COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's ruling People's Alliance (PA) swept polls to all five provincial councils in the Sinhala-dominated south today in tightly contested polls largely seen as a test of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's popularity ahead of key national elections. The ruling party, at the heart of an intense controversy over rigging in polls to the northwest council last February, secured a simple majority in all the councils, staving off a powerful challenge from its arch rival and principal opposition United National Party (UNP). Final results announced by the election commission this morning after overnight counting said the ruling alliance wrested control of UNP-held Northwestern, Sabarugamuwa, Uvva and Central provinces and retained power in the capital Colombo. Kumaratunga's own party, the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP), won more seats than the UNP in all five provinces which would enable it to form the government with its allies.

Khmer Rougechief to face foreign judges, prosecutors

PHNOM PENH: The Cambodian government has agreed to let foreign judges and prosecutors play a central role in the trial of captured Khmer Rouge chief Ta Mok, officials announced on Wednesday. Visiting US Senator John Kerry said the compromise from Premier Hun Sen would ensure the planned domestic trial of the `The Butcher' met strict international standards. He said he had also been assured that other former rebels were not immune from prosecution. Kerry said Hun Sen had also given him assurances during their talks that ``if the investigations show that there ought to be further trial of many individuals that this is possible to accomplish.''

Hunt on for culprits of crises in Russia, says media

MOSCOW: The Russian press on Wednesday ruminated on the arrest warrants slapped on two of the country's leading business barons, the latest twist in a political struggle tinged with sleaze and corruption. In a front page devoted to the attacks on one-timeKremlin insider Boris Berezovsky and fellow `oligarch' Alexander Smolensky, the liberal Sevodnya daily declared that a ``class struggle'' had broken out. Both tycoons face warrants for their arrest in connection with alleged dubious financial practices conducted within their business empires. Both are currently out of the country. ``In Russia a class struggle has started, a hunt for famous and rich people, a hunt which the Left is leading and for which the instrument, willingly or not, is the prosecutor general,'' it said, adding that a witch-hunt was on for the ``culprits of the economic and political crisis in Russia''. Ivestiya agreed, noting that "for other figures with political and financial clout this is also a bad sign". Vremya, for its part, observed that Smolensky "has more than once been named as one of the biggest business partners of Berezovsky".