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| Wednesday, December 13, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Manual
count ruling awaited EU
summit No ceasefire before
talks with LTTE Court
drops charges against Pinochet Netanyahu makes a
comeback |
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Crackdown
on Indian gang in Bangkok Japan sex slaves hold
mock trials
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Manual count ruling awaited WASHINGTON, Dec 12 — The US Supreme Court today expressed serious concern over different standards applied by various counties of Florida in counting the disputed ballots in the Presidential elections but did not give a final ruling whether the manual counting should start once again. At the end of the 90-minute hearing the court said the practice of applying different standards violated equality before law. All the nine judges of the court grilled the lawyers from Bush and Gore camps about the standards applied by the county canvassing boards in counting the disputed ballots. There was, however, no indication when the court’s decision would be announced. Sounding exasperated Justice Sandra Day O’Connors asked Gore’s attorney David Boies why there were no standards in counting the ballots. “The Broward county adopts one standard and the Palm beach another for counting the disputed ballols,” said another judge. Mr Boies, who was repeatedly asked the same question by most of the judges, argued that the standard adopted was uniform, fair and involved discerning the clear intent of the voter. Bush’s attorney Olson said a minimum penetration of the ballot card should be required to discern the voter’s intent. The judges asked Gore’s attorney what standard he would use if he was in the convassing board. Mr Boies’ replay was political. He said the standard that was in vogue in Texas, Bush’s home state which also relies on the intent of voter. The fact that the judges grilled the lawyers repeatedly on how to count he disputed ballots gave an indication that they are either veering towards cancelling the recount, as suggested by Bush’s lawyers, or suggest some minimum standards and allow counting of the disputed ballots. In exercising the second option, the judges stretch the deadlines for the Florida legislature to submit its slate of electors by a few more days. Tomorrow is the present deadlines for this purpose. Vasantha Arora adds: The Gore campaign has indicated that the US Vice-President would concede to his Republican presidential rival George W. Bush if the federal Supreme Court rejects his plea for a recount of Florida’s disputed ballots. After Monday’s court hearing, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman said: “If the Supreme Court rules in (Texas) Governor Bush’s favour, that’s probably the end of it.” But if the opposite happened, he warned: “I’m afraid that the Bush campaign hasn’t said the same thing about respecting the US Supreme Court decision, so I think then we’ll probably be on a very fascinating constitutional journey which may take us into January.” Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court, in its response to the US Supreme Court, has ruled 6-1 in favour of allowing manual recounts and extending the deadline for the counting of presidential ballots, saying it was rooted in state laws. Florida Chief Justice Charles T. Wells dissented in the opinion, saying he considered a ruling inappropriate while Gore’s bid for hand counts is now before the US Supreme Court. In Atlanta, a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday agreed with a federal judge who refused to throw out 2,000 of Florida’s overseas ballots, mostly from military personnel, because they arrived after election day. In a related development, committees in the Republican-dominated Florida legislature have approved resolutions to appoint their own slate of electoral votes to guarantee the state’s participation in the presidential election process. Democrats fear that the Republican Party wants to ensure the victory of Bush through its legislative majority, if he fails in the recount. |
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EU summit HISTORIES of the European Union will remember the Nice summit as a landmark moment when big governments won the big arguments — and left the integrationists reeling and humiliated at their loss of power. That much was clear in the early hours of yesterday morning, when exhausted leaders emerged pale and blinking from their marathon talks with a new treaty that delivers only modest reforms except in one area- confirming the unassailable dominance of the largest member states. Germany, the UK, and France, with the required 62 per cent of the EU’s total population, can now form a “directory” able to block virtually anything they want as the enlargement process gets under way. Re-weighting votes in the decision-making council of ministers — where the 15 governments cooperate to make policy — sets in concrete the drift towards a Europe not only of nation states, but of the biggest players in the bloc. Nice thus confirmed a trend evident for some time: at last March’s Lisbon economic summit, Prime Ministers set a liberalising reform agenda and left the European Commission to play little more than a back-up role. In the summer, as leaders competed to make visionary speeches about the future of the union, France’s Jacques Chirac failed to even mention the commission — the EU’s unique supranational element where members agree to pool some sovereignty for the common good. Instead, to the horror of its battered President, Romano Prodi, the