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| Sunday, December 24, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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US Cong adopts immigration
Bill US poll agency admits
to technical flaws
Estrada mum on ‘key’ testimony UN extends mandate of S. Leone force
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Pak army officers
sacked
US dues to UN lowered Osama ‘unhappy’
with Taliban No change in Israeli attitude:
PLO Akihito celebrates 67th birthday ‘Living goddess’ to
get pay, perks
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US Cong adopts immigration
Bill WASHINGTON, Dec 23 — The US Congress has approved a legislation that will pave the way for nearly half-a-million immigrants who have been living in the country illegally, some for over a decade, to obtain permanent legal status. The House of Representatives adopted the Bill — Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (LIFE Act) — by an overwhelming vote of 292 to 60 while the Senate approved it by a voice vote. A provision of the legislation was the temporary restoration of Section 245(I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that would allow immigrants already eligible for residency (green cards) through a family member or an employer to obtain the benefit without having to leave the country. The temporary restoration of Section 245(I) until April 30, 2001, would allow applicants and families that are out of legal status to obtain permanent resident status while remaining in the USA. Thus the three- and 10-year bars against them re-entering the USA — because they remained in an illegal status — will not apply to them as they will not have to depart from the country in order to obtain their immigrant visas. The legislation also created a “V” visa category that would allow spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents (the family 2A category) who have been waiting for more than three years for their permanent resident visas to enter the USA and be granted work permits. The law also provides that if the applicants have lived in the USA illegally, it will not prevent them from obtaining a “V” visa. The new law also expanded the use of the fiance temporary “K” visa category, which currently allows fiances of US citizens to enter the USA to get married, to spouses of citizens who are outside the USA, waiting for the approval of their immigrant visa petitions. Minor children are also included in the provision. The LIFE Act also allowed for immigrants who missed out on a 1986 amnesty because of mistakes by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service to apply directly for permanent residence, paving the way under this “late amnesty” for them to eventually become naturalised citizens. California immigration attorney Paresh A. Shah, one of several lobbying for the legislation, was elated with the passage of the Bill. He estimated that the new law and its provisions would benefit an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 applicants from the Indian subcontinent alone. “This law will benefit not only the primary applicants but also their spouses and minor children. Furthermore, the law prevents the deportation of the spouses and minor children of a person who is a “late amnesty” applicant. These family members of applicants would also be eligible for work permits,” he said. Mr Shah said that under the “late amnesty” provision, even those who are not physically present in the USA would be allowed to apply for permanent residence. “This, in effect, opens the door for thousands of applicants who over the past decade were either deported or left the USA in despair or frustration to once again return to the USA and realise their American dream.” But the American Immigration Forum, a pro-immigration advocacy group, while lauding the legislation in general, complained that “unfortunately, Congress only saw fit to extend this relief for four months.” The forum and groups like the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association also complained about Congress not correcting a major flaw in its own 1996 immigration legislation that retroactively redefined crimes for which immigrants could be deported and then withdrew judges’ discretion to waive deportation. The Washington Post in an editorial, assailed Congress for the “gross injustice” and slammed Senator Phil Gramm, Texas Republican, in particular for blocking attempts to correct it. The newspapers said that because of this provision, “some long-time legal residents found themselves swept into detention or deportation because of minor infractions acknowledged and paid for long ago.”
— IANS |
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US poll agency admits to technical flaws WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (UNI) — The Voters News Service (VNS) which provided the news inputs to major US TV channels to announce Mr George W. Bush as the President-elect nearly 35 days ahead of the actual result, has admitted that its techniques were inherently risky for the networks to rely on. The polling organisation responsible for the biggest blunder in television history, after an internal inquiry into the episode, said the agency had no reliable way of estimating the number of Florida’s absentee ballots in the presidential elections. It had also grossly underestimated the uncounted Florida votes. Budget limitations had placed heavy burdens on the VNS staff and made the task of covering elections far more difficult, a report said. Curiously the agency itself was created in 1990 as a cost-cutting measure by major television networks and the Associated Press. Television channels CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and Fox had initially named Vice-President Al Gore the winner from Florida but six hours later Governor George W. Bush was declared the victor. The channels had to retract both statements in a humiliating fashion. The samples of a small exit poll had shown that the agency had overstated the size of the Afro-American vote and underestimated the Cuban vote in Florida. Both errors could have contributed to the early announcement that Mr Gore had won the state. Television
networks have also commissioned internal inquiries into the faux pas. ABC said it would insulate its decision desk from competitive pressures and describe all future projections as estimates. Fox channel said it would drop VNS and start a new polling consortium for the next elections.
