Zia’s son may get Cabinet post
ISLAMABAD, April 8 — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may induct four new ministers in his cabinet and drop a few controversial ones. Reports here indicated that there would be no change in the key portfolios of defence, finance, foreign, power and petroleum.

Cambodia to join ASEAN soon
PHNOM PENH, April 8 — Cambodia, whose admission into the Association of South-East Asian Nations was frozen after a 1997 coup, will finally join the regional grouping later this month, the country’s Foreign Minister said today.

Bob Peck dead
LONDON, April 8 — British actor Bob Peck, who appeared in “Jurassic Park,” has died of cancer.

Cyprus leader’s bid to get US soldiers freed

ATHENS (Greece), April 8 (AP) — The Speaker of the Cypriot Parliament has said he was close to arranging the release of three US soldiers captured by the Yugoslav government.

Spyros Kyprianou, who has had a close relationship with Yogoslav leaders and has backed them against NATO, arrived in Athens. Greece, yesterday en route to Belgrade to make the arrangements.

BOSTON: The American Red Cross is looking for more than just food and money to help out ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo. Albanian speakers also are needed. Chapters in cities with large Albanian-American populations Boston, New York, Detroit and Philadelphia are recruiting volunteers to communicate with Kosovar refugees taken to safe havens such as the US naval base at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The USA rejected Milosevic’s ceasefire offer as “absurd”, Vice- President Al Gore had long conversation with Russian President Yevgeny Primakov in a new bid to find a way out of the crisis.

Russia too dropped its demand that the NATO stop bombing before it would attend the Wednesday’s contact group meeting in Brussels. Reports suggest that it might be followed by a foreign ministers meeting of the group should some positive developments take place.

Americans are indicating that Secretary of state Ms Albright would attend that meeting.

The USA, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and Italy are members of the group.

Washington is also insisting that all conditions set by it be met but analysts say in negotiations there is also scope for modifications.

LONDON (ANI): The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OJC) has said that it is ready to take part in peace-keeping operations in Kosovo as part of an internationally led effort.

The OIC Contact Group after a one-day emergency meeting yesterday in Geneva on the crisis also said it would set up a group in the Swiss city to coordinate OIC assistance to Kosovo. The group includes Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Turkey.

Urging immediate implementation of items contained in a draft resolution presented to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the OIC in a resolution condemned the policy of “ethnic cleansing” being perpetrated by the Milosevic regime against Albanian Kosovars and called upon the international community to bring to justice those responsible for crimes against humanity in Kosovo.

Earlier, urging consideration of the option of supplementing on-going military action to stop Serb aggression against Kosovars, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said Islamabad was ready to contribute its troops as part of an international peace-keeping effort in the Muslim-majority region.

“If the situation demands, Pakistan will be ready to commit its military troops as part of an international peacekeeping effort,” Mr Aziz said while addressing the emergency session of the Contact Group on Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Arafat may delay statehood

TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hinted today that he would not declare an independent Palestinian state before Israel’s general election on May 17, a Japanese official said.

Mr Arafat told Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi that all countries he had recently visited voiced support for Palestinian self-rule and urged him not to declare statehood before the Israeli general election, the official said.

A Japanese official quoted Mr Arafat as telling Mr Obuchi that, “for Palestinians, it is a very painful decision and it is not an easy decision to make, but I hope we will be able to make a decision that will satisfy everyone.”

Mr Arafat told Mr Obuchi that European nations, Russia and the USA had advised him to wait at least until, after the Israeli elections, the official said.

“Opinions from the USA, Russia, the European Union and Japan are very useful for us to make our own decision”, Mr Arafat was quoted as saying.

Japanese officials said Mr Arafat’s remarks could be taken to mean that he would not declare an independent Palestinian state immediately after an interim self-rule agreement with Israel expires on May 4.

The Palestinian leader has repeatedly said he retains the right to declare an independent Palestinian state on May 4.

Indian doctors in USA targeted for cuts

WASHINGTON, April 8 (PTI) — Indian medical graduates (IMG) and medical graduates from other countries are being targeted for reduction while allotting residencies — an essential preliminary step to become a doctor in the USA Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone has alleged.

In a statement here on Tuesday he said that in a demonstration project to reduce the overall number of future doctors, New York state gave participating hospitals a financial incentive to reduce the number of residencies at their facilities.

