W O R L D

UK clampdown to hit Punjabis
LONDON: Britain’s decision to enforce a blanket search of lorries entering the country will come as a blow to illegal immigrants, especially those hailing from Punjab.

Hospitalise Sharif, says Kulsoom
ISLAMABAD, Dec 7 — An official in Pakistan’s Punjab province has said deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did develop high blood pressure but it had since been brought under control by doctors attending on him at the Attock jail.

Blair to seek Purulia convict's release
LONDON, Dec 7 — British Prime Minister Tony Blair will personally try to secure the release of arms dealer Peter Bleach jailed for life in the Purulia arms drop case, media reports said today.

Estrada trial opens
MANILA, Dec 7 — The Philippine Senate opened the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada today on corruption and bribery charges, which could lead to his removal from office.

Federal court rejects Bush plea to halt recount

ATLANTA, Dec 7 (Reuters) — A federal appeals court rejected Republican George W. Bush’s bid for an injunction to halt manual vote recounts considered vital to Democrat Al Gore’s fading hopes of overturning Florida’s certified election results and winning the White House.

In an 8-4 verdict, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta yesterday upheld a lower court ruling that the recounts in Democrat-leaning counties appeared to be neutral, were proceeding according to the law and required no legal intervention.

Hand recounted ballots are at the heart of Vice-President Gore’s effort to challenge Florida’s certified results for the November 7 presidential election that gave Mr Bush a wafer-thin 537-vote victory out of 6 million ballots cast in a state both candidates need to win the presidency.

The manual recounts were completed last month after a U.S. District court in Miami rejected the Bush campaign’s bid to have these stopped, setting up an appeal to the Atlanta court.

The appellate court, made up of seven Republican nominees, rejected arguments by the Texas Governor and his vice presidential nominee, Mr Dick Cheney, that allowing the hand recounts to stand was unconstitutional and would do irreparable harm.

“At the moment, the candidate plaintiffs (Bush and Cheney) are suffering no serious harm, let alone irreparable harm, because they have been certified as winners of Florida’s electoral votes notwithstanding the inclusion of manually recounted ballots,” the court said.

“Even if manual recounts were to resume pursuant to a state court order, it is wholly speculative as to whether the results of those recounts may eventually place Vice-President Gore ahead,” the court said.

In a separate but related ruling, the court also rejected claims by three Republican voters from Brevard county that the hand recounts created a two-tier voting system that violated their constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the law.

The ruling, however, sparked sharp disagreement among the 12 appellate judges.

In a strongly worded dissenting opinion, Judge Gerald Tjoflat said a constitutional right to equal treatment had been violated because hand counting of ballots was conducted in only a few counties and officials in Palm Beach county had changed their standards for counting disputed ballots.

“Plaintiffs’ constitutional injuries are real, they increase in magnitude daily,” he wrote in his dissent in the Brevard case.

TALLAHASSEE (Florida): A month after the U.S. elections concluded, the final legal battle to determine the US presidency starts at the Florida Supreme Court on Friday.

Lawyers from both camps have filed written arguments for and against the resumption of manual recounts in some counties in the state. The recounts, if permitted, could upstage the certified result in favour of Republican candidate George W. Bush.

Another major tussle in the county courts is on a serious breach of conduct by Republican officials in tampering with thousands of absentee ballots in Seminole and Martin counties which, if the Leon county judges set aside, could tilt the balance in favour of the Democratic party candidate.

UK clampdown to hit Punjabis
From Sanjay Suri

LONDON: Britain’s decision to enforce a blanket search of lorries entering the country will come as a blow to illegal immigrants, especially those hailing from Punjab.

The ferry liner P&O on Wednesday put in place a new search procedure under which all lorries entering Britain would be searched for illegal immigrants. Twentytwo persons were caught on the first day, most of them belonging to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thousands of Indians, mostly from Punjab, are believed to enter Britain this way every year. A Home Office spokesman said there could be no official estimate given the nature of such entries but the numbers were “considerable”.

This year, around 1,500 Indians, mostly from Punjab, have sought to stay on in Britain after seeking asylum either on arrival or after a period of stay. All applications by Indians have been turned down.

However, lawyers working with Indian immigrants believe that as the official asylum route is getting blocked, more people have been entering illegally. Britain does not have an identity card for citizens as some European nations do and the immigrants stay on illegally.

