11 January 2007
Colombo, Jan 11 (Xinhua) Ten Tamil Tiger guerrillas were killed and more than 25 injured during a retaliatory action by the security forces in eastern Sri Lanka, the military said Wednesday.
The media centre for national security said in a statement that no harm to troops was reported in the artillery and mortar attack against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out in the Batticaloa district.
Earlier in the day, troops repulsed a group of LTTE members preparing to launch an attack on them in the district and recovered three assault rifles, two claymore mines and some other weapons and ammunition, said the statement.
Meanwhile, LTTE artillery and mortar fire at security forces in the region continued throughout the day, the statement added.
Sri Lanka's Army Chief Sarath Fonseka said earlier that the military was determined to liberate the east from the LTTE and later focus on the north.
Conflict between the government troops and the LTTE has been escalating since December 2005, with more than 3,800 people being killed.
The Norwegian backed peace process and the truce agreement signed between the two parties in 2002 are currently stalled as a result of the violence.
Washington DC, Jan 11 (Indianmuslims.info) Mr. Ahmad Raza, a very distinguished Indian Muslim, breathed his last here this afternoon, Mr Kaleem Kawaja of Association of Indian Muslims of America, Washington DC, said here in a statement.
He was suffering from emphysema, acute lung deterioration and severe pneumonia for about three months. Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon.
In India Mr Raza rendered his invaluable services as a Senior Manager to the Reserve Bank of India, Bombay, for many years. In 1989 he moved to Washington DC as a Senior Manager representing India at the International Monetary Fund. He retired from IMF a few years ago and settled down in metro Washington DC.
Besides being one of the very successful senior officers in the Government of India and IMF, Mr Raza worked throughout his life to uplift the Indian Muslim community by developing programs for educational uplift of the youth in the community. He was an ardent and dedicated social activist who did his very best to make the Indian Muslim youth become competitive with others by excelling in higher education. He also passionately advocated moderate behaviour in the Muslim community.
Mr Ahmad Raza was also chairman of the Scholarship Committee of Washington DC AMU alumni association.
Mr Ahmad Raza was from a very distinguished Indian Muslim family. He was the youngest of the four brothers. Dr Masoom Rahi Raza – illustrious Urdu poet and storywriter, and Dr Moonis Raza – Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) New Delhi and Dr.Mahdi Raza, Prof. of Geography at AMU.
Mr Ahmad Raza was a very distinguished member of the Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), where he was Vice-President for two years. He worked with much enthusiasm to support AIM’s many programs over the years and made significant contribution to AIM’s fundraising effort to support their Education Program.
Expressing his deep and profound sense of sorrow and sadness on the passing away of Mr Ahmad Raza, Mr Kaleem Kawaja said:
“In the Indian-American community of metro Washington DC, Mr Ahmad Raza was a very prominent leader of the community and a highly respected personality. Many people in our community benefited a lot from his support and advice. His passing away is a severe loss to the community. We will miss him sorely for a very long time. It is a cruel fact of life that good people pass away leaving a huge void.�
Mr Kawaja has also appealed to the readers to pray for the maghfirat (forgiveness) of the noble soul and for sabr (patience) for his family.
Mr Tariq Farooqi, Member, Board of Trustees, Aligarh Alumni Association
Washington, DC, in a statement, said:
“Mr. Raza was an ardent and dedicated Alig who became very active in our alumni association. He passionately believed that the Muslims of India required quality education in order to compete with other communities for their just share. Rather than simply talking about his vision or lamenting our backwardness, he took charge of our scholarship project and shepherded it from its modest origins to a robust program with current assets in several hundred thousand dollars. Thanks to this corpus, the Aligarh Alumni Association of Washington DC awarded 110 scholarships this year.�
Paying a profound and passionate tribute to the departed soul, Mr Tariq Farooqi further said:
“With profound respect and sadness we bid you farewell my friend, my mentor, my guide. While you may not be with us physically now, we continue to feel your passion, energy and dedication.�
Mr. Ahmad Raza was 73, he leaves behind a wife,son and a daughter. namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayer) will be performed after Friday prayers in Maryland.
By Pervez Bari
Chennai, January 11 (IndianMuslims): Maulana Syed Mohammad Rabey Hasani Nadwi, president All India Muslim Personal Law Board, (AIMPLB), has put at rest the speculations made by the media that had nothing to do with facts over his talks with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav when the latter called on him last month in Lucknow.
Maulana Rabey Nadwi addressing the delegates at the 19th session of AIMPLB here on the second day today clarified as what had actually transpired between him and the Chief Minister then. He said on AIMPLB’s apprehension of “bullet-proofing� of sanctum sanctorum at Ramjanam Bhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya which is under dispute and is sub-judice, Mulayam Singh has stated that there is no need as his government is capable of protecting it.
It may be recalled here that the Uttar Pradesh Government, which had prepared a fresh security plan after July 2005 attack on Ayodhya temple in association with the Federal government, has been dithering under the AIMPLB pressure.
Maulana Rabey said that Mulayam Singh also concurred with him to make amends in the Act granting rights to women in agriculture land in Uttar Pradesh so that there is no deterrence to Muslims in granting land to their womenfolk as per their personal laws.
However, Maulana Rabey said on AIMPLB’s long pending demand of fresh notification in Babri Masjid demolition case clubbing the two FIRs for speedy trial said the Chief Minister expressed his inability to do so citing legal hurdles for it.
It may be pointed here that the AIMPLB at its meeting in Delhi in November had asked the president to lead a delegation to the chief minister to press for the fresh notification clubbing of Babri Masjid demolition case Nos 197 and 198 following two FIRs. The case 198 about Babri demolition conspiracy involving senior BJP leaders including LK Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Ms Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, VHP chief Ashok Singhal and others is pending in Rae Bareli court. The main demolition case (197) is in Lucknow court.
Ever since the High Court struck down earlier notification on technical grounds, the AIMPLB has been demanding fresh notification in the matter. When in the Opposition Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced in the Lok Sabha that fresh notification would be issued if his party came to power in the state. However, even after three years the state government is sitting tight over the demand.
Maulana Rabey was clarifying his position vis-à-vis Chief Minister Mulayam Singh to the agitated delegates after AIMPLB general secretary Maulana Syed Nizamuddin presented the annual report, read out by his Asstt. Secretary Advocate Abdurahim Quraishi, wherein it was stated that the Chief Minister was not granting time to meet a delegation of AIMPLB. Later, this portion of the report was deleted on the instructions of the president.
It may be stated here that the full report on the progress made in the title suit of Babri Masjid and the criminal cases following its demolition will be presented by Advocate Zafaryab Jilani tomorrow on the concluding day of the three-day session. In view of the ensuing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections the delegates may force for a tough resolution to be passed so that the ruling Samajwadi Party in the State takes cognizance of it and acts accordingly not denying the just demands of Muslims.
The delegates were also agitated over the Group of Ministers report on Madarsas during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA regime wherein it was stated that the madarsas on the Indian borders were breeding grounds of terrorism. The delegates wanted that this portion of the report must be deleted forthwith by the present Federal Government, as it has no basis or proof to prove the contention.
Meanwhile, Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani presented his detailed report on “Tahreek Islah Mashrah� (Campaign to rectify society) being carried out in the different states all over India. This campaign has helped in rooting out the unIslamic practices and give impetus to inculcate moral values in Muslims, he pointed out.
Dr. Qasim Rasool Ilyas briefed the delegates of the AIMPLB’s rejection of proposed Bill on Central Madarsa Board saying the Muslim community has had bitter experience earlier on three such issues such as Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Hamdard University. So, no fourth Bill is required, he added.
A suggestion was made at the meeting that Ulemas should address Muslim and non-Muslim advocates on Islamic personal laws that are divine and not man made in detail underlying the objectivity that lies with it.
Dubai, Jan 11 (IANS) Australian Alan Hurst will officiate as the match referee in all the eight one dayers India will play at home in two series involving West Indies and Sri Lanka in January and February.
India will play a four match one day series against West Indies starting Jan 21. Another Aussie Billy Bowden will be one of the umpires while another umpire would be a local appointment, it was announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) here Wednesday.
India will then take on Sri Lanka in another four match one day series starting Feb 8. Simon Taufel will stand as the umpire and the other umpire would be appointed locally.
The ICC also announced match referees and umpires appointments for upcoming Test and one day series taking place in South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies.
Steve Bucknor, Billy Doctrove and Peter Parker will in turn be umpires for one each of the three Tests between South Africa and Pakistan starting Thursday. Chris Broad will officiate as the match referee for the series.
In the five match one-day that follows after the Test series, Parker will officiate the first one dayer in Centurion with the other on-field umpire to be appointed by the South African board.
Bucknor will then take over for the following two one day matches, in Durban and Port Elizabeth and will be joined in the middle by a locally appointed umpire.
The final two one dayers in Cape Town and Johannesburg, will be officiated by a locally appointed umpire and Russell Tiffin.
Match referee Mike Procter will officiate in all the three one dayers of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy that Australia will play in New Zealand. Aleem Dar will stand in as umpire in all those games along with an umpire appointed by the home country.
The List
South Africa
Tests:
Jan 11-15: vs. Pakistan, Centurion, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Billy Doctrove
Jan 19-23: vs. Pakistan, Port Elizabeth, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Peter Parker and Billy Doctrove
Jan 26-30: vs. Pakistan, Cape Town, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Peter Parker and Steve Bucknor
One Dayers:
Feb 4: vs. Pakistan, Centurion, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Peter Parker and local appointment
Feb 7: vs. Pakistan, Durban, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Steve Bucknor and local appointment
Feb 9: vs. Pakistan, Port Elizabeth, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Steve Bucknor and local appointment
Feb 11: vs. Pakistan, Cape Town, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Russell Tiffin and local appointment
Feb 14: vs. Pakistan, Johannesburg, Match Referee: Chris Broad; Umpires: Russell Tiffin and local appointment
New Zealand
One Dayers:
Feb 16: vs. Australia, Wellington, Match Referee: Mike Procter; Umpires: Aleem Dar and local appointment
Feb 18: vs. Australia, Auckland, Match Referee: Mike Procter; Umpires: Aleem Dar and local appointment
Feb 20: vs. Australia, Hamilton, Match Referee: Mike Procter; Umpires: Aleem Dar and local appointment.
