Bids on Chandrika’s life to intensify
COLOMBO, July 11 — LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran has ordered his senior cadres to intensify attempts to assassinate President Chandrika Kumaratunga, to bring about a change in the government’s strategy on the war, reports quoting sources from Wanni said.

Gujral locks horns with Shahi over Kashmir
MOSCOW, July 11 — Former Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral had to lock horns with former Pakistani Foreign Minister Aga Shahi over Kashmir at the annual conference of the World Council of former Foreign Ministers at Bor Sanatorium, some 40 km from here.

Dawn-to-dusk curfew in Colombia
BOGOTA, July 11 — The Colombian Government has declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew across more than 30 per cent of the country, including the outskirts of Bogota, in an effort to contain a nationwide Marxist rebel offensive that began early yesterday.

Row over screening of ‘Jinnah’ in Pak
ISLAMABAD, July 11 — The film “Jinnah”, which is yet to be released in Pakistan, has raised a storm in the tea cup because 40-year-old Mohammad Ali Jinnah courts 16-year-old Rutti and marries her against her parents’ wishes.

Barak bars aides from meetings
JERUSALEM, July 11 — Prime Minister Ehud Barak convened his first full Cabinet session today and quickly barred ministerial advisers and spokesmen from the meeting to guard against leaks to the Press.

USA sends teams to Beijing
WASHINGTON, July 11 — The US government is sending officials to Beijing to discuss payments for 20 persons injured and families of three killed in the mistaken US Bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Protest against hardliners
DUBAI, July 11 — In scenes reminiscent of the 1979 revolution in Iran, thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators at Tehran University have demanded the resignations of powerful hardliners in the Islamic Government.

China relaxes ban on EU products
BEIJING, July 11 — The Chinese authorities have relaxed the ban imposed last month on the import and sale of poultry, eggs and meats from three European countries suspected of being contaminated by cancer-causing dioxin, official reports said yesterday.

UK may mediate in LTTE-Lanka feud

COLOMBO, July 11 (UNI) — LTTE ideologue and adviser Anton Balansigham is understood to have discussed with former British Deputy Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Liam Fox, on the possibility of Britain playing the role of a mediator to end the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, ‘The Island’ newspaper reported today.

Though details of the discussion were not available, it said there would be another meeting within a few days.

Dr Fox, a former minister in the last Conservative government, played a significant role in working out what was presented as an agreement between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to adopt a bipartism stance on dealing with the LTTE.

Despite this much-vaunted ‘’Fox agreement,’’ the confrontation between the President and her opponents did not enable further developments. At that time, Dr Fox had indicated that he did not have any objection to a British role as a third party mediator.

There was speculation of this figuring at the recent talks between Dr Fox and Balansingham, but there was no confirmation. Observers noted that since Dr Fox no longer was in the British Government, the talks would not have yielded any tangible results.

Dr Fox had suggested earlier that since the LTTE had not accepted the government’s devolution package, it would be necessary to present a political package acceptable to the LTTE if peace was to be restored in Sri Lanka.

LTTE chief V Prabakaran had sent Balansingham to London to lay foundation for a mediation.

The Island in an earlier report said that the LTTE was planning to send Balasingham to South Africa for talks with President Thabo Mbeki and former President Nelson Mandela.

It quoted unnamed Tiger sources as saying that the rebels were keen to involve South Africa as a “third party facilitator” if and when talks open with the government.

Six African nations sign Congo accord

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA, July 11 (AP) — Six nations fighting in Congo’s civil war signed a long-awaited peace accord, but squabbling rebels balked, dashing hopes for a speedy end to the continent’s biggest conflict.

The Congo’s Government and the five neighbouring countries that have been drawn into the fight said yesterday that a cease-fire would begin within 24 hours.

Because the three squabbling rebel groups refused to sign yesterday, there was nothing to prevent them from continuing their fight, said Olivier Kamitatu, a leader of the Congo Liberation Movement.

Together, the rebels occupy one half of the mineral-rich central African country.

The 11-month conflict has disrupted stability and development throughout Central Africa, coming just a year after Congolese President Laurent Kabila ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko from the former Zaire.

The civil war was started last August by the main rebel group, Rally for Democracy. Rwanda and Uganda, whose Presidents signed the agreement, have backed the rebels.

Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola have backed Kabila, who signed the agreement. The presidents of Namibia and Zimbabwe also signed, as did Angola’s Defence Minister.

Frederick Chiluba, President of Zambia and chief mediator, said he would visit leaders from the main rebel group after a three-day meeting of African leaders in Algiers that ends on Wednesday.

Denial on wedding of Sheikh Hasina’s son

DHAKA, July11 (AFP) — Bangladesh yesterday denied Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed had any “family engagement” during her current trip to London, dismissing reports that she was to attend her son’s wedding, the official BSS news agency said.

“She has no family business, except the scheduled official programme,” an unidentified official source was quoted as saying by the agency.

Referring to newspaper reports that Sheikh Hasina would attend her son Joy’s wedding or post-wedding ceremony, the source said “the guesswork was contrary to objective journalism” and that they were “baseless, motivated and a figment of the imagination.”

Bids on Chandrika’s life to intensify

COLOMBO, July 11 (UNI) — LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran has ordered his senior cadres to intensify attempts to assassinate President Chandrika Kumaratunga, to bring about a change in the government’s strategy on the war, reports quoting sources from Wanni said.

The Tiger chief’s directive came as the Army kept up pressure in the Wanni area threatening to advance from Mannar to Pooneryn, placing the LTTE in a very awkward position strategically, The Island newspaper reported today.

“It is not clear how the LTTE hopes to achieve this aim now, having failed to do so for the past four years,” it said.

Coincidentally, the Nepalese police on July 2 detained seven Sri Lankan Tamils in Kathmandu, days ahead of Mrs Kumaratunga’s four-day visit to the Himalayan kingdom.

Prabhakaran had sent several black Tiger suicide squads to Colombo in 1995, 1996 and 1997, but his attempts to assassinate the President were foiled by alert police and intelligence units during the planning stage.

The President’s security has been tightened with more bodyguards and dummy convoys being used to confuse would-be assassins about where the President actually was.

Anti-aircraft guns and portable radar sets were also installed in and around temple trees, the presidential palace, to prevent the possibility of air attacks.

Prabhakaran and the LTTE have always thrived on the political changes in the country, waging war, then talking peace when a new party comes to power, only to wage war once again by attacking during cease-fires and peace talks.

When the Army went on the offensive in Jaffna and Wanni, the Tigers resisted believing that they could force the government back to the negotiating table by making the nation war weary. But despite repeated calls from the LTTE to negotiate, the President has been adamant that three will be not talks while the Tigers are still armed.

This means that the war strategy will continue the same way, Prabhakaran and the Tigers may run out of land to trade, and then they will run out of time. The only way to change this around would be to remove the President from the scene and that is why the LTTE is targeting her.

Gujral locks horns with Shahi over Kashmir

MOSCOW, July 11 (PTI) — Former Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral had to lock horns with former Pakistani Foreign Minister Aga Shahi over Kashmir at the annual conference of the World Council of former Foreign Ministers at Bor Sanatorium, some 40 km from here.

“Although Kashmir was not on the agenda of the conference attended by 45 former Foreign Ministers from all over the world, but to our utter surprise Aga Shahi raised the issue on two occasions,” Mr Gujral told reporters before leaving for home on Sunday after a week long Russia sojourn.

“Mr Shahi stated Islamabad’s familiar arguments that distort the UN Security Council resolution on Kashmir,” Mr Gujral said adding “I was able to correct his statements”.

“I remarked that Mr Shahi was not fair to the conference and to his country also when Mr Nawaz Sharif had visited Washington for talks with President Clinton, where he gained nothing.’’ Mr Gujral said noting that none of the former Foreign Ministers expressed any desire to get involved in the issue.

Dawn-to-dusk curfew in Colombia

BOGOTA, July 11 (Reuters) — The Colombian Government has declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew across more than 30 per cent of the country, including the outskirts of Bogota, in an effort to contain a nationwide Marxist rebel offensive that began early yesterday.

Interior Minister Nestor Humberto Martinez made the shock announcement — one of the most stringent curfews in recent memory — just after 4 p.m. local time yesterday as guerrillas attacked security forces, raided towns and bombed energy infrastructure across the country. The authorities even reported the rebels were preparing to storm regional capitals and could try to stage a fresh strike here itself.

