10 February 2007
By Amulya Ganguli
It is not the best of times for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
First, the poster boy of the Hindutva brigade was summarily shunted out of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) parliamentary board by the party's new president, Rajnath Singh, in a move which seemingly had the blessings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Secondly, a film on the Gujarat riots of 2002, "Parzania", which cannot be shown in the state because it has earned the wrath of militant Hindu organisations, has confirmed that the state remains in the grip of these anti-minority groups.
"Parzania" is based on the real life story of a Parsi boy, with the Muslim-sounding name of Azhar, who has been missing since 2002. But the people of Gujarat will not be able to see it because of threats from the RSS-affiliated Hindu supremacist organisations like the Bajrang Dal.
"Parzania" is not the first film to face such a "ban" because of mob rule. Aamir Khan's "Fanaa" also could not be shown because of Khan's support for an agitation in favour of those displaced by the Narmada dam.
Although "Fanaa" has nothing to do with the dam, which is one of the showpieces of the Modi government, the mere fact of Khan's involvement in what is portrayed as an anti-dam movement was enough for the belligerent Hindu outfits to take to the streets, with the police looking on as helpless spectators.
"Parzania", too, depicts this supine role of the police during the riots under orders from the ruling politicians. It is a portrayal too close to the truth for the comfort of the Modi government. Although the government did offer promises of protection to the multiplexes and other cinema owners if they showed the film, they were not convinced, presumably because of their experience during the riots when the saffron cadres vent their wrath on the Muslims with the tacit connivance of the police.
Not surprisingly, the cinema owners have had no hesitations about showing a film, "Black Friday", on the Mumbai blasts of March 1993 carried out by Islamist terrorists. While the heinous acts of the latter can be freely exhibited, the depredations of the Hindu extremists have to be kept from the public eye.
What these events demonstrate is that for all of Modi's claims about a vibrant Gujarat, the prevailing state of affairs is far from normal. The state is not only riven by a tense communal divide, but is also vulnerable to lumpen elements of the saffron brotherhood whose pronouncements on what the ordinary people can see or do cannot be ignored.
The industrialists may have recently evinced considerable interest in investing in Gujarat, having been persuaded by the Modi government to overcome their earlier reservations about the volatile communal situation, but the "Parzania" episode cannot but induce second thoughts.
The unofficial "ban" on the film shows that rabid organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal evidently consider themselves to be above the law. They have acquired this arrogance ever since the BJP came to power in 1997 and declared its intention to turn Gujarat into a virtual Hindu rashtra (state) - a dream nurtured by the RSS about the entire country.
The Christians were the first targets in the Dangs area where churches were attacked over a period of more than a year. But these were relatively minor incidents compared to the two-month-long anti-Muslim pogroms of 2002 when 2,000 people were killed. Not only that, there was overwhelming evidence of police inaction both during and after the riots.
If, as "Parzania" shows, the police were in "collusion with the rioters", according to a review of the film, the collusion persisted even after the riots when 2,000-odd cases were hurriedly closed because the miscreants were said to be absconding or because the witnesses turned hostile.
The "failure" of the police to nab the guilty was so blatant that the Supreme Court had no option but to reopen all the cases, apart from transferring some of the more infamous ones for trial outside Gujarat.
"Parzania" is not the only film to have been made on the riots. Another film, "Dev", starring Amitabh Bachchan and Om Puri as the good and bad cops, also shows instances of police complicity at the behest of the politicians.
But if the militant Hindu outfits have found "Parzania" particularly offensive, the reason perhaps is its focus on a single tragic incident - the mob attack on the Gulbarga housing society. Azhar's parents hoped that the film might help them to find their son. But now their hopes have been dashed.
There is little doubt that Modi's inability to let the film be shown will undermine his "strong man" image, which he has been trying to build up about himself. If he has bowed to the threats of the Bajrang Dal, it means that he is wary of a confrontation with it. After all, organisations like these provide muscle power to the BJP during the elections.
And the chief minister's helplessness means that the investors cannot place much faith in his ability to control the situation in case of another communal outbreak.
In either case, the chief minister's efforts to take Gujarat along the path of development, in which he has had some notable successes, will suffer a setback.
For the BJP, the film is yet another example which shows that its association with violent anti-minority acts, such as the demolition of the Babri mosque or the Gujarat riots, will continue to haunt it in the foreseeable future.
Bangkok, Feb 10 (NNN-TNA) The first group of local officials are set to undergo intensive cultural and communications training as part of the government's fresh attempt at improving the quality of life and public safety in the southern border provinces.
The course is to provide government staff with a working knowledge and understanding of Muslim customs, traditions and ways of life, as well as to teach them more effective communication skills.
Under the plan, government officials and local administrators from various agencies would make frequent community visits and open dialogue with religious and village leaders to strengthen community relations and to restore trust between government officials and southern residents.
The first group of officials will begin work in 88 targeted locations in the southernmost provinces next month, according to Pranai Suwannarat, head of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre. The
centre was re-established by the interim government after the September coup to restore links between leaders in the south and Bangkok.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont last month vowed to bring back peace and stability to the region, saying that his government was fully equipped to tackle the insurgency and public concerns about safety.
Despite the interim government's shift away from the previous administration's hard-line policies, insurgency-related violence --involving arson, bombings, and shootings -- not only continues but
appears to be on the rise.
Human Rights Watch reports that separatists increasingly target civilians, particularly Buddhists living in the Muslim-majority provinces. The latest casualty on Thursday was a 72-year-old Buddhist rice miller in Pattani who was beheaded by suspected militants.
Patna, Feb 10 (IANS) Police have recovered a huge quantity of explosives in Bihar's Gaya district Saturday evening.
According to Amit Jain, Superintendent of Police, Gaya district, police have recovered 1,500 kg of explosives from a village in the Mohanpur police station area, about 125 km from here, considered to be a stronghold of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist. No one has been arrested in this regard.
Police suspect that Maoist guerrillas had dumped the explosives used for manufacturing can-bombs and landmines.
Investigation was going on to establish details of explosives recovered.
Jakarta, Feb 10 (NNN-ANTARA) As many as 252 people died of dengue fever outbreaks in Indonesia early this year while the number of dengue cases in the country has reached 15,005, Health Ministry spokesperson Lily S Sulistyowati said at a press conference here on Friday.
She said 27 people meanwhile had died in 1,807 cases recorded across the country this month.
She said West Java saw the largest number of dengue cases, followed by Jakarta, East Java and Central Java.
Dengue fever outbreaks remained a serious threat, especially in Jakarta following the recent floods in the capital city, she said.
Because of the floods there was a significant increase in various diseases such as diarrhea and skin disorders among Jakarta city residents, she added.
Bangkok, Feb 10 (NNN-TNA) A total of 64 companies will be listed on the Thai bourse this year due to improved investor confidence, the new government-sponsored infrastructure megaprojects and high expectation that local interest rates will drop, said Patareeya Benjapolchai, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
Forty of the firms will be listed on the main SET board while the remainder will be listed with the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI), she said.
The investment climate on the SET has improved, enabling entrepreneurs to join the bourse in a bid to mobilise funds, Mrs. Patareeya said. Also, investors have regained confidence after the government
has decided to invest on infrastructure mega-projects.
The government on Tuesday approved five new mass transit rail lines for Bangkok. This year's profit growth for listed firms is anticipated to be around 4-5 per cent, almost the same as projected national
economic growth, on declines in oil prices and interest rates, she said.
The SET index is soon expected to reach 730 which was the the highest level in mid-December last year just before the Bank of Thailand (BoT) announced its strict 30 per cent reserve requirement of capital
inflows in order to prevent the Thai baht from rapid appreciating against the US dollar.
On Friday, the SET index gained 3.99 points to close at 695.27 on a total turnover of Bt17.79 billion.
Meanwhile, SET board chairman Vijit Supinit said he was optimistic that the SET index could advance to 750 in the middle of this year and rise further to 800 by late 2007 on continued foreign inflows.
Mr. Vijit said positive factors still prevailed on the Thai stock market, including a clearer government plan to invest on mega-projects, profits of listed firms continued rising and price/earnings ratio was as low as 8 times which was much lower than regional markets.
Gondia (Maharashtra), Feb 10 (IANS) Gautam Adani, chairman of the diversified Adani Group, has promised to set up a power plant in eastern Vidarbha even as frantic efforts were being made to tide over an unprecedented power crisis dogging Maharashtra.
Groundwork for the proposed Rs.800 billion project will start in the first week of April at Tiroda, bordering the two rice-growing districts of Bhandara and Gondia, and the plant will be ready in three years, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar announced here Friday.
The head of the Adani Group, which includes Gujarat Adani Energy Ltd, Adani Willmar Ltd, Gujarat Adani Port Ltd and the Mundra Special Economic Zone, was present when Pawar made the surprise announcement.
Pawar was speaking at a function to release a postal stamp in the memory of late Manoharbhai Patel, father of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, in which a galaxy of businessmen and industrialists like Uday Kotak, Shishir Bajaj, Sajjan Jindal, Shailendra Mittal and Harsh Mariwala were present.
Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran released the commemorative stamp at the function presided over by Bihar Governor R.S. Gavai. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Shinde was the chief guest.
Pawar's announcement on behalf of Adani came in response to Praful Patel's appeal to the industrialists seated on the dais to set up their units in the industrially backward districts of eastern Vidarbha.
A fortnight ago, the Vidarbha-based Purti Group had also come out with a proposal for a 500 MW power plant in joint venture with Hindustan Construction Company in Bela near Nagpur.
The proposed private sector ventures in Vidarbha will supplement the four existing government-run thermal power plants at Koradi, Khaparkheda, Chandrapur and Paras besides one hydroelectric plant at Pench.
Los Angeles, Feb 10 (Xinhua) Pre-teen girls between the ages of nine and 12 are most likely to gain weight, a new study says.
For this study, US researchers enrolled more than 2,300 girls aged nine and 10 and followed them for at least a decade.
Researchers measured their height, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol every year through age 18, then had the teens report their own measures at ages 21 through 23. Roughly half of the girls were white and half were black.
The study finds that rates of overweight among the participants increased through adolescence, from 7 percent to 10 percent in the
white girls and 17 percent to 24 percent in the black girls.
Girls were 1.6 times more likely to become overweight when they were aged nine through 12 than later in adolescence, and girls who were overweight during childhood were 11 to 30 times more likely to be obese as young adults, according to the study which is published in the January issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.
"We really need to get to kids before age nine and 10, and this really puts the pressure on elementary school, preschool and whatever societal institutions we have to really focus on young ages," said study co-author Eva Obarzanek, a research nutritionist at the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
"This shows that obesity and other risk factors for heart disease track from younger to older. This is a wake-up call for policymakers, for schools, for parents," said Arlene Spark, nutritionist at Hunter College, in New York City.
"The success rate for treatment is practically zero. The only thing that we can really hope for is that we can prevent children from becoming overweight and obese," he said.
Bonita H. Franklin, a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine, added "Heart disease is the major cause of mortality in adults in the United States. This is implying that these factors which are known to make heart disease more likely in adults are already present in young children, so you would presume that there would be an increased health burden and probably shorter life span for this next generation."
Being overweight, even as a child, increases the likelihood of having risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including higher blood pressure as well as elevated cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting insulin levels.
As the health consequences of being overweight can be evident in girls as young as nine, all this points to the need to tailor prevention efforts to ever younger ages, the study stresses.
United Nations, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) An Arab-Islamic-NAM delegation late Friday met with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council President Peter Burian of Slovakia to urge them to take immediate action regarding Israel's continued excavation works beneath the Holy Aqsa Mosque.
The delegation was headed by Kuwait Ambassador Abdullah Al-Murad, in his capacity as Chairman of the Arab Group, Agshin Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan, as Chairman of the Islamic group, Rodrigo Diaz of Cuba, as Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and Abdul Wahab of the OIC.
The delegation also included the ambassadors of Palestine, Morocco, as Chairman of the Quds Committee, Senegal, as Chairman of the Palestinian Rights Committee, and Qatar and Indonesia, as members of the council.
Following the meetings, Murad told KUNA that he insisted in his discussions with Ban and Burian that this is a "dangerous matter" and that this is not the first time Israel commits such acts.
He said he also recalled the 2002 Arab peace initiative in Beirut and drew attention to the upcoming Arab Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in late March when this issue will be raised.
He expressed hope that the Secretary General assumes his responsibility in order to deter Israel from its destructive work.
He claimed that while the Palestinians were meeting in Makkah in order to find a solution to their crisis, Israel was busy taking measures 'to provoke' the feelings of the Arab and Muslim world.
Ban told the delegation, according to Murad, that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana will raise the issue with the Israeli authorities.
Ban told the delegation that he was following the events closely and that it would not be acceptable for any party to take any unilateral action in this regard. Al-Murad said council President Burian told the delegation that the issue is very "sensitive" and that he is looking forward to February 13 when the council will hold its monthly meeting to discuss the Palestine issue in general in an open session and noted that the list of speakers is already 'long'.
Burian told the delegation, according to Al-Murad, that this issue needs to be discussed by all parties concerned to calm down the situation. But the delegation responded that it is imperative for the council to put pressure on Israel, because it is the party acting unilaterally and in violation of council resolutions.
Other members in the delegation said they did not feel that Ban or the council President were willing to issue statements on the subject.
In the meantime, Palestinian envoy Ryadh Mansour protested, in identical letters to Ban and Burian, that Israeli forces did not respect the Muslim Holy sites in East Jerusalem and the Palestinians' right to worship.
He said the Israeli forces stormed the Aqsa compound and fired rubber bullets and tear gas on crowds of Palestinians who were barred from entering Aqsa courtyards, injuring 20 civilians.
He indicated that these actions occurred while a large number of Palestinians continued to peacefully protest against the "condemnable" excavation work Israel is carrying out beneath the Aqsa Compound.
This course of action, Mansour said in his letter, "is obviously another measure aimed at the judaization of the city, creating yet additional facts with regard to the holy city's status, thus adversely affecting the outcome of the final status negotiations."
"Given the extremely important religious and spiritual nature of the issue, we call upon the Security Council to take the necessary steps to address this issue and to have the Israeli action halted and reversed immediately," Mansour wrote.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Should journalists be referred to as "friends" or "members of the media"?
The question led to much mirth at a seminar here Saturday and triggered some good-natured bantering between Defence Minister A.K. Antony and the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi.
Antony was nearing the end of the salutations ahead of delivering the valedictory address of the seminar when he remarked: "And finally, my friends from the media..." and left the sentence hanging.
Antony then looked at Tyagi, who was seated in the front row and said: "Unlike you, Air Chief Marshal Tyagi, I will refer to them as 'friends'."
"Sir, I will still refer to them as members of the media," Tyagi retorted.
Former defence secretary N.N. Vohra then interjected: "Not many of you perhaps know that Mr. Antony has been an editor himself. So, it is better to keep on the right side of journalists."
"I am on your side, sir, but I will still refer to them as 'members of the media'," Tyagi retorted as delegates to the international conference on Asian security burst out laughing.
What triggered all this?
Tyagi, while wrapping up an international seminar on aerospace power here Monday, had said, tongue firmly in cheek: "And finally, friends...no no, I won't call them friends, I'll call them members of the media".
Quite obviously, no one, least of all, the large media contingent, took any offence.
United Nations, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a number of officials to top posts in the UN Secretariat, including Lynn Pascoe of the US as Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Muhammad Shaaban of Egypt as Under Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs, it was announced here on Friday.
Pascoe, the first American to fill the post, replaces Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria and Shaaban replaces Jian Chen of China.
Ban also appointed Kiyotaka Akasaka of Japan as Secretary General for Public Information. He replaces Shashi Tharoor of India. He reappointed Jean-Marie Ghehenno of France as Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and Thuraya Obeid of Saudi Arabia as Head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
Pascoe served at US Ambassador to Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asian countries before becoming Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Euroasian Affairs at the State Department in Washington D.C.
Shaaban, the only Arab to fill in such a high post, has been National Coordinator for Reform Initiatives in the Middle East and served as Personal Assistant to the Egyptian Foreign Minister during the last three years. He also served as his country's ambassador in a number of European and African countries.
Ban also accepted the resignations of some high-level officials, including Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Mervet Tallawy of Egypt, Head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
Minsk, Feb 7 (NNN-BELTA) Belarus wants to raise up to one billion USD worth of foreign bank loans this year to make up for the increase in the Russian oil and gas prices, Finance Minister Nikolai Korbut said.
He added in an interview with the Reuters news agency here Tuesday: “So far we have settled the problems with the help of mainly internal sources. To survive the sudden rise in oil and gas prices this year we will need foreign support in the form of bank loans.�
“I think we will be able to attract bank loans of about one billion USD,� he added. “The sum is manageable by the country in terms of its potential to serve the external debt. Foreign creditors have never had any problems with Belarus and we do not have any overdue debts.�
Korbut added that Belarus is not going to attract state loans but has been negotiating syndicated loans with banks in Russia, Britain, the United States, Switzerland and several other states.
The finance minister also said that Belarus does not rule out placing Eurobonds and is ready to issue bonds worth of up to 10 billion rubles in the Russian market. “We have drafted all necessary documents concerning this issue. At the same time we have been working on the project to issue the bonds,� he said.
Minsk, Feb 10 (NNN-BELTA) Belarus has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Eastern Europe at 1.2 per cent. The fact was pointed out by the Belarusian delegation at the 45th session of the UN Commission for Social Development in New York.
The session’s agenda is topped by Macroeconomic Policy for Full Employment and Decent Work for All.
BelTA learnt from the press service of the Belarusian foreign ministry, the Commission for Social Development is the key UN body for surveying the fulfillment of resulting documents of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. Every year the commission considers the most important social problems such as better employment, fight against poverty, and youth policies.
In their address to UN member-states Belarus representatives informed about major directions of the country’s employment policy. The consistent social security oriented economic policy Belarus has been pursuing for over ten years was pointed out.
It was stressed that Belarus efforts to improve the employment rate are inseparable from the entire set of measures meant to advance the country’s social and economic development.
Delegations of other states were informed about key elements of the 2007 State Employment Programme of Belarus, its goals and measures, including those designed to stimulate the employment of women, youth, and people with limited abilities. Along with setting up agro-towns the programme provides for raising the population employment rate in rural areas.
The Belarusian delegation also voiced an opinion about global employment-securing tendencies laid down by a special report of the UN secretary general. Belarus representatives pointed out the importance of assistance provided as part of the state policy to ensure a better social security and social justice for people. These two components were named the most important requirements for an active state labour policy.
The Belarusian delegation also backed the necessity for countries to prevent the discrimination of agriculture as part of the employment encouragement policy as well as to step up measures to decrease unemployment in the most vulnerable social groups.
Minsk, Feb 10 NNN-BELTA) Last week, a delegation of representatives of the leading Belarusian banks headed by Piotr Prokopovich, chairman of the board of the National Bank of Belarus, made an official visit to Tehran to discuss ways of expanding cooperation between Belarus and Iran, BelTA learnt in the information department of the National Bank.
Iran is willing to thoroughly consider the issue of opening a representative office of one of its banks in Belarus and set up joint companies which would be subsidiaries of financial institutions.
Moreover, Iran is ready to open credit facilities through its export development bank to finance joint projects with Belarus. The bank said it is also willing to provide financial assistance to Iranian companies in purchasing Belarusian goods and in addressing other issues.
Iranian governmental agencies confirmed their desire to provide the necessary assistance to Belarus in case Belarus decides to join the Asian Clearing Union what would significantly simplify settlement of transactions between Belarusian and Iranian cooperating entities.
The sides reached an agreement on mutual support in cooperation with other international financial organizations, on the possibility of using the potential of the Iranian mint, on information exchange in the banking sphere including legal issues and activity of financial institutions of the two states and on the exchange of delegations which would promote cooperation in different areas.
The sides also pointed to the absence of problems in settling accounts between Belarusian and Iranian banks, with exception for some currencies, and agreed to address any cooperation problems that might occur in a speedy and responsible manner.
During meetings between representatives of the Belarusian delegation and governor of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Sheibani, top officials at the economy and finance ministry, foreign ministry and top management of the leading Iranian banks the sides did not only express eagerness to further consolidate mutually-beneficial ties between the banking systems but also voiced intention to expand trade and economic contacts between the two countries to grow mutual turnover.
The Belarusian delegation brought a number of documents to Iran for consideration like an agreement on cooperation between the National Bank of Belarus and the Central Bank of Iran, an agreement on cooperation in personnel training and a memorandum of understanding in banking supervision between the central banks of the two states.
Governor of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Sheibani accepted an invitation voiced by chairman of the board of the National Bank of Belarus Piotr Prokopovich to visit Belarus in 2007 at a time which would be most convenient for him.
Brussels, Feb 10, (IRNA) Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht said Friday that he welcomed the agreement on formation of a national unity government following the meeting between Fatah and Hamas in the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Thursday.
"I hope that this development will put an end to the inter- Palestinian violence," said De Gucht in a statement.
He thanked in particular the Saudi government for its role in achieving the accord between the two Palestinian factions, but added that all elements of the deal were not known yet.
Minsk, Feb 10 (NNN-BELTA) The volume of natural gas transported across Belarus in 2006 was the record-breaking 65 billion cubic meters, Tsvitomir Sorokhan, first deputy general director, chief engineer, Beltransgaz, said today in Grodno.
The transit last year amounted to 44,2 billion cubic meters which was also an absolute record. Uninterrupted gas supply to Belarus was secured last year with 20,8 billion cubic meters of gas imported by the country.
In 2006, transit services earnings jumped to $134.4 million (without allowing for rent for Yamal-Europe gas main). The money for the services covered 14% of payments for the imports of natural gas, Tsvitomir Sorokhan said.
According to him, in 2007 the transit costs will almost double because of the increase in contract tariffs. Because of the increase in energy prices, most of its earnings Beltransgaz plans to derive from transit services.
Birmingham, Feb 10 (IANS) Companies in Birmingham and surrounding areas in the west Midlands are increasingly looking to India and China to develop their businesses, according to a new survey.
More than a third (35 percent) of the members of Birmingham Forward - a body promoting Birmingham's business and trade - are already working in China, while 59 percent are working in India.
