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| Monday, January 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Runaway win for telecom tycoon in Thailand
AMMAN, Jan 7 — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat began a meeting today with Jordanian King Abdullah -II regarding the us West Asia peace plan immediately upon his arrival in Amman for a short visit. |
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| Pak to help Islamic world in defence ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 — Pakistan will assist the Islamic countries in the field of defence technology and sell medium and low-range arsenal to them. Official news agency app has reported that negotiations in this regard are in progress. Patience needed to settle border issue : Li Peng Two diplomats held for adultery Charles breaks bone during hunt Norwegian envoy to meet Prabhakaran Clashes break out in Phnom Penh Strike hits life in B’desh city Taliban gain ground in counter-attack Public service award for British Indian Chandrika: no ceasefire prior to talks Jehangir Qazi in Islamabad
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| Runaway win for telecom tycoon in Thailand BANGKOK, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Controversial tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra has scored a runaway victory in Thailand’s general election and may even have secured the country’s first-ever absolute majority, unofficial results showed on Sunday. But Thaksin’s victory does not mean the end of the political uncertainty gripping Thailand — the 51-year-old telecom billionaire faces an anxious wait to see whether he is banned from politics over allegations of graft. Unofficial results from Thai television networks on Sunday predicted Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) Party could win more than half of the 500 seats in the Lower House of Parliament. Its nearest rival, the Democrat Party of veteran Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, was projected to win around 125. The most recent unofficial tally, however, from the iTV television station, projected Thaksin would fall just short of a majority with 245 seats. It forecast he would get 49 per cent of the popular vote — an unprecedented figure. The official vote counting was expected to confirm Thaksin’s comfortable win later or on Monday. Mr Chuan told reporters in his home town in southern Thailand that it was clear Thaksin had won. “I believe one single party can almost form the government by itself. Therefore, there is no question that others may try to challenge it by setting up another coalition,” he said. “I believe the people have freely made their choice and we respect that decision.” The election success does not mark the end of Thaksin’s struggle. Thailand’s anti-corruption watchdog ruled last month that he had failed to declare some of his wealth. Thaksin denies wrongdoing, but if the Constitutional Court upholds the ruling he would be barred from politics for five years. Court deliberations could take months, however, and given the size of the vote for Thaksin, Thailand’s fragile democracy could face a crisis if he were suddenly removed from office. In a front-page editorial, the Bangkok Post urged Thaksin to wait for the court’s verdict before becoming Prime Minister. “With the economy still in a bad shape, the country needs political stability to inspire confidence, especially among foreign investors,” it said. “How can a leader whose future in politics still hangs in the balance inspire confidence?” Saturday’s election was the first under a new constitution introduced in 1997 which was designed to stamp out corruption. Thailand has a new Election Commission with powers to disqualify poll cheats and call re-votes. Commission officials say they have seen so much evidence of vote buying that re-votes may have to be held in several constituencies. They said the election was the dirtiest ever, with a record number of complaints about vote fraud. The turnout, estimated at more than 70 per cent, was also a record. Even if Thaksin wins an outright majority, he is likely to form an alliance with one or two smaller parties, to build a coalition that can command around 320 seats. “I think three parties would be enough and that will make 320 seats,” Thaksin told reporters. Thaksin’s likely choices for coalition partners are the New Aspiration Party of former Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and the Chart Thai party of ex-Premier Banharn Silpa-archa. Thaksin acknowledged that it could be months before his government was in place, due to the need for revotes and negotiations with other parties. “The whole process will probably take about two months to complete,” he told reporters. The Nation, a daily, said Thaksin’s victory marked a new era for Thai politics. “This is the first time big business and conglomerates will run the country,” it said in an editorial. “Other countries might have movie stars or former prisoners as their presidents, but Thais have decided to pick a billionaire. They probably entertain the hope that they too will be rich like their leader.” Thaksin won his