Clinton orders review of security threat
WASHINGTON, March 19 — US President Bill Clinton has ordered an analysis of the counterintelligence security threat at US nuclear laboratories in the wake of suspicions that China stole nuclear weapons’ designs.

UN panel okays $200m as damages

Kosovo talks put off after deadlock

PARIS, March 19 (AP) — Faced with Serb intransigence over a peace deal, international mediators today adjourned the Kosovo talks and said they would not be resumed unless the Serbs decide to accept the accord.

There is no purpose in extending the talks any further, said a statement issued by the French and British Foreign Ministers, who are co-hosting the talks.

The negotiations are adjourned. The talks will not resume unless the Serbs express their acceptance of the accords.

The statement, coming the morning after the ethnic Albanians signed the peace deal unilaterally, included yet another stern threat to Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.

“We solemnly warn the authorities in Belgrade against any military offensive on the ground and any impediment of the freedom of movement of actions of the Kosovo verification mission. Such violations would have the greatest consequences.”

And in a reference to threatened NATO air strikes against Serbia, it said: “We will immediately engage in consultations with our partners and allies to be ready to act. We will be in contact with the NATO Secretary-General.”

Earlier, the Kosovo Albanians signed a peace deal aiming to bring peace to the trouble-torn province without Serb approval, inviting a stern warning from the western powers that NATO air strikes are imminent if Belgrade does not accept the accord by March 24.

‘Albanian representatives have signed the deal and now it is for the Serbs to decide,’ a spokesperson for the peace talks told newsmen here at the Kleber Conference Hall, where the second round of negotiations started on Monday.

The present accord gives the ethnic Albanians, who constitute 90 per cent of the two million population in the province, extensive autonomy from Yugoslavia, but not the outright independence they wanted. It also states about the presence of NATO led troops to enforce the peace deal, which Serbs oppose vehemently.

The Serbian delegation left the conference hall before the signing of the agreement by the Albanians and international mediators.

Political Director of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army Hashim Thaci, moderate political leader Ibrahim Rugova, and two other representatives signed the 82-page document, entitled “Interim agreement for peace and self-government in Kosovo”, on behalf of the ethnic Albanian delegation.

International mediators Wolfgang Petritsch, representing the European Union, and US envoy Christopher Hill also signed the agreement. However, Russian mediator Boris Mayorsky did not sign the deal saying “one signature (Albanian), unfortunately, does not make an agreement”.

Diplomats in the conference hall said that talks would be suspended now and Serbs given time till Wednesday next (March 24) to accept the deal and have been told in clear terms that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces will launch air strikes if no positive response from the Yugoslavian side.

BRUSSELS (AFP): UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told NATO, as it prepares for possible air strikes against Serbia, that the Atlantic alliance is not above the United Nations.

Mr Annan’s message, published in a special brochure produced by NATO for its 50th anniversary celebrations, reminds NATO that its ‘’treaty opens with a reaffirmation of their faith in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.”

He added that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation undertook to “refrain from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”

Mr Annan pointed out that Article 1 of the alliance’s treaty bound members to ‘’settle any dispute in which they are involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security are not endangered.”

“Moreover Article 7, to make sure there is no misunderstanding, states that the treaty does not in any way affect either the parties’ rights and obligations under the charter of ‘the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security,” Mr Annan said.

He warned that air strikes against Serbia without the sanction of the UN would have serious consequences for international relations, in particular with Russia, Serbia’s main international backer.

USA may lose UN Assembly vote

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 (PTI) — The United States of America might lose its vote in the United Nations General Assembly in the new millennium if it did not pay up dues of at least $ 250 million by the year end, a senior UN official has said.

The minimum amount of $ 250 million could be higher, UN Under Secretary-General for Management Joseph Connor warned yesterday.

The USA owes a huge $ 1.6 billion of the $ 2.9 billion owed by member states to the world body, Mr Connor told reporters.

The UN charter says that a member state loses vote in the 185-member General Assembly when its arrears are more than two years of its assessed dues.

However, the USA would not lose vote in Security Council as the charter does not provide for that.

Senior world leaders are expected to attend the assembly session in 2000 and the USA without the vote would be highly embarrassing for Washington.

The USA pays 25 per cent of the regular budget and about 31 per cent of the peace-keeping expenses.

US Congress wants to bring it down to 20 per cent of the regular budget and around 25 per cent of the peacekeeping budget.

However member states especially Major contributors including Japan want Washington to pay off most of the arrears before they would consider lowering of its contribution.

Mr Connor said that financial situation of the world body was improving mainly because of lower number of peacekeeping operations. The number of peacekeepers has come down from a high of 80,000 in 1993 to around 16,000.

Meanwhile, seven former Secretaries of state, in a letter to the US Congress, called for the payment of dues, saying it is “simply unacceptable” that the richest nation was also the biggest debtor to the UN.

Last year, the Congress had passed a Bill to authorise payment of $ 926 million over a three-year period but it was vetoed by President Clinton as an unrelated anti-abortion rider was attached to it.

Because of the arrears, the UN has not been able to pay to the poor and developing nations which had contributed troops and equipment to the peace-keeping operations. This has led to reluctance on the part of member states to participate in such operations.

China denies aiding Pak N-programme

BEIJING, March 19 (PTI) — China yesterday refuted the charge that it had provided clandestine help to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme oriented towards India to contain New Delhi rise as a major power.