Overall, 69 percent of the professional and financial services firms that responded to the survey indicated they already derive at least part of their revenues from abroad. The survey shows that 23 percent of companies that responded had already secured Chinese clients or are advising their UK clients on dealings within the country.
The survey reveals that 17 percent of respondents have at least one representative office in China, with one firm already operating two. In addition, 36 percent of firms plan to open an office in China within the next three years.
According to the Birmingham Post, a leading local newspaper, the continuing lack of connectivity to China as well as the limited Indian sub-continent access from Birmingham International Airport is still frustrating many firms looking to expand their business operations in the east.
Richard Brennan, chief executive of Birmingham Forward, said: "We have known for some time that China has massive commercial potential for professional firms in this city. The member survey demonstrates that many of our firms in the professional and financial services sector are working for their clients in China or are working directly for Chinese organisations.
"This is extremely encouraging. One respondents believed this was an emerging and important market to be ignored at our peril and one firm suggested that their expectation was for China to be its biggest market in years to come."
Brennan said many members of the lobby group held reservations about working in the Far East: "Some of our members, though, are still worried about the human rights issues and working conditions in China and many are still only investigating the potential in terms of logistics and likely financial returns.
"However, our survey clearly shows that China, and indeed the Indian subcontinent, are recognised for their potential. Chinese businesses are already beginning to be 'Advised in Birmingham' by Forward member firms".
Meanwhile, the Birmingham-based Asian Business Forum has said that local authorities need to do more to encourage Asian companies to take up the business support on offer. Speaking at the forum's annual meeting at Birmingham Friday, chairman Prithvi Chopra highlighted an urgent need for skills training across employers of all sectors and cultures in an attempt to boost the UK's economy.
He said: "We see Asian businesses as not only being seen but actually taking leading positions in the local and national economy and being proud to be doing so. We see the community as a whole benefiting from their contribution and to be recognised in doing so.
"More Asian businesses are now accessing business support and achieving quality awards. I feel there is a progress but more needs to be done. There is a strong case for improving our skills".
Patna, Feb 10 (IANS) It's 11 and counting for a blacksmith in Bihar who wants to set a record by having 30 children.
"I will set a record for fathering at least 30 children," said Kapil Dev Vishwakarma, the resident of a village in Aurangabad district, about 100 km from here.
His wife Sona Devi, in her early 30s, delivered her 11th baby Tuesday. "It was a happy moment for me. I hope to have a dozen by next year," remarked Vishwakarma, who earns a meagre living by punching cattle shoes.
"I have already made a record in my village by fathering 11 children," he said.
Vishwakarma, who can barely read and write, admitted that it was difficult to manage his large family but he was not particularly worried.
"Look...I have firm belief that a child is born with its own destiny. After all, god will provide him food like he does for millions born daily in the world."
Sona, with the newborn in her lap, said children were god's gift to them for power and prosperity. She is against family planning.
Their elder daughter Gunja Devi got married a few years ago. The other children include five sons and five daughters.
The couple said that activists engaged in spreading awareness about family planning and reproductive health had not visited them.
Millions of rupees are spent annually to create awareness about the importance of small families but so many like Vishwakarma are not covered by the campaign. The national fertility rate is three children per woman and Bihar's fertility rate is 4.4.
A.R. Nanda, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, said the need of the hour was to create a conducive environment and awareness among people.
According to a World Bank report, nearly 40 percent of Bihar's 83 million population lives below the poverty line and hundreds of thousands of poor people migrate to other states for a livelihood.
Sarajevo, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) The Bosnian parliament has elected a new central government following large-scale consultations and deliberations involving six main political parties.
Set up on Friday, the new alliance government is headed by Serbian Representative Nikola Spiric from the Serb Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), and consists of eight ministers representing Bosnian, Muslim, Serbian and Croatian nationalities.
During an extended session, the parliament debated the government's plan and all ministers' plans and CVs in an unprecedented move.
With a relevant majority, the parliament approved the nine-member government, with Islamic party representatives having the foreign, interior, defence and human rights and refugees portfolios, while Serbian party representatives holding, in addition to the post of prime minister, the foreign trade and civil affairs portfolios.
Croatian representatives have won two portfolios notably, the ministries of finance, and transport and telecommunications.
Such a fair distribution of cabinet portfolios has created balance in the new government lineup even though Islamic party representatives have won the largest number of portfolios as a reward for giving up the post of prime minister.
Sven Alkalaj, a Bosnian with Jewish origins, has been handpicked as foreign minister. Alkalaj was earlier Bosnian ambassador in the US, and is now ambassador in Belgium.
Georgetown, Feb 10 (NNN-GINA) The tourism and services sector is making its mark as a significant economic pillar of many Caribbean countries; however traditional gross domestic product contributor, agriculture, should not be neglected.
This was the reminder of Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is also head of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Jagdeo who also holds the portfolio of Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification and Food Security was speaking to agriculture stakeholders at the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) meeting.
“Agriculture has always been an important source of export earnings, employment, eradication of poverty, rural development and has always played a supportive role in the services sector.
“Too often in our region, I hear comments that agriculture has no role to play and services would be the thing of the future,� he said.
Whilst services will definitely play a critical role in the developmental thrust of many Caribbean countries, the importance and role of agriculture should not be shrugged off, he emphasised.
“We can develop services without divesting in agriculture especially if we understand the role of agriculture in the economy. Sometimes I feel… the role of agriculture is not carefully examined, and we need to constantly remind the region about its importance.�
President Jagdeo said any regional agenda crafted must be user friendly, to ensure that the supporting concomitant projects and programmes that are necessary for the improvement of that regional programme are clear not only to the technical officials, but to Agriculture Ministers, policy makers and the broader population.
He said although the CARICOM is a net exporter of agricultural products, the region is still plagued by hunger and malnutrition statistics.
“Agriculture provides food security to the region and that is important,� he said, adding that the second challenge is to raise the level of political commitment within the Region.
Brussels, Feb 10 (NNN-IRNA) The Caucasus-Caspian Commission under the chairmanship of Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel will meet for the first time in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday.
"The Caucasus-Caspian Commission of Eminent Persons to Outline a Future Vision for the Region and its Relations with Europe" is the full name of the organisation.
It was established as a civil society initiative with the objective of re-thinking the political, social, economic and security context surrounding the Caucasus-Caspian region, said a statement released by the organizers.
"In light of growing energy insecurity in the EU, the strategic importance of the Caucasus-Caspian region is increasing for the EU and we must be present on all levels in this region," said Rupel, the commission chairman.
Seventeen eminent persons sit on the commission, including Abbas Maleki from Iran, Joschka Fischer from Germany, Madeleine Albright from the USA and Mikhail Margelov from Russia.
The Caucasus-Caspian Commission has outlined four priority areas on which it will focus its attention: regional economic cooperation, frozen conflict resolution, institution building and furthering the region's relations with the EU.
"We need a strategic vision for the Caucasus, which also includes re-thinking of Turkish-EU and Turkey-Caucasus relations," said Mustafa Aydin, professor of political science at Tobb University of Economics and Technology in Ankara and deputy chairman of the commission.
The Caucasus-Caspian region connects Europe to Central Asia and Russia with the Middle East.
"The region is a mega inter-connector," according to Rupel.
New Delhi, Feb 10, (IRNA) Noting that SAARC has not been able to realize its true potential, the Indian foreign secretary on Friday said a "historic opportunity" was at hand for countries of the region to work together and which they needed to seize for collective progress.
In the two-day conference of editors from SAARC countries, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon underlined the need for physical and mental inter-connectivity among the eight member countries of SAARC, saying it could lead to economic progress for the entire South Asia through maximization of trade.
Menon, in the conference jointly organized by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and Media Development Foundation now on its second day in Chennai, said India needs a peaceful periphery if it was to achieve its goals toward inter-dependence and this holds true for other countries as well.
"Fortunately...we are now at a stage in South Asia, in the sub- continent, where I think we have a moment of opportunity to try and enable SAARC to achieve its potential, to try and realize its shared destiny, to use the complementarities that exist," he said.
He said that countries of South Asia have the capacities and potential to do things together "which we did not have before." Noting that all countries of the region had a shared destiny, Menon said "we realize the extent of our inter-dependence, the extent to which we need each other, all of us. This has nothing to do with asymmetries of power, shape, size and whatever -- we all need each other."
He said: "We are now at a stage in South Asia, in the sub- continent, where I think we have a moment of opportunity to try and enable SAARC to achieve its potential, to try and realize its shared destiny, to use the complementarities that exist."
The conference, which is attended by about 45 senior
representatives of the media from all SAARC countries, will conclude with an address by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee later today.
The conference focuses on the following three major themes: growth trends and quality issues in the South Asia news media; media freedom, accountability, and social responsibility; and media and foreign policy.
The purpose of the conference is to have a free and open discussion of identified themes and key issues and to frame media- related issues that can help initiate a wider public and civil society debate in the South Asian region.
The conference aims to promote a common understanding on core media values, directions and orientations, allowing for specific growth and other relevant conditions for news media of the various SAARC countries.
Aligarh, Feb 10 (Indianmuslims.info) Women’s College of Aligarh Muslim University hosted here Friday a seminar on Contribution of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah to women education movement in India. The seminar paid a rich tribute to Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah (1874-1965), a pioneer of modern education among Indian Muslim women of the subcontinent.
While inaugurating the seminar, Professor Geil Menu opined, “As Sir Syed Ahmed Khan made a significant contribution to the promotion of modern education in India, likewise Sir Syed’s disciple Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah’s contribution to the field of women education is unforgettable. His services in this field assume particular importance because he strived at a time when educating Muslim girls was considered a taboo.�
Addressing the seminar, eminent Marxist historian Professor Irfan Habib said, “Sheikh Abdullah concentrated all his attention to the cause of women education since his appointment as Secretary for Women Education of All India Muslim Education Conference in 1903, and in discharging his duties in this capacity he had to face many a difficulty.�
Professor Anwar Jehan Zubairi suggested making an objective study of all other women education movements that were going alongside Sheikh Abdullah’s movement so that a comprehensive analysis of the countrywide move to promote education for Muslim women might be done.
Others who addressed the inaugural session of the seminar include Dr Kusum Ansal and Principal Women’s College Professor Amna Kishwar. Sheikh Abdullah’s daughter Birjis Qidwai and his maternal grandson and former Foreign Secretary Salman Khurshid, Shahla Haidar, Lubna Kazim (America), Shabnam (Pakistan) and other AMU alumni from America, Pakistan and India are participating in the seminar.
The inaugural session also witnessed the release of Women’s College magazine by Dr Ansal.
By Sandeep Bamzai,
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Facing assembly elections in important states in the backdrop of spiralling inflation, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is looking at a cut in petroleum product prices to ease the financial burden on the common man.
A petroleum ministry note dated Feb 5 highlights the dipping trend line in the prices of the Indian basket of crude oil.
In June 2006, the Indian basket was at $67 per barrel, which spiked to $75 by August. However, since then there has been a consistent dip in the Indian basket pricing, down to $55.5 per barrel Feb 5.
The note, well-informed sources told IANS, goes onto suggest that at the current price of $56 per barrel, state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are still incurring under-recoveries on kerosene supplied for the public distribution system (PDS) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for domestic use.
However, with a large number of MPs of the ruling alliance and those supporting it asking for a reduction in the prices of diesel and petrol in view of the fall in international crude prices, the political establishment is likely to decide on the matter soon.
In fact, the note states that as on date, OMCs have actually started making positive recoveries of Rs.4.68 per litre in petrol. More importantly, the under-recovery in diesel has come down from Rs.10 in June 2006 to mere 47 paise.
It then goes on to say that, "this is perhaps as good a time as any to consider an adjustment in the price of petrol and diesel which will meet the general expectation of the public who are keenly following the downward trend of international crude prices."
The note summarises by stating that the impact of a reduction of Rs.2 in the price of petrol and Re.1 in the price of diesel will result in an additional burden of Rs.13 billion or thereabouts for the remaining part of the financial year.
In principle, it adds, this can be absorbed within the overall commitment of oil bonds that the finance ministry floated in June 2006.
Most importantly, based on the refinery transfer price for petrol and diesel in the second fortnight of January 2007, the petroleum ministry has done an analysis that suggests that there should be a decrease of Rs.3.60 per litre for petrol and Re.0.36 for diesel in the capital and accordingly in other cities.
Namangan (Uzbekistan), Feb 10 (IANS) India captain Leander Paes and greenhorn Sunil Kumar Sipaeya defeated their Uzbek rivals in a doubles match of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group One first-round tennis tie here Saturday to keep the team afloat.
Paes and Davis Cup debutant Sipaeya fought hard to beat Farrukh Dustov and Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, a day after Vivek Shokeen and Karan Rastogi, both debutants, had lost their singles matches tamely.
India will now have to win both reverse singles matches Sunday to progress in the world's premier men's team tennis competition.
On Friday, Shokeen, 19, went down to Istomin 1-6, 3-6, 3-6 after making a string of unforced errors while Rastogi lost to Dustov 3-6, 3-6, 4-6.
Paris, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) A debate has emerged here between anti-terrorism services and experts concerning the potential of a terrorist threat during the French Presidential campaign which kicks off in earnest this weekend and which will run until April 22, media and experts said late Friday.
The debate was sparked Friday after Pan-Arab daily "Al-Hayat" published an article alleging the Qaeda terrorist group had given instructions to cause disruption to the French campaign and to "take actions that would hurt as many as possible" French targets.
Experts here said such actions could be carried out either by operatives from Al-Qaeda who had fought in Iraq or by the Algerian radical Salafist group known under the French acronym "GSPC." But French intelligence services have rejected the Arab newspaper's reading of events and say they do not see any particularly imminent threat beyond the usual state of alert in place.
Nonetheless, several months ago, the GSPC did issue a more direct threat against France for its role in supporting the United States in conflicts in Afghanistan in particular, and to a lesser extent in Iraq.
More importantly, the Algerian group announced in September 2006 that it was merging with Al-Qaeda, bringing an end to a dispute between the two groups. The GSPC then said it had received instructions from Al-Qaeda to attack French targets in Algeria.
The controversy over the terrorist threat went on to national television here late Friday, with experts taking issue with the official intelligence evaluation of the situation.
Roland Jacquard, a well-known expert and Head of the National Terrorism Observatory, said that he could not fathom how the intelligence community could arrive at such a conclusion.
"I don't understand how they can conclude this," he said, noting that the atmosphere indicated otherwise.
Vienna, Feb 10 (NNN-IRNA) Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh here Friday evening said that countries which voted for UN Security Council Resolution 1737 are to blame for the IAEA decision to cut further its cooperation with Iran on the latter's peaceful nuclear program.
The IAEA, in a report presented by its secretariat Friday, said technical help, which the IAEA will henceforth give to Iran, will be limited to food, agricultural, medical, safety and humanitarian purposes and for construction of light water nuclear reactors.
Talking to IRNA, he said that UN Security Council Resolution 1737 has imposed restrictions on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) thereby drastically limiting Iran-IAEA nuclear cooperation.
Soltaniyeh, pointing to the legal and technical arbitrariness of the IAEA report, argued that the projects removed from the scope of Iran-IAEA cooperation have nothing to do with the country's enrichment program, the peaceful purpose of which had been confirmed by the agency.
He further criticised the arbitrary and high-handed approach of the UN Security Council in passing the anti-Iran resolution, and said the resolution will cast doubt on the integrity of the agency and will make it subject to contempt by countries.
The UN Security Council on Dec 23 passed a resolution calling on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and imposed sanctions for failure to comply with an earlier call, as well cuts in IAEA help to its peaceful nuclear program.
Out of 55 national and regional projects that the IAEA had agreed to cooperate with Iran, 22, or 40 percent, have already been totally or partially frozen.
However, the IAEA Board of Governors, when it meets in Vienna on March 5, could still alter this latest IAEA decision.
New York, Feb 10 (IANS) A group of American students, including an Indian American, spent two years raising money to help a young boy from El Salvador who suffered from a rare life threatening heart disease.
Nine-year-old Melvin of El Salvador was born with a congenital heart defect and doctors had little hope for his survival. Last week, he travelled from El Salvador to the Children's Hospital in Boston and underwent the much needed heart surgery.
It was all thanks to Nehal Patel who along with a group of Boston University students raised funds for the life saving heart surgery.
"He was really ill, really blue and pink and weak," Nehal Patel was quoted as saying by Boston's Channel 7 News channel.
"He's amazing," Patel said. "He's so much fun to be around. He's so sweet... a great kid."
Boston University Advisor Karen Jacobs said the experience was rewarding for the team. "It's very meaningful and exciting for all of us," said Jacobs.
Kolkata, Feb 10 (IANS) An angry mob attacked the OB van of Star Ananda, a Bengali news TV channel, and assaulted media persons at Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's rally near Singur Saturday.
The group of frenzied men at Baratelia near Singur, where Banerjee was allowed to hold the rally, attacked the OB van of Star Ananda, a channel that is seen as toeing the pro-industrialisation line.
The attack took place right in front of senior Trinamool Congress leaders though Banerjee was yet to arrive at the venue when the incident took place in the afternoon.
A cameraman of ETV, Jyotinmoy Basu, who tried to capture the marauding men smashing the vehicle with stones, was hit on his head and had to be hospitalised.
Banerjee later said the attack was carried out by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) men who tried to foil her meeting.
However, the channel's correspondent at the site identified the attackers as Trinamool Congress supporters. The channel alleged that police were not in sight when the attack occurred.
It was not for the first time that Star Ananda was at the receiving end as its correspondents were heckled during Banerjee's 25-day-long fast at Esplanade East.
The controversy over the land acquisition for industrial projects in West Bengal has left the media in the state highly polarised. While some channels like Star Ananda of the ABP group are supporting the industrialisation, some are supporting the farmers' movement and criticising the ruling CPI-M.
As a result, both electronic media and newspapers on either side are subjected to the wrath of the Trinamool Congress and the villagers or the CPI-M workers with police remaining mute spectators on many occasions.
Islamabad, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) A bomb exploded inside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the capital of the Pakistani North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) Saturday morning, wounding a guard and damaging several vehicles, said officials.
Early morning, an explosive device, thrown inside the ICRC compound in Peshawar, exploded and damaged four vehicles, said ICRC spokesman Raza Hamdani.
Talking to media here, the spokesman said that field operation in the city has been suspended. Police said the man injured in the attack was a security guard.
This was the second attack on a foreign NGO in NWFP.
A bomb had earlier exploded inside the temporary residential compound of Save the Children NGO in Battgaram district, wounding two employees.
Rajkot, Feb 10 (IANS) More than its relevance as the second India-Sri Lanka one-day international, Sunday's encounter here will be the final opportunity for the Indian players to stake claim for the World Cup team.
Same goes for Sri Lanka, which will also have to submit its squad of 15 to the game's world governing body by Tuesday's deadline.
As all the 16 participating nations in the World Cup in the West Indies come close to finalising their squads - unless they have already done so - the match at the Madhavrao Scindia ground will help Dilip Vengsarkar's selection committee seal the last one or two or three berths in the Indian team.
With almost 12 or 13 players picking themselves automatically, the five selectors will select and announce the team Monday or Tuesday either here or in Mumbai.
Reports would have the fans believe that Virender Sehwag, who did not get a chance to bat in the abandoned first match in Kolkata Thursday, pacers Munaf Patel, Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan, opener Robin Uthappa and batsmen Suresh Raina are fighting for the few final places in the World Cup squad.
But an Indian team without Sehwag, the highest scorer in the 2003 World Cup final against Australia, looks unthinkable in spite of his poor form. He is a match winner, and his success on the 2006 tour of the West Indies gives him an edge over his rivals in-form Uthappa and left-handed Gambhir, dropped for the first two matches.
Sehwag was dropped, or "rested" as Vengsarkar says, for the recent four-match home ODI series against the West Indies, but was recalled for the first two matches against Mahela Jayawardene-led Sri Lanka.
And to a much lesser extent, Gautam Gambhir, Ramesh Powar, Rudra Pratap Singh could be said to be in the running, but only on the periphery. They could be called in emergency, unless the selectors decide to surprise and pick them in the preferred 15 for the World Cup.
It would mean that captain Rahul Dravid, vice-captain Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, wicketkeepers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh pick themselves automatically.
Therefore, the Rajkot match could have several smaller battles within the big battle between the two countries.
And, if the weather stays clear, it would give Sehwag and Munaf a chance to exhibit their form, though the lanky pacer, whose mysterious injury became a cause of much speculation, looked impressive while taking two wickets in Kolkata before rains forced the curtains down midway through the Sri Lankan innings.
Sehwag would relish the thought of scoring some runs on a pitch that is likely to suit batsmen.
The selectors might also like to have another look at left-arm pacer Pathan, who has lately come under the scanner for lack of incisiveness and wickets. Although he looked good in the fourth and final match against the West Indies in Vadodara recently, he missed the Kolkata ODI due to a sore shoulder. Yuvraj Singh (back spasms) and Ajit Agarkar (flu) also missed Thursday's match.
Sri Lanka too would like to look one final time the players it feels are sitting on the fence vis-à-vis selection for the World Cup starting March 11.
Although there was never any doubt about old warhorse Sanath Jayasuriya's selection for the World Cup, his explosive batting in Kolkata must have given coach Tom Moody and the selectors something to cheer about.
Teams:
India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar (vice-captain), Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh
Kartik (wicketkeepers), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara (wicketkeeper), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Russel Arnold, Upul Chandana, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Zoysa and Nuwan Kulasekera
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Saturday cited inadequate financial allocation for developing judicial infrastructure as one of the reasons for the whopping backlog of three million litigations in lower and high courts.
"The pendency of cases has grown by 84 percent since 1995, while the financial allocation for judiciary has been hiked merely by 25 percent since then," the chief justice told an international conference on Alternative Dispute Resolution here.
The chief justice ascribed the rise in the number of litigations to increasing population and awareness among the people.
"Rising litigation is a natural phenomena. While the population is growing, people have also become more aware," he said.
The chief justice also sought to refute the impression that the Indian judiciary was painfully slow.