India
One Dayers:
Jan 21: vs. West Indies, Nagpur, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Billy Bowden and local appointment
Jan 24: vs. West Indies, Cuttack, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Billy Bowden and local appointment
Jan 27: vs. West Indies, Chennai, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Billy Bowden and local appointment
Jan 30: vs. West Indies, Baroda, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Billy Bowden and local appointment
Feb 8: vs. Sri Lanka, Pune, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Simon Taufel and local appointment
Feb 11: vs. Sri Lanka, Rajkot, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Simon Taufel and local appointment
Feb 14: vs. Sri Lanka, Goa, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Simon Taufel and local appointment
Feb 17: vs. Sri Lanka, Vizag, Match Referee: Alan Hurst; Umpires: Simon Taufel and local appointment
By Vishnu Makhijani,
Tezpur (Assam), Jan 11 (IANS) Defence Minister A.K. Antony has sought the help of ordinary soldiers to stem corruption in the purchase of food supplies for the defence forces, even as he won their hearts and minds with his humane approach to resolving their problems.
"If you feel the quality of the food you get is bad, reject it. Take courage and come and tell me (about this)," he said while interacting with soldiers and junior commissioned officers (JCOs) of the 3 Engineer Regiment in this garrison town, 150 km from Assam's principal city of Guwahati.
"Jawans must get the best quality of food. There can be no compromise on quality," Antony, who Wednesday concluded a two-day familiarisation tour of the northeast, his first to the region after assuming office, asserted.
The minister's remarks Tuesday acquire added importance as they came on the day an army court of inquiry (COI) held a second three star general guilty of lapses in the procurement of foodstuff - this time, frozen mutton.
Lt. Gen. S.K. Dahiya of the Army Service Corps (ASC) was indicted for the lapse while serving as a major general with the Udhampur-based Northern Command that guards the country's borders with Pakistan and China. The verdict could lead to his dismissal by the president, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces. Four other officers were also held guilty.
Dahiya, who is currently serving in south India, has contested the COI in the Delhi High Court and the army is contesting this.
Last year, Lt. Gen S.K. Sahni, who also belongs to the ASC and has since retired, was held guilty of lapses in the purchase of dry rations, including lentils. Six other officers, including a major general and two brigadiers, were also indicted in this case.
Sahni, who retired in October, has contested the COI in the Delhi High Court, which has restrained the army from taking action against him till it delivers its verdict.
Twelve senior officers of the army, navy and air force are currently facing COIs. The charges against them range from financial irregularities, to lapses in the sale of liquor, staging fake gun battles, and of conduct unbecoming of an officer.
Antony's northeast visit had been planned long before the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) staged a series of coordinated attacks that have claimed the lives of 61 migrant labourers in Assam. The focus of the visit obviously shifted but still Antony's first act after landing here was to visit the cookhouse and storehouse of the 3 Engineer Regiment.
The regiment is part of the Madras Engineering Group (MEG), which means its troops and JCOs are largely from Tamil Nadu. Antony was in his elements as he mingled with them, shaking their hands and even calling the diffident one's forward.
He chatted with them in Tamil, inquiring of their names, their hometowns, their families, their problems back home - and most of all, the quality of their food. But then, inquiring was not all that Antony did.
He drank a glass of rasam, a spicy lentil-based soup typical of south India and professed himself to be satisfied. He then went into the storehouse and enquired if all was well and if adequate supplies were being received.
"Sir, we have received some extra supplies, which we have to sent to Siachen," a JCO replied.
"Most definitely. Whatever, whatever, they want in Siachen, send it to them," he stated emphatically.
There was then a moment of brief levity after Antony went around the canteen from where soldiers buy their toiletries and other items of daily need. Coming out of the canteen, he walked into the adjoining room and stopped abruptly when he realised it was the liquor store.
With a smile on his face and shaking his head, he exited and walked on.
"Sir, I have seen many a defence minister but never one so closely and one who has sought us out to talk to us on an equal level," whispered a senior JCO to another - a feeling that was shared by each and every soldier present there.
San Francisco, Jan 11 (DPA) Network giant Cisco has sued Apple for trademark infringement, saying that it owned the rights to the name iPhone - the mobile device unveiled to ecstatic reviews by Apple.
Cisco Wednesday said it had filed a suit in a federal court in San Francisco, and that it had launched its own Internet phone called the iPhone just three weeks ago.
The two companies had been negotiating over use of the name, but Apple apparently unveiled the device Tuesday before reaching agreement.
"There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission," said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement.
"The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand."
Apple said that Cisco's right to the name did not extend to cell phones.
"We are the first company to use the name iPhone for a cell phone, and if Cisco wants to challenge us on it, we are very confident we will prevail," Apple spokesperson Steve Dowling told the Bloomberg financial news agency.
"There are already several companies using the name iPhone for voice-over-IP products. We believe Cisco's US trademark registration is tenuous at best."
Dhaka, Jan 11 (Xinhua) Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed Thursday declared a state of emergency across the country ahead of the Jan 22 general elections.
All fundamental rights have been suspended and the authorities have imposed a curfew in the capital. More than 60,000 troops have been deployed across the country to quell any violence that might occur.
Ahmed declared the emergency in the wake of the Awami League-led grand alliance's decision to boycott the elections, alleging that the president's caretaker government and the Election Commission are biased in favour of the re-election of former prime minister Khaleda Zia's four-party grouping through "election engineering".
The alliance has announced transport blockades and general strikes from Sunday to resist the "one-sided" polls.
The UN, the European Union, and the Washington-based National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute have decided to suspend their planned election monitoring missions in following the Awami League's decision.
--Xinhua
Dhaka, Jan 11 (IANS) Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed Thursday night announced he was quitting as head of the interim government, giving in to a key demand of the opposition Awami League that is boycotting the Jan 22 general elections, terming them a "farcical exercise".
"I have decided to resign from the post of (head) of the caretaker government to pave the way for a universally accepted election," Ahmed said in an address in Bengali on state-run BTV.
Ahmed appointed his senior adviser Fazlul Haque as acting chief of the caretaker authority, Bangladesh news agency BSS said.
The announcement came hours after Ahmed declared a state of emergency in the country and imposed a daily night-time curfew in the capital ahead of the general elections.
"In another two or three days I will set up an interim advisory committee (upodeshta parishad) to run the government and till then the seniormost advisor (Haque) of the present parishad (government) would officiate," Ahmed said.
"The interim authority will soon discuss all issues and ensure a free and fair election in Bangladesh soon," he added.
He, however, did not say whether the polls would be deferred.
"My appointment has divided the nation and the people in two poles. So for the sake of the country's progress and development this controversy must end and hence I have decided to resign," said Ahmed, who headed the caretaker government entrusted with the responsibility to hold the elections.
"The armed forces have been called in to maintain law and order in the country and help in the process of setting up a government desired by the people. I hope they (the army) would do their duty efficiently and live up to their earlier reputation," he maintained.
The emergency was declared to thwart possible violence in the run-up to and during the elections after the Awami League-led opposition alliance called for boycotting the polls and hit the streets.
All fundamental rights have been suspended and more than 60,000 troops have been deployed across the country to prevent any clashes.
Minsk, Jan 11 (RIA Novosti) Belarus has lifted its transit levy on Europe-bound Russian oil, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said Wednesday.
"The Belarusian government declares void the state tax on oil transit via Belarus imposed by the council of ministers," Sidorsky said.
Relations between Russia and Belarus have been strained since Moscow doubled the price for natural gas it supplies to its ex-Soviet neighbour to $100 per 1,000 cubic meters as of Jan 1, and imposed an oil export duty of $180.7 per tonne.
Belarus, whose economy was likely to be hard hit by the charges, responded Jan 3 by introducing a transit duty of $45 per tonne for crude passing through its territory.
Russian officials did not recognise the levy as legitimate, saying it contradicts intergovernmental accords.
London, Jan 11 (NNN-PTI) -- Key US ally Britain Thursday welcomed President George W Bush's plans to send more than 20,000 troops to Iraq, but said it has no intention to increase its military presence in the country.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, while hailing Bush's new strategy to control deteriorating security situation in Iraq, said UK troops were successfully quelling violence in British-controlled Basra, and there was no plan "at the present time" to send more troops there.
As regards to reports in a section of the media that 3,000 British troops would leave Iraq by May, she said it was "speculation".
US President George Bush on Wednesday announced extra troops to fight alongside Iraqi unit to end violence in Baghdad, and Anbar province - where he said al-Qaeda terrorists were planning to take control.
But he said US commitment to Iraq was "not open-ended", and that he expected the government in Baghdad to fulfill its own promises.
Beckett said both President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki were "determined to try to come to grips with what is unquestionably a difficult situation in, particularly in Baghdad. -- NNN-PTI
Washington, Jan 11 (DPA) US President George W. Bush conceded that efforts to secure Iraq had failed and that he was sending over 20,000 extra troops in a strategic shift to quell sectarian killings and hasten the day when US troops begin coming home.
Bush Wednesday spoke frankly about errors and misjudgements by both his administration and the Iraqi government that have led to chaos in Iraq and undermined US public support.
"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me," Bush said in a primetime address from the White House.
Bush's plan was widely viewed as his last real chance at succeeding in Iraq and galvanizing public support for the war, which has claimed the lives of over 3,000 US soldiers and cost more than $430 billion.
"The US military and Iraqi forces have been unable to secure Baghdad because of limitations placed on them by the Iraqi government, but new rules will allow the Americans and Iraqis to be more aggressive," Bush said.
Bush's plan to enlarge the US force has been met by stiff resistance in Congress, where newly empowered opposition Democrats are demanding that US troops begin to be brought home. Opinion polls show most of the American public also opposes a hike, but Bush argued that more forces in the short run could lay the foundation for future withdrawals.
"If we increase our support at this crucial moment and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home," Bush said.
The new strategy includes placing more pressure on the Baghdad government to end sectarian violence, which has brought the country to the brink of civil war, and emphasises that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government must take greater responsibility for the country's future.
"I have made it clear to the prime minister and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended," Bush said. "If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people."
The phased build-up, which is expected to take several months, will cost an additional $5.6 billion, a senior administration official said. Some 140,000 US troops are already in Iraq.
Democrats plan to call for votes in the US Senate and House of Representatives on resolutions rejecting the surge in troops. Although not binding, the measures would force Bush's Republicans to take a position on the increase. Some Republicans have also expressed reservations about expanding the US presence.
Under the president's plan, the US will deploy about 17,500 troops in Baghdad to contain sectarian violence, but Iraqi forces will remain in the lead. Bush will order another 4,000 soldiers to al-Anbar province in western Iraq, where al-Qaeda has found refuge.
Bush said that the Iraqi government has plans to take responsibility for security by November in all of Iraq's provinces.
