• More western troops for Albania

Six-year jail term for Anwar
KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Malaysia’s ousted Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was sentenced by a high court judge today to six years in jail for corruption, a defence lawyer said.

Lockerbie suspects committed to trial
CAMP ZEIST, The Netherlands, April 14 — Two Libyans suspected of bombing a Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 10 years ago were committed for trial today.

Di confided in Michael Jackson
LONDON, April 14 — Pop superstar Michael Jackson said in an interview published today that the princess Diana used to telephone and confide in him.

LTTE calls off meeting with UNP
COLOMBO, April 14 — The LTTE has called off a secret meeting with a top leader of Sri Lanka’s Opposition United National Party, scheduled to take place at Paris this week, a pro LTTE Tamil weekly has said.

NATO launches daytime raids

BELGRADE, April 14 (AP) — NATO hammered Serb targets in Kosovo early today, launching more than 30 strikes on the southern province, Yugoslav media said. On the Albanian border, Serb forces shelled a deserted Albanian village they had briefly seized a day earlier.

The latest action on the ground came amid a flurry of diplomatic consultations, including a German peace initiative that would provide for a 24-hour suspension of allied airstrikes if Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic began a withdrawal of his forces from Kosovo.

A rare daytime air-raid alert sounded in Belgrade at mid-morning today, and jets were heard flying overhead. Loud booms possibly sonic booms, echoed through the city centre.

Daytime alerts also sounded in the Montenegro capital of Podgorica and cities including Novi sad, Serbia’s second largest. In other overnight airstrikes, NATO hit a hydroelectric power plant and a major food processing factory early today.

Meanwhile, in a sign the raids were starting to affect basic supplies, the first known report of food rationing surfaced since the start of the allied air campaign three weeks ago.

The fresh round of Serb shelling on Albania’s northeastern border, near the hamlet of Padesh, began this morning, eyewitnesses said.

One shell hit Kamenica, the village briefly occupied by Serb forces who pushed across the frontier a day earlier and then withdrew after a short skirmish with Albanian troops. Smoke could be seen rising from Kamenica whose residents had fled earlier but no new Serb incursion was seen or reported by international monitors.

The air-raid alert in Belgrade sounded as Milosevic was meeting a fellow hardliner: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a vehement opponent of the NATO strikes, the authoritarian Lukashenko said last fall Belarus would supply weapons to Yugoslavia if NATO launched raids, but has so far announced no specific plans to do so.

In the latest airstrikes, NATO zeroed in on Kosovo, with Serb media reporting 30 strikes overnight, continuing into the daylight hours today.

The city’s bus station, wrecked in previous attacks, was again targeted, as was the local Slatina airport which was hit first with six missiles and pounded through the early-morning hours, the Serb-run media centre in Pristina said.

The nearby Serb village of Gracanica, famous for a 14th century monastery, was again targeted, as was the all-Albanian Pristina suburb of Ajvalija. The targets were believed to be military barracks.

NATO also struck in north-western Kosovo, hitting near the town of Kosovska Mitrovica and targeting a transmitter on Mount Kutlovac, the state-run Tanjug news agency said.

Telecommunications have been targeted in the airstrikes, and word came late yesterday of a NATO hit on the biggest Yugoslav satellite station, in Prilike, 80 miles south of Belgrade. Officials said one of three large dishes was destroyed and the other two badly damaged.

The state-of-the-art station, which carried most of Yugoslavia’s telephone traffic with the rest of Europe, had been hit 24 hours ago, but details of damage filtered out slowly.

Six-year jail term for Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (AFP) — Malaysia’s ousted Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was sentenced by a high court judge today to six years in jail for corruption, a defence lawyer said.

Anwar was found guilty of all four charges involving allegations that he used his position to cover up claims of sexual misconduct which he has blamed on a high-level political conspiracy.

Defence lawyer Pawancheek Marican said Anwar was jailed for six years on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Mr Pawancheek said the lawyers would lodge an appeal “later” but did not elaborate.