"The disposal rates of cases in many states is something between in 1,400 to 1,600 per annum per judge. It's certainly not slow," said the chief justice.
Emphasising the need for faster development of judicial infrastructure, including higher number of courts and judges, Chief Justice Balakrishnan also favoured various methods of alternate dispute resolution, including arbitration, reconciliation and mediation.
The conference was addressed among others by Union Minister for Law and Justice H.R. Bharadwaj, Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and Arjit Pasyat, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia and United Kingdom's first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (a post equivalent to an Indian Supreme Court judge), Baroness Brenda Hale of Richmond.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) India will focus on stepping up connectivity in South Asia through new trans-border transport networks, energy corridors and freer flow of people and ideas, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Saturday while unveiling the agenda for the 14th SAARC summit in April here.
"As we prepare for the summit, India will take the initiative in accelerating regional economic and political cooperation," Mukherjee said at the concluding session of the two-day conclave of leading editors from the eight South Asian Association from Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.
"We will play a positive role in the establishment of new trans-border transport networks and energy corridors so that the 14th summit of SAARC gives a clear signal for improving the connectivity within the subcontinent by ensuring free flow of trade, commerce, goods, people and ideas," Mukherjee said.
The next SAARC editors' conference will be held in Karachi next year.
A comprehensive resolution was adopted at the end of the conference that urged the governments of SAARC countries to enable "freer movement of journalists by issuing multiple-entry long-term visas to all bona fide journalists." The resolution also asked the SAARC governments to "dismantle all border barriers to free flow and exchange of news media products in the region."
Responding to the call of the editors' conference for liberalizing the visa regime, Mukherjee said there is a need for "media persons as well as media products to move easily across the borders."
"The media is the torchbearer of better people-to-people contacts," he said while calling upon the media to be aware of their power as well as responsibilities in creating "bridges of understanding" between neighbouring countries.
The minister also underlined that the future of South Asian countries is a common future in which every member nation - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan - has a stake in the economic success of the other.
By Jaideep Sarin,
Chandigarh, Feb 10 (IANS) Political parties are known to bring in celluloid stars for campaigning in a last ditch effort to lure voters. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Punjab alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal have stars like MP Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha and TV star Smriti Irani speaking up for them in the run-up to next week's assembly elections.
Though Irani attracted large crowds, especially women, in Ludhiana and Amritsar where she campaigned for the Akali-BJP candidates, her experience in Amritsar was not really great after she was jostled around by activists of her own party.
Upset at the way the event was conducted and with the crowd refusing to behave, Irani beat a hasty retreat. She did not take part in a BJP road show she was slated to be in.
Hema Malini charmed the crowds in the industrial city of Ludhiana and elsewhere with the young and old flocking to see her. The elderly and middle-aged men, especially from areas around Ludhiana, wanted to catch a glimpse of Punjab's 'nuh' (daughter-in-law). Hema's husband Dharmendra, yesteryears star and now BJP MP from Bikaner in Rajasthan, hails from Sahnewal town, 15 km from Ludhiana.
A 90-year-old man was seen sitting on a tractor-trolley near Dasuya town, proceeding to attend a rally to be addressed by the sixties' 'dreamgirl'.
In contrast, the Congress has so far not managed to rope in many stars. Poonam Dhillon did campaign for Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in her Lehra seat in Sangrur district.
"We are the stars ourselves in this election. Don't you think we look like stars?" Chief Minister Amarinder Singh quipped recently when asked which Bollywood stars would campaign for the Congress.
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A Punjab police poll survey that backfired
Poll predictions are best left to pollsters even if they go awry sometimes. But what the police did this week in Mohali town, adjoining state capital Chandigarh, went beyond the call of duty and has left poll managers of leading parties furious.
The Election Commission has now ordered the transfer of Mohali district police chief G.S. Dhillon, who was appointed to the post just a few days before the election code of conduct came into force Dec 29.
Dhillon was earlier in charge of the security of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and was considered close to him. The state government reportedly handpicked him for the Mohali posting.
The official website of the Mohali police got a poll survey done on the electorate as to which party would fare better in the Feb 13 assembly elections in Punjab. The obvious result, quite "dutifully", went in favour of the ruling Congress led by Amarinder Singh. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its alliance partner Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) were not shown as winners in the poll.
This caused severe indignation in the Akali-BJP circles with their leaders taking no time to complain to the Election Commission about the role played by the Mohali police through its website.
Senior Mohali police officials, embarrassed by the episode, are looking for excuses, when there are none. At a time when the force should have shown itself to be apolitical and non-partisan, it has actually come out smeared in the political colours of the ruling Congress.
The Punjab Police, which has got a dressing down from the commission for not creating at atmosphere conducive for free, fair and peaceful polls in the Beas assembly segment - where polling was postponed Thursday - has been at the receiving end from the Election Commission.
Its director general of police S.S. Virk was ordered to be removed from the top police job of the state last month after the Akalis complained that Virk and his brother were given concessions to the tune of Rs.2.5 billion for a five-star hotel, resort and multiplex complex proposed 120 km from Chandigarh.
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Liquor flows quietly
One advantage of the strict restrictions imposed by the Election Commission on poll expenses is that candidates are no longer investing too much on flags, posters, banners and buntings. For every such thing, the poll expense has to be recorded and submitted to the returning officers.
Expenses meant for all this are now reportedly being quietly diverted to supplying liquor and drugs like opium to a substantial number of voters in every constituency. Candidates and their supporters are making sure that liquor supplies to "needy" voters never dries up till Feb 13.
Liquor traders are the happiest lot in this situation - their sales are up by three-five times. "The election could not have come at a better time. This is generally the time of the year when liquor traders cut costs to sell their stock before the end of the financial year (March 31). But this time, they are being forced to procure stocks from other places to fulfil the high demand for liquor," said a trader in Ludhiana.
But things are not so tipsy on the liquor front in Nawanshahr district. The district administration there has strictly enforced an order that sale of every liquor bottle has to be recorded and no sale would be permitted without proper verification of the customer.
Beijing, Feb 10 (Xinhua) China's four great modern inventions are hybrid rice, laser photocomposition system for Chinese character typesetting, total synthesis of bovine insulin and compound artemether, according to Chinese netizens.
More than 100,000 netizens contributed to the debate and 51,442 valid votes were cast in an election jointly organized by the Guangdong Association of Invention (GAI), Nangfang Daily, Beijing News and sohu.com, said Zhou Zhaolong, vice GAI director.
Zhou said originality, global influence and social benefits were the three key criteria for the inventions chosen.
Hybrid rice, developed by famous Chinese agronomist Yuan Longping, since the early 1970s is widely grown in China, with yields up to 12,000 kg per hectare. It has greatly increased yield on China's limited amount of arable land and been introduced to some Asian and African countries.
The computerized laser photocomposition system for Chinese character typesetting has transformed China's printing from letterpress printing to electronic publishing.
The new system invented by late Peking University Professor Wang Xuan in the 1980s has been described as the second invention of the printing system for Chinese characters after Bi Sheng's invention of movable clay type in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Bi Sheng's invention ushered in a revolution in the history of printing.
The complete synthesis of bovine insulin - the first time that human beings have synthesized protein - is a huge breakthrough in the life sciences. The procedure was carried out in 1966 by a team headed by late academician Wang Yinglai.
Compound artemether is a medicine invented in China in the late 1970s which has proven itself to be effective in treating malaria patients worldwide.
The compass, gunpowder, paper-making and printing are regarded as ancient China's four great inventions.
Beijing, Feb 10 (Xinhua) China's four great modern inventions are hybrid rice, laser photocomposition system for Chinese character typesetting, total synthesis of bovine insulin and compound artemether, according to Chinese netizens.
More than 100,000 netizens contributed to the debate and 51,442 valid votes were cast in an election jointly organized by the Guangdong Association of Invention (GAI), Nangfang Daily, Beijing News and sohu.com, said Zhou Zhaolong, vice GAI director.
Zhou said originality, global influence and social benefits were the three key criteria for the inventions chosen.
Hybrid rice, developed by famous Chinese agronomist Yuan Longping, since the early 1970s is widely grown in China, with yields up to 12,000 kg per hectare. It has greatly increased yield on China's limited amount of arable land and been introduced to some Asian and African countries.
The computerized laser photocomposition system for Chinese character typesetting has transformed China's printing from letterpress printing to electronic publishing.
The new system invented by late Peking University Professor Wang Xuan in the 1980s has been described as the second invention of the printing system for Chinese characters after Bi Sheng's invention of movable clay type in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Bi Sheng's invention ushered in a revolution in the history of printing.
The complete synthesis of bovine insulin - the first time that human beings have synthesized protein - is a huge breakthrough in the life sciences. The procedure was carried out in 1966 by a team headed by late academician Wang Yinglai.
Compound artemether is a medicine invented in China in the late 1970s which has proven itself to be effective in treating malaria patients worldwide.
The compass, gunpowder, paper-making and printing are regarded as ancient China's four great inventions.
Dhaka, Feb 10 (Indianmuslims.info) Industrial and Businessmen Welfare Foundation (IBWF), one of the biggest organisations of industrialists and businessmen in Bangladesh, said that Friday is the most suitable day for weekly holiday. They urged the government to consider the opinion of the majority rather than what a few businessmen are saying.
A.N.M.A Zaher and Kazi Harun-ur-Rashid, chairman and secretary of IBWF respectively, said in a statement that the arguments raised by a section of people regarding weekly holiday is not acceptable at all. They say they are becoming disconnected from their business partners for three days, as Friday is the holiday in Bangladesh. They are advocating for Sunday to be weekly holiday claiming that most of the Muslim countries maintain Sunday as weekly holiday as such it has become an international trend and the Qur’an does not mention about any weekly holiday.
The IBWF leaders argued that they have 5 to 12 hours of time difference with their business partners in Europe and America. In that situation if they want to synchronise their office time with them, they have to keep their offices open at nights, which is absolutely impossible. Secondly, all Muslim countries that are members of OIC except only three countries observe weekly holiday on Fridays. Thirdly, weekly holiday is determined on the basis of religion. For example, Jews and Christians have made it on religiously holy days of the week according to their respective religions. In our country, Sunday was imposed upon us as holiday by the British colonial rulers, which was actually ‘holy’ according to their religion. Fourthly, it is true that the Qur’an does not refer any day to be observed as weekly holiday; however it is also true that according to the Qur’an and Sunnah (prophetic tradition) Friday has a very special importance in the life of Muslims. Lastly, two-day weekly holiday wastes more working hours.
“In that case, we want to clearly say that if only one day is to be holiday, that day of course have to be Friday. We should further keep in mind that Friday-holiday did not have any negative impact on our export and import rather export and import increased at a rate of 10%-20% in the last couple of years,� the statement read.
The statement further says that the religious sentiments, tradition and opinion of the majority people of Bangladesh should be taken into serious consideration. “It is unworthy to create a new debate on a settled issue and as such Friday should continue to remain as weekly holiday,� it maintained.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan Saturday blamed inadequate financial allocation to judiciary for the high backlog of unresolved litigations, while Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the government contributed to the problem by making "mindless" appeals against every judgement.
"The pendency of cases has grown by 84 percent since 1995, while the financial allocation for judiciary has been hiked merely by 25 percent since then," the chief justice said citing inadequate financial allocation for developing judicial infrastructure as one of the reasons for the whopping backlog of three million litigations in lower and high courts.
He was addressing an international conference on Alternative Dispute Resolution here.
"Rising litigation is a natural phenomenon. While the population is growing, people have also become more aware," he said.
The chief justice also sought to refute the impression that the Indian judiciary was painfully slow.
"The disposal rates of cases in many states are between 1,400 to 1,600 per annum per judge. It's certainly not slow," he said.
Emphasising the need for faster development of judicial infrastructure, Chief Justice Balakrishnan also favoured various alternative methods of dispute resolution, including arbitration, reconciliation and mediation.
Imparting an economist's perspective to the administration of justice in India, Ahluwalia said "the cost of justice here, in terms of per sitting, per lawyer appearance, maybe low, but the total time taken owing to its slow pace hikes the cost."
Blaming the government for the high backlog of cases, he said: "it is not merely the greatest litigant but also believes in mindless appeal at each level.
"There is no cost for the individual official for taking the decision to appeal against one or the other judgement. But the cost for not making the appeal is significantly better than making the appeal for the government," he said, while urging the government "to stop making mindless appeal".
Approving alternative dispute resolution methods in an era of globalised economy, Ahluwalia, however, cautioned that the government must ensure that there should be no provision of appeal against the decision reached through any alternative dispute resolution method.
"Reconciliation and mediation must not become an additional layer of legal adjudication," he said.
Britain's first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, Baroness Brenda Hale of Richmond, opened her remarks on a light note, saying "an inefficient lawyer delays the resolution of a case by months if not by years, but an efficient lawyer would certainly delay it by decades."
In her keynote address, she said the courts are not in a position to bear the entire burden of judiciary and a number of disputes should be resolved by alternative modes.
She emphasised the desirability of litigants to end disputes taking advantage of alternative dispute resolution, which provides procedural flexibility, saves valuable time and money besides helping avoid the stress of conventional trial.
In the present system, litigants are compelled to live with delays that lead to frustration, loss of faith among the disputants and gives rise to unethical and unsocial practices in the society, she added.
Minister for Law and Justice Bhardwaj said the government is committed to providing fair, speedier and inexpensive trial as per the mandate of Article 39-A of the constitution and the alternative dispute resolution methods are the government's sincere efforts to fulfil that mandate.
Justice Arijit Pasayat described the Indian legal system as suffering from `ABCD' syndrome, with A standing for access, B for backlog, C for cost and D for delay.
Islamabad, Feb 10 (DPA) A gas cylinder was deliberately detonated in the early hours of Saturday at the building of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the north-west Pakistani city of Peshawar, damaging vehicles and premises, officials said.
The incident occurred when a gas cylinder was thrown over the wall and exploded in the compound. No one was injured despite initial reports of one casualty, according to an ICRC spokesman.
"ICRC has suspended the field trips of its staff in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) until there has been a security assessment," Raza Hamdani told DPA in Islamabad.
International non-governmental organisations working in the restive province have previously received threats following attacks by coalition forces on suspected Taliban insurgents in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.
Islamabad, Feb 10 (Xinhua) Unidentified people Saturday blew up a main gas pipeline in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, disrupting gas supply to provincial capital Quetta and adjoining areas, TV channels reported.
Reports said the explosives were placed under the 16-inch pipeline which was blown off at 12.30 p.m. The pipeline carried gas to Quetta and neighbouring areas.
The city and other parts of the province were in the grip of intense cold following heavy rains and snowfall.
Baluch tribal groups, seeking greater autonomy for the province, have been spearheading a violent movement for years now.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack but suspected tribal militants had in the past targeted gas and electricity lines as well as railway tracks.
Gas pipelines were blown up in Sui earlier this week which led to disruption of supplies in Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts.
Paris, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah welcomed on Saturday the agreement signed in Makkah between Fatah and Hamas during a meeting sponsored on Thursday by Saudi's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
In a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Al-Attiyah said this agreement would have a positive impact on stopping Palestinian bloodshed and boosting national unity.
"This agreement is also important as it would deny Israel the opportunity of claiming there is no real Palestinian partner to negotiate with it," he added.
He noted that the "the historic Makkah agreement is considered a refute of these Israeli claims and is proof that Palestinians are able to negotiate over the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
The GCC official also stressed it was important that the world "be aware of the just Palestinian cause and to work on ending this ordeal as it is considered the key to Middle Eastern peace, stability, and security." On a different note, Al-Attiyah praised His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as being keen on supporting and contributing to joint GCC activities early in its establishment.
The secretary general also highlighted major accomplishments of His Highness Sheikh Sabah in the political, economic, and social fields, including his role in Kuwaiti women's attainment of their full political rights.
Meanwhile, Al-Attiyah indicated he would be heading to Vienna on Feb 20 following the decision of the Summit of GCC Leaders held in Riyadh last December to study the construction of a joint, peaceful nuclear program in GCC member states.
He said the study required contacts with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure transparency in line with international standards, thus he would be holding talks with the energy agency on this issue.
Al-Attiyah recalled the recent statement of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait on establishing a transparent and clear nuclear programme for peaceful purposes.
During a press conference held at the Arab Press Club (CAPE), Al-Attiyah said Iran was a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and therefore had the right to own nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
He said, however, this required that it give guarantees to neighboring states, especially the GCC, regarding this program, calling for holding diplomatic dialogue to overcome this crisis and abiding by conditions set by the IAEA.
Al-Attiyah called on all concerned sides to be rationale and use logic to avoid war or the use of force so as to resolve this issue.
GCC member states, he said, looked forward to further development while enjoying peace and security, especially after witnessing three wars, which included an attempt at erasing a whole country from the world map -- alluding to the 1990 Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
He stressed the region "cannot bear anymore pressure." The entire international community, he said, was concerned over the Iranian nuclear file, saying he called on the US administration to avoid war as anything but peaceful negotiations would have a negative impact on the whole region.
GCC states have a clear and stable stance, namely "to avoid the use of force against a friendly and neighboring state," he said.
On Iraq, Al-Attiyah said every GCC country was affected by the situation there "as it is painful to see the country reaching such a stage." He noted efforts exerted within the framework of the Arab League to support Iraq, saying violence in Iraq "is not resistance but terrorism" which had its impact on GCC member states and the Arab world as a whole.
Al-Attiyah is visiting the country to address a forum on European affairs.
He met on Friday the new president of the Arab World Institute (IMA) during which the two sides discussed means to further boost bilateral cooperation in the cultural field.
Phnom Penh, Feb 10 (Xinhua) The German government has donated 7.6 million euro (around USD 10 million) for improving roads in rural areas of Cambodia over the next three years, local Television reported Saturday.
The fund will help in restoration and repair of about 2,000 km of rural roads across the country, it quoted Yim Chaily, secretary of state in the Ministry of Rural Development, as saying.
Chaily said the quality of rural roads in the country is expected to match that of the national roads in future.
According to official statistics, Cambodia's road network covers 35,000 km, including 4,800 km of national road, 5,700 km of provincial road and 24,500 km of rural road.
Finland also has donated about USD two million to Cambodia to modernise its information technology, strengthen public awareness and increase community participation in land registration, officials have told Xinhua.
New Delhi, Feb 10 : Global Media Publications, a leading New Delhi, India-based publisher on South Asian issues has launched www.khabrein.info a dedicated online news paper for Indian diaspora residing around the world.
Khabrein that means news in Hindi and Urdu aims to objectively present news and views to Indian audience living not only within the confines of this great country but also people of Indian origin living around the world. India with its immense knowledge-based economy is poised to become world leader within a very short time. The fast-paced growth of Indian economy as well as the changed image of the country - from snake charmers to technology drivers - is to a large extent due to the wonderful work being done by people of our country who have been living in different countries.
www.khabrein.info would bring news from across the country as well as of Diaspora living around the world, particularly in US, Gulf countries, European Union and Far East. With timely views, editorials, interviews, tech news www.khabrein.info promises to keep Indian Diaspora informed of all things important taking place in their part of the world.
“Though there are several website catering to non resident Indians in particular geographic locations, but there was a dearth of a powerful news media that caters to Indian Diaspora as a whole. With www.khabrein.info we would like to fill this vacuum� said S Ubaidur Rahman, CEO, Global Media Publications. He clarified that though this news site is geared towards Indian Diaspora it will be a complete online newspaper and will cover important news stories of the day from India and abroad.
“News stories and features concerning Indian Diaspora as well as business process outsourcing, Indo-US and Indo-Arab relations - areas where majority of non-resident Indians live- will be our focus area� S Ubaidur Rahman added. We are contacting writers in different parts of the world to write for us, said he.
Islamabad, Feb 10 (NNN-APP) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday said that the government of PML and its allied parties was committed to transforming Pakistan into a modern, tolerant and enlightened state, as envisaged by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He was talking to President of Nazariya-e-Pakistan Council, Zahid Malik, who called on him here at the PM House this evening.
The Prime Minster said that the PML government has introduced reforms in every sector and is pursuing policies to transfer the benefits of high economic growth to the masses.
Because of this reform agenda of the government, he said, employment opportunities in the country have increased and the standard of living of common man has improved.
The Prime Minister said the government is committed to redeeming every pledge made by it to the people.He said Pakistan was created as a result of the efforts and sacrifices made by the Muslims of sub-continent under the banner of Muslim League and it is the duty of every Muslim to work for the development and prosperity of Pakistan to make it a truly great nation so that it can earn its rightful place in the global community.
The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of Zahid Malik in making Islamabad a hub of activities relating to the promotion and strengthening of the ideological moorings of Pakistan. Zahid Malik briefed the Prime Minister about the activities planned by the Nazariya-e-Pakistan Council for the current year.
Chennai, Feb 10 (IANS) Nobel laureate Amartya Sen Saturday warned against any facile equation of economic growth with improvement in public health.
He recalled that post-revolution China had made dramatic improvements in public health with an increase in life expectancy from 35 to 68 years by 1979, the year the Chinese economic reforms began.
Since then China had become the world leader in economic growth but the life expectancy of the average Chinese had not increased commensurately, Sen said while delivering the K.S. Sanjivi Endowment lecture at the Voluntary Health Services headquarters here Saturday.
Speaking on Kerala, the Nobel laureate said that the Indian state had higher life expectancy than China.
Similarly, the infant mortality in Kerala today was as low as 12 per thousand, as against 28 in China, he added.
The economist saw this as a direct result of the great leap to privatisation that had come with China's dramatic economic growth.
He pointed out that the public health insurance for citizens, which stood at 100 percent in 1979 had come down to 20 percent today.
Sen, however, also counted "economic prosperity" and other factors including education and political direction among the requirements for enhancement of public health.
Health is an important issue not only because "it is an integral part of well-being" but also because it enhanced "human capabilities", he said.
The Nobel laureate, known for his emphasis on health, education and gender equity, also stressed on the importance of health as a "human right".
Answering critics, who objected to the idea of health as a human right, Sen said: "When we talk of promotion of human rights we talk of rights that need to be promoted. Health is one of such rights."
