Rocket strikes on Dagestan launched
MOSCOW, Aug 29 — Russian forces using helicopter gunships launched rocket strikes today on two Dagestani villages whose residents supported a Muslim insurgency against Moscow this month, news agencies reported.

B’desh Opposition boycotts Parliament
DHAKA, Aug 29 — Opposition parties in Bangladesh today boycotted the opening day of the autumn session of Parliament to force the Sheikh Hasina government to reverse its decision on allowing transhipment facilities to India and turned down her appeal to discuss the matter in the House.

Vaccine for bubonic plague developed
LONDON, Aug 29 — Scientists at a British military research laboratory said they had developed a genetically modified vaccine for bubonic plague which they planned to test on humans soon.

Thousands listen to Dalai Lama
CHICAGO, Aug 29 — At least 3,200 persons gathered at Chicago’s Field Museum on Saturday to hear the Dalai Lama’s nonsectarian message of peace, compassion and human rights on the last day of a 17-day US visit.

Sino-Indian talks to ‘enhance trust’
BEIJING, Aug 29 — China has expressed the hope that the first-ever Sino-Indian security dialogue agreed to during External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s visit to Beijing in mid-June would enhance mutual trust.

Di’s love letters may be out soon
LONDON, Aug 29 — The late Princess Diana’s love letters to an army major may soon be published in a book written by her former lover and sold to a British newspaper, according to the Sunday Express tabloid.

Ex-PM Rabin killer’s sentence enhanced
JERUSALEM, Aug 29 — Israel’s Supreme Court today added three years to the sentence imposed on Yigal Amir, the convicted assassin of former Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin who is already serving a life term plus 11 years for his crimes.

Referendum on E. Timor today
Rival militias agree on arms ban

DILI (East Timor), Aug 29 (AFP) — The rival factions in East Timor today announced a pact limiting the carrying of weapons at a press conference attended by UN officials, Indonesian police and military personnel.

Deputy commander Falur of the Falintil, the armed wing of the independence movement, and Eurico Guterres, deputy chief of the pro-Indonesian militias, announced the agreement in Dili.

“The parties call on the Indonesian police to arrest under existing Indonesian law any of their members carrying weapons outside their designated cantonment areas,” they said.

Last week on the final two days of campaigning for Monday’s historic autonomy vote rampant violence blamed largely on pro-Indonesian militias claimed eight lives.

The announcement, made at the UN Mission in East Timor headquarters, came a day before East Timorese are to vote on an offer of autonomy offered by Indonesia.

Also present were mission head Ian Martin, Commander of the Indonesian armed forces Colonel Muhammad Noer Muis, and Indonesia’s East Timor police chief Colonel Timbul Silaen.

Among the three other clauses in the pact were an agreement in principle “to discuss the formation of a verification committee to oversee cantonment and laying down of arms.”

There was scepticism here over implementation of the pact, agreed in the eastern coastal city of Baucau on Saturday, after last week’s militia violence which sent hundreds of Dili residents fleeing into the hills.

JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia’s military said on Sunday that it could not give a 100 per cent guarantee of maintaining security in troubled East Timor.

“In a statement, the military said it regretted recent unrest in the former Portuguese colony. Several people have been killed since Thursday in clashes between pro-independence and pro-Indonesia groups.

“In relation to that, we admit that the military and police cannot give a 100 per cent guarantee if chaos occurs because there will always be unhealthy rivalries and provocations by the warring groups which often are unavoidable,” the military said.

Previously, the military has insisted it could keep control in East Timor, and Indonesia has rejected calls for United Nations peacekeepers to maintain security there.

The armed forces in East Timor have been widely accused of arming and backing pro-Jakarta militias who have killed scores in a reign of terror in the territory this year.

The UN has also said the police have failed to do enough to prevent violence, often merely standing by or even appearing to encourage pro-Jakarta militia attacks.

The military in the statement said it had prepared an evacuation plan in case violence breaks out after tomorrow’s U.N.-supervised ballot on independence.

Kyrgyz gunmen free 3 hostages

BISHKEK, Aug 29 (Reuters) — Guerrillas hiding in southern Kyrgyzstan released three local hostages yesterday, but the fate of the remaining 17 captives, including four Japanese geologists, remained unknown, a Kyrgyz official said today.

