The Tribune...World

	W O R L D	Thursday, July 9, 1998
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Riots in Nigeria after Abiola’s death
CAIRO, July 8 — At least 14 persons were killed many others injured in Nigeria’s capital Lagos in riots and police firing triggered by the death of detained Opposition leader Moshood Abiola, believed to have won the 1993 election, according to reports reaching here...
India has 'N-arms delivery system'
NEW YORK, July 8 — India already has nuclear weapons as well as a delivery system, The New York Times reported ...

Mexican actress Salma Hayek poses for photographers upon arriving as a guest at the premiere of the new film "Lethal Weapon 4," outside the Mann's Chinese Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Tuesday. AP/PTI
USA flays vote on Palestine WASHINGTON, July 8 — The USA condemned a vote by the UN General Assembly to upgrade the status of the Palestinian UN representation and said
it...

Cloned embryos in 29 cows
TOKYO, July 8 — Two days after successful birth of two cloned calves, the Japanese Government has reported pregnancy of 29 cows with embryos cloned from somatic cells...

Court tells secret service men to testify
WASHINGTON, July 8 — Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr has scored a big victory with an appeals court ruling supporting his effort to question three secret service agents about President Bill Clinton’s relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky...

Aborigines lose land rights
CANBERRA, July 8 — The Australian government today won a long battle to push legislation watering down native land rights through the Senate, sparking a furious reaction from aborigines and opposition groups.

Riots in Nigeria after Abiola’s death
CAIRO, July 8 (PTI) — At least 14 persons were killed many others injured in Nigeria’s capital Lagos in riots and police firing triggered by the death of detained Opposition leader Moshood Abiola, believed to have won the 1993 election, according to reports reaching here.
The police opened fire to quell rioters protesting Abiola’s death and people stayed away from work apparently fearing more violence, reports said.Mobs of hundred of youths took to the streets in Aqeqe, Ikeja and Mushin districts chanting that Abiola (60) from the southwest near Lagos, had been murdered and calling for revenge against the people from the country’s north, home to most of Nigeria’s military rulers.
A presidential announcement said Abiola collapsed and died of cardiac

arrest during a meeting with US and Nigerian officials to discuss conditions for his release from prison.News of his death sparked violence among angry residents of the southern region yesterday when hundreds of people attacked cars and smashed shops belonging to people from the northern region, the area where most of the military generals hail from.
The USA, whose envoy, Under-Secretary of State Thomas Pickering, was with Abiola when he collapsed, said he had no reason to suspect that the death was caused by anything but natural causes.A US State Department official said Abiola began coughing and wheezing during a meeting with the delegation.
Mr Pickering said Abiola became ill in the early stages of their meeting and asked for a doctor. Though reports said Abiola died of a heart attack, the government of General Abubaker, who succeeded General Abacha, immediately ordered a post-mortem to ascertain the cause of his death. Abiola’s sudden death came on the eve of an announcement of a new plan to bring much desired democracy to Africa’s most populous nation, which saw in Abiola a means of achieving this since the annulment of 1993 elections which the latter was all set to win.
Officials said that Abiola would be buried tomorrow in Abeouta, 60 km from Lagos, according to Muslim rites. In Washington, US President Bill Clinton said US officials watched Nigerian doctors’ last-ditch efforts to save Abiola’s life at a government clinic.
Mr Clinton expressed regret at the “sudden and untimely” death.A Nigerian Government statement said the cause of death was a heart attack, and the state department said there was no reason to believe that the death was not the result of natural causes. Abiola’s family had repeatedly warned that his health had been failing after years in detention under harsh conditions, but cast doubt on the official explanation of his death.
His daughter, Hafsat, said in an interview with CNN that the timing was suspicious. “It was too convenient,” she said. “All of a sudden at the eve of his release, he dies.”Abiola’s physician, Dr Ore Falomo, said he was unable to participate in the autopsy and called for physicians from Britain

and Canada to take part.
UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed “shock” at the death of Abiola who was widely viewed as the winner of the 1993 presidential election in Nigeria.Talking to reporters, he expressed the hope that the Nigerian Government would continue to make good its pledge to release all remaining political prisoners.Asked about the condition of chief Abiola whom he had met only last week, the Secretary-General said he had appeared well. But he was in solitary confinement and his isolation was almost total, Annan said.
JOHANNESBURG: South African President Nelson Mandela’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) urged Nigeria to hold democratic elections following the death of opposition leader Moshood Abiola.“It is unfortunate that the Nigerian military government had not seen it fit to release Abiola much earlier,” the party said in a statement.

