Hooch toll rises to 36
DHAKA, May 8 — Eleven persons died yesterday after drinking a locally made liquor at a central Bangladesh town, bringing the death toll to 36, local government officials said today.

Pakistan may delay signing CTBT

ISLAMABAD, May 8 (PTI) — Pakistan has said it has de-linked its position on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) from the Indian stand but expressed reservations about adhering to it by September as announced earlier.

“We had de-linked ourselves from India and adopted an independent posture in conformity with our own policies and interest on CTBT”, Pakistani Foreign Office Spokesman Tariq Altaf told reporters here yesterday.

Claiming there was a change in New Delhi’s stand on CTBT due to internal political developments, he said Islamabad would take into consideration factors like “India’s military build-up” and continuation of defence related US sanctions on Pakistan before signing the treaty.

“Indian leaders have taken certain position on CTBT on account of the political vacuum there”, Altaf said, adding “we can not remain oblivious to developments in our neighbourhood”.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had expressed doubts recently about New Delhi signing CTBT by September in the wake of the prevailing political situation in India following the fall of his government and the coming elections.

Stating that the security compulsions of Pakistan are “essentially in the framework of India’s huge military build-up including its nuclear and missile arsenal and increasing asymmetry in the conventional field”, Mr Altaf said Islamabad’s “maintenance of a credible deterrence, and the options linked to it, have to be fundamentally viewed in the security context”.

He pointed out that there are other powers also who have signed the treaty but not ratified it and said, “in the consideration of our options, we will take every thing into account” provided sanctions imposed in the wake of nuclear tests were lifted.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had told the United Nations General Assembly last year that Pakistan would sign CTBT by September.

Mr Altaf also said that though some financial relief has been offered to Pakistan by the western world, some sanctions, specially on military sales, are still in place.

Yeltsin, PM heading for a showdown

MOSCOW, May 8 (UNI) — All appears not to well between the Russian President Mr Boris Yeltsin, and the Prime Minister, Mr Yevgeni Primakov.

Mr Yeltsin’s displeasure with Mr Primakov was apparent when he refused to acknowledge the latter’s presence at the first meeting of the committee preparing for the millennium celebrations.

The daily Moskovsky Komso-molets, reporting the event yesterday said Mr Yeltsin did not greet the Prime Minister and even refused to be seated next to him.

The incident has again fuelled the speculations that the axe may be about to fall on the Cabinet.

As the Duma, the lower house, takes up the no confidence motion against Mr Yeltsin for discussion nears, the Kremlin is bracing for a showdown.

The presidential staff has been quite vocal in its criticism of Mr Primakov for not doing enough to stall impeachment proceedings against Mr Yeltsin.

When asked by Novosti if Mr Primakov could be removed, number two man of the Kremlin staff Oleg Susuyev said the President could produce a list of names who could replace the Prime Minister if need be.

A Moscow daily Komso-molskaya Pravada, commenting on the current political crisis writes that there is no one today who can replace the President without risking political stability.

Paula demands more money

WASHINGTON, May 8 (PTI) — US President Bill Clinton faces yet another salvo from Paula Jones, this time in the form of a demand for more money in addition to the out-of-court settlement she earlier received, following a ruling which held President Clinton guilty of contempt of court. Ms Jones demanded $ 300,000 in the form of contempt penalty, above $ 850,000 she had received earlier, following Judge Susan Webber Wright’s ruling which held President Clinton guilty of giving “false, misleading and evasive answers” when asked about his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Moreover, he was ordered to pay “any reasonable expenses,” including legal fees incurred by Ms Jones as a result of his false testimony.

Mr Clinton’s attorneys said they were “outraged” by the demand.

Meanwhile, Kathleen Willey has testified that she discussed with Julie Hiatt Steele “many, many times” an alleged sexual advance by President Bill Clinton after first telling her about it within hours of the encounter, an AP report said.

I did not give her all the gory details. But I told her what happened in the Oval Office,” said Mrs Willey, a former White House volunteer.

Mrs Willey’s testimony is crucial in the trial of her former friend Ms Steele, who is charged with obstructing Prosecuter Kenneth Starr’s investigation by denying that she knew of the alleged sexual advance. Mrs Willey said during the years between the alleged incident in November 1993 and 1997, when the story was first published in Newsweek, “I more or less kept her apprised of what was going on because I felt she was a friend I could trust.”

One of the reasons they talked about it, she said, was Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit against the President, was filed in the spring of 1994. Mrs Willey testified that Ms Steele “wanted to be very much into this story” and “wanted to make money off of it,” at one point suggesting the money could help pay for her son’s schooling.

Mrs Willey said her former friend even suggested they sell the story to a tabloid but “I told her I had no intention of going to a tabloid for any amount of money.”