“The main news of the last 24 hours is that yesterday evening...Three of the four hostages taken from Karamyk village were released by the bandits,” said Mr Kubanichbek Taabaldiyev, director of the Kabar news agency.

Mr Kabar has set up a joint information centre with the Kyrgyz Defence Ministry.

Mr Taabaldiyev said the gunmen, who spoke in Uzbek, had not sent any demands or messages with the released hostages. They have yet to make contact with the Kyrgyz forces.

“The fourth captive was kept with them because three of them knew the Koran but the fourth was left so that he could learn the Koran,’’ he told a news briefing in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

Mr Taabaldiyev said that the estimated number of gunmen who had crossed into Kyrgyzstan from neighbouring Tajikistan had been revised down to 650 from 1,000. The number of hostages had also been revised. Officials said that 18 people were being held in various hideouts in the remote mountainous terrain, but that was raised to 20 before yesterday’s release.

The guerrillas entered Kyrgyzstan a week ago, and have been identified as members of the extremist Muslim opposition in Uzbekistan. They want to drive to north to their home territory to launch a campaign of terror.

The Kyrgyz Defence Ministry says that their leader is Dzhuma Namangani, a leader of the Uzbek Islamic opposition who fled the country in 1992 and is accused by President Islam Karimov of being behind a plot to assassinate him.

A series of bomb blasts in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent killed 16 people and Mr Karimov narrowly escaped death. Namangani is believed to have a base in Tajikistan, not far from the Kyrgyz border.

Australia new El Dorado for Indians

SYDNEY, Aug 29 (PTI) — The itinerant Indian has found a new destination — the land down under.

More and more Indians are travelling to Australia blessed with fabulous beaches, scenic natural environ and the upcoming Olympics next year, which is already generating considerable tourist interest.

The number of Indian visitors to the country rose by about 50 per cent between 1997-98. This year’s target of nearly 40,000 Indians will mean a further increase of 30 per cent.

According to the Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) 70 per cent of Indian visitors come here for leisure, 20 per cent for business and the rest for education.

Not surprisingly, Quantas — the Australian flag carrier — which had suspended the services between 1990 to 1996, now operates 14 flights a week on Sydney-Mumbai sector. This is twice the number of flights they operated two years ago.

An Indian visitor need not miss his native food, for major Australian towns such as capital, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth have restaurants serving a wide range of Indian cuisine. Sydney alone boasts of about 430 such joints.

Indians are among people from 140 ethnic backgrounds living in Sydney and have made a mark in several diverse professions, including information technology and medicine.

Responding to an intense campaign by Australian educational institutions, more and more students from India are joining professional courses here.

The number of students joining educational institutions is showing an upward trend which in turn is adding to the influx of tourists from India — with students being visited by their families.

The mega sporting event of the next millennium — Sydney Olympics 2000 — is an added attraction for tourists with the ATC estimating an extra 1.3 million visitors to pour into this continental nation.

To attract more visitors during next year’s multisport extragavanza, especially from India, the Business Club Australia, which essentially builds positive connections to promote Australian business, has designed a package to provide a unique opportunity to mix business with pleasure and sports.

The club, which is expecting 600 members to avail the service from the Indian subcontinent next year, will also highlight tourism-related opportunities offered by this beautiful and vast land in the run up to the Olympics.

Rocket strikes on Dagestan launched

MOSCOW, Aug 29 (AFP) — Russian forces using helicopter gunships launched rocket strikes today on two Dagestani villages whose residents supported a Muslim insurgency against Moscow this month, news agencies reported.

The attack on Karamakhy and Chabanmakhy in southern Dagestan followed an order by Russian and Dagestani authorities to the villagers to hand over their weapons.

Itar-Tass quoted an unnamed source at the site of the military operation as saying the attack helicopters had gone into action, while Interfax quoted law-enforcement officials in the republic confirming the assault.

According to the Russian Interior Ministry, several residents of the two villages fought alongside Islamic rebels who seized villages in Dagestan on August 7 as part of a drive to set up an Islamic state in the northern Caucasus. The rebels from Chechnya were driven out after less than three weeks of air raids and fighting with the Russian government forces.

