Marijuana for pain
WASHINGTON, March 20 — Active substances in marijuana may be “moderately” useful for treating problems like pain, nausea and appetite loss, even though there is little use for smoked marijuana, a report of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Science has said.

Clintons working hard at relationship
WASHINGTON, March 20 — US President Bill Clinton has said he is working hard at his relationship with his wife Hillary, following the trials and tribulations of the Lewinsky affair.

Rs 13.5 cr for Sharif’s head
ISLAMABAD, March 20 — An extremist Sunni organisation has announced a reward totalling Rs 13.5 crore for the head of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his younger brother and Chief Minister of Punjab Shabaz Sharif and Information Minister Mushahed Hussain.

Clinton for air strikes
Monitors leave Kosovo

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Agencies) — With Kosovo peace talks collapsed, US President Bill Clinton has said US pilots will be at risk in an attack against Yugoslavia, “but if we and our allies don’t have the will to act, there will be more massacres.”

As Mr Clinton spoke to the nation in his first full-fledged news conference yesterday in nearly a year, the State Department began evacuating the Embassy in Belgrade.

Mr Clinton, in the news conference and at an earlier meeting with congressional leaders, laid out the case for a massive bombing campaign. The Pentagon sent more warplanes to the region.

“I do not want to put a single American pilot in the air. I do not want anyone else to die in the Balkans. I do not want a conflict,” he said. “... but a part of my responsibility is to try to leave to my successors an environment in Europe that is stable, humane and secure.”

Mr Clinton said US efforts in Bosnia proved that force could create peace, and he warned that allowing Kosovo to be overrun could cause conflicts to break out throughout the region.

“As we prepare to act,” Mr Clinton said, “we need to remember the lessons we have learned in the Balkans.”

The ethnic Albanians who constitute 90 per cent of the population in Kosovo were entitled to self-determination but Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was “crossing the threshold” where NATO action would be justified, Mr Clinton said.

Refusing to set any deadline for NATO strike at this stage, he said: “Whenever we can stop a humanitarian disaster at an acceptable price, we ought to do it.”

PRISTINA (Serbia): Inter-national monitors overseeing the Kosovo ceasefire started to evacuate the war-battered province before dawn on Saturday following the collapse of peace talks in Paris.

The 1,400 unarmed monitors headed for neighbouring Macedonia to make way for possible NATO air strikes to force Belgrade to accept as internationally-sponsored autonomy plan for Kosovo which has been signed by the province’s majority ethnic Albanians.

“There is no purpose in extending the talks any further,” said a statement issued by Foreign Ministers, a day after the Albanians signed the deal unilaterally.

MOSCOW: The Russian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has warned NATO against using the withdrawal of international monitors from Kosovo as a pretext for increasing threats of force, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

“No N-thefts” by China

WASHINGTON. March 20 (PTI) — President Bill Clinton has said that China’s espionage on US Nuclear laboratories was unproven and termed as “bad” if at all Beijing had spied.

“It is my understanding that the investigation has not yet determined for sure that espionage occurred. If anybody committed espionage, it is a bad thing, and we should take appropriate action,” the President told reporters yesterday.

Mr Clinton’s first press conference in nearly a year comes at a time when the country is in a shock after the revelations of China’s spying on nuclear weapon laboratories at Los Palmos.

He, however, agreed the security had been too lax for years at the laboratories and a lot of important changes had been made.

On Thursday, Clinton ordered a broad review of security measures at all US Nuclear laboratories.

The President dismissed allegations that he suppressed information about the reported theft to shore up his own political fortunes and chronically strained US-China relations.

When a fox news correspondent said that he would report in his edition that China had stolen some technology during his presidency, Mr Clinton said “If you report I will do my best to find out what the facts are, and I will tell you what they are.”

Senior US officials say Beijing clearly benefited from learning how to build an advanced warhead known as the W-88 allegedly through spying.

On China’s continued opposition on religious freedom, Mr Clinton said, “Though there are some examples of denial of religious freedom in China, there is also a lot of religious expression there. I went to a Church in China that has regular services every week.”

