New Egyptian PM
CAIRO, Oct 5 — Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak named Atef Obeid as Prime Minister today after the government led by Kamal Ganzouri resigned, officials said.

Masood: India willing for talks with Pak
ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 — Lt Gen Talat Masood, who recently visited India along with Pakistan’s former diplomat Niaz Naik as part of track ii diplomacy has said that India has shown willingness to enter into a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan before the end of the year with a view to resolving outstanding issues between the two countries.

Storm over rape ad ban
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 5 — South African Activists have reacted angrily to the banning of a hard-hitting advertisement about rape, which provoked complaints that it was anti-men.

Fat men to get fatter pensions
JERUSALEM, Oct 5 — At a time when much of the world is watching its waistline, Israeli civil servants are finding that it pays — literally — to be overweight.

Accord on safe passage to Palestinians

JERUSALEM, Oct 5 (AFP, UNI) — Israel and Palestine have broken the stalemate over the plan for a safe passage route for Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, overcoming the first major stumbling block since they signed a new peace deal a month ago.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators ironed out a final agreement — over who would issue the permits to travel along the new route — after two-and-a-half hours of negotiations in a Jerusalem hotel yesterday.

“Everything has been settled. We reached an agreement which respects two principles: Israel’s security and Israel’s sovereignty along the passage,” Israel’s Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben Ami told Israeli television.

He said the text of the agreement had been approved by Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Barak, while Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat and members of his team went to Gaza to obtain Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s approval.

Then, in the early hours today, the news came through that Arafat had approved the deal with Israel for opening the safe route between the autonomous Palestinian territories.

Qatar news agency, quoting Radio Israel, said Mr Arafat had a telephonic conversation with Israeli Minister Ben Ami on the formal signing of the executive protocol.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the agreement would be signed later by Palestinian Authority Minister of Civil Affairs Jamil Teraf and Mr Ben Ami, who is also the chief Israeli negotiator.

The proposed safe passage route along Israeli roads was to open on Sunday in accordance with the Sharm-al-Sheikh accord signed by the two sides early last month. However, differences on security concerns in operating it delayed the opening of the 47-km corridor on time.

The safe passage route along Israeli roads is expected to meet a long-standing demand of Palestinians that they be allowed to meet their relatives and friends.

Mr Erekat said the passage would operate at least 10 hours a day, seven days a week.

Mr Ben Ami was quoted as saying in the media that the agreement addressed Israel’s security needs. Prime Minister Barak had already approved the draft agreement.

The final sticking point had been which side would give permits for the route. According to Mr Erakat, the compromise was that Palestinians would apply to the Palestinian office for magnetic entry cards. Their officials would then handover the applications to Israeli officials for a security check. After approval, the traveller would pick up the card from a joint Israeli-Palestinian office.

According to Palestinian security adviser Mohammed Dahlan, who was a member of the negotiating team, another contentious issue — whether Israel could arrest Palestinians on the route — had been resolved.”Israel has given assurances that safe passage will not become a trap for Palestinians”, he said.

The 47-km long land route links the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which will enable Palestinians to cross freely between the two areas.

The Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean coast and landlocked West Bank are separated by Israeli territory.

Pak using RAW as cover-up: Oppn

Islamabad, Oct 5 (PTI) — Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto and the right-wing Jammat-e-Islami have dismissed the Sharif Government’s allegations that the Indian intelligence agency RAW was behind the recent spurt in sectarian violence in the country and accused the government of using RAW as a ploy to cover up its failure.

Both Pakistan People’s Party chief Benazir Bhutto and Jamaat leaders accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of engineering violence to divert the people’s attention and negate the current anti-government agitation.

“Unnerved by the successful protest rallies of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) Nawaz (Sharif) has started terrorism through (intelligence) agencies to divert public attention from the ‘oust Nawaz’ movement” Ms Bhutto said in a statement issued by the PPP here. “If the government is sincere about eradicating terrorism, why doesn’t it disarm these extremist elements? It proves that the present bloodshed is being committed at the behest of the government.”

JI leader Mohammad Kamal wondered why if RAW was behind the killings more than a dozen intelligence agencies of the government had failed to give an advance warning and prevent the sudden escalation in violence.

Mr Mohd. Aizaz, JI secretary for information, expressed the fear that the government would arrest religious leaders under the pretext of preventing further escalation in violence in a bid to disrupt their “struggle for a grand opposition alliance”.

The Prime Minister’s Adviser on Sindh affairs, Ghaus Ali Shah even went to the extent of saying that RAW and the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, were working together to create such a situation in Pakistan.

