06 January 2007
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) A Democrat-controlled US Congress is likely to insist on India's cooperation with the US to contain the Iranian nuclear programme in a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation pact the two countries are negotiating, Bob Kerrey, a leading Democrat and former governor of Nebraska, said here Saturday.
"That's going to hold with the Democrats' control of the US Congress. Looking at the American public opinion on the issue (Iranian nuclear programme), it's likely to hold," Kerrey, who has served as US senator for 12 years, said in response to a question on the India-US civil nuclear cooperation legislation passed by the US Congress last month.
"It's a prediction that may or may not come true," Kerrey, however, added in the same breath. Kerrey, who is currently president of The New School University, New York, said this after delivering a lecture on 'India-US relations: A Congressional Perspective' at the India Habitat Centre here. The lecture was organised by PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) - a Mumbai-based NGO and The New School University, New York.
India has objected to certain "extraneous and prescriptive" clauses in the Henry J. Hyde India-US Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act that was signed into law by US President George Bush last month.
The legislation, among other things, contains a "non-binding clause" that links civil nuclear cooperation between India and the US with New Delhi's support to Washington's efforts to contain the Iranian nuclear programme, suspected of developing nuclear weapons.
Kerrey was, however, broadly supportive of the India-US civil nuclear legislation saying that a majority of Americans saw it as "an effort to help the world's largest democracy."
"We see a common bond. The Indian American community is rising in influence," Kerrey, who was also a member of the 9/11 Commission that went into the causes of terror attacks in New York and Washington over five years ago, stressed.
The Leftist allies of the ruling coalition in India have objected to the Iranian clause in the nuclear legislation that, they charge, compromises independence of the country's foreign policy. In his intervention in parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also expressed concern over prescriptive clauses and expressed hope that these issues will be discussed when the two sides negotiate a bilateral 123 agreement- the sole legal document that will govern the terms of nuclear commerce between the two countries.
India and the US will launch the third round of negotiations on the bilateral 123 agreement later this month.
By Mahendra Ved
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) Only a presidential reference to the Supreme Court can help ensure fullest political participation and save the credibility of Bangladesh's general elections due Jan 22, says a former Indian envoy to Dhaka.
Article 106 of Bangladesh's constitution provides for such a reference. President Iajuddin Ahmed can invoke it to postpone the polls, update the "flawed" voters' list and create conditions conducive to free and fair polls that the same statute stipulates for him as the chief advisor.
"The 90-day time limit to conduct the elections is not a holy cow," the diplomat told IANS, preferring not to be named.
"All is not lost yet. Even at this late stage, with polling still 17 days away, I do hope good sense will prevail over partisan considerations," he said.
The diplomat's comments came as Bangladesh's main opposition Awami League and its 13 alliance partners threatened to boycott the general elections.
According to him, the presidential reference is the only way out since a postponement of elections would require a constitutional amendment, for which the Jatiya Sangsad (National Assembly) is not in existence now.
The constitutional path alone could save the process from being marred by violence, controversy and political deadlock.
Prospects of violence in the run-up and even after the elections worry a cross-section of Bangladesh watchers in India at the turn of events.
The neighbourhood concern stems from targeting of religious minorities as had happened during, and long after, the last elections in 2001.
Commentator Hiranmay Karlekar, Sreeradha Datta, Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), and strategic expert Maloy Krishna Dhar, all keen Bangladesh watchers, were unanimous in expressing fear about violence, especially after the poll boycott by the "grand alliance" led by the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina.
Reports of deployment of the armed forces have only enhanced these fears. "It will be violence by the government," Datta warned.
The process now underway in Bangladesh is headed towards becoming "a non-election," whose credibility would be questioned, since the "grand alliance" clearly represents a wider phalanx of the political opinion than its rival four-party alliance, the experts said.
They were also unanimous in their view that the "grand alliance" was left with no choice in view of a lack of transparency in the election process and a voters' list "packed" with spurious voters, keeping out 1.2 million religious minorities and tribals.
"The money power has played its role," said Dhar. Karlekar pointed to the role of "Saudi money" and Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
Painting a grim post-poll scenario, Karlekar said Begum Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party would run the government while Jamaat-e-Islami, which shared power in 2001-06, would stay out to "implement the Al Qaeda agenda in South Asia of having an Islamic Caliphate in South Asia".
Dhar said Hasina was "defeated by permanent bureaucracy" that conducts the polls. Even the higher echelons in the government, appointed by Zia and not touched by the caretaker government, have officers with known sympathies for Jamaat and banned radical groups.
Datta said Islamist forces had "come to stay" in Bangladesh. "India should recognize this reality," she said.
Dhar said Indian public opinion should differentiate between radical Islamist groups and the Sufi saints, the latter being integral to Bangladeshi culture. No political set-up could function without invoking the blessings of the three Pirs - of Monjair Char, Maijhbhandar and Sylhet. They don't approve radical Islam.
Bangalore, Jan 6 (IANS) A suspected militant, arrested by the Bangalore police Friday, had received arms training in Pakistan and had been asked to monitor IT firms' offices here, a top police official said Saturday.
"Our interrogation of the accused has revealed that he is known as Bilal Ahmed Kota alias Imran Jalal alias Salim (34) and was a resident of Sadarbal, Hazratbal in Srinagar," Bangalore Police Commissioner N. Achuta Rao told reporters.
"His father Shamsuddin is a clerk in a private transport firm and his brother Hilal Ahmed (29) a driver in the food and civil supplies corporation, government of Jammu & Kashmir," he said.
According to a preliminary probe by a special investigation team, the accused went to Pakistan in 2005 and met top insurgents with alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) links.
It was then that he was given a satellite phone and asked to wait for instructions, police said.
"Bilal was asked to visit the offices of Wipro and Infosys as well as the Bangalore airport to find out security arrangements at these places and to report back. The mode of communication between Bilal and his superiors was through the sat phone and e-mail," Rao said.
In November 2006, Bilal was instructed by his Pakistan-based masters to go to Pune and collect a consignment of arms and ammunition. Though he went to Pune on three-four occasions, it was only during his last trip that he received the weapons from an operative called "Rajesh". He returned to Hospet, about 350 km from here, with the consignment.
After sustained interrogation that concluded Saturday morning, Bilal was taken to Hampi by a police team to inspect the rented house he was staying in. A raid on his shop and house led to the seizure of one AK-56, 200 rounds of ammunition, five hand grenades, two magazines of AK-56 and a satellite phone charger.
"A month after returning from Pune with arms and ammunition, Bilal was instructed to take the consignment to Bangalore and await further orders. On his arrival here, he was intercepted by the city crime branch sleuths and taken into custody," Rao said.
Bilal was not knew to Karnataka, as he had come to Bangalore in 1991 and got admitted to a diploma course in computer science at Acharya Polytechnic in Peenya. After completing the course in 1994, he went back to Kashmir and worked as a supervisor in a cigarette distributor's office.
"As per his statement, Bilal joined the JKLF (Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front) in 1990 and went for arms training to Muzzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir.
In 2002, he came to Hampi, a world tourist heritage site near Hospet in north Karnataka, on the invitation of his cousin Fiaz Ahmed Bhat who owned a costume jewellery shop there. Since then, he has made frequent visits to Bangalore and Srinagar, Rao said.
Bilal has been remanded to police custody for two weeks for further investigations.
"With the timely arrest of Bilal, we have averted a possible terror strike in the city. We are in touch with our counterparts in Maharashtra, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir to gather more information on the terror network," Rao said.
By Syed Zarir Hussain,
Tinsukia (Assam), Jan 6 (IANS) At least 13 more Hindi-speaking people were killed early Saturday in suspected separatist violence in Assam, with the death toll in coordinated attacks since Friday night mounting to 32.
Police said armed militants Saturday opened fire at a group of sleeping brick kiln workers and fishermen near Ghormori Chapori, a sandbar located in Tinsukia district, about 590 km east of Assam's main city Guwahati.
"The attack was carried out before dawn," Tinsukia district magistrate Absar Hazarika told IANS.
Stunned by the latest savagery, police and paramilitary teams rushed to the location.
It was the worst massacre of its kind in Assam since 2000 when ULFA mowed down at least 100 Hindi-speaking people to rid the state of "outsiders". The killings had created widespread revulsion.
"We are awaiting details. The area is remote and can be normally reached only by boats," Hazarika said.
Authorities have blamed the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) for the madness that began late Friday in the eastern districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh. There were also two explosions, including one that damaged a coach of the Rajdhani Express.
"The ULFA is behind the serial attacks," Hazarika said. But no group, including ULFA that has off and on held peace talks with New Delhi, has claimed responsibility.
On Friday night, ULFA militants went on a rampage targeting Hindi-speakers in six separate locations, killing 19 people and wounding at least 25.
The rebels fired indiscriminately at brick kilns and shops owned by Hindi speakers, besides triggering an explosion near a tea garden.
"In all the incidents, ULFA targeted Hindi-speaking people, most of them daily wage earners and petty traders," a police official said.
In 2000, ULFA militants killed at least 100 Hindi-speaking people in Assam in a series of well-planned attacks after vowing to free the state of all "non-Assamese migrant workers".
Most victims then and now were from Bihar who had made Assam their home and worked in brick kilns or as labourers for meager wages.
"The immediate provocation was the killing of five senior ULFA leaders by counter-insurgency forces in the past week and arrest of two of their frontline leaders," Hazarika said.
The attacks have triggered fear and panic among hundreds of Hindi speakers in Assam.
"We fear more such attacks and are really worried for our lives. We have been residing in Assam for decades, but now we don't know whether to stay put or flee to safer areas," said Rajesh Tiwari, a coal trader in Tinsukia town.
"The attacks were reminiscent of the one we saw in 2000," said Hariprasad Gupta, another trader in Tinsukia who originally hails from Bihar.
The attacks have prompted state authorities to intensify anti-insurgency operations in the state.
"Security forces have been put on high alert across the state after the inhuman attacks on innocent people by militants," said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Passengers of the Rajdhani Express bound for the eastern town of Dibrugarh from New Delhi had a miraculous escape when a powerful bomb planted underneath a bridge exploded, damaging a coach. The incident occurred near Diphu in eastern Assam around 12.50 a.m. Saturday.
"It was a lucky escape as the explosion damaged a portion of the coach although there were no casualties. The blast damaged at least 1.5 metres of track," railway spokesman T. Rabha said.
The track has since been repaired and trains resumed running after a 10-hour disruption.
Islamabad, Jan 6 (DPA) Army and civilian rescuers Saturday recovered 15 bodies from the wreckage of a van that was crushed in a landslide in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, news reports said.
The vehicle carrying 18 passengers was buried beneath boulders Friday in Kotli district, over 75 km east of here.
Three people were hospitalised with serious injuries. The rescue work continued through the night, officials told the Urdu-language Jang newspaper.
The mountainous region has been prone to landslides after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake occurred in October 2005, killing over 75,000 people.
Guwahati, Jan 6 (IANS) At least 15 Hindi-speaking people were killed and several wounded Friday in a string of attacks by separatists in Assam.
A police spokesman said there were at least six separate attacks and an explosion targeting the migrant workers in the eastern districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia.
"So far 15 people have been killed and at least seven wounded in separate attacks with suspected militants of the opening fire on groups of Hindi-speaking people. There has been one bomb explosion as well," a senior police official said.
Three attacks took place in the Tinsukia district and three more in the adjoining Dibrugarh district.
"Eight people were killed and three injured in Tinsukia district, most of them brick kiln workers and petty shopkeepers who were Hindi-speaking people," Tinsukia district magistrate Absar Hazarika told IANS over telephone.
"This is definitely the handiwork of the ULFA and we see the attacks as retaliation with security forces in the last week killing five militants capturing two more in separate raids."
Seven people were killed in Dibrugarh district in similar circumstances.
"Militants first struck at a place under the Joypur police station in Dibrugarh district killing four workers of a brick kiln and injuring four others," a police official said.
Three people were killed in a bomb explosion near a tea garden on the outskirts of Dibrugarh. "First information says the victims were Hindi speaking people," the official said.
Colombo, Jan 6 (DPA) A bomb exploded inside a bus in southern Sri Lanka Saturday killing 15 passengers and injuring 32, police said.
The explosion took place at Hikkaduwa, 100 km south of here. All those killed were locals and no tourists were affected, a police official said.
Six people were killed Friday and over 50 injured when a bomb exploded inside a passenger bus at Nittambuwa, 27 km east of here.
Tinsukia (Assam), Jan 6 (IANS) A maximum security alert was sounded in Assam Saturday after the massacre of 19 Hindi-speaking people by suspected separatists in the most gruesome incident of its kind in six years.
Around the time the killings took place in six separated but seemingly coordinated incidents, two bombs went off in Assam, one of which narrowly missed seriously damaging a moving train.
It was the worst massacre targeting Hindi-speaking people in Assam and blamed on the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) since 2000, when the group killed at least 100 people.
"Security forces have been put on high alert following the inhuman attacks on innocents," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told IANS.
After midnight Friday, passengers of the Rajdhani Express bound for the eastern town of Dibrugarh from New Delhi had a miraculous escape when a powerful bomb planted underneath a bridge exploded, damaging a coach.
The incident occurred near Diphu in eastern Assam around 12.50 a.m. Saturday.
"It was a lucky escape as the explosion damaged a portion of the coach although there were no casualties. It damaged at least 1.5 metres of the track," said railway spokesperson T. Rabha.
The track has been repaired and trains began to run normally after a 10-hour disruption.
The 2000 killings were aimed at driving away non-Assamese from the state. They created widespread revulsions and led to stray revenge attacks elsewhere.
Officials said the death toll in the latest massacre could climb because some of the wounded were in serious condition and in remote areas where healthcare was not adequate.
In the first of the attacks, armed ULFA rebels opened indiscriminate fire at two brick kilns, shops and businesses owned by Hindi-speaking people, besides triggering an explosion near a tea garden.
Most victims were poor labourers or petty traders, a police official said.
"The immediate provocation was the killing of five senior ULFA leaders by counter-insurgency forces in separate encounters in the past one week and the arrest of two of their frontline leaders," said Tinsukia district magistrate Absar Hazarika.
The attacks triggered fear and panic among hundreds of Hindi speakers, most of them working in brick kilns and doing other odd jobs.
"We fear more such attacks and are really worried for our lives. We have been residing in Assam for decades, but now we don't know whether to stay put or flee," said Rajesh Tiwari, a coal trader in Tinsukia town.
"The attacks were reminiscent of the one in 2000," said Hariprasad Gupta, another trader in Tinsukia, originally hailing from the eastern state of Bihar.
Tinsukia (Assam), Jan 6 (IANS) A maximum security alert was sounded in Assam Saturday after the massacre of 19 Hindi-speaking people by suspected separatists in the most gruesome incident of its kind in six years.
Around the time the killings took place in six separated but seemingly coordinated incidents, two bombs went off in Assam, one of which narrowly missed seriously damaging a moving train.
It was the worst massacre targeting Hindi-speaking people in Assam and blamed on the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) since 2000, when the group killed at least 100 people.
"Security forces have been put on high alert following the inhuman attacks on innocents," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told IANS.