resounding victory through promises of lavish spending to boost the economy. Voters punished Chuan for his predecessor’s perceived failure to lift the economy out of the doldrums. Thaksin, a former policeman who built a high-tech empire including Thailand’s biggest telecoms group, won strong rural support with a pledge to allocate one million baht ($23,000) from the national budget to each of Thailand’s 70,000 villages. He also plans a suspension of debt repayments for three years for small farmers owing less than 100,000 baht each. Thaksin says the government must do more to help businesses and banks hit by Asia’s economic crisis. He has unveiled plans for a national asset management company to take over bad loans from ailing banks and kick-start the economy. Thaksin’s short Deputy Premiership was long enough to hurt his political future. Under Thailand’s new tough-on-corruption constitution, passed in 1997, all politicians must declare their assets before and after assuming public office. On December 26 last year the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC), also set up by the 1997 constitution, indicted him for intentionally concealing his wealth from the public when he transferred several million dollars worth of company shares to his servants, supposedly to act as proxy holders, after leaving office in 1997. |
| Gore puts Senate stamp on Bush presidency WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Vice-President Al Gore helped put the final stamp of approval on George W. Bush’s win over him in the 2000 presidential race, ruling objections by Black members of the House of Representatives out of order. In his role as President of the Senate yesterday, Mr Gore presided over a sometimes-stormy joint session of the U.S. Congress that certified the state-based Electoral College vote in which Mr Bush, a Republican, beat the Democratic Vice-President, 271-266. About a dozen Black legislators walked off the House floor in protest after their challenge of the disputed vote in Florida was not allowed to be brought to the floor for consideration due to procedural reasons. Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat and a leader of the protest effort, looked up to Mr Gore and said, “we did all we could.” The Vice-President replied with a grin, drawing applause from fellow Democrats, “The Chair thanks the gentleman.” The verification of the electoral vote on Saturday cleared the way for Mr Bush to be sworn in on January 20 as the nation’s 43rd president. “I’m honored,” said Mr Bush, speaking with reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. “I guess I better go and write an inaugural speech.” “I want to be the President of everybody, whether they supported me or not,” the former Texas Governor said. Mr Gore conceded the presidential election on December 13, a day after a divided U.S. Supreme Court refused to permit a hand count of thousands of disputed ballots in Florida, where Mr Bush was certified as the winner by 537 votes out of six million cast in the state in the November 7 election. The razor-close margin gave Mr Bush the state’s 25 electoral votes, which put him over the necessary 270 to claim victory. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday sought to challenge the 25 electoral votes from Florida, charging widespread abuses in the state and failure adequately to count all ballots. One by one, about a dozen mostly Black House members rose to lodge written objections. But Mr Gore ruled each out of order because they lacked a needed signature from a member of the Senate during the joint session of congress. “I don’t care that it is not signed by a Senator,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat. “The Chair would advise that the rules do care,” Mr Gore replied, triggering applause by Republicans. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr, an Illinois Democrat and son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, said, “it is a sad day in America when we can’t find a Senator to sign the objection.” At one point, Jackson asked if any Senator in the chamber would step forward and sign it. None did. Afterward, Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said, “It was a very good point they made,” but added that joining the objections would have been fruitless because there were not enough Democratic votes to sustain the motions. “It’s over with,” Mr Dodd said. Rep. Corrine Brown, a Florida Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said, “We keep hearing, ‘Get over this.’ We will never get over this. The Supreme Court selected George W. Bush as President — he was not elected.’’ Mr Gore is the first Vice-President to preside over a joint session of Congress verifying his own White House defeat since Richard Nixon did so in 1961 after be was beaten by John Kennedy. Mr Gore and running mate Joseph Lieberman won the popular vote in the election by more than a half million ballots. Yet Mr Bush and Mr Dick Cheney captured the decisive electoral College vote. On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, along with some fellow Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, asked the General Accounting Office to assess electoral procedures throughout the USA. |