He also said that India's present allocations for health and education sectors could not take the country to its development goal of 2020.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) The Haryana football coach accused the referee of being biased in favour of West Bengal during the men's Group A match here Saturday.
Haryana coach Hansraj said the referee was afraid of taking any decisions against big team like West Bengal, the powerhouse in Indian football.
Haryana lost the match 0-3 at the Northeastern Frontier Railway Stadium.
"West Bengal is a big team, so how can the referee take a decision against them. We ended up being the sufferer as maximum of the referee's decisions went against us," he said.
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Lawn tennis deferred till Monday
The long opening ceremony of the 33rd National Games took its toll on some sports events with lawn tennis being deferred till Monday.
Three events - volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics - had to be postponed Friday due to the opening ceremony. Lawn tennis, earlier scheduled for Saturday, was postponed as the fixture for the day was already cramped.
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Gogoi dances to Sukhwinder's tune
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi matched his footsteps to the tune of noted Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh during the inauguration function of the 33rd National Games here Friday night.
At the end of the opening ceremony Friday night, Gogoi came down from the dais to shake a leg to Sukhwinder's song and waved to the spectators as fireworks lit the dark sky of the Sarsujai Sports Complex.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) The Haryana football coach accused the referee of being biased in favour of West Bengal during the men's Group A match here Saturday.
Haryana coach Hansraj said the referee was afraid of taking any decisions against big team like West Bengal, the powerhouse in Indian football.
Haryana lost the match 0-3 at the Northeastern Frontier Railway Stadium.
"West Bengal is a big team, so how can the referee take a decision against them. We ended up being the sufferer as maximum of the referee's decisions went against us," he said.
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Lawn tennis deferred till Monday
The long opening ceremony of the 33rd National Games took its toll on some sports events with lawn tennis being deferred till Monday.
Three events - volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics - had to be postponed Friday due to the opening ceremony. Lawn tennis, earlier scheduled for Saturday, was postponed as the fixture for the day was already cramped.
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Gogoi dances to Sukhwinder's tune
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi matched his footsteps to the tune of noted Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh during the inauguration function of the 33rd National Games here Friday night.
At the end of the opening ceremony Friday night, Gogoi came down from the dais to shake a leg to Sukhwinder's song and waved to the spectators as fireworks lit the dark sky of the Sarsujai Sports Complex.
Rome, Feb 10 (RIA Novosti) High-speed rail links are planned to be built between Russia's major cities and to Finland in 2012-2014.
High speed rail links between Moscow and St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg and Helsinki, Moscow and Kazan, Moscow and Samara, and Moscow and Adler are currently on the company's agenda, Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways (RZD) told media Friday.
"The first high-speed trains will run between Moscow and St. Petersburg, with a maximum speed of over 300 km/h [186 mph]," he said.
The high-speed rail link from Moscow to the Black Sea resort town of Adler will be launched as part of preparations for nearby Sochi's bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
Russia has also signed a MoU with Italian rail operator FS, and its second largest industrial group, Finmeccanica.
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Jakarta, Feb 10 (NNN-ANTARA) The floods which submerged around 60 to 70 percent of metropolitan Jakarta city’s territory in the past one week were mainly caused by the attitude of human beings so that the blame cannot be entirely put on nature, an observer said.
Elfian Effendi, director of Greenomics Indonesia, a non-governmental organization dealing with environmental affairs, in an interview with Antara here on Friday said the Jakarta floods were the result of the mistakes of human beings as the capacity of the city’s water catchment areas had continued to decline from year to year.
He said the flash floods in early February of this year in Jakarta were also proof of the city`s poor environmental planning.
The slow realisation of the East Canal (BKT) and West Canal (BKB) projects for flood prevention showed the poor performance of the Jakarta city administration as well as the central government in efforts to protect the capital from floods during the rainy season.
"In other countries, national resources are mobilised on a large scale to accomplish projects like these," he said.
Greenoomics had estimated the floods in Jakarta and environs had caused material and economic losses totaling about Rp7.3 trillion while they directly or indirectly affected eight economic sectors.
Economic losses outside the eight sectors might reach over Rp1.2 trillion a day, including an estimated loss as a result of lost opportunity cost standing at 25 percent of the total of estimated losses.
"The estimated figure of Greenomics is much higher than the National Development Planning Board`s estimate of around Rp4.1 trillion," Elfien said.
The value of the flood-related losses, according to him, was about 1.7 percent of that of the regional gross domestic product (PDRB) of Jakarta.
"This is an economically strong warning. Jakarta’s economy is sensitive to the disturbance of floods," he said. Economic sectors which had been seeing high growth in Jakarta and surrounding areas were dominated by transportation, communication, trade, hotels and restaurants, electricity, gas and clean water.
But the recent floods would certainly hamper further growth in these sectors, he said.
Mumbai/New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The multi-billion battle to acquire Hutch-Essar, India's fourth largest mobile operator, gathered new momentum with four of the potential bidders submitting their bids.
According to sources Saturday, British mobile giant Vodafone, Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications (RCOM), the Hindujas in consortium with Qatar Telecom and Russian cellco Altimo submitted their bids Friday midnight to buy out Hutchison Whampoa's 67 percent stake in Hutchison Essar. There is no fifth bidder.
It is believed Altimo has tied up with Rothschild as advisor and Nomura of Japan as its financier, while Anil Ambani has roped in four private equity players - Blackstone Capital, Carlyle, Kavin Koehlberg Robers (KKR) and Apax Partners.
Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (HTIL) is all set to discuss the bids on Sunday in Hong Kong, which would be followed by the company's annual general meeting on Feb 15.
Even the bidders are tight-lipped about the amount, which sources say, could be within the range of $18-$20 billion.
Meanwhile, both Vodafone and RCOM have officially told their shareholders and investors that they would take a conservative stand while bidding.
Vienna, Feb 10 (DPA) The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) froze 22 out of 55 technical cooperation projects with Iran, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a report to its 35-nation board here.
The IAEA followed the line laid out in UN Security Council resolution 1737 from Dec 23, 2006, which asks to suspend all cooperation that could potentially enable Iran to acquire a nuclear weapons capability.
The release of the report Friday comes at the same time as Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani cancelled meetings both with IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei in Vienna and his participation in a security conference in Munich, where he was expected to meet with senior European leaders.
According to conference organisers, Larijani cancelled his trip due to "health reasons".
The Security Council resolution prohibits all UN member states as well as the IAEA from giving Iran technical assistance on proliferation-sensitive activities such as uranium enrichment or fuel reprocessing.
Iran's IAEA envoy Ali-Asqar Soltanieh called the freeze a follow-on to the "legally unjustifiable" UN resolution and therefore technically not relevant.
"The UN resolution has caused the IAEA limitations and eventually led to the freezing of projects with Iran," Soltanieh said.
The report stressed that "the secretariat will continue to keep all its technical assistance activities under review to ensure that none contribute to Iran's proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities as specified in the resolution."
"Technical cooperation to Iran may proceed through 11 national projects and 20 regional and two inter-regional projects," the report said.
Of the 22 halted projects, 10 were suspended completely.
For the remaining 12, cooperation was suspended for disparate activities "except for those specific activities that, after a case-by-case screening by the secretariat upon receipt of a request for specific assistance, are found to be in conformity" with the UN resolution.
Among the projects Iran requested were technical assistance for developing a waste disposal facility and aid for the production of radiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy.
Technical cooperation would continue only "if it is for food, agricultural, medical, safety or other humanitarian purposes" or where it related to light water reactors, as specified by the Security Council, the report said.
Vienna, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei, announced Friday evening the suspension of 22 out of 55 bilateral and regional cooperation projects with Iran, heeding a resolution by the UN Security Council.
A report by El Baradei, made available to reporters, said the IAEA had suspended 22 projects but the Board of Governors, due to meet on March 5, would identify the type of projects to come to a halt and others that are to go on.
El Baradei's report comes amid a rift among the 35 member states of the IAEA as many of them, members in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), in which Iran and Arab states are members, opposed suspension of technical aid to Tehran fearing that would be taken as a model to deprive other IAEA members of the same aid.
A resolution taken by the UN Security Council last December provided that " technical cooperation provided to Iran by the IAEA or under its auspices shall only be for food, agricultural, medical, safety, or other humanitarian purposes.
It indicated no technical cooperation shall be provided that relates to the proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities." El Baradei is due to submit to the UNSC later this week a report the Council previously demanded on Tehran's uranium-enrichment activities.
Last November, the IAEA Board of Governors turned down an Iranian request seeking technical aid for a nuclear reactor operated by heavy water in the Arak nuclear facility owing to pressure by the West and the US, both accusing Tehran of seeking to possess nuclear weapons, taking a peaceful nuclear program as cover.
Tehran has repeatedly refuted the charges insisting its nuclear program is devoted to peaceful power generation.
By Frederick Noronha,
Bangalore, Feb 10 (IANS) One-step forward, two steps back...is this the fate of non-commercial, non-state radio broadcasting in Asia? It would seem so, going by the perceptions of a campaigner trying to promote community radio even as he says India holds out hope.
"Not much has moved in South Asia (in recent months)," said Suman Basnet, the Asia Pacific regional coordinator of AMARC, the French acronym for World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.
Basnet, who was travelling through New Delhi and Bangalore recently, however, praised the developments in India calling them "most exciting".
"We are hopeful that India will emerge as a good training ground for community radio not just in South Asia, but in the Asia Pacific. This is an issue voiced by AMARC members from diverse regions," Basnet, 38, told IANS.
"We're particularly interested in promoting the role of women in community radio and see a very big potential of that in India. By the very number of radio stations you're going to have in this country, it offers a vast playing field," he said.
"AMARC's interest to work in India is really deep because India is going to be comparable like Latin American countries like Colombia, where community radios are counted in thousands...and there's an explosion," said Basnet.
He said his visit to India was to consult with local campaigners to find out their needs. "It has to come from our Indian counterparts to tell us what is needed of us," he said.
Community radio - also called rural radio, cooperative radio, participatory radio, free radio, alternative, popular or educational radio - operates out of rural or urban areas, is broadcast to small areas and offers alternate, non-commercial, non-state voices to a diverse set of people via the radio.
India has just opened up its 'community radio' possibilities with a new official policy announced in mid-November 2006. Earlier, for a couple of years, it was mostly 'campus radio' stations that were being allowed.
Currently AMARC has barely half-a-dozen members in India.
"Lot of the knowledge probably exists in India, probably have to make it visible and present it in an organised way to those searching for it (as far as low-cost radio technology goes)," he says.
AMARC is the international umbrella organisation of community radio broadcasters founded in 1983, with nearly 3,000 members in 110 countries. After being focussed in Latin America and elsewhere, it recently stepped up its presence in Asia and is in cyberspace at asiapacific.amarc.org.
"Bangladesh is still stuck with draft law, as political priorities have changed there. Nobody is discussing community radio there. Instead they are discussing political issues and interim rule," said Basnet
In Pakistan, he said, nothing has happened.
"Private radios are there (in Pakistan), some new licenses have been given. After the earthquake in 2005 and the strong role radio stations played, there is a strong voice that the government should be more open to give community radio at least in disaster prone areas. But nothing has happened," he said.
But one country where something interesting has happened is Nepal, said Basnet who is based in Kathmandu.
"The king's very oppressing regime that saw community radio fighting for survival is over. There has been a major turnaround in the politics. Now the focus is on the interim constitution. The challenge for radio is for local radio stations to ensure that people participate in the whole process. Otherwise it will be an elite, city-driven process of drafting a constitution."
The other challenge for radio campaigners, he said, is to ensure that Nepal's new constitution acknowledges the role of community radio.
He said in a region like South Asia, low-powered non-commercial radio could be one tool to "give a voice to the rural areas, women and the poor" where the other media is more "city and elite driven".
Basnet said 300 radio stations had been shut down in Thailand after the military coup, and in the Philippines the entire media, including radio, was being "bullied so much" with journalists being murdered, that several radio stations had "voluntarily" closed down operations.
Indonesia too is caught in a bureaucratic and political process, and still struggling with legislations, he said.
United Nations, Feb 10 (IANS) India has demanded a fundamental reform of global economic governance ensuring changes in voting structure and accountability to bring down "subtle trade barriers" that destroy jobs.
"The job destruction through the inability of many developing countries' farmers to compete, as a result of subsidies in the developed world, is well-known," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Nirupam Sen, said Friday.
Taking part in a debate on 'Promoting Full Employment and Decent Work for all' at the 45th session of the commission for Social Development, Sen recalled Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath's lament: "We can deal with a flood of goods coming in but we cannot deal with a flood of subsidies."
In fact, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2007 report makes the point that one of the reasons why unemployment is not really decreasing significantly in spite of growth is the shift away from agriculture, including from food crops, said Sen.
In the case of non-agricultural goods, fair trade liberalisation could have offset the unemployment-creating effects of liberalised imports because exporters are more productive than non exporting plants and higher exports mean more job creation and less job destruction for the economy, but this effect is impeded by what have been described as "subtle trade barriers".
Trade barriers for developing countries remain - even the tariffs, in actual terms, imposed by the developed on developing countries are far higher than on fellow developed countries, Sen said.
Unemployment can be even more wasteful not just economically but in terms of wasted lives, "so many strong men's courage broken, so many hands numbed as though by nightshade", he said.
Externally, globalisation means that inefficient enterprises have to close down under competitive pressure, which causes unemployment. The IMF programmes combine encouraging privatisation with high interest rates.
This makes job creation more difficult. Sequencing is critical and has often been ignored and hence a fast pace of liberalisation before ensuring social security, training in new skills and an adequate regulatory framework has often created problems.
The IMF therefore needs to update and integrate even into its current activity its original Keynesian mandate of providing resources to strengthen aggregate effective demand, Sen said.
The Indian delegate welcomed the Secretary-General's affirmation of the need for creating an enabling environment at the international and national level as a key challenge for realising full employment and decent work.
"We hope that the current session of the Commission for Social Development would provide more insights into the effective realisation of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly to halve extreme poverty by 2015 and foster social integration by making employment a central objective of national and international macroeconomic policies" he said.
Rajkot, Feb 10 (NNN-PTI) After the washout at the Eden Gardens, India and Sri Lanka go into the second cricket one-dayer here tomorrow with the home team still grappling with injury worries ahead of the crucial game which gives Virender Sehwag one last chance to push for a World Cup berth.
The three injured players -- Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar -- who had to sit out of the first match had still not recovered fully and were doubtful starters for the day match at the Madhavrao Scindia stadium.
In view of the injuries, the Indian team management would wait till tomorrow to decide on the playing eleven for the match which is of vital importance to Sehwag and paceman Munaf Patel who need to prove their form and fitness ahead of the World Cup team selection on Monday.
Yuvraj has been down with a back niggle while Pathan had still not recovered from a sore shoulder. Agarkar, who was down with flu, was still weak though he did take part in the practice session.
"Among the three, Agarkar has a better chance of playing. He bowled a few overs at the nets, but looked a little flat", captain Rahul Dravid said.
It will be a test of character for the out-of-form Sehwag, who was recalled into the team after being dropped for the series against the West Indies, as he gets just one opportunity to impress the selectors who meet in Mumbai on Monday to finalise India's 15-member World Cup squad.
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, Feb 10 (IANS) US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez says India's traditional leadership role in the developing world was needed to advance stalled Doha round of world trade talks and get a "good agreement."
"India's leadership is required to get a WTO agreement that will help the whole world and will help India as well," Gutierrez told reporters Friday ahead of a two day visit to New Delhi Feb 13-14. He leaves here Sunday.
"It will be a quick, but very productive trip," he said describing it as a mission with twin goals: to win India's support at a "critical moment for Doha" and to demonstrate its commitment to building bilateral relations, a proclaimed "top priority" of Bush administration.
With India emerging as a key player in multilateral discussions, Washington looked to New Delhi's clout in the developing world to help the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of free trade talks get back on track, he said.
"As other developing countries watch India, and they look for cues from India, we'll need to see movement in agriculture, which of course we understand is a very important decision for India," Gutierrez said. India also needs to help break deadlocks over freeing up trade in the manufacturing and service sectors, he said.
But Gutierrez would not say whether US itself was willing to show greater flexibility in the matter of farm subsidies, which developing countries say give US farmers an unfair market advantage.
"I don't want to be in a position of negotiating with ourselves," he said suggesting that US had already put forward a "quiet bold" and "most aggressive proposal" and wanted to see reciprocity from the European Union, Japan and other big importers.
Gutierrez said US was not linking Doha logjam to generalised system of preferences (GSP)) even as Washington initiated a review of this duty-free trade benefit in the case of India and a dozen other countries soon after the collapse of world trade talks. "It's a separate issue requiring Congressional approval," he said.
Gutierrez, who has visited India several times in his previous job as Kellogg Co chief executive, said the $29 billion in annual US-India trade that made India the United States' 19th biggest trade partner showed the business relationship was "not at its full potential."
"As large as it is, it is just getting started," he said noting that foreign direct investment (FDI) made up only 5 per cent of India's GDP whereas it was as high as 28 per cent in the case of Brazil, 20 percent in Russia and 16 percent in China.
With an investment of $39 billion, US has the largest of FDI in India. Gutierrez said he aimed to promote cooperation in the areas of service trade, high technology and civil nuclear power under a landmark deal, which symbolised a very significant part of India-US relations.
While a lot of work has still to be done, Congressional approval for the deal represented a breakthrough. "We are committed and believe the step with the Congress gives us a leeway to move forward," he said urging India to move forward with the requisite steps like the accord with IAEA for an additional protocol.
A lot was going on in India, Gutierrez said. The open skies agreement had added a lot of vibrancy. It was also very much on track in liberalising the retail sector and he hoped to see significant progress in the near future. But a lot more has to be done.Opening up was good for a country. India has made so much progress that it can be proud of. India can grow up even faster if it opens up further, he said.
Asked about his reaction to legislation passed by several American states against outsourcing, he said Washington was in favour of free and fair trade that was an important part of the future of the world. But he could understand concerns when jobs are lost in a given state. "We have to convince them about its necessity (outsourcing) to attract investment and do more trade as they in turn created jobs."
Gutierrez will meet with Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and other senior government officials and business leaders.
The two sides will discuss ways to promote opportunity and economic growth between them, the announcement said. The meetings will include discussions on enforcing intellectual property rights, reducing red tape for US companies trying to do business in India and the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act signed by President George Bush in December 2006.
He will be accompanied by US Under Secretary for International Trade Frank Lavin who led the largest US government business development mission in history to India during Nov-Dec 2006. The mission included 250 American business representatives and state government officials who explored export opportunities to India.
But there are no business leaders in the Gutierrez delegation.
New Delhi, Feb 10, (IRNA) India's stock-sensitive index (Sensex) plunged by over 113 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Friday on heavy selling of stocks led by the steel and capital goods segments.
The benchmark Sensex opened with a positive gap of 32 points at 14,684, and rallied to a new all-time, intra-day high of 14,724.
Profit-taking at higher levels saw the index pare gains and slip into the negative zone at Mumbai, India's economic hub.
The index dropped to a low of 14,494, down 230 points from the peak. The Sensex attempted a recovery in mid-noon trading, but eventually slipped back to lower levels.
The index finally settled with a loss of 113 points at 14,539.
While the mid-cap index shed 1.8 percent (109 points) to 6065, the small-cap index slipped over 2 percent (161 points) to 7490.
All BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. The healthcare and metal indices were down around 1.5 percent each at 3843 and 9114, respectively.
The market breadth was extremely negative -- out of 2,718 stocks traded, 2,033 declined, 643 advanced and the rest were unchanged.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) India and China are set to deepen their economic, strategic and cultural ties by starting a hotline between their foreign ministers and launching the "friendship through tourism" year next week.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who starts his four-day official visit to India Sunday, will kick off, along with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee and Tourism Minister Ambika Soni, the 'India-China Friendship Through Tourism Year' Wednesday that is expected to accelerate the two-way flow of tourists between them.
The logo of the 'India-China Friendship Through Tourism Year' will also be unveiled.
Li comes here Tuesday after a visit to Patna and Nalanda, the prominent centre of learning in the ancient times, and will hold talks with Mukherjee on a wide range of bilateral and global issues. He will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
The hotline will be operationalised after the talks between Li and Mukherjee to implement the 10-point plan, agreed during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit here late last year, for enhancing strategic and economic cooperation between the two countries, Chinese embassy sources told IANS.
Li will hold talks with Mukherjee and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Friday in a trilateral meeting that will discuss a host of international issues, including the Iranian crisis.
China plans to cooperate with India in building an international university in Nalanda which, in the 5th century A.D., was a famous centre of Buddhist learning.
The two countries are confident about doubling the bilateral trade to $40 billion by 2010.
Chennai, Feb 10 (IANS) India and Italy will ink pacts on countering terrorism and energy cooperation during Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's six-day visit to the country that began Saturday.
The two memoranda of understanding will relate to setting up a joint working group (JWG) on combating international terrorism and transnational crime, and on cooperation in the sphere of renewable energy.
The two countries will also sign a cultural exchange programme for 2007-09.
Prodi, who is accompanied by top ministers and over 100 leading entrepreneurs, began the visit to India from Chennai. He will travel to Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata before arriving in New Delhi Feb 14 for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his top aides and ministers, after which the agreements will be signed.
A string of seminars and meetings will be held in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore under the aegis of the India-Italy Business Forum with business leaders of both countries getting the chance to have one-on-one meetings and strike deals.
The two countries are determined to double their bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010. Italy is looking at India as a big opportunity and has declared it as a focus country for its overseas investment. It will showcase its core strength in textiles, automobiles, food processing, defence and lifestyle sectors to the Indians.
From India's point of view, getting Italian investment and technology in infrastructure projects would be a priority.
New Delhi, Feb 10, (IRNA) India's premier oil company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), and Russia's Gazprom agreed to expand mutual cooperation in the hydrocarbon and power sector.
A protocol agreement signed during the second meeting of their Joint Working Group in Goa Thursday envisages cooperation in exploration and exploitation of oil and gas fields in India, Russia and third countries, midstream and downstream oil and gas projects in India and Russia, LNG supplies to India and CNG-related projects in India, said a release issued by ONGC here on Friday.
