W O R L D

Fujimori declared unfit, sacked
LIMA, Nov 22 — Peru’s Congress rejected President Alberto Fujimori’s resignation yesterday and instead declared him “morally unfit” and removed him as head of state — the first time such a censure has occurred in Peruvian history.

2 Kashmiri groups welcome ceasefire
LONDON, Nov 22 — Two Kashmiri groups, including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), have welcomed the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Indian Government for the holy month of Ramzan saying that “it is a good gesture and should be reciprocated accordingly.”

Pak a sinking ship — financially
ISLAMABAD, Nov 22 — Pakistanis are deserting what they perceive to be a sinking ship and those abroad have reduced their remittances home to a minimum, seriously affecting the IMF-hamstrung nation’s foreign exchange reserves.

China not to spread missile technology
BEIJING, Nov 22 — China has promised not to sell missiles or components to countries developing nuclear weapons, easing tensions with Washington over long-suspected Chinese assistance to Pakistan, Iran and North Korea.

Madonna to marry Guy next year
LONDON, Nov 22 — Pop superstar Madonna and her British boyfriend Guy Ritchie expect to marry next year and settle in London, the Sun tabloid quoted her today as saying in an interview.

Bid to revive Lanka talks
COLOMBO, Nov 22 — British Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain hopes to discuss peace initiatives for the 17-year Tamil separatist war during a two-day visit that began today in Sri Lanka.

Will dimpled chad smile on Gore?
By Julian Borger in Washington

WITH Florida’s Supreme Court giving a verdict on hand recounts and setting a deadline yesterday, a hotly contested “ground war” in the three disputed counties focused on the arcane but potentially crucial issue of ``dimpled’’ or ``pregnant’’ chad.

The manual vote counts in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties are producing far fewer gains for Al Gore than the Democrats had expected. But several thousand ballots have been set aside as ``questionable’’ because the voter did not fully punch through the ballot paper, leaving an indentation rather than a hole alongside the name of a candidate.

The small, perforated, rectangular plug, or chad, remains attached but protruding and is described as pregnant or as merely dimpled.

Democrats believe that if the voter’s intention is to be measured, these indentations should be counted and they believe that the majority of them would be votes for the Vice-President. As manual recounts proceed, that might be the only way Mr Gore will overtake George W Bush’s official lead of 930 votes.

It is also possible that Mr Bush could lengthen his lead, especially after Florida Attorney-General Bob Butterworth decided that several hundred absentee ballots from military personnel overseas could be counted even if they bore no postmark showing they had been sent before the election the day. Those votes were expected to favour the Texas Governor.

The fate of the dimpled chad is the cause of heated struggle at each counting centre, where the local electoral committees, or canvassing boards, are being lobbied hard by both sides.

As of yesterday, Miami-Dade was counting dimpled chads as votes, Broward was not, and Palm Beach was somewhere in between, counting some dimples but not all. Chad hanging by one, two or three corners, “hanging’’ “swinging’’ or “tri-’’ respectively, would be counted in all three counties. The fate of chads connected by four corners was unclear.

In Palm Beach county, the recount had brought Mr Gore a net gain of only three votes by yesterday afternoon, but Mr Dennis Newman, a Democratic lawyer, said several hundred dimpled ballots had been put to one side. Mr Newman said 276 of them indicated a vote for Mr Gore and 73 were votes for Governor Bush.

Mr Charles Burton, the chairman of the county’s three-member canvassing board, said that dimpled chad would be considered in the light of the whole ballot. If the voter showed a "tendency to dimple" — denting the ballot to indicate his or her preferences rather than punching right through it with the pointed stylus provided - then a dimpled chad would be counted as a vote.

In Broward, Mr Gore had made a net gain of 117 votes from the manual recount, with 554 out of 609 precincts counted. Two thousand disputed ballots have been set aside. In Miami-Dade, Mr Gore had clawed back 46 votes, dimpled ballots included, with about a tenth of precincts counted.

— The Guardian, London

Fujimori declared unfit, sacked

LIMA, Nov 22 (Reuters) — Peru’s Congress rejected President Alberto Fujimori’s resignation yesterday and instead declared him “morally unfit” and removed him as head of state — the first time such a censure has occurred in Peruvian history.

“This motion has been approved,’’ said Congress president Valentin Paniagua, a moderate opposition lawmaker, who is now almost certain to take over as the interim President today and lead Peru to the April elections.

The way Mr Fujimori announced that he was stepping down — from a hotel room in Japan — incensed the country and opposition legislators proposed a motion to reject his resignation and formally remove him.