| Arafat meets Jordan King on peace plan AMMAN, Jan 7 (AFP) — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat began a meeting today with Jordanian King Abdullah -II regarding the us West Asia peace plan immediately upon his arrival in Amman for a short visit. During the meeting at a military air base in Marka, a suburb of Amman, Mr Arafat was to inform the King of the results of his meeting with US President Bill Clinton in Washington on Wednesday, Palestinian ambassador to Jordan Omar Khatib said. Mr Khatib added that the session was part of regular consultations between the Palestinian and Jordanian leadership. Mr Arafat yesterday met Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb and Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Khatib during a stopover in Amman on his flight back from a short trip to Oman. Passions about the peace process are high in Jordan, where most people claim Palestinian ancestry and many street protests have been held in support of the Palestinian uprising. In Jordanian parliament, 20 deputies introduced a petition today demanding a special session in which to debate questions “tied to the Palestinian territories,” specifically refugees and the repercussions for Jordan of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, a parliamentary source said. |
| Pak to help Islamic world in defence ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 (PTI) — Pakistan will assist the Islamic countries in the field of defence technology and sell medium and low-range arsenal to them. Official news agency app has reported that negotiations in this regard are in progress. Quoting official sources, the news agency said the board of directors of Pakistan ordnance factories (POF) were finalising modalities with Malaysia, Nigeria and some other Islamic countries for supply of arms, ammunition and transfer of defence technology. “We are gradually increasing our interaction with a number of countries in south Asia, West Asia and the African region to improve cooperation in the field of defence production,” the official source was quoted as saying. Pakistan had recently signed defence deals with countries from West Asia, South-east Asia and Africa, he said. “We are the best in the field of small-to-medium range defence production,” he said adding, “we can supply in bulk, in the shortest possible time”. The international defence exhibition and seminar held recently in Karachi have helped attract the international buyers, the sources added. Many other countries have also shown interest in buying arms and ammunition from Pakistan, he said, adding that Pakistan had already been supplying military gear to 14 countries, including the USA, Germany, Holland, and countries from the South Asian region, West Asia and Africa. |
| Patience needed to settle border issue : Li Peng BEIJING, Jan 7 (PTI) — While upbeat on his upcoming official goodwill visit to India, senior Chinese leader Li Peng has emphasised the need for “patience and right conditions” to settle the vexed India-China boundary issue. “I hope, in the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, this issue can be resolved. Of course, given its complexity, it requires patience and right conditions for its settlement,” Li Peng told PTI here in an interview, ahead of his visit from January 9 to 17. Commenting on the unresolved boundary question that has affected the smooth development of bilateral ties, Li, China’s former Premier and current Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said that the issue “will be resolved so long as the people and the leadership of our two countries all sincerely hope for solution.” “I will be very much satisfied if my visit will contribute in some way to its settlement,” Li, who is ranked number two in China’s ruling Communist Party’s hierarchy after state President and General Secretary of the Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, said. “I recall several years ago, when former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China, the two countries reached an understanding on border,” Li said referring to his talks with Rajiv Gandhi in December, 1988, during which the two leaders agreed to settle the boundary dispute through “peaceful and friendly consultations” and established the joint working group (JWG) on the boundary question. Li also noted that China and India had signed the agreement on the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas along the Line of Actual Control (LaC) during his premiership. This was signed in Beijing during the visit of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao in 1993. “The document has played a big role in maintaining safety and security along the border areas,” he stressed. Li’s comments on the boundary issue could be an indication to India that it should be ready for give and take as well as protracted negotiation on an issue which is sensitive to both countries. It also assumes importance in the wake of recent “significant progress” made by the two sides on the boundary question when they exchanged maps for the first time of their disputed border. On November 13 last year, the two sides exchanged detailed maps of the less disputed over 545-km ‘middle sector’ of the LaC, paving the way for similar exchanges on Eastern and Western sectors. India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq km of Jammu and Kashmir, including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to Beijing by Pakistan under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. On the other hand, China claims that India has occupied about 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory. |
