Schroeder wins: exit polls
BONN, Sept 27 — Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the West’s longest-serving leader, was today toppled by Opposition candidate Gerhard Schroeder in a landmark general election that ended his 16-year rule and brought the Left-led government back to power in Germany.

• Kohl loses home seat to
  SPD challenger

Jones’ lawyers firm on $ 1 m offer
WASHINGTON, Sept 27 — The Paula Jones legal team has assumed a take-it or leave-it posture on its $ 1million proposal to settle her sexual harassment suit, legal sources have said.

Hurricane toll over 500
SANTO DOMINGO (Dominican Republic), Sept 27 — With hundreds dead and uncounted others missing, the US Agency for International Development has predicted that the final death toll in the Dominican Republic from hurricane Georges will be more than 500.

Pak asks Junoon to explain remarks
ISLAMABAD, Sept 27 — The Pakistani authorities have asked pop group “Junoon” to explain a slew of charges ranging from “belittling the ideology of Pakistan” to “disagreeing with national opinion on nuclear tests,” hurled against them by the local media during their recent Indian tour.

Clerics call for Taslima’s arrest
DHAKA, Sept 27 — Radical Muslim clerics in Bangladesh today mounted a fresh campaign for feminist writer Taslima Nasreen to be tried for blasphemy under Islamic laws.

Schroeder wins: exit polls

BONN, Sept 27 (PTI) — Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the West’s longest-serving leader, was today toppled by Opposition candidate Gerhard Schroeder in a landmark general election that ended his 16-year rule and brought the Left-led government back to power in Germany.

The 54-year-old Schroeder became the first challenger since World War II to unseat an incumbent Chancellor.

According to exit polls, Mr Schroeder’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) won between 40.9 and 41.2 per cent of votes compared with between 35.2 and 35.7 per cent for Mr Kohl’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Conceding his defeat after the first exit polls, 68-year-old Kohl told his supporters, "I take responsibility for the electoral defeat without giving any reasons" and said he was stepping down as Chairman of CDU, which he had led for 25 years.

An elated Schroeder told cheering supporters, "After 16 years, the Kohl era is at an end."

The cigar-smoking charismatic pro-business moderate also said: "It will be the endeavour of the new government to re-unite the people of Germany and to end the division."

He also vowed continuity in Germany’s foreign policy and fight against unemployment.

However, it was not clear whether Mr Schroeder would win enough seats in the Bundestag (Lower House of Parliament) to rule in coalition with the Left-wing, ecologist Greens party.

If he fails he could form a grand coalition with the CDU although Mr Kohl has already ruled out serving in such a government.

The grand coalition, often dubbed an "elephants' wedding", could be led by Mr Schroeder with an important post for Mr Kohl's deputy Wolfgang Schaeuble.

The exit polls gave the Greens' 6.5 per cent while the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP), Mr Kohl's junior coalition partner, also won 6.5 per cent.

Mr Kohl, 64, who was hailed as the unity Chancellor after the unification of the two Germanys in 1990 and the driving force behind the "Euro" to be launched in January next, apparently got a drubbing in East Germany on the issue of unemployment. The former Communist-ruled state had rallied behind Mr Kohl strongly in the 1990 and 1994 elections.

According to projections of results, the SPD (286 seats) and its preferred coalition government Greens will be able to form the "Red-Green" coalition on its own by notching 329 seats in a House of 656. The CDU/CSU has been projected to get 244 seats and its junior coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), 45 seats. The ruling alliance is projected to have been losing 52 seats in the 14 th Bundestag.

CDU general secretary Peter Hintze at a press conference immediately after the exit polls were televised on ZDF TV conceded defeat saying that his party would respect the outcome of the elections.

Mr Schroeder, (54), the war widow’s son from Lower Saxony, ran a slick, Americanised campaign, presenting himself as a fresh face with fresh ideas to counter Mr Kohl, whom he called yesterday’s man.

No post-war Chancellor had been voted out of office. Earlier power changes came through shifts in coalitions.

Kohl loses home seat to SPD challenger

BONN, Sept 28 (Reuters) — German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has suffered a humiliating setback when he lost his home district of Ludwigshafen to Social Democratic candidate Doris Barnett, the local election commissioner has said.

Barnett won 47.9 per cent of the vote in the district, compared to 40.8 per cent for Kohl, who had won his home district in 1990 and 1994.Kohl, in power for 16 years, has conceded defeat to Social Democratic challenger Gerhard Schroeder in yesterday’s federal election.

PM wins hearts with verses

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (PTI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said that only education can liberate humans from the shackles of materialism, chauvinism, fanaticism and violence.

“As the world becomes a global village, we need non-political and non-governmental organisations. To disseminate the wisdom of Indian civilisation which alone will sustain tomorrow’s global civilisation,” he said at a reception hosted by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan here yesterday.

The Prime Minister also cautioned people against believing that technology alone can be mankind’s saviour.

Technology, even information technology, is at best an enabling tool, he said and stressed the need to impart the right type of education which encourages “open minds to engage in ceaseless learning.”

