Tuesday, January 19, 1999
today's calendar
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W O R L D | Tuesday, January 19, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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China ‘may reverse’
economic reforms Yeltsin in
stable condition |
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UK Lords
reopen Pinochet case |
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‘Titanic’ star
denies damage to beach Wind
up UN mission in Angola: Annan Anwar aide
freed Jews
still want to leave Mossad
‘planned to kill’ Saddam Ex-President
gets 10 yrs’ jail |
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WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (AP) — The Senate impeachment trial resumes this week, with White House lawyers ready to rebut what Republicans say was hard evidence that President Bill Clinton committed perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky affair. But Democrats, unswayed by House arguments, continue to call for censure as an alternative to Mr Clinton’s removal from office. Partisan differences also were hardening over the calling of witnesses, with Republican lawmakers saying it’s inevitable there will be some testimony and Democrats warning that a battle over witnesses could prolong the trial for months. Mr Clinton’s lawyers open their defence tomorrow and will insist that the allegations against the President aren’t supported by the facts and don’t warrant nullifying a national election, White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said yesterday. We will also point out the significant holes in the presentation by the House of Representatives managers as well as their misleading and overreaching characterisations of the evidence and testimony, he added. Tomorrow night, with the trial recessed, Senators will proceed to the House chamber to hear Mr Clinton deliver his annual state of the union policy address. Quite frankly, I’d rather go to the dentist, "Senator Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican, said on ABC television this week." He said he would stand and applaud out of respect for the Presidency, but he complained: "It’s like adjourning the trial to have the accused give a pep rally before the jurors." Last week, "you heard what some might call good old street attorneys make one very strong case," Senator Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, said of the 13 House Lawmakers who presented the case against Mr Clinton. This week, "you’re going to have the best attorneys money can buy make another probably very strong case, he said on FOX news, Sunday." Following the White House presentation this week and a period for Senators to ask questions, the Senate will move to votes on motions, including House managers’ demands they be allowed to call witnesses. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, expressing an apparent consensus among Republicans, told NBCs meet the press "that it would be pretty tough under these circumstances not to have witnesses." But Democrats warned that the trial could be stretched interminably if both sides began calling witnesses, and said they would contribute to that process by seeking testimony from such people as independent counsel Kenneth Starr and informant Linda Tripp. If I’m any reader of the tea leaves in this situation, front and centre is going to be Mr Kenneth Starr, "Senator Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat, said on CBS face the nation." We will go through prosecutorial abuse, how he came by information, who he talked to and we’re going to put the system of justice on trial. Mr Torricelli said that in the interest of fairness, Republicans couldn’t call their own witnesses led by Ms Lewinsky, Presidential secretary Betty Currie and Mr Clinton friend Vernon Jordan and Deny Mr Clinton’s lawyers a chance to call witnesses. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, suggested on ABC that witnesses could not add to the volumes of existing testimony. Be real. ... this is not something where somebody suddenly comes running in the courtroom and says, "oh, my god I did it," he said. But Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on CBS that we are not going to let this spin out of control. The Senate controls the witnesses. Republicans control the Senate, 55-45, and only a simple majority vote is required to call individual witnesses. Some Senators have resolved not to discuss the trial publicly till it is over. But 19 Senators 10 Democrats and nine Republicans appeared on the Sunday television interview shows, and many were clear about their impressions thus far. I think the case that was made by the House managers is very, very strong in terms of perjury, in terms of what would happen to our system of justice if there are certain exceptions to lying under oath, Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said on NBC. Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, speaking on ABC, said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois, in his closing remarks on Saturday, tried to compare what we’re about to Normandy, Iwo Jima, the Magna Carta, for crying out loud Gettysburg talk about overblowing and excess. That’s what I think the American people feel about this." A vote of two-thirds of the Senate, 67 members, is needed to remove Clinton from office, and Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat, said the President’s opponents are nowhere close to that mark. Mr Wellstone and other
Democrats said that if Mr Clinton is not convicted, they
