Kanishka crash: no charges even after 14 years
TORONTO, May 11 — Charges in the 1985 bombing of Air-India’s Kanishka Boeing 747 off the coast of Ireland in which 329 persons died, are yet to be filed in court even after 14 years of investigations, according to Air-India’s legal team.

Benazir appeals to British PM
ISLAMABAD, May 11 — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has asked the international community to intervene to protect the freedom of Press in her country and save it “from returning to the dark days of dictatorship”.

Yeltsin ‘to sack’ Primakov
MOSCOW, May 11 — An imminent political crisis looming large over Russia as President Boris Yeltsin plans to sack Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov amid the Duma’s confirmation that it would go ahead with the presidential impeachment debates on May 13.

Indo-Pak talks may resume in June

ISLAMABAD, May 11 (PTI) — Indo-Pakistan dialogue process, thrown off gear following the fall of the Vajpayee government, is expected to resume shortly, with the two sides busy finalising dates for the next round of expert-level discussions, according to official sources here.

India and Pakistan are expected to go ahead with the bilateral dialogue process despite the political uncertainty in New Delhi and experts from both sides are likely to meet sometime next month to discuss crucial strategic issues as per an understanding reached during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Lahore in February, the sources said.

“The Indians are dropping hints on holding of expert-level talks”, a Pakistani official said, indicating that the two sides were getting ready to hold the talks, originally scheduled for April, as per an understanding reached between the foreign ministers of the two countries in mid-March.

The talks had been postponed following the fall of the Vajpayee government on April 17, but after the finalisation of parliamentary election dates, both sides felt that the talks could not be put on hold for six months when the new government takes charge in India.

The expert-level talks are a precursor to the foreign secretary-level dialogue and experts from both sides are supposed to work out technical details on issues relating to nuclear weapons and missiles as agreed to in the MoU.

India and Pakistan had agreed to engage in bilateral consultations for confidence-building measures in nuclear and conventional fields, like giving advance notifications to each other about ballistic missile tests, taking measures to reduce risks of accidental or unauthorised use of nuclear weapons under their control and continue to abide by their respective unilateral moratoria on further nuclear tests.

Though both sides have apparently agreed to hold expert level talks, till now it is not clear whether the foreign secretary or foreign minister-level talks, as agreed to by the two Prime Ministers in Lahore, will also be held before the elections in India.

Media reports here said Pakistani officials were watching the Indian political scene and Islamabad was more inclined to holding these talks only after a new government comes in New Delhi as these talks would involve policy decisions.

Pakistani authorities are already quite hard-pressed because of indications from New Delhi that India may not be able to meet the September deadline on signing the CTBT, as announced earlier.

Attack on Pak scribes draws flak in USA

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UNI) — The USA has reacted sharply against Pakistan Government’s “crackdown on members of the country’s press” and asked for the immediate release of all the arrested journalists, including Friday Times Editor Najam Sethi.

In a written statement entitled “Pakistan: attacks on journalists”, State Department spokesman James P Rubin yesterday said Islamabad should “immediately terminate this unacceptable crackdown against journalists in Pakistan”.

“We have raised our concerns with the government and will continue monitoring this situation closely”, he added.

He said these actions on the part of the Pakistan Government were “ certain to raise serious doubts within the international community about the commitment of the government to the freedom of the press and the rule of law”.

During the past two weeks, Sethi and several other colleagues had been “physically mistreated, subjected to threatening calls and had personal property destroyed,” Mr Rubin remarked.

The Pakistani foreign journalists group in the USA has called for an “organised effort” by democratic government, human rights organisations and media watch institutions to secure the release of Sethi and other mediamen.

In a statement last night, it said the New York-based committee to protect journalists should take an initiative and “stop the Pakistan Government from violating all democratic norms, to release all arrested journalists and stop their harassment.”

Henry L. Stimson Centre President Michael Krepon said the arrest of Sethi and attacks against other journalists marked a grave setback to Pakistani democracy.

“Pakistan cannot reach its potential without free press. Friends of Pakistan in the USA will hold Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif personally responsible for the release and well-being of these journalists,” he added.

Rail station, police centre bombed
Troop pullout a half measure, says USA

BELGRADE, May 11 (AFP) — NATO warplanes bombed a railway station and a chemical complex in the Belgrade region overnight, also targeting a radio and television relay in northern Serbia, Tanjug news agency reported today.

It said several projectiles struck the aerodrome railway station in Pancevo, an industrial town 15 km north-east of Belgrade. The station and several neighbouring buildings were damaged in the raid at 9 p.m. (2.30 p.m. IST).

