W O R L D

China, Russia sign pact on ABMs
BEIJING, July 18 — China and Russia today signed five major documents, including one on the controversial anti-ballistic missile issue. Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin signed the Beijing declaration of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russian Federation and the joint statement of the PRC president and Russian Federation President on the anti ballistic missile issue, Xinhua news agency reported.

Clinton prods Barak, Arafat to bridge gap
THURMONT, July 18 — Tense Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began a crucial 24 hours today at a Middle East peace summit at Camp David, which their host, US President Bill Clinton, is determined to wrap up tomorrow.

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Bahraini Princess Mariam Al Khalifa, 19, holds hands with her husband US Marine Pfc. Jason Johnson as they arrive for Al Khalifa's political asylum hearing at the Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego on Monday. Relatives of the Bahraini princess, who eloped to the USA with the US Marine, want the teenager to return, saying they are prepared to forgive her transgression, a government official said on Saturday. — AP/PTI

No plan to marry Camilla: Charles
LONDON, July 18 — A senior aide of Britain’s Prince Charles was quoted today as saying there was no truth in a Sunday Times report suggesting the heir-to-the-throne planned to marry long-time lover Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Hostages’ release held up
JOLO (Philippines), July 18 — Islamic extremists today held up the release of seven remaining Malaysians among more than 30 hostages held for almost three months in the southern Philippines with a view to getting more money, a government emissary said.

Verdict in Anwar case on August 4
KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — The judge in the sodomy trial of Malaysia’s jailed former Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim said today he would pronounce his verdict in the landmark case on August 4.

Speight rejects new govt, warns of backlash

SUVA, July 18 (Reuters) — Fiji’s nationalist rebel leader George Speight today rejected the appointment of military-backed Laisenia Qarase as the new Prime Minister of the racially divided South Pacific nation and warned of more unrest.

“We consider it to be highly inappropriate and not in keeping with the Vanua (people). They are treading on some dangerous ground. It will result in a backlash,’’ Mr Speight said.

“I think some of the people are trying to do me in and they are going to meet with some very strong resistance,” Mr Speight told Reuters.

Asked if the appointment would spark more civil unrest, he said: “I am predicting it’’.

Fiji’s new President Josefa Iloilo, a Speight nominee, defied the rebel leader today by appointing Mr Qarase to head a new government which did not include rebel supporters. Mr Qarase had earlier been named interim Prime Minister after the military imposed martial law in late May.

Rebels accuse Mr Qarase, an indigenous Fijian, of being too accommodating towards Fiji’s ethnic Indian minority. The rebels had made the dismissal of his interim government a condition for the release of hostages.

“As head of state and a symbol of national unity in Fiji, I cannot appoint a Cabinet that is expressly committed to excluding a particular community,’’ Mr Iloilo said in a statement.

Within hours of his swearing-in, Mr Iloilo announced a government which excluded rebel supporters in key Cabinet positions and named an ethnic Indian to a junior ministerial post.

He said several Indian community leaders had been approached to join the government but had declined.

Mr Iloilo earlier called for racial harmony at the swearing-in ceremony in Suva today.

Mr Speight had rejected any Indian involvement in Fiji’s new government, asserting few ethnic Indians had embraced Fijian culture and should not rule Fiji.

The Fiji Times reported today that around 100 ethnic Indian families had fled from a village in the Dawasamu area, near Suva, the second such large-scale evacuation since the coup.

It said nationalist supporters had torched properties, stolen cars, slaughtered livestock, and robbed Indians at knifepoint.

The military has extended its emergency rule until the end of July in response to rebel warnings.

Australia today announced a series of trade, defence, aid and sporting sanctions against Fiji in a bid to force it to restore constitutional democracy.

All naval ship visits, senior officer visits and joint military exercises have been suspended and a number of Australian defence advisers will be withdrawn.

Australia is Fiji’s major trading partner and Australian aid to Fiji amounted to $ 12.7 million in 1999/00.

Both New Zealand and Australia have already banned Mr Speight and his core group of rebels from visiting and are considering the suspension of defence links and cutting aid.

In another development Fiji’s coup plotters on Tuesday buried in Parliament’s grounds a man they insisted was a martyr to the indigenous cause, an AFP report said.

