The Malaysian jurist Dato Param Cumaraswamy said there was prima facie evidence of security force involvement in the

The Malaysian jurist Dato Param Cumaraswamy said there was prima facie evidence of security force involvement in the murder and he called for the establishment of a Royal Commission of inquiry into the issue. The Bill, which equalises the sexual age of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals, would be brought back before the Commons next January and made law by September or October 2000 at the latest."We are determined to use the Parliament Act to ensure that it comes back next session," a spokeswoman for Baroness Jay of Paddington, Leader of the Lords, confirmed.MPs have already voted overwhelmingly for the Bill, which is subject to a free vote as the issue is considered a matter of personal conscience.. He also imposed an order banning identification of the schoolboys.. THE AGE of consent for homosexuals will be lowered to 16 by the end of next year even if the House of Lords tonight votes against the move. Opponents of the change hope to vote down the second reading of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill in what is likely to be one of the Lords' last serious confrontations with the Government before hereditary peers are abolished. However, the Government made clear yesterday that even if it lost the vote, it would invoke the Parliament Act to reintroduce the legislation in the next Queen's Speech. The brothers admitted other offences involving removal and disposal of asbestos.The brothers were both directors of Medleys Ltd, based at Guiseley, near Leeds, which was put into liquidation in 1996.Judge John Cockroft told the pair they would not go to prison, but only because the law's maximum sentence did not permit it.

But he said: "Only time will tell in relation to cases of this sort, whether disease caused by exposure to asbestos will cause Parliament to look again at the maximum sentences for these offences."The case was adjourned until Friday when the brothers will be sentenced. The judge ordered other charges the brothers faced and charges against their firm should lie on file. He pleaded guilty to five of 11 charges.Neil and Andrew Medley, 36, from Rawdon, Leeds, admitted working on asbestos without a licence at the turbine factory and employing the three boys in contravention of the Women, Young Persons and Children Act. The former England athlete Andrew Medley and his brother Neil, who run an asbestos-removal company, were appearing at Leeds Crown Court. The hearing was told the brothers employed the boys, one aged 14, two aged 15, to remove asbestos from a factory near Leeds in 1996. Exposure to even tiny quantities of asbestos can cause potentially fatal disease but the incubation period can be many years.The court was told that Neil Medley, 37, from Menston, West Yorkshire, was the "dominant" partner in their asbestos removal company.

Realism less so, as the Serb journalist noted after the vote. "If we are expecting help from Belarus," he said, "we must commit suicide at once.". TWO YORKSHIRE businessmen left potential death sentences hanging over three schoolboys by breaching safety rules during the removal of asbestos from polluted buildings, a court was told yesterday. It was all heady stuff.At the start of yesterday's sitting, members stood for a moment's silence - in an auditorium built for the old Yugoslavia that stretched from Croatia to Macedonia - in memory of the dead from Nato's bombardment Emotion was high. This union cannot be negated."There were suggestions in the parliament yesterday that Romania and Bulgaria should be asked to join the new Slavic union, that only an alliance between Belgrade, Minsk and Moscow could ensure "stability and international peace".

Hungary's agreement to allow a reduced Russian aid convoy to pass through its territory to Serbia (minus five armoured vehicles and half its fuel trucks) was a sign for Serbs that even Budapest does not want to enrage Moscow now."Nations which surrendered themselves too easily to the West's plans are already feeling the negative impact," Mr Seselj announced "The West wants to impoverish them... I know our decision will be universally approved by the federal parliament It will give a better future for our children. Vuk Draskovic's Serb Renewal Party had never been so keen on this Slavic amalgamation. But now Yugoslav MPs line up to show their patriotism, even if they have to dance with Cossacks on the Sava river bridge as part of Belgrade's human shield.Russia, too, may be prepared to accept Yugoslavia's new allegiance. President Boris Yeltsin's proposals for contact group and G8 meetings were dismissively turned down by the West. "It was Seselj who first went to Belarus and met Lukashenko," a Serb journalist remarked afterwards "It's all the idea of the Radical Party.