The surge of US troops is a notable departure from the advice of his top military officers for Iraq, who have said that an increase would do little to change conditions on the ground. In preparing to move swiftly on his new plan, Bush announced last week that he was replacing his top military commanders and diplomats in Iraq.
The plan includes doubling the size of provincial rebuilding teams in Iraq and pumping more money into the Iraqi economy - more than $1 billion.
"Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighbourhoods and communities.
"Al-Maliki's government must move forward on a national reconciliation plan that includes regional elections and an oil law to ensure fair distribution of revenue to Iraq's ethnic and religious groups to help ease tensions between Shias, Sunnis and Kurds," Bush said.
The president said the US would confront Iran and Syria, accusing them of fomenting violence in Iraq by allowing insurgents into the country and supporting attacks on US troops.
Bush acknowledged that his administration was overconfident that Iraqi elections and the formation of a government since 2005 would stabilise the country and usher in the reduction of US forces. Those hopes were dashed by bloodshed between Sunnis and Shias that peaked last summer.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top congressional Democrat, confirmed that the centre-left congressional leadership would call for a vote on the increase.
"The American people have lost confidence in the president's policy," she said.
Bush argued that a pullout would "force a collapse" of the Iraqi government "and result in mass killings on an unimaginable scale", instead keeping US troops in the country "even longer".
Jakarta, Jan 11 (DPA) Debris of a commercial airliner that went missing 10 days ago in eastern Indonesia with 102 people on board has been found by a fisherman off the coast of Sulawesi Island, an official said Thursday.
"A fisherman Wednesday night in waters near Pare-Pare in South Sulawesi province found a floating, two-metre-wide tail stabiliser, with a registration number matching a Boeing 737-400 that vanished on New Year's Day," First Air Marshall Eddy Suyanto of the Indonesian Air Force, who led a frantic search operation for the plane, told Jakarta-based TransTV.
The jet was operated by Indonesian budget carrier Adam Air.
"What was found was the left tail stabiliser by a fisherman in Pare-Pare, about 300 metres off the beach," Suyanto said.
The town is some 1,200 km northeast of Jakarta.
Flight KI-574 was carrying 96 passengers - including three US citizens - and a crew of six when it disappeared from radar during a scheduled flight from Surabaya, capital of East Java province, to Manado, North Sulawesi provincial capital.
"Hopefully the discovery will help shed some light on the missing jetliner," Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa was quoted as saying by the Elshinta radio station.
Pare-Pare Police Chief Gnot Haryanto said the body of a woman was found floating near the port, but it remained unknown whether she was a passenger on the doomed flight.
"The person appears to have died several days ago," Suyanto said, according to Elshinta radio station. "There was no identification found on the woman, who had scars on her feet."
Family members of the passengers told the radio station that they hoped rescue teams would recover all the victims' remains so they could immediately perform religious ceremonies.
Indonesian officials initially said the plane had been found with 12 survivors one day after the crash, but later had to quash the report as a rumour.
Officials have also released other pieces of crucial information that they were later forced to retract, including that the plane's pilot sent out a distress signal before disappearing in bad weather.
Aircraft and ships from Singapore, Canada and the US joined in the search after a massive sea, air and land operation led by Indonesian armed forces failed to find any trace of the plane.
Dhaka, Jan 11 (IANS) Bangladesh is headed for political turmoil and street violence in the run-up to the Jan 22 general election that is viewed as "one-sided" by the international community because of the boycott by many parties.
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, heading an alliance that is boycotting the polls, announced a nationwide strike as part of her campaign to "resist" the polls.
"We will not allow playing with people's fate. We will establish people's right to vote," The Star Online quoted her as telling a rally.
Her announcement came even as cadres of the alliance, comprising 14 parties and three allies, fought pitched battles with the personnel of the armed forces and police.
Hundreds of people were injured and about as many detained while top leaders of the alliance were badly beaten up in Dhaka Tuesday. Numerous clashes have been reported from across the country.
There seemed little prospect of the elections being cancelled, as demanded by the alliance, when three advisors of President Iajuddin Ahmed, who doubles as chief advisor of the caretaker government that is conducting the polls, met alliance leaders.
The US, Britain, the European Union, Canada, Japan and other donor nations have expressed concern at the "one-sided" election because of the boycott by a majority of the political parties. However, Ahmed is going ahead with the poll plan.
Ahmed told US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who telephoned him Tuesday, that there were "constitutional compulsions" that governed his action of completing the poll process within 90 days. This period ends on Jan 25.
He also told Burns that the use of the armed forces as well as the role of the election commission and other agencies were strictly within the constitutional norms.
As things stand, a four-party alliance led by Begum Khaleda Zia, who ruled the country twice during 1991-96 and 2001-06, is racing ahead with its campaign. Zia asked her cadres and the people in general to foil the boycott.
Hasina, who opted out Jan 3, reiterated her demands before the rally: the resignation of Ahmed as chief advisor, removal of controversial election commissioners, updating of the voters' list that did not take place despite a directive of the Supreme Court last year and placing of "neutral" officers in key positions in the government and the election machinery.
The Hasina-led alliance has been agitating for these demands for over two months since Zia quit office. It has said that officials politically aligned to Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party had continued to hold key positions.
This is Bangladesh's ninth general election, interspersed by 15 years of military rule and military-guided civilian regimes between 1975 and 1990.
Since 1991, however, there has been an uninterrupted run of parliamentary democracy that has witnessed prolonged street protests by whichever party that has been in the opposition, an upsurge in radical Islamist activities and terrorism, especially during the last five years of zia's rule.
Jammu, Jan 11 (IANS) Leaders of the moderate faction of the separatist Hurriyat Conference will be here Saturday to discuss their Pakistan visit with Kashmiri Pandit groups, intellectuals and politicians.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and his team begin their Pakistan visit next week and will be in this winter capital for three days to find a "convergence of view" on a possible solution to the protracted Jammu and Kashmir problem.
"We are visiting Jammu to talk peace and find convergence of views on a possible solution of Jammu and Kashmir that will help peoples of all the regions of the state. Our purpose is to befriend the people and regions, not to offend them," a leader of the Hurriyat Conference said.
Sources in the separatist camp said the Mirwaiz faction of the Hurriyat Conference is keen to involve Jammu's leaders in the peace process.
They will hold discussions with Kashmiri Pandit groups, the local leadership of Jammu and intellectuals to broaden their viewpoint ahead of their Pakistan trip, which comes days after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee visits the country.
Before leaving for Islamabad, the Hurriyat leaders might also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
They had plans to visit Jammu earlier this month, but the bitterness created by hardliner separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had delayed the visit. Geelani had raised an anti-India pitch in Jammu that deeply angered many in this Hindu-dominated region.
There were several protests staged against Geelani.
TEHRAN, Jan 11 (NNN-KUNA) -- Two International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors arrived in Iran on Wednesday, an informed source said Wednesday.
The inspectors were due to examine Iran's nuclear installations in Isfahan and Natanz, in addition to holding discussions with officials of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Iranian News Agency (IRNA) quoted the source as saying.
The inspectors are currently inspecting Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) installations in Isfahan, said the source which declined to be identified.
Iranian Chief Nuclear Negotiator Ali Larijani said on Tuesday that his country was committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which would allow IAEA officials to conduct inspection missions on NPT members.
Iranian parliament (Majlis) passed a bill late December urging the government to reduce its cooperation with IAEA in a reaction to the UN sanctions imposed on Tehran.
UN Security Council Resolution 1737, adopted unanimously on December 23, demanded that Iran must suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and developments on all heavy water-related projects.
New Delhi, Jan 11, IRNA ,The indigenous spurious medicines market has grown to the level of Rs. 400 billion ($8.33 billion) as of now from estimated Rs. 300 billion ($6.25 billion) in 2005 as 20% of medicines are sold off across India are fake, according to estimates made by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) through its latest Study on `Counterfeits, Spurious & Contraband Goods: Preventive & Remedial Issues'.
Of 20% fake medicines whose sale throughout India goes unchecked in the absence of preventive legislation, 60% are without active ingredients, 19% have wrong ingredients while 16% have harmful and inappropriate ingredients, such as talcum powder, ASSOCHAM said in its press release.
Counterfeit medicines in government hospitals are roughly at 38%, while 35% of fake drugs sold worldwide are sourced from India, reveals the findings of ASSOCHAM Study, to be submitted to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and other government departments in due course of time.
According to Study, the total volumes of counterfeit and contraband products have gone up to the level of Rs.3,000 billion ($62.5 billion) by 2006, accruing losses to Indian economy and government due to tax evasion to the extent of Rs.1,500 billion ($31.25 billion).
About a year ago, the total spurious market in India stood at the level of Rs.2,000 billion ($41.66 billion) in which the fake drugs market was estimated at slightly lessor than Rs.300 billion ($6.25 billion).
Commenting on the findings of ASSOCHAM Study, its President, Anil K. Agarwal said that the FMCG sector is another worst victim of fake products, the estimates for which work out to be Rs. 8000 crore and about 30% of leading FMCG manufacturers suffer on account of this.
In music industry, the proportion for real and fake product is 50-50 ratio, while entertainment software piracy level is estimated at 80%.
Fake gold and precious metal that is in circulation in market contain 88% of impurity at variety of levels.
The study also highlights that consumer products with fake ISI marking endangers consumers and their safety particularly in the segments like LPG cylinders, food colors, food additives, pressure stoves, safety items used in mines, clinical thermometers, packaged drinking water and electrical appliances.
The study brings to the fore that during 2003-05, Rs.3 billion worth of CDs and DVDs, computer peripherals, CD players, FMCG products and automobile spare parts were seized from 4 metros (Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai) and Mumbai Police registered 256 cases against those that indulged in making of fake products with arresting 517 accused.
The Delhi Police registered 69 cases against those that make contraband products with arresting 101 accused. In these two cases, the value of seizers estimated at Rs.250 million.
The causes as per findings of ASSOCHAM study for increasing cases of counterfeit products include lack of legislation, lack of enforcement, lack of deterrents, lack of anti-counterfeit culture and lengthy court procedures.
The ASSOCHAM study therefore recommended that an enactment of legislation is urgently called to prevent and altogether put a full stop on the flourishing business of fake products making, said Mr.
Agarwal.
He said that ASSOCHAM has already taken up the issue with the Consumer Affairs Ministry a couple of months ago which in turn had asked the Chamber to come out with detailed study as a precursor to making the legislation with facts and figure.
It is in view of this that the Chamber conducted the study and now some of its findings are being giving final touches following whose completion, the Study will be submitted to the government, said ASSOCHAM Chief.
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) India looks beautiful from space, Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams, part of the crew aboard International Space Station (ISS), said Wednesday in a chat.