The Information Minister of the self-proclaimed Islamic state of Dagestan, Magomet Rasu Mussayev, told Echo Moskvy Radio that the Russian assault on the two villages had left two dead and several injured.

“The Russian troops blocked off all the roads and without warning began firing,” said Mussayev, according to the report.

B’desh Opposition boycotts Parliament

DHAKA, Aug 29 (PTI) — Opposition parties in Bangladesh today boycotted the opening day of the autumn session of Parliament to force the Sheikh Hasina government to reverse its decision on allowing transhipment facilities to India and turned down her appeal to discuss the matter in the House.

Members of the main opposition Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP) decided last night to continue boycott of Parliament till the government cancelled its decision to allow transhipment facility to India, party sources said here today.

“We will refrain from attending the session till the Cabinet decision on allowing corridor to India is rescinded,” Mr Khandaker Delwar Hossain, BNP leader and Opposition Chief Whip said while giving details about the BNP’s Parliamentary Party meeting that was chaired by the Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia.

The BNP’s allies — the main faction of the Jatiya Party headed by former Bangladesh President H M Ershad and the Jammat-e-Islami — had also taken similar decisions.

Vaccine for bubonic plague developed

LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) — Scientists at a British military research laboratory said they had developed a genetically modified vaccine for bubonic plague which they planned to test on humans soon.

“We have a new vaccine against the plague that is at a particularly advanced stage of development and is produced by genetic engineering,’’ Dr Rick Hall, Technical Director, Porton Down Centre, in South-West England, told BBC radio during the weekend.

The vaccine, which was developed as part of the centre’s biological weapons research programme, will be licensed through the same processes as any other medicine.

“It will not only provide increased protection for the UK and its armed forces but will also be available to help those civilians in other parts of the world where plague occurs naturally,’’ he added.

Bubonic plague, also known as the black death, swept through Europe in the middle ages. The worst outbreak killed between one third and a half of the population in 1348. Small outbreaks have occurred in Europe in the 20th century and the plague remains a major infection in many tropical countries.

Thousands listen to Dalai Lama

CHICAGO, Aug 29 (AP) — At least 3,200 persons gathered at Chicago’s Field Museum on Saturday to hear the Dalai Lama’s nonsectarian message of peace, compassion and human rights on the last day of a 17-day US visit.

The exiled spiritual leader of the world’s Tibetan Buddhists also spoke in New York and in Bloomington, Indiana, where his brother founded the Tibetan Cultural Center in 1979.

“We are the same physically, spiritually and emotionally, “the Dalai Lama told the crowd at Saturday’s fund-raiser. “We have the same potential to help other people.”

He also spoke of the importance of meditation to prepare to face life’s problems and noted that much blood had been shed in the name of religion.

“It is surprising to see western people so interested in him,” said Julie Zhang, a computer programmer from Canton, China.

Among those in the crowd were talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Actress Goldie Hawn.

Sino-Indian talks to ‘enhance trust’

BEIJING, Aug 29 (PTI) — China has expressed the hope that the first-ever Sino-Indian security dialogue agreed to during External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s visit to Beijing in mid-June would enhance mutual trust.

“It is my hope that such dialogue will be conducive to enhancing mutual trust and understanding of the international security situation,” Director-General of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament of the Foreign Ministry Sha Zhukang said.

As a matter of fact, on almost all major international issues, China and India share similar views. China and India have been supporting, cooperating and coordinating with each other, he told PTI in an interview.

“China and India are two major countries of Asia, both geographically and politically. I think it is important for both to exchange views on the perception of security, how to improve our security through bilateral exchanges and find ways and means to have some kind of cooperative security,” former Ambassador to India Cheng Ruisheng said.

Di’s love letters may be out soon

LONDON, Aug 29 (AFP) — The late Princess Diana’s love letters to an army major may soon be published in a book written by her former lover and sold to a British newspaper, according to the Sunday Express tabloid.

“Betrayal” blazed the newspaper’s headline as it revealed that one-time lover, Major James Hewitt, has broken a vow never to publish the 65 love letters the Princess sent him as her marriage to Prince Charles was crumbling.

