Anwar files appeal
KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim filed an appeal today against his April 14 conviction on charges of abuse of power and against the sentence of six years as “manifestly excessive”.

Clinton clears $ 15 b for Kosovo drive
WASHINGTON, May 22 — President Bill Clinton has signed a $ 15 billion Bill to pay for the Yugoslav air war and boost US military readiness even though the legislation contains many “highly objectionable” items.

Former US soldier plotted with Laden
NEW YORK, May 22 — A former US Army soldier has been indicted on charges of collaborating with alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden in a plot to kill US citizens abroad, officials here said.

Pak cyclone toll 50

ISLAMABAD, May 22 (PTI) — At least 50 persons have been killed and more than 3500 reported missing in late Thursday’s severe cyclone that hit the Sindh coastal areas of Pakistan, official reports said here today.

Local media said the death toll could be much higher as cyclone, with a wind speed of 270 km, whipped up huge tidal waves in the Arabian Sea which slammed into the hundreds of fishing villages in the southern Sindh districts of Thatta and Badin.

Locals claimed that more than 3,500 persons, including a large number of fishermen who were in the sea when the twister blew on them, were missing.

Initial media reports said at least 100 casualties had been confirmed by the people engaged in relief work since early Friday morning.

Pakistan Navy has already sent rescue ships equipped with medical teams and divers to search for the missing fishermen and the Army called out in Badin district to restore the battered communication system.

So far reports have come in of at least 25 killed in Badin due to electrocution and wall collapse though district officials have confirmed only 10. Reports from Thatta said 17 persons were killed.

Confirming the death of 10 persons, Badin Deputy Commissioner Abdul Qadeer Memon, however, conceded that the exact number of casualties in the worst hit areas could not be ascertained as relief workers were unable to go there due to battered road links and waterlogging.

The cyclone, which narrowly missed the Indian state of Gujarat, had its worst impact on the coastal towns of Keti Bandar and Shah Bandar. Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, was spared the impact since the cyclone suddenly turned and hit east of the commercial hub of the country.

Zardari case: PPP rejects probe

ISLAMABAD, May 22 (PTI) — The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has rejected an inquiry commission set up by Premier Nawaz Sharif’s government to probe injuries suffered by former Premier Benazir Bhutto’s jailed husband and instead demanded that a Supreme Court judge be asked to look into the matter.

The beleaguered PPP, whose life-long chairperson Benazir has put off plans of returning home for fear of arrest, said yesterday that it would not accept a “low-level judicial commission” headed by a sessions judge to probe the matter.

“We reject the probe commission set up under a sessions judge,” PPP leader Iftekhar Gilani said the PPP had rejected the government claims that Mr Zardari attempted suicide and accused the police of using third degree methods on him.

Senior PPP vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, also rejected the “low-level judicial commission” in Karachi and demanded a high-level commission headed by a Supreme Court judge be set up by the Chief Justice to enquire into the alleged murder attempt on Mr Zardari.

It also demanded that the proposed three-member commission also look into how a Punjab Police officer came to be appointed as a special police officer in Sindh to oversee the Zardari case.

US secrets revealed in book

WASHINGTON, May 22 (AP) — Highly-classified US documents in a new book divulge a wealth of secrets, including that North Korea’s leader crushed a 1996 coup attempt and President Bill Clinton assured Mr Boris Yeltsin that US policy would have a “positive impact’’ on the Russian leader’s re-election.

The documents also detail how navy intelligence used the cover of a coast guard ship inspection to search for laser weapons aboard a Russian ship. None were found.

Though the government is prone to leaks, the unauthorised publication of classified documents, that in most cases are just a year or two old, is rare. It has touched off widespread concern in the intelligence community.

“This is the kind of material that people file lawsuits to obtain after it’s 30 years old,’’ said Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington group that follows intelligence issues.

“These documents carry some of the highest classifications in the US Government and it’s absolutely astonishing that they would be published in this way.’’

