Kruti Parekh is environment ‘laureate’
TOKYO June 4 — Kruti Parekh of India was today chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme to represent this year’s 17 environment “laureates”.

VP for amending Constitution
LONDON, June 4 — Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh has said he is in favour of proposals to amend the Constitution so that only natural citizens can occupy high constitutional posts but at the same time warned it should not be used as a tool to keep any particular person out of running

Law likely to check Aum cult
TOKYO, June 4 — Japan’s Government is considering a law that would restrict the activities of the Aum Shinrikyo cult to counter its moves to set up offices in local areas, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said today.

Violent finale to campaign
JAKARTA, June 4 — Troops fired warning shots today as violence erupted on the final day of campaigning for Indonesia’s election. Rock-throwing mobs attacked supporters of the ruling Golkar Party that is struggling to maintain its long grip on power.

Spelling Bee

NATO strikes may stop soon: Blair

BELGRADE, June 4 (DPA) — Generals of NATO are in contact with their Yugoslav counterparts over how to put the Kosovo peace deal endorsed by Belgrade into practice, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today.

Mr Blair said the NATO air campaign could stop soon. “Air strikes against Serbia could be ended very quickly,” he said at the European Union summit in Cologne. “But this would depend on a verifiable withdrawal’’ of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.

“We have said we will stop the air campaign when there is a verifiable withdrawal, in other words when (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Mr Milosevic’s troops and his paramilitaries actually start the process of getting out of Kosovo.

“Until that time we have the air campaign,” Mr Blair told BBC World Television.

Asked when refugees might be able to start returning, Mr Blair said: “I hope we can get this under way soon. I don’t mean within a matter of hours but I think within the next couple of weeks.”

While insisting that NATO’s aims were met by the agreement put forward yesterday, the British Prime Minister made it clear that he wanted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic out of the presidential palace in Belgrade.

“Serbia and the Serbian people probably know now — and we must make them more aware over the coming weeks — that there is no real place for Serbia in the family of nations while that man remains head of their government.’’

This view was shared by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who insisted that Mr Milosevic should stand trial as a war criminal.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast News, Mr Cook dismissed a suggestion that President Milosevic would “be left off the hook” over his indictment by the international war crimes tribunal as part of the peace settlement.

“We will continue to press for all of those indicted to stand trial at the Hague. There can be no lasting peace and settlement in Kosovo without justice against those who carried out the atrocities in Kosovo.

“As an indicted war criminal, like other indicted war criminals, he has to face justice, he has to stand trial,’’ Mr Cook asserted.

Kruti Parekh is environment ‘laureate’

TOKYO June 4 (PTI) — Kruti Parekh of India was today chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to represent this year’s 17 environment “laureates”.

Speaking at a presentation ceremony here, 13-year-old Parekh, like a seasoned public speaker, said the environmental task was not a one person’s job, it required cooperation of the whole society or community.

Sharing the table with Klaus Topfer, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Directors of the UNEP, she spoke of her vermiculture project in Mumbai, in which she uses earthworms to turn garden garbage into a reusable resource (manure). She uses this technique also at her home.

The 17 UNEP awardees from 12 countries also include Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair who is currently turning Mumbai green.

Chinese aid for North Korea

BEIJING, June 4 (PTI) — China today announced fresh humanitarian aid for its socialist neighbour, North Korea, to tide over its difficulties while the leadership of the two countries revived bilateral ties.

Announcing the Chinese Government’s decision, Premier Zhu Rongji said: “Taking into account North Korea’s current situation, the Chinese Government has decided to provide free 1,50,000 tonnes of grain and 4,00,000 tonnes of cooking coal this year.”

“Over the past years, China has provided assistance, within its capacity, for the people of North Korea in their socialist construction,” Mr Zhu said, adding it was an instance of the importance China attached to its ties with North Korea.

Mr Zhu’s remarks came during a meeting here with North Korean leader Kim Yong Nam, the official Xinhua news agency said.

President Kim met Chinese President and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin here separately. The two leaders exchanged views on bilateral relations and other issues of common interest.

The North Korean delegation arrived here yesterday on a five-day official goodwill visit. This is the first high-level exchange between the two countries since the passing away of North Korean President Kim Nil Sung five years ago.

Yesterday, Mr Li Peng, Chairman of China’s Parliament, met President Kim and exchanged views on bilateral ties and international issues, including the Kosovo crisis.

