Lahore, April 19
The Pakistan government has forwarded a proposal to commute all death penalties into life imprisonment to President Pervez Musharraf but a decision is yet to be taken on these cases, including that of Indian national Sarabjit Singh.

Rehman Malik, adviser to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani on interior affairs, told reporters here today that a "summary" or official communication on commuting the death penalties to life sentences had been sent to the President.

However, the presidency has not yet made a final decision regarding the case of convicted persons like Sarabjit, he said after visiting the local headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency that was attacked by two suicide bombers. Malik made it clear that the government would not tolerate any act of terrorism. "Our policy is that we will not tolerate terrorism under any circumstances or in any form," he said.

Sarabjit's execution was deferred for 30 days by President Musharraf last month so that Pakistan's new government could review his case following an appeal for clemency from the Indian government. He was originally set to be hanged on April 1.

He was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in four bomb attacks in Punjab province in 1990 that killed 14 persons. Sarabjit, currently being held in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail, today reiterated that he was innocent and that he had not committed the crimes he was convicted for. — PTI

Describing the graduation condition for election as highly discriminatory that has created an "elite democracy" with a new class of rulers in Pakistan, attorney general (AG) Malik Qayyum has informed the Supreme Court that 98.6 per cent of the population in the country was non- graduate.

"The total number of graduates in Pakistan is about 2.6 million that constitute 1.4 per cent of the total population and 3.2 per cent of the total registered voters”, Malik told a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court that is hearing the petition challenging the graduation condition to qualify to contest assembly election.

Chief Justice Dogar, who is heading the Bench, adjourned the hearing till Monday and indicated that the court would pronounce the judgment the same day. Justice Khokhar of the bench observed that the law, which requires a contender to hold a BA or BSc degree, was not part of the Constitution, but was protected by Article 270-AA through the 17th Amendment.

Qayyum said the graduation restriction was imposed through an "extra constitutional legislation", giving various references in favour of the petition seeking removal of the graduation condition for contesting elections.

Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Puspa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, whom the party had proposed as first President of republic Nepal after the Constituent Assembly elections, said on Saturday that he would lead the government to be formed shortly after the completion of poll results.

Speaking at a victory rally to express gratitude to the people, Prachanda said, “I will lead the first republic government of Nepal that will be formed immediately after the Election Commission publishes the final result.”

Thereafter he would reach out to the people with a new vision of development plans for ‘New Nepal’ and draft of new constitution, he added.

In course of the election campaign, all Maoist leaders and cadres had reached out to the people asking them to cast their votes in favour of Maoists to make their party chairman “Prachanda as the first president of republic Nepal”.

However, he has not mentioned clearly whether he would become the first President or Prime Minister. The existing interim constitution has no provision of appointing President in the country. Rather it has stated that the Prime Minister would be the acting head of the state during the transitional period until and unless the assembly drafts the 
new constitution.

New York, April 19
Apparently tired of bickering between presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Democratic Party leaders are likely to pressurise the former US first lady to withdraw, if she performs badly in the crucial Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, analysts say.

However, should she decide to continue to fight until the party convention on August 24 in Denver, the party could do little about it.

But with several party leaders asserting that the vicious campaign was doing damage to the ability of the Democratic Party to take on Republican candidate John McCain. Pressure was likely to mount on super delegates elected officials to declare their preference so that the candidate with lesser numbers could be persuaded to withdraw.

In the debate in Philadelphia earlier this week, both candidates had said their fight would not affect the Democratic Party’s ability to defeat McCain and that they would get united once the nominee was chosen.

But the party bosses did not think so. They said if the fight continued until August, the party would lose three crucial months of campaigning apart from the fact that the Republicans would give ammunition to damage whichever candidate was nominated.

Party chairman Howard Dean, media reports say, has been urging the super delegates to make up their mind early as there is no chance of either candidate getting enough pledged delegates. The super delegates are not committed to anyone and decide on their own. — PTI

Moscow, April 19
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft with the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) today landed 420 km away from the target site in northern Kazakhstan.

The capsule came down in the Kazakh steppe at 12.51 pm Moscow time, 20 minutes later than the planned time, the Russian Mission Control Centre told the Itar-Tass news agency.

On board were Yi So-yeon, South Korea’s first female astronaut, Yuri Malenchenko from Russia and American Peggy Whitson.