“Betrayal” by Bill Gertz, a reporter for The Washington Times, presents a critical account of Mr Clinton’s administration security policy that tracks closely to stories Gertz has written over the past several years. The original articles, however, did not include reprints of the classified documents.

Rivalries in space too!

WASHINGTON, May 22 (AP) — When space travellers leave on voyages to distant planets, their baggage will include the same anger, rivalries and jealousies that mark relationships on earth.

After months in tight confines, leadership erodes, cliques develop and everybody gets mad at mission control, says a psychiatrist who studied astronaut and cosmonaut crews aboard the MIR space station.

Outbursts of emotion are inevitable in outer space, said Dr Nick A. Kanas of the University of California, San Francisco. He and other experts were searching for ways to control those emotions and teach space travellers how to cope.

“We hope to train the crews before they go up, so they will be aware of what is happening and can apply some self-correction to prevent onboard tension,’’ said Dr Kanas, a speaker at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.

Anger in space, by astronauts and cosmonauts, had been common since early in the manned space programme. Some Apollo crews in the 1960s griped at mission control even during short-duration missions. On skylab missions that lasted up to 84 days in the mid-70s, astronauts regularly ranted about their workload and malfunctioning equipment.

Tempers also flashed occasionally aboard MIR, the Russian space station where astronauts and cosmonauts spent months in an ageing craft prone to breakdown.

And, Dr Kanas said he expected anger and tension to be part of missions to the international space station in the next decade, and again on the two- to three-year missions to Mars expected in the next century.

“It is hard to live with two or three persons in space for months,’’ he said. “If you have a fight on earth, you can go out to a movie or something and it is all better. But in space, you can’t go anywhere. You are there.’’

Research on the MIR suggested that highly professional space travellers did well for several months, working smoothly and compatibly, Dr Kanas said, but eventually, tempers flared.

The Russians believed it started after just a few months. Dr Kanas’ research suggested it took up to four months before emotions boiled to the surface.

Living treasures

TOKYO, May 22 (AP) — Japan has newly recognised 11 persons as living national treasures. Among them is a 90-year-old woman who practises a dyeing and weaving technique unique to the nation’s southernmost island of Okinawa.

Sada Yonamine, 90, of Okinawa Prefecture (state), became the oldest person to be named a living national treasure when the Education Ministry made the announcement yesterday.

She is the first person to be given the honour for her craft, called “Yundanza Hanaui.”

Lacquer Artist Fumio Mae, 58, was also named to the list of living treasures, becoming the youngest person ever to receive the designation.

Other artists recognised include Komanosuke Takemoto, 63, a singer of narrative chants to accompany traditional Japanese puppet theatre, Reibo Aoki, 63, a player of the Shakuhachi bamboo flute, and Senzo Nishikawa, 70, a Kabuki dancer.

Anwar files appeal

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (DPA) — Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim filed an appeal today against his April 14 conviction on charges of abuse of power and against the sentence of six years as “manifestly excessive”.

The appeal was submitted in high court by Mr S.N. Nair, one of the 10 lawyers working for Mr Anwar, who until he was sacked on September 2 last year, was heir-apparent to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed.

A report from Bernama, the Malaysian Government news agency, did not specify Mr Anwar’s objections to his conviction although it noted that the appeal had 29 grounds.

Mr Anwar also objected to convicting justice Augustine Paul’s order that the six-year sentence begin from the date of the conviction rather than when he was arrested on September 20.

Clinton clears $ 15 b for Kosovo drive

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) — President Bill Clinton has signed a $ 15 billion Bill to pay for the Yugoslav air war and boost US military readiness even though the legislation contains many “highly objectionable” items.

Mr Clinton said yesterday he was signing the legislation because the money was urgently needed and that “were it not for pressing needs” he would have rejected several riders attached to it.

The final Bill included $ 11.9 billion to cover the cost of air strikes against Yugoslavia and deal with what Republicans said were long-neglected military needs.