VP for amending Constitution

LONDON, June 4 (PTI) — Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh has said he is in favour of proposals to amend the Constitution so that only natural citizens can occupy high constitutional posts but at the same time warned it should not be used as a tool to keep any particular person out of running

“I am solidly in favour of making such provisions in the Constitution,” he said in his first comment on the caretaker BJP government’s move to challenge Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s propriety to head any future government because of her foreign birth.

The former Prime Minister asserted that as far as the present Constitution was concerned it did not distinguish between natural and naturalised citizens on constitutional rights to contest elections and become Prime Minister.

“Therefore, as of present, legally, no valid objections can be raised against the candidature of a naturalised person on the basis of place of birth,” he said.

Though supporting the BJP’s mooted proposal for national debate on amending the Constitution on the issue, Mr V.P. Singh in a dig at the party on its motivation said. “It will be highly presumptuous and unfair to nail the debate to any individual or a party.”

Law likely to check Aum cult

TOKYO, June 4 (DPA) — Japan’s Government is considering a law that would restrict the activities of the Aum Shinrikyo cult to counter its moves to set up offices in local areas, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said today.

Aum founder Shoko Asahara, whose legal name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and a number of other cult members have been charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with a series of crimes. A nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995 killed 12 and left more than 5,300 injured.

“Several LDP (the ruling Liberal Democratic Party) legislators are considering introducing a legislation targeting at Aum Shinrikyo,’’ Mr Nonaka said at a Tokyo press conference.

“The cult is not in a situation in which its followers would become active and immediately commit crimes. However, we must realise the fact that the cult’s recent moves are causing anxiety among many,’’ the top government spokesman said.

“We are considering carefully whether we could obtain consent of the public, as well as other political parties for the revision,’’ he said.

In 1997, the authorities decided not to disband Aum, even though many of its members had been accused of a string of highly publicised crimes.

At the time, the commission said Aum no longer posed a threat to the public as it had been declared bankrupt and most of its followers wanted by the police had been arrested.

More recently, the government has decided to consider new laws aimed at restricting Aum activities. The decision was prompted by reports that the cult is starting to make a comeback and that some Aum members have finished their prison terms to return to cult activities.

Despite a police crackdown following the nerve gas attack, Aum has been establishing offices and other facilities in various parts of the country.

The police said Aum still had some 2,100 members, including 900 who lived in Aum facilities at 19 locations throughout Japan.

Its major source of income is through the sale of computers. The business earned the cult more than $ 56.9 million in 1998, according to the police.

Thai develops "herbal Viagra"

BANGKOK, June 4 (DPA) — A controversial Thai biologist at a leading state-funded university has developed and begun marketing what he calls "herbal Viagra", despite warnings from doctors and academics that it could be toxic.

After eight years of research and months of tests on about 300 human guinea pigs, Dr Wichai Cherdshewasart claims to have discovered a safe natural product that gives men bigger erections and women bigger busts.

"Kwaao Kreua", a plant found in the forests of northern Thailand which is traditionally used to remedy hot flushes during menopause, is already on sale in its new refined form in pharmacies and beauty salons across Bangkok.

But Thai authorities say they have yet to give approval for Dr Wichai’s personalised brand of cosmetics and herbal drugs, amid fears they could cause dangerous hormonal imbalances, especially if taken by teenagers.

Interviewed in his office at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, Dr Wichai said both the white variety of the herb for women, and the red variety for men, had no serious side effects if taken by mature adults.

"Kwaoo Kreua has been used as a medicinal plant for centuries, and we know it’s not toxic if it’s used in the right way," he said. "We have evidence in research papers from very good journals that it’s safe."

The red Kwaoo Kreua takes at least three days to take effect, rather than 30 minutes with Viagra, and is meant to increase blood flow only when a man is aroused. "It’s a natural response, not the pseudo-erection you get with Viagra," Dr Wichai said.

But it is white Kwaoo Kreua, sold both as a herbal medicine and cosmetic, that is proving more popular, especially among visiting Japanese, Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs.

Recognising the international interest in Kwaoo Kreua, the Thai Ministry of Agriculture recently banned all exports of the raw plant.

Other Thai academics are researching its medicinal properties and how to mass produce it, amid growing awareness in Thailand of the commercial potential of herbal drugs.

