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December 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Bush to work for reconciliation WASHINGTON, Dec 14 — Five weeks after a messy poll that left the USA divided through a bitter legal wrangling, Republican George W. Bush today won his battle for White House promising to work for “reconciliation and unity” after his Democrat challenger Al Gore conceded defeat. ‘Gore won but was robbed’
Fabulous Bush First Lady UK village hails win of ‘local boy' |
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Death sentence of 10 Mujib killers confirmed DHAKA, Dec 14 — A two-member Bench of the High Court today in a split judgement confirmed death sentences to 10 former Bangladesh army personnel who were involved in the killing of Bangladesh founding father Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Junior Judge Justice A.B.M. Khairul Huq upheld the death sentence to all 15 accused handed down by Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Kazi Golam Kuddus on November 8, 1998. Senior Judge of the Bench Ruhul Amin acquitted five of the accused in the case. Lanka slams UK minister’s remarks Brother rejects ‘deal’ on Nawaz Sharif’s father, wife can return Fiji curfew may be lifted today UN arms embargo
on Taliban likely USA to crack down on Irish terrorists Russia pardons
US spy
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‘Gore won but was robbed’ Democrats reacted with anger to Mr Al Gore’s defeat last night, with some senior officials barely able to conceal their bitterness at an election that they claimed had been fixed. “There was a campaign of voter suppression in Florida which has left very bitter feelings,’’ a senior aide to President Bill Clinton said. “Gore won but he was robbed.’’ For the first time in half a century, the Democrats now control neither the White House, the Senate, nor the House of Representatives. In exceptionally promising economic circumstances, the party has failed to place itself at the centre of American politics. The political prospects of Mr Gore himself are also now in question. For an incumbent Vice-President to be ousted from the White House at a time of sustained economic prosperity, domestic tranquillity and international peace — and when the outgoing administration enjoyed record approval ratings — ought to be politically unforgiveable. If this were November 8, the political obituary writers would say that Mr Gore threw it away and that his career as a major national politician must be over. But his prospects have changed. Last night’s expected concession speech might even have been the opening shot of the 2004
Gore-Bush rematch. Senator Kent Conrad, a Democrat, said last night that it was “very hard to know’’ whether Mr Gore could try again in four years. “That is several lifetimes in politics and that makes it hard to predict. There are lots of other capable people who, no doubt, will step forward.’’ But Mr Gore’s achievements in defeat in the 2000 election cannot be lightly dismissed. He won more votes on November 7 than any Democratic
Presidential candidate in history — more than Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, John Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson. Only Ronald Reagan has ever won more support from Americans than Mr Gore did last month. And no candidate since 1888 has won more votes than his opponent and not moved into the White House. For all the talk about bipartisanship under a
Bush administration there will be no magnanimous job offer to Mr Gore — and he would not accept it, anyway. A Los Angeles radio station has offered Mr Gore a $200,000 a year contract to host a show but that seems even less likely. Mr Gore may briefly think about relaunching his political career in the 2002 midterm elections. The governorship of his home state of Tennessee will be up for grabs in two years, as will Republican ex-film star Fred Thompson’s Senate seat, which Mr Gore once held. But Mr Gore’s loss in Tennessee on November 7 was a serious blow. Unless he improbably drops out of politics altogether, a much likelier scenario is a period on the lucrative lecture circuit while he takes stock and maybe writes another book while fundraising for a
Presidential bid in 2004. He has the family farm in Tennessee to retreat to, but Mr Gore has not spent much of his life away from Washington. Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court in its majority ruling on Tuesday night stated: “It is obvious that the recount cannot be conducted in compliance with the requirements of equal protection and due process without substantial additional work. It would require not only the adoption of adequate state-wide standards for determining what is a legal vote... but also orderly judicial review of any disputed matters that might arise. “The Supreme Court of Florida has said the legislature intended the state’s electors to “participate fully in the federal electoral process”, as provided in 3 US Code Section 5. That statute, in turn, requires that any controversy or contest that is designed to lead to a conclusive selection of electors be completed by December 12. That date is upon us. Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet the December 12 date will be unconstitutional for the reasons we have discussed, we reverse the judgement of the Supreme Court of Florida ordering a recount to proceed.” Justice John Paul Steven’s dissent, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer: “What must underlie petitioner’s entire federal assault on the Florida election procedures is an unstated lack of confidence in the impartiality and capacity of the state judges who would make the critical decisions if the vote count were to proceed. Otherwise, their position is wholly without merit. The endorsement of that position by the majority of this court can only lend credence to the most cynical appraisal of the work of judges throughout the land. It is confidence in the men and women who administer the judicial system that is the true backbone of the rule of law. Time will one day heal the wound to that confidence that will be inflicted by today’s decision. One thing, however, is certain: although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s
Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear — it is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law. — The Guardian, London |
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Bush to work for reconciliation WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (PTI) — Five weeks after a messy poll that left the USA divided through a bitter legal wrangling, Republican George W.
