WASHINGTON, Dec 1: US House impeachment ....more

Death toll in Indonesian quake jumps to 25

JAKARTA, Dec 1: The death toll from a powerfu. ...more

Countdown begins for start of US launch in space station const

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA,
Dec 1: Nasa began the countdown yesterday . .....more

Bhutto warns of Taliban style justice system in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto warned today that Pakistan was moving toward a judicial system like the one in neighbouring Afghanistan where the hardline Taliban Army rule.

There the limbs of thieves are amputated, murderers are publicly executed and people convicted of lesser crimes are publicly beaten.

In a letter to international human rights groups, as well as several heads of state, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ms Bhutto warned that "Sharif’s regime is intent to impose a Taliban-like system of justice within Pakistan."

Ms Bhutto has been a vocal opponent of Sharif’s attempts to pass a constitutional amendment to bring Islamic rule to Pakistan.

The amendment already has been approved by Pakistan’s powerful lawmaking lower House of Parliament, where Mr Sharif has a comfortable majority.

However, it needs to be passed by the Senate before becoming law and it seems certain to be defeated.

But several lawmakers say that won’t be the end of it, rather they warned that they will demand a nationwide referendum if the senate defeats the amendment. Human rights groups worry a referendum would be so vaguely worded as to be impossible to defeat.

Ms Bhutto’s opposition to the proposed law has brought her under heavy criticism from the country’s right wing religious politicians, some of whom have accused her of betraying Islam.

Ms Bhutto warned that Mr Sharif’s attempts to impose Islamic law in Pakistan will mean "the loss of our liberal constitution and the imposition of the barbaric Taliban-style justice in Pakistan."

As well she warned that the rights of minorities and women in Pakistan would be severely curtailed under Sharif’s new Islamic law, a charge his Government has vehemently denied.

In her letter, Ms Bhutto asked world leaders "to send a strong message to the Sharif regime that the Taliban system of Justice is as unacceptable to the international community in Pakistan as it is in Afghanistan."

The Taliban Army rules about 90 per cent of Afghanistan where it’s brand of Islamic law has been imposed. As well as the punishments, the Taliban have forced women off the job and girls out of school, except to study the Muslim holy book, the Koran. Men have been ordered to wear beards and women to wear the all-enveloping burqa which covers them from head to toe. (AP)

China detains 6 in crackdown

BEIJING, Dec 1: Six chinese dissidents, including two high profile opponents of the state, have been detained in a police crackdown on the fledgling China Democracy Party, sources said today.

Police detained Zu Wenli in Beijing and Qin Yongmin in Wuhan, Central China, late yesterday, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre on Human Rights and the democratic movement in China said in a statement.

The two veterans of China’s dissident movement have been singled out by police for their repeated demands to have the China democracy party legally recognised by local authorities since its launch last July.

Three other members of the Wuhan chapter of the party, Chen Zhonghe, Lu Xinhua and Xiao Chichang, were detained, while a sixth dissident, Lai Jinbiao, also a party member, was taken away by authorities in Hangzhou, in Eastern China.

The wife of Xu Wenli, He Xintong, told AFP today that her husband had not yet been released and she expected he would probably be held longer than previous detentions.

Police specified that Xu was being ‘detained’ and not just ‘questioned, she told AFP. They told him that he was a suspect but did not specify a crime.

Under Chinese law, suspects may be detained for 30 days before being charged with any crime. (AFP)

Lavish marriage parties

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Lavish marriage parties are now a phased out phenomenon for Pakistanis.

The Government has further extended the restrictions on the ‘Menu’ served at marriage parties for another three months. So, from now on they will be served with only a cup of tea or a cold drink.

The restraint was imposed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif two years back as part of the Government efforts to restore financial stability by putting a curb on unnecessary squandering of money.

According to official sources the Government has also imposed restrictions to hold marriage parties between "Asar’ and Maghreb prayers IE in the afternoon before the sunset.

