Geneva, October 18
A Swiss investigative judge said on Thursday that he had completed a long-running probe into alleged money laundering by former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband.

Judge Vincent Fournier, who spoke as Bhutto returned to her homeland after eight years in self-exile, said he would hand over his confidential findings next week to Geneva chief prosecutor Daniel Zappelli for action.

Zappelli has three options — to bring the case to trial, suspend it, or dismiss it.

Fournier conceded that money-laundering allegations would be harder to prove under Swiss law after President Pervez Musharraf granted an amnesty to protect Bhutto from corruption charges at home.

“It is not impossible, but much more difficult,” he said.

“The fact that Pakistan has withdrawn its own prosecution does not help the Swiss demonstration of money-laundering.”

At least $13 million remains frozen in bank accounts in the Swiss city in connection with the criminal case, which relates to alleged kickbacks from Swiss cargo inspection companies in the 1990s, officials said.

“I regard my investigation as completed and the case is ready for the prosecutor,” Fournier told Reuters.

To obtain a conviction under Swiss federal law, a prosecutor must prove that graft or other crimes have been committed abroad and the proceeds were laundered in Switzerland. A conviction for aggravated money-laundering can mean up to five years in prison.

Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari were convicted in Geneva in 2003 of having laundered funds worth some $13 million through offshore companies and ordered to return the frozen funds to the Pakistani government, which currently remains a civil party in the case.

But this verdict was thrown out automatically upon appeal, sparking a new probe. — Reuters

Islamabad, October 18
Exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif”s PML-N party is planning to delay his second return bid to Pakistan till after November 15, when a neutral caretaker government is expected to be in place to supervise the next year’s general election.

Sharif, who was exiled after being ousted by General Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999, was deported back to Saudi Arabia within hours of landing here on September 10 despite a Supreme Court ruling that he could return to the country.

A final decision on Sharif’s return would be taken at a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League (N)’s central working committee to be held shortly in London after the former Prime Minister arrives there from Saudi Arabia, party officials were quoted as saying by The Dawn.

The officials said the decision to delay Sharif’s return till after November 15 was made in the wake of his deportation when he made an abortive attempt to land in Islamabad.

“The harsh response of the government, especially of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, by arresting all important PML-N leaders and barricading all major highways in (Punjab) province to prevent activists from welcoming their leader in Islamabad shows that the incumbent dispensation is afraid of the return of Sharif for his ability to shake the balance of power by making dents in the ruling PML,” the PML-N officials said.

Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had said a neutral caretaker government comprising non-controversial personalities would be formed when the term of the national and provincial assemblies ends on November 15. — PTI

Beijing, October 18
Foreign ministers of India, China, and Russia will meet on October 24 to discuss “pragmatic” ways to boost trilateral cooperation, but their ties are not targeted at a third party, a senior official said here today.

The ministers, who will meet in northeast China's Harbin City, will exchange views on major international and regional issues and discuss "pragmatic cooperation" among the three countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced here at a biweekly news briefing.

“This kind of cooperation is helpful and open. It is not targeted at any third party,” Liu said when asked to comment on the significance of the second such meeting between Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

According to past experience, the three foreign ministers will explore cooperation in many fields, including political and economic fields, Liu said.

The ministers are also expected to touch upon the potential of trilateral cooperation and synergy in the economic field, including energy, transport infrastructure, health and high technologies, including IT and biotechnology.

The last such meeting was held in New Delhi on February 14 this year and the first was held in Vladivostok on June 2, 2005.

The other Trilateral Foreign Ministers Meetings have taken place on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York since September 2002.

The first Summit meeting among the leaders of India, Russia and China took place on July 17, 2006, in St Petersburg on the sidelines of the meetings among G-8 and outreach countries.

The upcoming visit to China by Mukherjee would be his first as external affairs minister. He had visited China in May last year as defence minister.

Mukherjee is expected to meet with Yang to discuss bilateral ties, especially since both sides are preparing actively for the planned visit to China by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later this year.

Yang and Mukherjee had met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last month.

Chinese sources have expressed the hope that China and India would maintain high-level exchanges, conduct strategic, defence and security dialogues, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, properly handle border and other issues, strengthen coordination in United Nations affairs and other major international matters, and constantly advance bilateral relations. — PTI

Moscow, October 18
India and Russia today signed a watershed agreement for the joint development and production of the futuristic Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGA).

