 |
| Thursday,
October 26, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Gore may lose popular vote & yet win WASHINGTON, Oct 25 — Chances are growing that Democrat Al Gore could lose the popular vote to Republican George W. Bush and still win the presidency in the November 7 election, according to political scientists. Exchange of fire in West Bank Albright briefs allies on North Korea Hizbul expels commander US embassy closed 5 Fiji chiefs charged in coup case |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Army factions
fight amid political crisis Villagers kill
12 Tamil ex-rebels
|
|
Gore may lose popular vote & yet win WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters, AFP) —
Chances are growing that Democrat Al Gore could lose the popular vote
to Republican George W. Bush and still win the presidency in the
November 7 election, according to political scientists. “The chances of a candidate, presumably Gore, losing the popular vote and still winning the election are better than at any time since 1976 when it almost happened,’’ said Catholic University political scientist Mark Rozell. “The procedure is clear under the Constitution but a lot of people would be thoroughly confused if it happened. People need to be educated so that there is not a sense that the winner comes to office lacking legitimacy,’’ he said. US presidential elections consist of 51 separate ballots in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The winner of each state wins all that state’s delegates to the electoral college, which has 538 members — one for each of the 535 members of the Congress, plus three for the District of Columbia. There are two exceptions — Nebraska and Maine — where five of these state’s nine combined electoral votes are distributed by who wins the congressional districts rather than who wins statewide. Right now, Mr Bush, Governor of Texas, and Vice-President Gore are close in most electoral college counts as well as in national polls. As many as 15 states remain too close to call. “I did a back-of-the-envelop calculation at the weekend and found that had the election been held that day and had the polls been correct, Bush would probably have won the popular vote but Gore might have won the electoral college,’’ said Mr John Aldrich, a political scientist at Duniversity in North Carolina. The way it would happen would be by Mr Bush piling up lopsided victories in his home state of Texas and a number of southern and Rocky Mountain states. But Mr Gore could still win the election by edging most of the midwest battleground states where the race is balanced on a razor’s edge. There is a theoretical possibility that the opposite could happen — Mr Gore could pile up big majorities in new york,
California and New England but still lose the election by being edged in the Midwest battlegrounds. But most experts interviewed by Reuters see that as much less likely. The last time the electoral college winner lost the popular vote was in 1888 when Republican Benjamin Harrison became President despite being outvoted by the incumbent Grover Cleveland. Cleveland won huge majorities in several of the 18 states he carried while Harrison took 20 states by narrower margins. Political historian Allan Lichtman of American University, who has argued that the Harrison-Cleveland scenario was unlikely to recur because regional political loyalties were much stronger 100 years ago than today, now concedes that it is possible this year. There are varying counts as to where the electoral college stands right now and they can change from day to day as new polls emerge from battleground states. In seven separate counts by different news organisations, neither candidate reached the magic 270 votes needed for victory. Mr Bush was ahead in six of the seven with one giving a tie. Constitutional scholars are also beginning to consider the even rarer possible outcome of both Mr Bush and Mr Gore winning the same number of votes in the electoral college — 269 apiece. That has not happened since the election of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson was deadlocked with Aaron Burr under very different political circumstances. ARLINGTON HEIGHTS (ILLI NOS):
White House Republican hopeful George W. Bush on Tuesday came out swinging, warning President Bill Clinton that he would respond if the President stumps for rival candidate Democrat Al Gore. “I may say something in defence of my record,” he said in a thinly veiled reference to his promise to clean up Washington politics after the sex-and-lies scandal that led to Clinton’s impeachment in 1998. “I am not running against President Clinton,” he told the crowd gathered in a middle school gymnasium here. “I don’t think there’s a lot of politics to be gained by talking about him.” “But being as now he can’t help himself and gets out there and starts campaigning against me — the shadow returns,” Mr Bush said, alluding to the perception early in the campaign that Vice-President Gore was having difficulty separating himself from the scandal-tainted leader. |
|
