Michael Douglas to marry actress
LONDON, Aug 3 — Hollywood film star Michael Douglas plans to marry Welsh beauty Catherine Zeta Jones, according to a report in today’s edition of Britain’s Sun newspaper.

Bangla protesters end stir
DHAKA, Aug 3 — A crippling 30-hour strike in Bangladesh called to protest a transport deal with neighbouring India ended today and business quickly returned to normal.

Compensation won over 16-hour day
LONDON, Aug 3 — A single mother sacked after refusing to work a 16-hour shift to cover staff shortages at London’s Heathrow Airport has won three years’ pay in compensation.

China sends SU-27s close to Taiwan
HONG KONG, Aug 3 — Sophisticated warplanes, including SU-27 fighters, are being sent to mainland China airbases close to the Taiwan Strait, according to a report in yesterday’s Wenweipo, Beijing’s mouthpiece in Hong Kong.

Computer for Mir
MOSCOW, Aug 3 — The crew on board Russia’s Mir space station have installed a new computer that will allow the station to orbit unmanned after they return home later this month, officials at mission control said.

Indonesian poll results endorsed

JAKARTA, Aug 3 (DPA) — Indonesian President B.J. Habibie today unilaterally endorsed the results of a landmark national election two months ago, breaking a turbulent post-election impasse and clearing the way for the selection of the nation’s next President in November.

Mr Habibie, whose ruling Golkar Party finished second in the June 7 ballot, took matters into his own hands after the National Election Commission — known by the Indonesian acronym KPU — twice failed to approve the vote-count.

He announced his decision during a morning meeting with the leaders of some 11 political parties that won seats in what was Indonesia’s first open parliamentary poll since 1955.

“I declare the results of the ballot counting on July 26 legitimate,” Mr Habibie said. “Even though there are some small irregularities, the June 7 election was mostly free and fair and the most democratic election in our country in decades,” he added.

The KPU had failed twice in eight days to secure the two-thirds majority of its 53 members because representatives of some 26 small political parties that did not win seats in Parliament refused to accept the results.

The smaller parties cited more than 100,000 alleged instances of fraud and irregularities, despite overwhelming agreement by foreign and domestic observers that the poll was free and fair.

Critics accused the losing parties of holding the election hostage because of “sour grapes”.

As expected, Opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle — or PDIP — easily won the ballot with nearly 34 per cent of the vote followed by Golkar with 22 per cent.

An investigation by the National Election Supervisory Commission found the claims of fraud groundless, and Mr Habibie sent the matter back to the KPU.

However, the body remained deadlocked following a tumultuous meeting yesterday, and Mr Habibie’s aides warned the President would take action to avoid a constitutional crisis.

Mr Habibie’s action clears the decks ahead of the November session of the People’s Consultative Assembly, the nation’s highest legislative body, to select Indonesia’s next President.

Move to cut US aid to India fails

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (PTI) — Anti-India Republican Congressman Dan Burton was forced to withdraw his amendment seeking to cut US Aid to India after members of the House of Representatives vehemently opposed the move saying New Delhi is Washington’s “staunch ally” and the “only truly democratic country in the sub-continent”.

The amendment seeking a 25 per cent cut in the President’s request of $ 44.7 million for the year 2000 was withdrawn last night after Burton acknowledged that he would not get the “unanimous consent to change the language of the amendment to express his intent”.

Burton who had earlier filed three anti-India amendments to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill to castigate New Delhi especially for its alleged human rights violation in Kashmir, chose to offer only one which was opposed by all the members barring two in the House yesterday.

Many members pointed out that New Delhi alone can provide a balance in the region against the growing power of China and noted the increasing trade and investment opportunities US companies are finding in India.

Members criticised Burton for his “pro-Pakistan tilt” when he described Kashmir as being under Indian “occupation”. They said Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the troops are there to defend the country against terrorists backed by Pakistan.

Burton was favoured only by two of the members — Republican Dana Rohrabasher and Democrat Major Owens — who compared Kashmir to Kosovo and said that Kashmir should be allowed self-determination, only to be reminded by Democrat Brad Sherman that the USA did not grant self-determination when the American South demanded it but fought a civil war.

