All eyes on China succession as leaders hail Jiang

BEIJING, Nov 9: All eyes today turned to China’s secretive leadership succession as delegates at a pivotal Communist party congress hailed President Jiang Zemin’s move to embrace the new capitalist elite.

Jiang, also party boss, offered no clear clues in his speech opening the 16th Congress yesterday about who will lead the world’s most populous nation if he and other leaders over 70 retire from their party posts as expected next week.

In the Great Hall of the people, delegates holding meetings to discuss the speech were tight-lipped on a reshuffle in which Jiang is expected to hand his top post to Vice President Hu Jintao but cling to power by installing allies in key positions.

"What personnel changes?" Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu snapped at reporters when pressed on the leadership changes.

"There are no personnel changes in Shanghai."

Chen, counted among Jiang’s proteges, took over the top job in China’s financial centre last month and is now likely to take a place on the 22-seat politburo after the Congress.

His predecessor, Huang Ju, is also a Jiang ally and tipped for a place on the politburo standing committee — the party’s top decision making body which now has seven members.

But the leadership change — billed as the first orderly succession in Communist China — is so sensitive that only a tiny elite circle know the final lineup, Chinese sources say.

Those lower down the party ladder can only swap rumours and titbits of information. Ordinary Chinese are left in the dark.

"We can say anything we want," said Li Liucheng, 44, owner of a news stand on a busy Beijing thoroughfare. "In the end it’s just silly and empty words.

"My first priority is to survive. After that, I’ll start thinking about new leaders," he said. "We hear Hu Jintao is up next. What can we do even if we object?"

On Thursday, the Congress of 2,114 delegates will formally elect a new central committee of about 200, which will hold its first meeting the next day and choose a new politburo and politburo standing committee.

The result is actually set in advance through horse-trading between top leaders anxious to maintain political influence and protect their family interests, Chinese sources say.

"Of course we have the utmost confidence in the new leaders because we’re going to be the ones choosing them," said a smirking Cai Dongshi, a senior party official in the southern province of Guangdong.

"I haven’t thought about what’s to come because we haven’t gone into the final process yet," he said. "We don’t even know the candidates yet." The uncertainty has made many officials nervous — like Xi Jinping, who took over as Governor in the eastern province of Zhejiang recently and has an outside chance of joining the politburo.

"I have just moved to a new place, so it’s sensitive and I can’t really talk to reporters now," said the normally outgoing XI, formerly Governor of the eastern province of Fujian.

Jiang has already secured the promotion of at least three key allies to the new standing committee, including his main adviser and hatchet man Zeng Qinghong who stepped down as head of the party’s organisation department last month, party sources say.

Jiang will score another victory by having his "three represents" theory, sanctioning private entrepreneurs joining the party, written into its constitution next week, they say.

Chinese leaders and delegates praised Jiang’s speech, in which he urged the party to follow the "three represents" and recruit from the private sector.

"After I heard it, I realised Jiang’s report is a turning point and marks a new era," said Guangdong Governor Lu Ruihua.

Hu Jintao, 59 and number five in the party, said the speech was "good guidance for building a well-off society and boosting socialist modernisation", and praised Jiang’s record in office.

Premer Zhu Rongji, 74, said China’s achievements under Jiang "will be written into the annals of history in the course of revitalising the Chinese nation".

Jiang broke with tradition by using his speech to review his 13 years in office, instead of just the five since the last Congress, in what some analysts saw as a hint he would retire despite rumours earlier this year he wanted to hang on.

But the symbolism meant little to many ordinary Chinese. "The decisions are made by the party, not the people, so we don’t follow it so closely," said technician Luo Fangqian, 48, as he prepared for an afternoon stroll with his teenage daughter.

"But the country is like a family. The leaders are the parents and we are the children. We just want them to put food in our mouths and to make us prosperous." (AGENCIES)

Iraq has seven days to convey acceptance of UN resolution

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 9: Iraq will be in "material breach" of the UN resolution if it does not convey its acceptance within seven days.

It has no bargaining capacity and no choice but to accept it if it wants to avoid possible military action, said the resolution adopted by the 15-member UN Security Council.

The seven-day period began yesterday itself with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan conveying the resolution to Iraq after the Security Council adopted it.

Secondly, Baghdad’s non-compliance with the resolution is defined as its failure to make complete declaration of all its weapons of mass destruction, related facilities and materials and vehicles of delivery as also their component and disclose their location within 30 days.

It is the understanding among the council members that Iraq would get another week or two to disclose all civilian programmes employing items of dual use, the resolution said.