Speaking to about 60 Indian students, teachers and media persons and Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to walk in space, Williams was all praise for India.
"I have the opportunity to look at India a number of times from the spacecraft and it looks beautiful," she said during a 10-odd-minute chat over satellite phone connected to the American Center here.
"It's a colourful country. Greenery and red mountains were great," a seemingly anxious Williams added.
Thrilled at the Indian space scientists' "textbook" launch Wednesday of four satellites from an indigenous launch vehicle for the first time, she said: "Congratulations. It's a great achievement."
Williams, a graduate of the US Naval Academy, is one of the only six women NASA has put in space since 1965. Her father is an Indian-born doctor and her mother a homemaker of the Yugoslav descent.
When ejected to the vacuum Dec 10 from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Williams had taken along with her a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small idol of Lord Ganesh and a letter written in Hindi by her father Deepak Pandya - besides some samosas in a special container.
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), Jan 11 (IANS) Indian space scientists Wednesday celebrated the "textbook" launch of four satellites from an indigenous launch vehicle for the first time, but said a moon mission was still at least eight years away.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Wednesday successfully sent into orbit four satellites with the help of the PSLV C7 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle).
Exactly six months after the failure of the last launch attempt in July, two of the four satellites put into orbit were Indian-made ones and two were from Indonesia and Argentina.
Describing the launch as "a textbook" one, ISRO chairperson Madhavan Nair said: "It is a great day for the country. We have done it and we have done it precisely."
The take off time of the 295-tonne PSLV was 9.23 a.m. Within 19 minutes, the carrier attained a height of 639 km.
Until now, Indian launch vehicles have only carried three satellites at a time into orbit. To accommodate four payloads, PSLV-C7 was fitted with a dual launch adopter, also for the first time in India.
The 44-meter tall PSLV-C7 carried the Cartosat-2, a 550-kg space capsule recovery experiment (SRE-1), a 56-kg Indonesian satellite Lapan-Tubsat and a six-kg nano-satellite, Pehuensat-1, from Argentina.
The Cartosat separated perfectly and took to its destined polar synchronised orbit at 17-plus minutes after takeoff and the nano-satellite reached its station in 17 minutes.
The SRE-I - the most important satellite in this mission - went into orbit at 18 minutes and the Indonesian satellite went into orbit last, at about 19 minutes, 34 seconds after lift-off.
As many as 844 different systems and processes (specified activities) had to be integrated before the lift-off.
The PSLV mission is said to be path breaking as India is testing out a recoverable capsule for the first time, ahead of its first moon mission.
Nair said the launch had "captured back the country's confidence in our space mission".
It would take "at least eight years for a manned mission to the moon from India", Nair clarified.
Denying any pressure on ISRO to prove itself after the July 10 failure of its GSLV (geo-satellite launch vehicle) mission, Nair said: "We planned this mission two years ago."
Following the GSLV disaster, "we had to go through the entire quality control process", he said. "We have gone through a process of calibration checks, review of processes and subsystems.
"The precision with which this mission went off... I challenge any country to perform such a perfect launch," the ISRO chief said.
The re-entry and recovery phase is the most crucial part of any manned mission in outer space and the success of this experiment will be a signal from ISRO that India has started preparations for its journey to the moon.
India has never before actually tested re-entry and recovery, and will gain first hand knowledge of the various temperature changes and their effect on spacecraft.
ISRO will check out navigation, guidance and control technologies during the re-entry phase, scheduled two weeks from now.
The SRE has an aero-thermal protection system and ISRO is testing basic technology for protective outer jackets for satellites and vehicles, mission director N. Narayana Moorthy told reporters.
The SRE-1 also contains a spacecraft platform, a floating system, a parachute to control its drop, and micro-gravity payloads that will reduce its plunge speed. It will remain in a circular orbit for the first 10 days and is likely to be placed in an elliptical orbit on day 11.
The SRE-1 can remain in this elliptical orbit for as long as scientists need it to stay in space. The SRE will be reoriented in this orbit and then its de-boost rocket will be fired to make it re-enter the earth's atmosphere any time in the next two weeks after day 11.
Once it enters the earth's atmosphere, its parachute system opens and reduces its touchdown speed.
The SRE-1 is scheduled to plunge into the Bay of Bengal, about 140 km east of Sriharikota island, from where it was launched, on day 13. The Indian Navy will recover the experimental capsule, in coordination with ISRO.
The decision to test the re-entry and recovery technology was taken after 80 scientists from across the country gave their unanimous consent to sending a manned mission to space at a conference in Bangalore in November at the instance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The PSLV-C7 has also carried to space India's second mapping satellite, the 680-kg Cartosat, which is the 12th remote sensing satellite the country is placing in orbit. It can provide scene-specific spot imagery.
The satellite has a panchromatic camera to provide imagery with a spatial resolution of less than one metre and a swathe of 9.6 km. The data available from it will be used for planning rural and urban development, officials said.
The satellite will also have high agility with the capability of steering across the track up to plus-45 degrees. The revisiting time of the satellite is four days and it will be active for five years.
The Indonesian Lapan-Tubsat is an earth observation satellite while Argentina's Pehuensat-1 is intended to gain experience for designing more complex miniatures for educational, technological and scientific purposes.
ISRO's last mission, the GSLV FO2 (geo-satellite launch vehicle), had failed on July 10.
On the space capsule recovery experiment (SRE-1), the capsule that is scheduled to return to earth 13 days from now, Nair said: "Bringing back a spacecraft is a technological challenge. We don't know many things about re-entry."
He said that in 2008, with the Chandrayan-I mission, ISRO would place around the moon "an instrumentation payload that will survey the surface of the moon. It will have X-ray and gamma-ray analysers and a deep space tracking network".
ISRO plans an INSAT 4B launch in March from Ariane's South American station. Later in the year a GSLV launch is also on the cards.
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) India Wednesday said that it will not accept a legal bar on nuclear testing in the bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement it is negotiating with the US.
"We are not prepared to give a legal undertaking on nuclear testing in the bilateral 123 agreement," Shyam Saran, the prime minister's special envoy on the India-US civil nuclear deal told a gathering of strategic experts, diplomats and media personnel here. The interaction was organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India's premiere think tank on strategic issues.
There are very important issues that need to be addressed and these issues are difficult, he added.
"What we have agreed to is a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing," he said, adding that the 123 agreement will be in consonance with the July 18, 2005 understanding and March 2, 2006 separation plan of its civil and military nuclear facilities presented by India.
Saran said India would push hard for removing the restrictions on re-processing of spent fuel and technologies related to heavy water production.
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) India Wednesday said that there are "difficult" issues ahead as it negotiates a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation pact with the US and asserted that it will not accept a legal bar on nuclear testing in the so-called 123 agreement.
"We are not prepared to give a legal undertaking on nuclear testing in the bilateral 123 agreement," Shyam Saran, the prime minister's special envoy on the India-US civil nuclear deal, told a gathering of strategic experts, diplomats and media persons here.
"What we have agreed to is a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing," he said, while assuring that the 123 agreement will be "in consonance" with the July 18, 2005 understanding between India and the US and March 2, 2006 separation plan of its civil and military nuclear facilities presented by India.
India, however, can conduct a nuclear test if a situation arises in supreme national interest in future, Saran said while stressing that such a decision will not amount to violating any legal obligations. "If you decide to conduct nuclear tests, there will be consequences and we should be ready to pay the price for it," he said.
"If it undermines our national interest, we will walk away from it. Our national interests will not be compromised," he stressed. That decision will be a political decision and will be taken by the political establishment and not scientists, he added.
As India and the US hold another round of discussions on the bilateral pact later this month, Saran laid out benchmarks in terms of what will be acceptable and what will not be acceptable to India in the 123 agreement.
He stressed that India will insist on fuel guarantees in the agreement and will not accept any extra layer of safeguards other than what is agreed between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
New Delhi will not accept a moratorium on the production of fissile material in the 123 agreement. "India is unlikely to accept a moratorium on production of fissile materials except as part of a multilateral regime," Saran said.
There are very important issues that need to be addressed and these issues are difficult, he said. In the same breath, he added: "We should approach the future with a degree of optimism."
Another crucial issue of bilateral negotiations with the US will be removal of the existing US restrictions on reprocessing of spent fuel and heavy water technologies not just to India but to other countries except for a few countries like Japan and Switzerland.
"Reprocessing of spent fuel will be a critical factor. Without that, it will be difficult to carry the process forward," Saran said.
"We will continue to endeavour that this limitation is also removed," he stressed.
The interaction was organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India's premiere think tank on strategic issues.
Saran stressed that India's strategic programme and the indigenous three-stage research programme will not be compromised in the 123 agreement - the sole legal document that will govern terms of civil nuclear commerce between the two countries.
Saran also clarified that the Henry J. Hyde India-US Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law last month, has given "permanent waivers" to India from three key provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, 1954.
These included a bar on the US from cooperating with a country that has exploded a nuclear device, that has not placed all its nuclear facilities under international safeguards, and that has an active nuclear weapon programme.
The legislation made an exception for allowing civil nuclear cooperation with India in full knowledge that it had exploded a nuclear device in 1974 and 1998 and has a strategic nuclear programme, he said. These waivers amount to recognising India as a nuclear weapon state, he underlined.
Saran also expressed optimism about winning the support of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to amend its guidelines for permitting global civil nuclear cooperation with India. "We are better placed in the NSG in terms of reducing the opposition and increasing the level of support," he said.
Rajkot, Jan 11 (IANS) The Indian selectors will announce here Friday 30 probables for the 2007 World Cup, rewarding some of the notable performers in the ongoing domestic tournaments -- and breaking perhaps a few hearts.
But with the selectors unlikely to experiment any longer for the March-April tournament in the West Indies, only the tried and tested are expected to make the grade when the final 15-member squad is announced by Feb 13, as per the International Cricket Council stipulations.
The 16 competing countries in the March 11-April 28 World Cup are, however, free to pick players from outside the 30 probables when they submit their final list of 15.
At the most, the top domestic performers will have the satisfaction of making it to the short list - much like Virender Sehwag did in 1999 when he was among the probables before being omitted for the World Cup in England.
Going by Sehwag's success in the international arena since his debut in late 1999, he should have been an automatic choice this time around, and that too as vice-captain -- a post that he held till the disastrous one-day international series in South Africa recently.
But his recent poor form compelled the selectors to hand over the vice-captaincy to V.V.S. Laxman, a man who yearns to play in his first World Cup despite appearing in 86 one-day internationals since 1998.