Bush today won his battle for White House promising to work for “reconciliation and unity” after his Democrat challenger Al Gore conceded defeat. The 54-year-old Texas Governor, who not long ago had said that the coming century will see India’s arrival as a new force in the world, declared in a victory address “together we will have a bipartisan foreign policy true to our values and true to our friends.” Shortly after Mr Gore conceded defeat “for the sake of unity and strength of democracy” and congratulated him, Mr
Bush said, “After a difficult election, we must put politics behind us and work together to make the promise of America available to every one of our citizens.” The 43rd President-Elect, who will be inaugurated on January 20, is a foreign affairs neophyte and hardly a globe trotter, but is expected to continue the momentum of growing relations between India and the USA. During his poll campaign, he had assured visiting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that he regarded Indo-US relations as a top foreign policy priority. Mr
Bush, who will be the second son of a former US President to claim White House, was magnanimous about his defeated rival who, he said, has a distinguished record of service to the country as a Congressman, Senator and Vice-President. “This evening I received a gracious call from the Vice-President. We agreed to meet early next week in Washington and we agreed to do our best to heal our country after this hard fought contest,” he said. Stressing his commitment to a healing process, Mr
Bush said, “Our nation must rise above a house divided. I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation.” He said he would meet Mr Gore early next week as “we agreed to do our best to heal our country after this hard fought contest.” Earlier Mr Gore in a televised address said, “Now the US Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it.” Calling upon his supporters to unite behind Mr
Bush he said, “We close ranks when the contest is done.....We put country before party. We will stand together behind our new President.” After eight years of democratic leadership in White House, Mr
Bush and his team are expected to try to redefine foreign policy based on a Republican agenda which includes limiting international interventions to cases where US national interests are threatened and maintaining absolute military and technological supremacy in the world. “His foreign policy might be called more traditionalist or realist in its orientation,” said Mr Richard Haass,
vice-President of foreign policy studies at Brookings Institution. Mr
Bush will likely be less interested than Mr Clinton in pursuing international environmental issues or humanitarian military operations abroad, Mr Haass said. On the Middle East, Mr
Bush has said he backs the current US stance as an “honest broker” between Israel and the Palestinians but may face difficulties in maintaining that stance as violence continues to ravage the region. |
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Fabulous Bush First Lady WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (AFP)—Mrs Laura Bush, a woman thrust into the centre of the American life through the ambitions of her husband, the new us
President-elect, Mr George W. Bush, surmounted apparently without too much effort her distaste for the spotlight. A Texas native, happy to call herself a “traditional
woman," and who speaks of her 23-year-old marriage as a partnership, Mrs
Bush was considered by many Republican supporters of her husband as his secret weapon during his bid for the White House. A woman with whom many American women can identify, Mrs
Bush was always going to be, according to her husband, "a fabulous First Lady." The 53-year-old blue-eyed brunette made her political debut in July at the Republican convention which nominated her husband for
President, giving a speech filled with humorous comments and homey references to family and the big sky of Texas, the state her
husband governs. Her role in the ensuing campaign for her husband’s bid for the presidency became more active from that point. She attended rallies aimed at women voters and answered questions from Republican sympathisers, all the time touting Mr
Bush’s human qualities. But she made it clear the line would be drawn at policy-making in any vein resembling that of the current First
Lady, Mrs Hillary Clinton. “I am not George’s adviser. I'm his wife. I don’t advise him about policy, but we do talk about issues and personalities,” she said. |
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UK village hails win of ‘local boy' LONDON,
Dec 14 (Reuters)— Residents of a small English village hailed Mr George.