It was a dismal finale for Mr Fujimori, who ruled Peru with an iron hand for 10 years, winning praise for defeating Leftist guerrillas and licking hyperinflation, but whose government gained one of Latin America’s worst rights records.

Opposition lawmakers — many of whom say Mr Fujimori is a dictator who won a third term in May by fraud — clapped and cheered after the vote. A Peruvian flag was waved from a public gallery.

The motion was passed by 62 votes with nine against and nine abstentions. Another 29 pro-Fujimori lawmakers boycotted the ballot.

The vote was also a step down the road to Congress officially declaring Paniagua interim President today. Fujimori’s two Vice-Presidents — Francisco Tudela and Ricardo Marquez — have both resigned.

Constitutional experts say the Congress will formally accept Marquez’s resignation today, thus making Paniagua the leader of Peru.

During the debate, Mr Fujimori’s defenders — their ranks depleted by defections of six lawmakers in the wake of his absentee resignation — were drowned out by contemptuous Opposition Congressmen shouting “shame’’, “immorality” and “sin’’ — referring to the President.

A passing reference to Mr Fujimori’s accomplishments drew only a ripple of applause in a chamber that had kowtowed to him for the past eight years.

2 Kashmiri groups welcome ceasefire

LONDON, Nov 22 (PTI) — Two Kashmiri groups, including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), have welcomed the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Indian Government for the holy month of Ramzan saying that “it is a good gesture and should be reciprocated accordingly.”

“We compliment Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for personally announcing the unilateral declaration of ceasefire in Kashmir to coincide with the holy month of Ramzan in a bold gesture of recognition of the Kashmiri sentiment,” M. Anwar Khan, chairman, Jammu Kashmir Peace Committee, Europe, said.

Describing it as a “good gesture which should be reciprocated accordingly,” Shabir Choudhry, president of the JKLF, UK and Europe said, “The people of Kashmir want much more than one month of ceasefire. They want to resolve the Kashmir dispute which has greatly affected their lives and live with peace and honour”.

“Some of the Kashmiri groups may think one month of ceasefire with no intention to seek resolution of the dispute is not what we want. It must be noted that in the atmosphere of mistrust and state of war, no action on its own, no matter how great could lead to resolution of the Kashmir dispute,” Choudhry said.

Stating that the previous ceasefire declared for a month by the Hizbul Mujaheedin could not hold because of different pressures, he said, “We should use this month of ceasefire and make some confidence-building measures to prove that we want to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue. We want peace and stability in Kashmir but without compromising on our stand we want peace and dignity and honour,” he added.

Anwar Khan, in his statement, also called upon all Kashmiri groups to “defy the diktats of the desperate Pakistani armed forces, who derive their sole legitimacy from the continued state of conflict in Kashmir, and grasp this opportunity with the same spirit to facilitate the creation of a peaceful atmosphere in Kashmir”.

“We have no doubt that such a response would lead to the restoration of trust and early commencement of the dialogue process for resolution of the problems of Kashmir,” Khan said.

Choudhry, however, cautioned that “if this offer is not reciprocated accordingly then we may be providing India with a propaganda idol to tell the world that India is willing to make moves towards peace but it is the opposite side which is not responding appropriately”.

“Others may have different agenda, but it is in the interest of the Kashmiri groups that they take this offer seriously and use this time to make this ceasefire into a permanent one, he said, adding that “by accepting a ceasefire during the holy month of Ramzan we can demonstrate that we respect the sanctity of Ramzan and that we are not in favour of unnecessary violence.”

WASHINGTON: A key US Democratic Congressman, who is expected to be elected co-chairman of the India Caucus next month, has congratulated India for declaring a unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir during the holy month of Ramzan and asked the militants to “come to the discussion table with peace as their intent”.

Praising Mr Vajpayee for making a “concrete gesture” towards addressing the violence in the Kashmir valley, Mr Jim McDermott said, “It is my belief that the continuing bloodshed can be averted only if both Indian and Mujahideen leaders take this ceasefire opportunity to start serious and comprehensive talks about the future of Kashmir”.

“This is one of the first real opportunities for both sides to come together and sort out their differences. For the call to peace to become more than a gesture, Mujahideen leaders must come to the discussion table with peace as their intent”, Mr McDermott said.

He also called upon India not to engage in hostilities even if the offer was not accepted.

Pak a sinking ship — financially

ISLAMABAD, Nov 22 (ADNI) — Pakistanis are deserting what they perceive to be a sinking ship and those abroad have reduced their remittances home to a minimum, seriously affecting the IMF-hamstrung nation’s foreign exchange reserves.