The third "material breach" would be in the event of inspectors finding that the disclosure of weapons was not complete or Iraq withheld some information, tried to mislead them or barred them access to any site including presidential palaces. Access must be granted immediately.

In the earlier inspection regime, there was a special method to conduct searches in the Presidential palaces which were much less intrusive. That procedure no longer exists and their inspection could be as intrusive as of any other site. If Baghdad gives false statements, tries to bar any official from being interviewed by inspectors, stops the official and his family from being taken out of the country for interview by inspectors if they so desire or commits any act deemed to be hostile against inspectors, it would be considered "material breach" of the resolution.

Iraq is also expected to declare work of its research, development and production facilities as well as all chemical, biological and nuclear programmes including any which it claims are for the purpose not related to weapons production or material.

The resolution said if inspectors find themselves obstructed in any way, they are to report to the Council immediately.

The Council will convene immediately on receiving any such report to decide what needs to be done to bring Iraq in compliance.

The US said it does not require any further authorisation to use force if Iraq is in non-compliance. France, Russia and other members said it would be for the council to decide further action.

Several Arab diplomats at the United Nations fear that war looms over the Middle East despite the United States’ contention that it wanted to disarm President Saddam Hussein of his weapons of mass destruction peacefully. (PTI)

UK to legislate on media, company law...And euro?

LONDON, Nov 9: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has finalised a raft of legislative plans for the coming year to be unveiled by queen elizabeth in a speech to Parliament next week.

At a Special Cabinet meeting yesterday, aides said crime-fighting schemes topped the agenda. Plans afoot include streamlining the court system, cracking down on street crime and freeing up opening hours for bars and pubs so drinkers do not spill on to streets at the same time.

But for business and the financial markets there will also be plenty to get their teeth into.

Fundamental overhauls of the pensions and energy industries are in the pipeline but leglislation on these sectors are not yet ready and more consultation is to come.

But there may be something on the seemingly endless euro debate. Senior Minister Robin Cook let slip this week that the euro would be mentioned in the queen’s speech, delivered in the ornate House of Lords on Wednesday. But he declined to say whether a bill enabling a referendum would be included.

The queen may only say that her Government’s economic tests over joining the single currency will be judged next year. Blair has pledged to do so by mid-2003 and offer sceptical Britons a referendum if they are positive.

But she may flesh out details about what would happen if those tests were passed.

Driven to action by a spate of high-profile accounting scandals, such as at Enron and Worldcom, the Government will introduce a new company law bill.

It has already signalled it wants to reform the relationship between big business and auditors, stripping firms of the right to choose their accountants and rotating auditors regularly.

Executive stock options may also come under scrutiny. Government officials say they can tempt bosses to think only short-term given they make more money as the share price rises.

The Government’s policy paper published in July recommended simplifying the law for small firms while requiring Britain’s 1,000 biggest companies to publish an annual review, outlining their performance and future direction. Auditors will get the right to get information from employees and directors will be obliged to come clean. Failure to do so could lead to prison.

Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Tessa Jowell will have the job of piloting a controversial media regulation bill through Parliament.

The Government’s draft bill, likely to be pursued, opened the way for foreign media groups to buy commercial broadcasters ITV and channel five by lifting a ban on non-European ownership.

But media Barons like Rupert Murdoch, who already has a big newspaper and TV presence in Britain, would not be able to snap up ITV, the main commercial terrestrial broadcaster.

"The Government plans to remove or relax most ownership rules within the TV, radio and newspaper markets where competition law tends to encourage dispersed ownership," Jowell’s Department said. "But key cross-media rules will be retained as minimum guarantees of plurality."

From next year, a single regulator, OFCOM, will wield power over radio, TV and telecommunications although the bbc state broadcaster will retain a degree of independence. (AGENCIES)

Chautala offers investor-friendly climate to South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 9: Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today invited the South African entrepreneurs to invest in tourism, automobiles and food processing sectors, assuring them of an investor-friendly climate in the state.

Haryana enjoyed the foremost position in the country in highway tourism and offered immense opportunities for the development of food processing industries being a primarily agrarian state, he said while addressing a high-level meeting in Johannesburg.

Besides, cultural tourism was also being promoted to acquaint the domestic as well as international tourists with the rich heritage of the state, he added.

In response to queries from ceos of some companies, the Chief Minister said his state was providing land at reasonable prices to the investors for setting up their units. Besides, it was also assisting in providing technical and skilled manpower.

The Haryana Government was providing adequate water and power supply and other basic infrastructure facilities for the units, he added.

