Abdullah Ocalan, fugitive chief of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK is handcuffed and guarded by a member of the Turkish Special Forces unit that captured him in Nairobi, Kenya, late Monday, aboard an aircraft that carried him to Turkey. — AP/PTI

Turkey attacks Kurd bases in N. Iraq
ANKARA, Feb 18— Turkey, shrugging off a global wave of Kurdish anger over its capture of rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan, pressed a military drive into northern Iraq against Kurdish guerrilla forces today.

USA tightens screws on Milosevic
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 — The USA has despatched 41 military aircraft to Europe to prepare for possible NATO strikes on Serb targets, bolstering pressure on Yugoslavia to reach a peace agreement with ethnic Albanians.

UN clarifies on Lockerbie trial
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent a letter to Libya giving clarifications about arrangements for the proposed trial of two of its nationals suspected to be involved in the 1988 bombing of a Pam Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.

China frees scribe
BEIJING, Feb 18 — China has reportedly released a prominent dissident journalist on medical parole, a move many think has been designed to deflect international criticism of its human rights track record.

Angola rejects UN presence
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 — Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos has rejected any form of United Nations presence in his country expect that of humanitarian workers.

Laden no longer in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 — A top official of Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has said that Osama Bin Laden, the exiled Saudi who is wanted in the bombings of American embassies in East Africa, is no longer in Afghanistan.

Anwar’s trial may end in two weeks
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — The trial of sacked Malaysian Finance Minister, Mr Anwar Ibrahim, on four corruption charges might end in two weeks after a few more witnesses have testified, one of his lawyers said today.

Turkey attacks Kurd bases in N. Iraq

ANKARA, Feb 18 (Reuters) — Turkey, shrugging off a global wave of Kurdish anger over its capture of rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan, pressed a military drive into northern Iraq against Kurdish guerrilla forces today.

Among widespread demonstrations, Israeli guards killed three Kurds and wounded up to 16 who tried to storm Israel’s Consulate in Berlin yesterday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference in Tel Aviv that the Israeli guards had fired in self-defence.

In London, dozens of Kurdish protesters in the Greek Embassy, holding a Greek office clerk hostage, said they were on fast and threatened to set themselves on fire if the police intervened.

In Canada, Kurds hurled fire bombs and chunks of ice at the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa yesterday burning a policeman.

Guardian reporters in Berlin, Ankara and London add:

The hurricane unleashed by the capture of the Kurds’ guerrilla chief, Abdullah Ocalan, carried away three more lives yesterday when security guards opened fire on protesters as they broke into the Israeli consulate in Berlin.

As demonstrations continued throughout Europe, dramatic footage was released on Turkish television showing a drowsy Ocalan apparently trying to ingratiate himself with his abductors on the plane whisking him out of hiding in Africa and back home.

Turkey’s Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, dismissed concerns expressed by human rights activists and certain foreign governments about the interrogation and impending trial on terrorism charges of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader. But it emerged that Ocalan’s lawyers were put on the next flight back to the Netherlands after trying to enter Turkey.

In what appeared to be a concerted attempt to put pressure on the European Left on Ocalan’s behalf, PKK supporters seized a member of Germany’s ruling Social Democrats at the party’s Hamburg office; he was later released. They also occupied Social Democrat offices in Stockholm and Vienna. In Copenhagen, another group stormed the premises of the European Commission.

Two Turkish cultural centres, a mosque and a restaurant in Germany were damaged by Kurds.

The television footage of Ocalan showed an obviously frightened and bewildered prisoner surrounded by Turkish special forces in civilian clothes and black balaclavas exchanging “high fives” and handshakes of congratulation on the flight home.

“Welcome back to your country. You are our guest now,” said one agent, as the blindfold was removed inside the aircraft. “Thank you,” Ocalan replied nervously, licking his lips and wincing.

“If the truth needs to be told, I love Turkey and the Turkish nation and I want to serve it,” Ocalan said. “If I have the chance, I would be pleased to serve. Let there be no torture or anything. I would be happy to serve,” he asserted.