Ms Steele says Mrs Willey first told her about the experience with Mr Clinton in 1997, asking her to lie about it to a Newsweek reporter.

Scientist denies espionage

WASHINGTON, May 8 (AP) — After weeks of silence, a Taiwanese-born scientist, suspected of espionage at a federal nuclear laboratory is vigorously denying he gave secrets to China, or any unauthorised persons.

“A six-page statement released by his lawyer said that the scientist, Mr Wen Ho Lee, will not be a scapegoat for alleged security problems at our country’s nuclear laboratories.”

Lee (59) was fired from the Los Alamos national laboratory in New Mexico on March 8 for alleged security violations. He has been under investigation by the FBI since 1996 as a prime suspect in the theft of nuclear weapons secrets in the 1980s. Lee has not been charged with a crime.

Government officials have said that when investigators searched Lee’s computer at Los Alamos they found evidence that more than 1,000 files containing so-called legacy codes — the codes that provide design and performance data on nuclear warheads — had been transferred from the secure to the unsecure computer system. Lee was accused of transferring the top-secret codes to his personal computer, which could be accessed from the outside.

The Lee statement said that contrary to press reports, Dr Lee’s computer files contained dozens of nonclassified codes, which included several hundred thousand lines of code. “It said that Lee had changed file names to reflect improvements he had made in (the) nonclassified codes.”

No mention was made in the statement of any classified codes being found.

World record on radio

ATHENS, May 8 (DPA) — A Greek radio presenter has set a world record with a non-stop 29-hour programme, according to reports yesterday.

Eleni Mavili went on the air as the evening began on April 24 and didn’t leave it — chatting and playing music all the while -until the wee hours of April 26.

Her feat behind the microphone of a private Athens station broke the old record held by an American radio host who stayed on the air for 24 hours back in 1957.

In Germany, however, a radio station challenged the Greek record claim. A spokesman for Sunshine Live Radio said two presenters had combined in early April to set a record of 111 hours non-stop on the air.

The private station in the southern town of Schwetzingen said the two presenters took advantage of a Guinness Book rule permitting five minutes’ sleep per hour — which when added up allows for naps lasting hours.

Lewinsky may appear on TV show

NEW YORK, May 8 (AP) — Like any comedy show, the NBC network’s popular, Saturday Night Live” has eagerly milked the Monica Lewinsky story. Now Ms Lewinsky may be in on the joke.

NBC was keeping mum about it, but there were reports that the former presidential intern will appear as a guest on this week’s episode.

“This is a live show. The only thing I know for sure is that Cuba Gooding Jr is the host and Ricky Martin is the musical guest,” NBC spokesman Marc Liepis said yesterday.

If she appears, Ms Lewinsky will push aside actress Molly Shannon, who has frequently portrayed her in skits.

Hooch toll rises to 36

DHAKA, May 8 (DPA) — Eleven persons died yesterday after drinking a locally made liquor at a central Bangladesh town, bringing the death toll to 36, local government officials said today.

State-run Bangladesh radio quoting hospital sources said more than 50 persons were taken seriously ill after drinking a locally brewed liquor on Thursday at Narsingdi, 65 km east of the capital Dhaka.

The report said 20 persons died immediately after consuming the lethal drink. Other deaths were reported by local hospitals yesterday.

Pak’s “day of glory”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will celebrate May 28 as “Youm-e-Taqbir” (day of glory) to commemorate the first anniversary of conducting nuclear experiments. A high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday decided to honour Pakistan’s nuclear scientists as part of the countrywide celebrations on the day. Besides, a replica of Chagai Hills, the nuclear-testing site, will also be unveiled on May 28. — UNI

Male nurse kills 150 patients
RIO DE JANEIRO: The Police in Rio de Janeiro arrested a male nurse on Friday for murdering 150 patients in a four-month killing spree at the city’s highly respected Salgado Filho Hospital. Edson Guimaraes (42) was paid a commission from local undertakers for recommending them clients, and has confessed to the killings, said Josias Quintal, Rio State Security Minister. Guimaraes preyed on extremely sick patients and then praised the services of certain undertakers to the relatives of his victims in return for cash. — DPA

7 hostages released
MONTERREY (Colombia): Leftist rebels, who abducted 41 persons aboard a hijacked Colombian airplane last month, released seven more hostages on Friday, delivering with them an indictment of what they called the country’s corrupt political system. Twentyfive hostages, including an American, remain in rebel hands in the remote northern region where they have been held since the April 12 hijacking. — AP

Three beheaded
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia beheaded three men, including one Saudi citizen, on Friday after they were convicted of drug smuggling, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. It quoted an interior ministry statement as saying that a Pakistani man was executed by sword in the Mecca area. Another statement quoted by the agency said a Syrian man and a Saudi citizen were also beheaded in Dammam, in the east of the country, for smuggling “a large quantity of hashish”. — Reuters