After midnight Friday, passengers of the Rajdhani Express bound for the eastern town of Dibrugarh from New Delhi had a miraculous escape when a powerful bomb planted underneath a bridge exploded, damaging a coach.
The incident occurred near Diphu in eastern Assam around 12.50 a.m. Saturday.
"It was a lucky escape as the explosion damaged a portion of the coach although there were no casualties. It damaged at least 1.5 metres of the track," said railway spokesperson T. Rabha.
The track has been repaired and trains began to run normally after a 10-hour disruption.
The 2000 killings were aimed at driving away non-Assamese from the state. They created widespread revulsions and led to stray revenge attacks elsewhere.
Officials said the death toll in the latest massacre could climb because some of the wounded were in serious condition and in remote areas where healthcare was not adequate.
In the first of the attacks, armed ULFA rebels opened indiscriminate fire at two brick kilns, shops and businesses owned by Hindi-speaking people, besides triggering an explosion near a tea garden.
Most victims were poor labourers or petty traders, a police official said.
"The immediate provocation was the killing of five senior ULFA leaders by counter-insurgency forces in separate encounters in the past one week and the arrest of two of their frontline leaders," said Tinsukia district magistrate Absar Hazarika.
The attacks triggered fear and panic among hundreds of Hindi speakers, most of them working in brick kilns and doing other odd jobs.
"We fear more such attacks and are really worried for our lives. We have been residing in Assam for decades, but now we don't know whether to stay put or flee," said Rajesh Tiwari, a coal trader in Tinsukia town.
"The attacks were reminiscent of the one in 2000," said Hariprasad Gupta, another trader in Tinsukia, originally hailing from the eastern state of Bihar.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IRNA) Breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC) Secretary General Ghulam Nabi Sumbji was taken into preventive custody along with five others by the police Friday, official sources said.
Sumbji and others were detained for precautionary measures, they said, UNI reported.
However, a spokesman of the HC Ayaz Akbar said Sumbji and six other leaders of the amalgam, including Firdous Ahmad Shah, Mohammad Shafi Lone and Moulana Bashir were detained, while on way to Shangus in south Kashmir district of Anantnag, where they were scheduled to join protests against the incident Thursday in which some unidentified persons entered a local mosque and desecrated the place and the Holy Quran there.
Meanwhile, massive protests against the incident continued in Shangus and other adjoining areas.
Shops and other business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads in protest against the desecration of Holy Quran.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) Blaming the resurfacing of polio cases in the Indian capital to influx of affected children from neighbouring states, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Saturday said that around 2.7 million kids would be administered immunisation drops as part of the Pulse Polio programme.
"Delhi was on the threshold of eradication of polio but the occurrence of fresh cases, mostly due to migration of polio affected children from neighbouring states, has posed a new challenge," Dikshit said.
Delhi reported six cases of polio in 2006 as against one in 2005.
The chief minister Saturday launched a fresh polio immunisation drive after administering pulse polio drops to 20 children at her residence.
Around 2.7 million children below five year's of age would be administered polio drops in 7,500 booths in Delhi Sunday. Nearly, 24,000 health personnel and workers have been deputed for the purpose.
Polio booths have been set up at railway stations, bus terminals, 57 metro stations, airports, important parks, temples and the Pragati Maidan exhibition ground.
International organisations like UNICEF, NGOs like Rotary and Lions Club and 1,250 resident welfare associations are cooperating in the venture.
"The services of local Imams (Muslim religious leaders) have been taken to dispel all misconceptions about the Pulse Polio programme. Their recorded video message is being telecast by cable channels," she said.
Health teams would make door-to-door visits to administer drops to children left out, she said.
"It has become imperative to repeat the dose of polio drops regularly and up to 10 to 12 times after occurrence of fresh cases."
Chandigarh, Jan 6 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Friday said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was welcome to contest for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat but added that he had over the years remained a Rajya Sabha member and was unlikely to contest.
Asked if the prime minister would contest the Feb 13 by-election from the Sikh holy city Amritsar seat, the chief minister said that he did not see any reason why he should contest now.
"He has over two years term left in the Rajya Sabha. If he (PM) says he wants to contest, he is most welcome. Punjab would be honoured if he does so. But I don't see such a situation arising," he told reporters here.
Manmohan Singh hails from Punjab and spent his childhood and youth in Amritsar city itself.
The Amritsar Lok Sabha seat fell vacant last month after cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was elected from there May 2004, resigned from after being convicted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in an 18-year-old road rage incident.
The chief minister admitted that a brother of the prime minister, Surjit Singh Kohli, had applied for the Congress ticket for one of the assembly seats in Amritsar.
Kohli is an industrialist and social worker in Amritsar.
"The PM's brother met me recently in this regard. He has every right to seek a ticket. The decision will be taken by the party high command," Amarinder Singh said.
The chief minister, whose own son Raninder has been active in Punjab's politics in the last few months, ruled out his son contesting the forthcoming assembly polls.
"My son is not a candidate," he said.
Amarinder Singh's wife, Preneet Kaur, is the sitting Congress MP from Patiala.
Paris, Jan 6 (DPA) The Legrand brothers have an excellent recipe for bringing the French government to its knees.
The first, and most important, ingredient is to act during the run-up to an important election. Add a long-neglected and emotionally charged issue, such as the homeless, for example. Then stir in a dash of publicity knowhow and a dollop of Christmas sentimentality, and the dish is ready.
What the Legrand brothers and their fresh-baked association, The Children of Don Quixote, cooked up was a kind of coup d'etat, in the sense that they forced President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, to act on behalf of a cause they had previously ignored: the homeless.
Following a New Year's Eve declaration by Chirac urging the government to act on the issue, Villepin said a bill would be presented to the cabinet later this month to give everyone the legally enforceable right to demand that the government provide him or her with housing.
"This is a principle that will place the right to housing on the same level as the right to medical care or education," Villepin said. "It will make France one of the most progressive countries in the matter of social rights."
The bill is to be presented to the cabinet Jan 17, with the parliament voting on it perhaps before Feb 22, when its present session closes.
If Villepin's proposal becomes law, it may very well represent a record of sorts for government response to a citizen's movement, since the Children of Don Quixote was created at the end of October and their first tents did not appear until mid-December.
As one member of the opposition Socialist Party noted, "The government did nothing about the homeless for four and a half years, and now, suddenly, it has become their champion."
But the imminence of the presidential elections, the first round of which takes place April 22, also moved the main candidates to embrace the issue.
Never one to mince his words, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the almost certain candidate of the governing Union for a Polpular Movement (UMP) party, vowed that if he is elected there would not be a single person sleeping in the streets within two years.
Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal - who probably stands to gain the most from exploiting the issue, since she has made social precariousness a main plank of her platform - urged the establishment of "a big plan to fight economic insecurity".
According to the most recent official figures, which date from 2004, France counts about 86,000 homeless people, with at least one fourth of that number living in Paris.
Usually, they are invisible, but the Children of Don Quixote took them out of the shelters, alleys and dim doorways where they usually sleep and placed them in red tents along the Canal St. Martin in Paris, as well as in a handful of other cities, creating a spectacle for French media and making the problem highly visible.
Currently, about 300 tents remain set up in the French capital, creating a village made up of homeless persons and their supporters.
Ahmed, a volunteer sleeping in one of the tents, told France Info radio: "After a silence of so many years about the homeless, it's great to see politicians react at last."
But his neighbour Marco, who has been living in the streets for several months, had a more realistic view.
"We want to see it all happen before the elections," he said. "There are people dying in the streets."
Paris, Jan 6 (DPA) The Legrand brothers have an excellent recipe for bringing the French government to its knees.
The first, and most important, ingredient is to act during the run-up to an important election. Add a long-neglected and emotionally charged issue, such as the homeless, for example. Then stir in a dash of publicity knowhow and a dollop of Christmas sentimentality, and the dish is ready.
What the Legrand brothers and their fresh-baked association, The Children of Don Quixote, cooked up was a kind of coup d'etat, in the sense that they forced President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, to act on behalf of a cause they had previously ignored: the homeless.
Following a New Year's Eve declaration by Chirac urging the government to act on the issue, Villepin said a bill would be presented to the cabinet later this month to give everyone the legally enforceable right to demand that the government provide him or her with housing.
"This is a principle that will place the right to housing on the same level as the right to medical care or education," Villepin said. "It will make France one of the most progressive countries in the matter of social rights."
The bill is to be presented to the cabinet Jan 17, with the parliament voting on it perhaps before Feb 22, when its present session closes.
If Villepin's proposal becomes law, it may very well represent a record of sorts for government response to a citizen's movement, since the Children of Don Quixote was created at the end of October and their first tents did not appear until mid-December.
As one member of the opposition Socialist Party noted, "The government did nothing about the homeless for four and a half years, and now, suddenly, it has become their champion."
But the imminence of the presidential elections, the first round of which takes place April 22, also moved the main candidates to embrace the issue.
Never one to mince his words, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the almost certain candidate of the governing Union for a Polpular Movement (UMP) party, vowed that if he is elected there would not be a single person sleeping in the streets within two years.
Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal - who probably stands to gain the most from exploiting the issue, since she has made social precariousness a main plank of her platform - urged the establishment of "a big plan to fight economic insecurity".
According to the most recent official figures, which date from 2004, France counts about 86,000 homeless people, with at least one fourth of that number living in Paris.
Usually, they are invisible, but the Children of Don Quixote took them out of the shelters, alleys and dim doorways where they usually sleep and placed them in red tents along the Canal St. Martin in Paris, as well as in a handful of other cities, creating a spectacle for French media and making the problem highly visible.
Currently, about 300 tents remain set up in the French capital, creating a village made up of homeless persons and their supporters.
Ahmed, a volunteer sleeping in one of the tents, told France Info radio: "After a silence of so many years about the homeless, it's great to see politicians react at last."
But his neighbour Marco, who has been living in the streets for several months, had a more realistic view.
"We want to see it all happen before the elections," he said. "There are people dying in the streets."
Patna, Jan 6 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Saturday announced a compensation of Rs.100,000 each to the families of the workers from the state killed in Assam even as the death toll in two days of attacks targeting Hindi-speaking people in the northeastern state mounted to 42.
A team led by two Bihar ministers will visit the northeastern state to meet the victims' families and study the situation, Nitish Kumar told reporters here.
In Assam, 42 people - mostly from Bihar - have died in 10 separate incidents in the two eastern districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia since Friday night.
According to official sources, Nitish Kumar spoke to his Assam counterpart, Tarun Gogoi, Saturday and expressed concern over security and safety of labourers from Bihar.
The Bihar government sounded a red alert across the state to avert any retaliatory attacks on people from Assam, particularly passengers of trains to and from Assam passing through this state.
"Special security will be deployed in all trains to and from Assam passing through Bihar and police have been alerted to keep a close watch," a senior police official said.
A large number of people, mostly poor workers from rural Bihar, have been working in different parts of Assam for decades. However, after separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) vowed to free Assam of all 'non-Assamese migrant workers', Bihari migrants have been increasingly targeted during the past decade.
Singapore, Jan 6 (DPA) A high-level group has proposed bold moves to turn the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into a more disciplined regional grouping or risk fading "into the sunset," the group's report said Saturday.
Even the ASEAN's longstanding principle of non-interference in each other's affairs is being scrutinised.
Such a step may be necessary to ensure effective decision-making in trans-national matters, said the package of proposals to be presented to ASEAN leaders at their Cebu summit next week in the Philippines.
The measures drawn up by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) comprising 10 senior ministers, former leaders and diplomats were published in The Straits Times.
Among the suggestions are new systems to monitor member states' compliance with agreements signed, independent panels with the authority to issue binding decisions in disputes and provisions for ASEAN leaders to mete out penalties if countries are in serious breach of promises made.
Among the proposed penalties are temporary suspension of the member state's rights and privileges. Expulsion has not been ruled out.
Unless ASEAN pushes ahead with "hard-nosed decisions" to transform itself into a more effective organisation, "its future will be one of atrophy and marginalisation," said Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar, the city-state's EPG representative.
"If it continues to do more of the same...ASEAN will just become one of those organisations that slowly fade into the sunset," he was quoted as saying.
Leaders are expected to adopt the report, paving the way for the drafting of the ASEAN charter, a mini-constitution to guide the grouping's future development.
Singling out ASEAN's gap between vision and implementation, Jayakumar said this key problem has plagued plans to integrate its 10 economies so they can better meet competition from China and India.
ASEAN includes Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
Patna, Jan 6 (IANS) British exploration major Cairn Energy Search Ltd (CESL) is to begin a survey in Bihar's Ganges basin for oil and natural gas in the next two to three weeks, the first such exploration in the state.
"The much-awaited work for oil exploration in Bihar would start in January. Everything is ready for an aero magnetic survey, which would be followed by other surveys and database collection," Energy Minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav said Saturday.
CESL and its sister concern, Cairn Energy Search India Ltd, which has been given a seven-year license, will begin its operations in the Ganges basin, which comprises 13 districts spread over 15,500 sq km. The Edinburgh-based CESL had proposed the project three years ago but it got delayed due to various reasons.
Official sources said the exploration project had got clearance from all central ministries, including defence, petroleum, civil aviation and atomic energy as well as the Geological Survey of India.
The CESL has been taking help from a Canadian company to conduct the survey. A specially designed and high-tech airplane was hired from Canada for this.
"The airplane is currently in Rajasthan and likely to reach Patna in the second week of this month," he said.
After the survey, CESL would conduct gravity surveys in selected areas. It would go for soil digging at select places to collect more data. It is likely to submit the survey report by March.
The central and state governments have been eying Bihar's potential oil and gas resources for several years. India imports some 70 percent of its crude oil needs.
According to independent estimates, reserves in the Ganges basin, known locally as Purnea basin, could be as high as 465 million tonnes of crude and natural gas.
Experts say the reserves can be tapped after drilling up to 4,400 metres. The government will get 10 percent royalty for every tonne extracted.
London, Jan 6 (IRNA) Women are still largely absent in top jobs at British companies firms as well as in parliament, despite the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act 30 years ago, according to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).
New EOC research published Friday found that 6,000 women were being held back from 33,000 of the most senior posts identified in boardrooms, politics, the legal system and the public sector.
Only 10 per cent of directors of the UK's FTSE index of the top 100 firms are women, while under 20 per cent of those in Parliament are female. Ethnic minority women were described as being "notably missing."
"Today's troubling findings show just how slow the pace of change has been in powerful British institutions," EOC chair Jenny Watson, said.
"They suggest it's time not just to send out the headhunters to find some of those 'missing women', but to address the barriers that stand in their way," Watson said.
In parliament, the proportion of women was found to have decreased in the 12 months since the last Sex and Power survey to only 19.5 per cent, lower than in Iraq, Afghanistan and Rwanda.
At the current rate of improvement, it was suggested that it would take 20 years to achieve equality in the civil service, 40 years in the judiciary and 60 years among FTSE 100 companies.
But the report said it would take 200 years - at least another 40 elections - to achieve an equal number of MPs in the British parliament.
Figures for women from ethnic minorities were shown to be even worse, with only two black women MPs, four non-white top 100 FTSE directors and nine top civil servants.
"Ethnic minority women are still largely invisible in public life and this has to change if we want our communities to thrive," the EOC said.
