India signs treaty
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 18 — India has signed the International Convention for Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and proposes to ratify it soon, which, when comes into force will enable the states to either prosecute or extradite those accused of terrorist bombings.

China begins clampdown
BEIJING, Sept 18 — China has launched a nationwide security clampdown in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of Communist rule, ordering the Beijing police to clamp down on weapons, explosives, Falungong practitioners and the mentally ill, while arresting two dissidents on subversion charges, sources said today.

Oestrogen for memory
LONDON, Sept 18 — The female hormone oestrogen could improve memory, New Scientist magazine has said.

Call for making Hindi UN language
LONDON, Sept 18 — The 6th World Hindi Conference concluded here today with a resolve to intensify efforts for recognition of the language at the United Nations and for its upgradation and standardisation to meet challenges of the next millennium.

Benazir denies statement on Army involvement
ISLAMABAD, Sept 18 — Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto today denied having said that the Pakistani Army was involved in the recent Kargil clashes while slamming the Nawaz Sharif Government for admitting the involvement of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) in the conflict.

25 killed in Indonesian communal clashes

JAKARTA, Sept 18 (DPA) — At least 25 persons were killed and several others were injured in new clashes between Muslims and Christians in the strife-torn province of Maluku, news reports said today.

An Indonesian daily reported that the new communal fighting broke out early yesterday when groups of people attacked rival residents in Kairatu city of West Seram sub-district in central Maluku regency.

The report said the mobs went on a rampage, torched or destroyed houses while killing and wounding residents, who lived near Kairatu police station.

Hundreds of homes in three villages — Waimital Gemba, Waitase and Telaga — were set on fire, while several people were slashed or hacked by various sharp weapons, while big explosions from home-made bombs were heard from various corners.

“There are many victims from the attack. There were many people slaughtered like animals” a security officer was quoted as saying, adding that a number were slashed to death.

Yesterday’s violence was the latest in a series of religious clashes between Muslims and Christians in Maluku province in recent weeks.

Maluku police chief Colonel Bugis Saman said the situation in Central Maluku district had returned to calm and was under control.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s armed forces commander General Wiranto has ruled out that his troops will join a UN-authorised multinational force in East Timor.

DARWIN: In a break with its normally cautious role in world affairs, Japan will join peacekeepers from more than 20 countries gathering in Darwin for the mission to pacify East Timor and speed its split from Indonesia.

China also came forward on Saturday with personnel for the Australian-led International Force for East Timor (Interfet) in what would be only its second contribution to a multinational force. It joined peacekeepers in Cambodia in 1992.

Meanwhile, the UN has stepped up its campaign to drop food to starving refugees in East Timor, sending two Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo planes to the province.

UN spokesman David Wimhurst said on Saturday 20 tonnes of food were to be dropped to two areas outside the capital Dili, following Friday’s two flights over the same region.

Rebel bases bombed

MOSCOW, Sept 18 (Reuters, DPA) — Russian aircraft carried out several bombing raids overnight against bases and mountain routes used by Chechen-led guerrillas, a spokesman for the federal forces said today.

“There has been bombing of guerrilla strongholds overnight”, he said by telephone from Makhachkala, regional capital of Dagestan, where Russian troops have just crushed the second rebel incursion from neighbouring Chechnya in a month.

The spokesman said he had no information on casualties and declined to say where the bases were located.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said late yesterday that Russian forces had not been bombing Chechen villages.

“I am absolutely convinced that our armed forces have nothing to do with attacks on civilian facilities in Chechnya”, he said in televised remarks during a visit to the northern Russian city of Archangelsk.

“I think that civilian casualties have been caused by clashes and internecine strife and that is nothing to do with us”, he said. Mr Putin added that Russian strikes were aimed purely against the military camps of the rebel fighters.

The federal forces’ spokesman today said troops were still combing mountainous areas of Dagestan for fugitive rebels but said the general situation “showed a tendency towards stabilisation”.

He said aircraft had been strafing routes in Kizlyar district of north Dagestan because of fears that the rebels might be planning an incursion there in the near future.

Russia is reinforcing its troops in Dagestan in response to unconfirmed reports of fresh infiltration of rebel forces from neighbouring Chechnya, the Itar-Tass news agency reported today.