Opposing the amendment, Chairman of the International Relations Committee, Republican Benjamin Gilman said India is living in “a tough neighbourhood,” with China occupying a part of Indian territory in the North and giving nuclear and missile aid to Pakistan in the West and selling over a billion dollars worth of weapons to a dictatorship in Myanmar in the East.

India, he said, “is the only truly democratic nation in the subcontinent.”

Chairman of the International Relations Subcommittee dealing with South Asia and the Pacific region Republican Douglas Bereuter said India, a nation of one billion people, is too important to American interests to threaten or punish.

Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone who had urged the members earlier to reject the anti-India amendment said, “India, the world’s largest democracy, is increasingly important to us as a trading partner and strategic partner. India has what billions of people round the world yearned for: a secular, stable political system like that of the USA based on universal freedoms.

Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said, “but for India’s restraint, the situation in Kargil would have gone out of control. The improvement in US-India relations in recent years needs to be sustained and strengthened. The world’s largest democracy should be supporting our friend and ally.”

Republican Joeph Knowllenberg said the US-India relations ought to be sustained and strengthened, not put at risk.

Interpol’s no to sect head’s arrest plea

PARIS, Aug 3 (Reuters) — Interpol today rejected a request from China for assistance in detaining the US-based leader of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, saying the demand had religious or political motives.

The France-based international police organisation said in a statement it had informed Beijing that it could not use Interpol channels to locate and arrest Li Hongzhi.

“After having carefully examined the reasons behind the request, the Interpol General Secretariat has concluded that it fell within the scope of article 3 of the organisation’s constitution which forbids Interpol from undertaking any intervention or activities of a political or religious character,’’ the statement said.

It said it had reminded China that as a sovereign state it could use other means than Interpol to search for the fugitive.

China wants to arrest Li on charges of disturbing public order. Li has said the arrest warrant was based on fabricated evidence.

The USA has reacted coolly to China’s request to detain Li, noting that the two countries have no extradition treaty and that Washington had publicly urged China not to punish people for “peaceful assembly’’.

AP adds: The Chinese authorities have recently confiscated millions of Falun Gong publications, videos and cassettes.

The crackdown was precipitated by protests that began with a silent vigil on April 25 by more than 10,000 Falun Gong devotees in central Beijing.

The Chinese arrest order accused Li of organising demonstrations without required permits The government says the group, which believes illness is a result of evil in the past life and discourages the use of medicines, is responsible for 743 deaths.

Stealth project splits US lawmakers

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) — The decade of the precision air war is ending in a US domestic battle over a new Stealth fighter, the F-22 Raptor, a weapon conceived in the cold war to maintain America’s predominance in hi-tech warfare.

The tussle over the new generation of air-to-air fighter, meant to ensure American dominance in the air, goes to the heart of future military strategies and the way in which future conflicts may be fought.

It also throws a light on the politics that surround, and can seriously influence, decisions on multibillion dollar weapons programmes.

The fight erupted when the House of Representatives stunned the Pentagon by axing $ 1.8 billion for six of the supersonic, radar-evading planes, the air force’s top priority acquisition programme, from next year’s defence spending package.

President Bill Clinton publicly opposed the cuts and the air force historian Richard Hallion, in an article in the Washington Post, said it was essential to build the plane, which combines radar evasion with supersonic cruise speeds.

“Failure to procure the F-22 will mark the first time since the Second World War that the USA has consciously chosen to send its soldiers, sailors and airmen into harm’s way while knowingly conceding the lead in modern fighter development to a variety of foreign nations,” he said.

Supporters say the USA must maintain its big technical superiority over potential enemies and say modifications and upgrades of the rival plane, Boeing’s F-15 eagle, will not give the US military the edge it needs.

They point to the success of the B-2 stealth bomber, another much-attacked and hugely expensive cold war concept, which spearheaded precision bombing attacks in the air campaign against Yugoslavia this year.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a rare public lobbying effort, sent a letter to the congress that said: “The F-22 is the aircraft we are counting on to guarantee control of the skies in the next century.”

But lawmakers, including some of the most hawkish Republicans in the Congress, said the money could be better used to boost pay to stop a drain on pilots and to update and buy more F-15s as well as other aircraft already in service.