The parties discussed prospects of the Indo-Russian cooperation in the energy sector and reconfirmed their mutual intention to widen the scope of long-term relations between Gazprom and ONGC.
It was agreed to extend the MoU between ONGC and Gazprom for another two years.
Gazprom invited ONGC to participate in eight projects in Russia including oil and gas projects in eastern Siberia and the Far East.
ONGC in turn extended an invitation to Gazprom for participation in integrated petrochemical, LNG and power projects in India.
The parties also exchanged views on joint possibilities in third countries including Qatar, Myanmar, Libya, Vietnam, Cuba and the CIS.
The agreement on technical and scientific cooperation, exchange of specialists, staff training was be signed by the parties shortly.
It was also agreed to hold the next meeting of their Joint Working Group in Russia in July 2007.
Patna, Feb 10 (IANS) A US-based non-resident Indian (NRI) doctor tasted the bitter reality of lawlessness in this Bihar capital Saturday afternoon when armed criminals looted cash worth Rs.200,000 from him, police sources said.
Baleshwar Prasad, in his early 50s, was robbed near the gate of Maurya Lok complex, a posh market in heart of the city.
Interestingly, the police station is hardly a dozen yards from the market.
According to police, motorcycle-borne criminals stopped Prasad while he was coming from a bank and looted the cash at gunpoint.
Though Prasad has lodged a police complaint no arrest was made till late Saturday.
The NRI doctor arrived here last month to attend the Jan 19-21 global meet for a resurgent Bihar, police said.
At least 500 experts, including over 70 NRIs, economists, technocrats and investors from around the world attended the meet that was inaugurated by President A.P.J Abdul Kalam.
Prasad's incident shows that crime continues in Bihar despite the government claims that law and order have been improved in the state.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Indian boys recovered from a match down to defeat hosts Hong Kong 2-1 and win the bronze at the Asian Junior Squash Championships Saturday.
Playing the first match, Sandeep Jangra lost to Leo Au 3-9, 0-9, 9-5, 9-5, 0-9. But Parth Sharma, playing accurate lengths and precision finishing, defeated Fung Ji Yang 9-5, 9-0, 9-4 to draw level.
Then, Naresh Kumar played attacking squash to defeat Chan Kai Chi 9-3, 9-5, 10-8 in the crucial third match to clinch the bronze medal, according to a release from the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI).
The third-place finish was an improvement on India's fourth position in the previous championships held at India in 2005.
"In the semi-finals, if we could have pulled off the match against the higher ranked Malaysia, against whom we fought well, it would have been wonderful," said national coach Cyrus Poncha, but added a bronze was also a great achievement.
Sydney, Feb 10 (IANS) Vandals attacked an Indian cultural centre in northern New South Wales (NSW), destroying priceless items, including a 500-year old manuscript.
The incident happened Friday at the Raj Mahal Indian Cultural Centre in Woolgoolga, which has a large Sikh community.
The vandals used a 200-year-old sword to destroy rare Indian paintings, ancient musical instruments and statues collected over the past 25 years by Salinder Singh Salindera, according to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
After damaging the artefacts the vandals set off fire hoses to flood the building.
They also destroyed a rare 1.3 sq mt marble replica of the Taj Mahal, which cost Salindera 45,000 Australian dollars.
"A lot of the items were priceless," Salindera said.
One-third of Woolgoolga's 15,000 residents are of Indian descent and racial tensions are relatively low.
Police are investigations the case.
New Delhi, Feb 10, (IRNA) Bullish on over 9 percent GDP growth, the Indian government is hopeful of crossing the one-trillion-mark by the end of next year.
"This year the economy would touch 900 billion dollars and by the end of next year it would cross the one-trillion mark," Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Kumar Sanjay Krishna said at a function to mark the 40th anniversary of the Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) India office, reported Press Trust of India.
On the bilateral trade issue, he said the Indo-Japan study group had already submitted its report to the Commerce Ministry last year, adding that the ministry is currently studying it.
It is likely to become a reality this year, he said, adding that bilateral trade relations would get a great fillip after its suggestions are followed.
The group was formed to suggest ways and means to enhance Indo-Japan cooperation in trade, commerce, investment, development cooperation, economic partnership and regional economic integration.
The suggestions would be pertinent whether it be a free trade agreement or some other form of bilateral arrangement that both governments may decide, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, JICA Resident Representative Tomoyuki Fujii said: "we have tried to contribute and assist in our own way to India's growth especially in key areas of socio-economic development." The organization would continue to assist Indian authorities in the field of agriculture, rural development, health, environment conservation and economic development support.
New Delhi, Feb 10(IRNA)
Bullish on over 9 percent GDP growth, the Indian government is hopeful of crossing the one-trillion-mark by the end of next year.
"This year the economy would touch 900 billion dollars and by the end of next year it would cross the one-trillion mark," Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Kumar Sanjay Krishna said at a function to mark the 40th anniversary of the Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) India office, reported Press Trust of India.
On the bilateral trade issue, he said the Indo-Japan study group had already submitted its report to the Commerce Ministry last year, adding that the ministry is currently studying it.
It is likely to become a reality this year, he said, adding that bilateral trade relations would get a great fillip after its suggestions are followed.
The group was formed to suggest ways and means to enhance Indo-Japan cooperation in trade, commerce, investment, development cooperation, economic partnership and regional economic integration.
The suggestions would be pertinent whether it be a free trade agreement or some other form of bilateral arrangement that both governments may decide, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, JICA Resident Representative Tomoyuki Fujii said: "we have tried to contribute and assist in our own way to India's growth especially in key areas of socio-economic development." The organization would continue to assist Indian authorities in the field of agriculture, rural development, health, environment conservation and economic development support.
Mumbai, Feb 10 (NNN-PTI) Notwithstanding concerns over stretched market valuations, sustained selling by domestic funds and inflation concerns the bellwether indices continued to achieve new milestones during the week under review on heavy buying by foreign funds in select blue-chips.
Making another sort of records, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share sensitive index, Sensex, completed seven-week gaining streak from the start of new year for the first time in any calendar year.
Last day of the week saw some profit-booking due to spiralling inflation, which soared to an over two-year high of 6.58 per cent for the week ended January 27 and global crude oil prices.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), key driving force behind previous rallies, once again turned heavy buyers and pumped in about Rs 2,563 crore in the current week, including Rs 318.23 crore (provisional) on January 9, keeping the tempo upbeat despite weak market breadth.
The market sentiment was bolstered by the country's GDP growth, projected at 9.2 per cent for this fiscal on top of 9.0 per cent for 2005-06 on the back of robust performance in manufacturing and financial services.
After swinging in a range of 14,723.88, an all-time high, and 14,372.36, the Sensex concluded the week at 14,538.90 as against last weekend's close of 14,403.77, a rise of another 135.13 points or 0.94 per cent.
On the other hand the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also struck a new peak of 4,245.30 before ending the week at 4,187.40, a mere gain of 3.90 points over the preceding weekend's close of 4,183.50.
Samarinda, Feb 10 (NNN-ANTARA) The government has set a target in plantation by means of revitalising two million hectares of land in 20 provinces of Indonesia for this sector as a way to increase production of such commodities as oil palm fruit, rubber and cocoa.
"This program should be properly implemented, so that it may bring about greater benefit to the welfare of the farmers," Vice President M Jusuf Kalla here on Friday.
Furthermore, even if the development of plantations is still constrained by many problems, it did not mean that this sector could not be properly managed, he said.
However, the capacity of natural resources such as oil, gas and coal has been declining, so that the diversification of plantation-based energy is badly required.
"Therefore, the best way to that end is by improving products of sustainable, renewable natural resources regarded as a source of life for the people," Kalla said.
Even constrained by many problems, the revitalization of plantations should continue, he said, adding that the two million hectares of land to be revitalized would be located in 20 provinces, mostly in Sumatra and Kalimantan for rubber and palm oil trees and eastern provinces of Indonesia for cocoa.
Estimated to cost Rp25 trillion, the program will be implemented with the support of five national banks such as Bank Mandiri, BRI, Bank Bukopin, West Sumatra Development Bank and North Sumatra development bank.
In the meantime, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono said in the past five years, crude palm oil continued to record an annual rise of about 12.1 percent.
It was also reported that with 4.1 million hectares of palm tree plantations in 2000, Indonesia could export 8.5 million tons of crude palm oil worth US$ 13 million.
With 5.5 million hectares of land in 2005, the volume of crude palm oil exported rose to 11.5 million tons worth US$4,400 million.
To some extent, a big volume of crude palm oil produced has placed Indonesia as the second biggest crude palm oil producing country in the world after Malaysia.
Its wide palm oil plantation area had actually enabled Indonesia to absorb 2.8 million of its work force. But, at present the development of this sector is still confronted with constraints because of poor management, so maximum production of crude palm oil could be properly achieved.
Besides setting plantation revitalisation program, the vice president also dedicated seven other development projects in East Kalimantan.
Jakarta, Feb 10 (NNN-ANTARA) President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government was profoundly studying a master plan on efforts to handle floods comprehensively, including the budget needed to implement the plan.
"I have informally communicated with the leadership of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) about the plan which must be seriously implemented," the head of state said after a limited coordination meeting on floods here Friday.
According to the president, it was high time to take serious, integrated and comprehensive measures to cope with floods, especially those occurring in Jakarta.
Measures to deal with floods structurally and integratedly at upstream and downstream levels could be taken intensively in the medium term, he said, admitting that taking the fundamental measures would require time and enough funds.
Earlier, the president called for a review of the 2002-2010 budget of Rp16.5 trillion for flood handling which had been included in a work plan.
"All people know floods hit Jakarta every year, moreover there is this theory of big floods happening according to a five-year cycle. We know why it happens, we know the solution but all the measures must be taken based on a master plan," he said.
The president said the budget for the purpose might be big but it had to be realized because floods like those hitting Jakarta every year had caused increasing losses which were now running into trillions of rupiahs.
"Imagine, if floods occur every year, how huge our aggregate or cumulative losses will be in 10 years` time," he said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had also called on all parties to support the government’s effort to develop the east flood canal by overcoming all constraints to save Jakarta and environs from floods.
Denpasar,Feb 10 (NNN-ANTARA) Indonesia and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed that the sending of blood samples from Indonesia to Hong Kong or the US to diagnose infection with the H5N1 virus which is responsible for bird flu will not be diverted from the original to commercial purposes, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said.
"The sending of blood samples from Indonesia (to Hong Kong or the United States) must not be turned into a commercial activity," she said after presenting Rp3.7 in assistance in the form of two mobile clinics, one ambulance, a mobile field, and a motorcycle to local health authorities here Friday.
The assistance was allocated for the disaster-related health crisis-handling centre in Denpasar.
The government has eight other health crisis- handling centres in Medan, Palembang, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Banjarmasin, Makassar and Manado.
The medical equipment provision is aimed at helping disaster victims in nine regions of Indonesia.
The minister said she was surprised when she was offered vaccines against bird flu when the deadly disease spread in Indonesia.
Vietnam had offered many bird flu vaccines as did major companies in Europe when the H5N1 or Avian Influenza (AI) virus broke out there, the minister said.
Siti Fadilah said her office has been investigating whether or not blood samples from Indonesia were commercialised.
She said her office had believed that the sending of blood samples from Indonesia to Hong Kong and the United States was only to diagnose the bird flu disease.
Indonesia sent blood samples to Hong Kong when bird flu virus began to spread widely in the country.
Some 62 Indonesians have been killed by the bird flu virus since the illness was discovered in the country a few years ago.
United Nations, Feb 10 (NNN-PTI) Much of the world has seen a significant and disturbing increase of inequality in the last two decades, contradicting predictions that globalization would foster more equal opportunities, a senior United Nations economist has said.
"The evidence is quite clear. Inequality has grown at two levels: between countries and within most countries, with the notable exceptions of Northern Europe and some Middle Eastern and North African countries," Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Jomo Kwame Sundaram said at a press briefing yesterday.
The increase of inequality across the world "is very contradictory to the proponents of the flat world idea," he said.
"They basically argue that, as a consequence of globalization and economic liberalization, the result will be a much more equitable world with equal opportunities, an d unfortunately the contrary has been the case." This surge of inequality had very important implications for efforts to reduce poverty, Sundaram said.
Much of the world had experienced slower economic growth in the last three decades, and with increasing inequality it is not surprising there has not been a significant decrease in the hundreds of millions of people who are poor.
The remedy is to try and create full, productive and decent employment, he said. "There is no real way we can reduce poverty except by creating jobs, and this is something we need to recognize."
Hyderabad, Feb 10 (IANS) Iran has come forward to assist Andhra Pradesh in the conservation and restoration of the 16th century Qutub Shahi tombs and two other monuments here.
A five-member delegation of experts from Iran is here to help restore the pristine glory of seven tombs of the Qutub Shahi rulers near the famous Golconda Fort, the Premamati mosque and the Badshahi Ashurkhana, a shrine of Shia Muslims.
The involvement of Iranian conservation experts in the project is significant as all the three monuments were designed by Persian engineers four centuries ago and built by the Qutub Shahi kings (1518-1687) who had also come from ancient Persia.
The team will work in coordination with the department of archaeology and museums to prepare a project report, which would then be sent to the department of culture of the government of India and the ministry of external affairs for their approval.
The Iranian experts will help repair and restore the tombs, design the garden spread over 100 acres around the tombs and take up repair works at the Premamati mosque and Badshahi Ashurkhana.
The Iranian delegation accompanied by Iranian Consul General Agha Hossein Ravesh called on Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy late Friday, who evinced keen interest in the project and assured all support from the government.
The Iranian delegation comprises the director of the Institute for Research of Monuments, a garden expert, the director general of Owej Construction Company, an expert on stones and carvings and an expert on tiles and historical monuments.
Officials here said the central government had agreed in principle to the state's request for financial assistance of Rs.80 million to restore these monuments.
In December last year, the government of India had agreed to sanction the funds under the 12th Finance Commission. The Archaeological Society of India has asked the department of archaeology and museums of the state government to prepare a preliminary report on the architectural, heritage and cultural importance of the tombs of seven Qutub Shahi kings.
The government of India has also agreed to include the tombs in the preliminary listing for world heritage status.
The tombs, popularly known as "saat gumbad", make up some of the world's largest gravesites and draw hundreds of tourists every day.
Officials said the domes overlaid with blue and green tiles and surrounded by pointed arches would be cleansed and chemically treated for preservation.
The Premamati mosque near Golconda Fort was built by Premamati, a courtesan of the seventh king Abdullah Qutb Shah (1626-1672) while the Badshahi Ashurkhana, or mourning hall for Shias during the month of Muharram, was built by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (1580-1612) near the historic Charminar.
Munich, Feb 10 (RIA Novosti) Iran's nuclear program is unacceptable to Germany and to the international community as a whole, the German chancellor said Saturday.
"We must prevent the nuclear threat that is coming from Iran," Angela Merkel told an international security policy conference in Munich.
She said Europe offered Iran cooperation, adding that these proposals "benefit, above all, the Iranian people."
The conference organiser confirmed Friday that the head of Iran's National Security Council, Ali Larijani had not turned up at the forum.
Larijani was to speak at the Feb 9-11 Munich Conference on Security Policy. However, Iran's official news agency reported earlier in the day that Larijani had cancelled his trip due to illness.
The 43rd international security conference in Munich is devoted to the 50th anniversary of the European Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending at the invitation of the German chancellor. More than 250 state and political figures from more than 40 nations are taking part in the event.
Germany holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union until July, and is also one of the six mediating parties on the international dispute surrounding Iran's nuclear program.
Jersalem, Feb 10 (NNN-WAFA) Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stormed Friday al-Aqsa Mosque, fired gunshots and stun grenades, wounding over fifty worshippers, WAFA reporter said.
WAFA reporter affirmed that most of the wounded received medical treatment at the Mosque's clinics.
He added that worshippers were besieged by Israeli soldiers inside the Mosque, affirming that the soldiers prevent ambulances from entering the Mosque to evacuate the wounded.
The attack began as Friday prayers were ending in the Mosque. Clashes spread to the neighbouring alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem, and to the Kalandia checkpoint north of Jerusalem.
Israel has started to demplosh parts of the Al-Aqsa Mosque's old gates a few days ago, which infuriated Palestinians who affirm that the location is an Islamic Waqf (endowment).
Israel had restricted access to the Friday prayers in the Mosque to Muslims over the age of 45, who held Israeli identity cards.
President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Friday "the aggressive steps of Israel" in al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, considering today as a Day of Anger to Protect the al-Aqsa Mosque.
New Delhi, Feb 10(IRNA)
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said that the information technology (IT) industry had provided much needed impetus to the Indian industry as a whole.
"The entire gamut of information technology related services -- software and services, data and business processing services and IT enabled services -- have emerged as a large knowledge-based sector of our economy," he said in his address on the last day of the Nasscom India Leadership Forum 2007.
"I believe Nasscom has set an export target of USD 60 billion by 2010. But we must be more ambitious. Considering the way in which our economy and exports are rising, this target should be met by 2008 and by 2010 we should be looking at a target of USD 80 billion," he said, while stressing the need to further accelerate growth in the industry.
Sydney, Feb 10 (DPA) Australia's 30,000 coalminers were Saturday promised jobs for life after both Prime Minister John Howard and his competitor from the opposition Labour Party rubbished a proposal to close mines and end exports in an effort to curb the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
"It would devastate an industry that's important to the livelihood of thousands of Australian families, it would do immense damage to our export potential and our export capacity," Howard told reporters. "Why should they be made the sacrificial lambs for a knee-jerk reaction?"
He was commenting on a call from Greens leader Bob Brown for the industry to be phased out within three years and for out-of-work miners be absorbed by wind farms, solar power generators and the other elements of the renewable energy sector.
"To suddenly ban coal exports would be massively dislocating but we have got to do it," Brown said. "We are exporting to the rest of the world what is effectively a deadly threat to the whole planet and our children."
Coal is Australia's top export, earning around $25 billion Australian ($19 billion) a year in export receipts. Australia relies on heavily polluting coal for 85 percent of power generation.
Labour leader Kevin Rudd, who will face Howard in a general election later this year, also offered job security to miners.
"Senator Brown's proposal to eliminate Australia's coal exports in three years time is just plain absurd," Rudd told reporters. "What we can do to protect our coal industry in the future is invest in clean coal technologies. Coal is part of Australia's long-term future. It also is part of a responsible strategy dealing with climate change."
The booming coal industry is a potent political force and its lobby organisation, the Australian Coal Association (ACA) had demanded that both major parties reject Brown's plan.
The ACA said coal burned in Australia represented 0.4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. When Australian coal burned abroad was included, the figure rose to 1.7 percent.
"It's important for the community to understand that emissions have to be tackled in all sectors of the economy and that focusing exclusively on coal will not in itself fix the problem," ACA executive director Mark O'Neill said.
The unequivocal commitment to coal from both Howard and Rudd means the parties go into the election with energy policies that differ only in that the conservatives are keen on nuclear power plants and Labour is against them. Australia has no nuclear generating capacity at present and no plans to build nuclear power plants.
The ruling Liberal/National coalition and Labour have also put forward similar policies on adopting a national emissions trading scheme that would attempt to capture some of the cost of global warming.
Howard, formerly a fierce opponent of emissions trading, is now a convert and looks to the time when an Australian trading regime would be linked to a global one.
"We have a task group between the government and industry examining (carbon trading) right at the moment," Howard said. "We have shown no reluctance at all to examine it, but I am not going to embrace something that damages Australia's competitive position."
On a per capita basis, Australia is the world's worst polluter. With the US, it stands alone among developed countries in rejecting the mandatory emissions-reduction targets contained in the UN-brokered Kyoto Protocol on tackling climate change.
Mumbai, Feb 10 (IANS) Police has arrested a freelance journalist for allegedly sending obscene phone messages to an aspiring actress and dancer Nandini Jumani.
Police in Oshiwada in western suburban Mumbai said that Flynn Remedios, a freelance journalist, was arrested for sending vulgar SMSes to actress Jumani, popularly known as "Krazy Kat".
"We have arrested Remedios under section 345 of the Indian Penal Code (outraging the modesty of a woman) and section 509 (making lewd gestures to a woman). Remedios will be produced the metropolitan magistrate's court Friday," said Senior Police Inspector Dilip Patil of the Shower police station.
"Remedios was earlier employed as Jumani's public relations officer and had recently lost his job started sending her lewd phone messages. After the actress filed complaint with us we investigated and arrested Remedios Thursday evening," Patil told IANS.
Thirty-four-year-old Remedios, a resident of Andheri in suburban Mumbai, is believed to have threatened the 'item girl' with suicide if she failed to submit to his wishes.
"AS my PRO he used to make promises that he would make me a big star. Later after he left my service, he started sending lewd SMSes and even threatened that if I do not listen to hi he would kill himself,"
Jumani said.
"He has made my life hell since the last few months. Not only did he sent vulgar SMSes, he used to create scenes outside my house regularly," Jumani said in her complaint.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) Maharashtra's Veerdhaval Khade and Richa Mishra of Delhi created ripples by picking up two gold each in the individual categories in swimming on the second day of the 33rd National Games here Saturday.
Two 10-year-old records were also broken on the opening day of the swimming competition at the Dr. Zakir Hussain Aquatics Complex at the Sarusujai Sports Complex.
Khade, 15, picked up gold medals in the 200 meters free style and 100 meters butterfly events.
In the 200m free style event, Khade clocked 1:54:18 and set a new games record demolishing the earlier record of 1:58:68 set by Karnataka's Abhijit J. in 1997. Karnataka's Rohit Havaldar and Rehan Poncha picked up the silver and the bronze medal respectively. Havaldar clocked 1:57:13 while Poncha finished in 1:59:16.
Khade clocked 57.99 to clinch the gold in the 100 m butterfly and missed to set another mark by a whisker held by Bengal's Akbar Ali Mir (57:38) in 2002 in Hyderabad. Poncha picked up his second medal, by winning the silver clocking 59.05 and his state-mate Srinand Srinivas bagged the bronze after he finished in 1:00.01.