Sehwag seems to be overcoming his poor run as he scored a century against Haryana in Ranji Trophy Wednesday, and is now sure to make it to the World Cup squad as India will desperately need his experience.
However, there will again be a question mark against Laxman, who narrowly lost out to Dinesh Mongia for the last berth in the 2003 Cup squad.
Laxman will again be locked in a close race, possibly with Dinesh Mongia and Sourav Ganguly, who seems to have come back into the reckoning with his fine performance in the Test series in South Africa recently.
If the Dilip Vengsarkar-headed selection panel goes for experience, especially in the aftermath of the batsmen's utter failure in South Africa, Ganguly has a good chance to stage a comeback to the ODI team too.
The former India captain last played for India in a one-dayer in late 2005 in Zimbabwe, before Kiran More's committee dumped him because of poor form and a policy to induct more youngsters.
All said and done, the announcement of the probables would be more of an academic exercise, though a few youngsters will have the satisfaction of being picked without actually making it to the West Indies.
Those who could make it to the probables' list could be Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, Subramiam Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Ranadeb Bose, Tejinder Pal Singh, Robin Uthappa, Shib Shankar Paul, Parthiv Patel, Venugopal Rao, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja.
But most of the final 15-member squad picks itself, with just one or two places up for grabs.
While there would be no debate on the senior brigade of captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajjan Singh and Anil Kumble, also joining them, with or without discussion would be Irfan Pathan (lately out of form), Mohammed Kaif (out of form), Ajit Agarkar (recovered from injury) and wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik, whose batting is quite a handful.
That leaves only three places up for competition. One of them would be Yuvraj Singh, provided he is fit. He missed the tour of South Africa due to a freak knee injury, but would soon start playing matches.
A host of players would vie for the last two berths, among them being Ganguly, Vikram Rajvir Singh, Suresh Raina, Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Munaf Patel, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Mongia and Rudra Pratap Singh.
INDIA, Jan 11 (NNN-PTI) -- India Wednesday added yet another feather to its cap in space techonology when its tenth Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) put four satellites into orbit.
The PSLV-C7 blasted off majestically into space at 9.24 AM Indian time (3.54 UTC) from the spaceport at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) here, 160 km north of the southern Indian city of Chennai.
The successful launch came six months after GSLV-FO2 broke up, deviating from its path 65 seconds after take-off.
The PSLV C-7 carried four satellites -- the 680-kg Indian Remote Sensing Satellite CARTOSAT-2, the 550-kg Space Capsule Recovery Equipment (SRE-1), Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina's six-kg nanosatellite, PEHUENSAT-1.
CARTOSAT-2 is the 12th in the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite series and carries a state-of-the-art panchromatic camera, with a spatial resolution of one metre and a solid state recorder with a 64-gigabyte storage capacity.
Data from this satellite will find applications in cartography at the cadastral level, urban and rural infrastructure development and management, apart from Land Information System and Geographical Information System (GIS).
CARTOSAT-2 was placed in a 635-km high polar Sun Synchronous Orbit.
SRE-1 is intended to demonstrate the technology of orbiting platform for performing experiments in micro-gravity conditions and recovering the same after completion of the experiments.
The SRE-1 takes India into an elite club of countries that have satellite re-entry technology. The space flight will stay in orbit for between 13 and 30 days and is expected to splash down in the Bay of Bengal for recovery.
It will provide important technology inputs in navigation, guidance and control during the re-entry phase, hypersonic aero-thermodynamics for reusable thermal protection system, recovery through deceleration and floatation, besides acquisition of basic technology for reusable launch vehicles.
LAPAN-TUBSAT is an Indonesian earth observation satellite and a technology demonstrator for control systems. It carries two Charge Coupled Device (CCD) cameras with a ground resolution of 5m and 200 m respectively. It also carries an experiment for message store and forward system.
The Argentinian nano-satellite, PEHUENSAT-1, will serve the educational, technological and scientific fields. It is intended to gain experience for designing more complex missions. -- NNN-PTI
Bangalore, Jan 11 (IANS) Infosys Technologies Ltd has posted net profit of Rs.9.83 billion during the third quarter (October-December) of the current fiscal (2006-07), registering 51.5 percent growth year-on-year.
Bangalore, Jan 11 (IANS) Infosys Technologies Ltd has posted net profit of Rs.9.83 billion during the third quarter (October-December) of the current fiscal (2006-07), registering 51.5 percent growth year-on-year.
It has registered 5.8 percent growth sequentially under the Indian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
According to the company's notification to the stock exchanges here Thursday, the consolidated income during the quarter under review (Q3) is Rs.36.55 billion, an increase of 44.4 percent YoY and 5.9 percent sequentially under the Indian GAAP.
Tehran, Jan 11 (DPA) The new set-up of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI) is to be finalised by Feb 7, it was reported by ISNA news agency.
The announcement came after Wednesday's session of FFI's special transitory board, which is charged with changing the federation's structures to end a row with football's world governing body FIFA, ISNA said.
FIFA in November suspended Iran for excessive government interference in football, but later agreed to temporarily lift the suspension until a new set-up independent of the state was approved.
Iran was forced in December to form a six-member FFI transitory board to amend the federation's structure within 100 days and to achieve independence from the government.
Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran's Olympic committee and all of its sports federations are run by the so-called Physical Education Organisation.
The head of this sports organisation has always been a deputy to the president. Mohammad Aliabadi, who is also the vice president of Iran, currently holds the position.
Changing the status quo would oblige Iran to exclude football from the jurisdiction of the sport's organisation.
Tokyo, Jan 11 (DPA) Japan Airlines Corps, the country's largest airline, plans to cut 3,000 jobs from the current group workforce of 53,000 in the next three years starting April, the company spokesman said Wednesday.
Japan Airlines is expected to cut primarily flight attendants and ground service staff through attrition and voluntary retirement, local media quoted sources as saying.
The company spokesman said JAL would announce the plan in its medium-term business plan on Feb 6 but declined to comment on further details.
JAL, which posted a net loss of 47.24 billion yen ($423.65 million) for the year that ended in March, hopes to improve its profitability with the move.
With asset sales and cost reduction, the company with more than 270 subsidiaries expects a group net profit of 3 billion yen for the current business year until March.
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) The National Knowledge Commission (NKC), a high-level advisory body to the Indian Prime Minister has recommended to connect at least 5,000 educational hubs across the country through broadband.
"We have recommended for broadband networking of 5,000 knowledge hubs including universities, colleges, libraries, laboratories, medical centres and research hubs all over India," Sam Pitroda, chairman, NKC said Wednesday here.
"The central government has also been advised to connect all the research centres of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Once connected people can easily access the research findings and other important resources to read, write and develop it further," Pitroda told IANS on the sidelines of an Indian-American physicians' programme.
Pitroda also said that several telecom players have expressed their desire in this project and they can be roped in for this nationwide 100-megabit broadband networking.
"It could be a public-private partnership involving several telecom service providers like Bharti, Reliance, BSNL."
He said India has a huge pool of fibre optics and it should be utilised to "update, improve and upgrade our knowledge sources".
"We have given our recommendations and in all likelihood things should start moving by the end of this year."
By Syed Zarir Hussain,
Guwahati, Jan 11 (IANS) The situation in Assam is slowly returning to normalcy with a massive military crackdown on rebel strongholds, following the carnage unleashed by them, beginning to show results.
"The situation has definitely improved with the security offensives across the state. We are sure of restoring normalcy and instilling a sense of confidence and security back among the people very soon," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told IANS.
At least 20,000 army, police, and paramilitary troopers were raiding the bases of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), blamed for the wave of violence that killed 72 people, 61 of them being Hindi-speaking migrant workers.
"Two more rebels were captured in raids in eastern Assam," an Assam police official said.
An army commander said soldiers were in "hot pursuit" of the rebels in both Assam and in adjoining Arunachal Pradesh where the ULFA have set up bases to carry out their hit-and-run guerrilla strikes in the region.
"The ULFA militants are on the run and it is a matter of time before we get to see visible results," the army official, who wished not to be identified, said.
Three ULFA militants were killed in the ongoing counter-insurgency operations that began earlier this week under the command of the army's Four Corps bases at Tezpur in northern Assam. Soldiers of the 2nd Mountain Division bases at Dinjan in eastern Assam are also engaged in the military offensive.
"There is total coordination between the police, paramilitary and the army," the chief minister said. With the situation showing considerable improvement and no major rebel strikes reported in the last two days, the rush of Hindi-speaking migrant workers leaving the state out of fear has declined.
"People are beginning to feel secure and hence there is no fresh reports of exodus," an Assam government spokesperson said.
The latest attacks were Assam's worst violence in years and came after the central government called off a six-week ceasefire in September and resumed military offensives blaming the ULFA for stepping-up violence and extortions.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony Wednesday reviewed the security situation in Assam at the 2nd Mountain Division at Dinjan and reiterated the government's stance that there would be no fresh talks with ULFA unless the outfit shunned violence.
"Talks can only be held if the ULFA abjures violence," Antony said.
The ULFA has not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.
Kathmandu, Jan 11 (IANS) Poised to re-enter parliament after a decade of guerrilla warfare, Nepal's Maoists have said they are willing to forgive and forget the foreign governments that cracked down on them as terrorists and have no "working relations" with any terror group abroad.
As the communist guerrillas get ready to send 73 members to parliament Monday and soon join the government, their newly appointed international affairs chief Chandra Prakash Gajurel, known as Gaurav during his days underground, has outlined the party's foreign affairs policy, saying it would be based on reconciliation and peaceful co-existence.
Gajurel, who was arrested and jailed in India while trying to fly to Germany and drum up international support for the Maoists' 'People's War', says he has no bitterness towards the Indian government.
"The circumstances were different then," the veteran leader says. "The Indian government had good relations with King Gyanendra then and tried to keep Nepal happy. But after the king's coup (in 2005), India changed its stand towards the royalist government. It stopped military assistance to the royal regime and provided space to us on Indian soil to hold the first meeting with Nepali opposition parties and reach an understanding."
When the rebels join the government, they will focus on reviewing Nepal's international treaties, abrogating or revising the ones that are unequal and detrimental to Nepal's interests.
Most of Nepal's foreign pacts are with its southern neighbour and biggest trade partner India.
The controversial Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty of 1950, which says Nepal will consult India while buying arms for its own internal security, seems headed for review, if not downright scrapping.
India has said it was open to a review of the pact during Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Kathmandu last month.
Another controversial pact, the Extradition Treaty, will also come under review.
The treaty was updated last year and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's government had agreed to sign it.