Mr Chautala said that 60 per cent of the country’s cars, 50 per cent tractors and 60 per cent motorcycles were also being manufactured in the state. Mr Chautala further said Haryana was the only state in the country which "is free from the menace of terrorism" that had spread the world over. He said the investors in Haryana also directly benefited from its close proximity to the national capital bordering three sides.

The international airport was a mere five-minute drive from the state. Haryana had also become the favoured destination for international entrepreneurs as it offered political and administrative stability and a pollution free environment.

The meeting was organised by the Indian Embassy, Confederation of Indian Industries, National Small Scale Industries Federation, Indian Export Import Bank and State Bank of India and was attended by the representatives of world-renowned companies.

Tracing the ties between India and South Africa, he said the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi initiated his non-violent movement for truth and justice from Johannesburg which later inspired Martin Luther King in the United States and Nelson Mandela here in South Africa.

Mr Chautala stressed that over ten lakh Indians residing in South Africa were not only making a significant contribution towards the economic development of both the countries but were strengthening bilateral relations as well. (UNI)

Blast leaves 3 seriously injured in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU, Nov 9: Three women were seriously injured in a powerful bomb blast in central Kathmandu even as King Gyanendra, on the occasion of Nepal’s 13th constitution day, hinted in his message to the nation that political parties were responsible for the current chaos in the country.

The bomb, suspected to have been planted by Maoists, exploded at 6:15 am on a crowded road near the domestic sales counter of the Nepal Airlines, seriously injuring three elderly women who were going to a nearby Hindu temple for their morning worship, police said.

The explosion smashed glasses of the Nepal Airlines building and some other nearby buildings.

The injured were admitted to the Bir Hospital where their situation is reported to be serious.

Police have so far arrested nine people in connection with the blast.

Meanwhile, King Gyanendra, in his message to the nation on the occasion of the constitution day, stressed on the need to create an

environment of understanding and consensus among all with a cultured exercise of multiparty democracy.

The king also reiterated the nation’s dedication towards achieving the ideals of the constitution but hinted that political parties were responsible for the current situation in the country.

"As everyone is aware, the inability to develop a character, conduct and commitment in conformity with democratic values and norms resulted in increasing aberration, which not only made the objectives of the constitution unachievable but also led to constitutional difficulties," the king said in a statement.

To commemorate the constitution day, the caretaker Lokendra Bahadur Chand Government has released 118 prisoners from various prisons across the country.

The remaining jail term of the prisoners has been pardoned, according to the Department of Prison Management.

The Maoists have also intensified their activities in different parts of the country including the capital Kathmandu ahead of their three-day general strike beginning from November 11.

The rebels had announced the nationwide shut-down to coincide with the November 13 general elections which were later postponed indefinitely by King Gyanendra through his October four announcement dissolving the Deuba Government.

However, the Maoists are carrying on with the proposed three-day strike. (PTI)

Indo-French research forum formalised

PARIS, Nov 9: India and France have formalised the setting up of an Indo-French research forum to transform their buyer-seller relation into one of collaboration and co-production in defence fields.

"The terms and conditions of the forum have been finalised at the three-day fifth meeting of the Indo-French high committee on defence," a spokesman of Indian delegation, headed by Defence Secretary Subir Dutta, told PTI today.

The committee on defence was set up in 1998 following the visit to India of French President Jacques Chirac.

Describing the discussions, which have concluded, as "open" and "candid", the spokesman said there was large identity of views on several issues. "The spirit at the discussions was very positive," he said.

The delegation also visited the DCN International Submarine Lines and held talks on reopening submarine assembly lines at Mazagaon Docks in Mumbai. "But the negotiation for submarines have not been finalised," the spokesman said.

India, as part of its new 30-year submarine building plans, is seeking to build six scorpene SSK class submarines at Mazagaon Docks near Mumbai, keeping the option open for building more of these submarines.

Scorpene is a medium-sized new generation submarine developed jointly by the French DCN International and Izar of Spain. The submarine combines a new generation combat system and integrated platform management system making the design ideal for mission ranging from anti-surface warfare as well as anti-submarine warfare to special operations and intelligence gathering. (PTI)

Nancy Pelosi to lead democrats in US House
of Representatives

WASHINGTON, Nov 9: Nancy Pelosi is expected to be the first woman to lead a party in the United States House of Representatives when the democrats elect a new leader in the next few days, US media reports today said.

The 62-year-old Californian is the clear frontrunner to head the democrats in the house after Richard Gephardt stepped down as leader.

Texan representative Martin Frost was also touted as a possible leader but he has removed himself from the run-off and is backing Pelosi.

