Indian model rage in Paris
PARIS, Jan 28 — With brown-green eyes, ultrablond hair and cinnamon-coloured skin, Satya, a 23-year-old of Indian origin, is the latest darling of men’s fashion.

Iraq: Butler report to be released

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 28 (AFP, AP) — A report by the top UN weapons inspector for Iraqi disarmament is to be made public, the UN Security Council President said.

Council President Celso Amorim said that he had received “A written request by two delegations,” and, of course, I will act accordingly”.

He added that he did not know how long it would take before the 260-page report, whose official release has been blocked by Russia until now, would be released.

It must first be translated into the six official languages at the UN.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard had said that the report by UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) Chairman Richard Butler would be released if a delegation submitted a written request in line with UN procedure.

The report, which has circulated informally here, notably sets out ideas for future arms monitoring in Iraq and provides a historical review of the difficulties faced by the UN weapons inspectors since 1991.

RIYADH (SAUDI ARABIA): US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has sought Saudi Arabia’s support for US efforts to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by assisting opposition groups. Ms Albright’s spokesman, Mr James P. Rubin, candidly acknowledged the Secretary’s intention to try to enlist the backing of this conservative monarchy in a growing US campaign to oust Saddam.

As Ms Albright’s air force jet touched down in Riyadh after a flight from Egypt, Mr Rubin told reporters that “regime changes” in Baghdad were on the agenda for her talks, along with ways to try to contain Iraq to protect its neighbours, which include Saudi Arabia.

BAGHDAD: Iraq has accused Arab governments of giving the USA “green light” to step up its military campaign against President Saddam Hussein’s Government.

And, in the latest show of official anger over lack of Arab support, Iraq’s Parliament on Wednesday called on Saudis and Kuwaitis to overthrow their rulers as punishment for supporting the US British airstrikes on Iraq last month.

The Arabs masses are called upon to stage a revolution against these agent regimes,” a statement issued by Parliament said at the end of a two-day debate.

Iraq branded statements by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright lies and denied that it posed any threat to its neighbours.

UN won’t take role in Kosovo: Annan

BRUSSELS, Jan 28 (Reuters, AP) — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has indicated the UN will not take a role in Kosovo, but said pressure must continue to be applied to bring about a negotiated political solution.

“I think we have several players already who are doing a very active and credible job”, Mr Annan told a news conference when asked if the UN would take a role in trying to bring peace to the war-torn region where Serbian security forces are battling separatist Kosovo Albanians.

He noted the presence of NATO, the organisation for security and cooperation in Europe, and the contact group, a six-nation group including the USA, Russia, France, Italy, Germany and Britain.

Mr Annan was on the second day of a three-day visit to Brussels, the seat of the 16-member NATO western military alliance.

“I think we need to continue the pressure on the parties to come to the table to negotiate”, Mr Annan said. “I think it is only a political solution which in the long term would be viable. And I hope the parties will have the wisdom and the inspiration and the courage to come to the table to talk”.

Asked about using force in Kosovo, Mr Annan said: “I realise the possibility of the use of force has been raised, but I don’t think a decision has been taken. I think that is essential is to get both parties together to negotiate”.

Mr Annan said the UN tried to prevent the 1994 Rwanda genocide from taking place but said the world body lacked the support of governments when it came to sending troops.

“When resources were needed, we asked for them many times, but we didn’t get the troops”, Mr Annan told a news conference yesterday after meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene.

“We did everything we could, but it wasn’t enough”, Mr Annan said. He said the will to act, the will to provide troops wasn’t there.

Earlier yesterday, Mr Annan met with relatives of victims of the 1994 Rwanda genocide who say he bears a share of responsibility in failing to prevent the killings.

Several hours before his arrival in Brussels, Mr Annan told a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, that he supported calls by the families of victims for an independent investigation into the UN role in Rwanda.

In 1994, Hutu extremists slaughtered an estimated 500,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates. Mr Annan was in charge of UN peace-keeping operations at the time.

Belgian Senate Alain Destexhe claims Mr Annan had early evidence the genocide would take place but neither Mr Annan nor then UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali informed the Security Council at the time of what would happen.

Mr Annan said he was not the only one who had early evidence that a genocide was about to take place in Rwanda.

