Mahathir not to be called as witness
KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — Lawyers for ousted Malaysian Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim today said they had scrapped plans to call Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad as a witness because he refused to provide an advance statement.

C’wealth conference
JOHANNESBURG March 12 — After the successful staging of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in September, Durban is gearing up to become the venue of another international event — the Commonwealth Heads of State Conference to be held in November.

Clinton denies dragging feet
ANTIGUA (Guatemala), March 12 — US President Bill Clinton has rejected Republican accusations that the White House dragged its feet in probing allegations that China has stolen nuclear secrets from the USA.

Starr aide quits
WASHINGTON, March 12 — The spokesman for independent counsel Kenneth Starr resigned suddenly yesterday after an investigation into leaks to the media during the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Russia, Greece mediate on Kosovo
US House for sending troops

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) — The House of Representatives has backed the deployment of US troops on a peacekeeping mission to Kosovo after a day-long debate the Clinton Administration feared might upset fragile peace efforts.

On a 219-191 vote, the House approved a non-binding resolution authorising President Bill Clinton to carry out plans to send 4,000 troops to the Balkan province as part of a 28,000-strong NATO force that would implement any peace deal.

The Clinton Administration and many Democrats had objected to even debating the issue, fearing that it might result in a vote against sending troops that would signal to both parties in the conflict a weakening of the US resolve.

But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who scheduled the debate yesterday, said it was his duty as speaker “to ensure that all have opportunity to openly debate the issue before US Troops are sent into a potentially dangerous situation.”

Mr Clinton, in a statement issued by the White House, said he was pleased by the vote and said it ‘demonstrates the broad bipartisan support for our efforts to bring peace to Kosovo.’

“The vote confirms the strong commitment of the USA to continue our efforts to provide the leadership necessary to bring about a peaceful resolution to this conflict,” Mr Clinton said.

The House amended the resolution to call on Mr Clinton to report to Congress on a variety of issues related to the deployment, including details on the rules of engagement for peacekeeping forces and an eventual exit strategy.

The non-binding amendment approved by the House also limited the US troop numbers to 15 per cent of the forces deployed by NATO.

Fortyfour Republicans voted in favour of the resolution, which carries no force of law, with 18 Democrats crossing party lines to vote against it.

The House earlier rejected, 237-178, an amendment from Florida Republican Representative Tillie Fowler that would have expressed opposition to the deployment of the US troops in the NATO force in Kosovo.

Supporters of authorising the troop deployment said the US military involvement was essential to enforce any peace deal reached between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s Serb government and ethnic Albanians separatists in Kosovo.

But there were powerful arguments against the US involvement, with many Republicans saying the US forces were being stretched too thin around the world, that the mission would be too dangerous and that it had no “exit strategy”.

BELGRADE: Yugoslavia’s Orthodox Christian Friends have picked up the mediator’s baton hoping their warm ties with President Slobodan Milosevic will help secure a peace deal for Kosovo.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou arrived in Belgrade ahead of meetings with Mr Milosevic on Friday and his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov was due to arrive later.

“Greece and Yugoslavia traditionally have very close relations so I hope we can be useful in this (peace) process”, said Mr Papandreou. He spoke after meeting departing US envoy Richard Holbrooke, who failed to dent Mr Milosevic’s resistance.

After eight hours of talks with the Yugoslav leader, Mr Holbrooke reported that Milosevic still objected to NATO troops being stationed in Kosovo — a key part of the deal which promises autonomy to the majority ethnic Albanian province.

In Kosovo, the Serb forces moved in strength towards a village held by separatist rebels and shelled the settlement, the latest in a series of assaults on guerrilla positions that have driven thousands from their homes in the last weeks.

Greece and Russia are traditional allies of orthodox Serbs. But while Moscow has influence over, Mr Milosevic, it opposes aspects of western policy in the Balkans, like air-strike threats, and the west fears Mr Ivanov may encourage Mr Milosevic’s obstinacy.

USA ‘stood for’ free Tibet

WASHINGTON, March 12 (PTI) — The Clinton Administration has expressed concern over the alleged religious repression in Tibet amid new disclosures that USA “dumped” the Himalayan region to embrace China as an ally against former Soviet Union after promising independence and self-determination and recognition of the Dalai Lama as head of an autonomous nation.

The US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Affairs, Assistant Secretary of State Julia Taft, noted that reports of human rights abuses in Tibet remain common and majority Han Chinese who have moved into Tibet appear to benefit disproportionately from stepped up social spending there.