Estrada mum on ‘key’ testimony MANILA, Dec 23 (AFP) — Philippine President Joseph Estrada, buffeted by a surprise witness at his corruption trial who linked him to an alleged secret bank account, tried to brush aside the testimony, saying that he wanted the trial settled quickly for the good of the country. Speaking on his weekly radio show, Estrada said: “My Christmas wish for the nation is “to have a speedy trial of my impeachment so that we can go back immediately to work because right now, no one can concentrate.” “He said he would not comment on the new revelations at his Senate trial. But Estrada added that he would testify only on the advice of his lawyers. The President made no reference to the “bombshell” testimony of an official of Equitable PCI Bank yesterday that Estrada repeatedly signed a false name on a $ 10-million trust account allegedly built up through criminal activities. Instead, the radio show was devoted largely to Estrada’s activities on behalf of orphans and underprivileged children in an apparent attempt to brighten the battered leader’s image. |
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UN extends mandate of S. Leone force UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (Reuters) — The UN Security Council extended yesterday its beleaguered peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone for three months and called on rebels to live up to a ceasefire accord they signed. In an agreement on November 10, Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) rebels, which captured more than 500 UN Peacekeepers last May, promised to stop fighting and allow UN troops to have unhindered access to the diamond-rich areas they control in the north and east of the west African nation. A statement approved by the 15-nation council “expresses its concern at the failure of the RUF to fully meet the obligations under the agreement and calls on it to give a more convincing demonstration of commitment to the ceasefire and the peace process.” The council, in its statement, extended the mandate of the force until March 31 and said the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, known as
UNAMSIL, must be strengthened. It urged governments to consider contributing troops following the announced withdrawal earlier this year of Indian and Jordanian units. The mission now numbers about 11,000 troops, and 13,000 are
authorised. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the force be boosted to 20,500 but is still having difficulty finding troops. Reinforcements are expected from Bangladesh but not until early February, a few weeks after the Indians and Jordanians will have gone home. A UNAMSIL official said in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown this week that peacekeeping troops would not be deployed in rebel-held areas until the RUF handed over weapons seized from peacekeepers last May. The rebels have also issued new demands after signing the ceasefire, one of its leaders saying that the RUF was prepared to let the force deploy but would not disarm until jailed RUF members were released. But the RUF official said the rebels would not insist on release of their jailed leader, Foday
Sankoh, arrested in May. |
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Madonna enters wedlock in locked
castle SO, at some time on Friday evening, Madonna’s immaculate deception took place. As the media stood at the gates of a locked Highland castle, one of the most famous women in the world married her film director boyfriend inside in almost total privacy. In the seclusion afforded by a freezing Highland mist - not to mention that offered by burly security guards, sniffer dogs and staff under threat of the sack should even the smallest detail leak out - Louise Veronica Ciccone, 42, married Guy Ritchie, 32. Outside the gates of the Skibo castle, an impromptu car park of satellite vans formed. Nuptial speculation was beamed across the world, but there was no confirmation from inside. The circumstantial evidence, though, was overwhelming. Throughout the day, celebrities - from Donatella Versace to Sting - made their way to the castle. Before the ceremony, the minister who would conduct it, Susan Brown, admitted that the couple were showing pre-wedding nerves. “It is a big day for them, their friends and family,’’ she said. The celebrity wedding of the year differed markedly from its predecessors. No helicopters circling like those at Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s big day in California; no multi-million dollar deal with the sort of celebrity magazine which recorded Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas’ happy event in New York — the couple wanted too much money for that. The girl was not offering much material. There were painfully few facts surrounding Madonna’s second marriage. Wedding banns had been posted at the Dornoch cathedral for more than two weeks. On Thursday, the registrar visited the couple at the castle. At 5.30 p.m. the minister made her way to the castle. Better than that, though, was the speculation. Madonna would be marrying in a Stella McCartney dress, changing into a Donatella Versace dress for the wedding meal of haggis, before she donned something even more glamorous for the evening. Reporters did, however, have a few facts. Madonna had borrowed a £ 49,000 diamond bracelet from a store to wear at her wedding. More details were forthcoming about the groom’s outfit. For the ceremony, Ritchie donned a full Scottish Highland dress. The tartan was Mackintosh, a nod to his Highland ancestry, and he wore a regimental sporran, once the property of his grandfather, Major Stewart “Jack” Ritchie. As for the attendants, they were the subject of wild rumour. Gwyneth Paltrow may or may not have been the maid of honour. Perhaps it was Donatella Versace. Madonna’s daughter Lourdes may have been a flower girl, then again maybe not. The best man was not Vinnie Jones — he was stuck on a Hollywood film set while the director who gave him his acting break was getting married. In the end, then, for star watchers at least, the celebrity wedding of the year was a bit of a non-event. Introduced by Sting and his wife, Trudi Styler, Madonna and Ritchie have been a couple for a little more than two years. They have a four-month-old son Rocco, baptised at a ceremony in Dornoch cathedral on Thursday evening, during which two men were arrested. On Friday evening, they were married by Rev Brown at the Skibo castle. But with the hermetic privacy the star demanded, there was no Madonna fever sweeping the Highlands. — The Guardian |