The report mentioned no casualties.

At the same time in Baric, southwest of here, NATO attacked the Prva Iskra chemical complex, hitting the management offices, according to Tanjug.

One bomb fell on the road between Obrenovac and Valjevo but failed to explode.

The warplanes also targeted Zuce, a suburb south of Belgrade near Mount Avala.

A radio and television transmitter likewise came under attack yesterday near Subotica, 200 km north of Belgrade.

Meanwhile, according to a local correspondent of Radio-Dstudio B, the police headquarters in Valjevo, 80 km south-west of the capital, was totally destroyed in a NATO raid late last night.

The radio said the building was struck around 9 p.m. (GMT).

The police headquarters, which is located in the town centre, had been badly damaged in an earlier NATO raid on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (PTI): Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of State,Ms Madeleine Albright has rejected as ‘only a half measure’ the Yugoslav authorities’ announcement that they were withdrawing part of their forces from trouble-torn Kosovo province as a ‘goodwill measure’.

‘Withdrawal of half of the forces is still only a half measure. Yugoslavia should fulfil all the five conditions of NATO,” Ms Albright told newsmen on Monday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters): A partial withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo down to the levels before NATO began bombing on March 24, would leave 29,000 soldiers and policemen in Kosovo, according to NATO estimates.

That would be well in excess of the 22,500 agreed in October last in a deal with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic brokered by US envoy Richard Holbrooke, the terms of which are no longer on offer.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP): The UN Security Council has rejected Chinese proposals to condemn NATO for bombing Beijing’s embassy, but agreed to continue discussions, diplomats said.

The British Ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, told newsmen after closed-door council negotiations on Monday that there was ‘still too much difference’ between China and NATO countries on the 15-member council for an agreement.

Pak confirms Editor's arrest

ISLAMABAD, May 11 (PTI, ANI) — The Nawaz Sharif Government has confirmed the arrest of Friday Times Editor Najam Sethi, although the Deputy Attorney-General yesterday feigned ignorance before the Lahore High Court about the journalist’s arrest.

"He (Sethi) has been taken in custody in the interest of security of the country for purposes of interrogation for speaking against his own country on Indian soil and indulging in anti-Pakistan activities," a government spokesman through a late last night statement issued by the official APP news agency said.

Meanwhile, criticising the government over the arrest of the Editor , the combined Opposition staged a walkout from the Senate yesterday.

The Opposition also condemned the government for the arrest of Hussain Haqqani, the burning of the car of Mr Imtiaz Alam and threatening other journalists.

Meanwhile, Jugnu Mohsin charged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with "kidnapping" her husband and disputed government's claim that he had been arrested for his "anti-Pakistan conduct" during his New Delhi visit last month.

Asserting that Sethi was "not arrested but kidnapped" from their house in Lahore on last Saturday, she told reporters here: "I hold the Prime Minister of Pakistan personally responsible for this".

Kanishka crash: no charges even after 14 years

TORONTO, May 11 (PTI) — Charges in the 1985 bombing of Air-India’s Kanishka Boeing 747 off the coast of Ireland in which 329 persons died, are yet to be filed in court even after 14 years of investigations, according to Air-India’s legal team.

A spokesman for Air-India’s legal team Mr Goffery Gaul said, “the decision is yet to be taken whether or not to file the charge sheet in the case. We are yet to decide whether the evidence collected by the police is sufficient to justify filing of a charge sheet.”

“The legal team is busy in reviewing 14 years of police work. A final deadline has not been set for reaching a decision,” he added.

Mr Gaul said the prosecution had decided to double the size of the legal team after reviewing police files and records for the past several months. A new batch of eight lawyers were to join the staff shortly.

However, Mr G.D. Bass, an inspector of the Air-India task force, in an official letter dated February, 1998, indicated the police was going to recommend that charges be laid against Inderjit Singh Reyat and others in the case.

Reyat is currently serving the final two years of a 10-year prison sentence for manslaughter and possession of explosives in connection with the bombing at Tokyo’s Narita Airport in Japan in which two persons were killed.

Benazir appeals to British PM

ISLAMABAD, May 11 (PTI) — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has asked the international community to intervene to protect the freedom of Press in her country and save it “from returning to the dark days of dictatorship”.

Bhutto, Chairperson of the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), made the request in a letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair following the arrest of two leading journalists and threats and intimidation meted out to several others during the past fortnight.

“It is with great concern that I must request your government’s active and forthright intervention to protect the freedom of our Press”, Benazir, who is herself in London currently, said in the letter.