In the women's section, Mishra swam to glory in 200m freestyle as she finished the race in 02:12:83 to push Karnataka's Pooja Alva (02:15:24) and Maharashtra's Surbhi Tipre (02:16:21) to the silver and the bronze respectively.
She also triumphed in the 100m butterfly that she completed in 01:05:93. The silver went to Maharashtra's Lekha Kamat (01:06:69) and Alva secured the bronze (01:06:71).
The men's 4x100m freestyle relay saw the Karnataka foursome of Aniketh D'Sou, Poncha, Havildar and Sandeep N.A. return with a timing of 03:39:43, which was an improvement upon 03:41:99 set by Kerala in the 1997 Games.
The women's 4x100m freestyle, the day's concluding event, saw Karnataka take the gold in 04:18:58, while Maharashtra clinched the silver (04:22:61) and Kerala (04:25:37) won the bronze.
Lucknow, Feb 10 (IANS) A chain of schools in Uttar Pradesh has decided to give Valentine's Day celebrations a miss this year by observing it as a day of mourning.
The City Montessori School in Lucknow with 32,000 students across its 21 branches wants to observe the traditional lovers' day Feb 14 as a sad occasion that commemorates the killing of Saint Valentine.
"After all, the day is remembered because Saint Valentine was beheaded on this day for quietly promoting marriages against the will of the ruler who had banned marital alliances," said City Montessori School founder Jagdish Gandhi.
"We would like to urge the UN, too, to do something to make people across the globe understand that this is a very solemn day and remember Saint Valentine as a martyr," Gandhi told IANS here.
"The saint was beheaded on Feb 14 in the year 269. So does it make any sense to hold all kinds of wild celebrations on a solemn occasion like this?" he asked.
The school had observed Feb 14 as 'Family Day' in 2006.
Gandhi's 30-year-old institution figures in the Guinness Book of Records for enrolling the highest number of students in a single chain within a single city.
"I am strongly of the view that the basic objective of this great day has been terribly distorted by commercialised, vested interests that have given rise to many interpolations and perversions," said Gandhi.
"We cannot think of taking to the streets to oppose the Valentine's Day celebrations like some political outfits have been doing in India. But we have logical reason to oppose it in our own way," he added.
In a note circulated to students and their parents, the school authorities have sought to explain that there was no dispute about the belief that Saint Valentine was beheaded by Roman emperor Claudius II simply because he was getting soldiers secretly married in defiance of the monarch's diktat to the contrary.
The emperor was of the view that marriages dampened the fighting spirit of soldiers.
Tehran, Feb 9, (IRNA) Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel in a letter to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Koichiro Matsuura asked him to condemn and stop the illegal action of the Israeli regime in destroying part of al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to the report of Majlis Media Department on Friday, Haddad-Adel in the letter, a copy of which was faxed to IRNA, wrote, "These days, Israeli regime has intensified its actions against the international conventions and laws concerning protection of cultural and historical heritage which belong to all human beings." He continued the Israeli regime has intensified its measures in a very dangerous way, ignoring UNESCO officials' recommendations.
Haddad-Adel stressed that Qods is not only registered in the UNESCO world heritage list, but it has been declared by the world heritage inter-governmental committee as an endangered heritage.
Any historical work that has been registered in the UNESCO world heritage list belongs to all human beings, he wrote in his letter.
Qods and al-Aqsa Mosque belong to all divine religions as a symbol of unity for peace and brotherhood, Majlis speaker said.
Tehran, Feb 9, IRNA Tehran's substitute Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told worshipers in Tehran University campus that enemies are planning conspiracies to cause conflicts among Shia and Sunnis.
In his second sermon, Jannati said if they succeed with their plans, it will create a serious danger for Islam and the Muslims, pushing the Muslims into a civil war and fratricide.
He underlined the necessity of Muslims' awareness concerning such plots and noted that, "They (enemies) have launched a propaganda bombardment against the Shia, and especially Iranian Shia, in the Islamic countries."
Ayatollah Jannati said, "They repeatedly accuse Iranians of interfering in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine."
He elaborated on oppression and cruelty imposed on Shia during history adding Shia has always opposed oppressive governments.
"Shia has never accepted cruelty and oppression in the history," the ayatollah added.
Referring to the psychological war of alien media against Iran, the Friday Prayers leader said, "This stupid work indicates their weakness."
He went on to say that the ominous news networks of BBC and CNN disseminated the rumors of death of the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution.
Ayatollah Jannati said the supreme leader had a cold and his cold usually takes a little time to be cured.
Concerning desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque and destroying part of its wall by the Zionist forces, the ayatollah said destruction of the wall is the outcome of Muslim countries' silence.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) Manipur bagged three gold medals in wushu, a form of Chinese martial arts, on the second day of the 33rd National Games here Saturday.
In the men's Chang Quan event of wushu, Manipur's Dewan won the gold while Roshan Singh of Delhi bagged the silver. Nagaland's Bijen emerged third and won the bronze.
In the women's category of Chang Quan, Toshibala of hosts Assam won the gold and Thoibi of Gujarat bagged the silver while Madhya Pradesh's Anjali Kostha got the bronze.
Somorjit bagged the gold for hosts Assam in the men's Nan Quan event and Manipur's Hijam clinched the silver. Madhya Pradesh's M.P. Meiti won the bronze.
In the women's category, Manipur bagged both the gold and silver with Waribam and Sanglakpam emerging first and second winners respectively. Gujarat's Sushila bagged the bronze.
Manipur also bagged both the gold and the silver in the women's Taiji Quan event with N. Premita and Chingtham in first and second positions, while Uttar Pradesh's Rita won the bronze.
In the men's category, Delhi's Sadananda won the gold and Uttar Pradesh's Vijendra clinched the silver. Manipur's Leimapokpam bagged the bronze.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) Manipur ruled the second day of the 33rd National Games here Saturday as the northeastern state topped the tally with a haul of seven medals including four gold.
It bagged three gold medals in wushu, a form of Chinese martial arts, and the fourth one came from the women's cycling team in the team time trial event.
There was also good news for hosts Assam, currently in the second spot with two gold medals followed by Delhi that has one gold and one silver.
In the men's Chang Quan event of wushu, Manipur's Dewan clinched the gold while Roshan Singh of Delhi bagged the silver at the Ganesh Mandir Indoor Stadium. Nagaland's Bijen emerged third and won the bronze.
In the women's category of Chang Quan, Toshibala of hosts Assam won the gold and Thoibi of Gujarat bagged the silver while Madhya Pradesh's Anjali Kostha got the bronze.
Somorjit also bagged the gold for hosts Assam in the men's Nan Quan event and Manipur's Hijam clinched the silver. Madhya Pradesh's M.P. Meiti won the bronze.
In the women's category, Manipur bagged both the gold and the silver with Waribam and Sanglakpam emerging first and second respectively. Gujarat's Sushila bagged the bronze.
Manipur snatched the gold and the silver in the women's Taiji Quan event as N. Premita and Chingtham won the first and second place respectively while Uttar Pradesh's Rita won the bronze. In the men's category, Delhi's Sadananda won the gold and Uttar Pradesh's Vijendra clinched the silver. Manipur's Leimapokpam bagged the bronze.
The first gold of the National Games this year, however, went to Punjab that won the men's 1,500-metre team time trial cycling event at the Rupnath Brahma Velodrome and Pavilion.
The Andhra Pradesh team won the silver while the host state had something to cheer for as it emerged third to lift the bronze.
In the women's team trial category, Manipur won the gold while Punjab bagged the silver. Assam emerged third to win the silver.
In volleyball, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal registered win in their respective group matches.
Tamil Nadu showed their superiority and thrashed Karnataka 25-11, 25-17 and 25-11 in a Group B league clash at the Karambir Nabin Chandra Bardoloi Indoor Hall while West Bengal trounced Delhi 25-9, 25-12 and 25-16 in a Group A match.
In the men's Group A, Kerala defeated hosts Assam 25-20, 25-18 and 25-20 while Services came from back after dropping the first two sets to beat Karnataka 21-25, 28-30, 25-20, 25-19 and 20-18.
In football, West Bengal defeated first time qualifiers Haryana 3-0 in a men's Group A match at the picturesque Northeastern Frontier Railway Stadium.
Gouranga Dutta scored a brace while Shankar Sil struck once as West Bengal pocketed three points and started their campaign in style at the surrounded by the hills in Maligaon.
In women's football, West Bengal also maintained their domination as they defeated Kerala 2-0 while Goa edged past Mizoram 1-0.
Delhi started their hockey campaign in style as their men's team defeated Tamil Nadu 2-0 in a Pool B clash at the Maulana Tayabullah Hockey Stadium.
Jayanta and A. Soni found the target for Delhi as both the goals came in the first half.
In a Pool A clash, Services beat Maharashtra 2-1 after leading 1-0 at the break. E. Lakra put Services in front in the 22nd minute when he slammed home from his team's second penalty corner. They consolidated their position in the 54th as Jagjit Singh capitalised on another short corner.
While Maharashtra pulled one back through H. Singh who scored via a penalty corner in the 59th minute, the team failed to get the equaliser.
Services converted two of the three short corners they got, while Maharashtra could utilise only one of the three. This proved to be the difference between the two sides.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) India Friday asked Pakistan to back up words with action if the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir was to be resolved, even as it maintained that the planned purchase of large quantities of military hardware would not trigger an arms race in the region.
"Statements are not enough. Action is needed," Defence Minister A.K. Antony told reporters on the sidelines of an international conference on Asian security here.
The statement came in response to remarks by Pakistani envoy Shahid Malik that a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute was necessary to sustain the ongoing India-Pakistan peace process.
Flexibility from both sides could help resolve the Kashmir problem, Malik said during a media interaction at the Foreign Correspondents' Club here Thursday, adding that Islamabad had shown flexibility towards resolving the Kashmir issue.
India and Pakistan have been actively exploring ways to advance a solution of the Kashmir issue in their back channel talks. India has also welcomed President Pervez Musharraf's statement that Pakistan was ready to give up its demand for the independence of Kashmir, seeing in it a vindication of New Delhi's position that soft borders could be a viable solution.
Asked if there had been any progress on the contentious Siachen issue, Antony replied: "There has been some improvement on the boundaries. We are consciously making efforts to improve our relations with Pakistan and China."
Indian and Pakistani troops have been engaged in a bitter standoff for over two decades over the Siachen glacier, considered the world's highest battlefield that rises to heights of over 22,000 feet and temperatures plummet to minus 50 degrees Celsius.
The guns have been silent on the glacier since 2003 and Pakistan has repeatedly demanded that the area be demilitarised. India says it will pull back its troops only after the area it holds is delineated on the ground. Pakistan says Indian troops should pull back to the positions they occupied in 1984, when the conflict began.
Antony also brushed aside the Pakistani envoy's statement that India's purchase of military hardware, primarily for the army and the air force, would trigger an arms race in the region.
Noting that India's defence budget was "one of the lowest" in the region, Antony said: "We do not want an arms race in the neighbourhood or the world.
"We are procuring equipment not for confrontation but to maintain a minimum deterrent as per our declared programme," the minister added.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, announced earlier this week that a deal to purchase 40 Sukhoi Su-30 air dominance fighters from Russia would be signed by March-end.
The IAF is also on the point of floating a global tender for 126 multi-role combat aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Soviet era MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27 fighters.
This apart, the IAF is also eyeing large numbers of heavy lift transport aircraft and helicopters, as also mid-air midair refuelling tankers.
The Indian Army's wish list includes close to 200 helicopters and some 400 155mm artillery guns.
By Abhishek Roy,
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) West Bengal's 3-0 win Saturday over Haryana in a Group A fixture of the men's football has proved a good start for his team, but Bengal coach Biswajit Bhattacharya is less than elated. The next match against Meghalaya will be "tough", he says.
"A win is a win and it is good to start any tournament with it. But the job is not finished yet. We will face Meghalaya in the next match and not take them lightly as they are playing well. It will be a tough match. We will have to live up to our reputation," he said after the team's win at the Northeastern Frontier Railway Stadium.
West Bengal will face Meghalaya in their second Group A match while Haryana will face Punjab at the same venue Sunday.
Meghalaya stunned Punjab 2-1 in their opening match Friday and Bhattacharya feels his team will have some tough moments in Sunday's match.
"Meghalaya is a good team, and since all the boys have been together for a long time, it adds to their prowess. For my boys it is a different story. We started practising only from Jan 31 and my boys will need some more time to gel together," he said.
Bhattacharya, former Mohun Bagan coach, said Meghalaya would have the edge as "they are a fresh side and haven't played many tournaments".
"My boys have been playing in the Kolkata league and the National Football League, so they are a bit tired. But we are professional footballers and can't complain about these things. This is part of the game and we have to adapt ourselves."
According to Bhattacharya, a former India international player, he will make best efforts to keep the West Bengal flag flying high.
"We have to give our best effort to win the gold medal. West Bengal is considered to be the Makkah of Indian football and we have to keep it alive," he said.
Mumbai, Feb 10 (IANS) With criminals lodged in the high-security Arthur Road Jail running organised crime syndicates from inside the jail with impunity, prison authorities Saturday installed a state-of-the-art mobile phone jamming system as part of its long-overdue security upgrade.
The new jamming system will make it practically impossible for its high profile inmates to "communicate" with their associates using cell phones.
"The new system will be in place from Saturday and greatly improve the vigilance and security inside the jail," Maharashtra Deputy Inspector General (DIG) prisons D.P. Yadav told IANS.
"With this, Arthur Road prison becomes the first jail in the country to have a mobile jammer system," he claimed.
Jail authorities admit that so far inmates could easily smuggle in cell phones into the high-security prison and carry on their criminal operations from inside their prison cells.
The use of mobile phones first came to light after the Mumbai Police Crime Branch "intercepted" conversations in 2005 between mobster Chhota Rajan, who is currently reported to be in Bangkok, and his aides lodged in the jail.
Transcripts of the taped conversation between the mobster and his jailed aide D.K. Rao were submitted to the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court as evidence earlier last year. The court had charged Raja aides Rao, Shrikant Sonawane and Hitesh Trivedi of running an "organised crime syndicate" from inside the jail.
"The new system is being installed by a Delhi-based firm and be monitored by a special committee comprising representatives of the Mumbai Police wireless department and the state department of technology," said Yadav.
"In February last year we had installed experimental jammers to jam wireless signals within the high-security 'anda' cell (a special cell where high profile inmates are housed). But since the company that installed the system could not guarantee 100 percent efficiency, we did not continue with it," he said.
The DIG said he was confident the newly installed jamming system will deliver.
"Unlike the experimental project, the new system will cover the entire prison, including the barracks and the guard rooms," Yadav said.
Riyadh, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) Secretary General of the Muslim World League (MWL) Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulmohsin Al-Turki urged on Saturday Muslim countries to support the Makkah agreement signed between Hamas and Fatah last Thursday under the sponsorship of Saudi's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.
In a statement, Al-Turki praised the Palestinian leaders for answering the call for the Makkah meeting, which was crowned by signing a national reconciliation agreement to stop bloodshed and unite Palestinians to better counter Israeli aggression.
Al-Turki urged Hamas and Fatah leaders to commit to the agreement and work hand in hand for the sake of the Palestinian cause.
He noted the Saudi leadership spared no effort to guarantee the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent state with Jerusalem (Al-Quds) as its capital.
Brussels, Feb 10, (IRNA) Defence Ministers from the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and their counterparts from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia met at an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Seville, Spain, Friday.
The seven countries are members of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue, launched in 1994. The meeting was the second to take place between NATO and the Mediterranean Dialogue countries at the level of defence ministers.
Frdiay's meeting was an opportunity to discuss consolidation of progress achieved so far and exchange ideas on the way forward in their cooperation.
Overall, activities in the Mediterranean Dialogue work programme have increased from more than 100 activities in 2004 to more than 600 for 2007.
"The 2007 work programme forsees activities in 28 different areas of cooperation, including military activities, civil emergency planning, crisis management, logistics, language training and many others," noted the statement.
NATO's headquarters is situated in the Belgian capital Brussels.
Moscow, Feb 10 (RIA Novosti) Law enforcement agencies said Saturday they are investigating an attack, apparently by skinheads, on a Newsweek magazine correspondent at a Moscow metro station.
A police spokesman said Aidar Nuribayev was assaulted and beaten by four young men, who were apparently skinheads, at 11.30 p.m. local time (7.30 GMT) Friday at Tverskaya metro station in central Moscow.
He said Nuribayev sustained minor injuries and refused treatment, adding that the attackers fled the scene before police arrived.
A surge in violence targeting foreigners with non-Slavic features has prompted Russian and foreign human rights groups in recent months to raise concerns over the alarming spread of racist and xenophobic attitudes in the country.
The problem came into the spotlight after the murder of two Russians in an interethnic brawl in Kondopoga town in north-western Russia sparked a wave of racial violence last September. The local community accused authorities of failing to protect them or safeguard their interests, and of taking bribes from criminal immigrant groups.
In a recent race-hate case, a court in the eastern Russian city of Yekaterinburg handed down prison terms to two young members of a skinhead group convicted of a racially motivated attack on a Somali television reporter.
The Interior Ministry previously said it is monitoring 150 extremist groups in Russia, especially race-hate groups, which have a total membership of around 10,000.
About 80 percent of the extremist groups' members are under 30, and most are based in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Samara and Voronezh Regions, according to the ministry's data.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier said that the rise in race-hate crime is a disgrace, and demanded that police take radical measures to improve the situation.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Bharatiya Janshakti Party chief Uma Bharti, once a major figure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has compared the condition of BJP veterans Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani to that of elderly "widows", who are paid obeisance to by everybody "but nobody listens to them".
In an interview to Karan Thapar for his programme "Devils' Advocate", Bharti said Vajpayee and Advani were "in the grip of power brokers".
Uma said: "Everybody touches their feet but nobody listens to them (Advani and Vajpayee). I love them. I respect them, but this is reality. I love them like my father but they're in the grip of power brokers, and they've been in the grip of power brokers since 2002.
"I feel so sorry for those ladies who live in their old age as widows in their parents' home and everybody touches their feet but nobody listens to them. Right now this is the condition of Atalji and Advaniji. Nobody listens to them."
In the interview, to be telecast on CNN-IBN on Sunday, Bharti denied making any personal insinuations or allegations against the two octogenarian leaders and clarified: "This is not a personal remark. They are in the grip of power brokers. What's personal in that? It's a political remark. Comparing Sonia Gandhi to Monica Lewinsky is a personal remark. That was a personal remark made by our venerable general secretary (late Pramod Mahajan in 1999). Making fun of Sushma Swaraj is a personal remark."
The Bharatiya Janshakti Party chief also described Advani as "immature". She denied that she had been immature in walking out of the BJP last year.
In reply to a question, she said: "I think the immature behaviour was on the part of Advani. Advani should have taken care of the fact that he was condemning me for speaking against a colleague in media but he was doing the same thing. He was speaking against me in the media. So he was not practising what he was preaching."
Bharti declared that in 2015 "we will form the government on our own". "The Janshakti will have the government and we will have a prime minister of the Janshakti Party."
Asked if she would be the prime minister, she said: "I can't say. I don't know who will be the prime minister. Janshakti will be spread to the level that we will be able to make the government at the centre and Janshakti will have its own prime minister in the country."
Bharti said she was not worried that her party may not win many seats in the Punjab and Uttarakhand assembly elections, adding the "BJP used to lose its deposit in the Jan Sangh days for 30 years. This is how you begin. Jan Sangh and BJP used to lose their deposit for almost 30 years. So when we're fighting in Punjab and Uttarakhand I don't claim we're going to win all the seats."
She also dismissed the suggestion that her party lost credibility because of losing badly in the recent by-elections in Madhya Pradesh. According to her, "credibility cannot be counted by votes. It can be counted by ideology. If you compromise on ideology then you lose credibility".
By Jaideep Sarin,
Amritsar, Feb 10 (IANS) Cricketer, politician and TV host Navjot Singh Sidhu may be upbeat about winning the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat for a second time but he is up against a 'foreign hand' for the Feb 13 election.
The foreign hand is Toria Jamel - referred to as T.J. - from Ohio in United States. An American, T.J. is campaigning for her Indian father-in-law - Punjab Finance Minister Surinder Singla - as he takes on the might of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sidhu for this Lok Sabha by-election on the Congress ticket.
"Aap mere sasurji ko vote dijiye (Please vote for my father-in-law)," is how TJ addresses roadside gatherings in this Sikh holy city and villages and towns around it.
She might not be fluent in Hindi, but is able to speak it in her heavily accented tone.
The foreigner 'bahu' (daughter-in-law) has been around for a fortnight to boost the campaign for Singla, especially among the womenfolk.
And she is quite a hit too.
"We love the way she tries to speak. Even though people in this area mostly speak Punjabi, she gets the benefit of doubt with her Hindi. She is able to communicate what she wants to say. The best is that she is dedicated to what she is doing," said Rajbans Kaur, a housewife from this city's Ranjit Avenue area.
TJ seems to have done her homework on Sidhu quite well as she asks people, "What has Sidhu done for the development of Amritsar in the last two and a half years?"
Sidhu had resigned from the seat early December following his conviction and sentencing by the Punjab and Haryana high court for causing the death of a man in Patiala town December 1988 in a road rage case.
The sentence was last month stayed by the Supreme Court, which also allowed him to contest the Lok Sabha poll here.
Sidhu was first elected from here in May 2004 - defeating seven-time MP R.L. Bhatia, who is now Kerala governor, by over 90,000 votes.
But the Sidhu camp is not unduly worried about TJ infiltrating his vote bank.
"It's not a question of winning or losing here. Now the stakes are about how much margin Sidhu will win this seat with. I think he will double the margin this time," boasted Sidhu supporter Jasbir Singh as he campaigned in the market near the Sikh holy shrine Golden Temple.
Even as TJ tries to secure votes, Sidhu is busy doling out his brand of one-liners and jokes.
By Sanjay Sharma,
Bhopal, Feb 10 (IANS) A place in Madhya Pradesh may see a repeat of Singur, the area in West Bengal that is on the boil over land acquisition for a Tata Motors car project.
The state government is acquiring nearly 4,000 acres of land near the Dhar district's Pithampur industrial area for a world-class auto-testing track.