Exchange of fire in West Bank JERUSALEM, Oct 25 (DPA) — Sporadic gunfire from Palestinian sources against the Israeli settlement of Pesagot in the West Bank brought an immediate response from Israelis, who fired four shells on Palestinians from tanks positioned at Pesagot. Israel radio reported that the tanks last night answered hostile gunfire from four houses in EI-Bireh, which borders Ramallah, Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the tank fire resulted in neighter casualities nor damages. Two more shooting incidents occurred near Jericho, where an Israeli army outpost south of Jericho was twice fired upon. Three were no casualties reported by either side. An AFP report said from Gaya City that the Israeli army was gearing up for a prolonged struggle against the Palestinians, as the death toll mounts, with fears that the fighting could last into next year. Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops in the Palestinian territories yesterday as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sought to join forces with the right wing in a move critics say will kill the peace process. MOSCOW: A Reuter report said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told a Russian radio station on Wednesday that he still hoped for peace with the palestinians. He said any Israeli unity government would be ready to pursue steps to this end but that pressure under violence would never work. Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has formed a working alliance with Palestinian militants he previously had jailed, setting them free to help coordinate protests against Israel, The Washington Post has said, a
report from Washington said. Mr Arafat gave seats on a decision-making committee to political leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jehad, both suspected of attacks against Israel in recent years, the newspaper quoted leaders of the two groups and Israeli officials as saying. In a related development, the White House said US President Bill Clinton might hold separate meetings in Washington with Mr Barak and Mr Arafat if progress was made toward ending nearly a month of bloodshed. It said Mr Clinton had raised the possibility of holding separate meetings in a telephonic conversation with Mr Arafat in which the US President urged the Palestinian leader to stick to a truce agreed at a summit in Egypt a week ago. |
|
Albright briefs allies on North Korea SEOUL, Oct 25 (AFP) — US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright today briefed South Korean and Japanese allies in Seoul on signs that Communist North Korea was ready to curb its missile programmes. Following two days of landmark talks in Pyongyang, Ms Albright arrived in Seoul to see President Kim Dae-Jung and hold talks with the foreign minister ministers from Sourth Korea and Japan, Mr Lee Joung-Binn and Mr Yohei Kong, respectively. The three sides were expected to reaffirm their joint stance in dealing with the unpredictable Stalinist North. North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-Li hinted during talks with the Secretary of State that his country world curb its long-range missile launches, Ms Albright said yesterday. A stadium extravaganza on Monday had featured an image of North Korea’s Taepodong missile and Kim Jong-II “immediately turned to me and quipped that this was the first satellite launch and would be the last,” she said. US officials said they had decided that it was not a throw-away comment after pursuing it with Mr Kim during yesterday’s meetings. “The quip is supported by the substance of the work we’re doing at the meetings,” senior State Department official said. |
|
Hizbul expels commander ISLAMABAD, Oct 25 (PTI) — Faced with continued dissensions within its ranks, militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen today expelled one of its commanders, Masood Sarfaraz, media reports said here today. The Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman Saleem Hashmi was quoted by the “Frontier Post” as saying that “Sarfaraz was ousted by the command council as he was not abiding by the group’s rules”. “He was posing as a rebel and was not cooperating with the leadership of the group,” Hashmi said while announcing his expulsion from the Hizb. His ouster came after he resented the taking over of control and command of the Hizbul Mujahideen by Pakistan-based Jamaat-e-Islamia
(JEI). The conflict began when Amir of the JeI in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Rashid Turabi, tried to replace Masood Sarfaraz, the commander of Hizb, commonly known as Pir Panjal range, The Friday Times weekly had said in its earlier edition. The weekly quoted sources in the PoK’s JeI as saying that number of complaints ranging from arbitrary use of funds to mismanagement in the training camps against Sarfaraz prompted Turabi to replace him. Earlier, reports said JeI of Pakistan had effectively taken over the control of the Hizbul Mujahideen and formed a small committee to oversee the functioning of the militant outfit, which had earlier declared unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir. A Hizb spokesman had dismissed reports about the Jamaat-e-Islamia of Pakistan taking control of the functioning of the Hizbul but the recent reports are contrary to that. Sarfaraz, the weekly said, is a nephew of so-called former president of PoK, Sardar Sikander Hayat, who had helped the Hizb commander in carving out a separate niche for himself. |
|
