Laden visited Pak in November
ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 — Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden visited Peshawar sometime in late November as a guest of a senior government official, reliable sources have indicated.

US-UNSCOM link: Only rumour, says UN chief
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 7 — Chief UN weapons inspector Richard Butler and the US Government have denied fresh accusations that Butler’s team spied on Iraq for the US intelligence.

Bangla CEC refuses to step down
DHAKA, Jan 7 —Bangladesh’s Chief Election Commissioner has rejected opposition demands for his resignation saying he would not quit under any “unjustified pressure and undue demand”.

Killer T-cells ‘destroy’ HIV
WASHINGTON, Jan 7 — For the first time, researchers have suppressed HIV in infected patients by giving them injections of cells made from their own immune systems.

Tycoon held for actor’s murder
DHAKA, Jan 7 — The Bangladesh police has arrested a business tycoon and film producer related to Aga Khan on charges of murder of a filmstar, smuggling and other antisocial activities.

Death sentence on 2 Chinese hackers
BEIJING, Jan 7 — In a desperate bid to deter rising computer-related crimes in the country, China has sentenced hackers, who broke into a bank computer network and stole 260,000 yuan ($ 31,400) to death.

Clinton's trial begins

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (AP, PTI) — In a solemn prelude to the first US presidential impeachment trial in 130 years, House prosecutors today delivered to the Senate the articles of impeachment accusing President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice. The ceremonial opening came amid intense, last-minute bargaining over ground rules.

Led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, the 13 Republicans named as prosecutors for the trial walked silently across the Capitol followed by cameras that broadcast the scene live to the nation to deliver the papers.

"Senators will be in order," 96-year-old Strom Thurmond, the Senate President pro tempore, hollered as he called the session to start. Senate Sergeant at Arms escorted the House prosecutors to the well of the Senate. "Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, all persons are commanded to be silent," he declared, following the procedures set by the founding fathers more than 200 years ago.

"Mr Hyde read the two articles of impeachment against Mr Clinton, passed by the House just three weeks ago.

With House prosecutors pressing Senate leaders to allow testimony from witnesses such as Ms Monica Lewinsky, there were increasing indications that a trial of some weeks’ duration was in the offing.

Senators were taking an oath today to do "impartial justice", and Chief Justice William Rehnquist was assuming his role as presiding officer for Mr Clinton’s trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. The 13-member House prosecution team was to read the two articles of impeachment on the Senate floor.

Beyond those public sessions, the House managers were negotiating for the right to summon a number of witnesses, most notably Ms Lewinsky, the former White House intern whose affair with Mr Clinton triggered the impeachment investigation, and presidential friend Vernon Jordan.

The White House has offered not to challenge the grand jury testimony gathered by prosecutor Keneth Starr and to allow it as evidence in the trial.

Outside, the capitol, a long line of tourists formed, hoping to get a glimpse of the proceedings.

Republican Senate majority leader trent Lott said yesterday that if an agreement could be reached to call the witnesses, he would want the White House and the House to justify the need for each person summoned. The Senate also would have to approve each witness by a majority vote.

Mr Lott expressed optimism that an "agreement was near on a procedure for a full trial... and votes on articles of impeachment at the end of the process." One Republican source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would likely be February at the earliest before votes were taken on the President’s fate.

Without witnesses, the timetable would place final votes on the articles in the first week of February. Summoning witnesses to testify would push the date back.

Republican representative Chris Cannon, one of the House prosecutors, said five to 10 witnesses are put on a case. "I suspect we will want more."

"Ms Lewinsky must be called because she is right in the middle of this," Mr Cannon said, but added that he'd never seen Linda Tripp as "essential," referring to Ms Lewinsky's one-time friend who taped their private telephone conversations.

"Mr Jordan, a prominent Washington attorney and longtime Clinton friend, is a player" and should be summoned, Mr Cannon said. But while other prosecutors wanted to call presidential Secretary Betty Currie, Mr Cannon said he would be reluctant to do so.

He said the President placed her in a vulnerable position by involving her in the Lewinsky affair, adding that it was a "rotten, nasty thing to do to a career civil servant."