The Senate, in its version of the spending legislation, included the money for the F-22 and congressional leaders will have to hammer out a resolution later this year.

The USA has spent about $ 23 billion on research and development for the F-22, being built by Lockheed Martin. It is planning to buy 339 of the fighters at $ 180 million each, with deliveries beginning in 2002.

It is almost unheard of for a major military project of this type to be killed on the verge of production and hectic industry, state and Pentagon lobbying over the decision is under way in Washington.

Lucrative contracts and perhaps 27,000 jobs in dozens of different states depend on its going ahead.

Clinton denies being abused as child

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (AFP) — US President Bill Clinton says he was not subjected to physical violence as a child but went through “difficult times” growing up, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said today.

Lockhart’s comments came after First Lady Hillary Clinton told the forthcoming Talk magazine that the President’s infidelities stemmed from being “scarred by abuse” endured growing up in Arkansas.

“He was so young, barely four, when he was scarred by abuse. There was terrible conflict between his mother and grandmother,” she told the magazine in an interview first reported in London’s Sunday Times and later picked up by US media.

The two women raised Clinton in Hope, Arkansas, after his father died in a car crash. His mother, a nurse, later remarried, to an alcoholic car salesman.

Lockhart said he had discussed the interview with the President, adding that “he believes that, like many people, he had difficult times within his family, but he feels he has been blessed with love and has a wonderful life.”

The spokesman said Clinton had denied he endured physical abuse, but would not address the issue of emotional trauma in detail.

The interview, Hillary Clinton’s first discussion since the Monica Lewinsky scandal and subsequent impeachment proceedings of her husband’s alleged straying, has sparked a firestorm of media attention.

Lockhart said Clinton viewed the article as “generally favourable” to his wife and that “he is comfortable with the views expressed.”

Michael Douglas to marry actress

LONDON, Aug 3 (DPA) — Hollywood film star Michael Douglas plans to marry Welsh beauty Catherine Zeta Jones, according to a report in today’s edition of Britain’s Sun newspaper.

Douglas, whose best known films include “Fatal Attraction” and “Falling Down”, was said to have popped the question to Swansea-born Zeta Jones during a holiday in Spain recently.

The newspaper said the couple are set to announce their engagement on September 25, the birthday they share, at a lavish party in Douglas’ Malibu mansion.

Zeta Jones will be 30 years old and Douglas 55.

The Sun report quoted a friend as saying Jones and Douglas were “infatuated with one another”. The news follows speculation last month that the couple were engaged after Zeta Jones was seen wearing a diamond and gold ring worth £ 180,000.

Bangla protesters end stir

DHAKA, Aug 3 (Reuters) — A crippling 30-hour strike in Bangladesh called to protest a transport deal with neighbouring India ended today and business quickly returned to normal.

“The strike is over and we are glad to report that the final hours have passed without significant violence,’’ a police officer said.

The strike, which began yesterday, was called by the Opposition to protest against a government plan to allow Indian goods to be trucked through Bangladesh.

At least 60 persons were injured in clashes between the police and Opposition activists in Dhaka and elsewhere yesterday.

The government said it had agreed in principle to allow Indian goods to be ferried across the country using Bangladeshi trucks, a deal which could earn Bangladesh $ 400 million a year.

India needs the transport route to supply its isolated states in the North-East.

Commerce and Industry Minister Tofael Ahmed said a formal deal had yet to be signed. “The Opposition strike over the inconclusive issue was regrettable and unnecessary,’’ he told state-run Bangladesh Television late yesterday.

The Opposition said the transport deal threatened Bangladesh’s independence and sovereignty.

Compensation won over 16-hour day

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) — A single mother sacked after refusing to work a 16-hour shift to cover staff shortages at London’s Heathrow Airport has won three years’ pay in compensation.

“People don’t realise the damage long hours can do to your life,” Ms Annette Cowley said after her court victory yesterday against South African Airways Cargo Department.

The tribunal ruled that the airline was guilty of “wholly unreasonable behaviour” for making the 40-year-old mother of a baby girl work such long hours.

Union chief Roger Lyons, who backed Ms Cowley’s court battle, said: “The culture of long hours in Britain is destroying family life and causing serious health problems.”