Defence minister A. K Antony, who co-chaired the Indo-Russian inter-governmental commission on military technical cooperation, dubbed it as a “landmark” pact in the six-decade-long defence cooperation with Russia.

The agreement was signed by secretary, Defence Production, K. P Singh and deputy director of the Federal Service for Foreign Military Cooperation Vyacheslav Dzirkaln in the presence of Antony and his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov.

“The joint development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft will mark the start of the cooperation in the development of major state-of-the-art new technology weapon systems,” Antony said.

He added that both India and Russia would have equal financial and technological stakes and issues related to the intellectual property and specific requirement of the Indian Air Force had been resolved.

Antony, however, declined to divulge when the new fighter, which would apparently rival US-British F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), would be ready. — PTI

New Orleans, October 18
The son of Punjabi immigrants could be handed the keys to the Governor's mansion in Louisiana Saturday, a state which just 16 years ago gave 39 per cent of its vote to a white supremacist.

A conservative Republican, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, 36, was the second Indian-American to be elected to the US Congress in 2004 following a failed bid to be Governor of Louisiana, a socially conservative state, which still clings to old prejudices in some places.

Some analysts blamed racial prejudice for Jindal's narrow 2003 loss to Kathleen Blanco, a white moderate Democrat whose election made her the state's first female Governor.

Subsequent analysis showed that despite Jindal's ardent support for right-wing “Christian” causes, he fared poorly against the more liberal Blanco in 26 rural voting districts that were carried by Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's unsuccessful run for Governor in 1991. — AFP

Dubai, October 18
An illegal worker of Indian origin was found dumped in a near-death state three days ago near a hospital here, the Indian Embassy said.

Haneef Bhai (57), a resident of Gujarat who appeared to be in a serious condition was found near the Riyadh Medical Complex.

The Embassy said Haneef was conscious when he was found but in a very weak condition, adding that he is recuperating in the hospital.

The Embassy said it had paid a Rs 50,000 advance for his treatment, while the social workers are trying to arrange the transfer of the patient to India.

The Indian immigrant was suffering from partial paralysis and one of his legs had to be amputated. The man reportedly is suffering from diabetes and hypertension.

“When he was found, he did not have valid documents or a residence certificate indicating who he was, so the Embassy asked Indian social workers to search for his identity,” an Embassy official said.

Bhai reportedly came to the Kingdom on a house driver visa but failed the test. He allegedly ran away from his sponsor and had worked illegally to survive. — UNI

Beijing, October 18
Slamming Washington for awarding Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama one of its highest honours, an infuriated China today summoned the US ambassador in Beijing to demand concrete steps to protect bilateral ties which had been gravely undermined.

“The move of the US is a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs, hurts the feelings of the Chinese people and has gravely undermined relations between China and the US,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.

He was reacting to the meeting between US President Bush and the Dalai Lama as well as the awarding of the Congressional Golden Medal to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

China, which considers the Dalai Lama a separatist, had already denounced the award as a "farce" that would hurt relations between Beijing and Washington.

Liu said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi summoned the US Ambassador to Beijing, Clark Randit today and lodged a “solemn protest” for disregarding repeated Chinese requests not to honour the Dalai and prevent senior US leaders from meeting him. — PTI

London, October 18
The Science Museum in the British capital has cancelled a talk by Nobel Prize winning scientist Dr James Watson after he was accused of making racist comments implying Africans were not as intelligent as whites.

Watson, who discovered the double helix structure of DNA along with Briton Francis Crick, has been condemned for saying he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really”.

The 79-year-old American was due to talk at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre tomorrow but last night a spokesman said Watson’s comments had gone “beyond the point of acceptable debate and as a result the museum was cancelling the sold-out event, The Daily Telegraph claimed today.

The eminent American, in Britain to promote a new book, also said the assumption that different racial groups shared “equal powers of reason” was backed by “no firm reason”.

However, he said people should not discriminate racially, because “there are many people of colour who are very talented.”

His comments have been attacked by fellow scientists, anti-racism campaigners and politicians.

Watson has courted controversy before, saying darker-skinned people have a higher sex drive and that women should hypothetically have the right to abort foetuses that “may have a tendency to become homosexual.” — PTI