| Di's
bodyguard to be quizzed |
PARIS --
Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, the only man who can
shed light on exactly how Princess Diana died, is
to talk to investigators for the first time
tomorrow as they seek to piece together her final
moments alive, police sources said yesterday.
Experts warned however that the 29-year-old
former paratrooper could have suffered memory
blocks about the August 31 crash, even if he has
begun to be able to talk again. |
| The crash killed
Diana, her companion Dodi al-Fayed and their
driver Henri Paul, whose blood was subsequently
found to contrain traces of a cocktail of drinks
and anti-depressant medicines. |
| New evidence
suggesting that the Mercedes S-280 struck another
car shortly before the fatal crash will also be
high in the list of questions of the examining
magistrates. |
| The Briton
suffered severe facial injuries and has been in
intensive care after undergoing 10 hours of
surgery to rebuild his lower face days after the
crash. |
| Reliable sources
yesterday confirmed that police were also hunting
for a Fiat car which might have been hit by the
Mercedes shortly before the limousine went out of
control. |
| While stressing
that the likelihood of such a collision was
"tiny", the sources said laboratory
tests on debris found at the scene of the
accident had established the make of a car which
could have been involved. -- Sapa-AFP |
| Diplomat, 11
others die in Bosnia crash |
| SARAJEVO -- A UN
helicopter crashed into a wooded hillside of
central Bosnia during bad weather yesterday,
killing 12 people including a top German
diplomat, officials said. |
| In Bonn, German
Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said Mr Gerd
Wagner, one of the most senior diplomats in
Bosnia, died along with four other Germans, five
US nationals, one Briton and a Pole. |
| The four
Ukrainian crew survived the crash. |
| Mr Wagner,
appointed in July as deputy to the top mediator
in Bosnia Carlos Westendorp, was heading to the
central Bosnian town of Bugojno along with staff
members and UN personnel when the aircraft
crashed. |
| Some of his
staff members were seen crying at his office
headquarters where a wreath of white flowers was
placed at the building entrance bearing the
message "lest we forget their sacrifice for
peace". |
| The Ukrainian
Mi-8 transport helicopter, on contract to the
United Nations, crashed into a wooded, hillside
near Bugojno, which is located 80 kilometres
north-west of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. |
| It exploded and
caught fire, local villagers who witnessed the
crash said. Four villagers rushed to the site and
helped the Ukrainian crew members drag a burning
man in military uniform from the wreckage. |
| "He asked
for water. We gave him a drink," Mr Halid
Huskic, one of the villagers, said. The man was
transported to the nearest hospital an
hour-and-a-half away. |
| German Nato
troops sealed off the area. |
| The accident
comes at a particularly sensitive time when
Bosnia's international mediators are involved in
implementing one of the key steps of the 1995
accords that ended the 43-month war in Bosnia. |
| Hotly contested
country-wide municipal polls were held in Bosnia
at the weekend in hopes of reuniting the
country's three former warring communities --
Croats, Muslims and Serbs. |
| The polls are
intended to establish new-style local government
in Bosnia's two halves -- the Muslim-Croat
Federation and the Republika Srpska -- and pave
the way for the return of hundreds of thousands
of refugees displaced during the war. |
| Mr Wagner served
26 years with his country's foreign service and
was a Nato expert. |
| The injured
included two members of the four-man Ukrainian
air crew who were transported to a Sarajevo
hospital with slight injuries and later taken to
a Nato hospital, officials said. |
| The seriousness
of the injuries suffered by the others was
unknown. |
| "It seems
the weather was not very good," UN police
spokesman Alex Ivanko said. One Western official
familiar with the terrain said the area is
"treacherous" for planes. -- Sapa-AFP |
TILLS GO
JINGLE: Pedestrians pass by a restaurant
decorated with Father Christmas since the
beginning of this week in Manila, Philippines.