Other House prosecutors had their own suggestions.

Representative Asa Hutchinson, a Republican from Mr Clinton's home state of Arkansas, said Ms Lewinsky should be questioned "in limited a fashion, but we don't have to go into all the (sexual) details. Much of the questioning could be on obstruction of justice issues, such as the attempt to find her a job."

Mr Lott said formal arguments would be taken up next week. The Senate would formally convey its readiness to consider the charges on Saturday to the Lower House.

The first day would feature quick opening arguments by the representatives managers.

The White House was expected to rebut the charges the next day and the third day would be reserved for questions. On the fourth day the Senators would vote on whether to convict the President.

In absence of a two-thirds majority, the House could take up a censure motion against Mr Clinton.

The embattled White House has drawn up an aggressive strategy that would try to draw a distinction between acts that are impeachable and acts that are immoral.

Mr Clinton's lawyers would use the same arguments that they used to contest articles of impeachment in hearing in the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee last month.

The legal team has also weighed the possibility of presenting a motion soon after the trial opens calling for the dismissal of proceedings at the 106th Congress because they were approved by a lame-duck session.

Under the rules, the Senate would have to issue a written notice of the articles and of a summons for his appearance, or that of his lawyers, before the Senate.

IG quits over Anwar beating

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 (AP) — Malaysia’s top police official, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Rahim Noor, resigned today and said he took full responsibility for the beating of Mr Anwar Ibrahim while in police custody.

Mr Rahim, in a statement put out by the national news agency Bernama, said his resignation would become effective tomorrow.

“I, as the Inspector-General of the Royal Malaysia Police, assume full responsibility, for the beating of the sacked Deputy Prime Minister on the night of his arrest on September 20,” the statement read.

His resignation comes the day after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad said he may seek an independent investigation into Anwar’s police beating.

Mr Rahim’s resignation and Mr Mahathir’s first public comments on the beating of his one-time protege come amid an avalanche of criticism over a statement on the beating by the Attorney-General’s office.

Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah on Tuesday conceded that the police were “fully responsible” for certain injuries inflicted to Anwar while in police custody. He, however, failed to name the policemen responsible.

He insisted that Anwar had exaggerated the facts of his beating. The probe was still under way and that the policemen found guilty of hitting Anwar would be punished.

Opposition criticism slamming the statement was joined by a rare denouncement from within the ruling 14-party coalition, the National Front.

The Malaysian People’s Movement Party, or Parti Gerakan, called the Attorney-General’s statement “not acceptable,” the government-backed New Straits Times reported today.

Meanwhile, Anwar’s wife said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad should be held responsible for the police beating of his ex-deputy and apologise for remarks he made about the injuries.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail told reporters at the courthouse where Anwar is being tried on corruption charges that investigations into her husband’s injuries after his arrest on September 20 were ‘disappointing’.

Azizah said that Mahathir who is also Home Affairs Minister in charge of the police, “ought to apologise for the allegation he made against Anwar that the injuries could have been self-inflicted”.

She said the Attorney-General should be ‘more transparent and professional’ in investigating the assault.

Mahathir,who fired Anwar in early September for alleged immorality, was severely criticised abroad after Anwar appeared in court sporting a black eye and neck brace.

Anwar said he had been beaten senseless while in police custody soon after his arrest.

Japan warns N. Korea on missiles

SEOUL, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Visiting Japanese Defence Minister Hosei Norota said today that Japan might break a landmark nuclear agreement with North Korea if the Stalinist state repeats a missile launch similar to that in August last year.

“We may have to halt financial aid to the Korea Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO) if North Korea launches another missile”, a South Korean Defence Ministry statement quoted Mr Norota as saying.

KEDO was established under a 1994 agreement signed by the USA and North Korea, which the West suspected was trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

The Stalinist Government in Pyongyang agreed to halt its nuclear programme in return for two modern light-water nuclear reactors. South Korea and Japan are also financial contributors to the US-led KEDO Consortium.

Japan had said it would halt all funding for KEDO after North Korea’s surprise launch at end-August of what Tokyo said was a long-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan.