India has 'N-arms delivery system'
NEW YORK, July 8 (PTI) — India already has nuclear weapons as well as a delivery system, The New York Times reported yesterday quoting a senior Indian official.
The official, who The Times said briefed western correspondents in New Delhi on condition of anonymity, admitted that India has nuclear weapons which it could use in a conflict with Pakistan or China.
According to the paper, when a reporter asked if he was suggesting that

India has fighter bombers which could be adapted to carry nuclear weapons, the official said “if you’re asking me if we have a delivery system, the answer is yes, we do.”
But The Times said the official did not specify whether the delivery system he was referring to involved missiles or aircraft.The daily quoted the official as saying that India is determined to have a nuclear arsenal to balance China.“Our problem is not Pakistan. Our problem is China. We are not seeking parity with China. We don’t have resources and we don’t have the will. What we are seeking is the minimum deterrent,” he was quoted as saying.
On any talks with the USA on India’s nuclear weapon programme, The Times quoted the official as saying, New Delhi would insist on its right to develop a nuclear arsenal. India, he said, would not accept the main demand by the USA that it give up development of nuclear arsenal.He also rejected another American demand that India should halt missile tests, saying New Delhi sees these essential to develop a nuclear deterrent.
The Times said the official “appeared to mean” that India would use the prospect of signing the treaty as a bargaining chip in its bid to get the USA lift or at least ease wide-ranging economic sanctions Washington imposed after the nuclear tests.
In a “potentially significant reformulation” of earlier statement on the treaty, the official, according to The Times, said India would no longer demand that the treaty be rewritten to include language committing all nuclear powers to a schedule for reducing and eventually eliminating their nuclear arsenals.India, he said, recognised that with more than 140 nations having signed the treaty, it was impractical to expect it to be rewritten.
Instead, he said, India would press its case for total nuclear disarmament within the “so called” Non-Aligned Movement and in the United Nations where India has pressed for the elimination of nuclear weapons for decades.

USA flays UN vote on Palestine
WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) — The USA condemned a vote by the UN General Assembly to upgrade the status of the Palestinian UN representation and said it would make the search for West Asia peace more difficult.The assembly voted overwhelmingly to give the Palestinians a right closer to that of a member state.
The USA, Israel, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia were the only countries to vote against the move yesterday.“We regret this decision. We think this was a mistake and this decision undermines the chances of bringing peace to West Asia”, State Department spokesman James Rubin said.“This is a unilateral action that we believe was unnecessary and

untimely, not to mention the precedent we think it unfortunately set for those in the observer category at the United Nations”, Mr Rubin told a news briefing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played down the importance of the vote, saying the Palestinians had achieved only “minor corrections” to their present standing. But the Palestinian peace negotiator Mr Saeb Erekat, called it a “major development”.
Meanwhile, Gulf newspapers today welcomed the upgrading of the status of the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations to that of “special observer” saying that the decision was a reversal for Israel.Qatar’s the Al-Sharq daily called yesterday’s vote a “historic decision” and said it was “the first stage (leading to) a full and independent” Palestinian delegation to the UN and the creation of a Palestinian state.
The United Arab Emirates’ Al-Khaleej daily said the decision showed what the Arabs “can achieve if they use international law.”According to the resolution, Palestinian representatives will now have “the right to participation in the general debate of the General Assembly” and to “co-sponsor draft resolutions and decisions on Palestinian and Middle East issues.”

Cloned embryos in 29 cows
TOKYO, July 8 (PTI) — Two days after successful birth of two cloned calves, the Japanese Government has reported pregnancy of 29 cows with embryos cloned from somatic cells.
One of these cows, implanted with an embryo cloned from somatic cells by the National Institute of Animal Industry, is scheduled to give birth this month at the Kagoshima prefectural institute on improvement of beef cattle, according to a survey released by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and a follow-up study by Kyodo news agency.
The survey results were released yesterday, two days after the successful birth in Ishikawa prefecture of twin calves produced by cloning somatic cells taken from an adult cow with unfertilised eggs, the world’s first calves cloned using this technique, Kyodo news agency reported.
Six cows are at Kinki University’s agriculture department, which teamed up with the Ishikawa Prefectural Livestock Research Centre to produce Sunday’s live births.Another eight are at the ministry’s National Livestock Breeding Centre in Fukushima prefecture, four at the Institute of Animal Industry in Oita prefecture and five at a similar experimental breeding center in Nara prefecture, it said.
All but five of the 29 are pregnant with embryos cloned using an adult cow’s somatic cells, many of which came from the uterine tube or the ovaries. The rest used somatic cells taken from cow foetuses. A cow’s period of pregnancy is about 280 days.

Court tells secret service men to testify
WASHINGTON, July 8 (AFP) — Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr has scored a big victory with an appeals court ruling supporting his effort to question three secret service agents about President Bill Clinton’s relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky.
The unanimous ruling yesterday upheld a lower court decision that in this specific case, the service could not prove its agents should be exempt from testifying.“The secret service has failed to carry its heavy burden of establishing the need for the protective function privilege it sought to assert in this case,” the court said in its 11-page opinion.
“Ensuring the physical safety of the President is a public good of utmost importance,” the court said.But it rejected secret service arguments that it could not do its job if the President distanced himself from agents he felt he could not trust.“We leave to Congress the question of whether a protective function is appropriate in order to ensure the safety of the President, and, if so, what the contours of that privilege” should be, the court said.