The video seemed to be an attempt to humiliate a defeated man, and demystify him. It showed a Cypriot diplomatic passport in the name of Lazaros Mavros which Turkey alleged Ocalan was carrying. Cyprus denied providing this.

The prison island of Imrali, south of Istanbul, has been evacuated of all other inmates to house Ocalan. He is expected to face the death penalty in his trial, though Turkey has not used capital punishment since 1984.

The central mystery of the affair remains how Ocalan was abducted. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, which is close to the military, reported that the Kenyan secret service helped Turkish intelligence divert a car carrying the Kurdish leader away from the Greek embassy in Nairobi.

A senior Kenyan immigration official, Frank Kwinga, later contradicted his government’s denial of involvement.

USA tightens screws on Milosevic

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters, AP) — The USA has despatched 41 military aircraft to Europe to prepare for possible NATO strikes on Serb targets, bolstering pressure on Yugoslavia to reach a peace agreement with ethnic Albanians.

The Defence Department said peace talks were continuing in Rambouillet, France, between the Serbs and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians and no decision had been made on the use of force.

But US aircraft were sent yesterday to their forward staging bases in Europe to get ready for any eventual air strikes ordered by NATO, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Secretary of Defence, Mr William Cohen, ordered the deployment of additional US-based Stealth fighters and other military aircraft to “assure that NATO has the capability to conduct operations should that prove necessary,” it said.

Earlier the State Department spokesman, Mr James Foley, warned the Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic that Washington meant business.

“President Milosevic should be under no illusions about NATO’s resolve,” Mr Foley told reporters. “NATO stated clearly on January 30 that it is ready to take whatever measures are necessary, including air strikes, to compel compliance with the demands of the international community and the achievement of a political settlement.”

Meanwhile the US Government has said the Serbs will face swift and severe consequences if they persisted in rejecting a NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

The Clinton administration took the tough line after Mr Milosevic was approached in Belgrade and flatly rejected any NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo as part of a settlement to end the conflict between Serb troops and ethnic Albanians seeking to pry the province away from Yugoslavia.

With the deadline set last weekend in Paris by Ms Albright and five other Foreign Ministers less than three days away, a senior US official said the Serbs had not budged on their opposition to the NATO peacekeepers being sent to Kosovo.

UN clarifies on Lockerbie trial

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (PTI) — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent a letter to Libya giving clarifications about arrangements for the proposed trial of two of its nationals suspected to be involved in the 1988 bombing of a Pam Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.

“We have offered clarifications and answered some of their questions and I hope that the understanding contained in the letter will be sufficient for the USA to move forward,” Mr Annan’s letter said.

Mr Annan’s letter was “picked up” yesterday by Libyan Ambassador to the UN Abuzed Dorda, the Secretary-General’s spokesman, Mr Fred Eckhard said.

Sources say Mr Annan has said the prosecutors would not try to undermine the Libyan Government and its leader, Mr Moammar Gaddhafi. Britain and the USA have reportedly agreed with Mr Annan’s proposal.

The UN, Britain and the USA are also expected to agree that the British and American investigators would not interrogate the two suspects, Abdel Basset Ali Mohammed Al-Migrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah.

Under the Security Council resolution, two Libyan intelligence agents, who were alleged to have been sent by the government, are to be handed over to the Netherlands for trial by Scottish judges.

Angola rejects UN presence

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (PTI) — Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos has rejected any form of United Nations presence in his country expect that of humanitarian workers.

In a snub to the Security Council, Mr Santos opposed the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission, called Monua, in any form.

Monua has been overseeing ceasefire and implementation of the peace accord between the government and Unita rebels. But the ceasefire broke down recently and both sides demanded that the UN peacekeepers be withdrawn.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had recently proposed shutting down of 1000-strong Monua mission as it could do little in the war- torn nation and appointment of a special envoy based in New York for Angola to keep in touch with the parties. But the council favoured a “continued multi-disciplinary presence” in Angola.

Laden no longer in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (AP) — A top official of Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has said that Osama Bin Laden, the exiled Saudi who is wanted in the bombings of American embassies in East Africa, is no longer in Afghanistan.

