Panel votes for impeachment WASHINGTON, Dec 13 — The Republican-led US House panel has passed a fourth and final impeachment article against President Clinton, setting the stage for a full House vote on Thursday. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Clinton has said he has no intention to resign.

Clinton visit starts amid violence
Aid package offered
BETHLEHEM, Dec 13 — Israeli soldiers shot at and wounded five Palestinians while a Jewish settler was stabbed today as a wave of violent protests continued during the start of a historic visit to the region by US President Bill Clinton.

Attacks on Kabul kill 33 civilians
KABUL, Dec 13 — Dozens of fighters and civilians were killed today as Afghan opposition forces launched a new offensive across three front lines and pounded Kabul with light rockets.

Failed Sharif visit to USA: Khokhar on way out? WASHINGTON, Dec 13 — Pakistani Ambassador Riaz Khokhar, who served as High Commissioner to India before coming here in 1997, may become the first casualty of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent “uneventful” visit to the USA. Strike paralyses Bangladesh DHAKA, Dec 13 — An Opposition-led general strike brought much of Bangladesh to a near halt today amid fears of violence as the ruling Awami League threatened to resist the stoppage.

PARIS: British writer Salman Rushdie (left) and Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka attend the International Parliament of Writers colloquium at the Beaubourg museum in Paris on Saturday. Soyinka and Rushdie are president and honorary president, respectively, of the parliament. The colloquium's topic was the organisation of the Refuge-City Network aimed at hosting and protecting artists and writers who are physically threatened in their homelands. — AP/PTI

Respect human rights: rebels
BEIJING, Dec 13 — Responding to a crackdown on leaders of a would-be opposition party, a diverse group of 184 dissidents throughout China released a letter to the nation’s leaders yesterday, urging them to make good on promises to respect the human rights.

Panel votes for impeachment
Full House debate on Thursday

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (PTI) — The Republican-led US House panel has passed a fourth and final impeachment article against President Clinton and rejected a Democrat-sponsored move to censure rather than impeach him, setting the stage for a full House vote on Thursday.

The deeply polarised panel voted a motion 21-16 on Saturday, charging Mr Clinton with abusing the power of his office to make false and perjurious statements to Congress on the Monica Lewinsky case in reply to 81 questions put by Chairman Henri Hyde.

After hours of bitter debate, the panel voted down 22-14 a Democrat-sponsored motion that would have allowed the House of Representatives to rebuke or censure Mr Clinton for his wrongdoings, brushing aside a last-minute emotional plea from the President.

With the committee approving all four articles on party lines, all eyes are now on the 435-member House that will decide on Thursday whether to send the case for trial to the Senate for the third time in US history.

Three other articles charging Mr Clinton with abuse of office and perjury were approved on Friday, minutes after panel members watched a subdued Mr Clinton admit to wrongdoings and express his willingness to accept censure.

The debate preceding voting was marked by unprecedented heated exchanges with both Democrats and Republican members of the judicial panel questioning each other’s motives.

The series of party line votes against the President roused the ire of the White House. Retaliating swiftly, White House special counsel Gregory Craig, said final judgement in the case will remain in the hands of the American public.

"Nothing about the process has been fair. Nothing about this process has been bipartisan," he said, criticising the panel’s decision.

If the Lower House approves even one of the articles of impeachment, the Senate will try the President. A two-thirds majority is required to carry through the motion in the Upper House and it is unlikely that it will be approved.

In a last-ditch effort to save Mr Clinton, Democrat leader Richard Gephardt had introduced a motion seeking to censure Mr Clinton rather than impeach him. But, the overwhelmingly Republican House, responding to a plea by Mr Hyde not to support the Bill, turned it down.

Mr Hyde, in a letter to the republican leaders, had asked them not to allow a vote on the motion to censure Mr Clinton, saying that it would violate House rules.

"It is my view that a resolution proposing censure of the President in lieu of impeachment violates rules of the House, threatens separation of powers and fails to meet the constitutional muster," Mr Hyde wrote.

Clinton not to resign

JERUSALEM, Dec 13 (Reuters) — President Bill Clinton said today he had no intention to resign following votes by the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to impeach him.