Gaullist President talked of a “secretariat” to service a “pioneer group” of big countries. It has not quite come to that, because the EU means different things to different people. The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, signed up to a clause allowing “flexibility” so that integrationist-minded states which wish to act on their own can do so, as long as fundamentals like the single market are unaffected. Another big player, Gerhard Schroder, under pressure from Germany’s federal states, got what he needed: a new inter-governmental conference in 2004 — a constitutional review, in other words — of the delimitation of powers between Brussels and national capitals. Nice’s biggest loser is without doubt Mr Prodi, the former Italian Prime Minister chosen to head the European Commission after last year’s sleaze scandals. “I cannot hide from you a certain regret that we did not manage to go further,” he said bravely. Five days haggling on the French Riviera did remove some of what Mr Prodi calls the “manacles” of the national veto. Moves to majority voting in some 25-30 areas will help speed decision-making, with immigration matters (not affecting opt-out Britain) at the top of the list. Members of the European Parliament were unhappy too as agreement to raise the previous threshold of MEPs to a record 740 reinforced the impression that it is little more than a consolation prize. Parliament has no power to throw out EU treaties, but Italy and Belgium have signalled that they will listen to its views when ratification comes round. |
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No ceasefire before talks with LTTE COLOMBO, Dec 12 (PTI, AFP) — The Sri Lankan Government today expressed its readiness to open Norwegian-brokered peace talks with the LTTE but rejected the rebel’s demand for declaration of ceasefire before the commencement of the talks. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told newspersons that “in the government’s view, the de-escalation of war could be considered only if the talks progress towards a definite stage in resolving the conflict”. Rejecting a previous LTTE statement that they could not conduct talks while fighting was on, Mr Kadirgamar said LTTE rebels were not “babes from the woods” and “can fight and talk” at the same time. Mr Kadirgamar said although Prabhakaran in his birthday speech had expressed desire to hold unconditional talks with the government, he had also insisted on the creation of cordial atmosphere and de-escalation of war as essential pre-requisites for the commencement of talks. A careful reading of Prabhakaran’s speech gives the impression that his readiness for peace talks was not without ‘ambiguity’, he said, adding that all issues raised by the LTTE could be discussed during the course of the negotiations. Mr Kadirgamar said political talks with the LTTE could begin immediately but this required that the rebel group agree to “core issues,” which include stoppage of war, end to all terrorist killings, resolution of problems of the Tamil community and speedy settlement of the problems of the Tamil refugees. Asked whether the pre-requisites meant that government imposed conditions, he said the “core issues” could form the basis for talks. “We are for unconditional peace talks. It is up to the LTTE to respond,” he said. The minister said although “the government was aware that the LTTE has held that conditions of normalcy include withdrawal of the armed forces from Jaffna and northern province as a precondition to the commencement of any talks,” but this, he said “was not acceptable to the government”. Doubting LTTE’s sincerity in insisting on such prerequisites, he said the government had agreed to such conditions during the eight month-long talks with the LTTE in 1994-95 and the talks failed as the rebels resumed war. Asked whether the LTTE had demanded the lifting of the ban against it before the commencement of talks, he said: “We have not been told of any such demand”. He, however, said that his government would continue to press for the ban against the LTTE by Britain and other countries as it was essential to stop its fund raising activities. Meanwhile, official sources here said that while the government here would wait for an LTTE response to the issues raised by Kadirgamar, a firm decision would be taken only after the arrival of President Chandrika Kumaratunga from her European tour towards the end of the month. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is pressing Britain and other states to outlaw the LTTE and cut off foreign funding for the rebels amid moves by Norway to broker peace in the embattled island, officials said today. “The peace process is not an impediment to banning the LTTE,” a top government source here said, reacting to rebel claims that moves to outlaw them could disrupt peace initiative. LTTE’s London-based ideologue Anton-Balasingham was quoted as saying in weekend newspapers here on Sunday that they could not enter into talks while Colombo lobbied others to outlaw them. Diplomatic sources said there was a strong likelihood that the international community could put pressure on the LTTE to enter into peace talks by threatening to target the group’s international operations. LTTE is known to operate offices in over 40 countries. |
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Court drops charges
