NATO bombing
China to get $ 4.5m for embassy killings
BEIJING, July 30 — The USA will pay $ 4.5 million compensation for the three people killed and more than 20 wounded when NATO bombs destroyed Beijing’s Embassy in Belgrade, US official David Andrews said today.

Turkey drops amnesty plan
ANKARA, July 30 — Turkey’s Nationalist-backed coalition government has dropped an amnesty plan for separatist Kurdish rebels, newspapers have said.

USA blocks nerve gas questioning
UNITED NATIONS, July 30 — The USA has blocked China and France from asking UN weapons inspectors to prove that the VX nerve gas left in a Baghdad laboratory wasn’t used improperly to contaminate Iraqi missile warheads.

B’desh Oppn call for nationwide stir
DHAKA, July 30 — Major opposition parties have called for a 30-hour nationwide strike from Monday in protest against Dhaka’s decision to allow Indian goods to be transported over Bangladeshi territory to another part of India.

17 miners killed in SA blast
JOHANNESBURG, July 30 (AFP) — At least 17 miners have been killed in an underground explosion at a South African gold mine near Johannesburg, Mineowners Anglogold said in a statement.

Laden to ‘leave Afghanistan’

ISLAMABAD, July 30 (Reuters) — Saudi-born militant Osama bin laden has decided to leave Afghanistan fearing a fresh US attack against him, the independent Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said today.

It quoted what it said were sources close to Bin Laden as saying that he would seek sanctuary outside Afghanistan, where he has been living as a “guest” of the Taliban movement.

“Osama bin Laden has decided to leave Afghanistan. He said the decision has been taken because of the expected attacks from the USA,” AIP said.

The agency, based in the Pakistani border town of Peshawar, said the Taliban would cooperate with any Islamic country which offered bin Laden sanctuary.

The USA fired cruise missiles at suspected Bin Laden training camps in southern Afghanistan in August last year in retaliation for the bombings of American Embassies in East Africa. Washington had blamed the Saudi dissident for the attacks.

The USA has called on the Taliban to extradite Bin Laden to face charges of masterminding the bomb attacks, but Taliban have said they have no extradition treaty with Washington as it does not recognise their government.

WASHINGTON (PTI): Meanwhile many analysts have said the probability of a US air strike or cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan was high in the light of a series of statements and hints from the Pentagon.

Inderfurth yesterday asked the Taliban either to “cooperate” or “confront” and that the USA was ready “to move in either direction. He said he had explained to the Taliban representative at the recent “six plus two” conference on Afghanistan in Tashkent the US policy towards Taliban on the question of extradition of Laden, who is reportedly married to a daughter of the Taliban chief Mullah Omar.

KABUL: The Taliban offensive against opposition leader Ahmad Shah Masood entered its third day today amid conflicting casualties reports.

Heavy artillery exchanges overnight continued after dawn at two frontlines 25 km north of the capital, Kabul residents said.

No precise casualty toll was available, but Kabul residents said four people were killed and at least 25 were injured in opposition rocket attacks on Kabul airport, from which the Taliban launched its bombing raids.

Opposition source contacted in neighbouring Pakistan said that 30 civilians were killed in the Taliban offensive close to Kabul. There was no independent verification of the claim.

The human rights group, Amnesty International, had said yesterday that thousands of civilians were at risk from the fighting — the heaviest since the last Taliban offensive some 10 months ago.

Oppn rejects Sharif-Clinton pact

ISLAMABAD, July 30 (UNI) — The combined Opposition Parliamentary Party in the Pakistani Senate has unanimously rejected the Islamabad-Washington agreement on the Kargil issue signed by Premier Nawaz Sharif and US President Bill Clinton on July 4.

Talking to newspersons here last night, Parliamentary Party spokesman said that the combined Opposition had decided to seek from the government a clarification on whether it was “a declaration or an agreement” announced after the Clinton-Sharif meeting on July 4.

The Opposition asked “if it was an agreement, then why was India not a party to it and why was it signed between the USA and Pakistan alone.”

The spokesman said “without India, any agreement on Kashmir or Kargil would be meaningless.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Federal Cabinet has decided to set up a five-member Cabinet Political Committee to keep an eye on the opposition’s anti-Nawaz Sharif campaign over the alleged mishandling of the Kargil issue.

The Cabinet, which met here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took serious note of the rallies and protests initiated by the Opposition parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

While the Jamaat-e-Islami held a big rally in Lahore on Sunday, demanding the ouster of Mr Nawaz Sharif because of his “Kargil policy” and “withdrawal of the Mujahideen”, thousands of supporters of the Awami Tehreek staged a demonstration in Rawalpindi on Wednesday who vented their anger with slogans of “go Nawaz go”.

The rally was well-organised and for the first time the Tehree which is led by Allama Tahirul Qadri, a religious-cum-political figure, also brought a large number of women to the rally.