The research suggested that women are experiencing the same barriers to getting the jobs they want as women in lower paid jobs, where female employees suffer from one of the biggest pay gaps in Europe.
Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equal rights, said that the report demonstrated "how much of a male preserve power remains in the UK."
"If decisions are only being taken by one group of the population they will not reflect the lives of ordinary people. It proves beyond a doubt that life at the top is white and male," Rake said.
Last September, the EOC reported that Muslim girls from Bangladeshi and Pakistani origins still face discrimination in seeking employment in the UK despite improving their education performance at school.
A previous analysis of the last 2001 census has also shown that the unemployment rate among Britain's 1.8 million Muslim community is more than three times as high as the rate for the country's overwhelming Christian population.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) A special court here Saturday framed charges against Rahul Mahajan, son of late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, for drug abuse but the charge of drug trafficking against him was dropped.
The special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court found prima facie sufficient material on record to send Rahul Mahajan, Harish Sharma, former personal assistant of the late leader, and three others on trial in the drug abuse case of June 2006.
The trial will begin Jan 10.
Special Judge S.N. Gupta discharged Rahul Mahajan of the charge of financing illicit trafficking of drugs and harbouring offenders under Section 27(A) of the NDPS Act.
Mahajan will face trial under Sections 21 (possession of drugs), Section 25 (allowing premises for commission of an offence), Section 27 (illegal possession in small quantity for personal consumption of any narcotic drugs) and Section 29 (abetment and criminal conspiracy) of the NDPS Act.
Co-accused Sahil Zaroo will face trial under Sections 21, 27 and 29 of the NDPS Act and Section 419 (cheating by impersonation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Harish Sharma and Ganesh, Rahul's servant, will face charges under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC.
Nigerian national Abdul Latif Ashola alias Mohammed Abdullah, will be tried under Sections 21 and 29 of NDPS Act while his compatriot Egbedokun James Taiwo will be prosecuted under Sections 29 read with 21-B (possession more than five grams of drugs) of the NDPS Act.
All the accused except the two Nigerian nationals are out on bail.
The Delhi police charge-sheeted the accused in August last year alleging that Sahil had procured drugs at the instance of Rahul Mahajan and later the two along with Bibek Moitra (since dead), former personal secretary of Pramod Mahajan, had consumed them at the 7 Safdarjung Road bungalow, the erstwhile official residence of the late BJP leader.
Police have kept Moitra in column two of the charge sheet, which is for accused not set up for trial.
The case had made headlines when the Apollo Hospital here informed the Tughlak Road police station in the early hours of June 2 that Rahul had been admitted to the hospital in an unconscious state while Moitra had been brought dead.
By Amulya Ganguli
Has the Congress experience in running a coalition made it more amenable to wider consultations? Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suddenly reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition party, to seek its view on various issues.
Not long ago, he had summarily rejected a set of proposals on the budget submitted by the BJP and had taunted leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, BJP's L.K.Advani, on his prime ministerial ambitions.
But Manmohan Singh is now seemingly pursuing a different line. First, he went to former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's house with a bouquet to greet him on his birthday. And then he invited Vajpayee, Advani and a few other senior BJP leaders for a discussion on current affairs.
There is little doubt that such a friendly initiative, described by Advani as a "good gesture", is quite uncharacteristic of the Congress. Except in P.V. Narasimha Rao's time when Vajpayee led the Indian delegation to the UN General Assembly, the Congress has usually kept the opposition parties at arm's length.
Why the sudden change? Is it possible that the prolonged tussles with the Left on economic and foreign policies have made the Congress appreciate the inevitability of a consensus at a time when its earlier hopes of ruling on its own have all but disappeared? Or is it playing a game in preparing to set off the BJP against the Left since the Congress's views on economic reforms are closer to those of BJP?
Even on foreign policy, the BJP's opposition to the India-US nuclear deal can be seen as the typical knee-jerk response of an opposition party rather than a well-considered stance considering that the BJP has always been regarded as closer to the US (and Israel) than the "socialist" Congress with its non-alignment baggage of the Cold War days.
There has been a longstanding view, articulated by economist Lord Meghnad Desai among others, of the advantages of the Congress and BJP coming together, at least on economic issues, for the country's rapid progress. As the constant objections of the Left on issues like disinvestment and FDI show, the Congress will need the help of less doctrinaire parties to push through some of its economic programmes.
However, in the immediate future, the purpose of the Congress in building bridges with the BJP may have more to do with questions of the "neighbourhood", which was said to be one of the subjects discussed.
In the aftermath of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's proposals on Kashmir like demilitarization, joint control and making the Line of Control (LoC) irrelevant, there is a feeling that some kind of a movement is taking place on the vexed issue.
Except with regard to the suggestion on joint control, there is more than one similarity between what Musharraf has said and what Manmohan Singh had said earlier. For instance, the latter has been in favour of virtually erasing LoC.
It is obvious that before any major step is taken on such a sensitive question, the Congress and the ruling United Progressive Alliance will need BJP's concurrence since the Left is not expected to raise any objections.
However, the recent transition in BJP from the leadership of the Vajpayee-Advani duo to a younger and an apparently more hardline generation makes the task of obtaining the party's approval somewhat more difficult, especially on Kashmir.
As the assumption of the presidency of BJP by Rajnath Singh suggests, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the paterfamilias of the saffron brotherhood, has taken direct charge of the party, apparently because it was displeased with the moderate stance of Vajpayee and Advani.
For the Congress, this change of guard poses a difficulty since it would rather deal with the two veterans with their long experience in politics and diplomacy than with the newcomers who not only represent the second tier of the BJP's leadership but are also evidently less mature, apart from being under the RSS's thumb.
Manmohan Singh may have had to act in a hurry, therefore, to keep Vajpayee and Advani in the loop at a time when things may begin to move relatively quickly in matters relating to Kashmir and the nuclear deal.
As Advani's response shows, the senior BJP leaders are not unhappy about the thaw. They have been under attack from the RSS for a long time and may have felt that the ground was slipping from under their feet. The government's initiative has given them an opportunity to reassert themselves in national life.
In any event, such exchanges will herald a new atmosphere in politics. It has been far too tense in recent years with the frequent disruptions of parliamentary proceedings tending to breed a sense of disrespect for politicians and their profession.
Both Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have shown that they do not believe in confrontation. Her refusal to accept the prime minister's post lest the BJP should rev up the "foreign national" issue showed that she likes to follow a path of least resistance.
A part of their accommodating attitude may be due to temperament and partly due to the exigencies of running a coalition with parties preoccupied with dogma (communists), caste (Lalu Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan) and state (DMK).
Two and a half years with such a motley group seems to have persuaded the Congress to shed some of its rigidities and self-absorption whose worst manifestation was the Emergency of 1975-77 when Indira Gandhi was prime minister. If the Congress learns to work with others on a consistent basis, the opposition parties - as also the more obdurate of the allies - may moderate their stance. The gainer will be the nation.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached at aganguli@mail.com)
Tehran, Jan 6 (IRNA) Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, was sworn in to office Thursday holding his left hand on a leather-bound volume of a Quran that Thomas Jefferson once owned.
In a day of firsts, the 43-year-old lawyer and former Minnesota state representative was sworn in by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
"It's a day of welcoming," said Ellison, accompanied by his wife, Kim, and their four children, including 12-year-old Elijah, wearing an African kente cloth draped over his suit.
Ellison then held his right hand in the air and placed his left hand on two brown leather-bound volumes of the Koran, which were held aloft by his wife, a teacher at an alternative school in St. Paul, Minn.
Moments earlier, the 110th Congress had been sworn in en masse on the House floor, where Ellison shook hands with Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., who'd criticized Ellison for planning to use the Koran.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) The Supreme Court will hear on Jan 12 a special leave petition filed by cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu seeking stay of the conviction ordered by Punjab and Haryana High Court for unintentionally killing a man on the road.
A bench of judges K.G. Balakrishnan and D.K. Jain fixed the date of hearing on a mention made by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi seeking stay of the conviction to enable Sidhu to contest Lok Sabha by-election from Amritsar-2 constituency in Punjab.
The high court had already suspended the execution of the sentence but unless the conviction was also stayed, Sidhu cannot contest the election.
Conviction could not be stayed without a proper hearing, the bench said and posted the appeal for hearing on Jan 12.
Sidhu resigned from the Lok Sabha after his conviction on Dec 6 by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was sentenced to three years in jail in an 18-year-old case of homicide in Patiala where he had ended up unintentionally killing a man after a traffic brawl.
The high court, however, suspended his sentence till Jan 31 to enable Sidhu, currently on bail, to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against his conviction and sentence.
In his SLP, Sidhu said the high court had erred by reversing the acquittal order passed by the trial court. He said the high court should refrain from disturbing the finding of facts arrived at by the trial court unless the same suffered from the vice of perversity or unreasonableness.
Cairo, Jan 6 (NNN-KUNA) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday condemned the Israeli military operation in Ramallah, as well as any practices impeding Egypt's efforts to restore peace to the region.
Mubarak called on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to stop the attack and any practices that could impede Egypt's efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East region.
The Egyptian leader added that Israel's security could be ensured only through earnest efforts towards peace, rather than military force.
Earlier on Thursday, Mubarak met Olmert in Egypt's Sharm El Sheikh resort for talks on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and on ways of pushing the peace process forward.
They also discussed an Egypt-sponsored Palestinian-Israeli prisoner swap deal and a truce between Israel and the Palestinian factions.
The Israeli prime minister said in Tel Aviv on Wednesday that Israel was not going to release any Palestinian prisoners for the time being.
The Mubarak-Olmert meeting was part of Egypt's contacts with the Palestinian and Israeli sides to push the peace process forward and bring them back to the negotiations table. -- NNN-KUNA
Jammu, Jan 6 (IANS) The People's Democratic Party (PDP), a ruling coalition partner in Jammu and Kashmir government, Saturday asked its legislators to follow the path of "coalition ethics."
The PDP has been at loggerheads with its ally Congress on various issues for some time and had even threatened to break the alliance a few months ago.
PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has asked his party leaders, particularly the members of the state legislature, to adhere to the "coalition ethics" without losing sight of the problems of the people.
He was addressing the party's legislature meeting, ahead of the budget session that begins in Jammu Monday.
Sayeed called upon his party legislators about maintaining coalition ethics during the House proceedings. He said the members should project their demands and requirements in right earnest.
Sayeed said that ever since its inception in 1999, the PDP had been playing a positive role in bringing the people of the state out of despair and has "rekindled the hope of a new life among the alienated masses of the state."
Shimla, Jan 6 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh government and a private firm of West Bengal are to build a pithead thermal plant to meet the hill state's energy needs in winter.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed here Friday between the state-run Himachal Pradesh power corporation limited and the Eastern Mineral and Trading Agency (EMTA).
Officials said the cost of the 500 MW pithead thermal plant will be around Rs.25 billion, but the exact location of the pithead has yet to be decided somewhere in eastern India.
According to the MoU, both sides will have equal equity in the joint venture.
Even as Himachal Pradesh is power-rich, production of hydel power drops in the lean winter season due to low discharge of water from Himalayan rivers.
The thermal plant will meet the energy requirement in winter.
New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) Newly-appointed Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan has said that while detecting corruption in judiciary is difficult, removing a judge through impeachment is quite complicated.
While making these candid observations in an interview for NDTV's "Walk the Talk" show to be telecast Saturday evening, the CJI-designate, however, sought to assure that he would never recommend a person with doubtful integrity for appointment as a judge.
Asked about his opinion on corruption in the judiciary, Balakrishnan said: "There are allegations of corruption. We don't know exactly what facts are there... People come to court to get justice. Then they feel that the justice is being purchased, at least in a few cases."
"It is very difficult to detect corruption, especially in the judiciary. The traditional way of impeachment is quite complicated."
Balakrishnan, as the senior-most judge of the apex court, next to the CJI Y.K. Sabharwal, is currently heading the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) as its chairperson.
However, while talking of the various issues of legal and judicial reforms, enlisted transparency in judicial appointment as one of its priority areas, he said: "The major thing you can do (about) judicial appointments... Whenever there is a (person of) doubtful integrity we shall not appoint such a person."
Seeking to dispel the impression that the apex court often trades onto the toes of the parliament and the executive, triggering confrontation amongst them, Balakrishnan emphatically said: "There is no confrontation."
The first dalit to take over as the country's chief justice, Balakrishnan said the caste system is a reality, which gives birth to prejudices.
"Sometimes it is a disadvantage...Whatever you say, at least for some persons that inner prejudice is there. It is working in the mind."
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IRNA) India has produced 275 lakh tonnes of sugar and the requirements are between 185 and 190 lakh tonnes.
The present scenario may facilitate to make the country as largest producer of sugar in the world, said Sharad Pawar, Indian Union Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Sharad Pawar said that steps will be taken to produce ethanol from sugarcane as secondary.
Speaking at the Convention on "Bio-energy Tech-2007" in New Delhi Friday the Minister stressed the need to give a serious consideration to produce alternative bio-fuels as India is importing 72 per cent of the requirements of petroleum products from (P)Gulf region.
He emphasized the need to give more incentives to domestic producers of bio-diesel and also urged for a domestically and internationally competitive Duty structure for import of raw material for the production of bio-fuels.
Sharad Pawar pointed out that apart from the biodegradable products, bio-fuels can directly be derived from various crops and tree species.
The crops which have the potential to become raw materials for bio-fuels include sugarcane, cassava, sweet sorghum, maize and sugar beat.
Oil bearing tree species like jatropha and karanj have good potential of being used as raw material for bio-fuel production.
To promote bio-fuels it is necessary to make the farmers understand that the returns from these alternatives will be profitable and at the same time the interests of various stakeholders be taken care of.
The Minister listing the measures taken for the promotion of bio-fuels said that 9 various ministers and departments have been given the responsibility for the development of alternative source of energy.
Pawar said that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is formulating a national policy on bio-fuels and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has already launched ethanol-blending program.
A purchase policy for bio-diesel has also been announced.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Convention Sharad Pawar said exports subsidies are being considered to export sugar.
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, Jan 6 (IANS) The post-reform economic growth in Asia's two "awakening giants" India and China has not been balanced across regions or sectors, nor has it been particularly pro-poor in either country, according to a World Bank study.
In both countries, there has been a marked geographic unevenness in the growth process, with numerous lagging regions, including some of those that started off among the poorest, say Bank's Shubham Chaudhuri and Martin Ravallion in their paper on "Partially Awakened Giants: Uneven Growth in China and India".
In China, growth in the primary sector (primarily agriculture) did more to reduce poverty and inequality than growth in either the secondary or tertiary sectors, say the authors in the paper written for a new World Bank report, "Dancing with Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy."
On the other hand, in India, with higher initial inequality in access to land than China, agricultural growth was less important than tertiary sector growth.
Income inequality is rising, although India has not yet experienced the same trend increase in inequality that China has seen. Poverty in both countries is not becoming any more responsive to aggregate economic growth and is becoming more responsive to rising inequality.
India's poor did not start the reform period with the same advantages as China's poor, in terms of access to land and education, Chaudhuri and Ravallion said.