The President said the USA’s relationship with China is “profoundly important, and it has to be pursued in the USA’s interest and to maximise the chance that China would become more open in terms of political and civil rights.

On the forthcoming visit of Russian Premier Yevgeny Primakov to the USA, he said “I am hoping we can reach an agreement which will permit the IMF programme to go forward, because I think that is important. But it will only work if the money does not turn around and leave the country as soon as it is put in.”

However, he was noncommittal about the kind of aid to be offered to Russia during Primakov’s visit.

Mr Clinton said some of the changes suggested to Moscow may require legislation by Duma. However, he ruled out there was a move to impose any “economic theory” on Russia.

Yeltsin leaves hospital

MOSCOW, March 20 (UNI) — Defying doctor’s advice to continue in hospital for treatment of his stomach ulcer, President Boris Yeltsin suddenly came back home yesterday to pick a political fight with the Upper House of the Russian Parliament.

The Federal Council had remained loyal to him so far, but in an unexpected hard decision it turned down Prosecutor-General Yuri Skuratov’s resignation.

“He must have thought that the hospital bed is not the best place to govern the country at such a problem-laden time as this,” Kremlin sources explained, according to Novosti news agency.

Suddenly appearing before the Upper House on Thursday to explain reasons for his resignation-letter sent to the President some time back, Mr Skuratov said he was forced to do so under the pressure of the “dark forces”. It was a reflection on the President himself.

Mr Skuratov presented to the House a list of people “embodying the dark forces” which included high-ranking officials, two former vice-premiers and a number of high-ranking incumbent ministers and oligarchs having vested interests in criminal cases concerning “high-echelon corruption”.

After hearing the prosecutor-general, the House rejected his resignation, thus snubbing the President.

A brief video excerpt apparently showing the Prosecutor-General having sex with two prostitutes was shown on state TV on Thursday after lawmakers refused to fire him.

Talbott kin got kickbacks

WASHINGTON, March 20 (PTI) — A relative of US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott allegedly received kickbacks from an aide of Radovan Karadzic, a Bosnian Serb leader, for securing lenience for him on the war crimes charges the Washington Times reported today.

Mr Albott’s brother-in-law, Cody P. Shearer, allegedly received thousands of dollars from Karadzic around the time he tried to arrange Karadzic’s surrender as a war criminal.

Mr Shearer recently reported receiving mail threats from Bosnian figures who say he took the money in exchange for promises to win lenience for Karadzic on the war crimes charges. The mail threats demanded he pay Karadzic’s family a million dollars or risk “tragedy”, the newspaper said.

Mr Shearer’s attorney denied his client ever promised to win lenience for Karadzic. He said the money he received was reimbursement for expenses he incurred while helping a Karadzic associate pursue peace in Bosnia.

In fact, even before Mr Shearer reported the threats, the State Department’s Inspector-General and the FBI had begun probing whether he had misrepresented his ties to the Clinton administration in his dealings with Bosnian figures.

The State Department believed Karadzic tried to use the Shearer connection to claim influence with Talbott and President Bill Clinton, a senior US official told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

The War Crimes Tribunal indicted Karadzic in 1995 on genocide charges.

Marijuana for pain

WASHINGTON, March 20 (PTI) — Active substances in marijuana may be “moderately” useful for treating problems like pain, nausea and appetite loss, even though there is little use for smoked marijuana, a report of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Science has said.

“With this conclusion patients already using marijuana would be given the benefit of the doubt and would not be arrested,” director of the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, Mr Chuck Thomas, said here while referring to the institute’s report.

White House Drug Control Policy Director Barry R. McCaffrey also endorsed the report and termed it is as a significant contribution to discussing the issue from a scientific and medical viewpoint.

“I would not oppose limited studies of smoked marijuana till a less harmful way of inhaling the substance’s active ingredients is found,” he said.

“There is a remarkable consensus about the science .... It suggests the potential of cannabinoid drugs for medical use. There is far less convincing data about medical benefits,” John a Benson, former dean of the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine and one of the panellists said.

While seven American states have already legalised marijuana, a cannabinoid drug, dronabinol, is licensed in the USA for use in appetite stimulation for AIDS patients, and to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy.