The report, quoting a Russian military spokesman in Makhachkala, did not disclose the size of the reinforcement. Press reports today said the Russian army had also moved several battalions of fresh troops to the region in the past week.

The Prime Minister yesterday said steps would be taken to “quarantine” Chechnya as part of a number of radical anti-terrorist measures.

Moscow authorities have blamed four recent bomb attacks on apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian towns on terrorists based in Chechnya and allied to Muslim rebels fighting Russian forces in Dagestan.

The attacks have claimed more than 300 lives.

Ackerman for strong Indo-US ties

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (PTI) — Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman, co-Chairman of the congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans, has called for greater Indo-US cooperation in fighting terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, and expressed hope the two countries would work together to fight the scourge during the UN General Assembly session next week.

Mr Ackerman, who was speaking at an Indian American banquet in Atlanta, Georgia, yesterday, said that he would be meeting Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session next week.

“I hope both our nations can act unitedly and decisively at the upcoming UN General Assembly session to find some solutions to halt acts of cross-border terrorism,” he added.

He warned Pakistan that unless it stops encouraging cross-border terrorism, it itself would be devoured by terrorism.

He expressed satisfaction that Indo-US relations were now on an upswing and that the India caucus and Indian Americans have recently scored many victories in Congress, for example his own amendment aimed at cutting off multilateral aid to Pakistan unless it withdrew from the Kargil sector; defeat of the Goodling amendment directed at India for New Delhi’s voting record at the UN.

India signs treaty

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 18 (PTI) — India has signed the International Convention for Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and proposes to ratify it soon, which, when comes into force will enable the states to either prosecute or extradite those accused of terrorist bombings.

Indian Ambassador Kamalesh Sharma signed the convention at a brief ceremony yesterday in the presence of senior United Nations officials.

India is the 47th state to sign the convention which has been so far ratified by only six nations.

China begins clampdown

BEIJING, Sept 18 (AFP) — China has launched a nationwide security clampdown in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of Communist rule, ordering the Beijing police to clamp down on weapons, explosives, Falungong practitioners and the mentally ill, while arresting two dissidents on subversion charges, sources said today.

“Departments at every level must ensure that no incidents threatening state security are allowed to occur during the anniversary period,” the China Youth Daily newspaper quoted Minister of Public Security Jia Chunwang as saying.

Police nationwide should be alert for “illegal gatherings by members of the (banned mystical sect) Falungong, especially those coming to Beijing to make complaints, dangerous persons, regular petitioners, or people with mental illness coming to Beijing to make trouble,” Mr Jia told a nationwide teleconference on security for the anniversary.

“Not a single gun, bullet or any form of explosive must be allowed to enter Beijing, nor any large gatherings of people, nor any major security disasters or incidents, so that the security of the anniversary may be guaranteed,” he said.

Elsewhere, the police in northern China detained a man who assisted prominent jailed activist Xu Wenli in setting up a branch of the banned opposition China Democracy Party (CDP), a Hong Kong-based rights group said.

“Liu Shizun was the manager of the CDP Tianjin office.

Oestrogen for memory

LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) — The female hormone oestrogen could improve memory, New Scientist magazine has said.

Canadian expert Barbara Sherwin found that women deprived of oestrogen appear to suffer from memory lapses that vanish when the hormone is replaced.

Ms Sherwin and her team of scientists studied a group of 100 women in their mid-40s, each of whom suffered a sudden drop in levels of oestrogen after their ovaries and uterus were removed.

The women were divided into two groups, one of which received hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the other a placebo.

They were all shown unrelated words and then asked to recall the second of each pair when cued by the first word.

Call for making Hindi UN language

LONDON, Sept 18 (PTI) — The 6th World Hindi Conference concluded here today with a resolve to intensify efforts for recognition of the language at the United Nations and for its upgradation and standardisation to meet challenges of the next millennium.

In a resolution moved by the Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje and adopted unanimously the conference asked the Hindi-speaking community spread over 20 countries to mount pressure for a diplomatic initiative by their governments for realisation of this goal.

Over 30 Hindi scholars and writers including 12 from India, were honoured in the concluding session with presentation of a shawl, a silver plaque and a silver coin with the conference logo.