Another candidate, Harold Ford from Tennessee, will run against her but he is said to have very little chance of winning the party’s support.

Pelosi, who has spent 16 years as a representative, is from the liberal wing of the party and voted against the proposed military attack on Iraq.

In the mid-term congressional elections on November 5, the democrats lost control of the US senate and saw the Republicans increase their majority in the house. (DPA)

Bush warns Iraq against stalling on UN resolution

WASHINGTON, Nov 9: President George W Bush today warned Iraq that any act of delay or defiance would be a breach of its international obligations under a tough new UN resolution requiring Baghdad to disarm.

He said if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein failed to allow immediate and unrestricted access to every site, every document and every person identified by UN Weapons Inspectors, it would be a clear signal of noncompliance.

"The world has now come together to say that the outlaw regime in Iraq will not be permitted to build or possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "And my administration will see to it that the world’s judgment is enforced."

With a unanimous UN Security Council resolution in his pocket and US military forces stationed in and around the Middle East, Bush made clear he would not accept any stalling from the Iraqi Government.

"Iraq must now, without delay or negotiations, give up its weapons of mass destruction, welcome full inspections and fundamentally change the approach it has taken for more than a decade," he said. "Iraq can be certain that the old game of cheat and retreat, tolerated at other times, will no longer be tolerated."

The 15-0 Security Council vote today was a major victory for Bush, giving him international cover to get tough with Baghdad if Saddam fails to disarm.

It took eight weeks of diplomacy, arm twisting and some concessions after Bush first asked the United Nations on Sept. 12 for a resolution with teeth.

In the interim, he repeatedly tweaked the international body, saying it risked becoming a "debating society" and questioning its "backbone." at the same time, he warned that the United States was prepared to act alone.

The resolution leaves Washington free to attack Iraq without a formal second UN resolution authorizing the use of force. But it requires the Security Council to assess any serious violation that could lead to war.

A senior US official said one of the last sticking points was characterizing a "material breach" under the new resolution. France, in particular, had objected to the wording, fearing it was a hidden trigger for a US attack on Iraq, (AGENCIES)

Military regime trying to broker deal on govt formation

ISLAMABAD, Nov 9: In a deal which could end the month- long impasse over Government formation in Pakistan, the Musharraf regime has called for an alliance between PML(Q) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The news quoting political sources said under the offer, jailed husband of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari would be freed in return for agreeing to a coalition.

Meanwhile, a PPP legislator also told the news that many of the party’s 81 members elected to the National Assembly were in favour of abandoning pre-election acrimony and uniting with the pro-Government Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid-e-Azam), which won 103 seats in the polls.

"A sizeable number of the PPP’s MNAs (Members of the National Assembly) want to be in the Government," PPP legislator-elect Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat told the daily.

"There is no harm in sitting in the Government. I have warned Benazir Bhutto that if we do not follow this line, there will be division in the party," he said. (UNI)

Iran says will accept Iraqi refugees if war starts

TEHRAN, Nov 9: Iran said today it would provide temporary shelter for Iraqis fleeing for safety in the event of a military attack on its western neighbour.

"Iraqi nationals will be allowed to enter iran only if it is established that their lives are in danger," the official Irna news agency quoted Interior Minister Ahmad Hosseini as saying.

"But these people will not be allowed to enter Iranian cities," said Hosseini, who is responsible for refugee affairs.

Iran, which fought a brutal eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, fears a mass exodus of refugees if Iraq is attacked.

The 15-member UN Security Council voted unanimously yesterday to endorse a resolution which gives Baghdad a last chance to disarm or face "serious consequences".

Iran has urged Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to allow weapons inspectors back in and to disarm. While it opposes a unilateral US strike against Baghdad, Iran has said it would not oppose a military attack if it was authorised by the United Nations.

Iran said last month it planned to set up 16 camps along its border with Iraq to stop a possible exodus of refugees fleeing any war there, but vowed not to let them enter the country.

Hosseini, who said the Interior Ministry has set up an "Iraqi crisis headquarters", said the refugee camps would be able to shelter about 500,000 people.

Iran’s proposed refugee policy mirrors the one it adopted during the US-led war in Afghanistan last year when it set up camps just inside Afghan territory to accommodate people fleeing the fighting there.

Iranian officials say Iran already hosts some two million Afghan refugees as well as several thousand Iraqis displaced during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. (AGENCIES)

| home | state | national | business | editorial | advertisement | sports
| international | weather | mailbag | suggestions | search | subscribe | send mail |