World at a glance

WASHINGTON: The United States is getting prepared to commit ground forces to protect sanctuary in southern Iraq'' to meet challenges fr...

WASHINGTON: The United States is getting prepared to 8220;commit ground forces to protect sanctuary in southern Iraq8221; to meet challenges from Saddam Hussein who reportedly has 8220;nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and a renewed capacity to conduct conventional warfare and terrorism.8221; Two top US officials 8212; former Congressman Stephen Solarz and former undersecretary of state for defence Paul Wolfowitz 8212; suggested in a letter to the Clinton administration that the US should not aim at containing8217; the Iraqi president but work towards overthrowing8217; him. The US should also be prepared to 8220;commit ground forces to protect a sanctuary in southern Iraq where the opposition could safely mobilise,8221; they added. If the policy of overthrowing8217; Saddam failed, they feared the US would face a Saddam with new weapons and renewed capacity to conduct conventional warfare and terrorism.

HANOI: Nearly 1.4 million people in 15 northern and central provinces of Vietnam are going hungry, with 840,000destitute, as the result of floods and drought over the past few months, a labour ministry report was quoted as saying on Friday. The People8217;s Army newspaper quoted the report as saying 38 billion dong US 2.7 million from the state budget has been allocated so far to help the needy. Five floods hit the central region in November-December, killing more than 300 people and causing 110 million dollars in damage, a huge amount for one of Vietnam8217;s poorest areas. Drought now has set in for central and northern Vietnam as rainfall declines.

DUBAI: King Abdullah of Jordan has named veteran West Asia peace campaigner Abdul-Raouf Rawabdeh as the country8217;s new prime minister in his first major political move after ascending the throne last month. King Abdullah, 37, succeeded his father, King Hussein, who died on February 7 after a 47-year reign. Rawabdeh, 60, and 22 members of the new cabinet were sworn in by the king at a ceremony in Amman on Thursday, reports reaching here said. JAFFNA: Federal forensicexperts flew into the Tamil heartland of Jaffna on Friday with a planeload of mediapersons to start investigating claims some 300 civilians were killed by the military and buried in a mass grave during Sri Lanka8217;s bitter ethnic war. No date has been set for excavating the site. Jaffna magistrate S A E Ekanathan, who is overseeing the case, met the federal team at the airport despite threats from the LTTE.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had ordered the closure of courts in Jaffna, saying it wanted international human rights groups, not local courts, to investigate the mass grave allegations. But the federal government, under pressure to improve its human rights records, has pressed ahead with its investigation.

LONDON: When bungling robber Andrew Buckland wanted to rob a bank, he queued up like everybody else. When he reached the counter, he produced a handwritten note, signed in his own name, warning the clerk that he had a gun. The note was written on a letter sent to him by his localcouncil, bearing his name and address. And when the clerk told him to sit and wait, Buckland quietly obeyed. But his incompetence failed to save him from jail on Thursday when a court in Manchester, northern England, sentenced him to life because it was his second conviction for a violent crime.