But Thai women’s groups have condemned Dr Wichai for marketing his products aggressively. "Women should be proud of how they look and not rely on any products to change the way they look. It’s not them but the businessmen who market these things who get the benefits," said Ms Thanavadee Thajeen of the Friends of Women Foundation in Bangkok.

The Medical Council of Thailand has also voiced concern about its availability for sale before official toxicity tests and clinical trials on humans have been completed. Under Thai law, producers and retailers of unapproved modern drugs can face a prison term of up to three years. Some retailers in Bangkok this week had Kreua products confiscated.

Violent finale to campaign

JAKARTA, June 4 (AP) — Troops fired warning shots today as violence erupted on the final day of campaigning for Indonesia’s election. Rock-throwing mobs attacked supporters of the ruling Golkar Party that is struggling to maintain its long grip on power.

One day after front-running opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri filled Jakarta’s streets with more than one million supporters, only about 10,000 Golkar loyalists showed up in the centre of the city by this afternoon.

A top official had said last night that Golkar is willing to become an opposition party if it fails to win enough seats.

But that assurance didn’t prevent people from attacking Golkar supporters in at least three different areas of Jakarta.

Mobs, many of them Megawati supporters, threw rocks, set motor cycles on fire, burned Golkar T-shirts and paraphernalia, and chased the campaigners away.

Spelling Bee

WASHINGTON, June 4 (AP) — Nupur Lala, a 14-year-old who never met a word she would not look up, yesterday correctly spelled “logorrhea” to win the National Spelling Bee.

I would read different books and whenever I found a word I didn’t know, I would write it down and look it up later,” Nupur whose parents emigrated from India said clutching her gold trophy after a victory leap. “So that way, if it was a future spelling bee word, I would know it”.

Honour for Queen
BOSTON: Queen Noor, widow of Jordan’s King Hussein, is being honoured for her leadership in the drive to end the use of land mines. She was given the award on Friday by UNICEF, New England. The American-born Queen earned a degree from Princeton University before marrying King Hussein in 1978. King Hussein died of cancer in February at 63. King Abdullah, his son by a previous marriage, now leads the country. — AP

US bars chicken import
WASHINGTON: Imports of European Union chicken, pork and their by-products will be kept away from US consumers amid fears that some of those could contain a cancer-causing agent, the US Department of Agriculture said on Thursday. The EU on Wednesday said Belgian chickens and eggs could contain dioxin, a carcinogenic by-product of some herbicides and pesticides, which was apparently in fat used to make poultry feed. — DPA

Star shines brighter
CHICAGO: One of the most famous stars in the night sky, Eta Carinae, has suddenly doubled in brightness. Astronomers call the behaviour “puzzling” but suspect the star may be undergoing a massive eruption, as it did more than 150 years ago. Amateur and professional astronomers throughout the southern hemisphere have noticed that Eta Carinae is becoming more luminous. Instruments focused on the star suggest its energy output has doubled or tripled in the past year and a half. “Occasionally something happens in astronomy that is so bewildering that it makes astronomers nervous,” said Kris Davidson, a University of Minnesota Astrophysicist. “This is weird. We don’t understand.” — AP

Gates’ charities
WASHINGTON: Microsoft Chief Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have donated another $ 5 billion to the charities that bear their names, the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates foundations’ announced on Friday. The couple made the donation by selling Microsoft stock for the foundations, which have given out more than $ 400 million, mostly for health-related projects, the charities spokesman Mr Neilson said. — AFP

Hope for diabetics
MIAMI: Researchers say a new drug used in combination with transplants of insulin-producing cells could eventually free diabetics from their daily regimen of injections and blood tests. The drug Anti-CD154 enabled six diabetic monkeys to stop insulin therapy when used together with transplants of cells called Islets, University of Miami scientists said on Wednesday. “This is the most exciting development I’ve seen in a long time,” said Dr Norma Kenyon, the study’s lead author, but she cautioned, “as the mother of a daughter with diabetes, I don’t want to raise false hopes.” Meanwhile experimental human trials are expected to begin, said the drug’s manufacturer, Biogen Inc. — AP

EU Foreign Policy Czar
GERMANY: The European Union leaders on Friday selected NATO Secretary General Javier Solana to become the EU’s first ever Foreign Policy Czar, a new position designed to give the union more clout, say and recognition on the international scene. Mr Solana was named by the 15 EU leaders at a regular midyear summit meeting. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the summit host, said it would be up to the EU Foreign Ministers to set a date by which Mr Solana will take on his new assignment. — AP