In another development, Pakistan’s Leader of Opposition Benazir Bhutto has charged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with “terrorism against his own countrymen.”

In a statement issued from London, Ms Benazir Bhutto accused Mr Sharif of “extra-judicial killings of hundreds of Pakistanis in police custody”.

She said staged encounters in Punjab had risen dramatically in the past one year.

She said the execution of civilians in police custody was one more glaring example of the Sharif regime’s complete disregard for the Constitution and human life. Democratic law-abiding governments did not condone such practices nor take the law into their own hands, she said.

Man goes on rampage, kills 9

ATLANTA, July 30 (AP, Reuters) — A man in shorts, described as irate over stock trading losses, opened fire at two brokerage offices in the Piedmont Centre killing nine persons and wounding 12 before escaping, he then killed himself when stopped by police. Earlier three relatives of the suspect were found shot dead in their suburban home.

Mayor Bill Campbell said the gunman, Mark O. Barton (44), committed suicide yesterday after the police cornered him in a dark green van at a service station in Atlanta’s northern suburbs about five hours after the office shootings.

“He pulled over and then killed himself,” Mr Campbell said.

Two weapons were found at the scene and a note was found at the home where the relatives’ bodies were found, he said. The note’s contents were not disclosed.

Seven of the injured were in a critical condition at Atlanta Hospitals.

The incident was the latest in a grim wave of mass shootings at schools and workplaces and was among the worst office massacres ever.

Mr Campbell said several witnesses at the office buildings recognised the gunman as Barton.

Roadblocks went up after the afternoon shootings, and swat teams fanned through the complex of offices searching for him.

Barton, a chemist, walked into a brokerage office at securities centre in Buckhead district north of downtown Atlanta at 3 p.m. local time, opened fire, then walked across the street and began shooting at another brokerage firm there, momentum Securities Inc, the Mayor said.

Four of the victims were killed in one building and five in the other. Shot with 9 mm and .45-calibre handguns, the Mayor said.

The three relatives of Barton were found dead at an apartment at Stockbridge in Henry County, 26 km south-east of Atlanta where Barton lived, the police said.

They would not identify the three or give any other details, but Mr Campbell said they might have been Barton’s current wife and two children.

Lt. Roger Stubbs of Henry County said the three deaths were reported just 30 minutes after the Atlanta shootings, indicating it must have happened earlier.

A previous wife and mother-in-law of Barton were bludgeoned to death in 1993 in Cedar Bluff, Alabama. No arrests were made.

“He was the main suspect all the way through and still was,” said Richard Igou, District Attorney at the time of the killings, said Current District Attorney Mike o’Dell said there was a suspect in the case, but declined to say whether it was Barton.

Mr Campbell quoted witnesses as saying that Barton was upset about recent stock losses, but said there were no accounts of any specific provocation yesterday.

The shooting spree took place in mid-afternoon, sending office workers fleeing into the street or trapping them inside, some hiding under desks. The police was searching the building, office by office, and hunting in wooded areas around the complex.

“He apparently was a day trader at a brokerage firm and was concerned about financial losses. He was there, noticed the market was down and pulled out a gun and began shooting”, Mr Campbell said.

“Those that have identified Barton said he came in and had a normal conversation, and then began firing”, Mr Campbell said.

John Cabrer, who works in a nearby office, told Atlanta television station WSB-TV that before he opened-fire, the gunman walked in and told people in the office, “I hope this doesn’t ruin your trading day.”

“We are working on pulling together the who, what, why, where on this guy, what his involvement was with Momentum. As of right now we’re still pulling this together and I don’t know a whole lot,” said Jeff Eller, who works for a public relations agency that handles Momentum’s media relations.

NATO bombing
China to get $ 4.5m for embassy killings

BEIJING, July 30 (Reuters) — The USA will pay $ 4.5 million compensation for the three people killed and more than 20 wounded when NATO bombs destroyed Beijing’s Embassy in Belgrade, US official David Andrews said today.

The agreement was reached after Chinese and US negotiators held three days of talks here over compensation for the victims and the destruction of the Belgrade mission.

Mr Andrews, legal adviser in the state department, made no mention of compensation for the embassy building as he read out a statement to reporters at the start of a news conference.

He said the agreement reflected the critical importance of the US-China relationship and the money would be paid as soon as possible as compensation for the tragic and mistaken bombing of Beijing’s mission on May 7.

The official Xinhua news agency said the money would be paid to the Chinese Government, which would divide the money among the wounded and the relatives of those killed.

China has rejected as unconvincing US explanations that the bombing was an error stemming from bad intelligence. The bombing sparked several days of demonstrations by tens of thousands of incensed Chinese.