However, at the last moment, the Koirala government, pressured by the Maoists as well as its own allies, put off the inking of the pact without showing any reason.
Gajurel said the updated treaty would have to be reviewed yet again.
"At that time, our party was considered to be a terrorist organisation and the pact was drafted accordingly," he said. "But now things have changed."
The Maoists will keep their ideological links with other Maoist organisations abroad, like the Revolutionary International Movement and Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia but not any working relations, Gajurel said.
"The ideological relations will continue as long as we are Maoists but it will not hamper state to state relations," Gajurel said.
The Maoists have also decided to forgive and forget the cold shoulder given to them by China and the US.
"In the past, China said we were not Maoists and tarnished the image of their leader Mao Tse Tung by naming ourselves after him," he said. "China also labelled us anti-government forces. But we are ready to forgive for the sake of forming a democratic republic in Nepal.
"It is not just our desire but the desire of the people to see a republic in Nepal. We want China too to help us with the process of change."
The Maoists are also extending the same tolerance towards their bete noire, the US.
"The US tried to stop the parties from reaching a pact with us and then tried to prevent us from joining parliament," Gajurel said.
"But once there are 73 Maoist members in parliament, people in the US will start re-thinking."
Ranga Pahar (Nagaland), Jan 11 (IANS) Ruling out the repeal of a controversial law that gives the Indian Army unfettered powers of arrest in the northeast, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Wednesday that steps would instead be taken to make it more "humane".
He also said peace talks with an influential Naga separatist group were on track and that the situation in neighbouring Manipur, once "badly affected" by terrorism, was "improving".
Speaking to reporters in this garrison town, 40 km from Nagaland's commercial capital Dimapur, as he wound up a two-day visit to the northeast, his first since assuming office, the minister also ruled out joint operations with Myanmar to root out Indian rebel groups that had taken shelter in its territory, saying the issue would be tackled through diplomatic means.
Earlier Wednesday, Antony flew to an army base at Dinjan, over 500 km from Assam's principal city of Guwahati, for a briefing on the operations against the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) that is blamed for the killing of 61 Hindi-speaking people in a spate of violent incidents since last Friday. Eleven others, including five policemen and three ULFA cadres, have been killed in different incidents during this period.
Antony, who arrived in Tezpur Tuesday, held a high-level meeting with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, the Indian Army chief, Gen. J.J. Singh, and other officials to discuss the ongoing operations against ULFA.
Antony was categorical in his reply when asked about the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that various groups have charged the army with misusing under the garb of controlling terrorism.
"The act will stay but with a few amendments. It should be possible to make it more humane," he asserted, adding: "The law has to stay otherwise how else will we meet the threat posed by ULFA?
"The army operates in a difficult situation where the lives of soldiers are in danger. When they operate in such difficult situations, they need special protection," the minister maintained.
Referring to the ceasefire with Naga rebel groups that has been in place since 1997, he stated that "talks are on very smoothly to find a honourable solution" to the issue.
"The government of India is very serious and sincere to find a peaceful solution to the Naga problem," Antony asserted, adding: "There is an atmosphere of peace in the state and all round support for finding a peaceful solution."
Indian government interlocutors are scheduled to hold another round of talks with the Isak-Muivah faction of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).
As for Manipur, Antony said the situation had improved to the extent that "government officials can work without fear". In this context, he said the successful conduct of assembly polls next month "would be a great boost to the peace process".
Speaking about Myanmar, the minister said there was "concern" over ULFA rebels sheltering in its territory "but we will not interfere in the internal affairs of another country".
"We have conveyed our concern and we hope (the Myanmar government) will take it up, Antony said, even as he maintained that relations between the two countries, particularly in the defence sphere, "are now stronger".
Hyderabad, Jan 11 (IANS) Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi has sought a Rs.500-billion package for uplifting Muslims.
Saying the report of the Rajinder Sachar committee that went into the educational, economic and social backwardness of Muslims was an eyeopener, he urged the central government to announce a plan for the community.
The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MP is organizing a two-day national seminar on "Challenges and Opportunities for Indian Muslims" here from Saturday.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and eminent scholars as well as experts will address the seminar, which will discuss various aspects of the report and come out with recommendations to be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
After the seminar a delegation will call on the prime minister and urge him to allocate substantial funds for educational, economic and social improvement of the conditions of Muslims, Owaisi told reporters Thursday.
He said reservations for Muslims in jobs and educational institutions could be concrete steps to help the community.
Washington, Jan 11 (Xinhua) US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he would recommend to President George W. Bush to add 92,000 soldiers to the country's military over the next five years.
This would include 65,000 soldiers for the army and 27,000 for the Marine Corps, he told a news conference.
Currently the US Army has been authorised by Congress to increase its active-duty soldiers from 482,000 to 512,000 on a temporary basis. Its actual number stands at about 507,000.
In December 2006, army chief Gen. Peter Schoomaker said more troops should be added to the service so that the force would not "break".
The army was incapable of meeting the demands of the war on terror and other contingencies without ramping both its active and reserve forces, he told the Independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves.
The US military currently has more than 130,000 troops in Iraq and about 20,000 in Afghanistan. Most of the ground troops are from the army and the Marine Corps.
Moscow, Jan 11 (RIA Novosti) Russian President Vladimir Putin was Thursday harshly critical of the controversial US prison at Guantanamo Bay on its fifth anniversary, saying a similar facility would never come up in this country.
"People have been held at the camp without trial for five years, and those released have to defend themselves in national judicial systems," he said at a meeting here with human rights advocates.
"I hope a similar camp never appears in Russia," Putin maintained.
Located in southwest Cuba, the camp has been used to hold and interrogate those captured in a Washington-led global anti-terrorism campaign.
Human rights organisations in the US and worldwide have been highly critical of the facility for holding prisoners without trial and over allegations of torture.
Of some 700 Guantanamo inmates, about 380, including Russian nationals, have been released. According to Putin, he could not recall any charges ever been framed against the prisoners.
Moscow/Minsk, Jan 11 (DPA) Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft resumed pumping oil to Europe at around midnight after several days of interruption following disagreement over tariff with Belarus.
Belarusian pipeline operator Gomeltransneft resumed transmission to Poland, Germany, the Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, Interfax news service reported.
Oil was measured flowing through the pipeline in Ukraine at full force around midnight, Ukrainian officials said.
No official confirmation had been received from Russia, and Prime Minister Sergei Sidorskiy said the details would be clarified later Thursday.
Belarus' cabinet repealed an oil tariff Wednesday that led to the
standoff with Moscow and the stoppage of oil transit, which left a number of European countries without Russian oil.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke via telephone with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko Wednesday, and the Cabinet in Minsk repealed the $45 per tonne tariff shortly afterward.
The tariff's repeal also brought Russia closer to negotiations with Belarus at which Minsk hopes to get Russia to repeal its own tariff on gas exported into Belarus.
"We are satisfied with the decision of the Belarusian (cabinet). Preparations are under way in the ministry, and, I hope, we will be able to begin discussions on all types of trade relations this evening," Russian Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Andrei Sharonov said Wednesday.
Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky also said he was planning to fly to Moscow for talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov Thursday.
The Druzhba pipeline was stopped Monday morning by Gomeltransneft after Russia balked at the now-repealed tariff. Moscow then cut the flow of Druzhba - Russian for 'friendship' - on its end as well.
The pipeline, which pumps 80 million tonnes of oil into Europe each year, is one of the continent's biggest sources of the fuel. Russia supplies Europe with 200 million tonnes of oil per year, roughly a quarter of Europe's needs.
Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine have all either been cut off entirely from the flow or saw reduced delivery volumes as a result of the dispute.
While European reserves have protected consumers against serious oil shortages, the disagreement has caused the EU to once again question Russia's reliability as an energy partner.
Russia cut off natural gas supplies to the Ukraine amid a pricing dispute just over a year ago, and many in the EU worry the source of a third of their gas and a quarter of their oil needs may hold those supplies hostage in order to settle political disputes.
--DPA
Moscow, Jan 11 (RIA Novosti) The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament said Moscow did not support the US decision to send more troops to Iraq but would continue to back Washington's fight against terrorism.
US President George W. Bush announced Wednesday his country would send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq, almost four years after the US-led invasion.
"Russia has never supported a military presence in Iraq and does not welcome plans to increase the military contingent," said Speaker Boris Gryzlov, who leads the pro-Kremlin United Russia party.
Gryzlov called for solutions that would bring stability and security to Iraq.
"It is important to ensure that Iraqis themselves provide security, and build a viable state," Gryzlov said, adding that Iraq was still a long way from being a sovereign state despite US assurances.
Both Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have repeatedly described Iraq a sovereign nation.
--RIA Novosti
Kolkata, Jan 11 (IANS) Indonesia's Salim Group would stand by the West Bengal government and go ahead with its plans despite the unrest over land acquisition for its industrial project, Salim's partner Prasun Mukherjee said here Wednesday.
"There is no question of pulling out. We will go ahead with all - the SEZ (special economic zone), the road and the bridge," said Mukherjee, an NRI industrialist.
"It is a big project and it would take time to be implemented. India is a democracy and in a democracy this is a natural process. Even in the US there are lobbies like the greens. We have full faith in the state government," said Mukherjee who is partnering with the Indonesian firm for the project.
Nndigram, 150 km from here, witnessed violence last week that claimed at least four lives after villagers protested a land acquisition notification for the projects.
"The deaths are sad and Beni Santoso (the executive director of the Indonesia-based conglomerate) is sad too. We have faith in the government in prevention of such incidents," Mukherjee said.
"West Bengal has not seen a project of this magnitude before," he said.
On July 31, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government signed an agreement with the Salim Group to implement various developmental projects, including the setting up of a mega chemical industrial estate that will have a chemical SEZ at Nandigram, spread across 14,500 acres.
Construction of a four-lane road bridge over the Haldi River, from Haldia to Nandigram, has also been planned. The proposed bridge would provide a link between Haldia and the proposed chemicals SEZ in Nandigram.
Jammu, Jan 11 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir government Wednesday suspended Deputy Inspector General of Police Niaz Mehmood Mir following allegations of corruption in the recruitment of constables.
An official spokesman said the government had taken serious note of the charges against the officer after allegations were levelled in the legislative assembly.
Sham Sharma, a Congress legislator, had alleged that the officer had resorted to corrupt practices.
The spokesman said: "Pending enquiry into the alleged irregularities in conducting the physical endurance test for selection of police constables in Jammu and Kathua districts, Niaz Mehmood Mir, IPS officer of the 1992 batch and DIG (Jammu-Kathua), has been placed under suspension with immediate effect."