Anyone who violates these restraints would be subject to punishment and liable to pay fines, sources added. (UNI)

US House panel broadens impeachment investigation

WASHINGTON, Dec 1: US House impeachment investigators dramatically broadened their inquiry of President Clinton, seeking evidence related to the White House campaign fund-raising scandal.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans said yesterday that they would seek internal Justice Department memos calling for an independent counsel in the scandal, and testimony from the memos’ authors, FBI Director Louis Freeh and former campaign finance task force head Charles Labella.

They also want to subpoena Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno for the memos, and Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for evidence related to a key figure in the campaign finance scandal, a committee aide said.

The panel will vote on the subpoeans at a meeting today after a hearing on the consequences of perjury.

The Committee is in receipt of information that indicates the Labella Memo may contain allegations of criminal wrongdoing by the President, the Republican aide said. We are duty-bound to look at this material before we complete our task.

Panel Chairman Henry Hyde blasted Clinton for his evasiveness and lack of cooperation in the impeachment inquiry, Hyde said the committee would push ahead on its plan to vote on articles of impeachment.

He has made it very clear he is going to stick with his reliance on Bizarre technical definitions and legalistic defences, Hyde said of Clinton’s responses last week to 81 questions about the Monica Lewinsky scandal, adding: We will move forward based on the established record of corroborated evidence.

Hyde said in a statement that Clinton had not challenged the truthfulness of the evidence. Rather, his responses revealed a selective ability to recall information.

Clinton broke no new ground in his answers, denying the central allegations of perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power in the Lewinsky affair but acknowledging he misled the public and top aides.

The President made a good faith effort to respond to politically motivated questions, White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said of Hyde’s charges.

The committee, pushing toward a historic vote on articles of impeachment next week, will meet in closed session today to discuss the subpoenas and the release of more evidence currently under wraps, including Clinton’s videotaped testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. (REUTERS)

Death toll in Indonesian quake jumps to 25

JAKARTA, Dec 1: The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rocked remote islands in Eastern Indonesia has jumped to 25 as search teams find more dead and injured, a Government official said today.

We are still looking for more victims, Sumadi, an official with the meteorology and geophysics agency in Jakarta told, adding that 25 bodies had so far been found.

Another 89 people were injured, 23 seriously, and hundreds of buildings destroyed when the quake measuring 7.6 on the richter scale hit Mangole Island just before midnight yesterday.

Most of the deaths were on the Western part of Mangole, a timber producing island of 17,000 people near the quake’s epicente and 2,010 miles Northeast of the Indonesian Capital, Jakarta.

Mosques, churches and a timber factory were razed and some houses swept into the sea.

Emergency shuttle flights resumed today, bringing in food, medicine and water and evacuating the injured to major cities nearby.

There were unconfirmed newspaper reports of at least four more deaths in the city of Manado on the nearby major island of Sulawesi. Local officials there could not be immediately contacted. (REUTERS)

Countdown begins for start of US launch
in space station const

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA, Dec 1: Nasa began the countdown yesterday for a shuttle launch that will put the first American piece of the international space station into orbit.

The US space shuttle endeavour is scheduled to blast off Thursday on the long-delayed mission. During the flight, two spacewalking astronauts will fasten together the US piece and a component that was launched by the Russians nearly two weeks ago.

"Hey, this has been a long time coming," shuttle Commander Robert Cabana said. "It’s time that we launch and get the first US-built piece of hardware up there to the international space station and start a new era in international cooperation in space exploration."

"It’s time to fly," added Sergei Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut assigned to the one-year-late mission.

It is expected to take a total of 45 US and Russian launches over the next five years to haul up pieces of the space station and put them together in orbit. When completed, the station will stretch as long as a football field.

Liftoff is set for just before 14.30 hrs (Ist), although rain and low clouds could interfere. The odds of acceptable weather were put at 40 per cent.

Yesterday, Nasa loaded last-minute Russian equipment into the shuttle, including electrical gear to fix a faulty battery aboard the first station component, Zarya.

The six shuttle astronauts will rendezvous with Zarya, Russian for sunrise, two days into their 12-day flight.

They will use the shuttle robot arm to grab the 20,000-kg. Cylinder and attach it to the station component carried up aboard endeavour, a 11,300-kg. Passageway named unity. Then two spacewalkers will go outside to fasten all the electrical connections and cables between the two components, and attach hand rails and tools for future crews. (AP)