A spokesman for the airline said: “SAA takes seriously the comments made by the tribunal and is in the process of considering what amendments, if any, are necessary to its working arrangements.”

China sends SU-27s close to Taiwan

HONG KONG, Aug 3 (DPA) — Sophisticated warplanes, including SU-27 fighters, are being sent to mainland China airbases close to the Taiwan Strait, according to a report in yesterday’s Wenweipo, Beijing’s mouthpiece in Hong Kong.

In its front-page headline story, the paper cited sources from Beijing as saying the people’s Liberation Army has continued to mobilise its troops in the south-eastern provinces.

The sources said that SU-27 fighters and other sophisticated warplanes were being transferred from airbases elsewhere in China.

The report cited military experts as saying the transfer of planes to new airbases might either be a drill or even be part of a battle preparation.

Computer for Mir

MOSCOW, Aug 3 (Reuters) — The crew on board Russia’s Mir space station have installed a new computer that will allow the station to orbit unmanned after they return home later this month, officials at mission control said.

“A new orientation and docking management computer has been installed, successfully tested and it is now controlling the station”, a duty officer at mission control outside Moscow said on yesterday.

“This device will keep the station in orbit when there is no one on board,” he added.

The three-man crew aboard Mir is due to return to earth next month.

De Niro seeks divorce
LOS ANGELES: Actor Robert de Niro filed for divorce on Monday from his second wife, former flight attendant Gace Hightower, a publicist for the Oscar-winning film star said. Stan Rosenfield said De Niro (55) filed papers in a New York court on Monday to dissolve his two-year marriage to Hightower, with whom he has a son. It was the second marriage for De Niro, who divorced Diahnne Abbott in 1988 after a 12-year marriage. The actor first gained fame for playing dying baseball player Burce Pearson in the 1973 film “Bang the Drum Slowly”. — Reuters

Rory Kennedy weds
ATHENS: Rory Kennedy, whose wedding was postponed last month when her cousin John F. Kennedy Jr died in a plane crash on his way to attend it, married in Athens at the house of a Greek businessman, a Greek television station said. The private Skai television station said Ms Kennedy on Monday married Mr Mark Bailey in a small ceremony at the house of shipping tycoon Vardis Vardinoyannis in the plush northern Athens suburb of Ekali. Eyewitnesses said a number of journalists had congregated outside Mr Vardinoyannis’s villa, which was lit up while Frank Sinatra songs and other American crooning tunes were heard from inside. — Reuters

Postman suspended
AMSTERDAM: A Dutch postman has been suspended from work for the rest of the week after he delivered the mail in a mini-skirt, Dutch media reported. The postman from Ermelo in the centre of the country wore the skirt on Monday to protest against his employers’ insistence that male workers must wear long trousers. The issue has become particularly heated with temperatures rising above 30°C (86°F). On Monday, the Dutch Meteorological Institute official declared the country was experiencing a heat wave. — Reuters

Guinness Book
LONDON: The Guinness Book of Records may soon set its own record when nearly three million copies finish rolling off the presses next month. The millennium collection of the fastest, tallest and weirdest things on earth looks set to claim the mark for the biggest initial run of a colour-illustrated, non-fiction book. “That’s just simply a world record,” publishing director Ian Castello-Cortes said on Monday. — Reuters

Tallest S. Asian dies
DHAKA: The tallest man in South Asia died of a cardiac failure in his home town in eastern Bangladesh. Mohammad Younus, whose height of two metres 29 centimetres made him reportedly the tallest South Asian, died on Monday at the age of 45, the Bangladesh Observer said. — DPA

“Blair Witch”
LOS ANGELES: “The Blair Witch Project”, shot for $ 60,000 is a reminder for movie moguls that film-makers with cheap cameras can outdo a $ 70 million blockbuster at the box office. The film, which went into wide release across the USA over the weekend, was a close second behind “Runaway Bride,” the Julia Roberts-Richard Gere reunion. “Runaway Bride” took in about $ 35 million over the weekend, roughly half of what it cost to make. “Blair Witch” has already made 100 times what it cost, with $ 28.5 million coming in over the weekend. — AP