Graft attempt ends in liquor bath
COLOMBO, June 3 — The police in Sri Lanka emptied a couple of bottles of whiskey on a man’s head after he tried to bribe them with alcohol, a newspaper reported today. The man was picked up earlier this week on charge of selling liquor without a licence, The Observer newspaper said.

All clear to kiss
THE phrase “to steal a kiss” used to be taken literally in Caracas. Lovers caught in passionate embraces faced arrest, the result of a ban by the Venezuelan capital’s Mayor lrene Saez on kissing in public parks.

9 gunned down in Colombia
BOGOTA, June 3 — Suspected members of a right wing death squad shot to death at least nine persons and seriously wounded a nine-year-old girl in attacks in Colombia’s northern oil town of Barrancabermeia, the authorities said.

Conference on drugs
SEOUL, June 3 — An international narcotics control conference with representatives from 18 nations assembled here to evolve an effective strategy on curbing illegal drug trafficking

Russian jets for India next week

MOSCOW, June 3 (AP) — Russia will deliver four fighter jets to India next week under a contract that was concluded last year, a news report said today.

Two of the Sukhoi-30 MKS will be delivered on Monday and two more will follow a week later, the Itar-Tass news agency said, citing an official at the Irkutsk aircraft manufacturing amalgamation.

India has signed deals to buy 40 Sukhoi Jets from Russia. Ten Su-30MKS will be delivered by the end of 1999.

Russia today said it fully supported India’s ongoing military operation against Pakistan-backed insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir.

In an analysis on the developments in South Asia, state news agency Novosti said it was not possible to reach a diplomatic solution to the Kashmir issue without taking India’s “principled stand” into account.

The agency, which more or less mirrors Kremlin’s viewpoint, said Russia was extremely worried over U.S. Power politics. In this regard, a similarity was drawn between the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Balkans and Iraq.

“Moscow wants to create a real counter-balance to increasing unipolarity in world politics,” Novosti said. In a first step towards this end, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is in Beijing and has met his Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan, besides President Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Zhu Rongji.

Also, President Boris Yeltsin is scheduled to visit China for a summit meeting in autumn over the issue of increasing U.S. dominance in world affairs, the wire service said.

Novosti said that maintaining intensive contacts with China and giving a final shape to the declaration of strategic partnership with India were part of Russia’s diplomatic moves to counter U.S. “hegemonic” designs.

China detains 6 more dissidents

BEIJING, June 3 (DPA) — The Chinese police detained six dissidents trying to organise activities to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the military crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said today.

The latest police roundup of dissidents last night ahead of the anniversary date on Friday brings the total number of those detained to more than 80, with at least 34 still in custody.

In the eastern city of Hangzhou, birthplace of the outlawed China Democratic Party, the police rounded up activists Mao Yingxiang, Li Xi’an and Li Bagen. In Beijing, the authorities took away He Depu and Xu Yonghai.

All five were making plans to mark the date of the military crackdown in Beijing on June 3 and 4, 1989 that resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of people killed, wounded or jailed for their role in the unarmed demonstrations for political reform and an end to corruption, the Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

In Eastern Jinan, provincial capital of Shandong province, the police detained dissident Peng Cheng for gathering 200 signatures to mark the anniversary date.

Mr Peng lost his job as foreman at a local construction firm last month after his bosses learned of his actions.

Kosovo peace plan accepted

BELGRADE, June 3 (UNI) — Serbian Parliament has accepted the Kosovo peace plan brought to Belgrade by European Union envoy Finish President Martin Ahtisaari and Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin. Thereby clearing the way for Yugoslav President Sloban Milosevic to agree to the peace plan.

At the closed door session of Parliament 134 deputies voted for the plan, 76 voted against and three abstained from voting, local media "Radio Pancevo" said.

The radio quoted members of the new democracy party as saying that the Serbian Parliament accepted the presence of an international force in Kosovo under the auspices of the UN Security Council, wide autonomy for Kosovo, and preservation of the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. The exact time-table and precise conditions were not known to the deputies in Parliament, members of "New Democracy", an opposition party in the Serbian Parliament reportedly said.

"The details of the plan were not discussed by the deputies" Radio Pancevo said. The details of the plan will be discussed during the meeting of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with the EU and Russian envoys expected to resume a little later today.

FTC to study movie violence

WASHINGTON, June 3 (PTI) — The U.S. President, Mr Bill Clinton, has ordered the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to study movie violence, warning that American children are being fed “a dependable daily dose of violence” from the entertainment industry with dangerous consequences.

Mr Clinton asked the FTC to study over the next 18 months Hollywood’s marketing strategies for its violent productions, using its legal power to demand documents from the industry.