Nothing is more illustrative of the Pakistani mindset than the approximately 5000-strong crowd that gathers every day in front of the American Embassy seeking visas to leave the country.

Diplomats say there is an enormous outflow of capital and professional people. A shrinking job market has hit the middle class. The military regime has earmarked Rs 15 million for poverty-alleviation programmes intended to give relief to the 40 million indigent unemployed and the semi-employed but spiralling prices of essential commodities has undercut the project.

The Frontier Post maintains that 20 per cent of the rich, including the bureaucracy, both civil and military, the industrial tycoons and corrupt upstarts, who revel in luxuries and refuse to be subjected to any proper taxation are the real cause of the prevailing poverty among the majority of the people.

It is this section of the people who have/are ruling the nation. They have manipulated all laws and rules in their favour. The subjection of the people to a variety of indirect taxation and the jacking up of the prices of essential consumer goods have had a telling negative effect on the living standard of the masses, excluding the privileged 20 per cent. The latter enjoy perks and concessions, which are the envy of their equivalents from the rich nations.

Any hopes that Pakistanis may have pinned on General Musharraf’s promise to root out corruption appear dashed by the disbandment of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) — the institution hitherto responsible for the anti-corruption investigations. Wags in Islamabad have it that this is intended to ensure that any future government is unable to initiate accountability probes against the current military rulers.

Moreover, some military personnel have begun to impersonate National Accountability Bureau officials and are extorting money from businessmen.

General Musharraf has handpicked a few hundred military personnel to man civilian institutions where they are perceived by their brothers-in-laws as enjoying the fruits of military dictatorship, while unlike as in previous martial law administrations, the rest of them have been left out of the loot.

China not to spread missile technology

BEIJING, Nov 22 (AP) — China has promised not to sell missiles or components to countries developing nuclear weapons, easing tensions with Washington over long-suspected Chinese assistance to Pakistan, Iran and North Korea.

A statement, released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry today, was China’s most explicit pledge to date on refraining from spreading missile technology.

It covered not only whole missile systems, which Beijing agreed not to transfer two years ago, but also dual-use components that could be used in other technologies.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan possesses a minimum nuclear deterrence that needs neither American nor Chinese technology to sustain it, Mr Mohammed Riaz, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

A promise made by China yesterday not to pass on the missile technology to nuclear-capable states won’t hurt Pakistan’s missile programme, he said.

In a statement carried by China’s official Xinhua news agency, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued the most explicit pledge to date on refraining from spreading missile technology.

It covered not only the whole missile systems, which Beijing agreed not to transfer two years ago, but also dual-use components that could be used in other technologies.

“China has no intention to assist, in any way, any country in the development of ballistic missiles that can be used to deliver nuclear weapons,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said in the statement.

The USA had accused China of selling nuclear-capable M-11 missiles to Pakistan and last year said Beijing had transferred the technology that might not have been specifically designed for nuclear weapons, but could be adapted for that purpose.

Both Pakistan and China have always denied any sale or purchase of missile technology that contravened international agreements, even those they are not signatories to.

Madonna to marry Guy next year

LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) — Pop superstar Madonna and her British boyfriend Guy Ritchie expect to marry next year and settle in London, the Sun tabloid quoted her today as saying in an interview.

Madonna, who has a four-month old son with film director Ritchie, said the couple was very much in love and marriage seemed like the natural thing to do, the paper said.

‘‘Guy has asked me to marry him and I’ve said yes but we haven’t decided when yet,’’ said Madonna.

The singer, 42, said the couple had ruled out getting married before Christmas because they were too busy, but would tie the knot soon afterwards.

The couple wanted Rocco and Madonna’s three-year-old daughter Lourdes, to be educated in England and were looking forward to setting up a family home in London.

They have reportedly paid $ 10 million for a mansion in London’s trendy Notting Hill district.

Madonna, who has amassed an estimated fortune of $ 200 million during an 18-year career, said she felt much more comfortable in London than in Los Angeles.

Vatican flays rights for unwed couples

VATICAN CITY, Nov 22 (Reuters) — The Vatican railed against legislative moves to give unmarried couples, both heterosexual and gay, the same status and rights as partners in a traditional marriage.

In a 76-page document written by its department on family matters, the Vatican said yesterday that while moves to legitimise heterosexual common-law unions was wrong, doing so for homosexual unions was “much more grave”.

Bid to revive Lanka talks

COLOMBO, Nov 22 (AP) — British Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain hopes to discuss peace initiatives for the 17-year Tamil separatist war during a two-day visit that began today in Sri Lanka.

