Bomb blast near Kremlin : 41 hurt
MOSCOW, Sept 1 — A self-proclaimed revolutionary group protesting against growing consumerism in Russia claimed responsibility for a bomb that shattered a shopping mall in the heart of Moscow, officials said today.

Plea opposing Hindu CJ alarms Benazir
ISLAMABAD, Sept 1 — Former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto has expressed fears that an attempt to prevent a Hindu Judge from becoming the Chief Justice of the Sind High Court may be part of the “Talibanisation process” of the Nawaz Sharif government.

Militia fires near UN HQ in Dili
From Terry Friel

DILI (East Timor), Sept 1 — Pro-Indonesia militiamen, unchecked by Indonesian troops in the tense aftermath to this week’s Independence ballot in East Timor, today fired gunshots near the UN headquarters here.

Witnesses said at least one person was killed in the clash which followed the UN-organised ballot, expected to give a landslide victory for independence of the former Portuguese territory.

The latest clash with pro-independence supporters underscores mounting international fears that the violence could spiral out of control in East Timor.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Don McKinnon said today that in a worst case scenario, if violence escalated, intervention by a body other than UN was possible.

He said likely participants in such a peacekeeping operation included New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the USA. But Australia swiftly denied it would join a non-UN peacekeeping force in East Timor.

While Indonesia insists that the situation was under control, time and again Indonesian security forces have stood by while violence flared.

Indonesia, whose often brutal 23-year rule in East Timor has never been internationally recognised, has been repeatedly warned by the West that it must tame the militia. There have been reports that Jakarta could lose desperately needed aid if it does not.

The militia, with the backing of Indonesia’s military, has for months waged a vicious intimidation campaign in which hundreds have been killed in a bid to cow independence supporters.

Pro-independence supporters today set up a road block near the UN offices and about 200 people took shelter inside the UN compound, including a number of foreigners.

Nearly 99 per cent of registered voters turned out for the poll.

In the nearby village of Hera, pro-independence supporters said eight of their members had been killed, a charge denied by pro-Jakarta militiamen manning a roadblock outside the village.

“These are my people. If anyone died I would know,” local Aitarak (thorn) militia commander Matheus de Corvalho told Reuters at the roadblock barring access to Hera.

Asked what the roadblock was for, he said his men were investigating people who wanted to run away into the jungle.

A few kilometres away pro-independence gangs guarded a mountain pass, carrying machetes and bamboo sticks.

The United Nations, which organised the ballot, was unable to confirm reports that another two of its workers had been killed by pro-Jakarta militias.

UN Deputy Spokesman Hiro Ueki said one UN worker was confirmed dead and two were missing.

He said the world body had complained to local officials in the town of Gleno, near East Timor’s capital Dili, about their failure to prevent militias harassing UN staff yesterday.

The poll result still has to be ratified by the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly, which meets from October.

Until then, Indonesia remains in charge of security in the former Portuguese colony. The USA yesterday issued a statement urging Jakarta to restrain the militia groups.

“We look to the government of Indonesia, in particular, to take effective action to restrain armed militia groups from terrorising the populace and subverting the UN-administered process,” the US State Department said in a statement.

Many accuse Indonesian troops of backing the militias, which sprang up early this year when President B.J. Habibie reversed a 23-year policy and gave East Timor the chance to go it alone.

Analysts say Indonesia’s military is deeply unhappy with Mr Habibie’s change of policy, fearing it will spark rebellions around the Indonesian Archipelago where a prolonged political and economic crisis is already tearing at its seams.

But Indonesian military chief General Wiranto insisted he would accept the outcome of the vote, hailed internationally for its huge and peaceful turnout. — Reuters

AP, AFP add: The militiamen blocked the street outside UN headquarters, setting a nearby house afire and shooting at cars driving into the compound. A taxi carrying journalists to the scene was fired at and militiamen smashed its rear window.

It was not immediately clear if the militiamen had broken into the compound. Smoke billowed from the fire raging nearby. Indonesian soldiers stood by, but did not intervene.

The violence came as the United Nations began counting ballots for East Timor’s historic referendum.

It was the most serious attack on the United Nations since the world body took over organisation of the vote in May. One UN worker was killed on Monday just after the balloting.

Initial reports said a band of pro-Indonesian Aitarak militiamen were trying to attack the compound.

The incident took place after hundreds of militia followers had attended the funeral of an Aitarak member, who was killed on Sunday by independence supporters.