Clinton aides said that the study should advance a broad-based national debate, in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, about the various influences that contribute to youth violence.

At a White House ceremony yesterday, Mr Clinton read aloud from ads for video games, including one that promised to help people “get in touch with your gun-totting cold-blooded murdering side” and another that boasted it is “more fun than shooting your neighbour’s cat.”

The President’s move came to Hollywood as a surprise and shock as it has been a steady contributor to the Clinton election fund. But the industry, has found shelter under the free speech protection of the US Constitution.

It has also used its heavy lobbying power, built up, through political contributions and clout as a major exporter, to obtain government support against any assault to its “freedom.”

Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, suggested that in ordering the FTC study, Mr Clinton was seeking cheap popularity.

Japan okays birth control pill

TOKYO, June 3 (AP) — After deliberating for nine years over a drug that has been available in the West for decades, the Japanese Government has decided to allow limited sale of the birth control pill, health officials has said.

The Health Ministry’s central pharmaceutical affairs council yesterday submitted its recommendation to the ministry, and the formal approval will take place by the end of the month, said Mr Toshiki Hirai, Director of the ministry’s pharmaceutical safety bureau.

The drug, which will require a doctor’s prescription and will not be covered by public health insurance, is expected to become available in Japan by autumn, Mr Hirai said.

The drug’s approval comes just a few months after an uproar over the Japanese Government’s quick decision to allow the sale of the male impotence drug Viagra.

Given the go-ahead in January after a record short six months, Viagra’s approval drew cries of sexism from women’s groups as well as criticism from the media.

The Health Ministry committee had been deliberating over the pill since 1990, and calls had been made for the drug to be available for contraceptive use long before that.

Mr Hirai, however, said a recent surge of support for the drug enabled the government to finally approve it.

In the past, people’s attitude toward the pill was quite negative,’’ he said. But the environment has changed recently as people come to view the drug favourably.’’

More than 300 million women worldwide have used the pill, which has long been available in virtually all industrialised and developing countries.

Medical opinion is also generally in favour of the drug, with recent studies finding no long-term ill effects.

In Japan, however, the pill had only been available for treatment of medical problems such as ovarian cancer.

In dragging out its approval, Tokyo cited fears about the destruction of the nation’s morals, the risk of side effects and even environmental harm from the hormones.

Women’s groups counter that doctors aren’t eager for a reduction in the number of abortions. Abortions are a lucrative business because national health insurance doesn’t cover the procedure, so there’s no cap on the fees doctors can charge.

Dr Motoko Saotome, a Tokyo gynaecologist who has written a book on contraception, said prejudice against women has been a major force preventing the pill’s approval.

As far as safety is concerned, if this weren’t a pregnancy preventing drug, it would have been approved a long time ago,’’ she said.

The most widely used contraceptive in Japan is the condom. Abortion is also common, with one in five pregnancies ending in that procedure.

Until now, contraception was something women had to ask men to do,’’ said Ms Saotome. With the pill’s approval, they’ll be able to protect themselves on their own,’’ she pointed out.

Still, Japanese women have been largely kept in the dark about the pill. A number of them, unsure of its side effects, say they don’t plan to try it.

I won’t use it,’’ said Ms Ttomoko Takeda, a 21-year-old student shopping with her boyfriend in Tokyo’s Posh Ginza district. I’m not used to that type of thing, and really, I can do without it,’’ she remarked.

Graft attempt ends in liquor bath

COLOMBO, June 3 (AP) — The police in Sri Lanka emptied a couple of bottles of whiskey on a man’s head after he tried to bribe them with alcohol, a newspaper reported today. The man was picked up earlier this week on charge of selling liquor without a licence, The Observer newspaper said.

The man’s suspicious behaviour at the police station in Peradeniya, a town 60 km east of Colombo, caught the eye of a policeman, who asked him what he was carrying in a bag.

The man, who was not identified in the report, said he had two whiskey bottles and wondered whom he should give them to.

The police emptied the liquor on his head. They also slapped on an additional charge of trying to bribe a government official. If convicted, the man could spend one and a half years in jail.

All clear to kiss
From Alex Bellos in Caracas

THE phrase “to steal a kiss” used to be taken literally in Caracas. Lovers caught in passionate embraces faced arrest, the result of a ban by the Venezuelan capital’s Mayor lrene Saez on kissing in public parks.

The clampdown was part of an attempt by Ms Saez, a former Miss Universe, to clean up the look of the city. But two years later her successor as Mayor of Chacao, Caracas’s richest municipality, has given smoochers the all clear.

