Koirala to quit, head four-party coalition
KATHMANDU, Dec 20 — Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said he would resign to head a four-party coalition government until the general election in March.

Clinton, Starr Time’s men of the year
NEW YORK, Dec 20 — Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr were named Time magazine’s men of the year today.

Japan PM to take Liberals in ministry
TOKYO Dec 20 — Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has taken on its former arch-rival, the Liberal Party, as its coalition partner in the government.

Impeachment: a retributive instrument
THE US House of Representatives has impeached President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. The future has a long trial in store for him in the Upper House.

Koirala to quit, head four-party coalition

KATHMANDU, Dec 20 (AFP) — Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said he would resign to head a four-party coalition government until the general election in March.

Mr Koirala told newsmen had agreed to resign following a meeting between his Nepali Congress (NC) and three other parties earlier today.

“This is the best solution to solve the present political crisis in Nepal,” he said.

He said the NC’s three coalition partners would be the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML), the Rightist National Democratic Party (NDP) and the pro-India Nepal Goodwill Party (NGP).

Mr Koirala said he would lead the coalition government to the next general election.

He said the coalition meant the question of a no-confidence motion sought by the NCP-UML combine did not arise.

The NCP-ML, with 40 MPs, broke with the NC on December 10 saying Mr Koirala had failed to keep promise made when the two joined hands in August.

The Nepalese constitution says at least 103 votes are required to topple a government or form a new one, but so far the NCP-ML has managed to garner the support of only 68 MPs.

The NC has 87 seats in Parliament, the NCL-UML 46, NDP 19 and NGP three.

Mr Koirala, who had sought dissolution of Parliament, said he may seek another date.

The NCP-UML was seeking Cabinet posts of Deputy Prime Minister, Home, Finance and Communications, said an NC source seeking anonymity.

It was the NCP (UML) which had first proposed the national government comprising the four nationally recognised political parties and though it was earlier averse to Mr Koirala heading such an administration it appeared now to be more receptive to him.

But, according to NC sources, a section within the party still favoured coalescing with the NCP (Marxist-Leninist) once again. The Communist faction, which broke away from its parent NCP (UML) in March, pulled out on December 10 from their three-and-a-half month-old NC-led alliance leading to the present political uncertainty.

The 40-strong NCP (ML) group is also in the forefront of the requisitionists for the special session of the Pratinidhi Sabha. Other signatories to the requisition included both the RPP factions led by former Premiers Surya Bahadur Thapa and Lokendra Bahadur Chand, respectively, and the Maoist Nepal Mazdoor Kisan Party besides two ultra-Left independent MPs.

The present composition of the Pratinidhi Sabha is as follows: Nepali Congress 89, NCP (UML) 49, RPP (Thapa-led) 10 and NSP 3, all recognised as national parties by the Election Commission here.

Those not recognised as national parties are NCP (ML) 40, RPP (Chand-led) eight, NMKP two and Independents two. There are two vacancies in the 205-seat House.

Impeachment: a retributive instrument

THE US House of Representatives has impeached President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. The future has a long trial in store for him in the Upper House. Even if he manages to escape the final retribution by litigation or luck (President Andrew Johnson got the benefit of one Senate vote!), he would go down in history as a symbol of socio-political abomination. Let us try to understand what impeachment is.

Broadly speaking, it is a charge of misconduct in office brought against a government official by an authorised legislative body. Contrary to the general connotation, say documents of the Library of the American Congress, an impeachment is only an accusation. The impeached person may continue to perform the duties of his office until he or she has been tried and found guilty of the charges.

Impeachment is used in many forms. The tendency in Europe and South America is to confine it to officers of ministerial rank, but to extend it to all offences against the Constitution or laws. In most countries, the proceedings begin in the Lower House of the legislature, and the Upper House handles the trial and the sentence.

The origin: Impeachment originated in England in the 1400s. It was mainly used by Parliament against ministers with royal patronage or support. Several cases took place in the 1600s when Parliament sought to curb the power of the monarch. By the end of the 1700s, Parliament had gained other powers more effective than impeachment and the last case took place in 1806.

In the USA, the House of Representatives has voted articles of impeachment just 13 times before Saturday ( December 19).

The Senate has convicted only five persons. Only one, President Andrew Johnson, was impeached. Another President, Richard Nixon, resigned before the House voted on articles of impeachment recommended against him by the House Judiciary Committee.

Some government officials have resigned to avoid impeachment. However, the House can impeach a former office-holder even after he or she has resigned from office.

Milton Limask, the author of the "impeachment textbook" titled "Andrew Johnson: President on Trial" explains that impeachment is a criminal accusation brought by a legislative or an executive branch of a government. Originally, it was a legislative function only; but the concept got broadened since World War II. Now it may also be brought by an executive body, as in China (where the Control Yuan — a group that supervised public functionaries —held the sole power to impeach), or by a body exercising both executive and legislative functions, as in Cuba (where the council of ministers may indict the President of the republic or its own members.)