"I have no intention of resigning. It’s never crossed my mind," a grim-faced Mr Clinton told a news conference following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"I could not admit to doing something that I am quite sure I did not do," he said, while referring to the charge of perjury.

However, Mr Clinton acknowledged that he agreed with comments his lawyer, Charles Ruff, made to committee regarding the "difficulty" of his testimony.

He urged members of the full House to follow their conscience when they vote on impeachment later this week.

Clinton visit starts amid violence
Aid package offered

BETHLEHEM, Dec 13 (AFP) — Israeli soldiers shot at and wounded five Palestinians while a Jewish settler was stabbed today as a wave of violent protests continued during the start of an historic visit to the region by US President Bill Clinton.

In the most serious incident a 15-year-old Palestinian girl stabbed a young Israeli woman outside a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank.

An Israeli girl was hurt with several stab wounds in the back and her attacker said she acted to show Palestinian opposition to the Jewish settlements during President Clinton’s visit.

Palestinians threw stones and some firebombs at an Israeli army checkpoint leading from Bethlehem into Jerusalem after soldiers abused a group of labourers who were trying to enter Israel, they said.

An Israeli officer was also slightly hurt when he was struck in the head by a stone during some scattered clashes outside Palestinian-ruled Ramallah town, north of Jerusalem. Three of the stone-throwers were detained by the army, officials said.

Mr Clinton met Israeli leaders this morning here in a bid to rescue the faltering Wye River peace accord with the Palestinians.

“Both sides must now face the challenge of implementing Wye,” said Mr Clinton, who was flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Ezer Weizman.

“I believe it was the right thing to do, I believed it then and a believe it now,” he said, referring to the nine days he spent brokering the land-for-security pact between Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in October.

But Mr Netanyahu countered with an unyielding justification of his refusal to carry out further West Bank withdrawals.

Speaking first in English and then in Hebrew for a Right-wing domestic constituency which never accepted the land concessions, Mr Netanyahu denounced what he said were systematic Palestinian violations of the accord. “For the past few weeks, our Palestinian partners have not kept their commitments and have reverted to past practices,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu’s tough stance underscored the difficult task facing Mr Clinton as he seeks during talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to get the peace process back on track.

Mr Netanyahu faces political crisis. He narrowly avoided being ousted last week when far-Right Deputies angry at his agreement to cede more West Bank land to Palestinian rule joined pro-peace opposition forces upset at Netanyahu’s threats not to implement the Wye accord.

Casting his lot with the Right-wing that brought him to power in 1996, Mr Netanyahu has stepped up his rhetoric over alleged Palestinian violations of the land-for-security deal he signed with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

CAIRO: Mr Clinton today said he would ask Congress to approve a $ 1.2 billion package to help the implementation of the West Asia peace accord which has been clouded by a wave of violence in the West Bank.

“I have told the (Israeli) Prime Minister that I will soon submit to Congress a supplementary request for $ 1.2 billion to meet Tel Aviv’s security needs related to implementing the Wye river agreement”, Mr Clinton said in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu.

However, Mr Clinton’s gesture of aid was not taken by Mr Netanyahu in positive term.

Attacks on Kabul kill 33 civilians

KABUL, Dec 13 (AFP) — Dozens of fighters and civilians were killed today as Afghan opposition forces launched a new offensive across three front lines and pounded Kabul with light rockets.

Combined reports from the Opposition, residents and aid workers said at least 33 civilians were killed and 50 wounded and hundreds forced to flee their homes.

Another 42 Taliban militia troops died in the fighting and 162 were captured by the Opposition.

The latest offensive was timed to take advantage of the last days of fine weather as the Taliban and forces loyal to Opposition Commander Ahmad Shah Masood continued attempts to secure northern supply routes ahead of winter.

Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Taliban sources as saying that 21 civilians died and 27 were injured in Kabul after 12 Russian-made BM-21 light rockets were launched by Masood.

AIP said Taliban spokesman Wakil Ahmad, condemning the rocket attack, accused forces of Masood of targeting Kabul’s residential areas in a bid “to continue pressure” on the Afghan Government.

“What’s he doing? Why is he destroying the country?” an irate resident here asked.

Masood rejects charges that civilian areas are deliberately targeted, claiming that the rockets strikes were aimed at Kabul airport.