From 1996 to 1997 overall residency positions decreased by five per cent but slots for U.S. medical graduates rose by six per cent while positions for international medical graduates declined by 12 per cent.

Indian medical graduates are also having problems appearing for the examinations preceding the residency as the critical skills assessment examination is offered only in Philadelphia.

This, said Pallone, is disturbing because it posed obstacles for many. Travfi costs are expensive and it is also difficult to get a visa, which is required to get into the USA. On top of these concerns, the examination itself costs $ 1,200 just to appear.

Such actions, said Pallone, would have the effect of restricting the entry of Indian medical graduates into the USA. If that was the goal such a decision should be made by Congress and not by the government.

PoK NGOs create stir at UNHCR

LONDON, April 8 (PTI) — A leading NGO from Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) created a stir at the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) with a call to the international community to intervene with Pakistan to grant freedom to the people of Gilgit and Baltistan.

Speaking at the commission deliberations last weekend, Zulfikar Khan Aziz who heads the NGO, accused Pakistan of harping on self determination for the Kashmiris as a “ploy to instigate the people of Jammu and Kashmir” while treating areas under its occupation worse than a slave colony.

“Pakistan authorities do not countenance any calls for self determination in areas under Pakistan’s illegal occupation... and any voice for rights is ruthlessly crushed,” Mr Aziz said urging the UNHCR to bring pressure on Pakistan to grant freedom to these areas.

“Otherwise, people of Gilgit and Baltistan would forever languish as a slave colony of Pakistan, suppressed, oppressed, kept economically and educationally backward and denied basic rights and freedoms that people living in democratic countries took for granted and that the US charter guaranteed.”

Urging the UNHCR to send a fact-finding team to PoK, Mr Aziz said “We have had no right to vote since 1947 when Pakistan illegally annexed us through an armed invasion. We are not permitted any political activity not to speak of dissent. Any voice for rights is ruthlessly suppressed.”

Mr Aziz who spoke on behalf of the delegation described the sorry plight of the people of Gilgit and Baltistan, directly ruled by Islamabad as northern territories.

“The people of the area not only have no access to the freedom to vote, but cannot approach the High Court in Muzzaffarabad against jail sentences.

“We have no TV station. No access to our own media. No university, medical or engineering college. No employment opportunities. Even access to travel abroad is denied to us,” he said.

Anwar’s wife may be expelled

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (AFP) — Malaysia’s ruling party might sack the wife of ousted Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim after she launched a new political movement over the weekend, reports said today.

The United Malays National Organisation’s (UMNO) management and discipline committee has also recommended the expulsion of 23 others, most of whom supported the new party, the Star newspaper said.

The proposal would be discussed at the April 14 meeting of the UMNO supreme council, the party’s highest decision-making body, its Secretary-General Sabruddin Chik said.

The expelled members can appeal to rejoin after three years, he added.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail launched the National Justice Party on Sunday where she appealed to Opposition groups to “unite to oust Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is UMNO President, in the coming elections.

The Federal Government’s term does not expire until April next year but there is speculation of a snap election amid signs of economic recovery.

Animal rights activists ransack labs
from Martin Kettle in Washington

Animal rights activists in the USA have carried out one of their most spectacular acts of laboratory vandalism for many years, ransacking 12 labs and freeing more than 100 animals from medical research facilities at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the raids, which took place on Monday and are estimated to have caused $1 million of damage. “The ALF is taking action immediately to free these animals from their exploitation,” Kevin Kjonaas, a spokesman, said.

But University of Minnesota officials said work on brain cancer and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s had suffered serious setbacks, which could take years to overcome.

The activists are believed to have entered two university buildings through the roofs and to have abseiled into the laboratories, the police say. They smashed computers, tipped over and wrecked equipment, and painted anti-vivisection slogans on the walls.

The group then “rescued” 27 pigeons, 48 mice, 36 rats and five salamanders, and took computer files and research notebooks. The ALF said the group had already found homes for the animals.

An incubator was damaged which contained human brain cells taken from patients in a research project on degenerative conditions.

“You begin to have an impact on a patient who has donated their cells for us to develop a vaccine, and we no longer have that vaccine to offer that patient,’’ said Dr Walter Low, a researcher. “That patient has no other hope.”