| Two diplomats held for adultery TEHRAN, Jan 7 (DPA) — Two foreign diplomats were held in Tehran on New Year’s Eve on charges of adultery, Payam Radio has reported. It said Tehran’s Justice Department had issued a statement saying that two diplomats and more than 200 other guests, including several foreign businessmen and two European women, were held in a police raid on a house in northern Tehran. The statement gave no details about the foreign diplomats and businessmen nor what sentences they would face. All detained persons are charged with adultery and immoral liaison. The statement said 125 of the guests were girls below the age of 18. The official IRNA news agency reported, that the parents of the arrested girls had lodged complaints with the Justice Department against the hosts of the party claiming that they were professionals who provided prostitutes. In a separate incident, the police arrested 23 men and 49 women, including four foreign women dancing and drinking alcohol at luxury house. The Justice Department said the ringleaders of the western-style parties seduce teenaged girls into prostitution. The judiciary had announced on last Wednesday that 262 persons, including two Arabs, two Indians and two Europeans, were detained by the police during a raid on a New Year’s party in northern Tehran. It is unclear whether the arrested are the same as mentioned in the latest judiciary statement. The reports said some of the merrymakers were arrested after they behaved in an “inappropriate manner”, indicating they were drunk. An interior ministry official said there were no diplomats among the foreigners detained, but one of the Arabs was a footman at an unnamed Arab embassy. Many Iranians celebrate New Year’s Eve despite it being a non-Iranian festival. Holding parties in Iran is not legally forbidden but can lead to police raids if there is loud music, consumption of alcohol or consorting of unmarried couples. The police is then authorised to take the guests to police stations where they usually have to pay cash fines and sign documents pledging to shun such behaviour in future. |
| Charles breaks bone during hunt LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, broke a shoulder bone when he fell from a horse in a fox hunting accident, the Buckingham Palace said. A palace spokeswoman, who described the injury as minor, said the Prince had been riding with a hunt in Derbyshire in Central England yesterday when the accident happened. “It resulted in a minor fracture to a small bone in his left shoulder. His arm will be in a sling for a few days,” she said, adding that Charles was recovering comfortably at his Highgrove country house in Western England. Charles, an avid sportsman and hunter, broke an arm in two places in a polo accident more than 10 years ago. In 1998 he reportedly cracked a rib during a hunt in North Wales. The Prince has come under fire recently from animal rights groups for taking part in fox hunts, occasionally with his two sons, William and Harry. |
| Norwegian envoy to meet Prabhakaran COLOMBO, Jan 7 (UNI) — Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim is likely to meet LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to break the deadlock between the government and the LTTE on resumption of peace talks aimed at resolving the ethnic conflict. The state-run Sunday Observer quoting diplomatic sources said Mr Solheim was originally slated to visit Sri Lanka earlier last week but postponed his visit and instead flew to London. Mr Solheim also briefed the Indian Government on the Sri Lankan peace process before leaving for London. Mr Solheim will arrive here this week, probably on Wednesday, the report said. During his last visit, Mr Solheim, accompanied by the Norwegian Ambassador, travelled to Wanni and met Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders on November 1. After his return, he had told a media conference in Colombo that Mr Prabhakaran was serious to hold peace talks with the government without any conditions. However, this time, Mr Solheim will first meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga before venturing out to the Wanni jungles for a second meeting with Prabhakaran, according to the news report. The Norwegian envoy was earlier scheduled to arrive in Colombo on January 5 for discussions with the government. The visit, however, was postponed since President Chandrika Kumaratunga wanted to consult her ministers on current developments before meeting the Norwegian envoy, the paper said quoting highly-placed sources. |