She also told the House International Relations Committee that “it appear that all lines of communication between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Government are now inactive”.

She said she was also planning to visit India, Nepal and Bhutan to investigate charges of repression in Tibet. She will apply for a visa to go to China and Tibet, she said.

Sensational but authoritative disclosures that the USA during the Tibetan crisis was for Tibetan independence and self-determination marked a special meeting of the House committee convened by Chairman Benjamin Gilman to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Chinese aggression against the Tibetan uprising.

Mr John Kenneth Knaus, a former central intelligence officer who was in liaison with the Tibetans for seven year while testifying before the committee, said when India at one stage “hesitated” to give asylum to the Dalai Lama, the USA offered it anywhere in the western hemisphere, including the USA and to support and recognise the Dalai Lama as the head of an “autonomous non-Communist country.”

Mr Knaus said that some of the material has never been published but he proposed to do so next month in a book titled “Orphans of the Cold War.”

Mr Knaus said the USA reversed all its earlier positions and accepted China’s stand that Tibet was a part of China after the Nixon-Kissinger visit.

Mr Knaus also revealed that when the Dalai Lama appealed to the UN against the Chinese, India “undermined” him by expressing confidence that an autonomy agreement could be negotiated with the Chinese.

UNI adds: The USA has urged China to engage in a substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama to defuse tension in Tibet.

Mr Julia Taft, in her testimony before the congressional international relations committee yesterday, said ‘there exists a real opportunity to overcome differences between the Chinese and the Tibetans.

80 nations sign global warming pact

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) — Almost 80 nations have signed a pact to fight global warming ahead of a Monday deadline and seven of the nations most threatened by the effects of climate change have ratified it, a top UN official said yesterday.

But Russia, the world’s second leading producer of the harmful gases thought to cause climate change, has yet to sign the accord.

“The biggest missing signatory is the Russian Federation, but we are holding out hope that they will sign before the deadline,” UN Climate Chief Michael Zammit Cutajar said in an interview.

Hungary, Iceland, Croatia, and the Ukraine are also missing from the list of signatories, he said.

Countries have until March 15 to sign the UN Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty which would legally bind developed nations to limit their output of fossil fuel emissions and other harmful gases in the coming century.

The gases are thought to contribute to global warming, blamed by scientists for rising sea levels and increased famine, but some parties fear the carbon curbs would have a crippling effect on the world economy.

Under the UN plan, the treaty would go into effect only if countries accounting for 55 per cent of 1990 developed world emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) ratify the accord.

Russia accounts for 17.4 per cent of CO2 emissions among industrial countries, while the USA, which signed the pact in November, accounts for over a third.

Accord reached on autonomy vote

UNITED NATIONS, March 12 (AFP) — Indonesia and Portugal have reached on agreement on a direct ballot on a draft autonomy package for East Timor, seen as paving the way towards independence, UN chief Kofi Annan announced.

Mr Annan made the announcement at a news conference yesterday winding up two days of talks with the Portuguese and Indonesian Foreign Ministers on the future status of the former Portuguese colony.

“On the means of consulting the East Timorese, which I know is of great interest to you, the meeting has reached an agreement that a method of direct ballot will be used to ask the people of East Timor whether they accept or reject the autonomy proposal” he said.

He said specific details remained to be worked out. However, he said the next round of senior officials from both countries’ Foreign Ministers would be held here on April 13 and 14.

Indonesia says that if the autonomy proposals are rejected, then Jakarta would allow East Timor, which it annexed in 1976, to become independent.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told reporters here earlier that he hoped amendments to finalise the draft autonomy proposals would be reached in the next two weeks.

Mahathir not to be called as witness

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (AFP) — Lawyers for ousted Malaysian Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim today said they had scrapped plans to call Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad as a witness because he refused to provide an advance statement.

“We want to call the Prime Minister but he said he was not willing to give a statement unless he knew the sort of questions we want to ask,” chief counsel Raja Aziz Addruse told Justice Augustine Paul.

“We subsequently sent him a list of questions but his Personal Secretary has indicated that he won’t give a signed statement”.

Mr Raja Aziz agreed with the Judge that witnesses were not obliged to make signed statements.

“Since no statements are available, he won’t be interviewed. We are not in a position to know what sort of evidence he will adduce,” he said. “We are not going to call him.”

Mr Raja Aziz said the defence had also dropped plans to summon Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob and former police chief Rahim Noor.

