Minister sacked in Pakistan

Pigeon safe after 8,500 km journey

15 die as buses collide

Iraq making banned weapons

WASHINGTON, Sept 4 (PTI) — Iraq is secretly working on weapons of mass destruction and long-range ballistic missiles that are banned under UN sanctions, a media report said.

The White House has reported to Congress that “Iraq is continuing secret work on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and munitions that are banned under UN sanctions.”

The six page report, The Washington Times said, was based on intelligence information. It runs counter to claims made in July by State Department spokesman James Rubin that the USA has no evidence that Iraq is continuing to work on its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programme and missile delivery systems.

The latest White House report to Congress said: “Some eight years after the Gulf war and Saddam Hussein’s defiance of international community, we are under no illusions that Iraq will comply with the UN Security Council resolutions on disarmament, human rights, accounting for POW and the return of stolen property.”

The report reaffirms the US desire to see the “regime” in Iraq changed. “Our policy of containment plus regime change is designed to ensure the interests of the citizens of Iraq and its neighbours from an aggressive and hostile regime while UN sanctions help prevent Saddam Hussein from reconstituting his military capabilities.”

The report describes US forces in the region as “robust” and says the USA is prepared to use force “should Saddam cross our well-established red lines.” The report further said that Iraq might be hiding at least seven complete missile systems and major components and might have “singleuse liquid missile propellant and indigenous missile production” programmes.

Australian MPs cool on republic

CANBERRA, Sept 4 (Reuters) — As many as 60 per cent of Australia’s conservative parliamentarians will vote against a republic at a November referendum, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said on Thursday. Mr Downer published the names of 61 government politicians who opposed the switch to a republic.

He said there were another 10, including monarchist Prime Minister John Howard, who intended to vote against change but had declined to sign a document circulated among the 115 liberal-national coalition members.

Government MPs are free to decide how they will vote on the issue and to campaign either for or against a republic.

On November 6, Australians will decide whether to ditch Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as the country’s Head of State in favour of a republic, with a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of Parliament.

But by no means all parliamentarians who signed the document were monarchists.

According to their own statements, some are republicans opposed to the particular model being proposed, including those who want the President to be directly elected and others who have concerns about how specific parts of the new system would work.

“As the Foreign Minister, I think one of the greatest assets Australia has in the international community is its reputation for political stability,” Mr Downer told reporters.

“Our present system has served us extraordinarily well and ... has helped to present Australia as a strong and stable country to the rest of the world.

“Playing around with our Constitution is a dangerous thing and in my own personal view, I think that this model raises many questions of detail. This is not just an argument about a symbol — it is an argument about details and facts,” he said.

Recent opinion polls have shown the Republican cause does not have enough support to win the referendum, although the number of Australians saying that they wanted change has been rising.

The referendum needs the support of a majority of Australians nationwide and in at least four of the country’s six states to succeed.

Australians have passed only eight out of 42 plebiscites since the Australian colonies joined to form a new nation in 1901.

No more refugees, says Britain

LONDON, Sept 4 (DPA) — Some refugees manage to get into the channel tunnel, but hopes of being able to trudge through the concrete tube to a promised land called Britain are quickly dashed by infrared cameras and heat detecting devices.

Most refugees try to hide in lorries, either by stowing away or bribing the driver. On the English side of the channel, they head straight to the local police station and register themselves as political asylum-seekers.

Not that the 800-odd refugees, who have made it to the coastal town of Dover with its 33,000 inhabitants are very welcome. Authorities in the country of Kent population1.3 million believe the 5, 000 asylum-seekers within their boundaries represent a real threat to public order.

Picturesque Dover at the foot of the famous White Cliffs is viewed as a “powder keg” following a fairground fracas between gangs of asylum-seekers from Kurdistan and Kosovo. Trouble started and suddenly 15 persons lay injured among the carousels, 11 of them with knife wounds.

Since that incident, the police in “Asylum Alley” — the name given by locals to Folkestone Road, whose cramped boarding houses are home to many asylum-seekers, have been regularly frisking passers-by to see if they are carrying firearms or sharp weapons.

The refugees also tell tales of discrimination. Sometimes people jostle them on the street or just throw things. Locals like Roy Bennett (52) landlord of “The Engineer” pub, are keen to air their views too: “Everyone knew there would be trouble in Dover. There’s just too many of them bunched up between us”.

Last year 46,000 people applied in Britain for asylum for themselves and sometimes for relatives as well. The authorities are expecting a record 68,000 this year.