“The tool (technology) requires responsible hands guided by wise minds to put it to the right use,” Mr Vajpayee said.

Recalling that Mahatma Gandhi stood for decentralisation, he said in the industrial age, this was not possible as industrial civilisations necessarily lead to centralisation and concentration of resources and power.

Mr Vajpayee said the key word in the bhavan’s mission is ‘vidya’ (education).

Speaking of his close ties with the bhavan, Mr Vajpayee said the Krishna Behari Vajpayee trust, set up in his father’s memory, had opened a computer training centre at his ancestral home in Gwalior.

The Prime Minister who is also a poet, won several hearts with his verses.

After his formal speech in English to the select gathering, he recalled the days when he had written the poem. His eyes lit up as narrated how he had composed the poem in Srinagar.

The poem, he said, was from a set of three poems representing various moods of the poet.

“When the poet is elated, he wants to sing. When he is depressed he does not sing but still expresses his feelings in poetry and in the third mood, he neither wants to sing nor keep mum.”

At another function later in the day, reacting to praise showered on him by several speakers, Mr Vajpayee expressed the hope that he would be able to come up to the expectations of the people.

Speaking at a function for signing a publication contract of an encyclopaedia on Hinduism, the Prime Minister stressed the need for peaceful interaction among different cultures and a cultural framework that was tolerant, accommodative and integrative.

The encyclopaedia, a joint effort of 2,000 scholars worldwide, will be published in 2000 by the University of Carolina press. Its preparation is being overseen by the India Heritage Research Foundation.

The two partners signed the contract in presence of the Prime Minister who hailed it as the “project for third millennium.”

Hinduism, he said, had entered a phase of renaissance and bid to emerge as the most attractive faith in the coming millennium which also makes it a “millennial project”.

Fatwa on Rushdie ‘irrevocable’

TEHERAN, Sept 27 (AFP) — Iran’s Foreign Ministry today reiterated that the “fatwa” or religious decree, condemning British author Salman Rushdie to death for blasphemy was irrevocable.

“The irrevocability of the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa is a fact,” the official Iranian news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi as saying.

The spokesman also said it was surprising that Rushdie, condemned to death for his book “The Satanic Verses,” still continues making what he called “offensive remarks.”

“Such offensive remarks would certainly result in further indignation among the Muslims” IRNA quoted the spokesman as saying.

DUBAI: Iran’s decision to bury the hatchet over Indian born British author Salman Rushdie and paving the way for the resumption of full diplomatic ties between Teheran and London is seen here as a major victory for the moderate President, Mr Mohammed Khatami.

For Mr Khatami, who is having a bitter power struggle with Muslim hardliners at home, and has sought better ties with the rest of the world by ending years of self-imposed isolation, this comes as a major morale booster.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Mr Kamal Kharazzi, assured his British counterpart, Mr Robin Cook in New York earlier this week that Iran would “not send death squads to threaten the life of Salman Rushdie”, leading to a thaw in ties strained in the wake of a “fatwa” on the author.

Mr Kharazzi, who met Mr Cook on the sidelines of the 53rd General Assembly session here, also disassociated his government from the “bounty on the head of the author of the “Satanic Verses,” for allegedly blaspheming Islam.

The first test for Mr Khatami was the Friday prayers last week at Teheran where no reference was made to Rushdie. It remains to be seen whether the issue is raised next February during the 10th anniversary of the “fatwa”.

Whatever the diplomatic outcome of the shift in Iranian stand, it will be quite sometime before Rushdie can discard the tight security provided by the British police.

Jones’ lawyers firm on $ 1 m offer

WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (AP) — The Paula Jones legal team has assumed a take-it or leave-it posture on its $ 1million proposal to settle her sexual harassment suit, leaving US President Bill Clinton to decide whether he wants to still fight the case along with looming House impeachment proceedings, legal sources have said.

The sources, familiar with the thinking of the Jones camp, said yesterday that “her attorneys are resolved not to make further concessions’’, even though the President’s attorney made the last counter offer.

The Jones’ offer would not require an apology from Mr Clinton, once such a priority for her that she rejected a monetary settlement because the President wouldn’t give her one.

She now believes that the President’s admission of sexual misconduct with Ms Monica Lewinsky vindicates her story of an unwanted sexual advance by Mr Clinton in 1991, her lawyers said last week.

White House officials and Mr Clinton attorney, Mr Robert Bennett have refused requests for comment on the negotiations.

Mr Clinton advisers fear problems stemming from the case, while impeachment proceedings could be politically devastating. If there’s no settlement, Mr Clinton could face possible contempt proceedings in the Federal Court or testimony involving conduct with other women.

A settlement, on the other hand, would fit into Mr Clinton’s strategy in the Congress — acceptance of a censure to avoid an impeachment inquiry.

“Mrs Jones’ Dallas based lawyers have characterised their offer of several weeks ago as an attempt to resolve this quickly,” a legal source familiar with the Jones thinking said.

“The Jones team is not going to negotiate and not going to make a further offer,” so Mr Clinton should not expect one, the source said.