Pyongyang has maintained that it launched a rocket used to put a satellite into orbit.

AFP adds: Japan and South Korea today agreed to make joint efforts to dissuade North Korea from developing missiles and to carry out their first joint naval exercise at an early date, officials here said.

The agreement was reached at a meeting between the Japanese Defence Agency chief and South Korean Defence Minister Chun Yong-Taek. Defence Ministry officials said.

Unconfirmed reports have said North Korea might be preparing to launch another missile after it fired a three-stage rocket last August.

Pakistan flays Vajpayee's comments

ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 (PTI) — Pakistan today criticised Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his comments on the attempt on the life of Premier Nawaz Sharif, saying he had tried to give a "self-serving and mischievous twist" to a serious incident.

"The Indian Prime Minister has displayed a gratuitous malevolence which is regrettable," Mr Tariq Altaf, spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, said when asked to react to the comments made by Mr Vajpayee.

Mr Vajpayee, while expressing relief that Mr Sharif had survived an assassination attempt, had said in Bangalore earlier this week that Pakistan's abetment to terrorism in India had recoiled

The spokesman said to have given a "self-serving and mischievous twist to as serious an incident as the attempt on the Prime Minister's life is unfortunate and in bad taste."

The spokesman also said various Heads of State and Government of a number of countries, particularly South Asian neighbours, had sent messages of support and sympathy to the Pakistan Prime Minister.

Mr Altaf also criticised Mr Vajpayee's statement that India would demand the return of PoK saying "this is not the first time that Indian leaders have said this. This shows their negative attitude to the talks."

To a question about what would be Islamabad's stand on the forthcoming round of talks in Delhi, Mr Altaf said. "We will focus substantively on the core dispute of Kashmir, a greater part of which is illegally occupied by India and where the Kashmiris are waging a valiant struggle for the right to self-determination."

Assessing 1998 the spokesman said the year was momentous for Pakistan and described it as "the year of our destiny" following nuclear tests, and added "we are now a nuclear-weapon state."

Laden visited Pak in November

ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 (UNI) — Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden visited Peshawar sometime in late November as a guest of a senior government official, reliable sources have indicated.

It was the time when Mr Sharif was pushing for passage of the Shariat Bill and addressing public meetings in North-West Frontier Province, promising the Taliban style of Islamic justice in Pakistan.

The sources said Bin Laden wanted to attend a public meeting of the Jamaat-i-Islami but was not given permission. The government tried to stop the meeting as the Jammat-i-Islami has criticised Mr Nawaz Sharif’s Shariat Bill and is campaigning for alternative Islamic rule.

Bin Laden, however, met a number of religious leaders, these sources said.

The reports receive credibility from the fact that the police raided guest houses in Lahore and Islamabad to arrest Bin Laden, whom the USA holds responsible for the bombings of its diplomatic missions in East Africa in August last year which killed 223 persons.

The raids were conducted soon after Mr Sharif’s visit to Washington. During Mr Sharif’s visit, US President Bill Clinton had asked for Pakistan’s help in arresting the Saudi millionaire. Implicit in this request was the American belief that Bin Laden was in Pakistan.

Jang columnist, Irshad Haqni, quoting informed sources, observes that Mr Clinton invited Mr Sharif to Washington mainly to tell him about the US concerns about Bin Laden and Afghanistan. “The USA has told us not only to assist in arresting Osama Bin Laden but also, as Secretary of State Madeline Albright said, cut off our relations with Taliban,” he wrote.

US-UNSCOM link
Only rumour, says UN chief

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Chief UN weapons inspector Richard Butler and the US Government have denied fresh accusations that Butler’s team spied on Iraq for the US intelligence.

The spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also dismissed the allegations, saying there were only rumours but no evidence. He acknowledged that if such charges were true, UN disarmament programmes in Iraq would be undermined.

The Washington Post has said Mr Annan had convincing evidence that inspectors of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) helped collect intelligence used in US efforts to undermine the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

And the Boston Globe said US agents eavesdropped on secret communications between elite military units responsible for Saddam’s security.