The official news agency Bernama said Judge Augustine Paul delivered the verdict half an hour after the hearing began. The charges carried a maximum penalty of 14 years with a one-third remission for good behaviour.

As news of the verdict emerged, police used water cannon to break up a protest by Anwar supporters who gathered outside the courthouse. Numbering about 200, they defied police warning against illegal gatherings in the capital.

The courthouse was surrounded by dozens of anti-riot police and paramilitary forces when Anwar arrived for the judgement in his five-month trial, the longest in Malaysian history.

A Western diplomat said he was “not surprised” by the verdict.”I hope the appeal is handled quickly and fairly,” he added.

Anwar, who still faces another corruption charge and five charges of sodomy, was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister in September last year following a bitter feud with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

He was later arrested following a series of anti-government protests, the biggest here in decades.

Anwar supporters who gathered at the courthouse today carried banners sporting the logo of the National Justice Party, set up by Anwar’s wife Wanazizah Wan Ismail earlier this month.

“The people are the judge of the nation,” one banner read.

Azizah was planning to address a rally by the opposition Islamic party at a Muslim stronghold north of the capital today evening.

Last night, the police broke up a candlelight vigil by several hundred protestors outside a mosque near the court. At least one of the protestors was led away by plain-clothes police.

Most protesters appeared to be students, with some carrying banners and shouting “reformasi” before police moved to disperse the crowd, which fled into neighbouring streets filled with cars honking their horns.

Meanwhile Asian leaders joined human rights groups in denuncing what they deemed a harsh prison term against Malaysia’s convicted Deputy Prime Minister. Philippine President Joseph Estrada called the conviction “very unfortunate” and said he hoped the leader might be cleared of the charges on appeal.

Amnesty international, calling him a prisoner of conscience, declared: “The prison gates may have been shut today on Anwar Ibrahim but the public debate about human rights and political freedoms that his case has generated in Malaysia cannot be so easily silenced”.

The London-based human rights watchdog said in a statement that the sentence “reflects a disturbing pattern of misuse of the law and state institutions by the Malaysian executive for political purposes”.

Amnesty said Anwar’s detention in September last year was “motivated by political differences within the Malaysian government” and charges against him were a “pretext to remove him from public life”.

Among initial reactions from Malaysia’s neighbours, New Zealand said it was not appropriate to comment on specific aspects of the trial. But New Zealand will watch any appeal with “critical interest,” Foreign Minister Don McKinnon said, adding: “We hope that the process and outcome of any appeal will reaffirm the credibility of Malaysia’s judicial system”.

Australia’s Opposition Labour Party called the sentencing of Anwar a “black day” for justice, human rights and Malaysia’s international standing.Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke said the guilty ruling was generally expected.

Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke said the guilty ruling was generally expected.

The Australian Democrats, a small Left-wing party, demanded that Malaysia be suspended from the Commonwealth, the association of former British colonies.

Fresh penalties on Pak unlikely

KARACHI, April 14 (Reuters) — International donors are unlikely to slap fresh penalties on Pakistan for its missile test today but could link future aid to the signing of nuclear proliferation treaties, financial analysts said.

“I think there will be more pressure on Pakistan to sign the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT),” said Mansoor Ali, head of research at the brokerage firm Jehangir Siddiqui & Co.

Pakistan said it successfully test fired the Ghauri-II missile today in response to a weekend missile test by India, spurning western appeals to avoid fuelling a south Asia arms race.

Analysts said with an International Monetary Fund review mission expected next month to finalise the release of another tranche in a $ 1.56 billion funding programme, more pressure would be on Pakistan to sign the treaty.

“We can expect more arm-twisting by donor countries,” Ali said.

Mr Ibrahim Masood, research head at brokers Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari & Co, said the missile test was unlikely to stall any ongoing multilateral funding programmes or trigger sanctions as did Pakistan’s nuclear tests last year.

MOSCOW (PTI): Russia today reacted sharply to the test-firing of Ghauri-II by Pakistan and expressed fears that such a "competition" would lead to destabilisation of Asia.