| Clashes break out in Phnom Penh PHNOM PENH, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Clashes broke out in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh today after thousands of people marked the 22nd anniversary of the end of the genocidal Khmer Rouge “killing fields” regime and others protested a subsequent Vietnamese occupation. Some 8,000 people gathered to celebrate the city’s liberation at the headquarters of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which joined forces with an invading Vietnamese Army that swept the Khmer Rouge from Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979. But outside Cambodia’s Parliament, scores of protesters from opposition groups demonstrated against Vietnam, which occupied Cambodia until 1989. Hundreds of policemen, joined by CPP supporters, broke up the anti-Vietnamese protest, trying to snatch banners and beating some demonstrators. Several people were injured, but none seriously. An estimated 1.7 million persons died through execution, starvation, overwork and disease during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975 to 1979 rule. But the overthrow of the genocidal regime by the Vietnamese is a sensitive subject in Cambodia, which has traditionally had uneasy relations with its neighbour. CPP Chairman Chea Sim said January 7 was a day to celebrate. |
| Strike hits life in B’desh city CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh), Jan 7 (Reuters) —An Opposition-led strike brought the Bangladesh city Chittagong to a virtual halt today, paralysing the country’s main port, officials said. They said the strike stranded nearly 30 ships and halted deliveries of goods. The Chittagong Stock Exchange was also closed on what is a working day in Bangladesh. “The port has been paralysed since this morning by the strike which also disrupted transport and businesses across Chittagong city,” port traffic director Mohsin Sarkar told Reuters. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has a large following in Chittagong. Opposition activists exploded home-made bombs and pelted the police with stones in several cases. Taliban gain ground in counter-attack KABUL, Jan 7 (AFP) — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia has gained ground in a major counter-attack around a key district in Central Bamyan province which they lost a week ago, resistance officials said today. Taliban soldiers captured some areas to the east of Yakawlang after four hours of heavy overnight battle, the anti-Taliban Wahdat-e-Islami party’s spokesman Ahmad Bahram said. |
| Public service award for British Indian LONDON, Jan 7 (IANS) — A British businessman of Indian origin from Leicester has been awarded an international leadership medal for his outstanding record of public service during recent floods in the country. Mr Ajeet Singh Gill from Bushby in Leicestershire raised almost £ 7,000 from the Lions Club International Foundation for victims in flood-affected areas. Emergency food and clothing bought with the money was given to families in the flooded areas around Worcester and Stourbridge where Lions Club teams organised by Mr Gill helped to move them to temporary shelters. |
| Chandrika: no ceasefire prior to talks COLOMBO, Jan 7 (PTI) — Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has assured the National Security Council that there would be no ceasefire prior to the commencement of peace talks with the LTTE, even as the nation’s Army Chief said the LTTE did not have the ability to seize large chunks of territory anymore after the army’s recent offensives. The Sunday Times reported today that Ms Kumaratunga gave the assurance to the three service chiefs while presiding over the council’s meeting here on Thursday. The President, who returned recently after a month-long tour abroad, congratulated the security forces for their major gains in the northern Jaffna peninsula in the latest offensives, made it clear that the government would not accept the LTTE’s ceasefire offer, unconditional peace talks got under-way, the newspaper said. Ms Kumaratunga’s declaration comes ahead of a proposed visit by Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim here to break the deadlock over peace negotiations with the LTTE. |
| Jehangir Qazi in Islamabad ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 (PTI) — Barely a week before the proposed visit of a Hurriyat Conference delegation to Pakistan, Islamabad’s High Commissioner in New Delhi, Mr Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, has rushed here for high-level “emergency” discussions, a media report said today. Mr Qazi held talks with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and Foreign Affairs Secretary Inamul Haq and apprised them of the talks he held with Hurriyat Conference Chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat in New Delhi, Urdu daily Jang reported today. Foreign Ministry sources said Mr Qazi had held separate meetings with senior Indian leaders and Mr Bhat over the past three days. |
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Shinawatra has scored a runaway victory in Thailand’s general election and may even have secured the country’s first-ever absolute majority, unofficial results showed on Sunday.