“We have never conducted spying for anybody”, an angry Butler said in response to the reports. “Have we facilitated spying? Are we spies? Absolutely not. Don’t believe everything that you read in print”.

US State Department spokesman James Rubin while also refuting the allegations yesterday reiterated that the USA and 40 other countries had given only intelligence and logistical help to UNSCOM to help it locate and destroy Iraqi weapons.

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter on Wednesday defended UN Special Commission Chief Richard Butler and rejected published reports that US intelligence agents used the UN body to spy on Iraq, a report from Washington said.

MOSCOW (PTI): Russia on Wednesday recognised the right of the Iraqi airforce to fly freely in its air space and questioned the US declared no-fly zones in the south and north of Iraq as they were set up “without UN Security Council backing”.

“We will remind you (USA) that the no-fly zones in the south and north of Iraq were established outside the framework of a UN Security Council resolution,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin told reporters here.

Bangla CEC refuses to step down

DHAKA, Jan 7 (PTI) —Bangladesh’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) has rejected opposition demands for his resignation saying he would not quit under any “unjustified pressure and undue demand”.

Reacting to yesterday’s opposition ultimatum for his resignation within 30 days, the CEC, Mohammad Abu Hena, insisted that he was neutral and found “no basis” in the opposition allegations against him.

However, if “the greater interests of the country and the people call for it, I am not at all hesitant (to resign)” he told reporters today.

The main opposition comprising the Bangla Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Jatiya Party of former President Hussain Mohammad Ershad, the fundamentalist Jammat-e-Islami and five other opposition parties, including some radical Islamic groups, in an identical declaration yesterday, gave a one-month ultimatum to the government to accept a four-point demand, including Hena’s resignation.

They threatened to boycott the ensuing mayoral and municipal elections if their demands were not met.

The opposition has also demanded the restructuring of the Election Commission and appointment of the new CEC after consulting them, distribution of voters’ identity cards in all municipalities and city corporations and the withdrawal of all “false” cases against imprisoned opposition leaders.

In what is seen as an orchestrated move by the opposition to topple the Awami League Government, Ershad had recently switched loyalties and teamed up with Zia against Hasina.

Reacting to the joint opposition declaration, ruling Awami League said “their action is based on false reasoning and does not have public support”.

Communications Minister Mohammad Nasim said: “It remains to be seen how long the honeymoon between Zia and Ershad, who till the other day was her bitter political foe, will last”.

Sierra rebels capture state house

FREETOWN, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Rebels attacking the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, seized control of the presidential state house and other key areas yesterday, witnesses said.

Rebel commander Sam Bocakarie said his men, attacking from mountain hideouts, would only halt fighting with Nigerian-led peacekeepers if detained rebel leader Foday Sankoh was freed.

State house is in rebel hands, “said a Freetown resident living near the city centre building.

Residents said the Nigerian Embassy had been set on fire. Mr Kabbah’s whereabouts were not known but Bockarie said the President might have crossed over to Lungi, site of Sierra Leone’s international airport and main base of the Ecomog peacekeeping force. An estuary separates Lungi from Freetown.

There has been no word from the President since he made an unscheduled one-day visit to Mali on Monday.

Mr Kubbah had been working from the city’s westend district since he was reinstated a year ago by Ecomog troops. He had not occupied the state house, which was no longer used as the seat of government.

The streets were deserted except for military personnel or rebels after the government ordered people to stay indoors.

Killer T-cells ‘destroy’ HIV

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (AP) — For the first time, researchers have suppressed HIV in infected patients by giving them injections of cells made from their own immune systems.

Though they say the new technique can’t be used immediately to treat a large number of patients, it is encouraging because it appears to curb the virus temporarily in lymph nodes.

The new research will be published in the January issue of the monthly journal Nature Medicine.

HIV propagates by attacking a kind of immune cell known as a helper T-cell. The researchers chose three patients and isolated from their bodies another type of white blood cell, known as a killer T-cell, which destroys HIV.

By cloning and other means, they grew huge numbers of each patient’s killer T-cells in a laboratory and genetically engineered some with markers to trace their movement within the body. They then reinjected massive amounts back into each patient and traced the migrating cells to lymph nodes.