The contents of the letters, which allegedly speak of the royal family in bitter terms, have already found their way on to news-stands in the USA, reported another tabloid, The Sunday Mirror.

Neither of the papers published sections from the letters.

Hewitt may have found a legal loophole enabling him to publish the letters, according to solicitors referred to by Sunday Express.

It said that Price Charles’ office was frantically trying to get hold of a copy of Hewitt’s book while the late Princess’s estate was said to be considering an injunction.

Ex-PM Rabin killer’s sentence enhanced

JERUSALEM, Aug 29 (DPA) — Israel’s Supreme Court today added three years to the sentence imposed on Yigal Amir, the convicted assassin of former Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin who is already serving a life term plus 11 years for his crimes.

The Jerusalem court’s decision followed an appeal by the Israeli state which sought to extend the term of detention imposed on Amir by a Tel Aviv district court in 1996.

The Supreme Court increased the sentences imposed on Amir and his brother Hagai for plotting to kill Rabin and for attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Yigal Amir was sentenced to life in March 1996 and to a further six years for injuring a bodyguard, the Tel Aviv district court later added five further years of detention for plotting with others to kill Rabin and for illegal possession of weapons.

8 Indians held
RIYADH: The religious police in Saudi Arabia has arrested eight Indians allegedly running a “technologically advanced” distillery opposite a mosque here, a newspaper said on Saturday. The Indians, who included two women, were using a distillery “with advanced technology, installed in a residential area in Riyadh opposite a mosque,” Al-Jazira said. — AFP

White House porn site
SAN FRANCISCO: The Internet porn site whitehouse.com has long rivalled its official Presidential namesake whitehouse.gov in the number of web visitors and page views. But now the hugely popular sex site is being challenged by a fruit company which claims it owns the White House trademark, reports said on Saturday. The National Fruit Product Co. says it has been using the White House brand since 1913 and has demanded that the smut site transfer its domain name to the company. — DPA

Jumbo operation
BANGKOK: A team of Thai veterinarians successfully sewed up a jumbo-sized operation without immediate complications on a Thai elephant who had stepped on a landmine in Myanmar almost two weeks ago, hospital officials said. After giving Motola, a 38-year-old cow pachyderm, enough anesthetsia to knock out 100 humans, a team of six Thai vets on Saturday removed parts of her badly damaged and infected front left foot and successfully sutured the wounds in a three-hour operation at Lamphang Elephant Hospital, said Ms Solida Chawala, secretary-general of the Friends of Asian Elephants Foundation. — DPA

Marooned in maze
LONDON: People lost in an old English hedge maze have discovered a new way out — calling for help on their mobile phones. Staff at Lord Bath’s longleat Estate in Wiltshire, which holds the world record for the longest hedge maze, say they have been inundated with calls — almost 30 in the past two weeks —from panic-stricken people stuck in the maze. “Really, if you are going into a maze, then you’ll get lost — that’s the point, isn’t it?” Mr Bentley said. — Reuters

Actress sentenced
CAIRO: An Egyptian court has sentenced actress Habiba Said to 10 yera in prison with hard labour for stabbing her Qatari husband to death. Said, who has played minor roles, was convicted in Saturday of involuntary manslaughter because of extenuating circumstances — her 32-year-old husband tried to rape her, said judicial officials at the court in Giza, across the Nile from Cairo. — AFP

World’s highest hotel
SHANGHAI: The Grand Hyatt Shanghai, described as the highest hotel in the world by the Hyatt group and Chinese officials, was formally opened in spectacular fashion here on Saturday. The five-star hotel occupies the top 35 floors of the recently completed 88-storey Jinmao Tower, the third tallest building in the world at more than 421 metres in height. — AFP

Lake monster sighted
STOCKHOLM: Three new sightings of a lake monster this summer said to inhabit Sweden’s great lake have rekindled hopes of solving a 360-year-old mystery, said an organiser of a conference on the creature. The new eye-witness reports, detailed to the conference in the central Swedish town of Ostersund, echoed previous descriptions of the suspected monster said to lurk in Sweden’s fifth-largest lake, which covers 465 square km. — Reuters