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Confessions of Kennedy's former lover: Book offers pour in

          Washington, May 18: One of President Kennedy's first lovers to confess, Marion Fahnestock who became his lover after tantalising him when she was just 18, is beimg swamped with book offers. First catching JFK's eye when she went to the White House in 1961 to interview his wife Jacqueline for her school newspaper, the ravishing teenager, a daughter of wealthy parents, was quickly installed as a Washington intern - the same job ... (Contd)

20 Indian prisoners return from Pakistan

          Wagah Border, May 18: Pakistan on Sunday handed over 20 Indian prisoners as part of the peace overtures between the nuclear-armed neighbours. The prisoners were 14 fishermen and six young Sikh men. They were handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border checkpost in Punjab at 10:30 a.m. (0500 GMT). The release was ordered by Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali recently when he announced a set of measures to improve frosty relations with India. Fourteen of them were crew members of the stranded boat "Raj Lakshmi" and were apprehended for entering Pakistan without valid documents and spent about two years in various jails.

           "Our launch had caught fire and we had escaped in a life boat. We could not see anything. We were then arrested by Pakistani coastal guards," said Gurmeet Singh, a released prisoner. "We were arrested. We were kept in dark isolation cell for 8 days, but we were not harassed at all. Various Pakistani intelligence agencies persuade Indian prisoners in espionage activities in India in return of handsome rewards. Some of them, in civil clothes, had come to me several times but I simply refused them to work against my own nation," said Gurnam Singh, another released prisoner.

          The handover, which was scheduled for yesterday, was delayed by a day due to logistical problems in transporting the prisoners from their respective jails in Baluchistan to the Wagah border point in Punjab. Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a recent statement another 16 prisoners would be released after their nationality is verified by India.

Pak clarification on Riaz (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, May 18: Hours after Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali announced the appointment of Riaz Mohammand Khan as new High Commissioner to India, the foreign office issued a statement in the wee hours on Sunday that no final decision has yet been made and that Jamali has been "wrongly quoted". In a clarification, a foreign office spokesman said Jamali has not been correctly quoted and the final decision has not been taken as yet by the prime minister. Khan is currently serving as ambassador to China. Significantly, the official clarification did not deny Khan's appointment to the post but only "clarified" that no decision has been made in this regard.

European leaders to confer with India, Pak for ensuring peace (Go To Top)

          London, May 18: Highly placed diplomats in Brussels have said that a host of European countries are planning to play a pivotal role in ensuring peace in south Asia by persuading the leaders of India and Pakistan to chalk out a realistic programme aimed at ending the decades-old confrontation. Pakistan's national daily News on Sunday quoted the diplomats as saying that the group of the European countries - France, Germany and Russia - who opposed the US-led war on Iraq, wants to play a more "effective, meaningful and active" role in the South Asian peace process.

          Without naming, the daily quoted one diplomat as saying that some leading Pakistani leaders, including President Pervez Musharraf, would soon receive telephone calls from the three anti-Iraq war allies in this regard. "An elaborate plan is being charted out for meetings with Pakistani leaders in various capitals of the world", the diplomat added. He further said these European nations are in constant touch with India and Pakistan through normal diplomatic channel. With regard to India, the diplomats said French President Jacques Chirac has extended a special invitation to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vjpayee while he will be at the G-8 summit, to be held in the French town of Evian-les-Bains from June 1-3.

          "The idea behind inviting Vajpayee is to launch discussions with the Indian leadership on the ongoing peace process in south Asia," they added. The diplomats reportedly said the European countries' bid would not be mediation, but a facilitation from European friends to end the Indo-Pak confrontation. They said the feeling of hostility is hampering the overall development in both the countries, besides greatly affecting the day-to-day life of their people. According to them, world leaders like US President George W. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao are also soon expected to speak to Indian and Pakistan leaders to discuss the ongoing peace process.

Conducive atmosphere must before talks, PM tells Pak (Go To Top)

          Manali, May 18: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Sunday Pakistan must stop militant separatists slipping into Kashmir as a crucial step to creating a climate for talks between the nuclear-armed rivals. After coming close to war over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir last year, a sudden thaw has begun between India and Pakistan in recent weeks but analysts say top-level peace talks remain some time off.

          "We are engaged in efforts to end cross-border terrorism so that a conducive environment is created for talks to take place. That is our stand and there has been no change in it," Vajpayee told reporters at the end of a six-day break in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh. Amid the thaw, both countries have announced the restoration of transport links and normal diplomatic ties. Pakistan on Saturday named a new ambassador to India to restore ties dramatically severed after a December, 2001, attack on India's Parliament that India blamed on Pakistan-based separatists.

          Pakistan on Sunday also handed over 20 Indian prisoners in the latest confidence-building measure between the two countries that have fought three wars since 1947 - two over Kashmir. "Many steps have taken place and more have to take place. The process has started. Let's see how these steps, and an end to cross-border terrorism, work out," Vajpayee said. Asked whether he would be travelling to Pakistan for the SAARC meeting, Vajpayee said he had not received any invitation.

