Second term for HavelPRAGUE: Vaclav Havel was sworn in today for his second term as President of the Czech republic. The ceremony was boycotted by a large number of parliamentary deputies and senators. They included right-wing extremist republicans who said Vaclav's election was unconstitutional, and the communists, upset when Vaclav did not invite their chairman to a meeting of party heads. Havel, 61, had been elected by a joint session of senate and parliament on January 20.Lanka toll up to 35COLOMBO: The toll in the latest fighting between the Sri Lankan army and Tamil rebels has risen to 335 with the death of 35 soldiers, defence sources said here on Monday. Sources said 35 soldiers had been killed and more than 200 injured when Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants launched a counter attack on Sunday at Army defences near the northern town of Paranthan in Kilinochchi. Meanwhile, the Army approached the International Red Cross to handover the bodies of over200 Tigers killed in the attack.Indonesia firesJAKARTA: New forest fires have broken out in the Indonesian sector of the island of Borneo, sending smoke clouds into the sky again following the catastrophic haze of 1997, which hung over the region, newspaper reports said on Sunday. Sentot Srimulata, a forestry official in the province, told the Jakarta Post that lower than average rains had contributed to the new outbreaks. In 1997, the fires consumed some 300,000 hectares of forest and bushland according to official figures although environmentalist groups say the figure is over one million hectares. In 1997, 6,356 flights from 27 Indonesian airports had to be cancelled due to the haze from forest fires.Brundtland's planGENEVA: The Norwegian politician Gro Harlem Brundtland, the new director general elect of the World Health Organisation (WHO) promised to attend to the developing nations, home to 90 per cent of the world's illnesses. Revealing a glimpse preview of herprogramme, Brundtland said the WHO target of assuring the health of everyone in the world can only be achieved by fighting poverty. She said, ``Globalisation is here to stay,'' adding it would be a great shame if that means poverty can not be abated. Brundtland's candidacy, on the basis of this argument, was supported by a majority of industrialised countries, including the government of the United States.Charles receptionCOLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government today cancelled a civic reception for Britain's Prince Charles in the capital Colombo because of security concerns expressed by his bodyguards, officials said here. British security officials have said they were reviewing Prince Charles' programme in Sri Lanka following last week's Tamil Tiger suicide bombing of the country's holiest Buddhist shrine in Kandy, killing 16 people. Meanwhile, former premier and senior opposition leader of the United National Party Ranil Wickramasinghe today denied media reports that he was meeting the royalguest on February 4. ``I am not going to meet the prince at all,'' he told reporters here.