“The measure basically covers 10 departments of the country. The army and security force presence in other zones is sufficient ... the measure also covers the northeast of Cundinamarca province (around here),” said Mr Martinez, announcing the curfew order.

Denial on wedding of Sheikh Hasina’s son

DHAKA, July11 (AFP) — Bangladesh yesterday denied Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed had any “family engagement” during her current trip to London, dismissing reports that she was to attend her son’s wedding, the official BSS news agency said.

“She has no family business, except the scheduled official programme,” an unidentified official source was quoted as saying by the agency.

Referring to newspaper reports that Sheikh Hasina would attend her son Joy’s wedding or post-wedding ceremony, the source said “the guesswork was contrary to objective journalism” and that they were “baseless, motivated and a figment of the imagination.”

Docs, cancer experts differ on sunbathing

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) — Cancer experts have attacked a medical report which set out the benefits of sunbathing, saying it flew in the face of what they have been trying to achieve and would confuse the public.

Dr Andrew Ness and researchers at the University of Bristol in southwestern England triggered a barrage of criticism with their report published in the British Medical Journal.

While not suggesting people rush out to get the perfect tan, they said the public should be more aware of the beneficial effects of the sun.

“There is evidence that the potential benefits of exposure to sunlight may outweigh the widely publicised adverse effects on the incidence of skin cancer,” Dr Ness said in the journal.

The researchers cited vitamin D, which the body produces after exposure to sunlight, for its protective effect against heart disease and said the sun also had a positive influence on mental health.

But cancer experts, yesterday described the report as irresponsible and said there was insufficient scientific evidence to support the arguments behind it.

“I think it is a great shame that this discussion has been brought into the public arena. The argument they are putting forward does not have enough scientific evidence to justify the damage it could potentially cause by suggesting going out in the sun is healthy,” Dr Joanna Reynolds, of the Cancer Research Campaign told Reuters.

Scientists and doctors have been warning the public for years about the sun and its links to skin cancer, one of the most common causes of cancer death in the 25-29 age group. Cases of the disease are expected to rise until the depletion of the earth’s protective ozone layer is halted.

Cancer experts fear that the report and the media attention it has generated could undo everything they have been trying to achieve.

“It has taken a long time to get the message through to people and there is evidence that people still aren’t getting the message. This sort of publicity certainly flies in the face of what we’ve been trying to do,” said Dr Reynolds.

Dr John Toy, Medical Director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, said sunshine in moderation was good, but too much could kill.

“UV (ultraviolet light) is good for some skin disorders, improving bone density and psychological well being, but excessive exposure leads to skin damage and can cause fatal skin cancer. We recommend a happy, health balance,” he said.

Row over screening of ‘Jinnah’ in Pak

ISLAMABAD, July 11 (UNI) — The film “Jinnah”, which is yet to be released in Pakistan, has raised a storm in the tea cup because 40-year-old Mohammad Ali Jinnah courts 16-year-old Rutti and marries her against her parents’ wishes.

The film is scheduled to be released in the country in September after many postponements. The Editor of Urdu Daily Khabrain, Zia Shahid, has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court pleading the film, which he says is contrary to the ideology of Pakistan, must not be allowed to be screened in the country.

He gives 40 reasons why the film should not be imported. These reasons dominate the personal life of the founder of Pakistan especially his courtship and married life.

In one scene, Jinnah is shown eating with Rutti’s parents and out of the blue he asks them about their views on inter-religion marriages. Rutti’s father supports this idea but when he realises that his 40-year-old friend is asking for his 16-year-old daughter’s hand he gets furious and asks Jinhah to leave his house.

Barak bars aides from meetings

JERUSALEM, July 11 (AFP) — Prime Minister Ehud Barak convened his first full Cabinet session today and quickly barred ministerial advisers and spokesmen from the meeting to guard against leaks to the Press.

Breaking with a long-standing tradition that permitted Cabinet members to bring aides to the weekly meetings, Mr Barak decided the advisers would only be invited when needed to brief the ministers on specific issues, a senior official said.

Mr Barak said the new arrangement was needed to ensure “genuine, serious discussions” of sensitive issues and prevent leaks to the Press which were rampant under the outgoing government of Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

The today’s meeting was also due to feature a lecture by Attorney-General Eliyakim Rubinstein on the “Rule of law in government,” the official said.