“A kiss is not a crime,” said Cornelio Popesco, the new Mayor. “This is a tropical country of hot blood and passion. If it is not an exhibitionist thing, then I don’t have a problem.”

Ms Saez instructed the police in Chacao to break up couples who kissed too long, embraced too intensely or otherwise violated the country’s good-behaviour law.

Amorous antics were getting so out of hand in places like Altamira Plaza and Eastern Park, the authorities alleged, that there was a danger of traumatising children. Couples, however, complained that the park guards were over-zealous in applying the law. Some kissers were arrested, fingerprinted and detained for hours.

This week the new spring was evident in Altamira Plaza. By the early evening it was full of dozens of kissing couples. Alexander Pereira, 24, who was in a romantic with Isobel Chico, 23, said: “Since lrene left here has been a big change. Everyone is much more natural.”

“Banning kissing here is like banning fun in an amusement park,” said Luis Torres, 21, walking with his girlfriend, Daniela Ortiz, 18. — The Guardian

9 gunned down in Colombia

BOGOTA, June 3 (Reuters) — Suspected members of a right wing death squad shot to death at least nine persons and seriously wounded a nine-year-old girl in attacks in Colombia’s northern oil town of Barrancabermeia, the authorities said.

Mayor of the town Elkin Bueno, said yesterday the violence occurred in a working class district on the northeast outskirts of the oil refining centre, long considered a stronghold of the National Liberation Army (NLA) rebels.

Gunmen firing from two pick-up trucks and a taxi that sped through the district shot and killed at least nine persons, the mayor told reporters. He said a nine-year-old girl, shot in the back by the gunmen, was fighting for her life in a local hospital. Barrancabermeia is located in northern Santander province. Death squads have killed leftists and suspected rebel sympathisers with impunity for years in the province.

Conference on drugs

SEOUL, June 3 (Oana-Yonhap) — An international narcotics control conference with representatives from 18 nations assembled here to evolve an effective strategy on curbing illegal drug trafficking

The anti-drug liaison officials meeting for international cooperation (ADLOMICO) which began yesterday has also drawn participation from Interpol and the UN drug control programme.

The conference will adopt Seoul declaration” pledging to implement an effective strategy to wipe out the narcotics trade.

South Korea has declared a national narcotics control strategy, a pan-national masterplan to make it a drug-free country by 2008.

Gunter Grass
MADRID: German novelist Gunter Grass has been named winner of Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias Prize. Grass, 71, is the first non-Spanish-language author to be awarded the prize in the category of literature. The Prince of Asturias Prize, named after the title of the Spanish crown prince, is awarded annually in eight categories. It is worth 5 million pesetas $ 34,000 and goes with a sculpture by artist Joan Miro (1893-1983). —DPA

Obuchi best father
TOKYO: Japanese premier Keizo Obuchi may be getting lukewarm reviews for his efforts to rev up the moribund economy, but he’s receiving kudos for his performance on another domestic front: parenthood. The mild-mannered leader was selected one of Japan’s seven best fathers on Tuesday at a ceremony sponsored by an association of men’s clothing companies, Kyodo news agency reported. Mr Obuchi’s daughter Yuko wanted to give her dad a perfect grade of 100, but was afraid that would go to his head and gave him a 90 instead. Kyodo said. — AP

Viagra in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO: The world’s second-largest market for the impotence drug Viagra is Brazil, where doctors prescribed five million pills to one million patients in the year since the medication was introduced, the drug’s maker Pfizer have told the Estado news agency. Viagra sales totalled $ 28.8 million in the year since it has been available in Brazil, Pfizer said on Wednesday, the only country in which more Viagra was sold during that time was the USA. —DPA

US defence items
JERUSALEM: An Israeli company sold classified, American-made defence materials to countries in Asia instead of to the Israeli Army as contracted, the Israel police has said. Two directors of the Orlil Company and several employees were arrested last month and are currently under house arrest pending charges, police spokesman Boaz Goldberg said on Wednesday. — AP

Aid for refugees
SEATTLE: A foundation set up by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is giving $500,000 to aid refugees from Kosovo. The Paul G. Allen charitable foundation said on Tuesday it would give the money to the American Red Cross for food, shelter, transportation, medicine and other services. — AP

What a dud!
COVINA(California): Anticipation turned to heartbreak when an envelope mailed nearly 57 years ago by a second World War American soldier finally reached his widow and all it contained was a blank postcard. “What a dud,” said Lenore Barnes (76) on Wednesday, who had stood trembling with emotion outside her home moments after Federal Express delivered the letter. Oh my God, how awful. After all these tears, I wanted an “I love you” “I miss you” or “I wish you were in my arms”. — AP