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MIAMI (Florida), Nov 12 — The Miami Police Department has said that two boxes holding uncounted ballots had been found and were being held by police, prior to being handed over to the electoral authorities. Lazio questions funds’ origin |
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Pak EC rejects voter lists ‘Disarm Sipahs, Lashkars first’ |
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Border dispute: China for speedy resolution Priyanka sure of winning title
Nobel Peace Prize winners to meet Chechens kill 35 Russian troops
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Abolish electoral college, say Hillary, US Indian don WASHINGTON, Nov 12 — As the USA remains transfixed over the outcome of a presidential race that has been in limbo for nearly a week, an Indian American constitutional expert and US First Lady and Senator-elect Hillary Clinton have issued calls for abolishing the electoral college that has so far decided who will occupy the White House. Prof Akhil Reed Amar, one of the leading constitutional experts in the country and a Professor of Law at Yale University, called for the abolition of the electoral college, saying it was unfair and the chorus for its elimination has gathered momentum with Hillary Clinton also jumping on to the bandwagon. Dr Amar, the author of “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction,” which is considered required reading for any student of constitutional law, in an Op-ed article that appeared in The New York Times on November 9, wrote: “We must realise that the electoral college is a hopelessly outdated system and we must abolish it.” A White House consultant during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, he argued that “direct election would resonate far better with the American value of one person, one vote. Indeed, the college was designed at the founding of the country to help one group — white southern males — and this year, it has apparently done that.” “The constitution’s pro-southern bias quickly became obvious. For 32 of the constitution’s first 36 years, a white slaveholding Virginian occupied the presidency.” Fast-forwarding to Election Night 2000, he said: “Al Gore appears to have received the most popular votes nationwide but may well lose the contest for electoral votes. Once again, the system has tilted toward white southern males. Exit polls indicate that Bush won big among this group and that Gore won decisively among blacks and women.” Hillary Clinton also weighed in on November 10, calling for the electoral college to be thrown out and pledged to be a co-sponsor of legislation that would provide for the direct election of the President and the Vice-President. “I’ve thought about this for a long time,” she said in Albany, New York, where she had gone to thank voters for electing her as senator to succeed retiring Sen Daniel Patrick Moynihan. “I’ve always thought we had outlived the need for an electoral college and now that I am going to the Senate, I am going to try to do what I can to make clear that popular vote, the will of the people, should be followed,” she said. “We are a very different country that we were 200 years ago. We have mass communications, we have mobility through transportation means to knit our country together that was not conceived of at the time of the founders’ proposals about how we elect our presidents. I believe strongly that in a democracy we should respect the will of the people,” she asserted. This year’s election could very well degenerate into a nasty and political battle and one thing is absolutely clear — every vote counts. President Bill Clinton’s reaction on arrival at the White House from Chappaqua, New York, earlier this week after celebrating his wife’s Senate victory was: “No American will ever be to seriously say again, my vote doesn’t count.” But Stanley Kalathara, who was a Gore delegate to the Democratic National Convention and was a member of the powerful Platform Committee — the only Indian American from either camps to have been afforded such a high profile opportunity, said: “The Indian American community may be only 1.5 million people, but this situation has shown that every vote counts. Your vote could decide who is going to be the President for the next four years.” But the first Indian American state legislator ever, Kumar Barve, a Democrat, who represents Montgomery County in Maryland, is not that sure and acknowledged that turning to the popular vote could be potentially disastrous for the minorities because it would make them subject to popular whims. However, he supported the existence of the Electoral College, “although in a modified version.” He felt very strongly that the number of electors ought to be awarded to states in accordance with the number of House members they have, not the House and Senate combined. —
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Two uncounted ballot boxes found in Miami MIAMI (Florida), Nov 12 (AFP) — The Miami Police Department has said that two boxes holding uncounted ballots had been found and were being held by police, prior to being handed over to the electoral authorities. The police said in a statement yesterday that one of the boxes was found on Friday at Miami’s Sheridan Hotel, where hotel security had called the police. The hotel had been used as a polling station in Tuesday’s election. The second box was found yesterday at the Good News Little River Baptist Church, also in Miami and which had likewise been used as a polling station. Church officials called the police department when they found the box, the police statement said. The police themselves sealed the two boxes, according to the statement. |
