Wednesday, January 27, 1999
today's calendar
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W O R L D | Wednesday, January 27, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Ruling Lanka alliance wins
poll US
planes bomb Iraqi targets in northern |
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King Hussein names eldest
son heir 3
killed, 150 hurt in Bangladesh violence Taslima
flees to Sweden Democrat
ploy on impeachment debate fails |
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Ruling Lanka alliance wins poll COLOMBO, Jan 26 (PTI) — Amid allegations of rigging, the ruling Peoples Alliance (PA) led by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga today won a decisive victory in the north-western provincial council by winning 30 of the total 52 seats, even as Opposition United National Party (UNP) decided to boycott the council. The UNP, which won 19 seats, said it would boycott the council as the elections were not free and fair. UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe told reporters here after the results were announced that his party would not take its seats in the new council and would boycott its proceedings. The Left wing Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP), which had led two armed insurgencies in the past, bagged three seats. Announcing the final results over the national television, Chief Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said the PA secured around 56 per cent of the votes, which fetched it 28 seats. By virtue of being the single largest party, the alliance had won two bonus seats, taking its tally to 30, he added. The UNP, which previously governed the province, secured about 37 per cent of the votes. It trailed the PA in almost all parts of the province. But significantly, the JVP, which too had alleged widespread rigging by the ruling alliance, has improved in its voting percentage from over 1 per cent in the 1997 local body elections to around 5 per cent this time. The counting of the
results took a long time in view of complicated
proportional representation system in which voters voted
for both party and the candidates. |
US planes bomb Iraqi targets
in northern ANKARA, Jan 26 (AFP) — US fighter planes today bombed Iraqi missile sites in the northern ''no fly'' zone, the Operation Nortern Watch command said in a statement issued at Incrilik air base in southern Turkey. ''Coalition aircraft conducting routine enforcement of the northern no-fly zone today were targeted by Iraqi surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems in three separate incidents near Mosul,'' the statement said. A US Marine EA-6B ''prowler'' launched an anti-radar missile at an Iraqi radar site in self-defence, Nortern Watch said. An air force F-15E ''Strike Eagle'' dropped a 500-pound bomb on an anti-aircraft artillery system ''which posed a threat to coalition aircraft.'' In another incident, an F-15E fired at a radar site which had targeted coalition aircraft, the statement said. ''Damage to Iraqi forces is currently being assessed,'' Nortern Watch said. The northern no-fly zone, imposed by the UN following the 1991 Gulf War, extends from the 36th parallel to Turkey and was the scene of near daily clashes in mid-January between US and British fighters and Iraqi air defence units. A southern no-fly zone extends south of the 33rd parallel to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq has never recognised
the zones, which are not directly covered by a UN
resolution. |
Indians celebrate R-Day world over Jan 26 (PTI, UNI) — Millions of Indians overseas flocked to their embassies to celebrate the 50th republic day today with great enthusiasm and fanfare, reaffirming their faith in the Indian Constitution. Indians gathered in sizeable numbers at their embassies the world over and unfurled the national flag — the Tricolour — and listened to the President's address to the nation being read out, reports said. In Tokyo, Ambassador Siddharth Singh hoisted the flag and read out the President's stirring message of peace and goodwill to his countrymen and hundreds of Indians from Kobe and Osaka. In Dhaka, Indian High Commissioner Deb Mukherji unfurled the Tricolour that served as a beacon to millions during the freedom struggle at a glittering ceremony at the high commission auditorium. Beaming school children sang the inspiring national anthem penned by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore after he read out the President's speech delivered on the eve of the Republic Day. In another simple ceremony in Maldivian capital Male, Indian High Commissioner Kanwar Singh Jasrotia unfurled the national flag before some 150 Indians present in that country. At the India House in Colombo, Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon hoisted the national flag and read out the President's address. Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Sirimao Bandernaike and Foreign Minister Lakshan Kadirgamar have conveyed greetings to their Indian counterparts Mr K R Narayanan, Mr A B Vajpayee and Mr Jaswant Singh. Newspapers brought out special supplements on India on this occasion. In Sydney, Indian Consul-General Vijay Kumar read out the President's message at a function attended by 350 members of the Indian community. A grand reception and a cultural show were also organised on the occasion. Associations of Indian
Australians in Melbourne, Brisbane and New Castle also
joined in the celebrations. |