Bush to meet Musharraf in Camp David (Go To Top)

          Washington, May 18: President George Bush will meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Camp David on June 24 instead of the White House, US officials said. The change of venue, the officials said on Saturday, aims to indicate the importance the US gives to its relations with Pakistan, reports Dawn. The President is expected to arrive in New York on the evening of June 20 from London. His arrival could also be delayed if he goes to Paris. If he comes on June 20, the President may spend two days in Boston before coming to Washington on the evening of June 23. But if the visit to France were finalized, then he would spend only a few hours in Boston with his son.

Pak establishment plan to woo PPP legislators (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, May 18: The civil-military establishment in Pakistan is contemplating to strike a deal with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) whereby some concessions would be offered to the party chief and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, besides the release of her husband Asif Ali Zardari. A report carried by Pakistan's national daily Dawn on Sunday quoted well-informed sources as saying that the proposal envisages giving concessions to Zardari in the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) cases against his assurance that he will not leave the country. Besides, it also offers a time-frame for Benazir's home-coming, the report added.

          The sources reportedly said some key officials had recently visited Bhutto's London residence in this regard and discussed the proposed deal threadbare. The officials bargained with her that PPP parliamentarians would have to show some flexibility in talks with the government and also during the national assembly sessions. It may be recalled that Pakistan's annual budget is yet to be presented and passed in the national assembly. So far the government could not present the budgetary proposals fearing disruptions from Opposition parliamentarians. According to the report, this is a part of the government's move to woo PPP parliamentarians in its stride. Political analysts described the move as an attempt to sabotage the government- opposition talks that had reached an advanced stage.

Top Saddam aide surrenders in Baghdad (Go To Top)

          Baghdad, May 18: A former top official of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, and cousin of the deposed leader, has surrendered to coalition forces in Baghdad, the US military said. General Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti, the No 10 on the American "Iraqi Top 55 list," gave himself up on Saturday morning, US Central Command said in a statement issued from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, reports the News. Mustafa spent almost his entire career in the Republican Guard. His brother is married to Saddam's youngest daughter, Hala. He was No 52 on the US list of "most wanted" figures from the ousted regime. Sultan was the second "Top 55" official to be taken into custody in recent days. On Thursday, Adil Abdullah Mahdi al-Duri al- Tikriti, Baath Party regional command chairman for the Dhi Qar district near Tikrit, was apprehended, the military said. Meanwhile, US commanders announced more arrests in their efforts to stop the lawlessness that has terrorised the capital since Saddam Hussein's overthrow but admitted there were still hurdles in getting Iraqi police back out on patrol. The deputy head of the coalition war command, Major General William Webster, said US troops carried out more than 400 patrols in the previous 24 hours as they moved to tackle the single biggest gripe of ordinary Iraqis against the US-led occupation.

Fake currency racket busted (Go To Top)

          Kolkata, May 18: Police officials in Kolkata claimed on Sunday to have busted a fake currency racket. Police said 600,000 rupees of Indian currency as well as Bangladeshi and Kuwaiti fake currency were recovered from the possession of a man. "A raid was conducted last night in Kakwdip police station area, when one person Ujjal Mandal was arrested and from his house, under his cot, about Rs 600,000 fake currency, 80,000 Bangladeshi taka and 1,850 Kuwaiti dinar were recovered," said Banerjee. Five people involved in the racket have been arrested so far. According to Banerjee, the seizure could further lead to unravelling of a bigger fake currency racket spread all over the country and abroad too.

Five of a family burnt to death in Bihar (Go To Top)

          Aurangabad, May 18: Five members of a family, including an infant and a woman, were charred to death in their sleep here on Sunday. The incident occurred when their hut suddenly caught fire in Bara village in Aurangabad district, police said. The fire occurred due to leakage in a cooking-stove. Due to high velocity winds it soon engulfed the thatched hut. According to the police, around 15 more hutments were gutted in the neighbourhood.

Confessions of Kennedy's former lover (Go To Top)

          (Contd) given to President Bill Clinton's lover Monica Lewinsky. And in no time Marion swapped her studies for a steamy affair with the world's most powerful man. She carried on sharing his bed even after getting engaged to her future husband Anthony. Not only did she and Kennedy romp in the White House, he also took her on state visits abroad.

          Now what the raven-haired beauty - who lives in New York's posh Upper East side has said is: "It is true. From June 1962 to November 1963 I was in a sexual relationship with President Kennedy. For the last 41 years it's a subject I have not discussed." Friends and relatives of quiet church worker Marion, now 60, are still reeling after she blew the secret she had hidden for four decades. She never let on about the affair to her banker husband Anthony, who she divorced before he died of cancer in 1993. And she only confessed to daughters Lisa, 34, and Jenny 31, on the eve of going public.