The P&O company said it would be “near impossible” to beat the new checks put in place. A new security firm hired by the company is using a simple device fed by carbon dioxide to check all lorries. The device detects the slightest sign of breathing. — IANS

Hospitalise Sharif, says Kulsoom

ISLAMABAD, Dec 7 (UNI) — An official in Pakistan’s Punjab province has said deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did develop high blood pressure but it had since been brought under control by doctors attending on him at the Attock jail.

A media report quoting Mr Sharif’s daughter said the former Prime Minister had developed cardiac problem as a result of high blood pressure and that the doctors attending on him had advised his hospitalisation.

The Health Secretary of Punjab, however, said Mr Sharif had “nominally high blood pressure” and that his latest ECG results showed “he was well now”.

Meanwhile, Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of the deposed Prime Minister, alleged that her husband was not being provided with the desired medical treatment in the jail.

Demanding that her husband be removed to some hospital for treatment, she said “no medical equipment was available in the jail and that she was unaware of the doctor who was treating him there.

She said their family doctor, who examined him in the jail, had opined that if “necessary facilities” were not provided to him, his illness could “take a serious turn”.

Meanwhile, a report from Lahore said Mian Sharif, the patriarch of the Sharif family, was also seriously ill. Begum Kulsoom, who met her husband in the jail last night left for Lahore to attend to her father-in-law.

Blair to seek Purulia convict's release

LONDON, Dec 7 (PTI) — British Prime Minister Tony Blair will personally try to secure the release of arms dealer Peter Bleach jailed for life in the Purulia arms drop case, media reports said today.

"Mr Blair is using the prospect of an official visit to India, tentatively scheduled for the new year, to try to secure the release of the British arms dealer," the daily Telegraph said.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook had taken up the issue during a recent visit of External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to the UK who had assured him that India would "re-examine" the case and would see that Bleach’s mercy petition was expedited and he was granted presidential pardon.

Quoting diplomatic sources, the report said negotiations were underway to secure the release of 48-year old Bleach who said he was working with the full knowledge of the British Intelligence Services when he dropped a large cache of arms over Purulia in West Bengal in December 1995.

"We didn’t look very strong. The Russians managed to get all their people out, but our man was left. We weren’t seem to be very successful at campaigning for justice on behalf of British citizens," a diplomatic source was quoted in the report.

Five Latvian crewmen who were sentenced to life imprisonment with Bleach in the case were granted presidential pardon and released after the Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to cancel a state visit to India, during which he signed a series of lucrative arms deals.

Estrada trial opens

MANILA, Dec 7 (Reuters) — The Philippine Senate opened the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada today on corruption and bribery charges, which could lead to his removal from office.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide slammed the gavel on a wooden table in the packed Senate session hall to start the trial, as 15,000 protesters demanding Estrada’s resignation massed outside the heavily guarded, seaside venue.

“The impeachment of his excellency, the President of the Philippines, is now called to order,’’ the judge said.

Estrada is charged with bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the constitution. Conviction on any one count would lead to his immediate ouster.

The embattled former movie actor has denied the charges and said he is confident his name will be cleared.

The first trial of an Asian Head of State was sparked by allegations that Estrada had received bribes from illegal gambling syndicates. Fifteen votes or two-thirds of the 22-member Senate, which has converted itself into an impeachment court, are needed to convict Estrada. He needs eight to beat the charges.

Large parts of the capital were deprived of live television coverage of the impeachment trial.

A fibre optic line of major cable television firm SkyCable, the only cable firm carrying live coverage of the impeachment proceedings, was found cut about two hours before the trial began at the Senate, company officials said.

Terrestrial channels, however, continued to cover the trial live.

Mass prayers and protests marked the opening of the trial.

Church leader and government critic Cardinal Jaime Sin, Opposition head Vice-President Gloria Arroyo and former President Corazon Aquino drew thousands to a rally near a Manila church and took turns lambasting Estrada.

Mr Sin, a longtime critic of the President, warned Estrada that “you have lost your moral ascendancy to govern us” and told the crowd that “we must not be afraid to denounce evil, even if it means being persecuted by the mighty.”

