Rights’ violations decried
GENEVA, May 1 — UN Human rights chief Mary Robinson today denounced the atrocities committed by the Serb forces in Kosovo but also criticised NATO for its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

Pinochet to file appeal
LONDON, May 1 — Lawyers for Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet have resumed the offensive, saying they will appeal against Britain’s decision to allow the courts to consider Spain’s request for his extradition.

Indian, 2 others beheaded
DUBAI, May 1 — An Indian and a Nigerian convicted of drug smuggling were among three persons beheaded by the authorities in Saudi Arabia yesterday, regional news agencies said.

Brig Chandpuri honoured
LONDON, May 1 — Brig Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, recipient of the gallantry award of Maha Vir Chakra in the battle of Laungewala Rajasthan, during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, was conferred a degree of Doctorate of Philosophy honoris causa by Dr Chris Vonck, Vice-Chancellor of FVG, Antwerp, Belgium University.

Nepal abolishes death sentence
KATHMANDU, May 1 — Nepal portrayed itself as a leading human rights advocate today when the death sentence was officially abolished and replaced by a maximum 25-year jail term and confiscation of property.

Russia holds out slim chances

BELGRADE. May 1 (Reuters) — Russia held out only slim chances for a quick diplomatic solution to the Kosovo crisis after the USA rejected joint Russian-Yugoslav proposals and NATO pressed ahead with its six-week-old air war.

But Russian Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin, returning to Moscow today after six hours of talks in Belgrade with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, vowed to pursue his peace mission which will take him to western Europe next week.

Mr Chernomyrdin, who had earlier been quoted by Itar-Tass new agency as saying a solution was close, sounded more pessimistic in a statement on his return to Moscow.

“It will be difficult to settle all political issues, but there is a chance. It’s not a big chance, but a chance. I think we can’t let this pass by,” the former Russian Prime Minister told the media.

General Secretary of NATO Javier Solana was quoted by the German magazine Der Spiegel today as saying air strikes on Yugoslavia had entered the “final phase” and that he believed it was possible a diplomatic solution could be reached this month.

A Yugoslav Foreign Ministry spokesman said Belgrade and Moscow had agreed on a seven-point peace plan. The key element was that only unarmed observers under the UN would be allowed into Kosovo — not the tough peacekeeping force demanded by NATO, with western troops making up the core of the deployment

But the USA gave the plan short shrift.

“I think we are not anywhere near a serious proposal,” US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a press conference in Washington.

The response by NATO was to launch more strikes early today in an attempt to force Belgrade to accept an autonomy deal for Kosovo and its majority ethnic Albanian population.

Targets hit included transmission towers and control buildings for the Yugoslav Radio relay network in seven different locations. “We went after the nervous system that keeps the Milosevic machine informed and in touch,” NATO spokesman Peter Daniel said in Brussels.

The Serb media said NATO missiles struck the town of Pancevo and the Lipovacka forest near Belgrade.

There was no let-up in the flow of ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo into Albania and Macedonia.

A spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said 11,400 refugees crossed into Albania yesterday with one UN official saying the “final cleansing” of the historic city of Prizren may be under way.

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin visited Macedonia’s biggest refugee camp, Stankovic, today and pledged more help as thousands of refugees from Kosovo slept in the open for lack of space.

Rights’ violations decried

GENEVA, May 1 (AP, PTI) — UN Human rights chief Mary Robinson today denounced the atrocities committed by the Serb forces in Kosovo but also criticised NATO for its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

“What we are in effect seeing is that war-making has become the tool of peacemaking,” Ms Robinson said in a speech to the closing session of the UN Human Rights Commission.

She appealed for the UN Security Council which includes Yugoslavia’s friend, Russia, and China to have a say on whether a prolonged bombing campaign was in fact legal under the UN charter.

She stressed that the international war crimes tribunal in the Hague was authorised to investigate actions of NATO and the secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army, as well as those of Serb forces, if it was deemed that serious violations of international humanitarian law had occurred.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged non-European countries to start evacuating Kosovo refugees as the over crowding in camps in Macedonia has reached a crisis point.

Reports also suggest that tensions are brewing within the camps which officials fear could boil over creating fresh problems.

High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata citied the magnitude of crisis and the “absolute need” to preserve the stability of Macedonia as her reason for seeking an immediate expansion of the evacuation programme.