W Bush’s US Presidential election victory as a triumph for a ‘’local boy’’. They say that messing, a hamlet of 250 in the eastern
English county of Essex, was the home of the Bush dynasty until a farmer called
Reynauld Bush left for new England in 1631. “We’ve got records going back to about 1300. The family were farmers and
Reynauld Bush emigrated in 1631,’’ Roger Carter, author of a book on
Messing’s history, told Reuters today. “We will be writing to the new
President and inviting him cordially to come and see us. As a President
he is also entitled to a hard-back copy of my book,’’ carter said. Mr
Tony Keogh's old crown pub in the village has a bar named after Mr George.
W Bush’s father, George Bush, who was US President from 1988-92. ‘’i’m going to get a bit of masking tape and put a w in there now,’’
Mr Keogh said. He said letters from George Bush senior thanking messing residents for their interest in his genealogy were on display in the village, as well as a white house flag sent by the former
President. Mr Keogh had no doubt the new President would be eager to maintain a link with messing. “Bush is an
Essex boy at heart,’’ Mr Keogh said. Britain’s times newspaper said genealogist
Hugh Peskett first exposed the Bush family’s impeccable lineage 10 years ago. But
Mr Peskett told the paper: “the family didn’t like my research as it made them look too aristocratic when they wanted to appear like
Texan ranchers. “Their heritage as settlers is not an image they want to project.’’ The times said messing residents were checked out by
CIA agents after the village’s parish council invited George Bush senior to visit when he was in power. |
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Death sentence of 10 Mujib killers confirmed DHAKA, Dec 14 — A two-member Bench of the High Court today in a split judgement confirmed death sentences to 10 former Bangladesh army personnel who were involved in the killing of Bangladesh founding father Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Junior Judge Justice A.B.M. Khairul Huq upheld the death sentence to all 15 accused handed down by Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Kazi Golam Kuddus on November 8, 1998. Senior Judge of the Bench Ruhul Amin acquitted five of the accused in the case. As a procedure the case will go to a third justice for adjudication. Chief Justice of Bangladesh will decide which justice will give the final judgement. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members were brutally killed in a military putsch on August 15, 1975 and one of his cabinet colleague Khondakar Mustaque Ahmed ascended the post of President. He was removed again 81 days later. Four persons including Khondakar Mustaque Ahmed, Civil Servant Mahbubul Alam Chashi and two armymen were dropped from the charge sheet as they were dead by the time the trial began 23 years after the gruesome killing. Military ruler Ziaur Rahman by an ordinance restricted the trial of the killings. The ordinance was repealed by the Sheikh Hasina Government to pave the way for the trial of killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Only four of the condemned killers are now in Bangladesh jail and 11 of the condemned accused fled the country and places of their posting as diplomats immediately after the Awami League government led by Sheikh Mujib’s eldest daughter Sheikh Hasina formed the government winning the June 1996 Parliament elections. They are now absconding abroad. Taheruddin Thakur, a former state Minister under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the only civilian accused in the case was acquitted by the Sessions court. However, he is facing trial on charges of involvement in the jail killing case. Four leaders of the Awami League were killed inside Dhaka Central Jail on November 1997. Those who are in jail and convicted are retired Lt Col Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed and Major Bazlul Huda. The last one fled the country in June 1996 but was held by Thailand police on charges of shop-lifting in Bangkok, the same year. He was brought under a repatriation agreement signed in 1998. The absconding convicts are Lt Colonels Khondakar Abdur Rashid, Shariful Huque Dalim (who made the announcement on Bangladesh radio about the killing on the fateful day), A.M. Rashed Choudhury, Major Shariful, Hossain, Mohiuddin Ahmed, SHBM Noor Choudhury, Abdul Aziz Pasha, Captains Kismat Hashem, Nazmul Hossain Ansar, Abdul Majed and Risaldar Mosleh Uddin. The High Court has acquitted five of the absconders. They are Lt-Col Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major Sharful Hossain, Capt Nazmul Hossain Ansar and Risaldar Moslehuddin. The High Court took up the trial as it came up for confirmation of the Sessions court judgement. The HC hearing began on June 28 this year and after hearing for 63 days fixed December 14 for judgement. The prosecution was led by a special public prosecutor while the court appointed 11 lawyers to represent absconding accused. In the meantime, immediately after pronouncement of the split judgement, large number of Awami League supporters came out of the streets and staged demonstration protesting against the judgement. Eight vehicles were damaged during the short demonstration. Later, Minister Zillur Rahman who is also the General Secretary of the ruling Awami League at a rally appealed to the demonstrators for peace.