Persistent inequalities in human resource development and access to essential infrastructure within both countries, but probably more so in India, are impeding the prospects for poor people to share in the aggregate economic gains spurred by reforms. The geographic dimensions of their inequalities and the associated disparities in fiscal resources and governmental capabilities loom large as policy concerns for the future in both countries, they said.
In the future, it will be harder for either country to maintain its past rate of progress against poverty without addressing the problem of high and rising inequality. However, it is not particularly useful to talk about "inequality" as a homogeneous entity in this context, the authors said.
Policy needs to focus on the specific dimensions of inequality that create or preserve unequal opportunities for participating in the gains from future economic growth, they suggested.
Arguably both countries are seeing a rise in these bad inequalities over time as the good inequalities (conducive to efficient growth) turn into bad ones, and the bad inequalities drive out the good ones.
"While both countries need to be concerned about the "bad inequalities" we have pointed to, we suspect that it is China where the near-term risk that rising inequality will jeopardize growth is greater," the authors said.
Arguably, the Chinese authorities have been able to compensate for rising inequality by achieving high growth rates; by this view, it is the rising inequality that fuels growth in China, through the political economy of maintaining "social stability," they said.
The "Catch 22" is that the emerging bad inequalities in China will make it harder to promote the growth that will be needed to compensate for those inequalities. Maintaining sufficient growth will require even greater efficacy of the policy levers used to promote growth.
Whether or not the problem of rising inequality is successfully addressed, there are likely to be implications for the rest of the world. If the problem is not addressed, then there is a risk that the high growth rates will not be maintained, with spillover effects for trade and growth elsewhere.
"If it is addressed, and depending on exactly how this is done, there may be some short-term costs to growth, although (as we have argued) redressing the bad inequalities would actually be good for growth. There may also be consequences for the pattern of trade, such as through a change in the sectoral composition of growth," the authors said.
For example, in both countries there appears to be potential for cash crop expansion, which would attenuate one important source of concern about rising inequality, and it can be expected that a non-negligible share of this expansion in domestic cash-crop output would be exported.
The new initiatives underway in both countries are probably steps in the right direction, although continuous evaluative research will be needed on the efficacy of these approaches relative to alternatives, they said.
There are important but poorly resolved issues concerning the appropriate balance between types of interventions. But an even harder challenge remains, namely to improve governance-capacity, accountability and responsiveness-notably (but not only) at the local level. If this challenge is left unmet, the ultimate efficacy of any of these initiatives will be in doubt, the paper concluded.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IRNA) Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved the agenda of talks that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will have with the Pakistani leadership next week in Islamabad.
Mukherjee will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri to review the Composite Dialogue during his two-day visit to Islamabad from January 13, said All India Radio report here Friday.
The External Affairs Minister is traveling to Islamabad primarily to extend invitation to President Pervez Musharraf for the 14th South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held in New Delhi in April.
Mukherjee, while talking to journalists after releasing the 'South Asia Defence and Strategic Year Book' in New Delhi, said the CCS also discussed his visits to Sri Lanka on January 9 and to Maldives the next day.
Jakarta, Jan 6 (DPA) Rescue workers Saturday failed to find the wreckage of a missing commercial jetliner in eastern Indonesia, with the chances of finding it getting slimmer as its onboard homing beacon stopped transmitting.
As the massive, internationally assisted search operation prepared to halt at nightfall in Sulawesi island, officials said they had stopped receiving the Adam Air Boeing 737-400's onboard Emergency Locator Beacon Aircraft (ELBA) signals.
"We still can't find the missing airliner, and the ELBA signal had stop beaming today," said Ahmad, an official from the National Search and Rescue Agency.
Four Indonesian Navy warships carrying amphibious troops and divers were sent to Sulawesi to bulk up what has already been a massive operation.
A team from the US National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Makassar Saturday to assist the search by conducting offshore satellite imaging.
A Singaporean naval ship was also helping with the search and a Singapore Air Forces Fokker-50, which holds sophisticated equipment including infrared sights and sonar.
Adam Air flight KI-574 was carrying 96 passengers, including three US citizens and a crew of six, when it disappeared Monday afternoon in bad weather.
It was on a scheduled flight from East Java capital Surabaya to Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province.
Jammu, Jan 6 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir is expecting Rs.20 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop roads and bridges under multi-sector infrastructure projects.
The state is already executing works worth Rs.14 billion as part of the first phase of ADB funding.
"Development works worth another Rs.20 billion would be carried out by the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA)," said Finance and Planning Minister Tariq Hameed Karra.
ADB had started funding the projects in the state in 2004. Karra is the chairman of the ERA, the nodal agency for executing externally funded projects in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu, Jan 6 (IANS) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, ahead of his Pakistan visit next week, is holding discussions with Kashmiri leaders for their perceptions on the Kashmir situation and India-Pakistan ties.
After having held talks with Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad early this week, Mukherjee is meeting the two top leaders of the People's Democratic Party - former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his daughter and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who left Jammu for Delhi Saturday for the meeting.
"I am sure the foreign minister will be successful in his visit and there would be happy tidings for the people of Jammu and Kashmir," Mehbooba Mufti told reporters ahead of her departure.
The PDP leaders will urge Mukherjee for more confidence building measures (CBMs) between Delhi and Islamabad.
The father-daughter duo said that they also want Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan.
Azad has urged Mukherjee to seek re-opening of routes across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, like Suchetgarh-Sialkote, Kargil-Skardu and Jhangar-Mirpur.
He has also sought the launch of trade on the Srinagar-Muzzaffarbad route that was opened for civilian traffic April 7, 2005.
The opposition National Conference's two top leaders - former chief minister Farooq Abdullah and party president Omar Abdullah, also a former junior foreign minister - have expressed their inability to meet the foreign minister because of their "preoccupation" with party affairs, according to party sources here.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 6 (IANS) In a bid to ensure a better standard of living for the thousands of handloom weavers in Kerala, the government Saturday advised all government employees to wear clothes made of handloom materials every Saturday.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurated a function to hand over handloom clothes to ace athlete Anju Bobby George at the state secretariat and urged all government officials to follow it.
"This is not compulsory but it would be good if you all do it. I wish Defence Minister A.K. Antony would take steps to place orders for handloom materials for the Indian Armed Forces to be used in their canteens and all hospitals," said Achuthanandan.
Even as the chief minister urged the government employees, several IAS officials turned out in traditional Kerala handloom dhoti.
Last year, the Achuthanandan government had initiated steps to see that approximately 1.7 million government school children in the state use uniform made out of handloom material once a week from next academic year.
The initiative taken by the government is expected to revive the fortunes of nearly 200,000 employees in the tottering handloom industry in the state.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 6 (IANS) The Kerala ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) will meet Jan 13 to discuss modalities for talks with state's private colleges on evolving a consensus on their functioning following the state high court striking down certain clauses of the professional colleges act.
State Education Minister M.A. Baby told reporters Saturday: "The LDF will meet on Jan 13 to discuss the modalities to be adopted for talks (for a consensus) with the association of both private engineering and medical colleges and also if talks have to be held with the opposition."
"We have also decided to go in for an appeal in the apex court," he said.
A division bench of the Kerala High Court had Thursday set aside several clauses of the state's professional colleges act, doing away with the quotas and fee structures prescribed by the V.S. Achuthanandan government.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice V.K. Bali, struck down several clauses related to the conduct of entrance examination, fees, reservation and the status of minorities in the act.
The legislation is called the Kerala Professional Colleges (Prohibition of Capitation Fee, Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non-Exploitative Fee and Other Measures to Ensure Equity and Excellence in Professional Education) Act.
The court ruled that college managements had the right to conduct their own examinations and determine the fees.
It set aside the act's provisions for quota for various categories including for management, non-resident Indian students, scheduled castes and tribes, physically handicapped, and for sports and arts categories.
Kerala has 72 self-financing engineering colleges and 10 private medical colleges.
"At the moment we do not plan for a new ordinance because the act, struck down by the court, was passed unanimously in the assembly. Our first effort would be to save that in the apex court," added Baby.
He said the entrance examination for professional courses for the 2007-08 academic year would be held April 23-27 and the prospectus would come out soon.
"But it would have no details on the reservation clauses. There need be no worry as the policy of the LDF is to ensure social justice and we would go to any extent to achieve that," said Baby.
New York, Jan 6 (IANS) Living near toxic waste may make you diabetic, says a study that tracked hospitalisation rates of patients in New York between 1993 and 2000.
Type-two diabetes has seen a two-fold increase - from 5.8 million to 13.3 million Americans from 1980 to 2002. While scientists scramble to find explanations for the rise, experts point to the obesity epidemic for the growing diabetes rate.
However, the study by Lawrence Lessner and colleagues at the University at Albany here found that Americans who live near toxic waste sites are hospitalised more for diabetes than those who live in clean communities, reported UPI newswire.
The researchers compared hospitalisation rates by zip code for three types of communities: clean, without hazardous sites, contaminated by persistent organic pollutants and containing other types of waste or pollutants.
The study examined whites and blacks between the ages of 25 to 74, correcting for potential factors that could skew the data, such as age, race, sex and average household income.
Major types of organic pollutants are polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a former industrial ingredient of pesticides, paints, paper and other products.
Although banned from the US industries in the 1970s, PCBs still exist in the environment. People are mainly exposed through eating animal fats, although they can also breathe in the pollutants, said the study published in the January issue of monthly research journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Possible mechanisms for the association with diabetes are unknown, although some speculate that PCBs may influence the retention of body fat, which is a risk factor for diabetes.
Although it is too early to draw conclusions about pollutants and diabetes, David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, said: "We should do whatever we can to reduce exposure to these compounds coming from waste sites."
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) After meeting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh engaged with the Left parties here Saturday in a bid to evolve bipartisan consensus on India's foreign policy, notably with regards to sensitive diplomacy vis-a-vis Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
"The prime minister had a meeting with the leaders of Left parties including the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and CPI (Communist Party of India)," an official statement said.
"External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee briefed them on the situation in India's neighbourhood and its relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka," the statement added.
The prime minister had last week met BJP leaders, including his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee, opposition leader L.K. Advani and former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh with the same agenda in mind.
Both meetings also came ahead of Mukherjee's scheduled visit to Islamabad next week to extend an invitation to President Pervez Musharraf to attend the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit here in April.
The official statement made no mention of any discussion outside the "situation in India's neighbourhood" or whether ties with the US, including the contentious nuclear deal, China or other important countries were discussed.
By Sudeshna Sarkar,
Kathmandu, Jan 6 (IANS) Angered by the government's delay in implementing a new statute, Nepal's Maoist guerrillas have given a fresh warning to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, threatening to start a fresh agitation from mid-January.
Maoist supremo Prachanda, who made a surprise visit to remote Dolakha district in northern Nepal, told a meeting Friday that unless the seven-party government implemented the new constitution by the end of the Nepali month of Poush (Jan 14), his party would start a fresh protest movement.
"The Koirala government had promised the new constitution will be implemented," the rebel chief said in Charikot town.
"If the government does not keep its word, we will start a peaceful but strong protest movement with the participation of civil society."
Although the parties and Maoists finalised a new constitution Dec 16, it is yet to be promulgated.
The new statute would further reduce the position of King Gyanendra, who would be replaced as head of state by the prime minister.
The new draft would also pave the way for a new government in which the Maoists would be included.
However, Koirala himself is perceived as trying to block the new constitution.
The veteran politician, who wants the king to remain as head of state, says the rebels would not be inducted in the government till they lay down their arms.
The Maoists have agreed to lock up their arms and soldiers in makeshift camps, which would be supervised by the UN. The monitoring would start from Monday.
But after imposing the arms condition, Koirala is now posing a new objection. He says the new constitution gives dictatorial powers to the prime minister in the new government.
With the fresh tug of war between Koirala and the rebels, it is feared that a key election, to be held by June, could be delayed, adding to Maoist anger and public disappointment.
Both the government and the rebels have already started blaming each other over the possibility that the election could be delayed.
Koirala says the Maoists should allow police posts to re-open. During the decade-old Maoist insurgency, they were shut down in areas where the guerrillas had strongholds. Unless the posts are re-opened, voters would not feel they have security.
After being warned by Koirala that the rebels would be responsible for the poll delay if they did not allow the posts to re-open, the Maoists had to relent.
Prachanda now says the posts can be re-opened in the southern Terai plains but for the hilly areas, the government should consult his party.
Last month, the rebels had shut down Kathmandu Valley for a day and threatened to enforce a two-day general strike if the new constitution was not promulgated within 10 days.
Though they later withdrew the ultimatum, Prachanda's latest warning revives the fear of fresh disruptions.
By Syed Zarir Hussain
Tinsukia (Assam), Jan 6 (IANS) Assam witnessed a day of bloody violence Saturday with the death toll rising to 55 in different incidents as separatist groups targeted Hindi-speaking people, government employees and policemen.
A police spokesman said five policemen and two government officials were killed when tribal militants triggered a landmine blast near Donghat village in eastern Karbi Anglong distict, 260 km from Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"A vehicle carrying about 12 people was returning after conducting polls of an autonomous council election when they came under attack," a police official said.
Rebels suspected to be from the Karbi Longri Liberation Front, a rag-tag militant group fighting for an independent Karbi tribal homeland, fired indiscriminately at the vehicle soon after the explosion.
Five people were injured in the attack.
In attacks spread over Friday and Saturday, gunmen suspected to belong to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) mowed down poor people working in brick kilns and petty traders in a gruesome display of ethnic hatred.
It was the worst outbreak of violence in recent years in Assam and the second most gruesome since the 2000 gunning down of at least 100 Hindi-speaking people that had sparked widespread revulsion. Both then and now the victims were mainly from Bihar.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi feverishly contacted his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar to stress the importance of preventing any backlash in that state, through which trains to Assam pass.
Thirty-four of the victims were killed in Tinsukia district alone. Eight were mowed down in Dibrugarh district and six in Dhemaji, officials said, adding that paramilitary forces were being rushed to the affected areas.
Assam also sought paramilitary forces from New Delhi, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the massacre as an "anti-people act of cowardice".
The prime minister's remarks came as a high-level central government team led by Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal prepared to arrive Sunday in Assam.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil made it clear that while New Delhi was ready to talk to ULFA, it would never tolerate the killing of innocents.
"Most victims were Hindi-speaking people," a distraught Assam chief minister told IANS.
The last of the incidents targeting Hindi-speaking people was reported in the eastern district of Dhemaji where six people were killed, taking the toll in two days of mindless violence to 48.
Authorities blamed ULFA for a string of 11 incidents.
"We have asked the security forces, including the army, to take effective steps to curb the violence," the chief minister said.
As panic gripped the mostly Bihari population in Assam, three ministers from Bihar prepared to visit Assam to instil confidence among people from the state who live in large numbers in the northeastern state.
The killings began when militants dressed in army uniforms attacked brick kiln workers and fishermen near Ghormori Chapori, a sandbar located in Tinsukia district, about 590 km from here.
"The militants tied the hands of the people and shot them from close range with automatic weapons," an official said.
"The immediate provocation was the killing of five ULFA leaders by security forces in the past one week and the arrest of two of their frontline leaders," the official added.
Said Rajesh Tiwari, a coal trader in Tinsukia town: "We fear more such attacks and are worried for our lives. We have lived in Assam for decades, but we don't know whether to stay put or flee."