C’wealth conference

JOHANNESBURG March 12 (PTI) — After the successful staging of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in September, Durban is gearing up to become the venue of another international event — the Commonwealth Heads of State Conference to be held in November.

A South African Foreign Affairs spokesperson said though the Cabinet had not yet taken a final decision on Durban as the venue for the next conference, final approval is a “mere formality”.

He said Durban’s International Convention Centre (ICC) would be, in all likelihood the venue of the next Commonwealth Summit to be held during November 11-15, which would be attended by Queen Elizabeth and 56 Heads of State.

Clinton denies dragging feet

ANTIGUA (Guatemala), March 12 (Reuters) — US President Bill Clinton has rejected Republican accusations that the White House dragged its feet in probing allegations that China has stolen nuclear secrets from the USA.

“We did not ignore evidence, quite the contrary, we acted on it,” Mr Clinton told a news conference in Antigua, Guatemala, in his first public comment on the matter yesterday. “I think the record is that we acted aggressively”.

The President also dismissed Republican calls for the resignation of his National Security Adviser Sandy Berger saying the aide had acted appropriately in pursuing the allegations that China stole nuclear secrets from US national laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Starr aide quits

WASHINGTON, March 12 (AFP) — The spokesman for independent counsel Kenneth Starr resigned suddenly yesterday after an investigation into leaks to the media during the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Mr Charles G. Bakaly III has tendered his resignation, effective from June 1, 1999 Starr’s office said in a statement. “Judge Starr has accepted his resignation, with regret.”

During the investigation that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and his acquittal by the Senate, the White House accused Mr Starr and his aides of illegally leaking information to reporters.

Mr Starr began his internal investigation after a January 31 New York Times story that said he was considering indicting Mr Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice charges before his term ends.

Mr Starr immediately denied his office leaked the story.

Assad sworn in
DAMASCUS: Syrian President Hafez-al-Assad was sworn in before Parliament on Thursday for a fifth seven-year term in office. Mr Assad (68) vowed before the 250-member Parliament and “before God” that he will “preserve the people’s democratic government, respect the constitution and its laws and defend the people’s interests and security of the homeland.” The President also promised to “fight for the unity of the Arab nation,” in the ceremony broadcast live on Syrian television as thousands of Syrians, most of them students, converged on the building. — AFP

Killer to pay damages
TOKYO: A Japanese couple on Thursday won 104 million yen $ 8,70,000 compensation from a teenage killer who decapitated their 11-year-old son and stuck his head on the school gates. The case extended to the 16-year old killer’s parents, who were found to be negligent. The killer, who has not been identified due to his age, strangled and beheaded Jun-Hase in a 1997 murder. — AFP

85 hurt in Gaza riots
GAZA: At least 85 persons were injured on the second day of clashes in the Gaza Strip triggered by a death sentence imposed on a former Islamic activist, witnesses and medical workers said. The Palestinian police sealed off the area, preventing journalists from covering the clashes in the southern Gazan town of Rafath, which one witness said had quickly become a war zone. Rioters pelted the Palestinian policemen with stones, who responded with gunfire, teargas and clubbings. — Reuters

Cargo vessel sinks
HONG KONG: As many as five crew members were killed when a Chinese cargo vessel sank off Hong Kong on Friday, the government said. Two crew members were missing and another was rescued but remains unconscious. The Tin Shing reported flooding near the Ninepin Group Island off Sai Kung. No further details were available. — Reuters

Monroe’s TV movie
LOS ANGELES: Joe DiMaggio’s death has cleared the way for the development of a TV movie about the stormy romance between the baseball great and screen siren Marilyn Monroe, the project’s producer has said. Mr Larry Thompson said on Thursday he was working on a two-hour biographical movie “Joe and Marilyn” and was in talks with two networks on a deal to make the programme. Our movie is about Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe as seen through his eyes,” Mr Thompson said. — Reuters

3 die in fire
MOSCOW: Three men were killed in a fire on Friday on board a Navy hospital ship in the northern Russian port of Murmansk, the Emergencies Ministry said. A ministry spokesman said two servicemen and a reserve officer had died from inhaling smoke before the fire was extinguished in the early hours of the morning. He said the cause of the fire on the ship, called the Svir, was not known. — Reuters

Quake in N. China
BEIJING: A strong earthquake shook Zhangbei Prefecture, some 200 km Northwest of Beijing, destroying some old houses and injuring three persons. There has been no report of loss of human lives from the quake-prone area in North China’s Hebei province, Kinhua news agency said quoting the China Seismological Bureau. — PTI