Evidence recorded in Anwar case
KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — The Judge in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial today dismissed defence objections and admitted as evidence a controversial confession by the former Finance Minister’s adopted brother saying that the two had sex.

Human embryos cloned
LONDON, June 17 — US scientists have cloned the first human embryos, the Daily Mail reported today.

Sukhoi crash not to hit supply schedule
From Ethirajan Anbarasan

LE BOURGET (FRANCE), June 17 — The recent crash of a Sukhoi-30 multi-role combat aircraft here will not affect the jet’s exports to India, a top company official said today.

The plane’s manufacturer is also ready to provide sophisticated electronic warfare and radar jamming systems for the already delivered planes, Mr Mikhail P. Simonov Head of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, said here.

“The Sukhoi jets supplied to India do not have radar jamming and advanced electronic warfare systems. If required, we are ready to incorporate them into the Su-30 MK-I jets and it will be as good as those used by Americans in Yugoslavia,” he told PTI.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) lost two MIG jets on May 27 to Pakistani missiles while conducting air strikes against Islamabad-backed intruders in Kargil. The loss was attributed to lack of radar jamming technique in the old model MIGs and the IAF had to deploy Mirage-2000 fighter jets to jam Pakistani radars before they could track Indian combat jets.

India, which signed a $ 1.6-billion contract to acquire 40 SU-30 MK-I jets, has already received eight of them. It received two more last week and two more would be sent next week as per the contract signed with the Irkutsk Aviation Production Amalgamation last year.

“The crash during a demonstration here last week will not have any implication on our exports to India. By September 1999 we will supply 10 Sukhoi jets to India,” Mr Alexei Fyodorov, President of Ikutsk Aviation, told reporters.

On the opening day of the Le Bourget airshow, Russian pilot Vyacheslav Averyanov in a Sukhoi was performing a flat spin but lost control and the plane’s tail scraped the ground igniting flames.

The plane finally crashed even as the pilot and his navigator ejected and landed safely.

Mr Simonov said if any other plane had been in that condition it would have blown out whereas the Sukhoi managed to gain height enabling pilots to have a safe ejection.

“It was absolutely clear there was no fault with the aircraft,” he said, adding the accident also proved the K-36D catapult seats fitted in Sukhois were the best ejection seats in the world. “The Sukhois supplied to India also has same kind of ejection seats”.

Talking about SU-33, the naval version of SU-30 MK-I, Mr Simonov said the plane had been successfully tested and supplied to the Russian Air Force early this year.

These craft would be best suited for aircraft carriers and could also perform multi-role function, he said.

Mr Simonov asserted that SU-30 jets would be the leading fighter jets for the first 25 years of the next century and that already some countries had shown interest in acquiring different models of the aircraft. — PTI

Japan links aid to CTBT

TOKYO, June 17 (UNI) — The Japanese government wants India to comply with certain nuclear “benchmarks” before Tokyo could resume normal aid to New Delhi under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) charter.

“The fundamental principles involved in extending assistance as per the ODA charter compel the Japanese government to take into account the situation in the recipient countries on several fronts, including the question of development of weapons of mass destruction,” Press Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sadaaki Numata told a group of foreign correspondents here.

“It is in the light of this philosophy that we have had to take certain measures with respect to new commitments of Yen loans and grant assistance,” he said.

Japan, the biggest donor in south Asia, had suspended new ODA grants after the May 1998 nuclear tests by India and Pakistan.

“We would like to find ourselves in a position of being able to first relax, and then lift, these measures. We are anxiously awaiting positive responses from India and Pakistan,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The nuclear “bench marks”, as set by the Japanese government, have four elements: (a) adherence to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), (b) a rigorous export control regime with regard to nuclear and missile related material, (c) a commitment to the cut-off treaty on fissile materials (FMCT) and (d) self restraint on weaponisation or deployment of nuclear weapons.

Asked how realistic these benchmarks were, especially when the USA had softened its stand on sanctions against India, the spokesman replied. “There is a very good reason speaking from our side for these benchmarks we are the only nation to have suffered the annihilating efforts of nuclear weapons”.

Mr Masaya Futiwara, Director of the South West Asia division in the Ministry said. “We are not insisting that all benchmarks be satisfied at one time, but there must be some forward movement on this issue”.

“Public opinion plays an important role in ODA, which is sustained by the money of the tax payers, and in Japan the public opinion against nuclear weapons in very, very strong. “Mr Fujiwara added.

Whenever, he said that Tokyo, appreciated New Delhi’s declaration of moratorium on nuclear tests and its declared policy of no first use of such weapons against any country adding that Japan also viewed positively the ongoing economic liberalisation programme in India.

Prior to Pokhran-II, India was the fifth largest recipient of Japan’s bilateral aid.

Asked whether the current posture of Tokyo in the aftermath of Pokhran-ii stifled the appetite of Japanese companies to do business with India, Mr Numata said, “It takes two to tango”. “In the absence of progress with respect to the benchmarks, it continues to be difficult for us to take the initiative to satisfy the demands of our businessmen,’’ he added.