Former US soldier plotted with Laden

NEW YORK, May 22 (AFP) — A former US Army soldier has been indicted on charges of collaborating with alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden in a plot to kill US citizens abroad, officials here said.

US attorney Mary Jo White on Wednesday announced that a grand jury had indicted Ali Mohamed for being a member of the Al Quaeda organisation, described in the indictment as “as worldwide terrorist organisation led by Laden.”

Mercedes-Benz Award
CANNES (France): Critics at the Cannes Film Festival awarded the Spanish film “Flowers from Another World” the Mercedes-Benz Award for the best feature film while the Canadian film “Shoes off” won in the short film section. The prizes were announced on Friday at the 38th International Critics’ Week Awards. — AFP

Russian spy
WASHINGTON: A Russian intelligence officer working undercover at the United Nations was caught spying and allowed to leave the country this month by an agreement between the US and Russian governments, the Washington Times has reported. The officer for Russia’s foreign intelligence service, SVR, was arrested by FBI agents late last month during a secret counter-intelligence operation after he obtained a classified US Government document. — PTI

Teachers open fire
DURBAN (South Africa): A teacher and a Principal opened fire on angry high school students in Durban, killing one and injuring two others, the police said on Friday. The Zithokozise High School students, who were demanding a refund for a trip barged into the library where the teachers had locked themselves. Seeing this, the Principal and another teacher opened fire. — AP

Seven executed
BEIJING: A Beijing firing squad has executed seven persons for raping, robbing and murdering dance hall hostesses, an official newspaper said on Saturday. The crimes came to light after the naked body of a night club hostess was found floating in a river in a sack in May last year. The seven executed on Friday, included a 19-year-old night club hostess, Li Guiqin who had introduced some of the victims to her boyfriend, 23-year-old Yin Weixin, the leading culprit in the case. — AP

Buddha’s relic
HONG KONG: A holy relic said to be a tooth of the Buddha has arrived in Hong Kong from Beijing for ritual worship as a celebration of Buddha’s birthday. Secretary for Home Affair David Lam and other government officials received the relic on Friday at the airport. It was then taken to the Hong Kong coliseum for public viewing. — DPA

Juvenile crime
MOSCOW: Sixtyeight per cent of all serious crimes recorded in Moscow so far this year were committed by persons under 18, a newspaper reported on Friday. A majority of the offences were violent crimes, such as murder and robbery. — AP

Oldest paved road
CAIRO: A road built by ancient Egyptians 4,500 years ago in Fayoum province has been judged as the oldest surviving paved road in the world by an American civil engineers group. A spokesperson of the Washington-based American Society of Civil Engineers said the experts have classified the road as a landmark of engineering. — PTI

Nude statue
BOSTON: A nude statue banned a century ago, not because of its nakedness, but because the figure was holding a bunch of grapes, is reclaiming its rightful spot at oldest US public library. As part of a $ 60 million renovation at Boston Public Library, the bronze statue could be in place by next spring. It depicts a woman holding a naked infant in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other. The child looks longingly toward the fruit. The statue’s name is a derivation of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. — AP

Body exhumed
DHAKA: The police has exhumed the body of the teenager who reportedly died after an Islamic cleric ordered her to be buried up to the waist and flogged for having premarital sex and inducing an abortion. Her body has been sent for a post mortem. The police is searching for the cleric who conducted the court trial on May 14 in Batsail, a remote village in Sylhet district. — AP

3 mauled to death
SANAA: A tiger mauled to death three teenagers who stole its cubs in Dhamar province south of the capital, Sanaa, the Yemeni news agency Saba has said. The adolescents, aged between 14 and 15, had seized the three cubs on Friday in a small cave and planned to take them to Sanaa Zoo. As the youth headed off, they were attacked by the tiger, which tore them to pieces. Then it took the cubs back to their den. — AFP