China, Russia sign pact on ABMs

BEIJING, July 18 (PTI) — China and Russia today signed five major documents, including one on the controversial anti-ballistic missile issue.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin signed the Beijing declaration of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russian Federation and the joint statement of the PRC president and Russian Federation President on the anti ballistic missile issue, Xinhua news agency reported.

Officials signed two inter-government agreements — one on joint energy development and the other on the construction and operation of a fast neutron experimental reactor, it said.

Besides, Bank of China also signed a cooperation pact with the Russian Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs.

Xinhua did not immediately provide details of the Sino-Russian joint statement expressing their joint opposition to US plans to set up a national missile defence (NMD) and a theatre missile defence (TMD) in east Asia.

Both Beijing and Moscow have warned that the anti-missile shields would mar the global strategic stability and trigger a new round of expensive arms race.

Prior to the signing of the documents, Mr Jiang and Mr Putin held over three hours of private and official talks, Xinhua said.

The two Presidents said their talks have opened a new chapter in the future bilateral relations.

At a time when the Sino-Russian relationship is poised to enter the new century, Mr Jiang said his talks with Mr Putin could be described as “a pivotal conversation that inherits from the past and opens a new chapter for the future.”

Xinhua reported that Mr Jiang and Mr Putin held formal talks at the great hall of the people, following more than two hours of private talks.

Mr Putin thanked Mr Jiang for inviting him to China and for the hospitable reception he received here and told Mr Jiang that he was delighted to spend a good time with friends in the friendly land of China, it said.

He stated that Russia attaches utmost importance to developing the Russian-Chinese relations and attributed the growth of the well-grounded bilateral relationship to the efforts made by Russia’s former President Boris Yeltsin and Mr Jiang.

This is the second time that Mr Jiang and Mr Putin have conferred with each other since Mr Putin assumed the Russian presidency. The two heads of state had their first meeting early this month when attending the Shanghai Five summit in Tajikistan’s capital city, Dushanbe.

Earlier, Mr Jiang hosted an official welcoming ceremony this morning for Putin, who arrived late last night for a two-day state visit, his first to China. 

Clinton prods Barak, Arafat to bridge gap

THURMONT, July 18 (Reuters, PTI) — Tense Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began a crucial 24 hours today at a Middle East peace summit at Camp David, which their host, US President Bill Clinton, is determined to wrap up tomorrow.

As the countdown accelerated, officials said delegates were negotiating through the night on the most sensitive question at the heart of the 52-year-old conflict — Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital.

Israeli sources said Prime Minister Ehud Barak had made agreement on other core issues such as the contours of a future Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, conditional on acceptance of overall Israeli sovereignty over the holy city.

But there has been no sign that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, with the Arab and Muslim world looking over his shoulder, was prepared to accept.

In the meantime, President Bill Clinton began another round of tough negotiations pressing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to wrap up the outlines of a final peace agreement before he leaves for Japan.

As round-the-clock negotiations entered the ‘‘critical’’ stage on the seventh day of the summit at Camp David, Mr Clinton was working harder than ever with Israeli Premier Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with White House spokesman Joe Lockhart saying ‘‘the pace and the intensity (of talks) have both quickened.’’

Virtually ruling out any change in Clinton’s planned trip to Tokyo, Mr Lockhart said: ‘‘I expect that when the President leaves, the parties will wrap up their business.’’ But he refused to comment on reports that the talks were floundering citing a news blackout imposed on the summit.

However, the Speaker of the Israeli Parliament Avraham Burg told Israeli Radio that Barak has told him that he is ‘‘not really optimistic’’ about the summit’s chance of success.

Mr Burg noted that Israelis and Palestinians have, in fact, ‘‘never been so far apart’’ on the future of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and borders of a future Palestinian state — issues at the core of their 52-year conflict.

‘‘The last moments of the negotiations can be decisive one pressure is mounting, anything can happen,’’ commented Israeli Immigration Minister Yuli Tamir.

A Palestinian leader admitted that the two sides were at loggerheads.

Mr Clinton is due to leave for a Group of Eight nations summit in Okinawa, Japan, tomorrow morning. A date White House officials say he intends to keep.

But a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, P.J. Crowley, did not rule out, at a news briefing late yesterday, a delay in Mr Clinton’s departure if necessary.