It is not yet clear whether he will meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who has said she is willing to hold talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels but is being cautious because they have broken off negotiations in the past and resumed fighting.

Mr Hain will meet Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Disabled Indian granted US citizenship

LOS ANGELES, Nov 22 (AP) — A severely disabled young woman from India has become the first person to be granted US citizenship under a new law waiving the oath of allegiance in certain cases.

Mr Vijai Rajan, who has cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Crohn’s, disease, cannot speak and has the comprehension of a two-year-old. She was given a certificate of naturalisation at a ceremony at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service office yesterday.

WORLD BRIEFS

UK catches 43 illegal immigrants
LONDON: The British police found 43 illegal immigrants from eight different countries hidden in the back of three German trucks as they drove through Kent in southern England. The group, consisting of three women, one young child, 11 juveniles and 28 men from Nepal, Chechnya, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Kosovo, India and Moldova, were taken to a screening unit in Dover where they were interviewed by immigration officials. None have yet claimed political asylum. — DPA

Spanish politician shot dead
BARCELONA: Spain’s former Health Minister Ernest Lluch was shot dead in Barcelona on Tuesday night in an attack immediately blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA, politicians and state radio said. Lluch, 63, who served in the Socialist government of former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, was shot twice in the head at a car park. — Reuters

9 die in gas explosion
BREMEN: Nine persons died and two were missing after a gas explosion destroyed an apartment building housing elderly people in the northern German city of Bremen, the police said. Rescue squads worked hard trying to locate survivors, but a spokesman said there was little chance of finding anyone else alive in the ruins. Twentyone others were injured in the explosion, which nearly levelled the four-storey building on Monday. — AFP

Porter becomes millionaire novelist
LONDON: An Irish porter is on his way to becoming a millionaire after publishers Simon and Schuster accepted his novel written over 10 years while on the night shift at a London hospital, the Daily Telegraph has reported. Jamie O’Neill, 39, has been paid “well in excess of £ 250,000 ($ 380,000)” as an advance on the novel, entitled At Swim, Two Boys and describing a homosexual love affair during the Easter uprising in Dublin in 1916. The author, who earns £ 200 a week at his job at Cassell Hospital to the west of London, had celebrated on Monday by opening his first bank account.—DPA

Parents sell porn photos of 3-yr girl
WARSAW: Polish prosecutors have charged a married couple suspected of selling pornographic photographs of their three-year-old daughter to a client in Norway, the PAP news agency reported on Tuesday. An investigation was launched into the activities of the unnamed couple in 1998 after Interpol intercepted 11 explicit photographs of the infant along with a letter sent by the parents to a Norwegian identified only as Guttorm H. Investigators say that the Polish couple initially contacted the Norwegian in 1994 via a nudist magazine. — DPA

Cocaine traces in mummies
LA PAZ: Researchers says that they have discovered traces of cocaine in 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummies, which they call evidence of contact with American cultures centuries before Christopher Columbus. The decade-long study languished “under pressure from people with obscure interests who don’t accept changes in the interpretation of history,” researcher Svetlana Balabanova said from Frankfurt, Germany, during a teleconference at the First Seminar on Pre-Columbian Transoceanic Contacts taking place here. — AFP

Storm dumps 63 cm snow on New York
BUFFALO: Residents of Upstate New York were digging out from an early season snow storm on Tuesday that swept across the Great Lakes and dumped a record 63 cm of the white fluffy stuff. The early storm left schoolchildren cut off from their homes and overnighting at school. Hundreds of travellers were stranded overnight in makeshift hotel lobbies and conference centres after hotel rooms were all sold out, media reports said. — DPA

Backstreet boys’ fans injured
LONDON: From Tokyo to Rio, fervent fans of the Backstreet Boys have literally thrown themselves in front of the US superstars on their whirlwind 100-hour world tour. The quintet, billed as the world’s biggest selling group after record sales topped 55 million, are flying in their personal jet across six continents to promote their new “Black and Blue” album. In Tokyo, at least 10 fans were injured when they crowded round the group’s tour bus at Narita airport. — Reuters

Indian died due to racism?
HONG KONG: The husband of an Indian lawyer who complained of discrimination before her death in a Hong Kong hospital sharply criticised the territory’s medical standards. The attack by writer and broadcaster Martin Jacques comes after an inquest concluded on his wife, Harinder Veriah, who died in Hong Kong’s Ruttonjee public hospital after suffering two epileptic fits. Jacques claimed his wife did not get sufficient medical attention when she suffered her second epileptic fit hours later and that the hospital was negligent because of a racist attitude towards Indian patients. — DPA