But the farmers in 10 villages who have been made to part with their land for the project are unhappy with the compensation package, giving the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) affiliate Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) a chance to protest the government's decision to acquire farmland.
The track, approved by the central government, would be an international standard centre to provide testing facilities to Indian and foreign companies for all kinds of automobile machinery - one of the most significant initiatives in the automotive sector.
To be set up by the National Automotive Testing and Research and Development Infrastructure Project at a cost of Rs.10 billion, the track would be equipped with the facility of testing vehicles in various climatic conditions at different stages after which "standardisation" certificates would be issued for vehicles produced in India and abroad.
"What makes the project more significant for Madhya Pradesh is because developed states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were competing for this scheme," Industries Minister Babulal Gaur said.
But opposition leader Jamuna Devi, who is also an MLA from Dhar, has threatened that if local farmers are subjected to injustice, a Singur-type protest will be launched. The BKS too is up in arms against the land acquisition.
Alleging that fertile land is being wrested from the peasants in tribal-dominated areas like Khandwa, Kalyansikhedi, Madhopur and Sagaur, Jamuna Devi has warned that farmers would take on the government if it continues with land acquisition.
She has also written a letter to BJP president Rajnath Singh, asking him to exhibit his might against farmland acquisition in Dhar.
"Thousands of acres of fertile land, belonging to farmers, is being acquired by the BJP government for being provided to the industry even as thousands of peasants are consequently facing starvation," Jamuna Devi told Rajanth Singh urging him to direct the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government to halt the acquisition of land.
"We expect the same kind of opposition to the Pithampur project from the BJP as it displayed against the Tata Motors project in Singur in West Bengal," she wrote.
Rajnath Singh had supported Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee's protests against similar land acquisition at Singur for a Tata Motors small car project.
State BJP spokesman Umashankar Gupta, however, dismisses comparisons between Singur and Pithampur.
"The Dhar project belongs to the Congress-led central government where Devi's own party is in power. She should first ask her party leaders to scrap the project if her concern is genuine," Gupta said.
But BKS has warned of an intensified campaign if the government does not mend its ways. "The stir may turn violent if the track site is not shifted to a barren plot or adequate compensation is not offered to the farmers," said Pop Singh Nagar, BKS state executive member.
BJP leaders in Dhar too seem to be opposed to the farmland acquisition.
"The compensation package is not satisfactory as it does not take care of the permanent loss to the next generation of farmers whose land is being acquired," said senior BJP leader and former union minister Vikram Verma, who is also from Dhar.
He has written to Chief Minister Chouhan and Industry Minister Gaur but to no avail.
Jakarta, Feb 10 (NNN-ANTARA) The National Disaster Management Coordinating Board (Bakornas PB) said here on Saturday that the number of death in the floods that hit Jakarta and its satellite towns of Bekasi in West Java and Tangerang in Banten since last week, had risen from 66 to 80.
Of the 80 dead victims, 48 came from Jakarta, 19 from West Java and 13 from Banten provinces.
Bakornas PB's deputy for rehabilitation affairs, Tabrani said on Saturday that the dead victims in Jakarta increased by 11 from the previous 37 in Jakarta. In West Java, there were three more dead victims in addition to the previous 16. For Banten, the number of dead victims which totalled 13 did not change.
"All this brings the total death toll of the floods to 80 people," he added.
He said the additional number of death toll was obtained during the evaluation of the flood disaster by Bakornas PB and disaster handling units (Satkorlak) in the three provinces.
Tabrani said the number of evacuees had also decreased from 219,404 to 210,404 in Jakarta and from 410,630 to 240,813 in West Java.
"The number of evacuees has continued to decrease in line with the receding of the floods in the two provinces," he said.
Jakarta and environs were hit by floods, which began on Friday last week. They have been mainly attributed to the overflowing of rivers whose upper reaches in the Bogor region south of the capital absorbed excessive volumes of water during prolonged torrential rains.
Some 70 percent of Jakarta's territory were inundated, which caused a total of 392 units of state-owned electricity company PLN's power relay stations to be affected.
The floods also cutt off about 132,000 of PT Telkom's telephone lines.
United Nations, Feb 10 (NNN-Prensa Latina) The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) group in the United Nations condemned Israeli attacks on religious sites in the occupied territory of Eastern Jerusalem.
A statement eleased after a meeting of ambassadors strongly condemned "the atrocious aggression of the sacred Al-Aqsa mosque and the sacred city of Al-Qudus Al-Shareef" by demolishing a historical route.
This route connected Bab Al-Maghariba with the Al-Aqsa mosque complex in addition to two residences adjacent to the Al-Buraq Wall.
The OIC group also said excavations under the sacred mosque endanger its foundations and threaten its destruction.
These actions by Israel are a "provocation against the feelings and sentiments of more than a million Muslims around the world," the document states.
This action is not the first of its kind and since 1986 the Security Council has adopted 16 resolutions on the issue, saying that the intent by Israel of changing the legal status and demographic composition and character of the City of Al-Quds Al-Shareef has no legal validity and constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.
Bangkok, Feb 10 (NNN-TNA) A new survey indicates that one in ten Thai teenagers say they had sexual relationships with people they met on the Internet.
The latest survey by Assumption University's ABAC Poll Research Centre, conducted January 2-5 , found that two out of three (62.6 per cent) teenagers in Bangkok used the Internet to view pornographic websites.
The survey showed that 80 per cent of 1,300 respondents chatted to strangers on the Internet and 30 per cent were involved in dating with people they met on the Internet.
One out of ten -- 11.5 per cent, up from 8.9 per cent last year -- said they had had a sexual relationship with people they met on the Internet.
More than 60 per cent of the respondents said strangers contacted them after they revealed their personal information on the Internet.
The university poll analysts said the survey showed that Thai teenagers are vulnerable to the threat of making inappropriate relationships through their Internet connections.
Despite the rise of scientific and technical knowledge, Thai teenagers remain vulnerable to being misled and cheated in the area of human relations.
Islamabad, Feb 7, (IRNA) Iran will provide electricity to Pakistan's deep-sea port in the country's southwestern Balochistan province, an agreement signed here on Wednesday stated.
The state-run Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) inked an agreement with the Iranian company Tanvair at WAPDA House under which Pakistan will receive 100 megawatts of power from Iran for its Gwadar Port.
WAPDA member Anwar Khalid and head of the Iranian firm Mendies, Ismail Mohsini, signed the agreement.
Chairman WAPDA Tariq Hameed gave details of the deal in which Iran will supply power to Gwadar Port from January 2009.
The Iranian company will invest USD 26 million and the National Transmission and Dispatch Co WAPDA will provide USD 60 millions for the project which has a total cost of USD 86 million.
He said that tariff for one year has been fixed at 6.25 percent unit. Tariff will be reviewed after one year.
He said that two grid stations of 220kv will be installed, one in Gwadar and another in Iran's Polan area.
WAPDA will lay 100 kilometers while Iran will lay 70 kilometers of the entire transmission line.
Mohsini said that Iran is already providing 35 megawatts of power to Pakistan and will now supply 100 more.
Islamabad, Feb 10 (NNN-Prensa Latina) Four major refugee camps with about 300,000 Afghans in Pakistani territory will be closed within six months as part of a repatriation plan, official sources in this Islamic capital reported.
Two of those provincial refugee camps, Katchagari (Northwest border) and Jungle Pir Alizai (Beluchistan) will close on July 15, while the rest, Jalozai (Northwest border) and Girdi Jungle (Beluchistan), will be shut on August 31.
That decision was made by a tripartite commission formed by Islamabad and Kabul government officials and representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said local Foreign Ministry spokespersons.
UNHCR will help Afghan refugees return to their country, and those who cannot immediately come back will be moved to other refugee camps.
Over 2.4 million Afghans are currently in Pakistani territory, of whom more than 90 percent have used up their visa time of three years in Pakistan.
Islamabad, Feb 10 (NNN-APP) Pakistan and the European Union on Friday concluded another round of talks to strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism and to continue their global campaign against terrorism.
The talks here between Gijs M. de Vries, EU Counter Terrorism Coordinator with an inter-Ministerial officials headed by Additional Secretary (UN&EC) Tariq Osman Hyder.
“The objective of these discussions is to deepen Pakistan-EU understanding and cooperation in the global campaign against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,� a statement by the Foreign Office said.
The EU and Pakistan have held five rounds of discussions in Islamabad and Brussels since November 2002. The EU Counter Terrorism Coordinator expressed deep appreciation of Pakistan’s strong role in counter-terrorism and the bilateral cooperation extended to many EU countries in this field.
He said that Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism for a long time and noted that Pakistan was a moderate and modern Muslim country with a very important role to play in the world especially at the time when there were so many misperceptions.
De Vries stressed the need to counter radicalization wherever it may occur. Pakistan emphasised the need to address the root causes of terrorism.
It highlighted Pakistan’s policies to promote moderation and to counter extremism within Pakistan and the initiatives to promote the resolution of outstanding disputes in the Muslim World and for the promotion of peace and harmony in this context as well.
Both sides agreed to continue and strengthen the EU-Pakistan dialogue and cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism.It was stressed that in order to counter extremist tendencies, it was vital to improve socio-economic conditions, and in this respect the EU can and should play its role in increasing trade access for Pakistan, particularly since the EU was the major trade partner of Pakistan.
The Pakistan side emphasised that in the context of potential radicalization within the EU countries. It said the EU needed to look within itself to counter discrimination, Islamophobia and xenophobia, mounting examples of which had been documented in the recent comprehensive report of the European Union Monitoring Centre (EUMC).
The EU also needed to take action against terrorists and their supporters who were residing in EU countries, and were targeting Pakistan. De Vries assured that Pakistan’s concerns would be conveyed to the EU and its Member Countries.De Vries during the visit from February 7-9 also called on the Chairman Senate, Foreign Secretary and met with DG (NCMC).
Jammu, Feb 10 (IANS) The ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) is set to drum up its self-rule agenda across Jammu and Kashmir even as its rift with coalition partner Congress widens.
The PDP is planning to circulate a pamphlet to "make people aware" of its self-rule formula.
"We will print it soon and circulate it among people in all the three regions of the state," PDP president Mehbooba Mufti told newsmen at the start of the party's political affairs committee (PAC) meeting Saturday.
The PDP's self-rule theme is based on regional federalism entailing local assemblies for all the three regions of the state -- Hindu-dominated Jammu, Buddhist-majority Ladakh and the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley.
It also calls for free movement of people from the Indian part of Kashmir to Pakistan-controlled areas and vice versa and free trade between the two parts of Kashmir.
The PDP's self-rule concept also pleads for economic integration of the two parts of the state without challenging the political sovereignty of either India or Pakistan on their respective territories of Kashmir.
The party's PAC meeting is being held amid a crisis between the Congress and the PDP. The two allies have adopted starkly divergent positions on the demilitarisation of the state.
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says the situation is not conducive for reduction of troops in the state. He has asked all those asking for such reduction to give in writing that they don't require security.
The PDP has responded with a letter asking that the security provided to its leaders be withdrawn and steps be taken for reduction of troops.
Mehbooba said her party's step was in tune with the chief minister's wish. "We have fulfilled his wish, now it is up to him to take the next step."
She said India-Pakistan ties were at their best ever at the moment. "The benefit of their improving relationship should percolate to the people of the state who have been the worst victims of their hostilities."
"We are going to have a comprehensive look at the situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the subcontinent."
Apart from Mehbooba, the members of PDP's PAC are former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, former tourism minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, Finance Minister Tariq Hameed Karra and former deputy chief minister Muzzaffar Hussain Baig.
Washington, Feb 10 (NNN-KUNA) A Pentagon official admitted on Friday that officials at the Defense Department undercut the intelligence community in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq by insisting in briefings to the White House that there was a clear relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.
The Defense Department's Acting inspector general General Thomas Gimble told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the office headed by former Pentagon policy chief Douglas Feith took "inappropriate" actions in bringing up conclusions on al-Qaeda connections not backed up by the nation's intelligence agencies.
"They did not provide the most accurate analysis of intelligence to senior decision makers" in the White House prior to the war in Iraq in 2003, he said.
The news of the report was made out by Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat, and published in the Washington Post, in which it suggested that intelligence provided by Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusion of the intelligence community.
The full report criticizing the pentagon was made out public at the hearing.
"I can't think of a more devastating commentary," said Levin, who is also the Armed Services Committee Chairman, at the hearing.
He cited Gimble's findings that Feith's office was, despite doubts expressed by the intelligence community, pushing conclusions that September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague five months before the attack, and that there were "multiple areas of cooperation" between Iraq and al-Qaeda, including shared pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
"That was the argument that was used to make the sale to the American people about the need to go to war," Levin said earlier.
At the White House, spokesman Dana Perino said President Bush has revamped the U.S. spy community to try avoiding a repeat of flawed intelligence affecting policy decisions by creating a director of national intelligence and making other changes.
"I think what he has said is that he took responsibility, and that the intelligence was wrong, and that we had to take measures to revamp the intelligence community to make sure that it never happened again," Perino told reporters.
Feith left his Pentagon post in August 2005 and now teaches at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
Rome, Feb 10 (NNN-APS) "Is there an international community?" To such a problematic, tried Algeria's Foreign Minister Mohammed Bedjaoui to respond during a conference he held Thursday evening in Rome, at the invitation of the Mediterranean watchdog that heads Franco Frattini, vice president of the European Commission and former head of the Italian diplomacy.
Before an audience of very refined personalities who included the European Commissionner, vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ugo Intini, President of Algeria-Italy association and former head of the Italian diplomacy Gianni De Michelis, and Director of the Mediterranean Watchdog Mohamed Aziza and several members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Rome, the Algerian minister strived in his long and remarkable paper to work out this historical question and judicial as well.
Going back to the past, the speaker reminded that we can not talk about the international community without mentioning man and the inalienable "principle of humanity."
"Much time was needed to attain this collective conscience of "ergaonmes" duty that all of us should assume," Bedjaoui pointed out, recalling that this "persistence of humanity" which is constantly uprising, for centuries, against the arrogance of prince, against State's diktat.
The speaker has indicated that it is, paradoxically in the moment when the world underwent its terrifying fracture in two antagonist blocks (cold war) that the international community concept " was materialized the more and that the international law which upheld it, made huge advances.
"Some, Bedjaoui recalled, continue to deny the existence of the international community, as expression "community" suggests idea of solidarity which doesn't exist anymore.
They prefer, he said, talk about "society" rather than "community" because the society is founded on mutual interests and need for exchanges while community would be founded on feelings of shared belonging.
By Jaideep Sarin,
Amritsar, Feb 10 (IANS) Even as widespread rain over Punjab Saturday washed away the campaign plans of contestants for the state assembly elections, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee likened the sudden weather change to the changing political climate in the state.
Addressing his first election rally on the penultimate day of campaigning for the Punjab assembly and Amritsar Lok Sabha election, Vajpayee had thousands waiting in the pouring rain to hear him.
"Mausam badal raha hai (winds of change are there in the weather), is pradesh ki sarkar bhi badal jayegi (the government in this state will also change)," Vajpayee told the gathering in his characteristic style. He was campaigning for BJP candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu (for the Amritsar seat) and other BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal assembly candidates.
Scores of people and party supporters gathered to listen to the BJP stalwart even as the two scheduled rallies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi - at Sirhind near Patiala and Rampuraphul near Bathinda - were cancelled as she could not arrive due to bad weather. Sonia had addressed two rallies in Punjab Feb 7.
Vajpayee took pot shots at the Congress government at the centre and the state saying that the party was not bothered about the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities.
"Instead, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose to raise the bogey of revival of terrorism in Punjab if the Akali-BJP come to power. Why is the Congress trying to rake up the terrorism issue in Punjab? Their clear intention in doing so is with an eye on the votes," he told the gathering.
With the rain preventing people from venturing outside for the political rallies, the penultimate day of campaigning was all but lost Saturday.
Sunday is the last day for campaigning for all candidates. The campaigning ends at 5 p.m.
Polling for 115 seats of the 117-member assembly will be held Feb 13 along with the by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.
The election to two seats, both in Amritsar district - Valtoha and Beas - has been postponed to Feb 24 and March 11 respectively.
Kinshasa (Congo), Feb 10 (DPA) A miner found a 143-carat diamond in a river in Congo and sold it for $1.4 million, an official said Saturday.
Amos Maseko discovered the stone in a river near Banalia, 129 km north of Kisangani, where usually only diamonds of between one and three carats are to be found, the president of the Congolese Federation of Gold and Diamonds, John Tokole said.
"This is the first time anything this big has been found here," Tokole said. "The money will be invested here. The proceeds from the sale to Lebanese businessman Ismael Karmel will go to Maseko's association of miners."
Miners such as Maseko usually scrape together a living using a sieve to wash diamonds out of the gravel earth. Despite Congo's vast mineral wealth, which also includes gold, copper and cobalt, the country is struggling to recover from over 30 years of ruinous dictatorship.
Most of Congo's ample diamond reserves are to be found in the Kasai provinces over 600 km south-west of Kisangani.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) The first gold of the 33rd National Games went to Punjab after it won the men's 1,500-metre team time trial event in cycling here Saturday.
The Andhra Pradesh team won the silver while sports buffs here had something to cheer for as the hosts Assam emerged third and bagged the bronze at the Rupnath Brahma Velodrome and Pavilion.
In the women's section, Manipur snatched the gold while Punjab bagged the silver. Hosts Assam emerged third to win the bronze.
Munich, Feb 10 (RIA Novosti) Russia has not passed missile technology to Iran, but other countries, including European, did, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday.
Iran has been under international pressure since it resumed uranium enrichment in January 2006, which some Western countries suspect is part of a covert nuclear weapons program.
"I have no evidence to show that Russia, in the 1990s, helped Iran create its own missile technology. Other countries acted there. Technology was transferred through different channels. We have proof, and earlier I passed it directly to the U.S. president," Putin told the Munich Conference on Security Policy.
"Technology is coming from Europe, from Asian countries. Russia has nothing to do with this," he said.
The Russian leader said he shares the concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, on Iran's nuclear program.
Although Tehran has repeatedly claimed its program is peaceful, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution in December imposing sanctions on the country.
The sanctions approved in response to Iran's nuclear ambitions banned activities involving uranium enrichment, chemical reprocessing, heavy water-based projects, and the production of nuclear weapons delivery systems.
Putin said military and technical cooperation between Russia and Iran is minimal.
"Russia supplied much less weaponry there than the U.S. or other countries did," he said, adding that Russia provided Iran with air defense systems with an effective range of 30 to 50 kilometers.
"We did that so that Iran would not feel driven into a corner," Vladimir Putin said.
Putin said Iran has no missiles that could threaten Europe.
"As regards [fears that] Iran has missiles that could threaten Europe, you are wrong. Iran has missiles with a range of 1,600-1,700 km. Calculate how many kilometers it is from the Iranian border to Munich," the Russian leader said.
On February 23, the IAEA is expected to file a report on Iran's nuclear progress.
Russia, a key economic partner of Iran, has consistently supported the country's right to nuclear power under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and insisted that a previous, harsher draft of the resolution be revised and softened.
Munich, Feb 10 (DPA) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday challenged the US and Europe on global security issues including missile defence, NATO enlargement and what he termed America's "hyper-use of military force."
Putin, in a tough-worded speech at the Munich Security Conference, warned that a US-led "unipolar world" was unacceptable and had led to more wars and conflict across the globe.
"Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper-use of military force in international relations," Putin said in a strong jab at the US.
He also said Moscow did not need lessons in democracy from "people who did not practise it themselves."
The annual security conference is the top global forum on defence issues. This year's event is being attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as well as numerous foreign and defence ministers.
Putin set a truculent tone in the first few minutes of his speech by warning the new unipolar world led by the US was far less secure than the old balance of power between the US and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
"This is very dangerous ... nobody feels secure any more," Putin said.
He also cautioned that the sense of insecurity was fuelling a drive in many countries to produce weapons of mass destruction.
The Russian president sharply criticized the planned deployment of 10 anti-ballistic missile systems by the US - to be stationed in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Putin said that Russian military planners assumed US anti-missile forces could at some point "neutralize" the deterrence threat posed by Moscow's nuclear missiles.
"The balance will be upset," he said, adding that the US would then have "a feeling of complete security" which would give it a free hand to impose its will in local and global conflicts.
The US in 2002 withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty which was signed in 1972 between the US and the former Soviet Union. Washington said this was necessary in order to build anti-missile systems to protect the US from so-called "rogue states."
Putin vowed that Moscow would develop cheaper, asymmetrical systems to overcome any American anti-ballistic missile system.
Despite his strong words, the Russian leader went out of his way to praise US President George W Bush.
"He is a decent person and one can do business with him," Putin said, echoing former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's assessment of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Putin was scathing about NATO enlargement into former parts of the Soviet bloc.
"NATO expansion is a serious factor which reduces the level of mutual trust," said Putin, adding, "We have the right to ask against whom is this aimed?"
The Russian president said he failed to understand the point of expanding NATO bases and infrastructure toward his country when the real global threat was posed by terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
Putin bluntly questioned western economic domination in the face of the rising economic power of China, India, Brazil and his own Russia which is reaping the benefits of an oil and gas price boom.
The president also staked out Russia's opposing views to the US and Europe on global flashpoints including Kosovo and Iran.
Rejecting any idea of near-independence for the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo - as proposed by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari - the Russian leader said, "Let's not play God and try to resolve all their problems."
He said that a decision could be made by Serbia and Kosovo alone and vowed that if Moscow saw that one of the parties was not happy with the proposed solution, "we will not back it."
Putin admitted concern over Iran's nuclear programme and said he did not understand why Tehran had not responded constructively to international concerns.
But he defended Russia's delivery of air defence systems to Iran, saying: "We do not want Iran to feel cornered in a hostile environment."
He urged the US and Europe to be patient with Tehran and to provide incentives to win over the Iranian leadership. "Cooperation is much better than confrontation," Putin said.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Cloudy weather coupled with light rains have brought down temperatures in the national capital as residents took to their woollens once again.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi recorded around 1 mm rain till forenoon Saturday and it may intensify further.