“The President has a schedule. The intention is to stick to this schedule. ... The schedule won’t change until it changes,” Mr Crowley said. “We want a deal. They’re here — they’re engaged there’s no time like the present.”

Aides said Mr Clinton has tentatively scheduled a statement tomorrow in the White House east room, where the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian Camp David peace accords and more recently the 1998 Israeli-Palestinian Wye River agreement were signed.

Palestinian and Israeli sources have reported several mini-crises over the thorniest issue of Jerusalem over the last seven days as the sides try to conclude a peace treaty by a self-imposed September 13 deadline.

Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967 and swiftly annexed in a move rejected by the international community, as the capital of a future state.

Israeli sources said Mr Barak was prepared to cede up to 95 per cent of the territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war, more than the Jewish state has ever offered before, if Mr Arafat agreed Jerusalem would remain under Israeli sovereignty.

Diplomatic sources in contact with the negotiators said Mr Arafat rejected Mr Barak’s proposal and insisted on full Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported in today’s edition that Mr Arafat had warned that without an agreement guaranteeing Palestinian control over Al-Aqsa mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s old city, there would be no deal on any subject at Camp David.

No plan to marry Camilla: Charles

LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) — A senior aide of Britain’s Prince Charles was quoted today as saying there was no truth in a Sunday Times report suggesting the heir-to-the-throne planned to marry long-time lover Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The Times newspaper said the Prince’s private secretary, Stephen Lamport, had taken the unprecedented step of writing to Britain’s press watchdog about the report.

“I should like to make clear that there is no truth whatsoever to the story and I should be very grateful if you would investigate this misleading report.” Mr Lamport was quoted as saying in his letter to the press complaints commission.

Mr Lamport’s complaint involved a report in the British Sunday newspaper that Prince Charles was in secret talks with the Church of Scotland about a wedding. Other newspapers have speculated about marriage plans.

Charles and Camilla have been gradually emerging into the public limelight as a couple over the past 18 months.

With opinion polls showing a majority of Britons now accept their relationship, they have grown more confident of facing the glare of the media when they step out together to go to the theatre or attend parties. Marriage is a difficult issue because of the royal family’s links with the Church of England, of which Charles is due one day to become supreme governor.

Hostages’ release held up

JOLO (Philippines), July 18 (DPA) — Islamic extremists today held up the release of seven remaining Malaysians among more than 30 hostages held for almost three months in the southern Philippines with a view to getting more money, a government emissary said.

The go-between, who requested anonymity, said leaders of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group earlier agreed to free the Malaysians after Kuala Lumpur paid $ 2 million in a “package ransom deal”.

“But the rebels now want more money and it’s now open to the highest bidder,” said the frustrated emissary, who rushed to Jolo Island, Sulu province, 1,000 km south of Manila, to find out what went wrong.

The scuttled release of the Malaysians doused optimism that the 87-day hostage saga would soon be resolved after the extremists freed the first western hostage, ailing German housewife Renate Wallert (56) on Monday.

Lankan oppn leaders met LTTE rebel

COLOMBO, July 18 (PTI) — Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, who is busy in discussions with President Chandrika Kumaratunga to chart out a consensus new constitution, had a clandestine meeting with a top LTTE leader in Singapore last month, official media claimed today.

Mr Wickramasinghe had a two-hour meeting with Gnanakoon, an LTTE leader in-charge of the group’s shipment of arms and ammunition, at a hotel on June 18, the state-run newspaper, the ‘Daily News’, said.

Three other unp leaders, Mr Malik Samarawickrama, Mr Lalin Fernando and Mr Arjuna Mahendra, were also present during the meeting between the UNP and the LTTE leaders, it said.

The UNP leader went on a private visit to Singapore last month amidst a series of meetings with Ms Kumaratunga to formulate a new constitution.

The disclosures come at a time when Ms Kumaratunga and Mr Wickramasinghe are trying to formulate a new constitution to reach a political settlement to end the ethnic war.

The two leaders have already finalised a basic structure of the constitution, which offers broad autonomy to the Tamil dominated north-eastern province.

The UNP has not officially reacted to the allegation that Mr Wickramasinghe had met the LTTE leader in Singapore, but its middle-rung leaders said the allegations were aimed at tarnishing the image of their leaders before the impending parliament elections, scheduled to be held before end of this year. 