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Lanka slams UK minister’s remarks COLOMBO, Dec 14 (AFP) — Sri Lanka has slammed remarks made by Britain’s Junior Foreign Minister Peter Hain on how to settle the island’s drawn-out Tamil separatist conflict, a state-run daily said today. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was quoted as saying in the Daily News that Mr Hain’s remarks late last month were seen as an infringement on this former British colony’s right to resolve its own problems. “I would ask our friends abroad to desist from making statements which infringe on our right to resolve our own problem,” Mr Kadirgamar told the Daily News. In a trip to Sri Lanka last month, Mr Hain said Britain was willing to accept the principle of self-determination for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka to end the drawn-out separatist war. Mr Hain said at the time that Britain was supportive of Norway’s efforts to bring the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the negotiating table. “The LTTE, like the IRA, needs to acknowledge that while a Tamil kingdom constitutionally split from the rest of the island will not receive recognition by Europe, the USA or indeed India, the principle of self-determination ... would be supported by the international community,” Mr Hain said. But Mr Kadirgamar hit back hard, saying that such a move could lead to demands for the government’s withdrawal from the area. “I take rather strong exception to that statement of Mr Hain because self-determination could very well mean the right to secession. The state of Sri Lanka cannot under any circumstances whatsoever, contemplate the possibility of a right of secession,” he added. UNI adds: Hundreds of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) activists have demonstrated here to protest against the Norwegian peace initiative that party leaders described as a “farce” and pledged to defeat any such designs by imperialists. Addressing last evening’s demonstrators, party General Secretary Tilwin Silva said the Norwegian Government was not undertaking a genuine effort to solve the long-standing ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka. The JVP could win against the “division planned and advocated by imperialists in the name of constitutional reforms.” He said the people of this island nation had many experiences of peace talks and their results. Each set of talks ended worsening the crisis. The LTTE that began with AK-47s, has now evolved into one of the most dangerous terrorist organisations in the world, using artillery and rocket launchers. Peace talks provided ample time for terrorists to regroup and rearm. Meanwhile, five persons, including three policemen, were killed in a claymore mine explosion close to a school in Uravoor in Eastern Batticaloa, about 240 km from here, this morning. A defence spokesman said the incident occurred when terrorists detonated a claymore mine near the Kalai Mahavidyalaya where the senior secondary school examination was in process. Three policemen who were on guard duty at the examination centre and a civilian couple passing through at the time of the explosion were killed. Two policemen and one civilian who were injured have been admitted to hospital. In Jaffna, two terrorists were shot dead by security forces during confrontations at
Nunavil. |
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Brother rejects ‘deal’ on Nawaz ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (UNI) — Mr Shahbaz Sharif, a former Chief Minister of Punjab province, has decided not to accept any restrictions on his political career and rejected his elder brother Nawaz Sharif’s deal with the military government. Mr Shahbaz, who was considered the most effective Chief Minister of Punjab before the military takeover, has conveyed from his exile in Saudi Arabia that he wants to return to Pakistan as soon as he recovers from a back ailment and completes discussion with his family on his future. Mr Shahbaz was exiled along with Mr Sharif, their father and other family members and was reluctant to leave the country. Acquitted in the conspiracy case of the PIA plane hijacking, Shahbaz was awakened in Karachi jail at 1.30 a.m. and told by a military officer to pack for an airtrip to Islamabad and thence to Saudi Arabia. He was amused yet reluctant to become part of the deal and was allowed to talk to his father. Army authorities told him that if he did not join his family, Mr Sharif and their father would not to be allowed to leave the country. Mr Shahbaz has now decided to return to Pakistan and face the music. He’s expected to request Saudi Arabia to let him return to Pakistan. |
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Sharif’s father,