Preparations on to dump ‘Mir’

BERLIN, Dec 7 (DPA) — Russia is making preparations to destroy space station Mir by ditching it into the sea early next year.

The decision to take the 14-year-old platform out of orbit and dump it in the Pacific Ocean in February was made by the Russian Government last month.

Operating the 33-metre-long Mir had become too expensive for Moscow, which is a major partner with the USA in the international space station currently being assembled.

Last year, Russia had sought help from private investors to keep the space station, once a symbol of Soviet glory, in operation. But not enough money was raised to pay the running costs.

The Kremlin was also obliged by international agreements to remove the platform from orbit - an operation not without risk.

A Soviet military satellite plunged to earth in 1978, littering radioactive debris over northern Canada. US specialists recovered the wreckage and rendered it harmless.

In 1991, parts of Mir’s predecessor, Salyut 7, fell onto the Andes mountain range in Argentina, but caused no damage.

The 140-tonnes Mir is three times as big as Salyut 7, and the operation to ditch it in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean will be infinitely more complicated.

Experts estimate that Mir will land in an area between 8,000 and 10,000 km long and 200 km wide, east of Australia. But some scientists point out that parts of the station could touch land instead of hitting the water.

The space station will have been in operation for 15 years when its mission finally ends next February.

Protests mar peace at Nice

NICE (France), Dec 7 (Reuters) — The police fired tear gas shells at hundreds of protesters demonstrating outside the venue of a crucial European Union summit today.

A Reuters correspondent at the scene said several hundred protesters were in a noisy stand-off with dozens of riot police armed with tear gas grenades and batons.

Activists from several European countries, who clashed with police late last night, were protesting against perceived inadequacies in a charter of fundamental rights that EU leaders plan to endorse at the first day of their summit.

One tear gas canister pierced the window of a car that had just been parked near the demonstrations by a local man arriving for work.

According to the AFP, scores of anti-globalisation campaigners blocked traffic today as they marched towards a conference centre where EU leaders were due to begin a key summit meeting here later in the day.

“Our goal is to influence the direction of the European Union at a time when the future of Europe is being decided,” Mr Christophe Aguiton, one of the protest spokespersons said.

Nearly 50,000 trade unionists and other protesters from across Europe gathered at the French Riviera city to press demands to improve social standards in the 15-nation union.

As many as 200 protesters gathered before dawn at two locations near the center of the city. One group blocked traffic on a main thoroughfare as they headed towards the Acropolis convention center where the summit was due to open.

Late yesterday, two policemen were injured after clashes with demonstrators near the local railway station.

The Italian police prevented more than 1,400 demonstrators from crossing the border into France in a bid to limit numbers at the rallies.

Remains of tiny dinosaurs found

PARIS, Dec 7 (AFP) — Chinese palaeontologists say they have found remains of a hitherto unknown type of tiny feathered dinosaur that may have holed up in trees, a finding that may give valuable insights into how birds evolved.

The 124-mn-year-old fossil was discovered in Chaoyang county in western Liaoning at a rock formation that has been a literal treasure trove, yielding more than a thousand specimens of early birds and feathered dinosaurs.

The creature has been dubbed microraptor zhaoianus, named after Zhao Xijin, a Chinese dinosaur-hunter who was a father-figure to the leader of the team, Xing Xu, himself an eminent palaeontologist.

The finding by a team from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences was reported in today’s issue of Nature.

The fossil represents an adult creature about the size of a crow with a feathery coverage and articulated feet with curved, claws similar to those used by perching birds.

Even so, it is a dinosaur and the smallest non-flying member of the theropods — biped, meat-eaters that strode the planet between 230 mn and 66.4 mn years ago.

It is classed as a member of the dromaeosauridae or raptors. These were a subgroup of dinosaurs that were smart, small, fast and efficient killers closely related to birds.

The earliest identified bird so far is archaeopteryx, which lived from about 150 mn years ago during the Jurassic period when many dinosaurs lived.

The Xu team does not suggest microraptor is that link, but say its claws suggest the creature could climb trees. This, they suggest, strengthens the theory that birds arose from evolutionary pressure. According to this thinking, small dinosaurs took to trees where they were able to escape from predators and find an abundance of insect food.

Over millions of years by process of natural selection they developed grasping feet and enlarged claws to hold on to swaying branches as well as larger eyes and narrow snouts to provide better forward vision.