“The gravity of the situation on the ground and the development of events in Rwanda were available to all of us. The sense of urgency was based on recommendations from (Boutros Ghali) who kept pressing for resources to be able to go on and do something”, Mr Annan said.

RIYADH: Foreign Ministers of the six-nation contact group on the former Yugoslavia are to meet in London on Friday to discuss the Kosovo crisis, the US State Department has announced.

The contact group is the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the USA.

“Having achieved agreement with our allies on a strategy aimed at resolving the crisis in Kosovo by combining diplomacy with a credible threat of force, (US Secretary of State Madeleine) Albright looks forward to joining her contact group colleagues in London on Friday to help implement this strategy”, State Department spokesman James Rubin said.

He was speaking to journalists here accompanying Ms Albright on a West Asia tour.

Tickets to watch Clinton trial

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) — For people who want to watch the Senate impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in person, there are tickets and then there are tickets.

The highly prized yellow tickets are parcelled out by Senate offices, which get three a day. Each office sets its own policy, but the yellow ones cut down on the waiting and let people observe the trial for about an hour at a time.

The routine blue gallery passes give people 15 minutes, after they wait to get in. Some days the waits are very long, with people lining up outside the Capital in the morning cold.

Taking pity on the folks waiting outside, Colorado Republican Ben Nighthorse Camphell goes out most mornings to serve hot coffee.

Earlier this week the crowds thinned, possibly because would-be observers heard about closed-door debate and did not realise that part would still be open. By yesterday, with the Senate taking key votes on dropping the case and calling witnesses, the corridors were teeming again with people who wanted a glimpse of history.

“We’ve got three tickets a day. There are 11 million people in Ohio. Do the math,” said Charles Boesel, Spokesman for Ohio Republican Mike Dewine.

MI5 plotted to intercept enemy pigeons
By Richard Norton-Taylor in London

BRITISH intelligence agency MI5 contemplated using trained falcons to intercept “enemy pigeons” and even suggested men who wore yellow jumpers were subversives.

The alarm at the prospect of German spies using “pigeon-agents” to send secret messages is contained in an MI5 survey of “fifth column activities” among files released on Wednesday. MI5 suggested that pigeon lofts in Nazi-occupied countries may even have to be bombed.

There was no evidence that German secret agents had tried to use pigeons in Britain but Germany, Italy and Britain had used them for espionage, MI5 noted. It pointed out the Royal Observer Corps had reported many sightings of pigeons flying out to sea. The possibility of smuggling birds in through neutral ships had to be carefully examined, said MI5, as should the use of trained falcons.

Seemingly innocent markings and graffiti on telegraph poles were also cited as a cause for concern.

“The telegraph poles of England appear to illustrate almost every conceivable geometrical shape and design’’, noted MI5. There were vertical arrows, and horizontal ones. There were swastikas and the Mosley “lightning flash” symbol, though the hammer and sickle, MI5 reported, “very rarely appears”.

MI5 worried even the simple graffiti of young lovers may serve a political purpose.

A memo from the General Post Office following consultation with security service bosses says: “The War Office consider that a study of the matter of these pole markings is of the most urgent importance”, though subversive-hunters were advised that “marks such as swastikas accompanied by scurrilous epithets put on by children or hobbledehoys should be ignored”.

Though MI5 discovered that yellow markings on some telegraph poles were the result of a survey by the Anglo-American Oil Company, attention turned to yellow clothing. A memo, dated, June 1940, noted: “We have already discussed the possibility that fifth column personnel may wear some distinctive article of clothing, such as a yellow handkerchief or jumper, and I think you have already circulated chief constables with a view to look out for such idiosyncrasies.”

An MI5 officer wrote: “The seizure of this (PoW) report brings possible significance to a report I had had that foreign-looking young men at Dublin, Mullingar and Athlone had been noticed wearing yellow jumpers.’’

Alarming signs turned out to have innocent explanations — a sign allegedly pointing to an ordnance factory in Glascoed in Wales turned out to be the result of a farmer casually emptying spare barley seeds which then sprouted.

MI5 came to the conclusion that many markings were the work of “hikers, cyclists, boy scouts, tramps, hawkers, gypsies and schoolchildren”. — Guardian News Service

Drunkard sells wife for $15

COLOMBO, Jan 28 (DPA) — A woman in a remote village in Sri Lanka got the shock of her life when her husband was dragged out of bed by one of his friends who claimed that he had bought her and received a written agreement for the transaction, the police said on Tuesday.

