ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is all set to throw open its door to the wonder anti-impotency drug, Viagra, after decision makers in the government, and not medical experts, cleared it for marketing in the country at an abnormally high price, media reports claimed. Pakistan, will probably be the first third world country to allow the controversial blue pill for an over-the-counter (OTC) sale all over the country sometime next month, the English daily The News said quoting senior health ministry officials. The reports claimed that the sources in the health ministry have said that a strong pro-Viagra lobby was created in the top echelons of the government as the Viagra samples were passed on to those who matter in decision-making.

Date with impeachment

MOSCOW: Leaders of political groups in Russia's lower house of parliament will meet next Tuesday to consider a date for a vote on impeaching President Boris Yeltsin, the chamber's speaker said on Friday.

Gennady Seleznyov,chairman of the state Duma, said the chamber's managing council would convene following a two-week period in which deputies have had the chance to consider the findings of the Duma's impeachment committee. The panel recommended impeaching Yelstin on five counts. Most of these charges are considered unlikely to achieve the support of the 300 out of 450 members of the Duma required to impeach the president.

Giant panda troubles

BEIJING: One of China's rare giant pandas was rescued after spending the night up a pine tree and is now in critical condition in a treatment centre, reports said on Friday. A highly ``distressed'' Liuliu was discovered last Sunday by a farmer in the rural northern province of Shaanxi after being chased up a 16.5-foot tall tree by three dogs, the official Xinhua news agency reported. A team of veterinary surgeons, which administers special pills and injections daily, said Liuliu was in ``a very poor state'' after the ordeal. The Shaanxi Rare Animal Rescue Centre is home to sixpandas, all of which were rescued after being injured or falling ill in the wild. The giant panda, native to China, is on the verge of extinction, with a population of between 900 and 1,200.

Chinese visits to US labs

WASHINGTON: The United States has no plans to curb visits of nuclear experts of the Chinese army to American nuclear laboratories despite allegations that Beijing obtained the latest US nuclear weapons and neutron bomb technology through espionage, the Pentagon has said. The Pentagon would not alter plans to bring a group of People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers to the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico similar to the nearby Los Alamos laboratory from where the Chinese reportedly obtained the nuclear secrets, spokesman said.