US planes bomb northern Iraq
ANKARA, June 22 — US fighter planes bombed a military command centre today in northern Iraq after being fired upon by Iraqi forces in the northern no-fly zone, the US military said.

Megawati’s party leading
JAKARTA, June 22 — Indonesia’s ruling Golkar Party today rose to second place in the latest official results from the country’s landmark elections.

250 houses torched

Serbs should oust Milosevic: USA

BELGRADE, June 22 (Reuters) —The USA and Britain urged Serbs to get rid of President Slobodan Milosevic as the Belgrade police broke up angry protests by Kosovo Serbs and Serbia’s umbrella opposition group demanded early elections.

In Kosovo, the British military said yesterday two of its Nepalese Gurkha soldiers were killed by an explosion which local guerrillas said took place as they were disposing of cluster bombs dropped in NATO’s 11-week air war.

They were the first deaths in the NATO peacekeeping force since it began deploying in the province 10 days ago.

US President Bill Clinton, speaking in the capital of Slovenia, 500 km from Belgrade, used strong words to condemn what he called ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

“We want Serbia to be a part of the new Europe, but it must reject the murderous rule of Milosevic and choose the path that Slovenia has chosen, where people reach across the old divides, and find strength in their differences, and their common humanity,” he said.

His remarks were echoed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who also challenged the population of Serbia to oust Milosevic, saying they could no longer turn a blind eye to their country’s atrocities in Kosovo.

In central Belgrade, the police broke up a second day of protests by about 200 Kosovo Serbs and detained their leader, witnesses said.

Serbia’s opposition umbrella group, the Alliance for Change, announced it would start organising demonstrations across the republic calling for early elections and democratic change.

BONN (DPA): The planned conference on a Balkan stability pact is to be held in Sarajevo next month, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder announced on Monday after talks in Bonn with US President Bill Clinton.

UNITED NATIONS (PTI): Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a Frenchman and a New Zealander as his deputy special representatives in Kosovo to look after the interim administration and return of refugees and humanitarian assistance respectively.

Too early to quit: Clinton

COLOGNE, June 22 (DPA) — Thanks to Mr Slobodan Milosevic, US President Bill Clinton has found himself a retirement job worthy of his experience.

The horrors of Kosovo persuaded Mr Clinton, who turns 53 on August 19, that the world needs an elder statesman to fight racist and ethnic hate. No more will the world snigger “Lewinsky” when it hears the name Clinton: the President has settled on his proper legacy.

During his visit to Europe over the past few days, Mr Clinton has for the first time been outlining in greater detail what he proposes to do after January, 2001, when the most powerful Clinton in the land is likely to be spouse Ms Hillary, who plans to run for the US senate.

There’ll be no loafing on the verandah for this youthful retiree, nor will the old charmer be starring in TV soap operas or hosting his own tell-it-is talk show, as some malicious tongues suggest.

Americans have acclaimed another Democrat, Mr Jimmy Carter, as the country’s “best ex-President ever”. After a disappointing presidency, the morally upright Mr Carter has proved a distinguished hands-on campaigner for democracy worldwide, and that is an example Mr Clinton would sooner follow than earning big fees from public speaking.

Mr Carter “is a good model for every former President who gets out, who still has good health and a few years left”, Mr Clinton told CNN. Reconciling arch-enemies seems the right sort of job for a President with no higher office left to run for.

Without the Yugoslav leader’s campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, Mr Clinton might have had a harder time going down in history for great deeds, or getting a second chance in retirement to burnish his image.

Mr Clinton gives himself most of the credit for this. Aides have even begun speaking of a Clinton doctrine: the policy of decisively snuffing out ethnic and religious conflicts before they flare up into massacres.

There is no mistaking Mr Clinton’s relief that world affairs seem to be going his way when another sort of affair nearly brought his ruin.

“It is too early to quit work, and I am not good enough to go on the senior golf tour,” he joked. “So I expect I will have to just keep on doing what I am doing.”