"The test-firing of Ghauri-II in response to India's testing of Agni-II may lead to escalation of nuclear and missile race in Asia which would lead to the destabilisation of the continent. "Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted a senior military-diplomat as saying.

He said Moscow would raise the matter with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his three-day visit from April 19.

ISLAMABAD (AP): In the bazaars of the federal Capital people on Wednesday handed out sweets, hugged each other and offered congratulations as news that Pakistan tested its missile.

There were words of praise for the test from hardline Islamic parties, who had been pressing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to test the country's newest ballistic missile in response to Sunday's Agni-II missile test by India.

At A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories officials, who didn't want their name used, said of the Foreign Ministry statement: "this is wrong ... it is the Ghauri II that we tested."

ANI adds: Pakistan's test-firing has evoked mixed response from the world community.

In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement it deeply regretted Pakistan's test of a medium-range ballistic missile in response to a weekend Agni-II test by India, saying "it raised the spectre of an arms race in South Asia."

This would raise tensions in an already unstable region, he said, adding, "I urge both countries to refrain from entering into a destabilising missile arms race."

More western troops for Albania

LONDON, April 14 (PTI) — In an apparent move to launch ground attacks on Yugoslavia, Britain, the United States and their allies have announced bolstering up of their land forces in the Balkan region even as the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned of a possible spread of the Kosovo war.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair informed the House of Commons late last night that Britain was despatching more than 1800 troops to Macedonia and Greece to increase the presence of NATO troops on the Yugoslav border to 8000.

US, French and German troops have started arriving in Albania with heavy armour and Apache helicopter gunships.

NATO is also increasing its air fleet to 1000 aircraft following the arrival of more American F-16, F-15, B-2 and F-111 stealth planes in the region.

In Madrid yesterday, Mr Annan said “the last thing we need is the conflict to extend” and added he was “a hopeful man” but could not say if Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic would accept the terms that he had spelt out for an end to the war.

NATO’s “intention” to launch ground attacks comes after a meeting between US Secretary of State Madeliene Albright and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was held to defuse the tension in the Balkans.

In a meeting yesterday at Oslo, the two leaders, who met for the first time after NATO attacks began on March 24, failed to arrive at any constructive solution to end the Kosovo conflict.

MOSCOW (UNI): Russian intelligence services, in their report, have warned the Kremlin that the current air attacks on Yugoslavia are primarily aimed at Russia.

Intelligence experts monitoring the Balkan situation have cautioned that the Cold War is far from over. “Having liquidated the last seat of Russian influence in Europe, NATO has now taken on Russia itself,” the report says.

Quoting a source from the Russian intelligence outfit, the daily predicts that NATO will now be looking forward to deploying its forces on the territory of some of the members of the “Commonwealth of Independent States”, which had been constituent parts of the former Soviet Union.

SYDNEY (AP): Dismissing spying charges against them as preposterous, Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday demanded the immediate release of two Australian aid workers being held by Yugoslav authorities. They are both humanitarian workers. They come from a noncombatant country. They aren’t combatants themselves. So according to the normal rules of civilised conduct between nations they ought to be let go, Mr Howard said.

MQM, Sindhi leaders launch joint struggle

LONDON, April 14 (PTI) — In a significant move, Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and Sindhi nationalists leaders have agreed to bury their differences and declared the launching of a joint struggle in Pakistan’s troubled Sind province to what they called “free it of domination by outsiders.”

The Sindhi nationalists leaders met the MQM strongman, Mr Altaf Hussain, here yesterday. The leaders condemned what they called a “state-run terror campaign let loose in the province” and “vowed to free it of slavery of Punjab”.

A statement issued by the MQM said that during the meeting, Mr Hussain and Sindhi nationalist leaders voiced their concern at usurpation of rights of the Sindhi people with massive infusion of security forces. The province was now being run directly from Islamabad and Lahore.

Mr Altaf Hussain said self respecting Sindhi’s and Mohajirs had to join together to fight for the rights and provincial autonomy of Sind and an end to it’s “illegitimate occupation by Punjab and the federation.”