They included noted authors Shivani, Sarilal Shukla, Dr Mahip Singh, Mehrunnisa Parvej, Naresh Mehta and scholars Kalyan Mal Lodha, Ram Vilas Sharma, Senior Editor Narendra Mohan and people associated with propagation of Hindi -Vishwanath Iyer, Madhukar Rao Chaudhury, Shourie Rajan and Govinda Chand Pandeya.

Dr L.M. Singhvi, former Indian High Commissioner, who was the inspiring force behind UK-based organisations for the promotion of Hindi, was also honoured.

Benazir denies statement on Army involvement

ISLAMABAD, Sept 18 (PTI) — Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto today denied having said that the Pakistani Army was involved in the recent Kargil clashes while slamming the Nawaz Sharif Government for admitting the involvement of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) in the conflict.

"A section of the Press has misreported opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s interview to PTI wherein she is alleged to have said that Pakistan Army troops were involved in the Kargil clash," a statement issued by Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) here said.

The opposition leader has clarified that in her interview to PTI, she had said that the Government of Pakistan had confirmed the involvement of NLI forces in the recent Kargil conflict, the statement said, adding that "she like all Pakistanis believed that it was Mujahideen who were fighting in Kargil."

(PTI stands by the statement attributed by it to Bhutto during an interview in London.)

JFK letters’ forger
NEW YORK: A Connecticut man who made $ 5 million selling forged “documents” signed by President John F. Kennedy, even duping CBS-TV’s “60 minutes” into considering a documentary, was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison by a federal judge in Manhattan. Lawrence Cusack (48) was convicted in April on 13 counts of wire and mail fraud for a five-year scheme in which he produced and sold more than 200 documents supposedly containing the handwriting of Kennedy, brother Robert F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. He has been in prison since July. — Reuters

Daily to close
HONOLULU: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, one of only a handful of afternoon newspapers left in the USA, has announced that it will close in October after 117 years of continuous publication. The newspaper said on Thursday it would print its last edition on October 30. Its owners, Liberty Newspapers Ltd, Partnership, said declining circulation and Hawaii’s eight-year economic slump contributed to the decision. — Reuters

He silenced dogs
SAN FRANCISCO: A man crammed 61 pedigree labradors into a luxury house had their vocal chords removed so they could not bark and alert neighbours to their inhumane conditions, reports said. Animal control officers described conditions at the house as the worst overcrowding they had ever seen and said the suspect may face 61 charges of animal abuse. The floor in the house was covered with a thick layer of filth, explaining why neighbours had been complaining of a mysterious stench for eight years, the control officers said. — DPA

Pandas for adoption
BEIJING: A Chinese giant panda breeding centre is putting up 11 panda bears, including a pair of twins, for “adoption” in a novel effort to raise funds for raising and caring for the endangered species, the state press has reported. The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in southwest Sichuan Province is putting up the pandas for adoption for 40,000 yuan ($ 4,800) each, the China Daily reported on Friday. — AFP

Sunscreen for sows
COPENHAGEN: Sows need sun lotion to enjoy summer mating, a Danish pig expert says. “One can imagine that a sow doesn’t like having a 250 kg breeding boar mounting her if her back is scorched by the sun”, the daily newspaper Politiken quoted Liselotte Madsen as saying on Friday. Next summer Danish pig producers will start using a sunscreen developed by Pharmacia-Upjohn especially for farm animals, the paper said. — Reuters

Antique cannons
BANGKOK: Bangkok metropolitan workers have unearthed four antique cannons — believed to be 200-year-old imported weapons — in the heart of the old section of the city, officials said. The cannons were discovered on Thursday by Bangkok Matropolitan Authority (BMA) workers who were excavating a section of the historically-rich Sanam Luang (royal grounds), near Emerald Budha Temple, to make preparations for King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 72nd birthday celebrations. — DPA

Solitary confinement
ROCHESTER: A convicted serial killer was ordered by New York prison authorities to serve two years’ solitary confinement for having his autographs and artworks sold on the Internet. Officials said Arthur Shawcross, who strangled at least 11 prostitutes and cannibalised some of them in the 1980s in Rochester, New York, also lost privileges to receive packages, buy items at the prison store and make phone calls for two years. — Reuters