"The attacks were reminiscent of the one we saw in 2000," said Hariprasad Gupta, another trader in Tinsukia, originally hailing from Bihar.
Meanwhile, passengers of the Rajdhani Express bound for the eastern town of Dibrugarh from New Delhi had a miraculous escape when a powerful bomb planted underneath a bridge exploded, damaging a coach.
The incident occurred near Diphu in eastern Assam around 12.50 am Saturday.
"It was a lucky escape as the explosion damaged a portion of the coach although there were no casualties. The blast damaged at least 1.5 metres of the track," railway spokesman T. Rabha said.
The track has since been repaired with trains running normally after a 10-hour disruption.
Police said the latest violence was an attempt to create an atmosphere of fear after an independent opinion poll by a peace group in nine districts of the oil-rich state showed that 90 percent of people rejected ULFA's separatist demands.
The three districts that witnessed the attacks had not been polled but were to be included in the second phase of assessment by the civil rights group, Assam Public Works.
The bloody attacks came a day after officials appealed to ULFA not to disrupt next month's National Games, which the rebels have threatened to disrupt with violence.
By Syed Zarir Hussain
Tinsukia (Assam), Jan 6 (IANS) Assam witnessed a day of bloody violence Saturday with the death toll rising to 55 in different incidents as separatist groups targeted Hindi-speaking people, government employees and policemen.
A police spokesman said five policemen and two government officials were killed when tribal militants triggered a landmine blast near Donghat village in eastern Karbi Anglong distict, 260 km from Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"A vehicle carrying about 12 people was returning after conducting polls of an autonomous council election when they came under attack," a police official said.
Rebels suspected to be from the Karbi Longri Liberation Front, a rag-tag militant group fighting for an independent Karbi tribal homeland, fired indiscriminately at the vehicle soon after the explosion.
Five people were injured in the attack.
In attacks spread over Friday and Saturday, gunmen suspected to belong to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) mowed down poor people working in brick kilns and petty traders in a gruesome display of ethnic hatred.
It was the worst outbreak of violence in recent years in Assam and the second most gruesome since the 2000 gunning down of at least 100 Hindi-speaking people that had sparked widespread revulsion. Both then and now the victims were mainly from Bihar.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi feverishly contacted his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar to stress the importance of preventing any backlash in that state, through which trains to Assam pass.
Thirty-four of the victims were killed in Tinsukia district alone. Eight were mowed down in Dibrugarh district and six in Dhemaji, officials said, adding that paramilitary forces were being rushed to the affected areas.
Assam also sought paramilitary forces from New Delhi, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the massacre as an "anti-people act of cowardice".
The prime minister's remarks came as a high-level central government team led by Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal prepared to arrive Sunday in Assam.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil made it clear that while New Delhi was ready to talk to ULFA, it would never tolerate the killing of innocents.
"Most victims were Hindi-speaking people," a distraught Assam chief minister told IANS.
The last of the incidents targeting Hindi-speaking people was reported in the eastern district of Dhemaji where six people were killed, taking the toll in two days of mindless violence to 48.
Authorities blamed ULFA for a string of 11 incidents.
"We have asked the security forces, including the army, to take effective steps to curb the violence," the chief minister said.
As panic gripped the mostly Bihari population in Assam, three ministers from Bihar prepared to visit Assam to instil confidence among people from the state who live in large numbers in the northeastern state.
The killings began when militants dressed in army uniforms attacked brick kiln workers and fishermen near Ghormori Chapori, a sandbar located in Tinsukia district, about 590 km from here.
"The militants tied the hands of the people and shot them from close range with automatic weapons," an official said.
"The immediate provocation was the killing of five ULFA leaders by security forces in the past one week and the arrest of two of their frontline leaders," the official added.
Said Rajesh Tiwari, a coal trader in Tinsukia town: "We fear more such attacks and are worried for our lives. We have lived in Assam for decades, but we don't know whether to stay put or flee."
"The attacks were reminiscent of the one we saw in 2000," said Hariprasad Gupta, another trader in Tinsukia, originally hailing from Bihar.
Meanwhile, passengers of the Rajdhani Express bound for the eastern town of Dibrugarh from New Delhi had a miraculous escape when a powerful bomb planted underneath a bridge exploded, damaging a coach.
The incident occurred near Diphu in eastern Assam around 12.50 am Saturday.
"It was a lucky escape as the explosion damaged a portion of the coach although there were no casualties. The blast damaged at least 1.5 metres of the track," railway spokesman T. Rabha said.
The track has since been repaired with trains running normally after a 10-hour disruption.
Police said the latest violence was an attempt to create an atmosphere of fear after an independent opinion poll by a peace group in nine districts of the oil-rich state showed that 90 percent of people rejected ULFA's separatist demands.
The three districts that witnessed the attacks had not been polled but were to be included in the second phase of assessment by the civil rights group, Assam Public Works.
The bloody attacks came a day after officials appealed to ULFA not to disrupt next month's National Games, which the rebels have threatened to disrupt with violence.
Lucknow, Jan 6 (IANS) Virtually cornered on account of mounting criticism over his government's approach to the Noida serial killings, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav Friday agreed to entrust the investigations to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He also conceded the opposition demand for a CBI inquiry into the mysterious disappearance and murder of Meerut-based college lecturer Kavita Chaudhary that exposed a thriving politico-sex sleaze racket in the state.
"We have decided to hand over both the Nithari (Noida) serial killings case as well as Kavita Chaudhary case to the CBI," Mulayan Singh told a hastily convened press conference at his official residence here.
"Both cases were of serious concern and needed to be looked at with complete impartiality. Not only have other parties been demanding that the cases be handed over to the CBI but even the state governor (T.V. Rajeshwar) had expressed a similar view to me."
Recovery of skulls and bones from a dirty drain in Sector 31 of Delhi's posh Noida neighbourhood had sent shock waves across the country, particularly after two key suspects - Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli - admitted sexual abuse and brutal killings of the kids, mostly girls.
Forty-five year old Pandher and Surendra, arrested in the case after they made these startling revelations, were currently being put to narco-analysis test at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Ahmedabad.
"I also gave serious consideration to the various issues involved and felt that it would be appropriate to let the CBI only handle these cases," the chief minister said.
Looking quite crestfallen, Yadav parried pointed queries as to why he took so much time in conceding the popular demand for a CBI probe into the two cases.
The chief minister was until Thursday against a CBI probe into the serial killings.
"I am not averse to a CBI probe but the fact remains that the CBI takes very long to investigate cases while the Uttar Pradesh Police have a proven track record of working out cases much faster," he had said Thursday.
His younger brother Shivpal Yadav, who is a multi-portfolio minister, went a step further.
"Where is the need for a CBI probe, when the Uttar Pradesh Police has already worked out the case," he told reporters Thursday.
"These kind of things do keep happening and several such incidents have occurred in the past also. What you must appreciate is that our cops have worked it out and those who were guilty of neglect have also been duly punished."
He was referring to the government's decision late Wednesday night to fire certain policemen posted in Noida over the past 20 months, during which the killings took place.
Chennai, Jan 6 (IANS) Top seed Rafel Nadal of Spain, his compatriot and fifth seed Carlos Moya and unseeded Xavier Malisse of Begium entered the semi-finals of the Chennai Open tennis tournament here Friday.
Nadal defeated unseeded David Sanguinetti of Italy 6-3, 6-2, while local favourite Moya beat unseeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 7-6(6) to make to the last four stage.
Malisse defeated sixth seed Fabrice Santoro of France 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to join the Spaniards.
Unseeded Stefan Koubek of Austria was schedule to clash with fourth seed Julien Benneteau of France in the fourth and final quarterfinal.
The Indian challenge had ended Thursday.
Kolkata/Nandigram, Jan 6 (IANS) At least 22 mass organisations have formed a body to prevent any attempt by the West Bengal government to acquire land for a chemical hub and a special economic zone (SEZ) in Nandigram town that saw violent protests against the proposal this week.
The Bhumi Ucched Partirodh Committee (Committee to Resist Eviction from Land) was formed to prevent any move to acquire land for the proposed project by the Salim group of Indonesia and the state government even as activists of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) flexed their muscles and drew a battle line with the angry farmers and residents.
"We will not give any land for industrialisation here at any cost or price. We will teach the government a lesson if they use force," said a representative of the new body.
CPI-M leader Binoy Konar in Kolkata said: "We will not sit silent in Nandigram. We will hit back if they adopt violent means." The battle lines were thus drawn in Nandigram.
Though no violence was reported Saturday, the situation remained tense after an overnight incident of bomb throwing in the area.
Nandigram, about 150 km from Kolkata, is a minority dominated area in East Midnapore district and considered a Left Front citadel.
On Wednesday, police had to fire several rounds to quell frenzied villagers at Nandigram who set a police jeep on fire, heavily injured cops, blocked roads with boulders and demolished a bridge to prevent police access to their areas after the word of a land acquisition notification spread.
The situation has remained explosive since then, prompting Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and the CPI-M to go on the back foot even as the Left Front constituent Communist Party of India (CPI) criticised the former for its land acquisition policies.
The Nandigram assembly seat is held by the CPI while the Haldia Lok Sabha seat belongs to the CPI-M.
In East Midnapore, the government reportedly has eyed over 22,000 acres of land for industrial projects.
On July 31, the state government signed an agreement with the Salim Group to implement various developmental projects, including a mega chemical industrial estate, to be spread over 10,000 acres in a 50:50 joint venture.
Construction of a four-lane road bridge over the Haldi river, from Haldia to Nandigram, has also been planned. The bridge would provide a link between Haldia and the proposed chemicals SEZ in Nandigram.
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, Jan 6 (IANS) The 36th birthday bash of Nepal's controversial Crown Prince Paras has raised media eyebrows - for a different reason this time.
"Incredible!", wrote a Nepali weekly, commenting on the party that was one of the most low-key celebrations the palace has seen in its 238-year-old history. "The crown prince parties in a five-star hotel and yet there are no untoward incidents."
The Ghatana R Bichar weekly was obliquely referring to the brawls Paras and his companions had kicked up in the past in nightclubs of five-star hotels.
Hugely overshadowed by the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the birthday of the crown prince, once a newsmaker because of his quick temper, went virtually unnoticed last Saturday.
When the Nepali weekly reported the bash, which was held at the capital's five-star Soaltee Hotel, it expressed surprise at the prince's conduct.
The party, a discreet family gathering attended by his royal cousins and their spouses and few select guests, saw Paras staying away from liquor.
Accompanied by his wife, Crown Princess Himani, Paras was the model of propriety and courtesy, greeting his guests with folded hands, the weekly said.
He went around offering drinks to the guests and was urged by them to have one himself but all through, politely declined, the weekly said.
Since the fall of King Gyanendra's government in April, the royals have been reportedly advised by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to sit tight and do or say nothing that might incur fresh public displeasure.
After one brush since then, when the crown prince was reported to have hit a bus carrying a wedding party and did not stop to see the damage done, Paras is said to have been behaving with restraint, playing golf and throwing an occasional party for family members.
Besides the ouster of the royal government and a series of state measures axing the powers of the king, the crown prince faces a big question mark regarding his succession to the throne.
With the government gearing up to hold an election by June, when the institution of monarchy will be put to vote, the prince faces the prospect of becoming reduced to a commoner.
The year 2006 brought the peril closer when he was asked by officers at the airport to pay duty on a parcel sent to him from Vienna, the first time ever that any royal was asked to do so.
Rome, Jan 6 (DPA) There was embarrassment and irritation at the Vatican over the controversial new archbishop of Warsaw Stanislaw Wielgus, who has been accused of working for the Polish secret service, Italian press reports said Saturday.
Some members of the Roman Curia, the administrative body that runs the Vatican, expressed concern that Pope Benedict XVI's reputation could be damaged by the affair, La Repubblica reported.
Especially now that Wielgus has admitted working for the secret service, Benedict risked "cutting a poor figure". Nobody wanted to express it openly in the Vatican, "but the irritation is great", the report said.
Polish members of the Curia have demanded that Wielgus step down.
"Archbishop of Warsaw had such a start to his term in office is terrible," said Adam Boniecki, director of the Polish edition of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
The Vatican officially announced a few days ago that "they had investigated all the circumstances of his life, including those which related to his past" in their decision to appoint Wielgus archbishop.
The Vatican added more explicitly, "That means that the Holy Father has the utmost trust in Stansilaw Wielgus."
The official ceremony installing Wielgus as archbishop is scheduled for Sunday.
On Friday, Wielgus publicly expressed his regret for his error. According to him, he had cooperated with the secret service in order to be able to continue travelling abroad, but he never reported anyone to the service, nor had his contacts with the service caused anyone any harm.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday refused to interfere with interim orders passed by the Delhi High Court abolishing interview/interaction of school principals and management with children and their parents for admission in nursery classes.
A bench of judges K.G. Balakrishnan and D.K. Jain dismissed appeals filed by managements of two schools challenging the high court directions in October and December 2006.
By orders dated Oct 17 and Dec 8, the high court appointed a committee of five members to evolve a process for admission in nursery classes, wherein the process of interview was totally eliminated.
It asked the schools to follow the recommendations of the committee on a trial basis for one year.
Challenging the orders, SRF Foundation and Education Today running schools in the capital said the high court had denied them an opportunity to make submissions on the objections to the Ganguly Committee report and also on the admission process.
They said the impugned orders were contrary to the admission procedure contemplated under the rules. The present procedure could not modified or changed without amending the law, they said.
They said that the high court had failed to appreciate that the schools were conducting an interactive session with the parents and children only to distinguish young minds who showed readiness to transact the primacy curriculum at ease without any undue pressure physically or emotionally.
They prayed for quashing the impugned orders and an interim stay of their operation.
The bench while refusing to interfere with the two orders, however, said that the high court should consider the objections before finalising the procedure.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 5 (IANS) All Air India flights from Kerala to the Middle East would soon be replaced by Air India Express flights without cargo facilities.
"Air India has been going positive on fleet acquisition and as a result AI Airbus would be replaced by Air India Express flights which are Boeing aircrafts. A final decision of this changeover has still not been taken," Air India manager H.M. Munaf told IANS here.
The direct losers of this changeover would be exporters of vegetables to most Middle-East airports.
But Munaf added they would make alternate arrangements for carrying the cargo from here and one option is to introduce Air India freighters.
"There are also plans to convert the existing Airbus aircrafts of Air India into cargo freighters. So the exporters need not worry. All these are options and soon a final decision would be taken."
The carrying capacity of Airbus 310 is 215 passengers and cargo up to 20 tonnes that fetches Air India close to Rs.1 billion a year.
Srinagar, Jan 6 (IANS) One civilian was killed and 32 people including four soldiers were wounded in a powerful blast in Pulwama district Saturday.
Police said separatist guerrillas tossed a grenade at a passing vehicle of counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in the busy main market at Shopian, 75 km from here.
"The market was humming with activity when the grenade exploded. One bystander was killed on the spot while 32 people including four RR troopers were wounded," said a police officer.
Doctors at the local hospital referred six critically injured civilians to Srinagar for treatment, the officer told IANS on telephone from Shopian.
The condition of three soldiers was also reported to be critical, according to police.
Security forces and police immediately surrounded the market place and mounted searches.