Legally, the term applies only to indictment. But in popular usage, it embraces the trial of the accused, conducted by the higher branch of the legislature, as in the USA and the UK; by a court, as in Belgium, France, India, and Italy; or by a combination of the two.

Even for commoners: Although in most countries impeachment is a device for removing civil officials (chiefs of state, cabinet ministers, and judges), in some countries, notably England, it applies also (in theory) to private citizens --- to commoners, for treason or other high crimes and misdemeanors; to peers, for any crime.

Impeachment existed in ancient Greece, in a process called the eisangelia. The modern institution did not originate until the latter part of the 14th century, in England.

The English system, which began as a means of enforcing responsibility of the king's ministers to Parliament, was used heavily during 200 years beginning with the accession of James I in 1603. With the rise of the doctrine of ministerial responsibility in the 19th century, however, the need for the procedure receded. After the unsuccessful impeachment trial of Lord Melville in 1806, it has fallen into disuse.

In the USA:The US Constitution adopted the British procedure with modifications primarily designed to discourage the practice of using impeachment as an instrument of political warfare. The "most conspicuous" attempt in the USA to circumvent the intent of the founding fathers took place in 1868, when radical Republicans in control of the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson in an obvious attack on the federal system of checks and balances. The fullest expression of the radical view during the trial was Senator Charles Summer's statement that "this proceeding is political in character... with a political object"; and the one-vote acquittal of the President is generally held to have established beyond question that under the American Constitution impeachment is a judicial, rather than a political process.

Procedure and problems: Six clauses in the U.S. Federal Constitution embody the law: Article I, sections 2 and 3; Article II, section 2. The House indicts, the Senate tries, and the Chief Justice presides over the inquiry in the case of the impeachment of the President. A two-thirds vote of the Senators present is required to convict.

Punishment is limited to removal from office (with the acts of the accused still subject to criminal proceedings in the courts). The impeachable acts are "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours".

President Clinton's impeachment, in its totality, will be the indictment of immorality and misdemeanour of an "exalted" person in the highest office of the land.

Whatever the outcome of the proceedings may be, history will keep wondering at the arrogance of a fallen figure who hurt his inner self, family, society, nation and universal ethics by not resigning from his position in good time.— Kamaleshwar Sinha

Clinton, Starr Time’s men of the year

NEW YORK, Dec 20 (AP) — Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr were named Time magazine’s men of the year today, a day after the independent counsel’s investigation culminated with the historic House of Representatives vote to impeach the President.

With yesterday’s vote, Mr Clinton became the second President ordered to stand trial in the Senate.

“The news reinforced our decision, which we had been wrestling with until the final days, to choose as our men of the year Bill Clinton and his pursuer Kenneth Starr, whose shared obstinacy, but radically different personalities and values, caused, them to become entwined in a sullied embrace and paired for history,” Time Managing Editor Walter Isaacson wrote in the double-issue hitting newsstands tomorrow.

Other candidates were federal Chairman Alan Greenspan, Senator, John Glenn, baseball slugger Mark McGwire and the Irish peacemakers, Isaacson confirmed speculation that Hillary Rodham Clinton had been a leading contender for the magazine’s honour.

Isaacson defined the man of the year as the person or persons who most affected the news of our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse”.

A telephone call to Starr’s office was not returned.

Pounding of Iraq cost USA $ 500 m

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (AP) — The Pentagon warmakers haven’t begun to add up the cost of the latest assault on Iraq, but a private analyst says the four-day bombardment could easily increase the US defence expenses by $ 500 million.

That’s just a starting estimate for an operation that has no revealed end game and does not include costs added to the Gulf operations by the current build-up of troops, ships and planes.

It also does not include the cost of an extended build-up in the Gulf, which the attack, all but ensures of any damage that might be inflicted by Iraq in retaliation, in the region or elsewhere. The loss of a single B-52 bomber, for example, should it occur, would add $ 30 million to the war bill.

At the centre for Defence Information, which included several retired military officers who often hold views contrary to the official line, senior analyst Chris Hellman came up with what he said would be a conservative estimate of $ 500 million for a four-day assault.

This includes: Twelve-hour sorties by 12 B-52 from Diego Garcia to Iraq at $ 9,400 per hour, each equipped with 20 air-launch cruise missiles valued at $ 1 million each for a total of $ 241.35 million.

— Operations of two carrier battle groups at $ 2.74 million per day each for a total of $ 21.92 million.

— Explosion of as many as 300 Tomahawk cruise missiles at $ 750,000 each for a total of $ 225 million.