The test conducted under Mir's supervision was declared null and void.
LONDON, Jan 10 (NNN-KUNA) -- The British Foreign Office was Wednesday investigating reports of British casualties in US air strikes on Al-Qaeda suspects in Somalia amid claims that support for the Islamic militant movement had come from the UK.
Meanwhile, the UNs new Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced fears today that the air strikes could increase hostilities and harm civilians.
Following days of fierce fighting in the African country, the US launched a series of air strikes against Islamic extremists it suspects of having links to Al- Qaeda.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister has said that many international terrorists had been killed, injured or captured in the fighting, including Britons.
"Notwithstanding the motives for this reported military action, Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas said today ... the Secretary General is concerned about the new dimension this kind of action could introduce to the conflict and the possible escalation of hostilities that may result.
"He is also concerned about the impact this would have on the civilian population in southern Somalia and regrets the reported loss of civilian lives, " she added.
There were reports last weekend that British passport holders were involved in the fighting, which has claimed scores of lives.
The Foreign Office has said it was investigating the claims.
A Foreign Office spokesman said "We take these reports very seriously and will do everything we can to look into them." "We are in constant touch with the Ethiopian and Somalian governments and will look into this matter," he added.
Somalia's deputy prime minister has claimed that much of the funding for the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which has taken control of large parts of central and southern Somalia during the past six months, was coming from Britain.
In an interview with the British commercial TV station "More4 News", Hussein Mohammed Aideed said "Those who died in the war with the UIC were British passport holders, US passport holders, they were the elite who went outside, indoctrinated differently and were told that the government is not a Muslim government, that it's a government backed by infidels."
He alleged "The UIC's main support was coming from London, paying cash to the UIC against the government." The US military has conducted a series of air strikes on al Qaida linked militants in the last two days.
It said that Somali Islamists sheltered Al-Qaeda operatives linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa.
Meanwhile, a man wanted by British police in connection with the murder of Policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford, northern England, is thought to have fled to Somalia.
There have been claims that Mustaf Jamma, 26, may have fled the UK for his homeland disguised as a woman dressed in a veil following the shooting of the 38-year-old police officer.
British Home Secretary John Reid has said that diplomatic efforts have begun to secure the return of Jamma to the UK.
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the expulsion of 11 MPs, caught on camera while accepting bribes to ask questions, saying parliament was entitled to take disciplinary action against them.
A five-judge bench of the apex court - Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justices K.G. Balakrishnan, D.K. Jain, R.V. Ravindran and C.K. Thakkar - also upheld parliament's disciplinary jurisdiction over its members and the power to conduct the proceedings on the floor of the house.
Challenging their December 2005 expulsion, the MPs - 10 from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha - had contended that parliament had no power to throw them out under Article 105 of the constitution.
The Lok Sabha MPs were Anna Saheb M.K. Patil, Suresh Chandel, Y.G. Mahajan, Pradeep Gandhi and Chandra Pratap Singh (all BJP), Narendra Kumar Kushwaha, Lal Chandra Kol and Raja Ram Pal (all BSP), Manoj Kumar (RJD) and Ramsevak Singh (Congress). The Rajya Sabha MP was Chhattrapal Singh Lodha (BJP).
The chief justice in his main judgement said that the powers and privileges of parliament under Article 105 would include the power of expulsion of its members.
He said: "Parliament is empowered to define, by law, the powers, privileges and immunities of each house and of their members and committees in respects other than those specified in the constitutional provisions."
The bench said: "Expulsion is only an additional cause for the shortening of a term of a member. While Articles 101 and 102 do speak of disqualifications for and continuation of membership, in our view, they operate independently of Article 105 (3), which is also a constitutional provision, and it demands equal weight as any other provision.
"Parliament's power to expel under Article 105 (3) does by no means amount to adding a new ground for disqualification."
The bench said parliament "could use its power for "protective" purposes not only for acts done within the house but also upon "anything that lowers the dignity of the house."
Dismissing the petitions filed by the expelled members, it said "proper opportunity to explain and defend having been given to each of the petitioners, the procedure adopted by the two houses of parliament cannot be held to be suffering from any illegality, irrationality, unconstitutionality, violation of rules of natural justice or perversity."
It held that the actions of parliament are subject to judicial review and no absolute immunity can be claimed to usurp the jurisdiction of the court.
It said: "Constitutional system of government abhors absolutism and it being the cardinal principle of our constitution that no one, howsoever lofty, can claim to be the sole judge of the power given under the constitution. Mere co-ordinate constitutional status, or even the status of an exalted constitutional functionaries, does not disentitle this court from exercising its jurisdiction of judicial review of action which partake the character of judicial or quasi-judicial decision.
"The fact that parliament is an august body of co-ordinate constitutional position does not mean that there can be no judicially manageable standards to review exercise of its power. The judicature is not prevented from scrutinising the validity of the action of the legislature trespassing on the fundamental rights conferred on the citizens."
Rejecting the arguments of the government, the bench said, "The contention that the exercise of privileges by legislatures cannot be decided against the touchstone of fundamental rights or the constitutional provisions is not correct."
In his dissent judgement, Ravindran said parliament should have initiated criminal proceedings against the 11 MPs and only after their conviction should they have been expelled.
The scandal broke out in December 2005 when a team of TV news channel reporters posing as businessmen approached several MPs promising them money if they asked the questions they wanted to be asked on the floor of the house.
The 11 MPs agreed and accepted the money that was offered - and this was filmed and telecast to the shock of the entire nation.
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) India-US strategic ties can be strengthened only if they transgress national interests, a top American security expert conceded Thursday.
The admission by Lt. Gen. (retd) Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Advisor to two US presidents, came in response to a question at a seminar here on "The Future of the US-India Strategic Relation: Security and Defence Implications".
Posing the question, former Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswami, said the two countries could not ramp up their ties if they looked at "mutual selfish national interest alone".
"What is the point if the two countries work in the quest of self-interest alone?" he wondered.
Instead, the two countries should sacrifice a bit of their own self-interests and jointly work for a better world order, Krishnaswamy maintained.
Conceding the point, Scowcroft, who served the administrations of former US presidents Gerald Ford and the elder George Bush, said the two countries should work together in areas like energy and environment to strengthen their strategic interests.
In his address, Scowcroft also paid tribute to the dynamism of the Indian people, saying this is what was taking the country forward.
"China is emerging as a great power because of its government's determination to expand its commercial and economic horizons.
"India, on the other hand, is emerging as a great power because of the dynamism of its people," Scowcroft contended.
By Prasun Sonwalkar,
London, Jan 11 (IANS) The opposition Conservative party has extended its support to the ongoing campaign to reverse recent changes to immigration rules that have adversely affected thousands of highly skilled migrants, many of them from India.
The highly skilled migrants have organised a demonstration to protest the changes at parliament square Thursday, which will be followed by submitting a memorandum to Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10, Downing Street.
The demonstration will be joined by Damien Green, the Conservative spokesperson and shadow immigration minister, and Labour MPs such as Keith Vaz and Andrew Dismore.
Nearly 49,000 migrants have been affected by the changes to the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP). The changes include setting new criteria for working in Britain that will in effect mean that many who are already in the country will no longer qualify to do so.
Migrants from India are the largest single country group who have been allowed into Britain under the programme. According to Amit Kapadia, coordinator of the demonstration, 85 percent of migrants under the programme come from Asia.
The new rules were introduced without warning Nov 7. They require HSMP migrants to re-qualify introducing new tests including earnings requirements and academic qualifications. The HSMP migrants are the third group to be adversely affected by changes to immigration rules announced in 2006, the other two groups being doctors from India and other non-European Union countries, and migrants with Work Permits.
For the doctors, permit-free training was abolished, making it difficult to secure employment in the National Health Service. Doctors of Indian origin have challenged the changes in a judicial review. A judgement is expected later this month.
For the migrants with Work Permits, the qualifying period for settlement in Britain was changed from four years to five years, which affected the family, housing, education and plans of thousands of people in jeopardy. This change is expected to be admitted for judicial review, depending on the judgment in the doctors' case.
The doctors and migrants have protested the changes on the grounds that they were put into effect retrospectively, without consultation, and amounted to changing the rules from the time the migrants had first entered Britain.
Damian Green said: "Everyone agrees that Britain benefits from highly-skilled migrants. The government's decision to change the rules so that people who are already here and want to stay are now disqualified is both unfair and wrong-headed.
"It is unfair because the people involved have made a commitment to this country which is being flung back in their faces. It is wrong-headed because it sends a signal to highly-skilled people around the world that Britain is an unreliable place to work.
"Conservatives want an immigration policy which is tough and thoughtful. The current government are talking tough but acting stupidly. It has failed to control our borders, so it is lashing out at precisely the people who benefit our economy. This is another in the growing list of disasters from John Reid's Home Office."
So far, sustained lobbying by migrants with their MPs and petitions to the Home Office has not led to reversal of the changes. The highly skilled migrants from India have also appealed to the Indian government to intervene.
Kapadia, organiser of the Thursday demonstration, said: "The whole issue with these new rules is that people are being asked to re-qualify for their visa extension through a points based system (PBS) rather than initial promise of extension on economic activity alone.
"This new PBS expects us to gain more points on higher salaries and on younger age. Both of them are very difficult as higher salaries in UK are not possible due to the duration of visa which we are issued (1, 2, 3 years) due to which we are considered for contract or temporary jobs by employers and employment agencies and not for jobs of permanent nature wherein higher salaries are possible."
The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA) has called upon Liam Bryne, immigration minister, to suspend the changes, but this has been rejected. The ILPA has said that it is 'unfair and unreasonable' to change the rules retrospectively, which would force talented and skilled individuals to leave Britain.
London, Jan 11 (IANS) A gang of fraudsters, including two members of Indian origin, have been given jail sentences totalling 40 years for perpetuating a multi-million pound VAT scam on the mobile phone industry.
The gang members, mainly based in the Midlands, were sentenced by the Worcester Crown Court this week, after a six-year investigation by Revenue and Customs officials and two criminal trials.
Ringleader Emmanuel Hening, 33, a Luxembourg-based businessman was found guilty on three counts of "missing trader" fraud and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Jaswant Ray Kanda, 42, based near Sutton Coldfield, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years and banned from being a company director for eight years. Kanda was a director of Waves International Ltd, based at Bradford Court, Bradford Street, Birmingham.
Another person sentenced for four-and-a-half-years was Bhovinder Singh Sangha, 38. He reportedly tried to flee Britain between verdict and sentencing but was intercepted by the police at the Channel Tunnel on his way to India, via Paris. He was a director of B-Tel Com.