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Lazio questions funds’ origin WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (UNI) — After losing the Senate race to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican Rick Lazio has questioned the origins of funds for her campaign and the credentials of an Indian who was a major contributor. After a New York daily reported the receipt of millions of dollars soft money from a New York based Indian American businessman, Sant Singh Chatwal, Mr Lazio called upon Ms Clinton to hand over the funds to the US Treasury. Mr Chatwal owed money to the US tax payers and instead gave it to Ms Clinton’s campaign, a spokesman for Mr Lazio, Michael Marr said. The daily also listed several financial irregularities committed by the businessman. “Given Ms Clinton’s misuse of Lincoln’s bedroom and Camp David to raise funds, the latest revelation is not surprising, but it is still wrong. It would be appropriate for Ms Clinton to hand over the funds to the federal treasury,’’ Mr Marr said. The funds came a week before Ms Clinton and Mr Lazio agreed to stop using soft money for TV advertisements, according to New York based daily, The Daily News. The report said that in addition to his own contributions Mr Chatwal had been a driving force behind large sums of money in donations from Indian Americans for Ms Clinton’s campaign since early this year. |
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12 escaped from train blaze KAPRUN (Austria), Nov 12 (AFP) — The operation to recover at least 170 bodies from the charred wreckage of the funicular train in the Austrian Alps began today. Teams of experts made their way at dawn up to the wreckage of the train, which is stuck in a tunnel carved into the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, 350 km west of Vienna. The train was consumed by a blaze early yesterday in one of the deadliest Alpine disasters ever. However, before attempting to remove the bodies, experts began to check whether the train was in danger of sliding down the rails. Officials have warned that the train may be perched in a precarious position in the narrow tunnel because the fire may have damaged cables, keeping it from sliding down the slope. As many as 12 persons out of the 165 on board the train managed to escape, a local government leader said today. Among the victims 85, had been identified, including 30 Austrians, 27 Germans, 10 Japanese and three Americans, Mr Franz Schausberger, Governor of Austria’s Salzburg state told mediapersons. |
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Pak EC rejects voter lists ISLAMABAD, Nov 12 (PTI) — Pakistan's
Election Commission (EC) has rejected the computerised voter lists in view of a large number of complaints of errors and omissions received from across the country. An Election Commission spokesman said: “The list prepared by the National Database and Registration Authority
(NADRA) has large-scale errors and omissions, and the EC has decided to use the original manual lists for holding elections”. He said
NADRA had used the data of these manual lists for preparing the computerised lists. “Now elections will be held on the basis of lists prepared manually and not on the basis of computerised lists of
NADRA,” EC spokesman Kanwar Dilshad said. Mr Dilshad said the Commission had now decided to use voter lists prepared manually during census and later verified by the army in its door-to-door verification survey from September 25 to October 20. These manual lists will now be displayed in the 18 districts where local bodies elections are to be held on December 31, he said. The
EC had also extended the date for filing claims or objections or applications for correction till November 16. The date for hearing the claims and objections on these lists had been extended to November 20, he said, adding that the final lists would be available by November 28. |
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‘Disarm Sipahs, Lashkars first’ ISLAMABAD, Nov 12 (PTI) — Even as the Pakistan Government is initiating plans to “deweaponise” the country’s politics, media reports say that the move cannot be of any use until the Musharraf regime disarms “Sipahs” and “Lashkars”, known militant groups. In its editorial, Frontier Post said “we have in our country so many organised groups with exactly the kind of weapons that ought to be prohibited”. The editorial said “surely, the government in the Interior Ministry would not be unaware of the “Sipahs” and “Lashkars” that operate in audacious disregard of....civil armed forces established under law”. The government ought also to be fully informed about the open secret that these armed (militant) groups do operate as armed forces and are known frequently to have gone on mission in defiance of the laws of the country, the editorial said. “Ideally, a civilised society should have no needs of any weapons of any kind...But for them the gun is the passport to respectability as well as power to subdue rivals”, the editorial commented. The editorial said the present government had an edge over the elected governments as they do not have to please anyone and the Sipahs and Lashkars, all illegal forces, should be totally disarmed. “There can be absolutely no doubt that these forces are an insult to law and order of the government of the day”, the newspaper said. The newspaper said months had passed
ever since the Interior Ministry talked about its deweaponisation programme, but the military-led government had come as a similar disappointment as its civil predecessors had been on this score. “The politicians had at least an excuse, even though unconvincingly slim, for their inaction...he (Musharraf) can have such excuse”, the newspaper said. |