Clintons working hard at relationship

WASHINGTON, March 20 (AFP) — US President Bill Clinton has said he is working hard at his relationship with his wife Hillary, following the trials and tribulations of the Lewinsky affair.

“We love each other very much ... and we’re working at it,” he told his first solo press conference in a year yesterday. Asked whether the first lady would run for the New York Senate seat in 2000, Mr Clinton said he did not know.

“I don’t have any doubt that she really would be a terrific Senator,” adding that, “She knows so much about public policy.”

“She cares so much about the issues, especially those that have a particular impact on New York, including the education and economic issues that would be very important to the people there,” he said.

What’s more she had suggested moving to New York a year ago, long before current Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced he would not seek re-election in 2000.

According to the New York Times/CBS news poll published on Thursday, Mrs Hillary Clinton will have a nine point lead over Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for New York’s Senate seat if votes were counted now.

Rs 13.5 cr for Sharif’s head

ISLAMABAD, March 20 (UNI) — An extremist Sunni organisation has announced a reward totalling Rs 13.5 crore for the head of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his younger brother and Chief Minister of Punjab Shabaz Sharif and Information Minister Mushahed Hussain.

This has been reported by a London-based bilingual newspaper “Nation” quoting a press note of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an off-shoot of Sipahe-Sahaba, an organisation that has been spearheading a violent campaign against Shiites in Pakistan.

The press note, issued by Lashkar’s chief Riaz Basra, says the Sharif government had been committing excess on the members of his organisation.

The police suspect that this organisation was behind the failed attempt on Mr Sharif’s life on January 4 this year. A bomb had exploded on a bridge connecting Lahore with Raiwind just before Mr Sharif was to cross it.

Three persons were killed in the blast.

Menuhin laid to rest
STOKE D’ABERNON (England): Violinist Yehudi Menuhin was buried on Friday at the school he founded, surrounded by music, his family and friends, and some of the young people whose talents he supported and encouraged for much of his life. Lord Menuhin died on March 12 at the age 82 in Berlin, while on a concert tour. Among the friends who joined Lady Menuhin and the musician’s four children at the traditional Jewish service were Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Irene of Greece and Austrian singer Benno Schollum. — AP

Monica for Moscow
MOSCOW: Monica Lewinsky is expected to visit Moscow this summer as part of her book tour, according to Novosti news agency. The former White House intern will visit Moscow at the invitation of the Vagrius Publishing House that plans to bring out a Russian version of her book, “Monica’s Story”. — UNI

70 drowned
FREETOWN: Around 70 persons drowned when an over-loaded ship sank in rough seas of the coast of Siera Leone, survivors and maritime officials said on Friday. Three survivors of the disaster said the vessel had left Tombo on the southern shore of the Freetown peninsula carrying petrol, kerosene and rice on Wednesday when it ran into trouble. “I believe our boat would have resisted the storm but because the boat was overloaded it capsized and sank,” crew member Alimany Sumba told reporters. — Reuters

Dogs lose $ 1 million
WELLINGTON (New Zealand): Two farm dogs have missed out on a $ 1 million (New Zealand) inheritance left to them in the will of their eccentric owner. High Court Judge Silvia Cartwright ruled on Thursday that the sum set aside for the dogs was totally unjustifiable. The dogs were named in the last will and testament of a farmer who died in 1996. — AP

Bush receives windfall
WASHINGTON: Former United States President George Bush is likely to receive a windfall of $ 14.4 million as a result of the merger of two telecommunication companies, Global Crossing and Frontier Corp. President Bush had agreed to take shares instead of cash payment of $ 80,000 from the then fledgling telecommunications company, Global Crossing, as fee for a speech in Tokyo. — PTI

Jaime Sabines dead
MEXICO CITY: Jaime Sabines, a poet considered one of the foremost contemporary Spanish writers died on Friday. He was 72. Sabines, who had been suffering from cancer, died in his home in Mexico City, the government news agency Notimex reported. The late Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz, one not given to idle praise, called him “one of the best poets in our language.” — AP