No group had yet claimed responsibility for the explosion that led to panic and tension in the town.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) Infosys Technologies chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy says capitalism is the only resort for India to solve its problem of poverty, even as he finds "serious crisis of moral dimension" in most Indian leaders.
The non-executive chairman of one of India's largest and most admired software companies also advocates some radical economic reforms such as hire and fire policy, privatisation and foreign investment in retail trade industry.
"If India has to solve its problems of poverty, we have to embrace capitalism. I believe that is the only hope we have," Murthy told Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate' programme to be telecast on CNN-IBN Sunday evening.
"Capitalism is about providing equal opportunity for everybody and to make sure that people have incentives to perform better and better. It also thrives in an environment of competition," he said.
"Let's remember that all countries which embraced communism have failed. Even in Cuba the only person that Fidel Castro could trust was his brother," he said and suggested that capitalism responded to human nature better.
Murthy also maintained that the quality of leadership was not that good and said while the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had some good intentions, the need of the hour was to move forward at a much faster pace.
"I think, barring a few exceptions, we do not have good quality leadership in the country. That is a fact. We do not have leaders who put the interest of society above their own personal interest," Murthy said.
"We do not have people who can straddle both the worlds - the urban and the rural, the rich and the poor, the educated and the not-so-well-educated. I think we need leaders who straddle all these worlds," he said.
"There is a serious crisis in the moral dimension of most of our leaders, in the ethical dimension of our leaders, in the competence dimension of our leadership, in the ability of our leaders to connect with large masses of people."
Yet, he singled out Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an able leader with vision, political capacity and courage to force change, but observed that the "fragile coalition" he was heading was holding him back.
"Unfortunately he leads a very fragile coalition. If he were to lead a majority Congress party government, I have no doubt at all he would move much faster than he has been able to. I'm 100 percent certain."
Turning his attention to radical reforms India needs to implement to tackle the challenges it faces, Murthy began with the need for laws permitting retrenchment and suggested privatisation of state-run firms as opposed to divestment.
"All over the world it has been demonstrated that only when you have the right to retrench, then only you will become bold to create more and more jobs. I would say that is one of the primary things we have to do," he said.
"Corporations and the government must work together so that even if people have to be retrenched they would have the wherewithal to support themselves for six months or a year before they can get another job."
Asked if he advocated privatisation of India's vast public sector, including the so-called 'Navratnas' (nine gems among state-run firms), Murthy replied in the affirmative and said even infrastructure development should be in the hands of the private sector.
"There is no doubt at all. I don't believe the government should be in business. I think the Navratnas would perform better if they are in private sector hands or if they operate as if they are in the private sector," he said.
"I believe even infrastructure should be built by private sector. The government should create policies that encourage private sector to create infrastructure - for example, airports, roads, power companies, distribution companies, ports."
Murthy said that the retail trade industry in India - that is open only to single-brand multinational corporations - should be thrown open to investments from overseas.
"When we have opened it to large Indian groups, it means the mom and pop stores are likely to suffer anyway. So why not open it to large multinationals? Let them bring the best technology, best practices so that at the end of the day the consumer benefits."
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday briefed President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on the India-ASEAN meet and the East Asia Summit he plans to attend in the Philippines next week.
"The meeting between the two at Rashtrapati Bhavan lasted 25 minutes. The two leaders discussed issues of national and international importance," a statement from the president's office said.
"The prime minister also briefed the president on his forthcoming visit to the Philippines where he will be attending the India-ASEAN summit," the statement added.
The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit at the Philippines, earlier scheduled for Dec 11, had been postponed to January due to a powerful storm.
Manmohan Singh flies to Cebu island city in the Philippines on a three-day visit to attend the 5th India-ASEAN summit and the second East Asia summit Jan 13.
A declaration on energy security with emphasis on clean energy-efficient technologies is expected at the end of the East Asia Summit - a forum comprising 10 Association of South-East Asian Nations, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
By Syed Zarir Hussain,
Tinsukia (Assam), Jan 6 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday voiced shock as separatists in Assam went on a murder spree, killing at least 48 Hindi-speaking people in coordinated savagery that numbed the country.
In attacks spread over Friday and Saturday, gunmen suspected to belong to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) mowed down poor people working in brick kilns and petty traders in a gruesome display of ethnic hatred.
It was the worst outbreak of violence in recent years in Assam and the second most gruesome since the 2000 gunning down of at least 100 Hindi-speaking people that had sparked widespread revulsion. Both then and now the victims were mainly from Bihar.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi feverishly contacted his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar to stress the importance of preventing any backlash in that state, through which trains to Assam pass.
Thirty-four of the victims were killed in Tinsukia district alone. Eight were mowed down in Dibrugarh district and six in Dhemaji, officials said, adding that paramilitary forces were being rushed to the affected areas.
Assam also sought paramilitary forces from New Delhi, where Manmohan Singh described the massacre as an "anti-people act of cowardice".
The prime minister's remarks came as a high-level central government team led by Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal prepared to leave Sunday for Assam.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil made it clear that while New Delhi was ready to talk to ULFA, it would never tolerate the killing of innocents.
"Most victims were Hindi-speaking people," a distraught Assam chief minister told IANS.
The last of the incidents were reported in the eastern district of Dhemaji where six people were killed, taking the toll in two days of mindless violence to 48.
Authorities blamed ULFA for the string of 11 incidents.
"We have asked the security forces, including the army, to take effective steps to curb the violence," the chief minister said.
As panic gripped the mostly Bihari population in Assam, three ministers from Bihar prepared to visit Assam to instil confidence among people from the state who live in large numbers in the northeastern state.
The killings began when militants dressed in army uniforms attacked brick kiln workers and fishermen near Ghormori Chapori, a sandbar located in Tinsukia district, about 590 km east of Assam's main city Guwahati.
"The militants tied the hands of the people and shot them from close range with automatic weapons," an official said.
"The immediate provocation was the killing of five ULFA leaders by security forces in the past one week and the arrest of two of their frontline leaders," the official added.
Said Rajesh Tiwari, a coal trader in Tinsukia town: "We fear more such attacks and are worried for our lives. We have lived in Assam for decades, but we don't know whether to stay put or flee."
"The attacks were reminiscent of the one we saw in 2000," said Hariprasad Gupta, another trader in Tinsukia, originally hailing from Bihar.
Meanwhile, passengers of the Rajdhani Express bound for the eastern town of Dibrugarh from New Delhi had a miraculous escape when a powerful bomb planted underneath a bridge exploded, damaging a coach.
The incident occurred near Diphu in eastern Assam around 12.50 am Saturday.
"It was a lucky escape as the explosion damaged a portion of the coach although there were no casualties. The blast damaged at least 1.5 metres of the track," railway spokesman T. Rabha said.
The track has since been repaired with trains running normally after a 10-hour disruption.
Police said the latest violence was an attempt to create an atmosphere of fear after an independent opinion poll by a peace group in nine districts of the oil-rich state showed that 90 percent of people rejected ULFA's separatist demands.
The three districts that witnessed the attacks had not been polled but were to be included in the second phase of assessment by the civil rights group, Assam Public Works.
The bloody attacks came a day after officials appealed to ULFA not to disrupt next month's National Games, which the rebels have threatened to disrupt with violence.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) The 5th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the annual conclave of the vast Indian diaspora that aims to connect the 25 million strong Indian community spread across 110 countries, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here Sunday.
The inaugural, which will be held at the Vigyan Bhavan convention centre, will have Singapore Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar, a person of Indian origin, gracing the occasion as the chief guest.
Around 1,200 delegates from nearly 50 countries have registered for the three-day event, being organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The 250-member team from the US is the largest delegation, followed by Malaysia, with 230. From India nearly 200 delegates have registered.
The gathering is expected to act as a platform for networking between overseas Indians and their native country.
The focus areas in the event, which has the theme 'Rooting for the Roots', would be social issues and how Indians abroad can contribute to India's development. There will be dedicated sessions on education, healthcare, women, youth and investment.
In all, there will be six plenary sessions and 22 working group sessions. This year, there will be 175 speakers including 44 from overseas.
Among the prominent overseas speakers are co-chairman of Indo-British Partnership Karan Bilimoria, Malaysia's Works Minister Samy Vellu, management guru C.K. Prahalad, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) president Subramaniam Balasubramaniam, Mauritius Foreign Minister Madan Murli Dulloo, Ontario Minister for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Harinder Takhar and Chicago-based India's Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda.
From the Indian side, apart from a host of cabinet ministers including Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, there will be West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas and former Indian ambassador to the US Abid Hussain.
The chief ministers of Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra will be in attendance at the series of interactive sessions with states that will be held as part of the event.
Sessions apart, cultural programmes are being organised in the evening on all three days.
This will include an evening on folk dances of India, a dance performance by Malayali cine actress Shobhana, another by Hindi film choreographer Shiamak Davar's troupe and a sarod recital by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will address the valedictory session of the event Jan 9 and confer the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards on 10 outstanding persons of the diaspora.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) The 5th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the annual conclave of the vast Indian diaspora that aims to connect the 25 million strong Indian community spread across 110 countries, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here Sunday.
The inaugural, which will be held at the Vigyan Bhavan convention centre, will have Singapore Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar, a person of Indian origin, gracing the occasion as the chief guest.
Around 1,200 delegates from nearly 50 countries have registered for the three-day event, being organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The 250-member team from the US is the largest delegation, followed by Malaysia, with 230. From India nearly 200 delegates have registered.
The gathering is expected to act as a platform for networking between overseas Indians and their native country.
The focus areas in the event, which has the theme 'Rooting for the Roots', would be social issues and how Indians abroad can contribute to India's development. There will be dedicated sessions on education, healthcare, women, youth and investment.
In all, there will be six plenary sessions and 22 working group sessions. This year, there will be 175 speakers including 44 from overseas.
Among the prominent overseas speakers are co-chairman of Indo-British Partnership Karan Bilimoria, Malaysia's Works Minister Samy Vellu, management guru C.K. Prahalad, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) president Subramaniam Balasubramaniam, Mauritius Foreign Minister Madan Murli Dulloo, Ontario Minister for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Harinder Takhar and Chicago-based India's Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda.
From the Indian side, apart from a host of cabinet ministers including Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, there will be West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas and former Indian ambassador to the US Abid Hussain.
The chief ministers of Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra will be in attendance at the series of interactive sessions with states that will be held as part of the event.
Sessions apart, cultural programmes are being organised in the evening on all three days.
This will include an evening on folk dances of India, a dance performance by Malayali cine actress Shobhana, another by Hindi film choreographer Shiamak Davar's troupe and a sarod recital by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will address the valedictory session of the event Jan 9 and confer the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards on 10 outstanding persons of the diaspora.
By Prashant K. Nanda,
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) In a worrying development, Jammu and Kashmir has reported its first case of polio after remaining free of the crippling disease for two years even as 14 cases were detected across India in December-end.
With the new cases, the number of children afflicted with the disease touched 624 in 2006 - a very high number compared to the 66 reported in 2005.
"It was the first case of polio from Jammu and Kashmir. In the last week of December we detected the case in a five-year-old baby girl in Jammu," said a top official of the National Polio Project who declined to be named.
"The recent surge in the cases in north India is a cause of worry. The first case from Jammu is a clear indication that the polio strain is constantly covering new grounds," the official told IANS.
He said since both Pakistan and India have polio cases, the border state might see more infections.
"India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the major source of polio cases across the globe. And looking at the geographical positioning of Jammu and Kashmir, the state has to stay alert on this field," he said, adding that the immunization drive was quite satisfactory in the state.
The National Polio Project is a joint collaboration of India and the World Health Organisation, set up with the aim to keep a tab on the polio scenario in the country.
"Of the 14 new cases, eight were from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Haryana and Bihar and one each from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir," the official added.
Of the 624 cases reported in 2006, Uttar Pradesh accounted for 509 and Bihar 52 cases. The last case was reported from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh Dec 27.
"The rise in the polio cases was seen especially in minority-dominated western Uttar Pradesh. The dense population and poor hygienic conditions in several districts are contributing heavily to the spread of the disease."
Health authorities said there was some lapse in the immunisation drive in 2005, which resulted in the resurgence of the disease last year.
However, they argue that the renewed zest shown in the immunisation drive would yield results soon. "We hope see a reduction in the number of fresh cases within the next couple of months."
Besides Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, cases reported from other states in 2006 include Haryana (18), Uttaranchal (13), Punjab (8), Delhi (6), Maharashtra (5), Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (3 each). Assam has reported two cases.
One case each was reported from Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.
In December, the capital reported its sixth case from a slum cluster in Rohini. The strain was detected in an eight-month-old boy.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced his concern about the declining standards of football in the country and stressed on the need to professionalise the whole system while inaugurating the 11th edition of the National Football League (NFL) Friday here.
"In the recent times the need has been felt to professionalise the game and raise its standards to the international level," said the prime minister after inaugurating the tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium.
The opening match was played between Mohammedan Sporting, Kolkata and JCT, Phagwara. The Kolkata club won 2-1.
It was the second time Manmohan Singh was doing the honours. The last time he did was in January 2005, when he inaugurated the ninth edition of the national league in Kolkata.
That year All India Football Federation (AIFF) get a new title sponsor in the form of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), who donated Rs.70 million to the national body for the development of the sport.
"We have a long tradition of football and in the past we have done well in the Asiad and the Olympics. But we have failed to keep pace with the modern times. Efforts need to be made to redress the situation," he said.
Manmohan Singh also lauded the efforts by the sponsors to help raise the standards of the game in the country.
"I am thankful to all the private sponsors who have come forward to help the sport in the country. It is good to see that they are supporting other games than cricket," he said.
Manmohan Singh stressed that the country should use all our resources to develop the sport.
"During my visit to Brazil I have raised the issue of their help to Indian football and hopefully we will get it soon," he said.
Last year during his trip to Brazil, Singh signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Brazil for the development of football in India.
After his inaugural speech, the prime minister was introduced to both the teams. He also met the Asian Games gold medallists who were felicitated Thursday night by ONGC.
Jaspal Rana, Pankaj Advani, Krishnan Sasikaran and Koneru Humpy were felicitated by their employer ONGC for their medal winning performances in the Doha Asian Games.
After the introduction, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh kicked the ball to declare the tournament open.
Other dignitaries who were present on the occasion were Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, president of the All India Football Federation and Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.
Jammu, Jan 6 (IANS) Hindu and Gujjar migrants from outside the Kashmir Valley may soon get government monetary relief and ration at par with Hindus who fled the troubled region fearing militants.
Over 15,000 Hindu migrants from the upper reaches of Jammu region, Doda, Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch are denied the relief provided to Kashmiri Hindu migrants.
The Kashmiri Hindu migrants get Rs.3,000 a month and free ration. They can avail of reservations for their children in professional institutions in India.
Lodged in one-room tenements built by the state government, these migrants can also look forward to a new satellite township emerging in Nagrota, on the outskirts of Jammu city.
However, these facilities were not extended to migrants from the militancy-infested upper reaches of Jammu region who found shelter in Jammu city and other areas.
The migrants took the matter to court and the Supreme Court directed that they be treated at par with the migrants from the Kashmir Valley.