In a letter to governments of Australia, Canada and the USA yesterday, she asked them to go ahead with plans to start evacuating Kosovo refugees from camps in Skopje area as soon as possible. She is also asking the European Union to speed up the ongoing evacuations as well.

NEW YORK (DPA): NATO members and Russia are in agreement that there should be a negotiated political settlement in the conflict in Kosovo under the authority of the UN Security Council, a senior UN official has said.

The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the consensus for a political solution “squarely under aegis of the Security Council” was reached following talks held this week by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Berlin and Moscow.

The NATO bombing that was intended to cripple and demoralise President Slobodan Milosevic’s military machine has instead invigorated the Yugoslav army, the paper has reported.

Abdullah’s plea to USA

WASHINGTON, May 1 (PTI) — The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has asked the USA to pressurise Pakistan into stopping cross-border terrorism in the state and ruled out that Kashmir was a “flashpoint” for an Indo-Pakistan nuclear clash.

Dr Abdullah, who met US Congressmen and officials during his US visit, told reporters yesterday that he had requested them to tell Islamabad to stop sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir so that relations between India and Pakistan may “improve faster”.

He refuted the view repeated by the USA and Pakistan and by Pak-backed secessionists in the valley that Kashmir was a “flashpoint” for a nuclear war in the sub-continent.

India, Dr Abdullah said, needed the nuclear deterrent not against Pakistan but against China.

The USA realises New Delhi will not accept any third party mediation over Kashmir and that only a settlement evolved by India and Pakistan will be acceptable to everyone, he said.

Dr Abdullah said he was confident that many Indo-Pakistan problems will be resolved gradually through the process initiated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Lahore visit.

The Chief Minister, however, sounded pragmatic saying “may be Kashmir will take time to settle but most other problems will be sorted out earlier.”

People’s of both countries were intelligent enough to understand that they should not destroy “in a second what they have built up over 50 years”, he added.

Dr Abdullah said that even under the Vajpayee-led caretaker government, the process of dialogue reinforced by the Lahore visit will not stop and official level meetings will continue.

Pinochet to file appeal

LONDON, May 1 (AFP) — Lawyers for Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet have resumed the offensive, saying they will appeal against Britain’s decision to allow the courts to consider Spain’s request for his extradition.

The appeal will be lodged within the next few days at the high court in London, one of the general’s lawyers said at a preliminary hearing at Bow Street court to examine the extradition case yesterday.

The latest legal counter-offensive means further delay to the proceedings.

It prevented the Bow Street judge from fixing a start to the extradition case which has been stalled for more than six months since the 83-year-old was arrested in London.

That will now have to wait until the outcome of the appeal.

At yesterday’s hearing, the court adjourned the case until June 4.

For their part, lawyers representing Spain said that “substantial” new charges were being drawn up to beef up the extradition case.

Judicial sources said Spanish investigating Magistrate Baltasar Garzon, who issued the arrest warrant that led to Pinochet’s arrest in London in October, has added 21 torture charges to the case, bringing the total number to 72.

In March, Britain’s highest court, the Law Lords, weakened the case against the former-dictator by ruling that he could be prosecuted for crimes after December 1988 — the last two years of his 1973-1990 military rule.

Indian, 2 others beheaded

DUBAI, May 1 (UNI) — An Indian and a Nigerian convicted of drug smuggling were among three persons beheaded by the authorities in Saudi Arabia yesterday, regional news agencies said.

The third person was a Saudi national found guilty of murder, the reports said, quoting a statement by the Saudi Interior Ministry.

The Indian, identified as Pynadathu Vithayathil Varghese, was executed after the Friday prayers in Riyadh for trying to smuggle heroin into the kingdom.

The Nigerian, identified as Al Hassan Mussa Shahib, was executed in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah for trying to smuggle in cocaine.

The Saudi national, Tha Ar Bin Majed Al Qahtani, was beheaded in Riyadh for shooting dead a compatriot after a dispute.

Brig Chandpuri honoured

LONDON, May 1 — Brig Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, recipient of the gallantry award of Maha Vir Chakra in the battle of Laungewala Rajasthan, during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, was conferred a degree of Doctorate of Philosophy honoris causa by Dr Chris Vonck, Vice-Chancellor of FVG, Antwerp, Belgium University. This was under the auspices of the World Sikh University on March 30. London, for his contribution to national defence and security, according to a press release.