USA sends teams to Beijing

WASHINGTON, July 11 (AP) — The US government is sending officials to Beijing to discuss payments for 20 persons injured and families of three killed in the mistaken US Bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

The State Department said yesterday that Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering “conveyed our willingness to provide a humanitarian payment” when he visited Beijing last month to apologise for the “awful tragedy” of the May 7 bombing.

Department Legal Adviser David Andrews will head the delegation going to the Chinese capital this week, the department said.

Protest against hardliners

DUBAI, July 11 (AP) — In scenes reminiscent of the 1979 revolution in Iran, thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators at Tehran University have demanded the resignations of powerful hardliners in the Islamic Government.

Yesterday protests erupted in other Iranian cities as well, the official Islamic Republic news agency reported. About 1,000 students rallied in the northern city of Rasht, and demonstrators gathered in the northwestern city of Tabriz, the news agency said, monitored in Dubai.

China relaxes ban on EU products

BEIJING, July 11 (AFP) — The Chinese authorities have relaxed the ban imposed last month on the import and sale of poultry, eggs and meats from three European countries suspected of being contaminated by cancer-causing dioxin, official reports said yesterday.

German, French and Dutch exporters can begin to sell their products in China on the condition they present the necessary guarantees and provide a series of official documents, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Animal exports could continue only if documents from the respective governments confirmed that the livestock had not been raised on contaminated feed.

The ban on imports of Belgian livestock would remain in place for the time being on the majority of their produce pending a decision to lift the ban, the report said.

Rights group is 90
NEW YORK: The largest and oldest US civil rights organisation is recommitting itself to fight ills still gripping Black America on its 90th birthday. As an expected 14,000 members trickled into New York for Saturday’s start of the six-day conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. Officials mourned Friday’s death of James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality and the last survivor of the “Big Four” who guided the civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s. — AP

Soldier of millennium
SYDNEY: At his 100th birthday party Sunday one of Australia’s few surviving World War I veterans told well-wishers he intended to draw breath for at least another six months so he could boast to fellow nursing home residents that he had lived in three centuries. Ernie Peddell, who was just 17 when he enlisted, had to lie about his age to join his chums on the boat to France. When World War-II broke out, Peddell again fibbed about his age, this time claiming he was younger to see action in the Middle East. — DPA

IRA bomber’s threat
LONDON: An IRA bomber released from jail after trying to blow up former British Premier Margaret Thatcher has threatened to kill the leader of the guerrillas’ political wing Sinn Fein if he accepts a Northern Ireland peace deal, a Sunday newspaper reported. Patrick Magee, dubbed the “Brighton Bomber” after he exploded a bomb in an English seaside hotel where Ms Thatcher and her ministers were staying, said he would kill Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams if he “surrendered” to the northern Ireland peace process, the Sunday Mirror reported. — Reuters

Food shortage
UNITED NATIONS: More than one million people in Afghanistan will need relief and rehabilitation assistance over next 18 months because of a sharp decline in the cereal production this year, the UN food agencies have said. A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said the cereal production was expected to fall 16 per cent to 3.24 million tonnes this year. — PTI

British Embassy
KHARTOUM: Britain will reopen its Embassy in Khartoum next month, following an 11-month closure due to London’s support of a US air raid on a pharmaceuticals plant here, a Sudanese official said. A British Charge d’Affaire will reopen the office, but the two countries are not yet re-establishing ambassadors. Re-entry visas have already been granted to British diplomats and other Embassy staff members, the Suna news agency quoted Foreign Under Secretary Hassan Abdin as saying on Saturday. — AFP

N-fuel in ships
CHERBOURG (France): Two ships scheduled to transport recycled fuel to Japan this month will have enough nuclear fuel aboard to make 60 nuclear bombs, the environmental group Greenpeace has warned. “If a government or paramilitary force seized this cargo, it could have a nuclear weapon within three weeks,” spokesman Jean-Luc Thierry told journalists. — AFP

Funds to fight drug menace
BEIRUT: The UN Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) will give Lebanon $ 4 million to combat drug trafficking, Director-General of UN Drug Programme Pino Arlacchi said on Saturday. He stressed that farmers would receive enough money to cover expense for an alternative crop. — DPA