Clinton vow on CTBT ratification

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (PTI) — US President Bill Clinton has vowed that he will do “all I can” to get the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) ratified by the Senate as “it (treaty) is necessary to prevent countries like India and Pakistan from testing and deploying nuclear weapons”.

“This is very important to protect our people from the danger of nuclear war...I will do all I can to get the treaty ratified” when it comes to a vote in the Senate on October 12, Mr Clinton yesterday said in a strong bid to muster enough support for ratification of the treaty.

He said the USA had stopped testing its nuclear weapons with full-scale explosions in 1992 and was currently spending $ 4.5 billion a year to maintain a reliable nuclear force without testing.

“Since we don’t need nuclear tests, it is strongly in our interest to achieve an agreement that can help prevent other countries like India, Pakistan, Russia, China, Iran and others from testing and deploying nuclear weapons,” the US President told reporters after meeting with members of his national security council.

Meanwhile, Mr Clinton’s Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said the President would go all-out to muster support for ratification of the treaty.

Stating that the CTBT “does not go into effect if the US does not ratify it”, Mr Lockhart said “We (his staff) will find a way to provide time for the President to talk to Senators individually and in small groups.”

Claiming that New Delhi and Islamabad have agreed to sign the treaty once the USA ratifies it, Mr Lockhart said “India and Pakistan have indicated they would sign. I think the Indian Foreign Ministry made a very positive statement... They said they plan to sign the treaty when the new Parliament is in place.”

Pointing out that the coming into force of the CTBT will freeze the US advantage in nuclear weapons, Mr Lockhart said, “We can maintain an effective and strong nuclear deterrent without testing.

BERLIN: India, Pakistan and 19 other countries may be urged to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty at a CTBT review meeting in Vienna, beginning on Wednesday, to prevent any further delay in the implementation of the pact negotiated three years back.

The three-day conference on “Facilitating the entry into force of the CTBT”, will consider and decide measures for the treaty to take effect expeditiously.

The CTBT becomes legally binding and takes effect only if 44 identified nuclear capable states, including the five traditional nuclear powers, sign and ratify the treaty.

16 Japanese ministers replaced

TOKYO, Oct 5 (PTI) — Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi today replaced 16 of his 18 ministers and named a three-party coalition government which for the first time in many years will have a comfortable majority in both the Houses of Parliament.

Only Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and Planning Minister Taichi Sakaiya have been retained and this is widely seen as Obuchi’s efforts to pull Japan out of its worst economic downturn in decades.

The shake-up followed a deal forged yesterday by Obuchi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), its smaller coalition ally the Liberal Party and its new partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito Party.

Each of the LDP’s two coalition partners got one minister in the new Cabinet.

New Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, who replaces Masahiko Komura, was a surprise inclusion despite his strong commitment to Japan’s pro-peace constitution which the new Cabinet seeks to modify to assume a larger military role.

Political analysts are unanimous that Kono had been included in a balancing bid to correct the Cabinet’s heavy tilt towards nationalist conservatism which is clamouring to make Japan a world power, ready to intervene anywhere along with the US but technically under the UN banner.

One Asian diplomatic source said Kono returns to the foreign ministry at a time when things are changing so far as India is concerned. How he responds to the changing situation is something to be watched, he said, adding “Kono is not Komura;” he is a leader in his own right.

New Egyptian PM

CAIRO, Oct 5 (Reuters) — Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak named Atef Obeid as Prime Minister today after the government led by Kamal Ganzouri resigned, officials said.

The appointment of the 66-year-old technocrat, Minister of Public Enterprise in the outgoing government, followed the swearing in of Mr Mubarak for a fourth six-year term.

From 1993 to 1997, Mr Obeid held the posts of Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Minister of State for Administrative Development as well as the Public Enterprise portfolio.

Masood: India willing for talks with Pak

ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 (UNI) — Lt Gen Talat Masood, who recently visited India along with Pakistan’s former diplomat Niaz Naik as part of track ii diplomacy has said that India has shown willingness to enter into a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan before the end of the year with a view to resolving outstanding issues between the two countries.

In an interview to Pakistan Observer, yesterday, General Masood revealed that during exchange of views with the Indian side they received positive signals for the resumption of a dialogue between the two countries so as to start a new phase of friendly relationship.

Storm over rape ad ban

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 5 (Reuters) — South African Activists have reacted angrily to the banning of a hard-hitting advertisement about rape, which provoked complaints that it was anti-men.