The woman took her husband and his friend to Dompe police station, 30 km northeast of the Capital, to settle the dispute as the visitor was insisting that he was the legal owner of the man’s wife.

At the police station the visitor produced a written document signed by the woman’s husband, who had agreed to sell his wife for 1000 rupees ($15).

The police questioned the husband and found that he had accepted the money because he needed to buy alcohol.

Both men were warned about their “illegal transaction” and discharged.

Indian model rage in Paris

PARIS, Jan 28 (AFP) — With brown-green eyes, ultrablond hair and cinnamon-coloured skin, Satya, a 23-year-old of Indian origin, is the latest darling of men’s fashion.

The six-foot-two-inch exotic model is the rage at this week’s Paris fashion shows, where 30 international designers are displaying their 1999/2000 ready-to-wear men’s collections.

Satya is already the star of a print ad campaign for Kenzo perfume, and has rapidly soared to become one of the Japanese company’s favourite top models.

He may owe his success to his unusual looks, but his background is no less ordinary. Born in Pondicherry, Satya was adopted by a French couple.

Aid for quake-hit
WASHINGTON: The USA has announced a 2 million-dollar emergency first instalment of aid for victims of Monday’s earthquake in Colombia. The quake, which hit Colombia’s west-central Andean region, has left at least 628 dead with 2,783 injured. Some officials expect the death toll to climb to 1,500. The Inter-American Development Bank has already pledged $ 10 million “with the strong support of the USA” for rebuilding the quake-devastated area, according to President Bill Clinton. — AFP

Cyberspace rivalry
NEW YORK: Going, going ... sold to the Internet surfer. After more than two centuries of professional rivalry, the world’s two most venerable auction houses are taking their bidding war into cyberspace. Earlier this month, 255-year-old Sotheby’s holdings Inc announced it was setting up a web site to hold virtual auctions and was asking art dealers in New York and Europe to sign up to sell expensive items exclusively on http://www. southebys. com. Christies, which was founded in 1766, countered this week by announcing its own plans to step into the 21st century and auction artwork, jewellery and collectibles online. — Reuters

Women outdo men
LONDON: Women are at the cutting edge of a fast-changing society in Britain, snapping up new jobs faster than men, and girls do better at school, according to a survey. If the British male is feeling vulnerable, as lifestyle magazines suggest, the 1999 social trends survey from the office for National Statistics will do little to put his mind at rest. It showed women took most of the new jobs on offer, being more willing to work part-time and often for less money, more than 75 per cent of women aged between 25 and 44 were either in work or seeking it in 1997. Over the past 10 years, women have done better than men in final school exams. Enjoying greater economic freedom, women are also having children later, if at all, and often choose never to marry. — Reuters

MQM fears arrest
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, headed by exiled leader Altaf Hussain, has apprehended arrest of its senior leaders and parliamentarians, alleging that the Nawaz Sharif government wanted to curb the activities of the MQM’s active members. The government had earlier said that the “Operation Karachi” was directed only against the criminals and terrorists but raids were conducted on the MPA’s (Member of Provincial Assembly) hostel and elected members of the MQM were detained, senator Aftab Ahmed Sheikh raid here on Wednesday. — PTI

Pak-Taliban ties
WASHINGTON: The USA has said that Pakistan is welcome to keep its ties with the Afghan Taliban as long as it promotes peace in Afghanistan and continues to work for securing Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden’s extradition. “We made no request to premier Nawaz Sharif to make a clean break with the Taliban in Washington last December. He did express our grave concern ... about the Afghan situation and the activities of Laden,” Assistant Secretary of State Karl F. Inderfurth said here on Tuesday. — PTI

China road mishaps
BEIJING: Road accidents killed an average of 189 persons each day in China last year, according to state radio. About 69,000 persons died in 3,09,000 road accidents in the first 11 months of 1998, the radio said on Wednesday. President Jiang Zemin and premier Zhu Rongji ordered local officials to ensure safety and avert major accidents during the lunar new year, which falls on February 16, and the whole of 1999. A total of 635 persons were killed or missing in 879 shipping accidents between January and November. — Reuters