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad requested Home Minister Shivraj Patil Friday that the relief should be of the same amount as that for the migrants from Doda, Udhampur and the twin border districts of Rajouri.
Moscow, Jan 6 (NNN-KUNA) Russia on Saturday expressed concerns at Israeli practices in Palestinian territories and cautioned that they would eventually lead to further tension and escalation in the region.
Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, condemned the latest Israeli incursion into the West Bank town of Ramallah that resulted in the killing of four civilians.
The statement stressed on importance of halting the violence between Israeli troops and Palestinian activists, affirming Moscow's support for international and regional efforts to resume peaceful negotiations between the two sides.
It pointed out the meeting that took place in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, lately, between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The statement expressed grief for continuous fighting between Palestinians in Gaza Strip which increased suffering of the people there, and praised the Palestinian officials for preventing eruption of a wide-scale armed confrontation.
It stressed on importance of implementing an agreement, worked out last week, by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, which called for a cease fire.
San Francisco, Jan 6 (DPA) Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term as the governor of California, the richest and most populous state in the US.
The former action movie star and Republican Party maverick hobbled in on crutches to the inauguration ceremony Friday in the state capital Sacramento, due to a recent skiing accident.
But his political fortunes in the Democratic-leaning state look healthy as he charts out a centrist path dominated by eco-friendly policies and plans for ambitious healthcare reform.
Schwarzenegger, 59, was first elected in November 2003 in a recall election when the state was in the grips of a fiscal crisis and an energy shortage.
He won a comfortable re-election victory in November - bucking the national anti-Republican trend to cap a political turnaround following voters' 2005 rejection of several ballot initiatives pushed by the governor.
On Friday, he said that defeat had transformed his political approach into a more centrist, consensual philosophy that he believed was needed throughout the US.
"Like Paul on the road to Damascus, I had an experience that opened my eyes," Schwarzenegger said. "I saw that people, not just in California but across the nation, were hungry for a new kind of politics, a politics that looks beyond the old labels, the old ways, the old arguments."
He pledged to move the state forward by pursuing what he called "post-partisan policies," saying that California was the prime example of an electorate filled with independent voters.
Ranchi, Jan 6 (IANS) Former central coal minister Shibu Soren, serving life term for the murder of his private aide in 1995, has been shifted to Dumka central in Jharkhand for security reasons.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief was produced in court Friday over his link to the massacre of 11 people in Chirudih village in 1975. Soren, who was in Jamtara sub-jail for a few hours, was shifted to Dumka Central Jail Friday night.
"Soren was shifted to Dumka for security reasons. The security strength of Jamtara jail is very low and it is overcrowded. We cannot risk keeping VIP prisoners in such jails," said a home department official.
Soren was brought to Jamtara from New Delhi Friday under heavy security. He is serving life imprisonment for the murder of his personal secretary Shashinath Jha.
Soren will be in Jharkhand until the completion of the trial of two murder cases, including the killings of two people in Giridh district. He has to be produced in Giridh Jan 21.
In 1975, 11 people, including nine Muslims, were killed. Soren is accused of inciting a mob to kill "outsiders" in the tribal region.
A total of 60 were named as accused, including Soren. Twenty-five accused and 20 witnesses have already died. Before dying, Lokhendra Soren told the police that Shibu incited the mob.
Pune, Jan 6 (IANS) British tourist Stephen Bennett, who was allegedly beaten to death by a mob in an Indian village last month, was a drug addict and probably suffering from AIDS, police Saturday quoted his mother as saying.
Maureen Bennett flew down to India and met the family of the men accused in the murder of her 40-year-old son.
"Maureen has written to the British High Commission a letter, which was forwarded to me, saying that her son was a drug addict and was probably suffering from AIDS," Satyapal Singh, inspector general of police, Konkna region, told IANS.
Stephen Bennett, married with two children but separated from his wife, was battered to death and hung on a tree on Dec 10 after a mob from the coastal Malasai village in Roha taluka in Konkan region mistakenly assumed he had molested a married woman.
"Bennett's co-passengers in the Mandovi-Mumbai Express train said he had rolled up some papers, put something inside and began smoking in the compartment," Singh said
"The smell of the cigarettes irritated the passengers so much that they told him to go to the toilet and smoke," he said, adding that when the train halted at Roha railway station, "Bennett got off and being under intoxication missed the train".
Malasai village is about seven kilometres from Roha railway station.
Singh said Bennett had been arrested by the British police in Cheltenham, Britain, for drugs.
The police official said Maureen had also stated in her letter that her son was in a disturbed state of mind after he separated from his wife and had contracted some disease from his wife for which he wanted to be treated in one of the hospitals in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Maureen, accompanied by her daughter and a Hindi translator, visited the village of some 500 inhabitants on Friday and met Nirmala Mene, whose husband is one of the accused in the murder case.
Moved by the poverty of the Mene household, she gave Nirmala Rs.500.
Singh said the case has now been transferred to Raigarh Crime Branch to speed up investigation.
Significantly, according to police sources, there is no record of Bennett's stay in any hotels in Roha taluka.
Maureen has told the police that her son had been abducted by two men from Goa, where he was holidaying.
By Prashant K. Nanda and Sharat Pradhan,
Noida/Lucknow, Jan 6 (IANS) On a day when Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited Nithari village where two men allegedly abused and killed at least 20 children in a macabre drama that has hit world headlines, police Saturday did not rule out the possibility that the duo had cannibalistic streaks in them.
"It is rather early and premature to say anything right now. But considering the glaring perversion and brutalities, we do not rule out any possibility," Noida Senior Superintendent of Police R.K.S. Rathore told IANS.
TV reports claiming that one of the men had confessed to feasting on the liver of his victims after being brutally done to death seem to have left police aghast.
"I fail to understand how the media have concluded this when the narco-analysis test on the accused (Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surendra) has barely started," Rathore said.
Moninder and Surendra were flown to Ahmedabad Friday for a special test at the Forensic Scientific Laboratory there.
"Our team is in no position to say anything until the narco-analysis test is complete. In fact, the tests were to formally commence Saturday," Rathore said.
Yet another angle that police are trying to investigate whether the killings were part of an organ trade racket. However, a medical expert here has ruled out the possibility.
"Removal of the kidneys from a human body is a very delicate process and has to be necessarily done on a person with a beating heart, so that the blood circulation process is on. You cannot remove the kidney of a dead person," pointed out Diwakar Dalela, head of the urology department at the King George's Medical University in Lucknow.
"Well, unless the kids were first taken to a well-equipped operation theatre for removal of kidneys and then done to death, the question of organ transplant could not arise," he said.
"In any case, organ transplant requires so many pre-requisites like blood and kidney matching between the donor and recipient. Besides no Indian hospital so far has facilities to preserve a kidney for more than three to four hours."
Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi hit out at the Uttar Pradesh government after meeting families of the massacred children.
Remains of several children were found last week from a drain behind Pandher's bungalow in Sector 31 of Noida, at the edge of the village, about 15 km from the Indian capital.
Gandhi went round the village, whose residents are mostly poor, and saw the drain from which bones, slippers and clothes of at least 20 children have been dug out since Dec 29.
Accompanied by senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, Gandhi spent nearly 30 minutes in the village.
Blaming the Uttar Pradesh government for the heinous crime that has shocked the nation, she said: "There is no law and order (in the state) and you can see it for yourself.
"We have been demanding a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) enquiry right from the beginning. Now the chief minister (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has relented under pressure from the Congress," Gandhi told reporters.
Yadav had Friday announced a probe by the CBI into the serial killings.
Police accompanied by forensic experts, meanwhile, raided the home of Naveen Chowdhury, a doctor and Pandher's neighbour.
"We searched the house of the doctor, a neighbour of Moninder, for our investigation. The search went on for nearly two hours," a senior police official said.
Police had raided Chowdhury's house Dec 31 as well but then forensic experts were not part of the team. Police said the forensic experts picked up some clues from the house and would use them in their test.
Chowdhury, the managing director of Noida Medical Centre, was accused of removing a patient's kidney in 1998. He, however, was exonerated of the charge the same year.
Cape Town, Jan 6 (IANS) India will need eight wickets while hosts South Africa 156 runs to clinch the series 2-1 when play on the fifth and final day in the third and final Test starts here Saturday.
If India get those wickets it will be the first Test series win on South African soil.
India, after their batting failed in the second innings, set South Africa a target of 211 in more than a day. At stumps on the fourth day, they were 55 for two, with captain Graeme Smith batting on 21. A.B. de Villiers (22) and Hashim Amla (10) were the batsmen out.
Earlier, the Indian batsmen - barring captain Rahul Dravid (47, 204 minutes, 5x4s), Sourav Ganguly (46, 131 minutes, 5x4s) and Dinesh Karthik (38 not out, 75 minutes, 6x4s) - failed to deliver again when the situation demanded. As a result, the team was all out for a mere 169, with only four batsmen reaching doubles digits.
Openers Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer failed again, which meant that pressure was back on the middle order that has failed miserably in the 1-4 one-day international series defeat at the start of this tour.
Then following a bizarre miscommunication gap between the umpires and the Indian dressing room over the time before which Sachin Tendulkar could not bat, Sourav Ganguly was sent out at No. 4 instead of lower down the order.
The umpires failed to inform the Indian camp that since Tendulkar was out for a certain time when India fielded Thursday, he could bat until a specific time, as per the rules. So when the maestro came out to bat partner Dravid the umpires sent him back.
Ganguly later revealed that V.V.S. Laxman, who was supposed to have batted at No. 4, was in shower and he himself was in slippers and thus not prepared to bat.
Ganguly, however, batted very responsibly and was associated in an 84-run stand with Dravid for the third wicket - the highest of the innings, during Indian batting was again exposed by South African bowlers.
Dravid, on the other hand, batted in his usual responsible manner and top scored.
But when Tendulkar came out to bat at the fall of Ganguly's wicket, he surprisingly looked defensive in his approach. Part of his strange defensive batting could be because left-arm spinner Paul Harris bowled a negative line to Tendulkar, outside on his leg. No surprise that Tendulkar managed just 14.
Karthik, however, showed that if a batsman was willing to take risk he could score briskly too. The wicket-keeper, playing only because of an injury to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, struck six authoritative boundaries.
Karthik also upped the run rate that had slowed down when his predecessors were batting. He could not score more, thanks largely to a blunder by the official scorer.
Munaf Patel, who had come to bat in place of Sreesanth, was out on the extra seventh ball of a Dale Steyn over. Had the scorer counted the balls correctly, India may have scored a few more runs.
Umpire Daryl Harper later said the official scorer had informed him and his colleague that one more ball was to be bowled, which was actually the extra ball.
Steyn was the bets bowler on display with four wickets, whiel four others took one wicket each. Laxman and Zaheer Khan were run out in rather senseless manner.
In whatever time was left, Zaheer accounted for A.B. de Villiers and Anil Kumble dismissed Amla.
With the pitch showing signs of wear and tear, a lot will depend on how leg-spinner Kumble exploits the surface. The ball is just 16.2 overs old.
SCOREBOARD
3rd Test, Day 4, India vs. South Africa, Newlands, Cape Town, Jan 5
India (1st innings): 414
South Africa (1st innings): 373
India (2nd innings):
Wasim Jaffer c de Villiers b Ntini 2
Virender Sehwag c Boucher b Steyn 4
Rahul Dravid c & b Harris 47
Sourav Ganguly c Gibbs b Kallis 46
Sachin Tendulkar lbw b Pollock 14
V.V.S. Laxman run out (Pollock/Boucher) 1
Dinesh Karthik not out 38
Anil Kumble c Gibbs b Steyn 6
Zaheer Khan run out (de Villiers/Boucher) 1
Sreesanth c Kallis b Steyn 4
Munaf Patel c Pollock b Steyn 0
Extras: (leg byes 5, no balls 1) 6
Total: (all out in 64 overs) 169
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Sehwag, 1.6 overs), 2-6 (Jaffer, 2.2), 3-90 (Ganguly, 31.4), 4-114 (Dravid, 46.5), 5-115 (Laxman, 48.3), 6-121 (Tendulkar, 51.3), 7-147 (Kumble, 59.4), 8-165 (Khan, 63.1), 9-169 (Sreesanth, 63.6)
Bowling:
Makhaya Ntini 8 1 29 1
Dale Steyn 7 0 30 4 (nb 1)
Shaun Pollock 15 5 24 1
Paul Harris 22 6 50 1
Jacques Kallis 12 0 31 1
South Africa (2nd innings):
A.B. de Villiers c Karthik b Khan 22
Graeme Smith batting 21
Hashim Amla lbw b Kumble 10
Extras: (b 1, nb 1) 2
Total: (for two wickets in 16.2 overs) 55
Fall of wickets: 1-36 (de Villiers, 9.2 overs), 2-55 (Amla, 16.2)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 8 1 24 1 (1nb)
Sreesanth 4 0 16 0
Anil Kumble 4.2 1 14 1
Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Daryl Harper (Australia)
Third umpire: Marias Erasmus (South Africa)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
Cape Town, Jan 6 (IANS) India could offer little resistance as South Africa went on to beat the visitors with five wickets in hand on the fifth day of the third and final Test here Saturday, clinching the series 2-1.
Captain Graeme Smith made a solid 55 as the hosts achieved the target of 211 runs comfortably after rains threatened to play spoilsport earlier in the day at the Newlands stadium.
India made 414 in the first innings after opting to bat first and in reply South Africa piled up 373. But in the second innings the Indian batting order failed to live up to its reputation and folded up for just 169 runs giving the home team an easy target.
South Africa resumed on their overnight score of 55 for two, with Smith and Shaun Pollock (37) adding 55 runs in the first 10 overs when the rain came down heavily and halted the play for three hours and 10 minutes.
The home team were 111 for two when rain stopped play in the 11th over of the day. No further play was possible before lunch.
And only rain could have saved India the blushes but that too stopped and the sun came out as South Africa raced to win the match and pocket the series.
After the game resumed the hosts lost two quick wickets. Smith was the first to depart when he edged Zaheer Khan to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik with 127 runs on board. Khan struck again to dismiss Pollock caught by Laxman.
The two quick wickets gave India a chance to claw back into the game but they had very few runs on the board to defend. Perhaps the visitors fell short by 70-80 runs - otherwise they could have become the first-ever team to win a Test series on South African soil.
Jacques Kallis (32) and Ashwell Prince unbeaten on 38 put up a crucial 77-partnership for the fifth wicket to steer South Africa to home.
With just two runs needed to win, Kallis seemed to be in a hurry and in an attempt to pull Khan spooned it high up in the air and ended up in the safe hands of captain Rahul Dravid. But it was too late as nothing could have starved South Africa from a deserving victory.
Smith was adjudged the Man of the Match while Pollock was awarded the Man of the Series prize.
India won the first Test by 123 runs in Johannesburg before South Africa levelled the series, winning by 174 runs in Durban.
With the World Cup just round the corner, the good news for India was the return to form by former captain Sourav Ganguly, who emerged as the top Indian scorer with 214 runs, and the emergence of young guns like Sreesanth and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
But the concern for India will be the slump in the form of Virender Sehwag and inconsistence performance by key players like Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.