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Border dispute: China for speedy resolution BEIJING, Nov 12 (PTI) — Ahead of talks on the boundary dispute beginning tomorrow, China today indicated that it is ready to accelerate the pace of negotiations to peacefully resolve the vexed Sino-Indian boundary dispute and promote good neighbourly relations with New Delhi, a senior Chinese foreign ministry official has said. “We are confident that as long as both sides follow the principle of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, we will be able to create a favourable atmosphere for a just and reasonable settlement of the boundary issue through friendly consultations,” the official said here ahead of the eighth round of talks of the expert group on the boundary question from tomorrow. Describing the two-day meeting of officials from the foreign and defence ministries of the two countries as “important,” the official said the state visit of President K.R. Narayanan to China earlier this year and talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin has created political conditions necessary for “positive” boundary negotiations. The eighth round of expert group follows the agreement earlier this year between India and China to accelerate the talks on the clarification of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on their disputed border. Until now, the expert group has been meeting only once a year. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan had agreed in July that the group should meet more frequently to speed up work on the clarification of the LAC. During tomorrow’s meeting, India and China are expected to “show and exchange” draft maps of the middle sector, which is less contested, the Chinese official said. It would be for the first time in the history of Sino-Indian boundary talks the two sides would be exchanging maps which could lead to a detailed discussion of the ground alignment of the LAC. The clarification of the LAC is the first step towards the final resolution of the vexed Sino-Indian boundary dispute that has held back bilateral relations from realising its potential, Chinese analysts said. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Mithi recently claimed that a Chinese-built mule trail had been found at Kaila Pass in Dibang valley district, which he said proved that the Chinese army had made “repeated incursions” along the LAC. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry official stressed that Mr Mithi’s allegations were “not based on facts.” |
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Priyanka sure of winning title FULL MOON (Maldives), Nov 12 (PTI) — With all the contestants of the Miss World 2000 appearing full of confidence and poise, Miss India-World Priyanka Chopra believes it is her “Indianness” which is going to “make all the difference.” “My morals and values, which I inherit because I am an Indian, are embedded deeply in me. Nobody else can boast of the same kind of upbringing. I think that is what is going to make all the difference,” said a confident Priyanka, a hot favourite of the localites and the media. Contestants from 95 countries, here for the swimwear section of the beauty pageant to be held at the Millennium Dome in London on November 30, are currently visiting various islands. If Priyanka Chopra manages to win the pageant, it will be only the second time in six years that Indian beauties would capture both Miss Universe and Miss World titles, as the former has already been won by dusky damsel Lara Dutta. Asked if she was preparing hard with only 18 days left for the big day, Priyanka said: “I am ready, now I want to be steady. I am trying to compose and consolidate my thoughts and
views”. |
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Nobel Peace Prize winners to meet ROME, Nov 12 (DPA) — Nearly 20 winners of the Nobel Peace Prize gathered in Rome for a two-day summit that aims to tackle ways of resolving world conflicts and the elimination of debt by poorer countries. Among those participating in the summit — which was organised by the Gorbachev Foundation and Rome’s City Council — were the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (69), former Polish President Lech Walesa (57), former South African President F.W. De Klerk (64), nuclear disarmament campaigner Joseph Rotblat (92), Argentine human rights activist Adolfo Perez Esquivel (68) and northern Irish peace activist Betty Williams (57). Yesterday, the Nobel Prize winners visited the Ara Pacis Augustae shrine (“Altar of the Augustan peace’’), erected by the Roman emperor Augustus, in the presence of 114 students from Sarajevo. “The Nobel Prize for Peace winners are people who have fought to make sure others don’t suffer the same sad experiences they have encountered,’’ Mr Walesa told the Bosnian students. On Friday, Mr Gorbachev and Mr Walesa took part in a debate with students from Rome’s La Sapienza University. At the end of the summit, the Nobel winners will sign a joint document they hope to submit to the world’s Heads of State. |
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Chechens kill 35
Russian troops MOSCOW, Nov 12 (AFP) — As many as 35 Russian soldiers were killed yesterday when a troop column in the east of Chechnya was ambushed by separatist guerrillas, a top rebel spokesman claimed. The Russian column consisting of between 100 and 120 soldiers, was “surrounded and destroyed” by the rebels early yesterday near the village of Nizhny Kurchali, 50 km southeast of the breakaway republic’s nominal capital Grozny the spokesman Movladi Udugov told AFP. A four-hour gun battle left 35 Russian soldiers dead, and another 50 wounded, while one Chechen fighter was killed and three others wounded, he added. |
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