would still push ahead with a censure resolution
condemning the President for his behaviour with Ms
Lewinsky, a former White House intern. |
WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (PTI) — China, which is reeling under the weight of its economic troubles, may reverse course and "renege on its commitment to economic reforms", analysts here said. Unemployment is increasing in China with reports putting it at around 100 million. Twentyfive per cent to 40 per cent of all bank loans are categorised as bad debt while uncollectable debt is put at 20 per cent of the trillion-dollar annual gross domestic product (GDP), they say. China’s Deputy Finance Minister Lou Jiwei told The Washington Post that the government would establish asset-management corporations to absorb billions in debt for each of the major state-owned banks. Mr William Seidman, former Chairman of the Resolution Trust Corporation, which liquidated the bad loans of American savings banks which constituted 8 per cent of the U.S. gross domestic product, told the Post in Beijing that "the Chinese are clearly aware of how important it is that they get something going. They are too much involved in the world economy to operate without a healthy banking sector." Mr Seidman said, however, that he was concerned about the independence the Chinese asset management corporation would have. Under an initial Chinese plan, the People’s Bank of China was going to run one corporation. Each of China’s four major banks will have its own corporation, raising questions about their ability to work independently. The Chinese asset management corporations, said the Post, will apparently have little of the freedom enjoyed by the Resolution Trust Corp. In effect, the asset management firms in China will simply function as debt collection agencies, Andy Xe, a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong told the Post. Xe also drew attention to another major problem in China, that of overbuilt office space. Xe estimated that today as many as 350 million square metres of office space stands empty in China. In addition, around $ 250 billion worth of industrial inventory is sitting unwanted in warehouses. Furthermore, unlike in South Korea and Thailand, where western firms will be permitted to participate in this process, no western firms will be permitted to participate in the process in China. This would block western accounting methods and management skills from an area of the Chinese economy that is vastly in need of a major reform. Nicholas Lardy, an economist at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said that an underlying reason for China’s unwillingness to sell its bad debts is an apparent reluctance to let deeply indebted companies go out of business. This, he said, is prompted
by a concern about the growing number of unemployed, and
increasingly embittered workers living in China’s
cities. |
MOSCOW, Jan 18 (PTI) — President Boris Yeltsin admitted to hospital with an acute bleeding ulcer is in stable condition and does not plan to delegate his authority to premier Yevgeny Primakov despite fresh calls for him to stand aside. "The President is in a stable condition...And does not plan to delegate the presidential authority to Prime Minister Primakov during his stay in the hospital, and will have control over the nuclear button," presidential Press Secretary Dmitri Yakushkin said. Aides said Yeltsin, 67, who was rushed to the hospital yesterday, was cheerful by evening. The President is expected to postpone his visit to France scheduled to start on January 28. Yeltsin’s fresh bout of illness has threatened to add political instability in the country with new calls for him to stand aside well before his term is due to end in the middle of next year.State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov urged Yeltsin to sign a decree to put Primakov in charge of the country’s police, armed forces and the Foreign Ministry while the President recovers from his illness, Interfax news agency reported. However, Primakov who has
been handling economic and diplomatic affairs in
Yeltsin’s place for the past several months due to
latter’s ill health, and Kremlin aides were quick to
say stability was not under threat in Russia. |
LONDON, Jan 18 (AFP) — Britain’s House of Lords today opened a fresh hearing to decide whether former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet could return to Chile or face prosecution in Spain for crimes against humanity. Seven judges from Britain’s highest court began hearing arguments by the crown prosecution service, which is seeking Pinochet’s extradition on behalf of the Spanish Government. The Law Lords must reconsider whether Pinochet has immunity as a former Head of state after the Lords’ original ruling that he should face prosecution, was annulled over one of the judges’ links to Amnesty International. The human rights group has long campaigned for the 83-year-old General to be put on trial. Over the next several days, the judges will examine the case, listening to both his supporters and detractors. Apart from the Crown prosecutors service and Pinochet’s lawyers, Amnesty International will be allowed to submit its case to the court. Meanwhile, General Augusto Pinochet is resigned to dying in Britain. The Sunday Telegraph reported. "I am resigned to my
fate even if that means dying here. This is part of my
sacrifice to the fatherland", he is said to have
told close friends and family. General Pinochet made the
comments to a small gathering at the house in Surrey,
where he is under police guard. |