The run-up to Monday’s landmark ballot was marred by violence blamed on Aitarak militiamen. Six people died in a militia rampage in Dili last Thursday.

Deal eludes Israel, Palestine

JERUSALEM, Sept 1 (Reuters) — Israel today said talks with the Palestinians on reviving the Wye river accord had ended without a deal and threatened to chart a unilateral course on West Bank land handover.

Palestinian negotiators expressed surprise and anger at the statement from Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s office and said they had presented two fresh proposals to the Israeli side and were awaiting a response.

The two sides had been trying to wrap up a deal to end an eight-month-long peacemaking deadlock in time for a possible signing ceremony with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Alexandria, Egypt, tomorrow.

Negotiators said a gap over the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel was the main stumbling block.

“The head of the Israeli negotiating team has reported that no future meetings are scheduled with the Palestinian team,’’ said a statement issued by Mr Barak’s office.

“As far as the Israeli Government is concerned, the negotiations have concluded.’’

But senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he was surprised to hear what he described as an ultimatum, while acknowledged differences remained over the release of prisoners held by Israel on security-related offences. Mr Erekat told Reuters: “we are demanding 400 (prisoners released) and they will only accept 350’’.

The statement from Mr Barak’s office left open a small window of opportunity for a deal.

“If nothing different is reported by the beginning of this evening’s security Cabinet meeting...Barak will reach the conclusion that the Palestinians are interested in implementing the Wye memorandum to the letter, and Israel will act accordingly,” the statement said.

Palestinian negotiators said one of their new proposals related to the establishment of a permanent committee to oversee the phased release of Palestinian prisoners. The other suggested a new 12-month deadline for reaching a final peace accord.

5 implicated in Murtaza case escape

ISLAMABAD, Sep 1 (PTI) — The murder trial under way against former Premier Benazir Bhutto’s jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari has taken an interesting turn with five police officials implicated in the Murtaza murder case escaping from the court premises after their bail was cancelled by the Sindh High Court.

The five, ASP Shahid Hayat, SHO Agha Mohammad Jamali, Shabir Qaimkhani, ASI Abdul Basit and a Head Constable, made good their escape from the crowded court room on Monday immediately after presiding Judge Hamid Ali Mirza cancelled their bail and ordered their arrest.

Reports available here said police officials on duty did not make any attempt to arrest the fleeing policemen.

Their bail was cancelled following a petition by the wife of a Pakistan People’s Party leader killed in the shoot-out in which Ms Benazir’s estranged brother Murtaza was killed along with some others in September, 1996.

The shoot-out occurred during the last days of Ms Benazir’s rule and immediately after her dismissal by President Farooq Leghari in November, 1996, her husband Mr Zardari was arrested for complicity in the murder.

The petitioner had requested that the case was an important one and that the police officials on bail were trying to influence witnesses.

SGPC embezzling funds: PGPC

ISLAMABAD, Sep 1 (PTI) — President of the newly-created Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PGPC) and former ISI chief Javed Nasir has accused the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) of “misappropriating” millions from gurdwaras in Pakistan and rejected any possibility of dismantling the PGPC.

“Year after year, over the past half a century, the SGPC has been fraudulently squandering, misappropriating and poaching sacred donations made by Sikh yatris and taking away to India crores of rupees every year in total violation of the Sikh religion and even Pakistan’s customs regulations,” Nasir wrote in an article in the English daily “News”.

Nasir, who took over as the chief of the newly-formed PGPC earlier this year to control affairs of gurdwaras in Pakistan, asked the SGPC to return Rupees 1 billion worth of donations which it has taken away “unconstitutionally and illegally” to India.

“Without returning the Pakistan gurdwara donation money, the SGPC’s President or its members will not be invited in any official capacity,” Nasir warned amidst reports that SGPC chief Jagir Kaur was planning to visit Pakistan to urge Mr Nawaz Sharif to disband the PGPC and hand over the control of gurdwaras in Pakistan back to it.

Referring to the demand in India to disband the PGPC, Nasir, who is a known fundamentalist, questioned the SGPC’s moral and legal stand to question the creation of the PGPC and ruled out any possibility of disbanding it. “The decision to establish the PGPC is irrevocable and irreversible.”

Bomb blast near Kremlin : 41 hurt

MOSCOW, Sept 1 (AP) — A self-proclaimed revolutionary group protesting against growing consumerism in Russia claimed responsibility for a bomb that shattered a shopping mall in the heart of Moscow, officials said today.