stations are blaring Christmas songs and some
shops are now preparing Christmas decorations in
the country which boasts of having the longest
Christmas celebration in the world. (AP)
|
| Landmines
final draft approved without US |
| OSLO --
Delegates at a conference here hammering out a
treaty to ban anti-personnel mines yesterday
approved a final draft of the historic agreement. |
| They did so as
the United States failed to reach a compromise
allowing it to join the international effort,
according to the US chief delegate at the talks,
Mr Eric Newson. |
| The US
delegation said it was pulling out of the
conference "with regret". |
| Article One of
the draft states: "Each state (party to the
treaty) undertakes never under any circumstances
to use anti-personnel mines." |
| It defines such
mines as those "designed to be exploded by
the presence, proximity, or contact of a person
and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or
more persons." |
| The treaty would
go into force six months after it is ratified by
the 40th country to sign it at a ceremony set for
December 3 in Ottawa. |
| One Western
delegate at Oslo said telephone calls between US
President Bill Clinton and Canadian Prime
Minister Jean Chretien the day before had failed
to bring about a compromise. |
| On Tuesday the
United States had asked for an extra 24 hours to
negotiate its position. |
| It had been
aiming at a nine-year moratorium on
implementation of the treaty, a position that
critics argued would have undermined the original
aim of a prompt and total ban. -- Sapa-AFP |
| Boy drowned
after nude swim, man on trial |
HARARE -- A
former British lawyer, Mr John Jackson Smyth, is
facing charges in Zimbabwe involving nudity among
schoolboys and negligence over the death of one
boy, local media reported yesterday.
The Herald newspaper said Mr Smyth, a queen's
counsel who immigrated to Zimbabwe in the early
1990s and runs a Christian youth organisation
called Zambezi Ministries, has already appeared
in court. |
| He is
expected to face trial soon on charges of crimen
injuria and culpable homicide, the paper said. |
| The state
alleges that during a holiday camp at a school in
the town of Marondera in April 1993, he ordered
the boys to walk from the dormitories to the
showers naked and would join them there. |
| He also
allegedly made them swim in the nude at night,
talked to them about explicit sexual matters, and
told them to be proud of their genitals because
Jesus Christ had the same, The Herald reported. |
| He is alleged
to have spanked them with a tennis racket for
misbehaviour. |
| The state
alleges that in 1992 his negligence caused the
death of a boy who drowned after being ordered to
swim in the nude one night. -- Sapa-AFP |
| Versace's niece
to inherit fortune |
| The bulk of the
fortune of the late Italian designer Gianni
Versace, who was murdered in July, will go to his
11-year-old niece Allegra, the Italian private
television channel Cinque reported. |
| Allegra is the
daughter of Donatella, 40, Versace's sister and
his muse who owned 20 percent of his fashion
empire. |
| According to
Cinque, which said it had obtained details of the
designer's will, Donatella's younger child,
Daniel, 6 will inherit Versace's fabulous art
collection which includes works by Picasso and
Leger. |
| The total value
of the inheritance is put at R270 million. --
Sapa-AFP |
| FORTUNE
ASSURED: Gianni Versace's niece Allegra and
nephew Daniel, the main beneficiaries in his
will. (AP) |
| Spice Girls'
fans snatch up wardrobe |
| Fans snatched up
pieces of the Spice Girls' wardrobe, paying far
in excess of the clothes' estimated value at a
charity auction, Sotheby's said in London
yesterday. |
| The price of
each lot in the sale on Tuesday re-flected the
popularity of each singer. The pink dress worn by
Geri Halliwell, better known as Ginger Spice, had
the most success, selling for R42000. Baby
Spice's dress went for R20250, Scary Spice's for
R16500, Posh Spice's for R8250 and Sporty Spice's
for R7500. |
| The Spices wore
the dresses when they made a promotional video
for the British television station Channel Five
several months ago. Proceeds will go to Channel
Five-nominated charities. |
| At the same
auction, a Gibson Les Paul guitar signed by Eric
Clapton, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Mark
Knopfler and Sting, went under the hammer at
R112500. |
| They used the
guitar during a concert this week to raise money
for victims of volcanic eruptions on Montserrat.