BANGKOK, Jan 18 (AFP) — “Titanic” film star Leonardo Dicaprio tried to calm an environmental row raging over his new movie today, insisting he loved Thailand and would not tolerate any damage being done to a picturesque beach used in filming. Environmental campaigners claim alterations made to Maya beach in southern Phi Phi island national park for the movie “The Beach” will ruin the eco-system of an idyllic bay. But Dicaprio, star of the multi-Oscar winning “Titanic”, said he would never be associated with a project that damaged the environment. “Before I arrived in Thailand, I was assured that nothing done by 20th Century Fox would have any detrimental effect whatsoever, and that the island of Phi Phi would be retained in its natural state. “In my two weeks here I have seen extraordinary measures being taken to protect the island, and I pledge to remain vigilant and tolerate nothing less than these maximum efforts”, he said in a statement. “Preservation of the environment has always been of the utmost importance to me and I would never be part of any project that did anything to harm nature. Dicaprio on Saturday became the target of protests against the movie when campaigners mounted a demonstration on boats outside the luxury hotel at southern Phuket island where he is staying. Campaigners claim producers Fox have churned up dunes, ruined the ecosystem of the beach by planting palm trees and ripped up vegetation vital to binding the beach together. Fox denies the charges and has defeated two attempts to win injuctions from opponents who want shooting to be halted until a full court case in March. The film giant has already
shelled out for a $ 138,800 bond against ecological
damage. A fresh petition has been lodged with the court
calling on them to pay a $ 2.7 million bond against
environmental damage. |
Wind up UN mission in Angola: Annan UNITED NATIONS, Jan 18 (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged for "technical liquidation" of the United Nations peacekeeping programme in Angola. "The events of the past few months have clearly demonstrated that ... the Angola peace process has collapsed and the country is now in a state of war", Annan wrote in a document sent to the UN Security Council. "The conditions for a meaningful United Nations peacekeeping role in Angola has ceased to exist", the report made public here yesterday said. When the mandate for the UN Angola mission (monua) expires on February 26, "the United Nations would then proceed with its technical liquidation", Annan wrote. Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos called on Friday for the departure of UN personnel, blaming the escalation of civil war on "foreign interference".
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Anwar aide freed KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 (Reuters) — The Malaysian authorities today released a former speech writer for sacked Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim who said he had been jailed after the police forced him to plead guilty to being sodomised by Anwar. Pakistani national Munawar Anees has left the Kuala Lumpur hospital, where he had served much of his sentence, his lawyer Balwant Singh Sidhu said. Munawar and Anwar’s adopted brother, Sukma Darmawan, were each sentenced to six months in jail on September 19 after pleading guilty to being sodomised by Anwar. Munawar’s six-month sentence was shortened to four because of good behaviour. He spent much of the sentence in the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital undergoing treatment for a heart condition, Mr Balwant Singh said. The hospital granted home
leave to Munawar, who is expected to check back in on
January 27, the lawyer said. |
MOSCOW, Jan 18 (AP) — Ten years ago, Mark Levit had good reason to want to leave Russia. As a Jew, he had seen a promising scientific career derailed by blatant anti-Semitism. As a believer in democracy, he had been ill-served by Soviet Communism. And as a talented mathematician and computer scientist, he surely had the credentials to find good work in the West. But Levit saw hope where others saw only a country in ruins. And so, when Jews and non-Jews began leaving Russia in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed, he stayed, hoping to rebuild Russia. Today, Levit has given up. Scary brushes with a new, grassroots anti-Semitism a back-alley beating, anonymous threats at work, swastikas drawn on his door at home have convinced him that he has no future here. Today, as during the last
days of the Soviet Union, most Russians who seek a new
life in the USA are Jews who apply under the relatively
liberal refugee provisions enacted during the cold war. |
LONDON, Jan 18 (DPA) — Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency developed a plan to kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during a visit to his mistress but the plan was called off, partly on account of the American-British air strikes last month, The Sunday Times reported. Special forces from the Elite Unit 262, which rescued hostages at Entebbe airport in Uganda in 1976, were trained to kill the Iraqi dictator with guided missiles, minutes after Mr Hussein left her home, The Sunday Times said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a former member of Unit 262, considered ordering the operation on the eve of last month’s American and British air strikes on Iraq, according to military sources quoted by the paper. He backed down after senior ministers warned against an assassination attempt. Its chance of success was rated at only one in five by military intelligence, whose officers opposed it.