Russian officials said the crew was safe. Initially, it was thought that it would take rescuers more time to reach the area.

Yi spent 11 days conducting tests at the ISS.

Whitson now holds the record for the cumulative length of time spent in space by an American at 377 days, the US space agency NASA said.

Before the Soyuz TMA-11 undocked, TV pictures showed the returning crew hugging those they were leaving behind. They include flight engineer Oleg Kononenko (43) and Sergei Volkov (34), the son of a famous Soviet cosmonaut, with whom Yi made the flight to the ISS 10 days ago.

Yi, who was chosen from about 36,000 applicants for the mission, has said she hoped it would help warm ties on the divided Korean peninsula. — UNI

Moscow, April 19
Owners of Russian tabloid ‘Moskovsky Korrespondent’ have suspended its publications, while its editor-in-chief has resigned in the wake of an unsubstantiated report that President Vladimir Putin was planning to marry a rhythmic gymnast-turned-lawmaker less than half his age.

“I have decided to stop financing the newspaper and consecutively its publication, which is related to large costs for its publication and disagreements with the editorial regarding its concept,” director-general Artyom Artyomov of ‘National Media Company’, which publishes ‘Moskovsky Korrespondent’, was quoted as saying by Interfax.

‘Moskovsky Korrespondent’s editor-in-chief Grigory Nekhoroshev resigned after accepting in yesterday’s editorial that the report about the “wedding” of Putin with 25-year-old Alina Kabayeva was baseless and apologised for causing “moral sufferings” to them.

However, the publisher underscored that the suspension of the newspaper’s publication had nothing to do with the controversial article and denied that it was politically motivated. — PTI

Bangkok, April 19
About two hundred China supporters taunted pro-Tibet demonstrators as the Olympic torch was paraded through Bangkok amid tight security today. Police pushed back several people who tried to advance beyond barricades to counter demonstrations by scores of activists angry at China’s human rights record and rule over Tibet.

A crowd dressed in red waving China flags gathered outside the regional headquarters of the United Nations, chanting pro-China slogans as the demonstrators held aloft banners saying “no torch in Tibet” and “one world, one dream, free Tibet”.

A police helicopter hovered overhead as the torch and runners began their 10.5-km relay in the city’s China Town, watched by Olympic marshals and tightly escorted by police patrols and motorcycles. The parade got underway without incident with crowds cheering as the symbolic flame made the short journey towards the golden-spired Grand Palace.

“We, Thailand, confirm our pure intention to separate politics from sport and give our support to China for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing,” Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kajornprasart, told the crowd. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

40,000 evacuated as storm hits China
BEIJING: Typhoon Neoguri has weakened into a severe tropical storm after hitting the Hainan island province in south China forcing evacuation of tens of thousands of persons, with 18 fishermen still reported missing, local authorities said. Thirty eight of the 56 fishermen who had lost contact with the local office on Thursday evening were rescued. The fishermen swam to reefs and stayed there until they were found by a rescue ship, Zhang Jie, the vice-director of the Hainan maritime safety administration, said. — PTI

Pope pays historic visit to US synagogue
NEW YORK: German-born Pope Benedict XVI became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit a Jewish place of worship in the United States, walking side by side with a holocaust survivor into the sanctuary of New York's park east synagogue. "Shalom! It is with joy that I come here just a few hours before the celebration of your Pesah (Passover), to express my respect and esteem for the Jewish community of New York City," Benedict told some 400 people on Friday. — AFP

Man freed after 26 years
CHICAGO: A man locked away for 26 years for murder was granted a new trial and freed on bond with the help of two attorneys who came forward with a client's confession after he died in prison. Alton Logan's family took up a collection in the lobby of the cook county criminal courthouse and quickly came up with the $ 1,000 they needed to post bond. Two attorneys recently revealed that their former client, Andrew Wilson, admitted to committing the crime that has sent Logan to prison, but attorney-client privilege had kept them from coming forward. — AP

Eurostar passengers stuck for hours
PARIS: Some 500 persons using the high-speed Eurostar spent several hours stranded in the French countryside after their train broke down, France's SNCF rail operator and passengers said on Saturday. The passengers, who left London on Friday evening bound for Paris, were forced to switch trains at the northern French city of Lille after their train developed technical problems. — AFP