King Hussein names eldest son heir AMMAN, Jan 26 (Reuters) — King Hussein of Jordan appointed his eldest son prince Abdullah as Crown Prince and heir in a royal decree published early today. "We, Hussein the first... Have issued our royal decree to choose our eldest son his royal highness Prince Abdullah bin Hussein as crown prince and grant him all related rights and privileges," said the decree, published by the official Petra news agency. Abdullah, who will be 37 on Saturday, replaces King Hussein's 51-year-old younger brother, Prince Hassan, who served as crown prince for 34 years. A royal palace source said King Hussein received Abdullah at the monarch's private residence outside Amman and congratulated him on his appointment and wished him luck. The King, who spent six months in the USA being treated for cancer, returned to Jordan last week, saying he had plans for the country's future, including the succession to the throne. Abdullah, who was briefly named Crown Prince in his infancy, heads Jordan's elite special forces but had shown little sign of political ambition before his appointment. AFP adds: King Hussein harshly criticised his brother Prince Hassan Ibn Talal in a letter dismissing him as Crown Prince, which was read on state television last night. "My family — my
wife and children — have been hurt by backbiting and
slander," the King said in his letter to Hassan. |
3 killed, 150 hurt in Bangladesh violence DHAKA, Jan 26 (PTI) — The Opposition-sponsored general strike in Bangladesh today was marred by violence which left three persons dead and more than 150 wounded besides paralysing life across the country. The nation-wide strike was called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led Opposition to press for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hena. The killed included a 22-year-old activist of the ruling Awami League's student wing, Ripon, who died in clashes with BNP supporters at Noapara in Jessore district. The two other dead were a hawker and a vegetable vendor in Jessore and Dhaka, respectively. As many as 166 persons have been arrested in connection with the violence. Meanwhile, BNP secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan tonight threatened to launch an "oust government" movement if their demands, including ouster of the Chief Justice, were not met. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on the other hand, said she could not accept the Opposition's demands as the Election Commission was an independent body. "As the head of the
government I can neither remove him nor force him to
resign," she said at a function of the Bangladesh
Journalists Association. |
Taslima flees to Sweden DHAKA, Jan 26 (PTI) — Bangladesh's controversial feminist writer Taslima Nasreen has left for Sweden following fresh threats to her life, family sources said here today. Taslima, 36, left for Sweden on a British Airways flight yesterday, they said after the author received fresh threats from fundamentalists who have called for her hanging for allegedly blaspheming Islam. The threats to Taslima came after arrest of 10 members of a Muslim extremist group after an attempt on the life of leading poet Shamsur Rahman at his Dhaka residence on Saturday. Taslima had returned to Bangladesh after a four-year self-imposed exile in Norway along with her ailing mother in September. She had stayed out of sight till November when she surfaced before a Dhaka court which granted her bail. After her mother's death
early this month, she had stayed on in Bangladesh until
the death threats forced her to flee. |
Democrat ploy on impeachment debate fails WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (PTI) — The US Senate has defeated by a margin of 57-43 Democratic Senators' efforts for a public debate on their motion to dismiss the impeachment case against President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky case. Republican prosecutors stuck to their stand to remove the President but were doubtful if they would have a two-thirds majority to remove him with only 57 votes in their favour. The motion got only 43 votes, 24 less than the required number to have it passed. The vote last night showed the Republicans will not have the two-thirds majority necessary to dismiss Clinton from office but, if the party discipline holds, they can embarrass Clinton by bringing in witnesses, a move that requires only 51 votes. The White House does not want witnesses questioned to find out whether Clinton told the truth. Republicans are now discussing a motion on "finding the fact" that spelt out the "offences" Clinton had committed under the articles of impeachment, without removing him from the office. Since this would require only a 51-vote majority — rather than 67 needed for conviction — it could be approved with support from only the Senate's 55 Republicans. Before the vote, the House prosecutors and Clinton's counsel, Nicole Seligman, spoke on the motion moved by influential Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia and said "what Clinton did was wrong but then it was a personal matter and an elected President can only be removed for violating official Acts, not on the ground of personal conduct". Seligman said "the charges were based on weak inferences from circumstantial evidence and were not impeachable offences," adding the number of encounters he had with Lewinsky was 11 or 17 was irrelevant to the decision whether the freely elected President of the USA should be removed for private, not official acts. Clinton, she said, had admitted that his relations with Monica Lewinsky were 'wrongful' and that he sought to hide that and "attempted to mislead his wife, his staff and friends." Meanwhile, the former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is seeking court clearance to force independent counsel Kenneth Starr to lift his restriction on what she may discuss publicly. Clinton has been charged
with perjury and obstruction of justice for his alleged
attempt to cover up the affair with Lewinsky. |
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