Mr Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, a Taliban diplomat assigned to the United Nations, yesterday said Bin Laden decided to leave Afghanistan on his own in recent days. “We do not know where he is,’’ Mr Mujahid said. “He is not in the area of control of the Taliban.’’

Mr Mujahid spoke to reporters after meeting Mr Karl F. Inderfurth, who heads the State Department’s South Asia bureau.

China frees scribe

BEIJING, Feb 18 (PTI) — China has reportedly released a prominent dissident journalist on medical parole, a move many think has been designed to deflect international criticism of its human rights track record.

According to reports in the Hong Kong media, Ms Gao Yu (56) returned to her Beijing home to spend the first Chinese lunar New Year with her family since her arrest in 1993.

Observers note that Gao's parole for medical treatment is yet another example of how China is using jailed dissidents as bargaining chips to get concessions from the USA and the European Union, as it comes just ahead of the UN Human Rights Commission's annual meeting next month in Geneva.

Gao's release also assumes significance as the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, is to visit Beijing.

Though Ms Albright's main agenda is to finalise plans for the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr Zhu Rongji's first official visit to the USA in April, she is also expected to press for the release of more political prisoners and to demand greater political freedom in the Communist country.

Anwar’s trial may end in two weeks

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 (Reuters) — The trial of sacked Malaysian Finance Minister, Mr Anwar Ibrahim, on four corruption charges might end in two weeks after a few more witnesses have testified, one of his lawyers said today.

Mr Christopher Fernando told reporters outside the Capital’s High Court that the defence had not decided whether Prime Minister, Mr Mahathir Mohamad and two others ministers would be called to the witness stand.

Pak dissident
LONDON: A Pakistani dissident can stay in the UK unless Home Secretary Jack Straw can prove he will be safe if deported, the appeal court in London has ruled in a landmark judgement. In a case with implications for thousands of political refugees, three Appeal Judges on Wednesday decided that Mohammed Arif, 36, should not be deported to Pakistani Kashmir until Straw proved political changes there meant he was safe. Arif, a teacher now living in Luton, north of London, fled the disputed area of Kashmir in 1992 after being tortured in jail by the police. — AFP

Lawmaker shot dead
QUITO: A Left-wing lawmaker and two others were shot dead by an unidentified gunman as they walked along a street near the congressional building here, the police said. Jaime Hurtado of Ecuador’s popular democratic movement, Pablo Tapia and Wellington Borja were shot at point-blank range on Wednesday by a young man who then fled in a waiting car, the police said. Hurtado, 62, died of injuries after being taken to Eugenio Espejo Hospital. — AFP

Titanic’s whistles
ST. PAUL (Minnesota): Up to 3,000 persons are expected to turn up here on Saturday to hear Titanic’s steam whistles blow for the first time since the big ship hit an iceberg in the north Atlantic 87 year ago, an official has said. A Minnesota company said it would sound the whistles in conjunction with an ongoing exhibit of Titanic artefacts here. The two 75-pound bronze whistles, recovered from the Atlantic in 1993, were x-rayed last week to ensure they would stand up to the event. —AFP

Tucker’s plea
WASHINGTON: An Arkansas Federal Judge rejected former Governor Jim Guy Tucker’s final attempt at a new trial for his part in the Whitewater affair, independent counsel Kenneth Starr said. Mr Tucker had requested a re-trial on the grounds that his jury had been subjected to improper influences. Judge George Howard found, however, that “tucker just has not met his burden of demonstrating that improper communications occurred during the trial,” Mr Starr said in a statement on Wednesday. — AFP

Royal murdered
MEXICO CITY: An Argentine who married in the Italian royal family was found naked and strangled to death with a bath robe belt in his home in the central Mexican state of Morelos Wednesday, officials said. The body of Luis Reina Corbalan, (60), husband of Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy and the son-in-law of Italy’s last king, was found by a gardener working at Reina’s house in Cuernavaca, 90 km from Mexico city, the police said. — Reuters