The MQM leader and Sindhi nationalists said that the whole Sind province had become a “colony of Punjabi rulers.” “any look would give you the idea, be it the provincial administration or the police or any other sector, all is dominated by outsiders.”

Lockerbie suspects committed to trial

CAMP ZEIST, The Netherlands, April 14 (AFP) — Two Libyans suspected of bombing a Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 10 years ago were committed for trial today.

Al-Amine Khalifa Fhimah, 43, and Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi, 47, did not enter a formal plea but both have protested their innocence.

They appeared at a closed committal hearing before Scottish Sheriff Principal Graham Cok, spokesman for the Scottish office at Camp Zeist said.

Today’s hearing was the second in pre-trial committal proceedings. On Tuesday last, the suspects appeared before the same judge and were committed for further examination.

Under Scottish law, the suspects had to be committed to trial before Thursday.

The two men, suspected Libyan intelligence agents, are accused of having placed a bomb on Pan American airways flight 103.

The aircraft was blown up above the Scottish village of Lockerbie, killing all 259 passengers and crew, plus 11 persons on the ground in December 1988.

The proper trial will be held in front of three Scottish judges, without a jury.

Di confided in Michael Jackson

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) — Pop superstar Michael Jackson said in an interview published today that the princess Diana used to telephone and confide in him.

The American singer said in an interview with the mass circulation tabloid “The Mirror” that he also knew Diana’s companion Dodi-al Fayed and that made his grief worse when both were killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.

“They were a match made in heaven,” Jackson said. He said Diana was a wonderful person who had proved she really cared about people.

“She went round the world as a philanthropist just like Mother Teresa,” said Jackson.

“The Press was hard on her in the same way they were hard on me and she needed to talk to someone who knew exactly what she was going through. She felt hunted in the way I’ve felt hunted, trapped, if you like.”

Jackson’s advice to Diana was: “Be strong and be determined and nobody can hurt you. Only you can hurt yourself — so be defiant.”

LTTE calls off meeting with UNP

COLOMBO, April 14 (PTI) — The LTTE has called off a secret meeting with a top leader of Sri Lanka’s Opposition United National Party (UNP), scheduled to take place at Paris this week, a pro LTTE Tamil weekly has said.

The weekly, Eela Nadu, said the Tamil rebels in the last minute cancelled the meeting with former Foreign Minister and senior UNP leader A.C.S. Hameed. However, no reason was given for the cancellation.

Iraq executions
DAMASCUS, (Syria): The Iraqi government executed more than 230 people in the southern city of Basra last month, a leading dissident group has said. The executions were ordered by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s cousin, Gen Al Hassan al-Majid, the military commander of southern Iraq, the supreme council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq said on Tuesday. — AP

Hope for sad plants
TOKYO: Japanese who grow their own plants will soon be able to communicate electronically with them and check their state of health, reports said on Tuesday. A spokesman for Epoch, the company which makes the sensor, said the unit, called Plantone, can monitor whether a rose is willing or the rubberplant is fine. To cheer up sad plants, the company recommended gardeners chat to them or stroke their leaves gently. — DPA

Ivory auctioned
HARARE (Zimbabwe): Zimbabwe auctioned off its full quota of 20 tonnes of elephant ivory on Tuesday in the world’s second ivory sale in a decade. The 18 Japanese buyers and their assistants waved confidential bids for tusks they had inspected in a wildlife department warehouse on Monday. — AP

Paintings vandalised
BARCELONA (Spain): Vandals defaced stone age cave paintings in Spain, spraying splotches of orange paint on ancient figures depicting people and animals. Officials on Tuesday said the attack was the third since 1991 on the cave outside the town of Albi in the northeast Catalonia region. In the first attack at the Albi site, the paintings were daubed with white paint. While in the second attack, they were daubed in black, said Francesc Vidal, head of the Catalan Cultural Affairs Department. — AP

Vatican against pill
VATICAN CITY: Use of the “morning after” pill by rape victims is tantamount to abortion, a senior Vatican official has said, expressing church opposition to their distribution to Kosovo refugees believed to be victims of rape by U.N. aid workers. — AP