SCOREBOARD
3rd Test, Day 5, India vs. South Africa, Newlands, Cape Town, Jan 6
India (1st innings): 414
South Africa (1st innings): 373
India (2nd innings): 169
South Africa (2nd innings):
A.B. de Villiers c Karthik b Khan 22
Graeme Smith c Karthik b Khan 55
Hashim Amla lbw b Kumble 10
Shaun Pollock c Laxman b Khan 37
Jacques Kallis c Dravid b Khan 32
Ashwell Prince not out 38
Herschelle Gibbs not out 0
Extras: (b 11, lb 1, nb 5) 17
Total: (for five wickets in 64.1 overs) 211
Fall of wickets: 1-36 (de Villiers, 9.2 overs), 2-55 (Amla, 16.2), 3-127 (Smith, 31.1), 4-132 (Pollock, 35.3), 5-209 (Kallis, 63.2)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 21-2-62-4 (3nb)
Sreesanth 13-2-50-0 (1nb)
Anil Kumble 25-4-74-1
Munaf Patel 1-0-2-0
Virender Sehwag 1-0-8-0 (1nb)
Sachin Tendulkar 3.1-2-3-0
Result: South Africa win Test by five wickets and win series 2-1
Man of the Match: Graeme Smith (South Africa)
Man of the Series: Shaun Pollock (South Africa)
Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Daryl Harper (Australia)
Third umpire: Marias Erasmus (South Africa)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, Jan 6 (IANS) After a New Year's Day holiday, Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams and her two companions at the International Space Station spent another busy week preparing a second oxygen-generating system and upgrading soundproofing in their living quarters.
With new gear delivered just before Christmas by space shuttle Discovery that brought Williams to the station, she and Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria installed in the Destiny laboratory the oxygen generation system delivered on the earlier shuttle mission in July 2006.
The new generator will supplement the Russian Elektron oxygen system on the station. The additional oxygen generating capacity will be important as the standard station crew size increases to six as the complex grows, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.
In their work with the new system, Williams and Lopez-Alegria installed a hydrogen vent valve and power, data and fluid hoses and cables. The system will be activated and tested later this year.
Also this week, the crew marked milestones in two laboratory experiments with Williams setting up the hardware for the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or TRAC investigation, Tuesday.
It is a NASA-sponsored experiment jointly managed by scientists from Germany and Canada. Crew's hand and eye coordination are tested before, during and after missions. For the tests, subjects use a joystick to control a cursor on a computer screen and respond to audio and visual stimuli. The experiment gathers data about how, and to what extent, the brain adapts to weightlessness.
Crew members also completed the final operations of a biological experiment on the impact of varying levels of light and gravity on plant root growth. The final images of samples in the European Modular Cultivation System were taken and downlinked, and the samples were stowed in a freezer for eventual return to Earth.
Friday morning, Lopez-Alegria and Williams took time out from their work to share their mission with a group of students in the fifth through eighth grades from the Columbia Explorers Academy. From the Adler Planetarium in Chicago the students asked the astronauts about living in orbit and the goals of their mission.
Meanwhile, flight engineer and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin worked in the Russian segment of the station, where he upgraded soundproofing of the ventilation system. Tyurin installed new fans, sound-deadening vibration isolators and air ducts with acoustic shields to reduce the noise they create.
Srinagar, Jan 6 (IANS) Two civilians were killed and 45 people including four soldiers wounded in a powerful blast in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir Saturday.
Police said separatist guerrillas tossed a grenade at a passing vehicle of counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in the busy main market at Shopian, 75 km from here.
"The market was humming with activity when the grenade exploded. One civilian identified as Muhammad Yusuf Lone died on the spot while 45 people including four RR troopers were wounded," Pulwama Senior Superintendent of Police Nitish Kumar told IANS.
Later in the evening, a critically wounded person, identified as Muhammad Akram Shah, succumbed to injuries in the sub-district hospital at Shopian.
"Ten critically injured people including three soldiers were referred by doctors to capital Srinagar for specialized treatment," a police officer said here.
Security forces and police immediately surrounded the market place and mounted searches.
No group had yet claimed responsibility for the explosion that led to panic and tension in the town where security was beefed up after the incident.
Guwahati, Jan 6 (IANS) A civil society group in Assam Friday claimed that more than 95 percent of nearly 2.6 million people interviewed by them had rejected the demand for independence by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
The Assam Public Works (APW), a forum known for its anti-ULFA posture and claiming to have several relatives of the separatist group as its members, said it conducted an opinion poll to elicit public response about the outfit's demand for sovereignty or independence in nine of Assam's 27 districts.
"Only about five percent of the people surveyed supported ULFA's demand for sovereignty and the rest thoroughly rejected it," said Abhijeet Sarma, general secretary of the APW, in a meeting organised to release the findings.
The poll was conducted in the districts of Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Guwahati, Dhubri, Darrang, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Nalbari. The poll for the remaining 18 districts would be taken up soon.
Sarma said about 1,800 APW volunteers carried out the survey with questionnaires being handed out to the respondents.
Bhopal, Jan 6 (IANS) Faced with death threats, a tribal 'sarpanch' (village chief) in Madhya Pradesh has handed over control of his 'panchayat' to powerful rivals.
Rakesh Adivasi, 25, of Maubuzurg panchayat in Tikamgarh district, reportedly surrendered his panchayat - the village council - to the brother of former village head Surendra Singh Gaur.
Rakesh allegedly received periodic threats to his life and to his family members from the family of Gaur, said Virendra Pateria, secretary of the Maubuzurg panchayat.
Pateria, who is in Bhopal, told IANS: "Rakesh used to be harassed since the day he assumed office. Gaur's people would ask him for a cut every time he got funds sanctioned for development works. He was threatened with death if he refused.
"Upset over the regular disputes, he ultimately surrendered. Now Govind Singh, popularly known as 'Raja Sahab', takes all decisions while Rakesh is provided 10 percent of the funds sanctioned.
"Now the work of the panchayat, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, is done under the directives of Raja Sahab and the office bearers are left with the job of signing papers whenever they are asked to," he added.
All work related to the panchayat is conducted by Gaur and he also has control over all the funds although he was not elected by the village people.
Govind Singh denied the allegations. He said: "Anti-social elements in the village used to harass Rakesh every now and then. Rakesh came to me for help and I agreed to provide him protection."
Manish Shrivastava, the Tikamgarh district collector, told IANS over telephone: "I have not come across any such complaint. If it is happening, it is illegal. We will inquire into the matter and take appropriate action."
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, Jan 6 (IANS) After the civil nuclear deal, the United States looks forward to further expanding relations with India in areas ranging from trade to regional security as with any "global power or ally".
"Well, obviously India is a large, booming, vital country with a rapidly expanding economy, and we are delighted to be having closer and continuing closer relationships with the government of India and the people of India," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters Friday.
"So there are now before us any number - there is regional security, trade, the normal set of challenges and opportunities that you'd have in dealing with any global power or ally," he added in response to a question about the future of India-US relations beyond the civil nuclear deal.
"But the Indian Civil Nuclear Treaty was obviously a very important signal to the people of India about the intent of this government and the people of the United States. We look forward to India being a closer and closer ally and an increasingly important one," Snow said.
However, he could not say anything about any exchange of visits at this point, though "I'm sure there will continue to be high level contacts."
Dhaka, Jan 6 (IANS) The US and Britain have issued separate appeals to the Awami League-led alliance to reconsider its decision to boycott the Jan 22 polls and also asked the caretaker government and Election Commission to "act swiftly and impartially" to create conditions for the elections to take place.
"Our own support and observation missions will depend on whether such conditions are created," a statement issued by the US embassy here said.
The appeals went out on the eve of a two-day stir the alliance launched Saturday to press for its demands, the non-fulfilment of which led to the boycott decision.
Scores of protestors have been arrested, media reports said.
"The voters of Bangladesh deserve a choice. We regret that the Awami League and its alliance partners intend to boycott the election. We urge them to reconsider and to offer the voters a chance to choose," the US said.
It added: "Elections need to take place in an open, peaceful atmosphere with the participation of all political parties so that the voters can have confidence in the outcome (of the election).
"The process as it is unfolding certainly shows many imperfections. We urge the caretaker government and Election Commission to act swiftly and impartially to create conditions under which all parties can participate."
The US also called on all parties to "set aside narrow, partisan agendas and join together in serious, constructive dialogue to create an acceptable environment for participation by all major parties in the elections.
"Violence has no place in a democratic society. While political protest is an integral part of democracy, violence is not."
British High Commissioner Anwarul Haq, a diplomat of Bangladeshi origin, also called for full participation of all parties in the electoral battle.
"For the elections to be credible, the institutions responsible for the election must enjoy the confidence of the major parties. The UK urges all parties to engage in constructive dialogue in order to address how to achieve this."
Expressing concerns over probable violence in the coming weeks, he called on all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from political violence.
Haq, along with US envoy Patricia Butenis, has been holding talks with various parties and officials for many weeks.
Meanwhile, European Union election observers monitoring the situation here since Dec 17 said they would make recommendations to the EU headquarters in Brussels on the need to send more observers.
The envoys' anxiety is reflected in the views publicly expressed by some of the advisors to President Iajuddin Ahmed, who doubles as Chief Advisor of the caretaker government.
Adviser Ruhul Alam Chowdhury Friday said if the Awami League-led grand alliance does not take part in the January election, it would not be acceptable to all.
"I think the poll would not be acceptable to anyone in the world," he was quoted by The Daily Star as saying.
Washington, Jan 6 (IANS) Authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom are facing several hurdles as they crack down on a "pipeline" of operatives, supporters and financiers that shuttles terrorists from Pakistan, according to Newsweek.
This, the American newsmagazine reported in a web exclusive, became apparent from the case of Mohammed al-Ghabra, a 26-year-old London man who was named as a major organizer for Al Qaeda and other terror groups, including Iraqi insurgents, by the Bush administration just before Christmas.
In a statement accompanying its formal order freezing any US assets Ghabra might control, US Treasury official Adam Szubin alleged that the target of the sanctions "has backed Al Qaeda and other violent jihadist groups, facilitating travel for recruits seeking to meet with Al Qaeda leaders and taken part in terrorist training."
The Treasury statement also accused Ghabra of maintaining contact with UK-based jihadists involved in the radicalization of British Muslims through the dissemination of "extremist" media; Ghabra was also accused of training at a terror camp in Kashmir run by a jihadist group called Harakat Ul-Mujahidin.
Ghabra, it said, also "facilitated the travel of UK-based individuals to Iraq" to support insurgents there and that Ghabra met in Pakistan with alleged Al Qaeda operatives, including the group's one-time chief of operations (who later was captured by the Pakistanis).
Some of the would-be terrorists that Ghabra allegedly helped travel to Pakistan subsequently returned to the UK to "engage in covert activity on behalf of Al Qaeda."
During a visit to Pakistan in 2002, Ghabra himself allegedly met with and stayed at the home of Abu Faraj al-Libi, who at the time was believed to have succeeded 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as Al Qaeda chief of operations, it said.
The information that the US Treasury Department made public in its announcement freezing Ghabra's assets certainly appears to affirm his role as an alleged terrorist fixer, Newsweek said, but suggested it had left out a potentially important detail: British authorities have already attempted-unsuccessfully-to prosecute him on terror-related charges.
Newsweek said a spokeswoman for Britain's Crown Prosecution Service had confirmed that in 2004, a London jury acquitted Ghabra of fraud and terror charges. Court officials confirmed that records show Ghabra was acquitted on charges of conspiracy to defraud and possession of a document or record that could be useful to terrorists.
US and UK officials, who asked for anonymity because they were discussing sensitive material, said that since his acquittal, Ghabra has been a free man living in Britain, the magazine said.
Newsweek cited a US intelligence official as saying that US agencies do not necessarily believe that Ghabra is dangerous or violent himself; but he is regarded as a "key cog" and a serious "player" in an alleged human pipeline that arranges for alienated British Muslim youths-many of them born in the UK of Pakistani heritage-to travel to Pakistan for indoctrination and training at temporary terrorist "camps" believed to be operated by Al Qaeda leaders.
US authorities say the UK-Pakistan pipeline has played a role in several planned terrorist plots, including the alleged plot last summer to blow up airliners flying between the Britain and the United States.
At least two of the four suicide bombers who blew themselves up on London underground trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, are believed to have visited Pakistan in the years and months before they committed their attacks.
The US intelligence official, as well as a source familiar with British intelligence reporting, said that agencies on both sides of the Atlantic had information linking Ghabra to some of the well-known plots, Newsweek said.
New Delhi, Jan 6 (IRNA) The US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) will interact with business and political leaders of the country this week to boost nuclear cooperation between the two countries.
The Indian American community, especially the well-to-do business community, played a major role by asserting their influence on US lawmakers who passed a bill for nuclear cooperation, USINPAC Chairman Sanjay Puri, who is on a five-day visit to India with a 20-member delegation, said in Mumbai, Wednesday, a Doordarshan News said here.
"We are here to further the process of Indo-US nuclear cooperation and India will be taking up tough negotiations on the bilateral 123 agreement with the US soon," he said.
"USINPAC had mounted an intensive drive to support President George W Bush's plan to aid India's civilian nuclear program," Puri said.
"We could influence lawmakers who were bent on going against the deal and made it as a veto-proof majority so that any political party that comes to power cannot go back on the final act signed by President Bush," he claimed.
The Indian Americans spent heavily on lobbying, campaign contributions and public relations to persuade the US Congress to approve the deal and wanted "India... to (realize) the definition of a perfect deal is only when there is element of give and take", Puri said.
Srinagar, Jan 6 (IANS) Violent protests against the execution of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein hit several towns of Jammu and Kashmir after Friday prayers.
Police fired rubber bullets and used teargas to disperse hundreds of protestors shouting anti-US slogans.
The protests began in several areas of downtown Srinagar immediately after the prayers. Protestors burnt US flags and torched effigies of President George W. Bush here.
Police sources here said 10 cops including a station house officer were among 40 wounded in the protests.
Demonstrations against the hanging of Saddam were also held in other major towns of Anantnag, Pulwama, Chadoora, and Sopore.
The simmering anger on Saddam hanging remained overshadowed because of the festivities connected with Eid.
Jaipur, Jan 6 (IANS) Memories of the recently executed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein came alive in the form of a cricket match held by children in Jodhpur.
The kids aged between 5-15 divided themselves into two teams and interestingly all the 22 players played the match with the name "Saddam".
The ball was specially named as "Bush" and all the Saddams enjoyed smashing Bush hard, local media reported Friday.
The match took place at the Jai Narain Vyas University ground. "The main objective to hold the match was to promote the courage of Saddam among children," said Tohid Ahmad Khan, the organiser of the match.
He said that popularity of Saddam had gone up across the world after the Gulf War.
"People even kept naming their newborns as Saddams. So we organised the match to promote courage among children just like Saddam."
The players were the children belonging to the nearby localities such as Kethanbadi, Gulzarpura, Purani Loco, Purana Stadium and Banba Ki Mazid.
"We are annoyed at the hanging of Saddam. We want to be as courageous as Saddam was," said Mohammad Ayub and Mohammad Hussein Gori, who played as openers in the match.
Saddam Hussein was executed December 30 last year in Baghdad for ordering the massacre of 148 Shias in the Iraqi city of Dujail in 1982.