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HARARE, Jan 18 (AFP) — Zimbabwe’s former President Canaan Banana was sentenced to 10 yrs jail with labour on sex crime charges today. Most of the sentence is conditionally suspended, but he will serve a minimum of one year in prison with labour, a high court judge ruled. A long wrangle followed over terms of bail for Banana ahead of the appeal hearing, with the prosecution pointing out that the former head of state had already jumped bail once, before the verdict in the trial.
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No party behind rebels’ murders TEHERAN: A committee investigating a spate of mysterious murders of political dissidents and writers in Iran last year said that they were not organised by any political group. "The decisions by those who planned and carried out the recent killings were not in the form of (organised) bands," said a statement from the committee, which was set up last month. "Close investigations reveal that none of the political groups or factions were in any way involved in this," said the statement, carried by the official IRNA news agency on Sunday. — AFP 30 held for cock theft KARACHI: The case of the missing cock has the police baffled and villagers at odds with each other in southern Pakistan, reports said on Sunday. At issue is one villager’s claim that a neighbour stole his prize fighting cock. When the suspect was invited to the local police station near Thatta town of Sindh province for questioning, scores of people gathered outside — some protesting his innocence and others calling for punishment. A free-for-all ensued, resulting in the arrest of 30 persons on charges of disturbing the peace. The prize-fighting rooster is still missing. — DPA Buried alive LONDON: A 37-year-old British man set a new world record after spending 142 days buried alive in a cramped wooden coffin on Sunday. Geoff Smith set the new mark, breaking a record set by an American in 1981, after almost five months underground in the Beer Garden of the Railway Inn in Mansfield, England. The father-of-three had already passed the European record of 101 days set by his mother Emma in 1968. A giant tube connects the coffin with the surface, allowing Geoff to chat to visitors and receive food and drink. — DPA New twist to tale LONDON: A new television film portrayal of the Charles Dickens novel ‘Oliver Twist’ has removed all reference to Jewishness from the unsavoury underworld figure Fagin. Playwright Alan Bleasdale has decided to remove the long-hooked nose, matted hair and references to Jewishness from Fagin in the £6 million production. The Sunday Times reported. "Dickens was speaking in the language of his time, and to our ears some of it is profoundly unpleasant," Mr Bleasdale was quoted as saying. — DPA Millennium wedding AUCKLAND: Provided love remains true, at least until the end of this year, a German couple is set to become the new millennium’s first bride and groom. It will happen right on the stroke of midnight on a lawn overlooking half moon bay in Stewart Island at the bottom of New Zealand. "The couple wanted to be married at the bottom of the world, or as close as they could be, and they wanted it in the new millennium," said marriage celebrant Gwen Neave.— AFP Army terrorism JOHANNESBURG: South
Africa’s last Apartheid President F.W. De Klerk was
"deeply shocked" to learn that the army was
engaged in terrorism while he was in power, an
autobiography extract published has said. De Klerk, who
has always said he never sanctioned the often brutal
underground actions of the army, said he only became
aware that the army was involved in illegal and criminal
activities after an investigation in 1992. — AFP |
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