Actress ‘not to marry’ Shoaib

ISLAMABAD, June 22 (IANS) — The Urdu press yesterday came down heavily on Pakistan’s cricket team for losing the World Cup final ignominiously, alleging that captain Wasim Akram and his men made million of dollars by throwing away the vital match.

Headlines screaming for the players’ heads said that they spent their nights in nightclubs, putting up a lacklustre show in the final on purpose, NNI news agency reported.

Pakistan were bowled out for 132, the lowest total in a World Cup final, as Australia nailed the target in 20.1 overs.

Kainaat, a new Urdu daily in Islamabad, in a front page story said that the players spent their time in nightclubs. The story claimed that dancing girls were brought to the hotel where the players were staying.

It lamented the ouster of Javed Miandad as coach, saying he was shunted out because he opposed betting and match-fixing. Kainaat also said former captain Imran Khan, head of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, was not allowed in the players’ dressing rooms.

Nawa-e-Waqt, a leading Urdu daily, said the defeat saddened the whole of Pakistan. Its headline said there was a pall of gloom throughout the country as women wept and children refused to take their meals. It said a number of television sets were smashed and players’ posters burned. The paper said the people had bought sweets and firecrackers for celebrations in anticipation of a Pakistani victory, but these went waste.

Jang, the leading Urdu paper, said the match was presented to the Australians on a platter. Quoting fuming fans, the paper said people were convinced that the final was fixed. They said there was no need for praying for "corrupt players" and called for a social boycott of players.

It also carried the reports of foreign news agencies, saying many Indians erupted into celebrations after Pakistan lost the match.

One eveninger, Nia Ikhbar, carried the statement of little known actress Dedar, along with her picture, saying she has decided not to marry speedster Shoaib Akhtar after his team’s performance in the World Cup final.

Dophar, another eveninger, in a banner headline, claimed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had ordered the players’ arrest. In a "special report" it said the players would be arrested on arrival at the airport.

It also quoted Justice Abdul Qayyum, heading the commission looking into betting charges, as saying that the players would be summoned in a day or two before the body. The paper also hinted at treason cases against the players.

UK to introduce resolution

UNITED NATIONS, June 22 (AP) — Despite opposition from some Security Council members, Britain is preparing to introduce a resolution that will suspend the oil embargo on Iraq if Baghdad answers the remaining questions about its weapons programmes.

Western diplomats say the measure can be introduced as early as today.

That will pave the way for the first substantial discussion on a new Iraq policy in months, but the 15-member council remains seriously divided and Iraq has said the British proposal is unacceptable.

The Security Council has been deadlocked on Iraq since the USA and Britain launched air strikes in mid-December over Baghdad’s refusal to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors.

Among the five permanent council members with veto power only the USA is backing the British draft, which is cosponsored by the Netherlands. Russia and China have circulated a rival resolution, and France, which initially backed it, has now circulated a third draft.

The five permanent members met last afternoon to discuss about Iraq but diplomats reported little progress in bridging the gap.

“We’re beginning to understand each other’s difficulties much better, and there are some areas where there is some increasing of understanding and therefore narrowing of differences which is useful — but some fundamental difficulties still remain,” said Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock.

Amnesty award for Najam Sethi

ISLAMABAD, June 22 (PTI) — Noted Pakistani journalist and Editor of Friday Times Najam Sethi has been chosen for the 1999 Amnesty International “special award for human rights journalism under threat.”

The award is given to a journalist every year whose “dedication to exposing the truth may have been at considerable personal cost”, Friday Times reported today.

The award will be presented to Sethi at a ceremony in London on Thursday, provided he is allowed by the government to travel outside the country.

Sethi’s passport was impounded while he was in detention and despite several requests had not been returned to him. It is also learnt that he is on the exit control list.

US planes bomb northern Iraq

ANKARA, June 22 (AP) — US fighter planes bombed a military command centre today in northern Iraq after being fired upon by Iraqi forces in the northern no-fly zone, the US military said.