US embassy closed JAKARTA, Oct 25 (DPA) — The USA shut its embassy in Indonesia today after receiving “credible threats” against the compound in central Jakarta, an embassy official said. The official declined to divulge the nature of the threats, but said the embassy would be closed to public business for the rest of the week. “We received reliable information of threats to the embassy and have closed it to the public for the remainder of the week,” the official said. The consular affairs and visa section were shut down, but other areas off-limits to the public remained open. The embassy would decide during the weekend whether to re-open those areas on Monday. The closure followed a US worldwide alert about possible terrorist attacks on US interests following an outbreak of violence in the Middle East and the bombing of a US naval vessel in Yemen on October 12 that killed 17 persons. On radical Indonesian Muslim group, the Islamic Defenders Front, has threatened to kill US citizens and Israelis in Indonesia. |
|
5 Fiji chiefs charged in coup case SUVA, Oct 25 (AF), (Reuters) — Two chiefs from Fiji’s northern island of Vanua Levu have been charged in connection with the May 19 coup in which ethnic-Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his government were overthrown, the police said here today. The announcement came as coup leader George Speight and 13 of his alleged co-conspirators made another brief, formal appearance before a magistrate here on charges of treason. They appeared in court looking subdued and serious, showing no signs of the arrogance and high spirits they displayed in earlier proceedings. The case was adjourned after their lawyers lodged a strong protest at the lack of progress in the treason trial. The police earlier said the two chiefs, Ratu Viliame Rovabokola and Ratu Joeli Ritova, would appear in Labase court on November 13 to answer charges of unlawful assembly and the illegal takeover of the army barracks in Labase during the May 19 coup. Three other chiefs, former parliamentarians Ratu Josefa Dimuri and Ratu Tevita Vakalalabure and his son, Ratu Tevita Junior, had already been charged in connection with the coup. Meanwhile Fijian Information Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has been questioned by the police about the coup. But Mr Kubuabola, opposition leader before the coup and now a minister in Fiji’s military-backed interim government, has denied any involvement in the coup. |
|
Army factions
fight amid political crisis ABIDJAN, Oct 25 (AFP) — Rival army factions battled at Abidjan’s main army base early today as the country’s ruling junta faced widespread protests against a bid by military ruler Robert Guei to declare himself the winner of disputed presidential elections. Armed men backed by an armoured car attacked the main Akouedo army camp, witnesses said. Lieutenant Boka Yapi, chief of an elite unit of the presidential guard which is based at the camp, told AFP that the attack had been repelled but residents of the neighbourhood reported continued sporadic shooting. “The camp has not fallen I have repulsed the attackers, they are having trouble withdrawing because their armoured vehicle has broken down,” he said by telephone. An aide to Guei told AFP by telephone that the General was safe and had not left the capital. The fighting erupted after Ivory Coast opposition leaders called for mass action to “paralyse the country” from today in protest against the Guei’s declaration of victory over a civilian rival in presidential elections on Sunday. The Guei’s Junta, which seized power in a military coup on December 24 last year, dissolved the official election commission before declaring him victor — a move rejected by his Socialist rival, Laurent Gbagbo, and denounced as a second coup by the European Union and the USA. Supporters of Gbagbo said nine persons were killed by army troops during street protests that erupted yesterday following the junta’s declaration. Guei then declared a state of emergency and imposed a night-time curfew which imposed a shaky calm on the capital until the fighting erupted at Akouedo. |
|
Villagers kill
12 Tamil ex-rebels COLOMBO, Oct 25 (UNI) — Twelve former Tamil rebels were killed and 16 seriously injured when villagers attacked a militant rehabilitation camp in central Sri Lanka early today, the police said. The trouble began last night when nearly 40 inmates of the camp at Binduvewa near Bandravela, about 200 km from here, tried to overpower the authorities in their botched attempt to escape, the police said. The incident angered villagers, who stormed the camp armed with knives and rocks. Twelve inmates were killed 30 injured in a free-for-all clash that broke out following the villagers’ raid on the camp, which is used by the army to reform surrendered militants. More troops were later called in to restore order. Elsewhere, seventeen Tamil militants and one soldier were killed in clashes between the troops and rebels at Jaffna and Trincomalee, a government statement said. Naval troops, the statement added, had recovered a huge quantity of arms in their search operation at the general area of Trincomalee, where a suicide bomber tried to blow up the harbour on Monday. Troops killed four rebels in the Marble Beach area as they tried to escape during an army search operation there. Two other militants were killed later in the same area. Eight terrorists were killed at the Chavakachcheri, Mdduvil, Nunavil, and Udirappu areas of Jaffna, and others in Kopai, the statement said. Meanwhile, naval divers recovered corpses of the pilot, co-pilot and gunner of an mi-24 helicopter that had been shot down by the
LTTE on Monday. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