wife can return ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (AFP) — Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife and father will be allowed to return from exile in Saudi Arabia following their dramatic departure at the weekend, a senior minister said today. Interior Minister Lieut-Gen Moinuddin Haider told reporters that Sharif’s father, Mian Sharif, and wife Kulsoom would be allowed to return home, but the former premier would be refused entry for 10 year. |
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Fiji curfew may be lifted today SUVA, Dec 14 (Reuters) — Fiji’s military will lift on Friday the curfew that was imposed seven months ago after armed nationalist rebels stormed the Parliament complex and held the Prime Minister hostage, the armed forces commander said today. The military, which erected armed check-points around the country, closed schools and ordered residents off the streets at night shortly after the May 19 coup attempt, said security was no longer an issue. “Fiji is now, and will remain a safe place,” the head of the military command Frank Bainimarama said. Some soldiers will remain on the streets of Suva but the unarmed police force would resume its normal duties. “The police force will be in the forefront while the military will be at the back, ready to assist when the need arises,” Bainimarama said. The leader of the coup attempt, George Speight, was arrested on July 26 and is imprisoned on an island off Suva charged with treason. Deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry’s Fiji Labour Party said the move to lift the curfew could lead to further security problems because the police force was divided and morale was low. It could be two years before new elections are held, the government has said. Fiji’s high court has ruled that the post coup government installed by the military was illegal, plunging Fiji into more uncertainty. |
UN arms embargo
on Taliban likely UNITED NATIONS, Dec 14 (PTI) — The Security Council is likely to impose an arms embargo on the Taliban sometime next week despite fears that it would lead to closure of the UN humanitarian programmes in drought-hit and war-ravaged Afghanistan. The USA and Russia are pressing for the arms embargo to force the Taliban to close down terrorist training camps which send militants to Chechnya, as also Kashmir and other parts of the world, and hand over Osama bin Laden, a Saudi dissident millionaire, who is accused by Washington of masterminding terrorist attacks on its interests and citizens worldwide. But the Taliban, which control 95 per cent of the Afghan territory, has refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, contending that there is no convincing proof of his involvement and that he is a guest whom they cannot turn out. |
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USA to crack down on Irish terrorists THE USA is to crack down on dissident Irish terrorists in an effort to help the peace process, President Bill Clinton pledged in Belfast yesterday. While the President stopped short of putting the renegade real IRA, responsible for the Omagh bomb, on America’s list of prescribed organisations, he did promise his country would not tolerate them. Those who reject peace should know there is no place for them to hide, he said at the huge new US $ 134m odyssey sports arena, a visible symbol of the city’s burgeoning peacetime prosperity, at the end of his two-day farewell tour of Ireland last night. “The USA will intensify its cooperation with the British and Irish authorities on counter-terrorism to combat groups seeking to undermine the Good Friday accord through violence”. He said experts from all three countries would meet soon and the USA would do “whatever we can to root out terrorism and make this peace agreement take hold”. The President and the Prime Minister held more than three hours of talks with key politicians. There was no sign of a breakthrough in the deadlock over decommissioning, policing and demilitarisation but Mr Clinton said people must not let the politicians forget how far they had come. —
The Guardian, London |
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Russia pardons
US spy
MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Reuters) —The Kremlin confirmed today that President Vladimir Putin had pardoned convicted US spy Edmond Pope and ordered his release from prison. Mr Putin’s decree said Pope had been pardoned on health reasons and because of the importance of US-Russian relations. Pope (54) suffers from a rare form of cancer. Interfax news agency said earlier today that Pope had already left Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. |
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Democrats reacted with anger to Mr Al Gore’s defeat last night, with some senior officials barely able to conceal their bitterness at an election that they claimed had been fixed.