Verdict in Anwar case on August 4

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 (Reuters) — The judge in the sodomy trial of Malaysia’s jailed former Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim said today he would pronounce his verdict in the landmark case on August 4.

Anwar, sentenced to six years in jail in April last year for abuse of power, took over his defence yesterday after dismissing his legal team and launched a fresh attack on his former mentor, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, to try to support his conspiracy theory that he was framed by Mr Mahathir’s associates. The Prime Minister has denied the allegations.

Anwar and co-accused, Sukma Dermawan who is Anwar’s adopted brother, face up to 20 years in jail and caning, if convicted. Both of them were accused of sodomising Anwar’s former family driver, Azizan Abu Bakar, in 1993. 

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Czech PM fined for not saying sorry
PRAGUE: Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman has been fined 20,000 crowns (528 dollars) for failing to apologise to a party colleague, he had slandered, a judge said. The Prime Minister, known for his sharp tongue, has lost several libel cases in recent years and must still make an apology to Wagner or face further fines of up to 100,000 crowns. — Reuters

Education Minister gets sums wrong
WARSAW: Polish Education Minister Miroslaw Handke has tendered his resignation after admitting last week he failed to correctly calculate the ministry’s annual budget, Polish media reported on Monday. On Friday Mr Handke owned up to an embarrassing math mistake which left Poland’s poorly paid teachers without promised wage increases. — DPA

Million dollar ideas cashed
LONDON: Britain had two new Internet “millionaires” after the winners of a TV search for the best e-commerce ideas pocketed seven-figure cheques. Charity worker Joe Rajko aims to sell services and goods to disabled people through his e-commerce site, youreable.com. Colin Robinson plans to set up a schoolsforschools.com, an online marketplace for Britain’s nearly 30,000 schools to buy supplies using their combined purchasing power. — Reuters

UK travellers carry 4.5 lakh condoms
LONDON: British travellers take 450,000 condoms and almost two million teabags abroad each year on holiday, a survey has revealed. The British, mocked abroad for their unadventurous tastebuds and stolid taste in food, also pack almost 500,000 packets of sausages when venturing to foreign parts. — Reuters

Czar Nicholas to be a martyr
MOSCOW: The Russian Orthodox Church is to canonise the last Czar, Nicholas II, as a martyr, church officials said as services were held to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Czar’s execution by the Bolsheviks. The church is to hold a synode from August 13 to 19. — AFP

Kohl ready to pay his way out
HAMBURG: Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl would be prepared to pay a fine in exchange for the dropping of legal proceedings against him stemming from the corruption scandal of his party, one of his lawyers has told a newspaper. Kohl, who has admitted accepting the donations during his term as chancellor from 1982-1998, has said he had given his word to the donors not to reveal their names and that he had a right to silence under the judicial system. — AFP

Germany to pay Nazi slave labour
BERLIN: Germany signed on a foundation to compensate people forced to work for Hitler’s war machine, sealing an arduous 1 1/2 years of negotiations on one of the last Nazi evils not redressed after World War II. Representatives of the USA, Russia, Israel, four eastern European states, the Jewish Claims Conference and lawyers for the victims signed documents along with German officials establishing the $ 5 billion compensation fund. More than 1 million former labourers are expected to be eligible for payments from the fund, mostly central and eastern Europeans. — AP

7-yr-old tries to hold up hotel
PERTH (Australia): The police in a remote Australian town are shaking their heads in disbelief over an attempted hotel hold-up — by an axe-wielding seven-year-old boy. The failed attempt was at the Bluewaters Lodge Hotel, in Esperance, 900km east of Perth. Hotel manager Stuart Gleeson said on Tuesday he was shocked when he heard a child yelling at him from outside the building to hand over money from the hotel safe. — AFP

Judge plays villain in modern fairytale
SAN DIEGO: A judge refused to dismiss charges of illegally entering the USA against a princess from Bahrain who used forged military documents to flee her country and marry a U.S. Marine. The ruling by immigration judge Ignacio Fernandez prevents the princess, 19-year-old Meriam Al Khalifa, from applying for permanent residency in the United States without seeking political asylum. Al Khalifa plans to apply for asylum. — AP