orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo have been destroyed by ethnic Albanians since the Nato-led-Kfor mission took control there in mid-June, spokesman for the church was quoted on Sunday as saying.

Bishop Atanasije Rakita also told the daily newspaper Glas that more than 200 Serbian villages had been systematically destroyed in the southern Serbian province.

He described the destruction of the churches and monasteries, many of them dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, as systematic.

Palestinian threat on Wye talks

RAMALLAH, Aug 15 (DPA) — A top Palestinian official today issued what sounded like an ultimatum to the Israelis, insisting that negotiations over implementation of the Wye river land-for-security accord could not continue indefinitely.

“I cannot refer to what we have achieved so far as progress,’’ chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio just hours before he was to hold another Wye-related meeting with Israeli envoy Gilad Sher.

He said that if there was no new progress in the talks he has to have with Mr Sher to night he would ask the Palestinian Authority to decide on the next step. The sides have held three meetings to try and reach agreement on when Israel will begin implementing the accord, but have been unable to agree on a timetable.

However, Mr Erekat today warned, “We cannot go on like this forever.”

Pinochet’s son’s plea
LONDON: The son of Augusto Pinochet has accused the British Government of ignoring the former Chilean dictator’s worsening health and has made a tearful plea for his release, according to a British Sunday newspaper. Marco Antonio Pinochet told The Sunday Telegraph: “My father is not at all well. He’s deteriorating physically and psychologically. I fear I will go back to Chile and never see him again. — Reuters

Computer strain
HAMBURG: Short relaxation exercises at the office can help eyes made sore by working at computer monitors, the German health magazine Apotheken Umschau advises. First, hold both eyes shut tight for two minutes, then take your hands away, open your eyes and move your palms slowly away from your face. A second exercise involves holding the thumbs about 40 cms away from the eyes, then looking alternately at them and into the distance. This switch of focus should be repeated seven times. — DPA

‘Eclipsed’ by sex
SOFIA: Bulgarians got the full story on Saturday on why the country’s television failed to give them live pictures of the total eclipse of the sun earlier in the week. According to the newspaper “24 Chassa”, the TV camera crew was so distracted staring at a sex scene being filmed near by that they failed to focus on the sun at the big moment, leaving Bulgarians gaping at blank TV screens and news announcers speechless. The crew had been positioned on the beach at the Black Sea for the coverage near by, another crew was filming for a late-night erotic magazine. — DPA

Anne Frank’s house
AMSTERDAM: Rain or shine, there is always a long line of people waiting to visit the narrow Amsterdam house where Jewish teenager Anne Frank wrote her diary during World War II. In 1998, around 8,22,000 visited the house on the Prinsengracht canal where Anne Frank hid with seven other Jews from their Nazi persecutors, an increase of around 37 per cent from the years up to 1996. — Reuters

Photographic awards
LONDON: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, a competition is being organised for selecting the best photographs on the theme of “freedom”. The Commonwealth photographic awards carry a first prize of £ 2,000 (about Rs 1,40,000) and 30 runner-up cash prizes. — PTI

Digital film channel
LONDON: The first 24-hour South Asian digital movie channel, a joint venture by NRIs, will be launched in the United Kingdom on August 26. The channel, B4U — Bollywood for you — is jointly promoted by well known NRIs, Kishore Lulla, Lakshmi N. Mittal and the Binani family. — PTI

Asthma diagnosis
CHICAGO: A study of inner-city school children in Chicago has found that asthma may be more prevalent than previously thought and that many suffering from it are not being treated properly. In a survey of 638 kindergarten children in 11 schools, researchers found that the prevalence of diagnosed asthma was 10.8 per cent, or twice the 5.8 per cent the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates in such a population nationally. Researchers at Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Centre also estimated that the prevalence of undiagnosed asthma among children might be as high as 7.5 per cent — Reuters

‘Furby’ dolls
TOKYO: Japanese Airlines have decided to gag the talkative US “Furby’ dolls because they are a danger to flights, officials said on Wednesday. Because there is no ‘off’ switch, owners have to take a screwdriver to their ‘Furbys’ and remove the batteries before boarding the five major Japanese airlines. — AFP

James Bond actor
SYDNEY: Pierce Brosnan has put to rest rumours that he would never again wield his licence to kill as James Bond, saying he is ready to make a fourth film. The Irish-born actor’s third outing as 007, “The World Is Not Enough”, is the 19th Bond movie and due for release later this year. — AFP