World At A Glance

The force is with Hong Kong piratesHONG KONG: Barely a week after the Stars Wars blockbuster opened in US cinemas, pirated video discs of...

The force is with Hong Kong pirates

HONG KONG: Barely a week after the Stars Wars blockbuster opened in US cinemas, pirated video discs of quot;The Phantom Menacequot; can be bought in Hong Kong for less than the cost of a theatre ticket. Film distributors admit they have already lost the latest battle in the war against illegal copies that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Pirate video discs of quot;Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menacequot; have been foundin shopping malls in Hong Kong and nearby Macau, Sam Ho, director of the Hong Kong Motion Pictures Association MPA told AFP. quot;It will naturally damage box office takings for the film when it is shown in Hong Kong in July,quot; said Ho. Ho managed to get a copy of the new George Lucas film in the Mongkok district of Kowloon for 30 Hong Kong dollars 3.85 US.

Discovery lift-off ends US shuttle-launch drought

CAPE CANAVERAL: The US space shuttle Discovery soared into the skies today ending a rare six-month drought in shuttle launchesand giving NASA a lift-off success after a series of rocket failures.

The winged orbiter and its crew of five Americans, one Canadian and one Russian left the launch pad at Florida8217;s Kennedy Space Centre just after 6:49 am 1449 GMT on a 10-day mission to outfit the international space station. 8220;Discovery is in orbit,8221; NASA launch commentator George Diller said.

Discovery carried aloft 3,600 pounds 1,630 kg of space-station supplies in its cargo bay, ranging from laptop computers and communications gear to such household necessities as garbage bags and first-aid kits. The shuttle also carried a US constructing crane that space-walking astronauts will assemble outside the station, and parts for a Russian crane to be stowed outside the station.

SC to allow Bhutto appeal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan8217;s Supreme Court today ruled that opposition leader Benazir Bhutto should be allowed to appeal against her conviction on corruption charges.

Judge Irshad Hasan Khan directed the deputy registrar of theSupreme Court to process her appeal 8220;in accordance with law8221;. Earlier this month, the official had refused to entertain the appeal unless she surrendered herself in compliance with the verdict. An accountability court sentenced her and her husband Asif Ali Zardari to five years imprisonment and a fine of 8.6 million dollars and barred them from holding public office.

Story continues below this ad

Bhutto has been staying away from Pakistan since then to avoid arrest. Zardari has been in jail since his wife was dismissed as prime minister in November 1996 on corruption charges.

The accountability court found them guilty of taking bribes from a Swiss firm in return for a contract awarded to it by the Bhutto government in 1994 and stashing it away in a secret Swiss account.