BEIJING: China on Thursday slammed the Dalai Lama for internationalising the Tibet issue and described him as a ``seasoned newsmaker'' adept at ``manipulating'' public opinion against the Chinese government. ``If the Dalai Lama does have the sincerity to talk, he does not need to internationalise the (Tibet) issue,'' the official China Daily said, criticising the exiled Tibetanreligious leader for undertaking an American tour. ``With religious grab as his best political asset, the Dalai Lama acts like a seasoned newsmaker who knows too well how to manipulate public opinion,'' the commentary in China's only English-language newspaper said. Criticising the Dalai's current US visit, it said that the Tibetan leader has staged ``the Dalai Lama show'' in Washington with the ``usual ploy'' of US President Bill Clinton ``drop by'' to meet the Dalai at the White House. The Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday summoned US Ambassador James Sasser over Clinton's meeting with exiled, a US embassy spokesman said. ``We do not know what was the objective of the meeting,'' the spokesman said.

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan's religious police swept through the country publicly beating men for shaving, smashing bottles of liquor and setting on fire video cassette recorders, the Taliban-run radio said on Thursday. In northern Pul-e-Kumri, recently captured by the Taliban religious army, 200 bottlesof wine were smashed in the town centre, Radio Shariat reported. Pul-e-Kumri, barely 150 km north of the beleaguered capital Kabul, was previously ruled by Ismaili Muslim leader Sayed Jaffer, a moderate Muslim from Southern California.

Jaffer returned to his native Afghanistan in the early 1980s to lead a small, but well-armed band of Ismaili Muslims, against invading Soviet soldiers. When the Taliban religious army of Islamic students gained control over most of the country, Jaffer joined the anti-Taliban alliance. His soldiers fought along side those of former military chief Ahmed Shah Massood.The Radio Shariat broadcast also said the Taliban's religious police set on fire 12 video cassette recorders that had been hidden away in Jaffer's former domain.