Taxi drivers in the area grabbed the dead and the wounded and rushed them to nearby hospitals. On the cold road many persons lay wounded, bleeding and pleading for help.

Failed Sharif visit to USA
Khokhar on way out?

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 — Pakistani Ambassador Riaz Khokhar, who served as High Commissioner to India before coming here in 1997, may become the first casualty of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent “uneventful” visit to the USA.

According to media reports, the Pakistani mission here is being held responsible for what is seen as Mr Sharif’s failed talks with President Bill Clinton. The Pakistani media, including prestigious newspapers like The Dawn and weekly Friday Times, is rife with speculation on who will succeed Khokhar in Washington.

Pakistan watchers here point out that The Nation has been particularly harsh on Khokhar. The newspaper’s Chief Editor Majid Nizami is close to Mr Sharif and was part of his extended entourage. Mr Nizami, along with five other senior journalists, was denied entry into the White House during the talks because of a security faux pas.

The Nation editorially blamed the embassy for their embarrassment. “What is even worse is that while a senior State Department official has apologised for the incident, neither the Ambassador nor his media managers have deemed it fit to express regrets over it”, the paper said.

It went on to make a case for Khokhar’s removal, saying that “it is not the first time our Ambassador in the USA has been found napping”. There have been complaints of a similar type during his tenure as Pakistan’s envoy in India, it added.

An envoy, it said, was expected to be well informed in case he was to perform his duties satisfactorily. “One is not sure, however, if Mr Riaz Khokhar has been doing his homework with sufficient concentration”, it added. To drive home its point, the daily faulted Khokhar for providing wrong figures about the money received by Pakistan from the USA in lieu of undelivered F-16 fighter aircraft and about his inability to inform Islamabad about Washington’s demand for the Sharif Government’s help in apprehending Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, currently living in Afghanistan.

The USA holds bin Laden responsible for the August bombings of its embassies in Africa. “This is not the first time that Mr Khokhar’s performance has been less than highly satisfactory”, said The Nation.

However, according to press reports; the Embassy had warned Islamabad against raising “unduly” high expectations of the “semi-official” Sharif visit. But his coterie, in its overenthusiasm, reportedly acted contrary to the advice, creating an impression back home that Mr Sharif would not only get the nuclear-related sanctions lifted but persuade President Bill Clinton to mediate in the Kashmir dispute.

This did not happen, evoking criticism in Pakistani opposition and media as well as causing embarrassment to the Prime Minister. The coterie is now blaming the Ambassador and wants to make him a scapegoat for its own error of judgement.

— IANS

Strike paralyses Bangladesh

DHAKA, Dec 13 (Reuters) — An Opposition-led general strike brought much of Bangladesh to a near halt today amid fears of violence as the ruling Awami League threatened to resist the stoppage.

The police said “they had no report of any untoward incident so far during the dawn-to-dusk strike”.

At least 100 people were injured as members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party clashed with the police and ruling party workers.

The Police open fired and used tear gas shells to disperse stone throwing BNP activists, who were demanding that the Chief Election Commissioner step down for his failure to conduct free and fair polls.

“The Chief Election Commissioner must resign and be replaced by a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court,” local dailies quoted BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia as saying during a party meeting yesterday.

Trouble broke out when a bomb was thrown from a procession led by former BNP Home Minister Matin Chowdhury leading to violent clashes between the protesters and the police.

Violence also broke out at Sheorapara area in Dhaka’s Mirpur district where the ruling Awami League activists and the BNP clashed repeatedly prompting police to lob tear gas shells to disperse them.

Authorities today imposed tight security in the capital and the port city of Chittagong, deploying thousands of police and paramilitary personnel.

Awami leaders, including Deputy Minister for Shipping Saber Hossain Chowdhury, led street marches in Dhaka urging residents to “reject the hartal”, witnesses said.

Diana was under US Intelligence scrutiny
from Michael Ellison in New York

American intelligence agencies hold more than 1,000 pages of files on Diana, Princess of Wales, which they claim could cause “exceptionally grave damage to the national security,” if made public.

The National Security Agency (NSA), which monitors foreigners and can intercept telephone calls and e-mail, says its records are “currently and properly classified” top secret.