The University of Minnesota is well known among research institutions for developing mice that replicate some of the traits found in Alzheimer’s patients. Last year some 1,52,000 animals, mostly mice and rats, were used in research at the university. Alzheimer’s affects more than 4 million Americans.

Dr Karen Hsiao, a molecular biologist whose work on mice has been hailed by scientists as a step towards finding a treatment for the disease, said the animals had been bred for generations to develop symptoms such as memory loss.

“They don’t realise that we are doing this research to try to help people with Alzheimer’s disease to find a cure,’’ Dr Hsiao said. “There is no other model that is as widely accepted in the scientific community as the transgenic mouse models. But now they are gone.”

If the $1 million damage bill is confirmed, the Minnesota raid will rank as the most damaging attack on a US university since arsonists destroyed a lab at the University of California in 1987.
— The Guardian, London

Zia’s son may get Cabinet post

ISLAMABAD, April 8 (UNI) — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may induct four new ministers in his cabinet and drop a few controversial ones.

Reports here indicated that there would be no change in the key portfolios of defence, finance, foreign, power and petroleum.

Besides Mr Ejaz-ul-Haq, son of late Gen Zia-ul-Haq and minister in previous cabinet of Mr Nawaz Sharif, the new faces likely to figure among the ministers are of Mr Hasil Bizenzo and Mr Yakus Nasir of Baluchistan and Mr Izaz Shafi of Karachi.

Shiekh Rashid Ahmed is likely to be shifted from manpower and labour to education. Labour would be put under Ejaz-ul-Haq.

Begum Abida Hussian, Minister for Science and Technology and Population Welfare, might be dropped from the cabinet.

Cambodia to join ASEAN soon

PHNOM PENH, April 8 (DPA) — Cambodia, whose admission into the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was frozen after a 1997 coup, will finally join the regional grouping later this month, the country’s Foreign Minister said today.

The minister, Mr Hor Nam Hong, said Vietnam, which currently chairs ASEAN, will hold the induction ceremony on April 30 in Handoi.

Cambodia’s scheduled admission in July 1997 was frozen after strongman Hun Sen ousted political rival Prince Norodom Ranariddh as his co-premier in a bloody factional fighting.

Bob Peck dead

LONDON, April 8 (AP) — British actor Bob Peck, who appeared in “Jurassic Park,” has died of cancer.

A well-known television and stage actor in Britain, Peck died in London on Sunday.

During his career, Peck acted for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre and starred in more than 20 television dramas. He was best known in Britain for his role in the 1985 television series, “Edge of Darkness”, about the theatre of nuclear pollution.

‘Kiss-athon’
JERUSALEM: After kissing for what they called a world-record 30 hours and 45 minutes, an Israeli couple was treated for fatigue at a hospital. Martin Downham, the head of research at the Guinness Book of Records, said he still had to verify the world record claim of the Israeli couple, Dror Orpaz and Karmit Tsubera. The previous kissing record of 29 hours was set last year in New York. The pair was among 300 couples who participated in a marathon killing contest sponsored by a US toothpaste company. — AP

Jodie Foster hurt
KUALA LUMPUR: Oscar-winner Jodie Foster was treated at a northern Malaysian hospital for a minor injury after slipping on location for the 20th Century Fox Film. “Anna and the King,” a film spokesperson said on Thursday. — AP

“Intteha” banned
KARACHI: Pakistan had banned a blockbuster movie entitled “Intteha (extreme)” on the grounds of obscenity, officials said on Wednesday. “The movie has been banned due to a lot of complaints sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Cultural Ministry by people,” said Nasim-ul Haq, an official of the Pakistan Censor Board, adding that the Ministry of Culture had issued the order. “We ourselves had raised objections from the word go because of obscene scenes,” he added. — AFP

Church vandalised
LECCO (Italy): A 16th century church in the northern city of Lecco has been vandalised, defaced with satanic graffiti and set on fire. News reports said the inside walls of the church were covered yesterday with profanities and the number 666, which some believe refers to Satan, a statue of Christ was smashed and a Madonna icon was set ablaze.

Unmarried couples
PARIS: French deputies have adopted a Bill giving legal status to unmarried couples, the latest hurdles in the leftist government’s effort to pass the controversial legislation. It was the second reading of the Civil Solidarity Pact known as Pacs in the National Assembly, and the Bill passed 300-253 with the Opposition Right voting against it, on Wednesday. — AP