Turkey drops amnesty plan

ANKARA, July 30 (Reuters) — Turkey’s Nationalist-backed coalition government has dropped an amnesty plan for separatist Kurdish rebels, newspapers have said.

Leftist Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit announced the plan for the partial amnesty for the guerrillas in February shortly after the dramatic capture of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The plan aimed at persuading Ocalan’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas — fighting for Kurdish self-rule since 1984 — to leave their mountain hide-outs and surrender. The conflict has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

But since that plan was announced, Ecevit has returned to power at the head of a coalition government with a far-right Nationalist Party, staunchly opposed to concessions to the PKK.

The Nationalist coalition partner had objected to an amnesty that might offend Turks who lost relatives fighting the PKK.

A Turkish court sentenced Ocalan to death last month for treason.

The ruling, now before the appeals court, sparked immediate calls from the West not to execute Ocalan.

The repentance law would be valid for six months only for PKK members forced into the group who had not used arms against security forces and for those who provided valuable intelligence on the movement, the paper added.

Ocalan and Sakik would not benefit if the parliament approves the Repentance Bill, it said.

In an apparent move to ease European criticism over its shaky human rights record, the government also plans a three-year suspension of jail sentences imposed on journalists, writers and intellectuals for what they wrote or said.

USA blocks nerve gas questioning

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 (AP) — The USA has blocked China and France from asking UN weapons inspectors to prove that the VX nerve gas left in a Baghdad laboratory wasn’t used improperly to contaminate Iraqi missile warheads.

Current Security Council President Malaysia’s UN Ambassador Hasmy Agam had yesterday circulated a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan with eight questions to inspectors in the UN Special Commission from China and three questions from France.

The USA objected to the questions from France, added late Wednesday, which US officials felt trivialised the serious issue of disarming Iraq and focused unfairly on the UNSCOM. So the letter has not been sent.

France, China and Russia — Iraq’s closest allies in the Security Council — urged the council to have the samples analysed, saying inspectors may have laced Iraqi warheads with the agent.

But majority of the 15-member council agreed with the weapons inspectors who said the VX could only be used to calibrate equipment used to test for the nerve agent, posed no danger, and should be destroyed.

B’desh Oppn call for nationwide stir

DHAKA, July 30 (Reuters) — Major opposition parties have called for a 30-hour nationwide strike from Monday in protest against Dhaka’s decision to allow Indian goods to be transported over Bangladeshi territory to another part of India.

“The decision is suicidal and a grave threat to Bangladesh’s national sovereignty,’’ four opposition parties said in a joint statement.

“We urge people to join a protest strike from Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon,’’ they said.

A Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Ms Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday agreed in principle to permit the transportation of Indian goods along Bangladeshi roads.

“We would rather give our blood than giving transit to hegemonist India,’’ the Opposition leader, Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party said in remarks published today.

Ms Khaleda, Ms Hasina’s predecessor, has said India will use the transit to ferry troops and weapons to north east Indian states to combat separatist insurgents, whom she calls “freedom fighters’’.

Officials said yesterday that a joint committee of experts from Bangladesh and India would examine the proposal for Bangladeshi truck operators to move Indian goods in sealed containers across Bangladesh, “giving priority to Bangladesh’s economic interests’’.

Mr Ahmed said since 1980 India had been using Bangladeshi waterways for limited cargo transport. Road haulage would merely extend that facility, he added.

India had also asked for permission to carry goods by train across Bangladesh but no such decision had yet been taken, government officials said.

17 miners killed in SA blast

JOHANNESBURG, July 30 (AFP) — At least 17 miners have been killed in an underground explosion at a South African gold mine near Johannesburg, Mineowners Anglogold said in a statement.

Rescue teams were early today still searching for two other workers missing in the Mponeng mine near Carletonville, about 15 km southwest of Johannesburg, after bringing 20 other men to surface safely.

“The explosion, thought to be methane-related, occurred at 6 p.m. yesterday on 99 level, some 2,700 metres below surface,” the company said in a statement.

First Lady dead
SINGAPORE: Ling Siew May, wife of Singapore’s President, died today after a two-and-a-half year battle with colon cancer, officials said. She was 62. Ling “passed away peacefully” in the morning at the city-state’s National University Hospital, the office of President Ong Teng Cheong announced in a release. — AP

Van Gogh painting
HAMBURG: A painting described as the world’s most expensive has been sold to a buyer in the USA for $ 44 million, German Television has reported. The new owner of “the portrait of Dr Gachet” by Vincent Van Gogh intends to remain anonymous and will not put the painting on display. — DPA

Glass dome
BERLIN: The glass dome of the landmark Reichstag building was used as the backdrop for a German gay magazine’s nude centrespread, stunned lawmakers learned. A photographer for Manner Aktuell Magazine and his beefy model entered the building and were waved through security barriers as camera-toting tourists. — DPA