In July, 6,600, applications were filed (more than 1,100 of them from former Yugoslavia) and in the second quarter of 1999 the figure was almost 70 per cent higher than for the corresponding period the previous year.

A total of 80,000 applications have taken anything up to four years to be processed while at least 20,000 would-be refugees have simply opted out of the bureaucratic process. Home Secretary Jack Straw has called for the creation of 600 additional desk jobs after the Civil Service Trade Union said members were unable to cope with the workload.

Straw’s attempts to assuage public concern about the growing number of asylum-seekers are based on statistics from other countries.

LTTE killed rival group leader

COLOMBO, Sept 4 (DPA) — Tamil rebels have claimed responsibility for the slaying of a leader of a rival group in northern Sri Lanka, declaring he was killed after being found ‘’guilty’’ of four charges, a Colombo-based newspaper said today.

The newspaper quoted the clandestine rebel radio known as the ‘’Voice of Tigers’’ as saying N. Manikkadasan, the militant wing leader of a rival group, was slain for committing rape, collecting ransom, torturing young men and women and providing information to the military.

Manikkadasan, the military wing leader of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam was killed in a Claymore mine attack at his office in Vavuniya, 254 km north of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in a rare occasion claimed responsibility for the slaying in yesterday’s radio broadcast.

Minister sacked in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 (PTI) — Amid mounting pressure from a combined opposition and growing resentment within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, the Nawaz Sharif government has sacked a minister in the Baluchistan province after he criticised the Prime Minister. Malik Sarwar Khan Kakar, Baluchistan’s Revenue Minister, was shown the door on Thursday.

Pigeon safe after 8,500 km journey

LONDON, Sept 4 (DPA) — A homing pigeon which vanished while flying between France and England has astounded its owners by turning up safe and well after an 8,500 km journey to China.

The Khan family, of Tunstall, England, were stunned when a letter from Asia containing a photograph of the wayward bird dropped on their doormat.

The two-and-a-half-year-old pigeon, now dubbed “Hong Kong Phooey,” failed to arrive back at its loft after setting off from Nantes, France, two months ago.

The letter from China, asking if the bird could be adopted by his new keeper, arrived in Tunstall this week along with photos of the pigeon in its new home.

A note attached to the photograph read: “Your pigeon GB 97-2-50942 has already arrived in China. Please post the descent of your pigeon.”

The Khans were traced via an address stamped on one of the male bird’s feathers.

Pigeon experts believe the bird may have nested on a slow boat to China, arriving in the coastal city of Tianjin after being cared for by sailors.

15 die as buses collide

DHAKA, Sept 4 (PTI) — At least 15 persons were killed and about 50 injured in a head-on collision between two buses on the Dhaka-Aricha highway near Savar, 40 km from here, yesterday, the police said. The accident took place when the buses rammed into each other at Gindha. The victims were yet to be identified while the injured had been rushed to hospitals.

18 killed in mishap
CAIRO: A pick-up rammed into a truck carrying livestock, turned over and collided with a bus and another truck on a desert road near here, killing 18 persons and injuring four, the police said. Among those who died in the accident on Friday were 16 of the 22 passengers in the bus and its driver. The driver of the second truck to be hit was also killed. — AP

Assault brigade
LONDON: Britain on Friday created a crack new assault brigade of troops who could be speedily helicoptered into the world’s trouble spots — but critics said it was a “paper tiger” short of manpower and equipment. The brigade, billed as the most powerful fighting force in Britain’s history, is being launched under a strategic defence review designed to make British troops more flexible and mobile. — Reuters

School for dissidents
HAVANA: In an unusually bold move, Cuban opposition leaders have opened a school designed to teach political dissidents about civil disobedience. There was no immediate reaction from Fidel Castro’s Communist government to the school, located in a converted barn on the outskirts of the Cuban capital. The government is likely to shut it down once authorities learn of its existence. — AP

Ex-minister dead
COLOMBO: Former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister A.C.S. Hameed died of a heart attack at a private nursing home here, his family sources said. He was 71. Hameed shot into fame as the longest serving Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka by holding the post for 12 years at a stretch during the periods of former Presidents J.R. Jayawardene and R. Premadasa. — PTI

8 killed in air crash
WEST PALM BEACH (Florida): A twin-engine plane clipped a building and crashed into flames while trying to make an emergency landing on Friday, killing the eight persons abroad. The pilot of the Beechcraft King Air BE-90 bound from Michigan to Boca Raton, called the control tower for permission to land at Palm Beach International Airport when the mishap occurred. — AP