Moderate drinkers have higher IQ

PARIS, Dec 7 (AFP) — Moderate drinkers have a higher IQ than teetotallers, according to a Japanese study to be published in Saturday’s issue of British weekly New Scientist.

Two thousand people aged between 40 and 79 were tested by the National Institute for Longevity Sciences in Aichi Prefecture, 250 km west of Tokyo.

Men who drank "moderately" — defined as less than 54 centilitres of sake or wine, or around two-thirds of a 75-centilitre bottle — were found on an average to have an IQ that was 3.3 points higher than men who did not drink at all.

Women drinkers scored 2.5 points higher than women teetotallers.

The type of alcohol did not influence the results. The difference was the same, whether the volunteers drank beer, whiskey, wine or sake.

Senior researcher Hiroshi Shimokata told New Scientist that it could be that people who drink sake, or Japanese rice wine, tended to eat more raw fish, which is known to have fatty acids that are beneficial for the brain’s development.

Similarly, wine drinkers in Japan also eat more cheese than normal, ingesting fatty proteins which could also sharpen mental prowess.

Grenade attack by LTTE: 4 killed

COLOMBO, Dec 7 (Reuters) — Four persons were killed in a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel attack today on a small village in eastern Sri Lanka, a military spokesman said.

“At least 20 persons came and threw a grenade into a house, killing two men, one woman and a child,” said military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne.

He said the attackers were chased off into a jungle on the edge of the Sinhalese village, located near Welikanda, 200 km (125 miles) northeast of Colombo.

Treason charges may be dropped

AUCKLAND, Dec 7 (AFP) — Treason charges against Fiji coup leader George Speight and his co-conspirators are likely to be dropped soon, political and diplomatic sources said today. Their impending release on bail on minor charges could follow the failure of the state’s Public Prosecution Office and the police to gain adequate evidence for the capital treason charges, sources said.

WORLD BRIEFS

American jailed for spying
MOSCOW: a Russian court has sentenced US businessman Edmond pope to 20 years in jail as a spy, raising a storm of outrage in Washington and casting a shadow over US-Russian relations. The first westerner convicted of spying in Russia since the darkest days of the cold war would serve his time in a high security penal colony. He has suffered from a rare form of bone cancer and his family has said prison would be a death sentence. — Reuters

Tower of Pisa’s tilt reduced 
PISA (Italy): conservationists said they had reduced the inclination of the leaning tower of Pisa to its lowest level in nearly 200 years ahead of an official visit to the city by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. Experts said on Wednesday the tilt had been reduced by 33 cm since renovation work started in 1998, thus equalling the inclination to 1810 levels. Plans are to reduce the tilt by a further 5 cm thereby restoring the marble masterpiece to its angle of 300 years ago by June 17. — DPA

Corpses choke sewers in Harare
HARARE: workers struggling to keep the choked sewers of Zimbabwe's capital city flowing find, on an average, 15 corpses of infants in its sewage treatment plants every month, according to municipal officials. The bodies range from aborted foetuses to fully developed babies, said Mr Tadious Mafune, a senior engineer in the Harare municipality’s department of works. — DPA

Quake kills 11
BEIJING: An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale killed 11 persons and injured five in the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan late last night, Chinese television reported. The epicentre of the earthquake, which also shook parts of neighbouring Iran, was 400 km northwest of the Turkmeni capital, Ashgabat, state television said today. — Reuters

Castle wedding for Madonna?
LONDON: Pop diva Madonna has scouted out a Scottish castle as a possible venue for her forthcoming wedding to British film director Guy Ritchie, newspapers reported on Thursday. Madonna was spotted on Wednesday at Dornoch in eastern Scotland where she checked out the acoustics in the 776-year-old cathedral with an impromptu rendition of Ave Maria, according to The Guardian newspaper. She later toured the nearby Skibo Castle .— AFP

Internet cafes fined in Beijing
BEIJING: The police in Beijing has fined the city’s largest chain of Internet cafes after finding evidence of customers’ visits to pornographic websites, state media said. The Feiyu Internet Bar, which has nine outlets near Beijing University, was fined 10,000 yuan ($1,200) and ordered to take steps to prevent access to pornographic sites, the Beijing youth daily said on Wednesday. — DPA