News of the files comes after the release of the papers revealing that Frank Sinatra offered to work undercover for the FBI.

It is not known if the material on Princess Diana relates to her death. A spokesman at the French Embassy in New York said: “I have no information at all about anything of this kind. We are not informed about that.” The records came to light in response to a request from the APB, a wire service which specialises in criminal justice, under the Freedom of Information Act. The NSA says the files are exempted from disclosure.

John Pike, an expert on the US intelligence agencies at the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington think-tank, said: “Basically, they (the NSA) monitor everything outside the USA, everyone of significance.” He thought the agencies could have been collecting information to protect the Princess from terrorist attacks.

The files contain 1,056 pages and are held by the NSA the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department and the Defence Intelligence Agency. The NSA say the documents are being withheld to protect “intelligence sources and methods” and “the functions or activities of the NSA”. Experts says that even if the contents of a file are not sensitive, the sources may well be.

A spokesman at the Defence Intelligence Agency, known as the Pentagon’s CIA, said he had no idea why it would have classified information on the Princess. “All our stuff is on military, obviously she wasn’t in the military.” Mr Pike said the US Government might have been interested in her campaign against landmines.

— The Guardian, London

Respect human rights: rebels

BEIJING, Dec 13 (AP) — Responding to a crackdown on leaders of a would-be opposition party, a diverse group of 184 dissidents throughout China released a letter to the nation’s leaders yesterday, urging them to make good on promises to respect the human rights.

The letter focused on the case of Wang Youcai, a student leader in the 1989 democracy demonstrations, who is expected to go on trial soon for subversion for trying to set up an opposition political party.

Xu Wenli and Qin Yongmin, veteran dissidents also active in leading efforts to found the China Democracy Party, were held on November 30.

The letter, released by a New York-based human rights organisation in China, urged President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji to release these three and other democracy advocates who had been held in recent months.

60 die in clashes
MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte: At least 60 persons were killed over the last week in clashes on the separatist island of Anjouan, in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros, the prefecture on the French Island of Mayotte said on Saturday. Gunfire could be heard in the morning in Mutsamudu, the main town on the island, which broke away from the Comoran Islamic Federation in August 1997. — AFP

Last spacewalk
WASHINGTON: Space shuttle Endeavour astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman have made their third and last spacewalk to make final adjustments to the exterior of the new international space station (ISS). Hovering 402 km above the earth, they repaired an emergency communications antenna on the Russian “Zarya” module on Saturday, and tested a rocket system that would allow space-walking astronauts to return alone to the space shuttle if they become separated. — AFP

‘Viagra rape squad’
LONDON: A man had to be rescued by the police after he was force-fed Viagra by two blonde women calling themselves the “Viagra rape squad” and left bound and gagged in a hotel bedroom, it was claimed. The Sun tabloid on Saturday related how “two stunning blondes” picked up a businessman at a nightclub in London on Tuesday. But once in a hotel room in west London, the pair chained the 25-year-old to a bed, fed him the anti-impotence drug and forcibly had sex with him. — AFP

Quake kills 5
ISLAMABAD: A strong earthquake jolted Kabul on Saturday today killing five persons and seriously injuring eight, the official Kabul radio said. Northern Pakistan was also rocked by the 1:16 a.m. (2016 GMT) quake, which a seismic centre in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar said measured 5.4 on the Richter scale and was centred about 350 km north of there in the Hindu Kush mountain range on the Afghan border. — Reuters

Award for Indian book
DUBAI: A new book on Indian postal services has won the silver medal at the world Philatelic Exhibition, Italia at Rome. “India Post Through Ages”, a monumental work compiled by Dr H. Noor Ahmed from Andhra Pradesh and released by the Indian President, is a well researched one, tracing the history of Indian postal services. — PTI

Married & sentenced
EDWARDSVILLE (Illinois): Judge Dan Stack runs a full-service courtroom. He presided over the marriage of a man and sentenced him minutes later for bringing marijuana into the courthouse. The groom, Ewel Simon Greene, was arrested at the courtroom door on Friday afternoon after a deputy using a metal detector discovered a metal pipe in his pocket, which led to a search that turned up a bag containing less than 2.5 grams of marijuana. — AP