There, the new killer T-cells knocked down the number of infected helper T-cells, in some cases to undetectable levels, according to the researchers. The effect was temporary, though, as the new cells disappeared within three weeks.

Tycoon held for actor’s murder

DHAKA, Jan 7 (PTI) — The Bangladesh police has arrested a business tycoon and film producer related to Aga Khan on charges of murder of a filmstar, smuggling and other antisocial activities.

The businessman, Aziz Mohammed Bhai, was arrested under Section 54, Cr PC, for his alleged “involvement in activities detrimental to social and economic interests of the country”, officials of the special branch of the police said.

Aziz is also suspected to be behind the recent murder of the young Bangladeshi filmstar Sohel Chowdhury that created ripples in the Dhaka filmdom, they said.

The mass-circulation vernacular daily Ittefaq said today that Aziz was charged with involvement in international smuggling, various scandals involving women and defalcation of huge money from banks.

Death sentence on 2 Chinese hackers

BEIJING, Jan 7 (PTI) — In a desperate bid to deter rising computer-related crimes in the country, China has sentenced hackers, who broke into a bank computer network and stole 260,000 yuan ($ 31,400) to death.

A court in eastern China handed out the sentences to the duo, Hao Jinglong, formerly an accountant at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and his brother, Hao Jingwen, in the first such instance of its kind, official China Daily reported this week.

China’s official Xinhua news agency, quoting police sources, said public security departments uncovered nearly 100 hacker cases last year, the agency said.

A majority of the hackers go undetected, either because the hackers do little harm or the victims cover them up for fear of damaging their own image.

Bus blast kills 18
BEIJING: Eighteen persons were killed when a powerful blast ripped through a bus in north-eastern Chinese province of Liaoning, official media reported on Thursday. The explosion scattered the wreckage over a wide area in Linghai district and left a 20 cm deep crater under the bus carrying about 40 passengers, Xinhua, news agency reported — AFP

‘Ghost’ galaxies
AUSTIN (Texas): Tiny “ghost” galaxies loaded with mysterious dark matter may outnumber larger, brighter galaxies like the Milky Way, astronomers have said. These little galaxies, which look like dim fuzzballs in space in images presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, could also give scientists a clue about the early universe. “They almost certainly formed very early, when the universe was maybe one 10,000th the age it is now”, John Kormendy, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, said at a news conference on Wednesday. — Reuters

25 die in mishap
LA PAZ (Bolivia): A Bolivian bus plunged 200 metres off a cliff, killing 25 persons and injuring 13, the police said. Seven of the dead in the crash near the southern town of Tarija were children. The cause of the accident, which took place on Wednesday, was not known, but police said they suspected the bus was overloaded. — Reuters

Barbie’s car
EL SEGUNDO (California): Barbie will soon be driving her own Ferrari as a result of a global marketing agreement between toymaker Mattel and the Italian sports car manufacturer. The agreement, announced on Wednesday, will enable Mattel to produce toys, clothes and accessories based on Ferrari vehicles and symbols. “Ferrari is one of the world’s most prestigious and recognised brands”, said Mattel Chief Operating Office Bruce Stein. — AFP

Candy complaints
TEL AVIV: Bags of candy containing portraits of Adolf Hitler and Nazi swastikas are on sale in Israel, Yediot Aharonot newspaper has reported. The candy, imported from Turkey and sold under the brand name Tofita, comes in a small bag which also includes portraits of dictators including Hitler and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. David Bisso, the importer who wholesales the candy, said on Wednesday that he had received several complaints about the Hitler portraits from survivors of Nazi camps. — AFP

No more mute
HANOI (Vietnam): A man who had been mute since he was born 32 years ago has spoken for the first time, a doctor said on Wednesday. Truong Van Xa screamed painful when physicians were performing minor surgery on his swollen foot last Thursday, said Dr Vo Thanh Nhan of the Binh Dinh provincial general hospital. Xa’s mother and sister burst into tears upon hearing his voice for the first time. Nhan said a brain scan revealed no abnormalities. He speculated that the nerve which controls speech had been “sleeping’’ and was awakened by pain. — AP