Reports from Birmingham say that investigations by Revenue and Customs officials began in 2000 and involved breaking the audit trail of businesses based in Britain, Luxembourg and France through a company called Handycom SA operated by Hening.
Hening claimed on invoices to be importing large numbers of European-specification mobile phones into Britain, VAT-free, by various companies that he had set up. He then sold the phones "on paper", charging VAT that was never paid.
Prosecutors told the court that these companies then "went missing" and the phones were sold to "buffer" traders before being exported back to Hening. He was also disqualified from being a company director for 15 years.
The operators of the buffer companies were found guilty by unanimous verdicts of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue last June after a nine-week trial at Worcester Crown Court. Others sentenced included David William Burch, Brian John Meehan, Abid Mukhtar and Angela Antoinette Senatore.
Chris Harrison, deputy director of investigations for Revenue and Customs, told the media: "This was not some kind of victimless crime, but organised fraud on a massive scale perpetrated by criminals all bent on making fast and easy profits at the expense of the British taxpayer."
Baghdad/Tehran, Jan 11 (DPA) US forces accompanied by military helicopters Thursday stormed the Iranian consulate in the Kurdish city of Erbil in Iraq, arresting five Iranian employees, a Kurdish security source said.
In addition to the arrests, US troops confiscated documents and computers, while Kurdish security authorities cordoned off all roads leading to the building.
In Tehran, the Iranian leadership responded by summoning diplomats representing US interests in order to protest.
Local Kurdish officials in northern Iraq refused to comment on the incident.
Arbil is located 350 km north of Baghdad in Kurdistan province, the only region officially recognised as a federal entity.
The raid came a day after President George W. Bush said the US would confront Iran and Syria, accusing them of fomenting violence in Iraq by allowing insurgents into the country and supporting attacks on American troops.
The political and religious representatives of Iraq's Sunni Muslim population accuse the Iranian leadership of supporting Shia militias and even sending its own fighters to take part in death squads.
In Tehran, Iran summoned the ambassadors of Iraq and Switzerland (which represents US interests in Iran) over the consulate raid, Iran's state television network IRIB reported.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry demanded explanations from the two ambassadors on the raid and stressed that the consulate was established in the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region at the explicit wishes of the Iraqi government and Iraqi Kurdish officials.
Meanwhile, a source close to the Kurdistani government said the administration was unaware of the US plans to raid the Iranian consulate and did not know the purpose of the operation.
After raiding the consulate, the US forces headed for Eikawa district, which hosts foreign companies and countries' representatives. Security forces of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) reportedly surrounded three US military vehicles to prevent them from further action.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini condemned the raid and called it contrary to diplomatic norms.
He also confirmed the arrest of the five consulate staff members, but could give no information on their whereabouts or whether they have been transferred outside Erbil.
The IRIB Arabic network Al-Alam reported that the Iranian consulate employees had already been transferred to Baghdad although the president of the Kurdish autonomous region, Massoud Barzani, had tried to prevent the transfer.
Hosseini said that all accusations by the US alleging Iranian interference in Iraq's internal affairs were just excuses to cover up the US failure in Iraq.
"Even the Iraqi officials have several times confirmed that Iran had no interference in Iraq," the spokesman said.
Elsewhere at least three people, including a local leader, were killed and 31 wounded when a truck bomb exploded Thursday in Samaraa, northern Iraq, an Iraqi police source said.
Among the dead was Asaad Yassin, president of the municipal council of Samaraa, near whose home the truck was parked, the source said.
By Frederick Noronha,
Panaji, Jan 11 (IANS) Digital inclusion and connectivity can be a tool to empower rural India, says UNICEF, saying the world body is using a range of tricks to spread its message on child protection and development.
"Our focus is on health, nutrition, education, child protection, water and sanitation," UNICEF India country office communications officer Augustine Veliath told a conference on Information and Communication Technology here.
"We believe digital inclusion and connectivity could be one of the tools that empower rural India," he said. The New York-based St John's University organized the conference.
The tools with UNICEF include digital content to animation role models. The big question is whether ICT could help "India's children flourish", Veliath said.
UNICEF is to tie up with Mission 2007, an initiative to equip 100,000 Indian villages with knowledge centres to provide digital content. Mission 2007 is racing against time to get its ambitious plans in place, its deadline year already dawning.
Veliath said UNICEF's work so far, using digital tools, included its 'Facts For Life' primer (aiming to offer much-needed basic information to every family), its 'Devinfo India' database, an e-warehouse of sharable digital information, and its multimedia programme on promoting positive images about the girl child called Meena.
'Facts for Life' is a family primer that has been published in 215 languages, with some 15 million copies. "It contains the latest life-saving knowledge, and we would like to see this available for all," said Veliath.
"It includes information about the minimum a rural family should know," he said. UNICEF is suggesting that this be a primer for India's Mission 2007.
Shishu Samrakshan, a project undertaken by UNICEF's Andhra Pradesh unit, has won the New Delhi-based Manthan Award for e-content.
"We looked at all possible questions a family could ask (in health) and offer information in local language. We have this in Telugu, Kannada and Hindi," he said.
The Nasscom Foundation, the non-profit wing of India's main software lobby group, is to translate it into regional languages. Shishu Samrakshan is available in the CD format and can be used by a school or a health centre.
UNICEF has won praise for its multimedia-animation based project, packaging fictional character Meena as a South Asian girl child and building positive characteristics around her.
"We've taken assistance from Hollywood (to create this). It is one of the best ever done. The way children in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have taken to Meena is amazing," said Veliath.
"The Meena film is a tremendous ice-breaker. Once you show a Meena film, you can talk to anyone and they will talk to you," explained Veliath. Uttar Pradesh has some 19,000 Meena Manchas (clubs), where girls can get together.
UNICEF's website is also promoting Magic, a media-and-young-people network that encourages children to discuss issues such as their right to access their media, and children's right to get protection in the media.
India's UN agencies have also built a Solutions Exchange, where practitioners offer their help and advice on various issues. "As a sharing of experiences, it has tremendous potential," he added.
Veliath noted how UNICEF had helped build awareness about the humble hand pump across India after a missionary in Maharashtra tried to work this out as a solution for women fighting domestic drudgery.
"Now 55 countries import hand pumps from India," he said.
One recent initiative of UNICEF in India is to promote "child reporters". Encouraged by the response from Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, the agency is involving youngsters in interacting with parliament too.
"We also think IT will have a tremendous role to play in basic education as also in disaster preparedness," said Veliath.
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, Jan 11 (IANS) A new World Bank study suggests that trade between India and Bangladesh would do better if there were broad-based liberalisation, rather than a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Noting that an India-Bangladesh FTA has been under consideration for some time, the study points at possible advantages, but concludes that there is no compelling case for the two countries to pursue a bilateral agreement. Rather a broader-based liberalisation would be preferable since this would yield much larger economic benefits, whilst minimising risks, said the study on "India-Bangladesh Trade, Trade Policies and Potential Free Trade Agreement".
A bilateral free trade agreement would provide substantial benefits to Bangladesh consumers by giving them access to cheaper exports from India, according to the study. These consumer benefits would far outweigh losses in government revenue or lost profits for local manufacturers.
Yet the study goes on to say such benefits could easily be wiped out, if one does not make sure that the incentive systems give the right signals.
By keeping out cheaper third-country imports, the FTA risks providing a captive, protected market where Indian producers might collude amongst themselves or with Bangladeshi importers to artificially increase prices.
On the other hand cheaper goods from, say East Asia, might be excluded, forcing Bangladeshi consumers and businesses to overpay, the study suggested.
For India, the economic benefits from a Free Trade Agreement would be modest since its trade with Bangladesh is small in relation to India's overall trade. These modest gains would mostly stem from expanded exports.
The study finds that India would stand to profit more from the continuation of its policies of unilateral liberalisation - paying special attention to the removal of non-tariff barriers, specific duties on textiles and garments, and prohibitive tariffs on agricultural products.
India and Bangladesh could still greatly benefit from cooperation in other areas, without necessarily implementing an FTA, it said.
Improvements in the transport, storage and administrative infrastructure at land borders would yield substantial benefits. Greater harmonisation and cooperation in customs administration and banking relationships would also be highly beneficial.
Progress could also be made to tackle informal and illegal trade that, by some estimates, could be as high as three quarters of recorded trade and is mostly from India to Bangladesh.
The study suggests improved infrastructure at land border customs posts; streamlined customs procedures and administration; expanded facilities at smaller customs border post. Added to this, Bangladesh needs to bring down its protective tariffs to levels closer to those of its comparators in South Asia and elsewhere, it said.
Guantanamo, Cuba, Jan 11 (NNN-Prensa Latina) -- US pacifists traveled to Guantanamo to protest, held a vigil and demanding the closure of the US prison at Guantanamo Naval Base on Thursday.
About 400 alleged Al Qaeda terrorist members are still imprisoned in that military enclave since Jan 11, 2002, without trial.
Code Pink and Women for Peace cofounder Medea Benjamin was given news coverage since her arrival in Havana on Jan 5, with the presence, among others, of Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan, named the "Peace Mom" after her campaign to demand the end of war in Iraq, where her son, US soldier Casey Sheehan, was killed.
As a result of the broadcasts, messages of solidarity have been received from people all around the world, and especially from relatives of current prisoners, who are grateful for their battle for justice.
During a meeting with local historians and representatives of several sectors of Guantanamo society, various activists told of the reasons for this campaign: to end wars and close the illegal US military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba.
The US pacifists expressed their discomfort that the name of this city, inhabited by friendly and hospitable people, is identified worldwide with this infamous prison, which is shaming for US people.
The pacifist delegation will attend an international anti-war and terrorism conference to be held here.
"We are here to coincide with the International Day for the shutdown of that prison on January 11," said Benjamin.
Meanwhile, for the first time in five years, Zohra Zewawi and Taher Deghayes, mother and brother of Omar Deghayes, a prisoner in Guantanamo, will have the chance to be at his side.
Both expressed their satisfaction and emotion for the march to the military base in the early hours Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the first prisoners at Guantanamo Base.
The two family members made a long journey from Dunbai, passing through Cairo and Madrid, to get to Havana and join the demand of the US pacifists.
Zohra and Taher ratified the innocence of Omar and expressed gratitude to the Cuban people for their hospitality, stating their demands to stop torture at the military base and to hold fair trials for the prisoners.
According to data from the activists, the number of prisoners since January 11, 2002, when the base was opened, reached a total of 707, and now there are 400 prisoners, of whom only 10 have been accused of any crime. -- NNN-PRENSA LATINA