The air force F-16s and F-15S attacked a military command and control centre northwest of Mosul, a city 400 km north of Baghdad, the Germany-based US European command said in a statement released on the Internet.

The attack came after the warplanes, which are enforcing the no-fly zone north of the 36th Parallel, were fired upon by anti-aircraft artillery, the command said.

All U.S. planes returned to the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey safely. The damage to the Iraqi sites was being assessed, the statement added.

It was the second attack on an Iraqi command and control site this week. Yesterday, US jets attacked another command and control installation north of Mosul, after being fired upon by anti-aircraft artillery.

Megawati’s party leading

JAKARTA, June 22 (AP) — Indonesia’s ruling Golkar Party today rose to second place in the latest official results from the country’s landmark elections.

With more than 59 million votes counted, over half the total, the Golkar had narrowly overtaken the National Awakening Party (PKB).

The Indonesian Democracy Party-Struggle (PDIP) of Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri remained the strong leader with 21,534,360 votes, 36.4 per cent of those votes.

The Golkar had 10,723,780 votes, or 18.1 per cent, and the PKB backed by moderate Muslim leader Abdurrahman "Gus dur" Wahid was third with 10,711,941 votes.

The Muslim United Development Party (PPP) remained fourth with 9.8 per cent of the votes and the National Mandate Party (PAN) of reform leader Amien Rais trailed in fifth place with 6.7 per cent.

Absence of smile at royal wedding

LONDON, June 22 (AP) — When the wedding photographer said “smile”, Prince William didn’t.

So Prince Edward ordered his nephew’s unsmiling image digitally removed from the official photograph depicting the family members attending his wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones and swapped with an image of the young prince looking a bit more cheerful.

“Prince Edward said he didn’t think Prince William looked absolutely his best, so digitally we were able to put in another picture of Prince William from one of the other shots where he is smiling and laughing, ” photographer Geoffrey Shakerley told ITN yesterday.

250 houses torched

JAKARTA, June 22 (DPA) — Gunmen set ablaze some 250 houses and four schools in Indonesia’s Aceh province, where the military has announced extra troop deployments to quell a insurgency, officials and news reports said today.

More than 1,000 persons were left homeless after the attack yesterday on Geumpang village, Pidie district chief Zulfikar Yakob said. Most of the torched homes belonged to migrants resettled by the government from crowded Java Island.

FBI’s most wanted
HOUSTON: A train-hopping Mexican drifter suspected of being a serial killer was placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list after the Illinois police charged him with two murders. FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Don Clark said on Monday Rafael Resendez Ramirez, 39, was wanted for questioning in at least eight killings, all of which have taken place near railroad tracks. — Reuters

Vietnamese bungle
HANOI: Communist Vietnam has misallotted thousands of dollars of funding meant for heroes of the revolution and has instead awarded it to ex-soldiers of vanquished South Vietnam, an official said on Monday. An initial investigation in the Central Quang Tri Province has uncovered 34 cases in which suspected former troops from the Saigon regime mistakenly received official grants reserved for party war heroes and martyr’s families. — DPA

Bull in Big Apple
NEW YORK: A wild bull escaped from an illegal rodeo on Monday and rampaged through city streets in the New York Borough of Queens before it was shot to death by the police. Police officers were shutting down the show, which did not have proper permits for wild animals in the city on Sunday, when the 2,000-pound bull escaped on a brief tour of the Big Apple, the New York Post reported. — DPA

Bill on sex workers
WASHINGTON: Three members of Congress have introduced a bill to stop the import of sex workers into the USA. Republican Congressman Christopher H. Smith introduced the measure to halt trafficking in women. The State Department estimates 50,000 sex workers, mostly unsuspecting women and girls, are brought into the USA each year to labour in sleazy discos, clubs, cafes and brothels. — PTI

Dec 31 bank holiday
SINGAPORE: Singapore has declared December 31, 1999 a bank holiday in preparation for the coming of the new millennium, an official has announced. The holiday will enable banks to begin their year-end processing abd backup early so that these activities are completed in time for the new year.— AP