Giving specific references to incidents of harassment of Pakistani journalists who had been interviewed by a BBC team making a film on the alleged corruption of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Bhutto said “the international community should not sit idle at such a crucial moment when the government is going ahead unchecked to demolish one democratic institutions after another”.

“As the Sharif regime continues in its systematic and brutal assault on our democratic institutions, fettering our judicial system, undermining opposition parties, ignoring Parliament and jailing legitimate dissenters, it is paramount that the international community not stand idly by as the Sharif regime — now holding nuclear weapons — succeeds in returning Pakistan to the dark days of dictatorship”, she said in the letter.

Yeltsin ‘to sack’ Primakov

MOSCOW, May 11 (PTI) — An imminent political crisis looming large over Russia as President Boris Yeltsin plans to sack Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov amid the Duma’s confirmation that it would go ahead with the presidential impeachment debates on May 13.

Radio ‘Ekho Moskvy’ today reported quoting informed Kremlin sources that the President might replace Mr Primakov with Railway Minister Nikolai Aksyonenko.

Last month, Mr Yeltsin had a long meeting with Mr Aksyonenko, who controls a highly developed infrastructure embracing the whole country.

The President has the right to dissolve the Lower House in case of its refusal to approve the appointment a new Premier.

Go to church, live longer
WASHINGTON: Church-goers live longer, according to a US study that shows they enjoy a 10 per cent longer life expectancy than people who never attend church services. People who visit church at least once a week live an average 82 years and more frequent church visitors live on average to 83, according to a recent report in daily USA Today. Non-church goers, by contrast, live only 75 years on an average. — DPA

Massive quake
PORT MORESBY (Papua New Guinea): An earthquake of 7.4 magnitude rattled the island province of West New Britain and was felt hundreds of km away in the national capital, Port Moresby. There were no reports of damage or injuries from the Tuesday morning quake, which was felt in Port Moresby. — AP

Model’s banners
BERLIN: A larger-than-life advertisement banner featuring German supermodel Claudia Schiffer was draped over Berlin’s landmark memorial church on Monday in a controversial move to fund repairs. An American cosmetics company sponsored the renovation of the church’s 174-feet-high bell tower with $1,30,000 in exchange for the right to hang the giant banners featuring the blonde beauty and other models on the tower’s scaffolding. — Reuters

Pilot sentenced
WASHINGTON: The pilot of a military jet that sliced through a ski-lift cable in Italy, killing 20 persons last year, was sentenced to six months in prison and dismissed from the US Marine Corps for obstruction of justice, a military spokesman said. The president of a seven-member military panel handed down the sentence against Capt Richard Ashby, 32, who was found guilty of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice at a court martial in Camp Lejeune, north Carolina. — AFP

Kids’ author dead
WASHINGTON: Shel Silvers-tein, author of noted children’s books such as “Where the Sidewalk Ends’’, “Giraffe and a half’’ and “A Light in the Attic’’, died on Monday ABC News reported. He was 66. In addition to delighting generations of children since the 1960s, Silverstein entertained adults with cartoons he drew for Playboy magazine. He also wrote several songs, including the 1960s Johnny Cash hit, “A boy named Sue’’. — DPA

Volcano erupts
MEXICO CITY: A major explosion at Mexico’s volcano De Fuego has sent ash and steam shooting 5 km into the air, a spokeswoman for the Colima state government has said. While no damage or victims were reported, authorities were considering evacuating areas around the mountain, also known as Colima Volcano, situated 490 km west of Mexico City, the spokeswoman, Norma Gut Ierrez, said. — AFP

4 die in air crash
AUCKLAND: A light aircraft crashed in rugged country south of here on Tuesday, killing all four aboard, the police said. The identity of those on board and the flight path of the plane was not immediately known. — AFP

10 civilians killed
FREETOWN: At least 10 civilians died and an unspecified number of others, including children, were abducted when Sierra Leonean rebels attacked a town north-east of the capital, witnesses said on Sunday. Witnesses arriving in Freetown after fleeing the carnage said rebels attacked Port Loko, some 60 km from here, overnight on Friday. — AFP

Shock therapy
SINGAPORE: Singapore will show gory pictures of bloody brains, fatty deposits in arteries and cancerous tumours in the lungs in a campaign to check rising cases of smoking in the prosperous city state. The Straits Times published on its front page today a colour picture of a bleeding brain of a 38-year-old smoker with a catchline — “get this in your head: smoking can lead to a stroke.” — AFP