Hurricane toll over 500

SANTO DOMINGO (Domi-nican Republic), Sept 27 (AP) — With hundreds dead and uncounted others missing, the US Agency for International Development has predicted that the final death toll in the Dominican Republic from hurricane Georges will be more than 500.

The official number from the Dominican Government was 201 dead yesterday, but eyewitness accounts and relief agency reports from the areas yet to be reached by government officials indicate that dozens more have been killed.

In many communities wiped out by floods, residents continued searching through mud and debris for the missing.

The Dominican Republic, on the Eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, has been the hardest hit country so far by Georges.

Pak asks Junoon to explain remarks

ISLAMABAD, Sept 27 (PTI) — The Pakistani authorities have asked pop group “Junoon” to explain a slew of charges ranging from “belittling the ideology of Pakistan” to “disagreeing with national opinion on nuclear tests,” hurled against them by the local media during their recent Indian tour.

The three-member group, which made a highly successful visit to India in May, has been asked by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to explain several anti-Pakistan remarks allegedly made during their visit, media reports said here today.

In a communiqué titled “Indian subversive propaganda”, the ministry, routed through the Karachi-based national council of arts, asked the popular group to explain their comments to the international media.

Members of the group, however, are pleased with the opportunity to clarify charges, which they said would give them a chance to clear their names.

Responding to the charges, Salman Ahmed of Junoon, said, “I vehemently refute these charges. How can a group that sang ‘Jazba-e-junoon’, the national anthem, and composed Allama Iqbal’s poetry into songs, ever conceive of belittling Pakistan?”

Clerics call for Taslima’s arrest

DHAKA, Sept 27 (DPA) — Radical Muslim clerics in Bangladesh today mounted a fresh campaign for feminist writer Taslima Nasreen to be tried for blasphemy under Islamic laws.

Clerics called for Taslima’s arrest and announced a countrywide protest against the reported return of the 38-year-old writer to Bangladesh about two weeks ago.

“Taslima Nasreen can only be tried under the Shahria laws, which provide for the death sentence for such sinners,’’ said Shaikul Hadith Azizul Huq, chief of the Islamic United Alliance, which is spearheading the campaign.

Bangladesh does not follow Shahria laws except in matters of inheritance and Muslim marriages.Mr Huq said thousands of Islamic protesters would take to the streets on October 4 warning the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina against sheltering Taslima.

The move by the clerics followed an arrest warrant issued by a local criminal court against Taslima on Friday to answer to charges of anti-Islamic writings.

The warrant revived a four-year-old case against her and also called for seizing her property if she failed to turn up at the court and face the trial. However, magistrate Syed Lokman Ahmad did not put a deadline for Taslima’s surrender to the court.

Sued on HIV test
RIO DE JANEIRO: For nearly four years, Nadilson Martins thought he was dying of AIDS. Now he is suing the city of Angra Dos Reis for 500,000 riyals ($ 310,000) claiming that a municipal clinic did the test wrong. “The test completely destroyed my life”, Martins said by telephone from Angra Dos Reis, a city about 150 km south-west of Rio. For four years I lived like I was dying. The 40-year-old, married, and father of two quit his job in 1994 as a city councillor’s aide, sold his house and returned to his birthplace in north-eastern Brazil to live out what he thought were his final days, he said. — AP

Angolan-Namibia pact
LUANDA: Angola and Namibia have signed an accord of cooperation in the areas of defence and security. The accord was signed on Friday in Windhoek after a two-day meeting of the Angolan-Namibia joint commission. Angolan Deputy Minister for National Defence Policy Roberto Leal Ngongo, said the accord would be subjected to approval from the respective governments. — Pool-Angop

Jazz singer dead
NEW YORK: Grammy Award winner singer Betty Carter (69), known as the godmother of jazz for nurturing young musical talent, died of pancreatic cancer at her Brooklyn home. She was best known to fans for her signature signing style daring improvisations and unusual approaches to songs. That style that helped catapult her 1960 duet with Ray Charles, “Baby it’s cold outside” to a jazz classic. — AP

Plea to open grave
COLOMBO: Relatives of some 600 disappeared persons in Sri Lanka’s Jaffna peninsula have appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to pressurise the government to open a mass grave at Chemmani believed to contain their bodies. The appeal was made in a letter to UNHRC President Mary Robinson by the relatives, who have formed an organisation named the Guardians Association for Persons Arrested and Disappeared in North, released here on Saturday. — UNI

Sentenced
TEL AVIV: Margalit Har-Shefi, a friend of the murderer of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was sentenced to nine months in prison on Sunday for failing to prevent the 1995 assassination. The Tel Aviv District Court also handed down a 15-month suspended prison sentence to Har-Shefi, 23, who was convicted in June. — AFP

2 die in plane crash
DHAKA: A training aircraft crashed at Postogola in the outskirts of the capital on Sunday leaving an instructor and a trainee dead. Officials of Air Parabat said both the instructor and woman trainee died on the spot. The victims were identified as Mr Rafiq and Ms Lara. The plane was coming here from Barisal. — UNI