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Pak army officers
sacked islamabad,
Dec 23 (PTI) — An unusually high number of army officers in Pakistan have been sacked on the charges of tampering with their service record in an attempt to improve promotion prospects, media reports said today. A Major-General, along with many brigadiers, colonels has been sacked from the service for the offence. The total number of such officers could not be ascertained but it is said to be “quite high,” The Dawn reported. The daily said the military authorities recently detected that many officers had been tampering with the annual performance evaluation report to better their promotion prospects or help
favourites. However, the military authorities neither confirmed nor denied the action. The tampering was reportedly committed in collusion with some insiders. Those found involved are being issued letters of compulsory retirement in small batches. Pensionary benefits are also being denied to them to set an example before others, it said. However, the matter has not been made public. Army spokesman Major-Gen Rashid Qureshi said: “for the sake of armymen’s morale, we don’t publicise such punishments”. |
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Lanka army
attack toll 93 COLOMBO, Dec 23 (UNI) — With the recovery of 17 more bodies, the total number of those killed in yesterday’s army operation in Jaffna has risen to 93, a defence spokesman said today. He said 51 Tigers and 25 soldiers were killed yesterday in the ‘Operation Kinihira VIII’ launched by government troops against the terrorists, less than a day after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels announced a month-long unilateral ceasefire effective from the midnight of December 24. The operation brought about 34 sq km area in Ariyaali and Kaithadi under the control of the security forces. As many as eight anti-tank mines, 14 T56 weapons and a large quantity of ammunition left behind by fleeing terrorists, were recovered by the Army from the captured area. According to the spokesman, troops found several bodies in the area mutilated beyond recognition. |
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Violence unabated in West Bank JERUSALEM, Dec 23 (Reuters) — Blood flowed in West Bank and Gaza Strip even as US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said time was short for clinching a deal on Middle East peace. A Palestinian suicide attack in West Bank and killing of three other Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday provided a gloomy backdrop for tense Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at the Bolling Air Force base in Washington. Today, civil emergency worker Nabil Abu Awn, 28, died from a bullet wound fired by the Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian hospital officials said. The Israeli army said Wednesday’s incident, in which the Israeli troops shot at a truck carrying Palestinians, was an accident. Another emergency worker was killed instantly in that shooting. At least 342 persons, all Palestinians except for 13 Israeli Arabs and 39 other Israelis, have now been killed in the clashes since they began in late September. In the USA the negotiators were set to conclude four days of secluded talks by going to White House today for a meeting with US President Bill Clinton, now in his final month in office and still working actively for a last-ditch peace deal. After spending two hours with negotiators yesterday, Ms Albright said she had been impressed by their willingness to work hard on the toughest issues, but noted the window of opportunity to end the 52-year-old conflict was quickly closing. “We all know that time is running out and that we need to use the President, and he wants to be used, in a way that is most helpful at the right time,’’ Ms Albright said in an interview with MSNBC television. In the USA, US National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said Palestinian and Israeli negotiators would be meeting Mr Clinton today at the White House. Ms Albright was expected to join the meeting. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said there were no immediate plans to send an envoy to the Middle East to continue the talks. The session with Mr Clinton could determine whether an envoy will be dispatched. Mr Yatom said he wasn’t sure if the time was ripe to decide on a Barak-Arafat-Clinton summit. “The meeting with President Clinton is a very, very important meeting because there, among other things, it will be decided if there is room to continue and how to continue, the negotiations,’’ he said. In Gaza, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, asked if an elusive final peace accord was possible, told reporters: “We hope so.’’ The sides are trying to forge a deal to settle key issues, including the status of Jerusalem, borders and the fate of Jewish settlements and Palestinian
refugees.