“Allegations that China has provided assistance to Pakistan in the nuclear weapons and missile fields are totally groundless and out of ulterior motives,” Director-General of Chinese Department of Arms Control and Disarmament Sha Zukang said in an interview.

As a state party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), China faithfully fulfils the obligations of the treaty, he said.

He acknowledged that Beijing had very good relations with Islamabad. However, he stressed that this did not mean that China had helped Pakistan with its nuclear weapons programme.

Welcoming the resumption of Sino-Indian official-level dialogue, Sha said Beijing was willing to work with New Delhi to enhance mutual understanding between the two countries.

Sha, however, expressed China’s deep shock at India’s accusation of a China threat to justify its own nuclear tests.

Clinton orders review of security threat

WASHINGTON, March 19 (AP) — US President Bill Clinton has ordered an analysis of the counterintelligence security threat at US nuclear laboratories in the wake of suspicions that China stole nuclear weapons’ designs.

Mr Clinton yesterday directed the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board to conduct a review. The head of the panel, former Republican Senator Warren Rudman, of New Hampshire, will lead the investigation.

Mr Clinton acted on the recommendation of National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, whose resignation had been demanded by some Republicans because of the administration’s handling of the alleged espionage.

The President spoke with Mr Rudman and asked him to report his findings within 60 days. The inquiry will be conducted by Mr Rudman and four other members of the 12-member panel.

David Leavy, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the review would cover the nature of the counterintelligence security threat at the laboratories how it evolved over the past two decades, what steps had been taken and whether more needed to be done.

Meanwhile a Chinese diplomat denied allegations that his country stole nuclear weapons designs. The official blamed a cold war mentality and “political atmospherics” for the furore that had prompted FBI and Energy Department investigations.

Kids’ cough syrups ‘don’t work’
from Sarah Boseley in London

COUGH medicines for children do not work, and steroid injections given to hay fever sufferers may damage some people’s health, says the latest issue of the Consumers’ Association publication, Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

Some 200 types of cough medicine sold at chemists contain more than one drug, says the bulletin. Not only do they not work, but the drugs in them, such as codeine, may not be suited to or tested for children.

“There is no convincing evidence that brand-name cough medications are more effective than placebo in children,’’ says the bulletin, which maintains that there is no place for fixed-dose combination products, which most cough medicines are.

If parents feel they must give their child something, a “non-active” simple cough linctus will soothe the local area and be likely to have a strong placebo effect, although it will not prevent coughing.

Hay fever injections come in for strong criticism, with the bulletin recommending that their licence should be reviewed. While steroids taken by mouth last for only a limited time, and patients can stop taking them if they suffer a bad reaction, injections such as triamcinolone are long-lasting.

“We don’t know how long it works for,” said Joe Collier, editor of the bulletin. “You can’t stop it if there are side-effects. Although unusual and unlikely, there is the risk of mood changes.”

Steroid injections can cause glucose intolerance, menstrual irregularity, increased susceptibility to infection and, in the long-term, osteoporosis, says the bulletin, and until there is evidence they keep hay fever under better control than other treatments, they are “no longer acceptable”.

— The Guardian, London

UN panel okays $200m as damages

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 (PTI) — The United Nations compensation commission for damages arising out of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait has approved another batch of claims amounting to $ 200 million.

The governing council of the commission approved the compensation, totalling more than $ 173 million, covering 259 claims by corporations.

Leader ‘kidnapped’
HUCKSTEP, EGYPT: The CIA has allegedly kidnapped a Islamic militant Al-Jihad leader, Ayman Al-Zawahri, the right-hand man of suspected international terrorist Osama bin Laden, a Jihad military leader has said. Mabruk was speaking on Thursday at the trial of 107 Jihad leaders, which opened in early February. A verdict is expected to be announced on April 10. — AFP

Award to Clintons
WASHINGTON: The widow of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has given President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton an award for their efforts to bring peace to West Asia. Leah Rabin, whose husband was killed in 1995, after striking a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians, presented the Clintons with the first Shalom Chaver Award for international leadership at a White House ceremony on Thursday. — Reuters

40 killed, 70 hurt
MOGADISHU: At least 40 persons were killed and 70 wounded in a battle here on Friday between warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow’s militia and fighters loyal to Mogadishu Governor Hussein Ali Ahmed, local reports said. Gunmen looted and burned houses of rivals in north Mogadishu. — AFP

23 die in hospital fire
MOSCOW: A fire in a hospital in Russia’s Voloqda region left 23 persons dead and nine injured, Itar-Tass reported on Friday, quoting the Emergencies Ministry. An electrical fault was blamed for the blaze, which broke out late on Thursday in a wooden building housing the neuro-psychology unit of the Ustvuzhna District Hospital, about 300 km north of Moscow. — AFP

Trevor wins prize
LONDON: Anglo-Irish writer William Trevor has won a literary prize and designated a £ 10,000 ($ 16,000) bonus to establish a scholarship for young writers from Omagh, the site of northern Ireland’s worst terrorist atrocity. Trevor, 70, was awarded the £ 30,000 David Cohen Literature Prize on Thursday for his lifetime achievement. — AP

Houston octuplets
HOUSTON: The weakest of the seven surviving Houston octuplets has been upgraded to serious condition and is out of the neonatal intensive care unit, hospital officials said. Ikem Louis, one of the eight babies born to Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis in December, joined three of his sisters earlier this week in a special nursery at Texas Children’s Hospital. All three girls are in a serious but stable condition. — AP