The total of $ 488.27 million is deceptively precise.

Analysts don’t yet know exactly how many missiles were fired or how many B-52 flights were taken, or what use will be made of the additional aircraft being dispatched to the region, or how long the attack will last.

Whatever the cost of the current operation, it will pale in comparison with the cost of the four-day 1991 Gulf war, which had 425,000 troops in the region and 100 hours of sustained air strikes. The US Bill for that was $ 61 billion. All but $ 7.4 billion of which was reimbursed by the allied governments, according to the Pentagon.

The periodic build-up of the US forces in the Gulf to contain Iraq in the seven years since the war has cost another estimated $ 7 billion over the normal annual cost of maintaining the US forces in the region.

BAGHDAD: Some Iraqis on the other hand cursed the US President Mr Bill Clinton, after he ended the US airstrikes on their country today, and others said the four days of missile attacks would produce no change in their sad situation.

“What has he (Clinton) gained? All these missiles and destruction ... All this suffering and it ends as if nothing has happened”, said Mr Muhend Fawzi, an engineer.

Mr Fawzi was among a group of young Iraqis who spent the past four nights in a government shelter for fear of being hit by US or British bombs.

Today, they rolled their bed sheets and left the concrete underground shelter, discontentment evident on their faces.

“May God curse him (Clinton), I can’t see why he bombed and why he stopped”, said Mr Falah Hassan.

Mr Clinton last night announced that he was halting the airstrikes, saying that the attacks achieved their goal and caused significant’’ damage to the arms-making abilities of President Saddam Hussein’s government.

But he also said USA urged the continuation of trade sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait that have impoverished the once-rich country by cutting off its oil exports.

Japan PM to take Liberals in ministry

TOKYO Dec 20 (ANI) — Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has taken on its former arch-rival, the Liberal Party, as its coalition partner in the government.

Prime Minister and LDP leader Keizo Obuchi hammered out an agreement late last night with Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa under which both parties have agreed to reduce the number of Cabinet posts from 20 to 18. The two parties are expected to officially form a coalition government by January 19.

Meanwhile, political sources here said, Mr Obuchi is likely to reshuffle his Cabinet at the start of the new year but there is no indication so far who will be in the new Cabinet. However, the names of Mr Takeshi Noda, Secretary-General of the Liberal Party, Parliamentary Affairs Chairman Toshihiro Nikai, former Finance Minister Hirohisa Fuji and Upper House member Chikage Oogi are floating around as likely LP candidates for the Cabinet posts that are going to be vacated.

A touch of Indian Christmas in UK

LONDON, Dec 20 — The British capital got a taste of a multi-lingual Indian Christmas when the Bishop of London blessed carol singing in seven Indian languages.

Former Indian Prime Minister V.P. Singh and Bangladesh High Commissioner Mehmood Ali were among hundreds of guests at the first Christmas service held at the Indian High Commission here yesterday.

Carols and readings from the Bible were presented in Malayalam, Gujarati, Urdu, Konkani, Bengali, Kannada and Tamil. The bishop of London, Bishop John Chartres, ended his blessing with “Shanti, Shanti” followed by “Amen”.

The carol singing was followed by a bharatnatyam performance from English dancer Susanna Harrington who used the dance form to worship Jesus Christ.

“This kind of celebration is a first,” Ram Gidoomal, who organised the function with India House officials, said. — IANS

9 children drowned
DHAKA: At least nine children drowned when a ferry boat carrying a wedding party capsized in a south-eastern Bangladesh river, newspapers reported on Sunday. Three bodies of the victims, aged between four and five, were recovered yesterday, a day after the boat went down in the Shanka river near the port city of Chittagong, reports said, adding six others were missing. — AFP

Shakespeare folio stolen
LONDON: A multi-million pound haul of rare manuscripts, including works by Shakespeare and Chaucer, has been stolen from a British university, the police said on Saturday. The thieves may have slipped out of the University of Durham library in northeast England during opening hours. Among the seven manuscripts stolen was a rare 17th century edition of Shakespeare’s first folio. — Reuters

Death penalty for 4
KARACHI: A military court in Karachi sentenced four more persons to death on Saturday for murdering three police officials earlier this year. The verdict was the last from four military courts set up to try to speed up justice in the port city of Karachi where violence has claimed 800 lives so far this year. On Thursday, the first verdicts from the other courts were handed down, including a death sentence in a gangrape case and another death verdict in a murder case. — Reuters

22 die in mishap
KIGALI: Twentytwo persons, including about a dozen schoolchildren, died when a mini bus collided with a lorry near Kigali, radio Rwanda reported on Saturday. Everyone aboard the bus died. The accident happened on the road linking Kigali to Rwamanga. — AFP