The country has one of the highest levels of rape in the world and the television ad in which South African-born Hollywood actor Charlize Theron raises uncomfortable questions about the crime, has sparked a national debate.

Fat men to get fatter pensions

JERUSALEM, Oct 5 (DPA) — At a time when much of the world is watching its waistline, Israeli civil servants are finding that it pays — literally — to be overweight.

The Yediot Aharanot daily reported yesterday that according to a new ruling, civil servants who gain weight during their years on the job can be recognised as health impaired, and as such are eligible for larger pensions on retirement.

The ruling, by the Civil Servants’ Department of the Health Ministry, comes after the department recognised obesity as a serious illness.

Under the ruling, civil servants who grow (physically) fat on the job and wish to apply for early retirement, can claim loss of work ability due to weight increase. They will then have to be examined by a medical committee, which will be authorised to recommend by how much to increase each applicant’s pension.

However, any civil servant who is already overweight when joining the service will not be able to claim a pension increase upon retirement, unless more weight was gained since starting work.

‘Dr Death’ trial begins
PRETORIA: A military surgeon dubbed “Doctor Death” for his apartheid-era germ and chemical warfare campaign against Blacks has been put on trial on 64 charges ranging from 200 murders to drug dealing and fraud. A 250-page indictment accuses Basson (49) of complicity in secret apartheid-government plans to murder opposition leaders now in President Thabo Mbeki’s government. — Reuters

‘End human trafficking’
UNITED NATIONS: Women Foreign Ministers from 10 countries, including the USA, have called for the early completion of a U.N. convention against transnational organised crime and an additional document specifically dealing with trafficking in people. In a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan circulated on Monday they said: ‘‘On the edge of the 21st century, it is unacceptable that human beings around the world are bought and sold into situations, such as sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and debt bondage that are little different from slavery.’’ — Reuters

Auction in Romania
BUCHAREST: A silver Mercedes sports car, custom-made for Nicolae Ceausescu in 1973, was sold for nearly $ 40,000 on Monday at the start of a week-long auction of the late dictator’s belongings. But his two luxury boats failed to arouse the interest of punters, who concentrated on hundreds of items of clothing and gifts from foreign dignitaries confiscated from Ceausescu and his wife Elena after their overthrow. — Reuters

Indian judge
HAMBURG: The International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in the German port of Hamburg has a new presiding judge, P. Chandrashekhara Rao, it was announced on Tuesday. Rao, 63, was elected by the judges for a three-year term replacing Tjomas Mensah of Ghana. — DPA

Suicide by artist
PARIS: Bernard Buffet, the French painter whose pictures were expressive of the mood of anxiety in France during the Nazi occupation, has committed suicide. The police announced Buffet’s death in the Southern French city of Tourtour on Monday. He was 71 years old. His figurative paintings and prints express the sense of anxiety associated with existentialist philosophy. — DPA

Scholars banned
HAVANA: The USA is preventing some 100 Hemingway scholars from travelling to Cuba for a seminar marking the centennial of the Nobel Prize-winning writers’s birth. The US Treasury Department has refused permission for the scholars to attend the October 10-15 event at the Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s former home converted into a museum, museum director Danilo Arrate told the Prensa Latina news agency. — AFP

Kingly offer
SOFIA: Former King Simeon II of Bulgaria has offered to give away palaces and other real estate that was restored to his possession last year, the newspaper Standart reported. Government spokesmen would only confirm that Simeon (62) and his sister, Princess Maria Luisa, on Monday met Prime Minister Ivan Kostov to discuss the restitution of the royal properties. The properties would be given away to the government, peasants and a hunting club. — DPA

Reagan honoured
LOS ANGELES: Former US President Ronald Reagan has an airport and library named after him, plus buildings across America and a park in Warsaw, Poland — and now he has his own California auto licence plate, featuring a picture of a ‘‘Dutch’’ wearing a cowboy hat. ‘‘I’m really pretty excited about this,’’ former First Lady Nancy Reagan said on Monday at a ceremony in Los Angeles where California Governor Gray Davis signed into law a bill authorising the new plates. — Reuters

Prince William
LONDON: Several stunning girls are being invited to a millennium eve party which Britain’s Prince William is throwing at Windsor Castle near London, the top-selling Sun tabloid reported on Tuesday. The Sun said Queen Elizabeth had given her 17-year-old grandson permission to hold the party at the historic castle, which is near the elite Eton College where he goes to school. — Reuters

Evelyn Lieberman
WASHINGTON: Ms Evelyn Lieberman, former Director of the Voice of America, on Tuesday became the first Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the reorganised US State Department. — PTI