-- Sapa-AFP |
| Arrows dumps
Damon Hill |
| Defending
world champion Damon Hill has been dumped by
Arrows -- 24 hours before his 37th birthday. |
| His place
next season will be taken by Finland's Miko Salo,
who is at present with the Tyrrell team. |
| Announcing
the decision to part with Hill, Arrows boss Tom
Walkinshaw thanked Hill for his help this season
in Zeltweg, Austria yesterday. |
| Hill is now
likely to sign with either Prost or Jordan. --
Sapa-AFP |
| Protest at
Zim security bill |
| HARARE --
Zimbabwean human rights organisations pressed
ahead yesterday with a campaign to oppose
government plans to introduce new security
legislation that the organisations say will
violate citizens' liberty and the Constitution's
bill of rights. |
| The Public Order
and Security Bill outlaws "subversive
statements", allows authorities to ban
public gatherings and impose curfews and cordons.
It makes treason a capital offence and says the
unwitting failure to report a proposed act of
treason is illegal. It also gives new powers to
the secret police. |
| The Zimbabwe
Human Rights Association says that clauses for
the establishment of cordons and curfew are
"frightening and only understandable in a
military or a police state". -- Sapa-DPA |
| UK editors
say yes to reform |
LONDON -- Senior
newspaper editors yesterday backed a call for
"wide-ranging and rigorous reforms" of
their profession following the public outcry
surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of
Wales.
Their support came after a meeting of the code
committee of the Press Complaints Commission
which was considering changes to the newspaper
industry's code of practice. |
| The reforms are
thought to cover privacy, harassment and the use
of paparazzi photographers. |
| The committee is
supposed to monitor the press to ensure it abides
by its code of practice but has no real power. --
Sapa-AFP |
| HOT-FOOTING
IT: Dressed as the legendary Chinese Monkey God,
a Chinese man runs through flames of fire in Hong
Kong yesterday. The annual event, part of the
mid-autumn festival, is believed to cast evil
away from the people. (AP) |
| Hindus to
honour Teresa |
| CALCUTTA --
Statues of Mother Teresa are due to be displayed
during a major Hindu religious festival in the
east of India next month, organisers said here
yesterday. |
| Organisers of
a festival worshipping the Hindu goddess Durga
said Mother Teresa would also be honoured during
the three-day festival starting on October 8. Mr
Rabindranath Guin, a local organiser of the
October festival here, said he was among many to
have placed an order for a life-size clay statue
of the Roman Catholic nun. |
| "Mother
was an international icon synonymous with
Calcutta. We want to pay homage to her by
displaying her statue in our hall this
year," he said. -- Sapa-AFP |
| Cult member
gets 14 years |
TOKYO -- A Tokyo
court yesterday sentenced a 38-year-old Aum
Supreme Truth cult member to 14 years in jail for
rigging up a van which sprayed Sarin gas, killing
seven people in Matsumoto, west of Tokyo, in
1994.
The Tokyo District Court found Kazumi Watabe,
also known as "deputy minister of science
and technology" for the cult, guilty of
customising the murderous van to spray the deadly
Sarin gas. |
| Watabe worked
for the Aum's Sarin plant, west of Tokyo. |
| The judge said
"the Sarin attack was atrocious" and
"Watabe knew what he was doing when he was
making the van". -- Sapa-AFP |
| Rat holds up
Air India flight |
| NEW DELHI -- A
rat held up an Air India flight from New Delhi to
Hong Kong, forcing passengers to spend the night
in a luxury hotel, officials said yesterday. |
| The unwelcome
visitor was spotted when the flight from Bombay
landed for refuelling here with 87 passengers on
board late on Monday. The aircraft crew refused
to continue until the plane was fumigated. |
| An official said
the rat could chew through wires and endanger the
aircraft. The passengers were put up in a hotel
on Monday night before taking off early on
Tuesday. -- Sapa-AFP |
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