US dues to UN lowered united
nations, Dec 23 (PTI) — A one-time $ 34 million donation from media moghul Ted Turner has helped the USA clinch a deal with the United Nations for reduction in its contribution to the administrative and peacekeeping budgets of the world body, UN diplomats said. Yesterday’s deal cuts down annual US dues to the main UN budget from 25 to 22 per cent, in exchange for a US commitment to pay outstanding debts to the
organisation. The deal also reduces the US share of UN peacekeeping expenses, currently about $ 3 billion, from around 31 to 27 per cent. US Ambassador to UN Richard Holbrooke said CNN founder Turner and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had exchanged letters confirming the deal. |
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IMF, WB announce $ 34
billion in debt relief WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (PTI) — The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have pledged $ 34 billion in debt relief to 22 countries. These efforts “will lift $ 34 billion in debt service obligations from the shoulders of 22 eligible countries,” 18 in Africa and four in Latin America, World Bank President James D. Wolfenson and IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler said in a statement yesterday. Vowing to provide similar aid to other countries in need, they said to ensure the relief was translated into poverty reduction, beneficiary countries must continue with their economic, social and governance reforms. They, however, said such assistance is often undermined by civil conflict or its immediate aftermath. “Ending these conflicts is an essential first step for these countries to rebuild economically and truly benefit from debt relief.” In an article in The Washington Post, Mr Wolfenson called on economically backward countries to “get serious on trade.” Barriers that impede exports from developing countries to industrialised markets continued to “severely disadvantage” poor countries, he said. |
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Osama ‘unhappy’
with Taliban islamabad, dec 23 (dpa) — Suspected international terrorist Osama bin Laden, whose presence in Afghanistan has caused United Nations sanctions against the country’s Taliban rulers, is unhappy over the restrictions placed on his activities by the Islamic regime, a news report said today. Islamabad-based newspaper The Nation reported that “Osama is privately complaining about the ban”. The Arab dissident — now stripped of his Saudi Arabian nationality — has found refuge in Afghanistan for the last several years and has eluded efforts by the USA to prosecute him for a suspected role in deadly bombings in US embassies in East Africa in 1998. Osama’s controversial statements and call for jehad — or holy war — against American and Jewish interests drew international pressure on the Taliban, which put him under surveillance and closed his communication links. He was prevented from issuing statements and interviews. Quoting unidentified sources close to Osama, The Nation said the ban on Osama’s movements was hitting hard on his jehad activities and has put him in an uncomfortable position. He was even prevented, the news-paper reported, “from issuing a statement denouncing Israeli atrocities in Palestine”. |
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No change in Israeli attitude: PLO GAZA CITY, Dec 23 (AFP) — The Palestinian leadership has said it has seen “no change” in Israel’s attitude in peace talks being held this week, and it called on the Israeli Government to end “aggression” and engage in serious negotiations. A statement issued following the weekly meeting of the Palestinian Cabinet late yesterday said “no change has been perceived in the Israeli attitude on the occasion of the resumption of negotiations under the aegis of the USA.” Top Israeli negotiators have been meeting behind closed doors with US Administration officials at Bolling air force base, near Washington, since Tuesday. The two sides have also met US President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. “The Israeli Government prides itself on wanting to seek peace through negotiations, but at the same time it pursues its policy of aggression, of closing borders and of collective punishment of the Palestinians” in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the statement said. “The Israeli Government is called upon to abandon its policy of aggression and to engage seriously in the negotiations, if it wants to reach a peace accord.” The statement reaffirmed Palestinian demands that a peace deal must entail Israel withdrawing to the territories it controlled before the outbreak of the June, 1967, West Asia war and the right of return to the estimated 3.7 million Palestinians, and their descendants, who fled the new Jewish state when it was created in 1948. Palestinian officials yesterday described the talks as in crisis, in stark contrast to Israeli press reports that spoke of significant new offers being made by the Israeli side. Israeli newspapers reported that the Jewish state had agreed to negotiate on the basis of the June, 1967, borders, a consistent Palestinian demand. In 1967, Israel captured the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and other territories, including the eastern sector of Jerusalem.  |
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Akihito celebrates 67th birthday TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) — Japan’s Emperor Akihito celebrated his 67th birthday today with memories of the 20th century’s great wars and to the cheers of thousands of flag-waving Japanese. Three groups of over 2,000 persons each flocked to an area opened to the public within the imperial palace where they shouted cheers and waved to the Emperor and his family, which greeted the crowd from behind a glass-enclosed balcony. At a news conference held earlier in the week and made public on his birthday, Akihito said the two world wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the return to peace in Japan were some of the 20th century’s events that moved him deeply. Akihito’s accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in January, 1989, marked the start of a slow and steady change within the imperial palace that brought the imperial family closer to the lives of the ordinary Japanese. Even before becoming Emperor, Akihito broke imperial precedent when he became the first heir apparent to marry a commoner. |
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‘Living goddess’ to
get pay, perks kathmandu, dec 23
(Reuters) — The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal will start paying a monthly maintenance to its “living goddess”, a chosen girl worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists. The “living goddess” Sri Kumari is revered by thousands in Nepal and is also an attraction for the many tourists who visit the Himalayan kingdom yearly. In Nepali tradition, a young girl from a Buddhist Shakya family is chosen through a rigorous religious process to serve as the “living goddess”, and then moves away from home to live in a 15th century temple in Kathmandu’s Basantapur area, noted for its ancient monuments. Narendra Man Shrestha, a Finance Ministry official, told Reuters today that the government would pay maintenance allowance of Rs 6,000 (Nepali) ($ 80) a month to the serving “living goddess” and a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 after retirement from the centuries-old tradition. Earlier, there was no maintenance allowance from the government and girls who retired after serving as Sri Kumaris were paid Rs 1,000 as pension. |
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