Vajpayee may face protest in Dhaka

DHAKA, June 17 (AFP) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee arrives here on Saturday on his first trip to Bangladesh amid tight security as extremists warning a wave of protests over the Kashmir Conflict.

They have called for a 'Black Day' to mark Mr Vajpayee’s visit, with the anti-Indian fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, The Islami Oikya Jote and the extreme right-wing Jatiya Ganatantri Party saying they would organise protests to coincide with the trip.

Jamaat chief Gholam Azam in a statement called for demonstrations and 'Black Flag' protests against India’s stand on Kashmir and blamed Mr Vajpayee for the 1990 destruction of the Babri Masjid, which led to communal violence also in Bangladesh.

Security sources said Joint Bangladesh-India Elite Forces would be on guard during the Indian Premier’s visit, but they foresaw no trouble along the route he would be using.

A bullet-proof car to ferry Mr Vajpayee around, special security personnel and a telephone hotline between Dhaka and New Delhi are being reportedly set up for the Indian leader as well as a satellite link.

The current conflict in Kargil-Dras Sectors has forced the postponement of a scheduled meeting of the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Economic Cooperation Body set for Sunday, a senior official said.

Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Mr Shafi Sami said the meeting has been postponed because Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was "pre-occupied with domestic matters". The meeting will now be held in July at a date convenient to both the sides, Mr Sami said.

The ongoing conflict has also led to the revising of parts of Mr Vajpayee’s trip to Bangladesh this weekend.

Initially, the Indian Prime Minister was to travel by bus to the Bangladesh border to meet his counterpart Ms Sheikh Hasina, before flying into Dhaka by helicopter for a welcoming ceremony. That plan has now been scotched and Mr Vajpayee will instead fly direct to Dhaka, where he will hold talks with Ms Sheikh Hasina before officially launching a Dhaka-Calcutta Bus Service.

Mr Sami said Trade and Commerce was now the focus of New Delhi-Dhaka relations, following the landmark Ganga river Water Sharing Agreement and the resolution of Bangladesh’s Southeastern Hill Tracts Conflict.

Evidence recorded in Anwar case

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 (Reuters) — The Judge in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial today dismissed defence objections and admitted as evidence a controversial confession by the former Finance Minister’s adopted brother saying that the two had sex.

In the second set-back in as many days for Mr Anwar, high court Judge Arifin Jaka allowed the prosecution to introduce court documents stemming from the adopted brother’s conviction in September on a charge of having been sodomised by Anwar.

Justice Jaka admitted the documents, presented by the prosecution’s first witness in the seven-day-old trial, over vehement objections by defence lawyers who said they would prejudice the separate sodomy case against Mr Anwar and his adopted brother.

The Judge yesterday rejected Mr Anwar’s motion to have the case thrown out on the grounds that the prosecution had tried to frame trumped-up charges against the former Deputy Prime Minister and his adopted brother Sukma Darmawan.

Mr Anwar, who was sacked in September and sentenced in April to six years in jail on four corruption counts, faces one sodomy charge carrying a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail and whipping.

Sukma, who faces two sodomy counts in the joint trial, was convicted in September in a separate trial of having been sodomised by Mr Anwar and sentenced to six months in jail.

Human embryos cloned

LONDON, June 17 (AFP) — US scientists have cloned the first human embryos, the Daily Mail reported today.

Using methods similar to those which produced Dolly the cloned sheep at Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, they produced a male embryo comprising nearly 400 cells, according to the British Tabloid.

The scientists at the Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology then incinerated it after two days.

They want to produce human body tissue which can be used to treat patients with various conditions, including nerve damage, diabetes and parkinson’s disease.

A DNA-loaded nucleus of a human cell was extracted from a skin sample from a man’s leg and then inserted into the outer protein of a hollowed out cow’s egg under laboratory conditions, said the Mail.

Box office record
LOS ANGELES: “The Phantom Menace,” the latest episode in the “Star Wars” saga, hit a new box-office record by raking in $ 300 million in sales in just 20 days, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace” hit US theaters on May 19. It took the blockbuster “Titanic” 44 days to bring in the same amount of money. According to the Hollywood reporter, George Lucas’ newest film will hit $ 350 million in ticket sales very soon, something few films can boast of so soon after their release. The highest earnings record for any US film on the north American market is still held by “Titanic,” which has made $ 601 million. —AFP

Indian sentenced
SINGAPORE: A man arrested in India on suspicion of involvement in a passports-for-sale racket was sentenced to one year in prison by a Singapore district Judge, reports said on Thursday. Chandran Thambusamy, 28, was detained at the New Delhi airport after he was linked to forged Singapore passports found on five Sri Lankans. Repatriated from India, Chandran admitted stealing the passports belonging to his mother-in-law and his wife last year. — DPA

Actresses summoned
ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee in Pakistan has summoned two actresses for allegedly singing the Indian National anthem and making anti-Pakistan utterances at an Indian function recently. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports and Culture at its meeting on Tuesday condemned the behaviour of Pakistani actresses Reema and Atiqa Odho and ordered them to appear before it in the Parliament House on June 22. — PTI