The blast at a video game arcade in the underground mall last night showered an adjacent row of fast-food restaurants with glass and metal shards at a time when it was thronged with tourists and shoppers. According to emergency officials, 41 people were injured, several seriously.

The Federal Security Service, the chief successor to the KGB, said it had found a note on the scene that claimed the Union of Revolutionary Writers carried out the blast to fight consumerism.

The Western-style mall is one of the few in Russia. Most ordinary Russians are poor and unable to afford the growing range of Western-style consumer goods available in big cities.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov called the blast a “terrorist act.”

Russians occupy militant stronghold

MAKHACHKALA, Sept 1 (AP) — Government troops occupied a strategic village in Dagestan that had been controlled by Islamic militants and were sweeping out remaining pockets of resistance today, the Interior Ministry said.

Federal troops yesterday occupied the village of Karamakhi, which served as the militants’ main headquarters, and troops were going from house to house today searching for rebels, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Meanwhile, helicopter gunships, artillery and rockets hammered two nearby mountainous villages where the militants, who had imposed strict Islamic law in the area, were holding out for a fourth day.

Two Russian troops were killed and 29 were wounded during the last 24 hours, adding to eight killed and 50 wounded since fighting started Sunday, officials said. The Federal forces also lost eight armoured vehicles since yesterday, according to the ministry.

Rebel losses were estimated by Russian forces at more than 80 fighters, but that number couldn’t be independently confirmed.

Plea opposing Hindu CJ alarms Benazir

ISLAMABAD, Sept 1 (PTI) — Former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto has expressed fears that an attempt to prevent a Hindu Judge from becoming the Chief Justice of the Sind High Court may be part of the “Talibanisation process” of the Nawaz Sharif government.

In a press note issued by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) here, Ms Bhutto expressed “grave concern” over a constitutional petition challenging the status of Mr Justice Bhagwan Das of the Sind High Court on the grounds that being a non-Muslim he had no right to sit as a judge.

Panama’s President
PANAMA CITY (Panama): Thirtyone years after her husband was overthrown, Mireya Moscoso becomes the first female President of Panama today, breaking from a tradition of military regimes and populist strongmen. Moscoso, 54, will govern the country when it takes full control of the US-built Panama Canal on December 31. — AP

Oliver pleads guilty
BEVERLY HILLS (Califor-nia): Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone slipped past media on Friday to plead guilty to a one-count misdemeanour drug charge of possessing concentrated cannabis, officials said. Stone (52) received three years’ probation for the drug charge, three years non-supervised probation for driving under the influence (DUI) and was fined $ 390 plus penalties, the District Attorney’s office said on Tuesday. — AFP

Immigrants rescued
GOLD RIVER (British Columbia): Some 190 illegal immigrants have been rescued from a rusting ship and clambered aboard Canadian vessels after the authorities became worried their boat might sink. After 72 days at sea from China, the ship was being escorted to the west coast of Vancouver Island when officials on Tuesday concluded it could go no farther safely. — AP

Passenger distressed
AUCKLAND: A woman flying Air New Zealand business class found a rat sitting in her lap, but she will be compensated, an airline spokesman said. “The rat was sighted by the crew, but their attempts to catch it failed when it ran to the rear of the aircraft,” Cameron Hill said on Tuesday. — AP

AIDS in US prisons
ATLANTA: Prison inmates are five to 10 times more likely than non-inmates to have AIDS or the virus that causes it, and recently released prisoners account for one-sixth of the nation’s AIDS cases, researchers said. The first comprehensive effort to estimate the prevalence of AIDS and HIV among the nation’s nearly two million inmates found that there were approximately 8,900 inmates with AIDS in 1997. That rate is five times higher than the nation at large. — Reuters

Ministers sacked
MOSCOW: Chechnya President Aslan Maskhadov, on Tuesday dismissed two key men from his ministry, according to the Voice of Russia. The President charged Mr Movaladi Mouladi Udugov with causing immense harm to Chechnya’s fraternal relations with Dagestan. He also removed Mr Ibrahim Khultygov, Chairman of the National Security Council. — UNI

Sharif’s ouster sought
LAHORE: Commandos stood guard outside the grand Punjab legislature on Wednesday as opposition politicians prepared to march to the provincial Parliament to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sixteen political parties under the Pakistan Awami Ittehad (Pakistan People’s Alliance) banner have united to try to oust Mr Sharif with demonstrations throughout the country. — AP