Aborigines lose land rights
CANBERRA, July 8 (AFP) — The Australian government today won a long battle to push legislation watering down native land rights through the Senate, sparking a furious reaction from aborigines and opposition groups.
The passage of the Bill, twice rejected by the Senate, resolved a political standoff which had threatened to provoke snap elections dominated by race issues.It seeks to end a five-year row with farmers by reforming native title laws they saw as unworkable and was passed after the longest parliamentary debate on record to cries of “shame” by opposition senators and aborigines in the gallery.
Farmers and the mining industry welcomed the Bill, but angry aboriginal leaders warned they will take the fight for what they consider justice to the Australian High Court and the international arena if necessary.

Global monitor
Eiffel Tower may go to US firm
PARIS: The Eiffel Tower, the iron-laced landmark of the Paris skyline, could fall into U.S. hands. Unless the authorities step in smartly, the city’s most-visited monument faces a change of ownership this month due to the privatisation of the Credit Foncier De France (CCF). The CCF is up for sale and the government this month is to decide on whether or not to accept a purchase offer from General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), the U.S company that runs GM’s pension funds. But Paris Mayor Jean Tiberi said on Tuesday, “There is no risk whatsoever concerning the ownership of the monument”. — AFP

Ex-PM sentenced
MILAN: Italian media baron and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced here today to two years and nine months in prison after he was convicted of corruption. But Berlusconi will probably not serve time

because the sentence is only applicable after all legal avenues have been explored, which takes around 10 years. The verdict was handed down at the court in Milan after a trial lasting two and a half years. — AFP

WTC bombing
ISLAMABAD: Four Pakistanis in their twenties have been detained by the Thai police and the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Bangkok for their suspected role in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York and for an alleged plot to attack US missions in the Thai capital. Reporting this, The Pakistan Times says the four, carrying Pakistani passports, were arrested from an apartment in Bangkok about a week ago and questioned by FBI officers. — (UNI)

Spice Girls
LONDON: Prince William is in but the Spice Girls, biggest pop phenomenon since the Beatles, have yet to find a place in the International Who’s Who. Richard Fitzwilliams, Editor of the London-based “Bible of VIPs”, said on Tuesday that the omission of the Spice Girls, the five-girl band that has taken the world by storm in the past two years, was not

intended as a snub. “Personally I am an admirer of theirs. But they have had a bit of trouble with the departure of Geri (Ginger Spice)”. — Reuter

Japanese forces
TOKYO: The mood in Japan’s well-funded military is more upbeat than in fighting forces in the West, where declining Budgets are sapping morale, a U.S. expert on the military has said. Mr Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University, said on Tuesday Japan’s Self-Defence Force had also won prestige with successful performances in several U.N. Peacekeeping missions. “The SDF in some sense has its future in front of it, while many of the western countries, including America, feel that the future of the military is behind it,” Mr Moskos said. — AP

Lennon’s art works
NEW YORK: Yoko Ono says she isn’t betraying John Lennon by selling his art works, because he always intended them to be sold. That’s the word from her spokesman, Elliot Mintz, who said in Wednesday’s Daily News that Ono was being unfairly criticised by Julian Lennon, John’s son from his first marriage. The younger Lennon said selling off the former Beatle’s art “is not what he is about. “The former Beatle didn’t create these works, and sign and date them so they wouldn’t be seen or sold,” Mintz said of Lennon’s drawings and lithographs, copies of which are selling for $ 400 to $ 12,000. — AP

Curbs on Suu Kyi
WASHINGTON: The State Department has condemned the Burmese Government’s action in preventing Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her party from travelling north of Rangoon to visit a Member of Parliament. Department spokesman James Rubin said that the USA had sought clarification from the government. — PTI

Crow menace
COLOMBO: Harsh-voiced, shiny-plumed crows are plaguing the Sri Lankan capital. They’re pushing other birds out of Colombo, attacking pets, annoying humans at play, at work and on the road and experts aren’t sure what to do. “It is really an alarming situation, relieve me,” Ismeth Raheem, chief of Colombo’s 55-year-old bird club, said in an interview this week. Raheem estimates there are 500,000 crows in Colombo today, compared to 100,000 five years ago. —(AP)

Comic strip dog
TORONTO: Pavlov, the comic strip dog is 189 in doggie years and retiring after a good if manic life. The popular strip, which started in the Toronto Sun in 1971 and appeared in 100 newspapers around the world at the height of its popularity, is ending. Ted Martin’s daily cartoons bagan as a social commentary, with a couple commenting on life, and the dog was just a prop with nothing to do with the punchline. Eventually, the standing, talking, wrist-watch and spotted handkerchief-wearing character came to dominate the strip, which was syndicated in 1978. — (AP)