against Pinochet THE Appeals Court in Santiago temporarily reversed an order placing Gen Augusto Pinochet under house arrest and dropped homicide and kidnapping charges yesterday. In a unanimous decision, the three justices said Judge Juan Guzman had not followed the correct legal procedures when charging the former General and ordering his detention, because he had not yet been questioned by a judge. Prosecutors argued otherwise. “This is just a technicality,’’ said Mr Carmen Hertz, for the prosecution. “The ruling does not involve the essence of the case against him,” he added. Human rights lawyers immediately filed an appeal. A supreme court judge is expected to hear the appeal as early as tomorrow. The 85-year-old General is expected to lose that round and be left facing the charges relating to 70 murders and kidnappings carried out in 1973 by a military squad known as the Caravan of Death. The day since Judge Juan Guzman issued his surprise decision to arrest and indict the former dictator 10 days back, the General’s supporters have attacked the judges, saying that a trial would only further destabilise Chile. In a sign of military discontent last week, armed forces chiefs forced the Socialist President, Mr Ricardo Lagos, to convene the national security council to voice reservations. General Pinochet is being pursued by international judges, who are exchanging information and sources. Investigations are now taking place in Argentina, Italy, Mexico, the USA and Spain, with 189 criminal cases against the General in Chile. |
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JERUSALEM, Dec 12 (DPA) — A mere 19 months after he stood, humiliated and defeated, to announce his “time out” from active politics, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to the political arena. His statement, on Sunday night, that he sees himself as a candidate in the coming Israeli elections, caught no one by surprise, least of all Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The Israeli media has treated a Netanyahu candidacy as given, even though, according to law, the former premier cannot run in the special elections for the premiership only, as he is not a sitting legislator. Mr Netanyahu’s supporters in parliament are lobbying to circumvent this obstacle, either through special legislation, or else through passing a law which would dissolve the House and pave the way for parliamentary elections to be held simultaneously with the poll for the premiership. The public too is acting as if Mr Netanyahu will be challenging Mr Barak in the elections. Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu faces the first test of his comeback early next week, when his Likud party will hold internal elections to choose the party’s candidate for the premiership. Although the former premier is extremely popular with the party’s grass-roots and with party back-benchers, the party’s leadership is said to be less enthusiastic about his return to politics. washington: President
Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak spoke by telephone for about 30 minutes yesterday as the
Israeli leader explained his surprise announcement this past weekend that he would resign and stand for re-election in 60 days. White house spokesman
p j crowley said Mr
Barak initiated the call, which also touched on continuing violence in the west bank and
Gaza, a US-led inquiry into the roots of the 10-week-old crisis, and a congressional aid package.
"The prime minister initiated the call. He wanted to explain to the president his reasoning for proceeding with elections,"
Mr Crowley told reporters travelling with Mr clinton as he went to
Dublin. |
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Crackdown on Indian gang in Bangkok BANGKOK, Dec 12 (DPA) — Thailand has cracked down on a gang of Indian extortionists who have been operating at Bangkok International Airport for more than a year, targetting Indian traders arriving in the country from Calcutta, a news report said today. The Thailand-based gang has been preying on Indian traders who arrive in the country by confiscating their bags upon arrival and charging them a “baggage fee” per kilogram for their return, reportedly with the cooperation of Thai airport police, said The Nation newspaper. “If the victim approaches airport security, his complaint would most likely fall on deaf ears because the staff would also be on the gang’s payroll,” said The Nation. The police yesterday arrested two of the alleged extortionists, identified as Pradeep Kumar and Srikanit Pandley. Pandley was arrested in his rented room at Bobby Guesthouse, where piles of luggage were found filled with clothes and sacks of Indian peanuts. The airport gang would target arrivals from Calcutta, charging Indian traders about 1 dollar per kilogram of luggage if they wanted it returned to them. The police estimated that the gang’s receipts per flight from Calcutta amounted to 1,40,000 to 400,000 baht. |
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Japan sex slaves
hold mock trials TOKYO, Dec 12 (Reuters) — Japanese Emperor Hirohito was found “guilty of crimes against humanity” in a mock trial by activists frustrated by failed lawsuits brought by women forced to work as sex slaves for Japan’s army before and during World War II. The tribunal, which is not legally binding but seeks to bring public opinion to bear on the Japanese government, also ruled that Japan must act to redress the harm done to the women. “Today, the judges have found Emperor Hirohito guilty of crimes against humanity,” said Gabrielle McDonald, former president of the Yugoslavia War Crime Tribunal and one of the judges. “The judges found that the emperor knew, or should have known, the troops were committing atrocities, such as the Nanking massacre.” |
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