The function was organised by the European community in London to commemorate the Tercentenary Celebrations of the Khalsa. It was attended, among others by the Lalit Mansingh, High Commissioner for India, Mr Mike O’Brien, M.P, the British Minister of Home Affairs and Mr M.s. Gill, India’s Chief Election Commissioner.

Nepal abolishes death sentence

KATHMANDU, May 1 (AFP) — Nepal portrayed itself as a leading human rights advocate today when the death sentence was officially abolished and replaced by a maximum 25-year jail term and confiscation of property.

“We have taken a more courageous step than the USA or other advanced democratic countries by abolishing the death sentence,” the Secretary for Law and Justice, Mr Tirtha Man Shakya, said.

When King Birendra put his royal seal on laws relating to the military and royal succession, “Nepal set an example on human right,” he said.

Previously, attempts to harm members of the royal family or taking up arms to dethrone the monarch were punishable by death in Nepal.

The maximum sentence now is a 25-year prison term and confiscation of property.

However, anyone receiving the maximum term would be liable to a 25 per cent reduction in sentence for good behaviour and a separate 25 per cent concession as well as being in line for release on special occasions such as the King’s birthday or National Democracy Day, legal sources said.

Welcoming the abolition of death sentence, the Nepal Human Rights Organisation’s Mr Kapil Shrestha, said it reaffirmed Nepal’s commitment to human rights.

US launch fails

CAPE CANAVERAL, May 1 (Reuters) — The US Air Force has said its $ 1.2 billion Titan 4B rocket mission had failed to place a military satellite into the proper orbit, its third consecutive space mission failure. Brig. General Randy Starbuck, Commander of the 45th space wing, which runs the Air Force’s Cape Canaveral launch site, told a hastily arranged press conference. Starbuck said the Titan 4B rocket, which had lifted off from its Cape Canaveral launch pad with the 10,000 pound Milstar Communications Satellite nestled in its giant nose cone, had placed the satellite in a 4,828 km orbit.

Death for 3 in Pak
KARACHI: An anti-terrorist court on Friday handed down the death sentence to three activists of the ethnic Motahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for their involvement in the murder of a former minister in violence-prone Sindh province, court and police sources said. The three were sentenced to the same punishment by a Special Military Court set up by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Sindh in 1997. — DPA

Picasso’s daughter
LONDON: The daughter of painter Pablo Picasso married her French boyfriend on Friday in a low-key service in London. Paloma Picasso, (49) on Friday married gynaecologist Dr Eric Thevennet at the 700-year-old ancient chapel of the Bishops of Ely, in St Etheldreda’s Catholic Church. The wedding comes three months after she divorced her husband of 26 years, Argentinian playwright Rafael Lopez-Cambil. Together, she and Lopez-Cambil had built up a fashion and perfume enterprise that now has estimated yearly sales of up to 500 million pounds (825 million dollars). In 1978, Ms Picasso won a lengthy legal battle in France to be recognised as an heir to her father’s estate. Her mother, Francois Gilot, never married the painter during their 10-year affair. — AP

Clean chit to Pak MPs
ISLAMABAD: In an apparent damage control exercise, Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has absolved most of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League parliamentarians of power theft charges made earlier against them even as serious differences on the issue within the government came out in open. The Army-run WAPDA in a clarification said 36 out of the 49 legislators including the Interior Minister Choudhury Shujaat Hussain were not involved in the theft of electricity. — PTI

28 hanged in Uganda
KAMPALA, (UGANDA): Uganda has hanged 28 prisoners convicted of various crimes, despite last-minute appeals by rights groups to commute the death penalties, radio Uganda reported on Friday. The radio read a statement that said the executions took place on Thursday evening. The office of the commissioner of prisons says the capital punishment that was supposed to be carried out on 28 convicted prisoners on various charges was carried out on Thursday night,” the radio said. A prison official said on Monday that the 28 convicts had exhausted all routes of appeal and would hang sometime this week at the Luzira maximum security prison on the outskirts of Kampala. — AP

Blast kills 5
ATHENS: Five persons were killed and 17 injured, some seriously, when a propane gas tanker truck exploded on Friday near Lamia in central Greece, firemen said. The accident occurred after the police had stopped the truck for a routine control and a following car ran into the rear of the tanker, the police said. All victims were Greek nationals. — DPA