"It's going to rain throughout the day and there may be a couple of heavy rain spells later too," IMD director S.C. Bhan said.
"The rainy weather conditions coupled with thunderstorm and hail storm will continue till Sunday evening," Bhan told IANS.
Weathermen said the change in the weather was due to two low-pressure areas - one over central Pakistan and the other over Gujarat. "The western disturbance is causing rain in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Madhya Pradesh."
"Due to the rains there will be a significant drop in the maximum temperature though the minimum temperature would not see much change. The gap between maximum and minimum temperature will be less," said Bhan, adding that people would feel colder during the daytime.
On Friday, Delhi recorded a maximum of 19.7 degrees Celsius (3 degrees below normal) but the minimum temperature Saturday morning was 16 degrees (6 degrees above normal).
However, residents of Delhi are not complaining as the rains have brought down the unwelcome increase in temperature.
"There was an unusual rise in temperature over the last couple of weeks. We are enjoying the rain since morning," said Sunaina Das, a management professional.
"Everyone in our family has started wearing more woollens as the day temperatures have gone down substantially. We need to be extra cautious as there is a sharp fluctuation in the temperature," Das added.
Ragini Bajaj, was excited about the weather being cool on Valentine's Day Feb 14. "Cool weather over the weekend and Valentine Day's after that is a lot of fun. I am sure youngsters like me are one with me. Three cheers to the rain!"
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, Feb 10 (IANS) India's drug major Ranbaxy Laboratories has received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s final approval to manufacture and market its formulation for the treatment of major depressive disorders in adults.
Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RPI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL), announced Friday that FDA approval permitted the Indian company to make Sertraline Hydrochloride tablets in five doses from 25 mg to 200 mg.
FDA's Office of Generic Drugs has determined the Ranbaxy formulation to be bioequivalent and have the same therapeutic effect as that of the reference listed drug Zoloft(r) of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc., it said.
Total annual market sales for Sertraline Hydrochloride Tablets are estimated at $3.07 billion.
"We are pleased to receive this final approval for Sertraline Hydrochloride Tablets. Ranbaxy now offers both solid and liquid dosage forms for this molecule that has established its utility and value in major depressive disorder. This product formulation will be launched immediately," said Jim Meehan, vice president of Sales and Marketing for RPI.
RPI based in Jacksonville, Florida, is engaged in the sale and distribution of generic and branded prescription products in the US healthcare system.
Ranbaxy's continued focus on R&D has resulted in several approvals in developed markets and significant progress in New Drug Discovery Research. The company's foray into Novel Drug Delivery Systems has led to proprietary "platform technologies", resulting in a number of products under development, it said.
Ranchi, Feb 10 (IANS) A die-hard fan of Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has opened a garage here in the cricketer's name and unfailingly distributes sweets whenever Dhoni plays well.
Jitendra Chandravansi, in his thirties, opened the Goodwill Dhoni Motor Workshop in Ranchi's Bariatu locality earlier this month and hopes Dhoni will get his vehicle serviced in the garage some day.
"I have heard that Dhoni likes driving. I hope he will avail the services of my garage one day," said Jitendra.
The garage owner watches cricket regularly and he became a fan of Dhoni when the cricketer hit a century against Pakistan last year.
"Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf praised his batting and his hairstyle. I decided to open a garage in Dhoni's name with a desire to meet him in my garage," Jitendra said.
He added that many Dhoni fans come to his motor workshop.
"Vehicle owners who are fans of Dhoni come to my garage. We talk in length about Dhoni's wicket keeping and batting. When he plays well in a match we distribute sweets among the garage workers and customers," remarked Jitendra.
Pattaya (Thailand), Feb 10 (IANS) Sania Mirza's winning steak ended when she lost in the semi-finals of the $170,000 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour tournaments here Saturday.
Sania went down fighting 4-6, 5-7 to Gisela Dulko of Argentina.
Gisela will meet Austria's Sybille Bammer in the final. Sybille defeated fourth seed Shuai Peng of China 6-4, 6-2 in the other semi-final.
By Teesta Setalvad
Nanded, Feb 10: Twenty-eight year old Pandurang Bhagwan Ameelkanthwar resident of Rangargalli, Nanded died on the spot after 'biscuit boxes' he was lifting at the unearthly hour of 12.35 a.m. on Saturday, Febrary 10, 2007 exploded charring his body to coal. His cousin, Shankarrao Shivram Mangnalikar,a retired Head Master was the tenant of the biscuit godown located at Bhagyenagar, Nanded. The incident is recorded as AD 9/07 and though the police is cautiously terming it as an accidental death, in actuality it has raised grave doubts after an earlier similar blast had injured and killed two persons belonging to the RSS/Bajrang Dal in April 2006. It was in the same locality of Nanded that the earlier blast had taken place.
The blast was of such a magnitude that not only was 28 year old Pandurang's body chrred to coal but the shutter of the godown was found 15 feet away and windows and doors of the godown blown apart. The retired head master lives at Taroda, Shastrinagar, Nanded. The man who died lives at Rangargalli which is a good 6 kilometres distance from the spot and hence doubts have been raised as to his presence in the middle of the night at the godown---clear questions are being asked about the nature of actual activities in this so-called 'biscuit' godown!!! The police have sent the explosive substance for chemical analysis. It is not insignificant that questions are being raised after large packets of RDX were seized in Ahmednagar last year.
I spoke to Anti Terrorism Squad Chief KT Raghuvanshi and he said that he had dispatched members of his team to Nanded. It is to be hoped that matters are investigated dispassionately since there are pointers to 'RSS/BD terrorist activity' in this belt.
The Central Government should keep a close watch and monitor the situation. Soon after Friday prayers on Friday February 16, a 5-7 lakh religious gathering (all-India) Ijtema has been scheduled at Malegaon not far away. Fear and speculation is rife that the explosives being surreptitiously manufactured at Nanded were meant to be used in Malegaon. Hence the Centre needs to be extremely alert so that the situation does not get out of hand.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The $175,000 Banglaore Open tennis tournament received a jolt Saturday when Australian Open champion Serena Williams withdrew because of illness.
"Williams was running a high fever and flu making it impossible for her to travel and compete this week," the organisers of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tournament.
All is, however, not lost for the organisers as Sania Mirza, defending champion Mara Santangelo of Italy and Alicia Molik of Australia are going to take part.
Had former world No. 1 Serena, who jumped from 81st to 15th in the world rankings after her Australian Open triumph, it would have been first appearance in India.
Dubai, Feb 10 (IANS) Shahid Afridi could miss Pakistan's first two World Cup matches next month after he was banned Saturday for four one-day internationals for unbecoming behaviour during an ODI against South Africa this week.
International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Chris Broad of England banned Afridi for brandishing his bat at a spectator during the ODI at Centurion in South Africa Feb 4, said ICC.
Now the only way Afridi could escape the penalty or have it reduced is by lodging an appeal, as per rules, with the ICC's legal counsel within 24 hours of receiving the original verdict.
While announcing the penalty here, the ICC said that the swashbuckling all-rounder was penalised for a Level 3 offence under section C 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct.
Afridi as well as Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and team manager Talat Ali attended the hearing called by Broad. Video evidence was also used at the hearing.
"The charge was laid by ICC chief executive officer Malcolm Speed and relates to an incident which took place after Afridi was dismissed during the first ODI of the ongoing series," ICC said in a statement.
As the player walked up a set of stairs towards the dressing room a spectator apparently said something to him and Afridi reacted by appearing to push his bat at the person in an aggressive manner, causing the spectator to take evasive action, it explained.
"I took into account what I considered to be the mitigating circumstances of a spectator in close proximity to the player shouting at him as he returned to the dressing room," said Broad.
"I also spoke to the spectator in question ahead of the hearing to get his version of events. However, I found it impossible to escape the conclusion that Mr Afridi's actions were a clear threat to that spectator, and had that person not taken evasive action then the bat would almost certainly have hit him."
Broad, a former Test player, added: "Such an act is completely unacceptable and on that basis I found the player guilty of the Level 3 offence."
Broad also made a point about the circumstances in which the incident took place.
"For the record, I do not believe spectators should be that close to the players or that they should feel they can shout whatever they like and think that is acceptable," he said.
"That is a view I have expressed to Cricket South Africa."
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) Reigning Commonwealth champion and fifth seed A. Sharath Kamal of India upset second seed Yang Zi of Singapore 4-2 to enter the semi-finals of the Indian Open table tennis tournament here Saturday.
Kamal beat Zi 11-5, 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 10-12, 11-9 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.
Subhajit Saha was the other Indian to enter the semi-finals. He defeated compatriot Soumyadeep Roy 11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 6-11, 5-11, 12-10.
Other quarter-finals results: Ning Gao (Singapore) beat Xiao Li Cai (Singapore) 11-7, 11-2, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7; Roko Tosic (Croatia) beat M.A. Liang (Sin) (4-3) 12-14, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2.
United Nations, Feb 10 (IANS) Shashi Tharoor, India's nominee in the race for the top job in the United Nations, has been replaced as Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information by Kiyotaka Akasaka of Japan.
Tharoor's replacement was announced Friday as part of a reshuffle "to achieve continuity with change" by the new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He named four new senior officials to his cabinet while retaining a dozen others.
Ban who took office on Jan 1, also named a United States diplomat as chief political officer, a Chinese veteran of international organizations to head economic and social affairs, and an Egyptian diplomat to oversee General Assembly management.
"In making these decisions, the Secretary-General has taken into account various factors, among others the need to apply change with continuity, ongoing discussions on restructuring plans and the need to promote mobility at all levels," Ban's Chef de Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar, told a press briefing here.
The Secretary-General "is conscious that he needs to take advantage and in a sense leverage the experience that is there; he is also conscious of the need to build new talent and experience," he said in response to questions on the selections.
Tharoor's replacement was widely expected following his loss to Ban in the race for the top UN job though the Indian author diplomat had himself said that "If he (Ban) feels that there is an honourable role for me, then I will continue for another period. Or if there is no meeting of minds, I will leave and continue to support UN from outside."
His diplomatic career began in 1978, when he joined the staff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Separately, he had a prolific career as a writer, turning out nine fiction and non-fiction books. The last of these was "Bookless in Baghdad".
Tharoor was among several top officials whose resignations have been accepted. Ban had sought resignation from all Under-Secretaries-General and Assistant Secretaries-General to give him flexibility in choosing his team.
Tharoor, one of the six contenders in the race to succeed former secretary general Kofi Annan,stood second in the informal fourth UN straw poll. He got 10 votes in favour, three against - one of which was a veto-holding member - and two 'no opinions'.
Soon after the results, Tharoor announced his withdrawal and his support for Ban who got 14 votes, including support from all five Permanent Security Council members.
Shashi Tharoor's successor Kiyotaka Akasaka is currently Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He has been closely involved throughout his career with the work of multilateral organisations.
Akasaka was Deputy Director-General in the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Multilateral Cooperation Department from 1997 to 2000, participating as one of his country's top negotiators in the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change and various other international conferences. Between 2000 and 2001 he was Japan's UN Ambassador.
He has also held posts at the Secretariat of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), precursor of the UN World Trade Organisation (WTO), and at the UN World Health Organization (WHO). He has held a number of positions in the field of communications and public relations, serving in the Japanese Foreign Ministry as Deputy Director of the Press Division and spokesman on climate change. He has also been deeply involved in OECD public information activities.
Beijing, Feb 10 (DPA) An agreement that would reportedly require North Korea to shut down its nuclear weapons programme within two months appeared closer Saturday as officials from six nations held a third day of talks.
US chief negotiator Christopher Hill said "basically one or two items" remained to be agreed upon with North Korea.
Hill said he was "cautiously optimistic" after he and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Gwan on Friday discussed a draft agreement that reportedly calls for Pyongyang to shut down key weapons-related facilities, including a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor, within two months in return for energy aid.
The draft was circulated late Thursday after talks resumed between North Korea, the US, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
Chinese state media quoted Japan's envoy Kenichiro Sasae as saying as he left his hotel Saturday that the talks had entered "difficult stage."
North Korea remained "highly concerned" with wording in the draft two-page document, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Russia's chief negotiator Alexander Losyukov as saying.
But the New York Times said US State Department and White House officials were "preparing for a major announcement this weekend" in Washington.
South Korean negotiator Chun Yung Woo said Saturday and Sunday would be "decisive" for reaching an agreement.
The draft agreement also proposes setting up five working groups to oversee the process of denuclearisation in North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted sources as saying.
The proposed working groups include one group on the steps to be taken by North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, another on compensation for Pyongyang, and one to normalise diplomatic relations between North Korea and Japan, Japan's Kyodo news agency said.
Sources told DPA that Hill and Kim had "significantly narrowed" their differences during bilateral talks in Berlin last month.
North Korean officials "showed their readiness" to reciprocate after the US raised the possibility of eliminating trade barriers and removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a source familiar with the Berlin talks said.
North Korea is reportedly negotiating for some 500,000 tons of fuel oil in exchange for suspending operation of a Yongbyon nuclear reactor and agreeing to IAEA inspections, according to Japanese media.
Host nation China said it was taking an "open attitude" to the duration and content of the talks.
The negotiations were the second since North Korea first detonated an atomic bomb on Oct 9, an event that prompted international sanctions against the Stalinist state.
North Korea in September 2005 agreed to give up its nuclear weapons programme in return for security guarantees from the US and economic aid.
Kolkata, Feb 10 (IANS) The body of Sadhu Chattopadhayay, the policeman lynched Wednesday by a frenzied mob of farmers protesting against land acquisition in Haldia, was fished out of Haldia river in West Bengal's East Midnapore district Saturday.
Farmers under the banner of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (Committee to Resist Eviction from Land) had clashed with policemen Wednesday at Haldia's Gangamore in East Midnapore district and lynched Chattopadhayay, who was a sub-inspector of the District Intelligence Bureau.
Gangamore in Haldia under Bhowanipur police station (close to trouble-torn Nandigram) saw marauding Trinamool Congress and Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee supporters attacking police and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activists Wednesday.
Several cops were seriously injured in the clash while Sadhu was killed and his body dumped in the river.
Cape Town, Feb 10 (NNN-BuaNews) South Africa needs to increase its national capacity to produce capital goods as the expanding economy throws up major challenges," said President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation Address on Friday.
He said the country needs to source many of the capital goods domestically in an effort to continue expanding the economy rather than importing them.
Massive infrastructure spending programmes by Government, President Mbeki said, are currently under way with major investments being made in energy, transport infrastructure, communications infrastructure and 2010 World Cup-related expenditure in stadia.
As much as R400 billion is being invested in infrastructure by government alone - not to mention private sector expansion.
He said these projects "demand massive input of supplies and machinery".
"But our international trade balance shows that we have not succeeded in building the capacity to produce the consumer and capital goods that our country needs," Mr Mbeki said.
As a result, many of the consumer and capital goods required by such sudden demand are met by imports.
This opens up vulnerability on the country's current account and causing many local businesses to lose out on the massive opportunities these demands present for future growth.
To widen the scope for domestic industry and thus the economy and South Africans as a whole to benefit from such massive investment, the president announced that government is to speed up the implementation of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa.
This will happen within the context of a determined drive to increase our national capacity to produce capital goods", the president said today.
Such a drive will happen "over and above the multi-year programmes announced in the recent past", he added.
He said government would be developing programmes to facilitate investments in sectors along the entire supply chain of South Africa's infrastructure programmes.
These will include capital goods in information and communications technology, transport and energy.
The government, he added, would this year focus on reviewing the country's experience of macro-economic indicators such as the exchange rate, inflation and interest rates.
President Mbeki said this will help the government to put in place measures that will facilitate the growth of industries which produce tradables for both the domestic and export markets".
These measures will also be designed to absorb large pools of semi-skilled workers, he said.
With investment in mining on the decline, despite high current prices for commodities in global markets, the president pointed to the need for strategy that would prioritise key interventions in mining and mineral beneficiation.
An example of such intervention, he said, will be the setting up of a State Diamond Trader that will purchase 10 per cent of diamonds from local producers and sell them to local cutters and producers - with a direct and powerful impact on the ability of South Africans to benefit by adding value to these resources.
Diamond mining giant De Beers "has agreed to assist, free-of-charge, with management, technical skills and asset provision for a period of three years" for such an intervention, the president said.
Likewise, in agriculture and agro-processing, the white goods sector - which includes durable commodities like household appliances - creative industries, community and social services and pharmaceuticals, there will be similar strategies to enhance domestic capacity.
Eskom alone is spending just under R100 billion on infrastructure expansion in energy supply over the next few years to meet huge demand for energy as the economy expands.
This investment will ensure "greater reliance on nuclear power generation, natural gas and the various forms of renewable sources of energy".
In telecommunications, the president announced that the Department of Communications together with mobile telephone companies and Telkom is finalising plans "to address call termination rates this year for the benefit of all consumers".
In addition, he said, Telkom will apply a special low rate for international bandwidth to 10 development call centres - each employing 1000 persons - as part of efforts to expand the business process outsourcing sector.
"The special rate," he said, "will be directly comparable to those for the same service and capacity per month offered in any of the comparable countries [that also have a call centre industry]."
The development of high-speed national and international broadband capacity is another imperative, he said.
Massive investment is also being poured into public transport systems, which are perhaps the greatest legacy that government aims to derive from the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Such programmes include the taxi recapitalisation programme and provincial initiatives such as the Moloto Rail Corridor in Mpumalanga, the Klipfontein Corridor in Cape Town and the Gautrain project.
The R7 billion taxi recapitalisation programme that is putting modern and safer vehicles on to South Africa's streets will go ahead, he said, warning that government would not be "bullied" by resistance from the country's taxi operators.
"We will attend to the urgent implementation of these programmes to improve the quality of life of especially the working people," said the president.
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) India Saturday urged the strengthening of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to "cater to the dynamics of regional security" in the fight against terrorism and other trans-national crimes.
Noting that India shares its land border only with Myanmar, which is also its maritime neighbour, as are Thailand and Indonesia, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said: "Such geographic proximity leads to a significant overlap of security interests between India and the South East Asian states."
He was delivering the valedictory address at the 9th Asian Security Conference organised by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) here.
With the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) emerging as a useful platform for security dialogues involving all regional states, "it needs to be appropriately strengthened and reoriented to cater to the dynamics of regional security", the minister stated.
At the same time, the cooperative mechanism would "need to incorporate transparency in intentions and response and a visible respect for the religious and cultural diversities of the states", he pointed out.
According to Antony, the key challenge for the region's states lies "in building effective multilateral institutions based on a set of common values to achieve common goals based on respective political, economic and strategic interests".
Besides terrorism, with other low-intensity threats like sea-piracy posing a direct challenge to the security of sea-lines of communication, India had a vital interest in the region as more than half of its merchandise trade sailing eastwards passed through the Straits of Malacca, the minister said.
"However, this vital waterway has become highly insecure due to piracy. Though piracy has reduced considerably since 2003, the changing contours of the crime and the coordination among pirates need to be countered strongly," Antony maintained.
"There is also widespread fear that with the nautical expertise acquired from pirates, terrorists may strike in the Malacca Straits. This would spell disaster for the global economy, more so for the regional states," he added.
Noting that India had indicated its capability to assist the littoral states in contributing to the safety and security of the Malacca Straits, the minister pointed to the tri-services Unified Command that was established in 2001 at Andaman and Nicobar to "foster greater synergy" with Southeast Asia to deal with common security threats.
"This is best exemplified by 'Milan' - the biennial congregation of regional navies at Port Blair since mid-1990s. More recently, coordinated naval patrols with Indonesia and Thailand were instituted," he pointed out.
"This cooperation is solely aimed at capacity-building of armed forces to deal with maritime insecurities and threats of trans-national terrorism and other organized crimes.
"However, it has purely defensive attributes and is not aimed at any third country," Antony said, adding that this cooperation was "extremely crucial for our collective ability to deal with natural disasters".
This was borne out by the joint disaster relief operations in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and again last year when India provided succour to the victims of the devastating Indonesian earthquake, the minister pointed out.
With drug trafficking and the illegal trade in small-arms, as also other threats like epidemics and natural disasters not recognising national boundaries, it was "crucial for regional states to share their resources and harmonise their efforts", Antony contended.
"Different countries have varying degrees of threat perceptions. The essence of regional security and stability lies in successfully identifying the congruence of interests," he added.
Bhopal, Feb 10 (IANS) A 12-year-old Indore boy committed suicide allegedly because his teacher harassed him for not paying the school fees for two months, the police said Saturday.
Rahul Pal, a Class 8 student of Little Moon High School, complained of stomach ache Thursday and sought permission of his teacher to go home. But the teacher forced him to sit in the class the whole day. The next day the teacher sent him home as he had not completed his homework owing to ill health.
In the afternoon, Rahul committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling of his residence while his parents were out at work.
"My son was being harassed because we were not able to pay the monthly tuition fee for the past two months," Rahul's father told the police. "This forced him to end his life."
The school management, however, has denied the allegation. "The boy left the school on Thursday without any intimation and also did not turn up on Friday, perhaps because his mother scolded him and he committed suicide," school principal Suresh Roy said.
"No one harassed or pressurised the boy for the fees. There were students in the school who have not paid the fees for six months," he said.
The police have registered a case and are looking into the matter.
Bushehr (Iran), Feb 10 (IANS) Some 2,000 students of various provincial universities and schools formed a human chain around Bushehr nuclear power plant, in southern Iran, Saturday in a show of support for Iran's nuclear programme.
The students carried placards stating Iran's legitimate right to achieve peaceful nuclear technology and voiced their readiness to defend unto death the scientific achievements of the nation, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.
"Iran is not after nuclear weapons and will confront all threats to the nation through unwavering support," said Ali Zeinabi, a provincial security official who was at the site of this nuclear plant.
The head of security for the nuclear power plant, Reza Fatahi, told IRNA that the manifest support of students to Iran's peaceful nuclear activities will boost efforts of the country's nuclear scientists to move ahead.
School bells rang throughout Iran at 9:00 am (local time) Saturday to mark Iran's nuclear achievements.
Students chanted slogans such as "Nuclear Energy is an inalienable right of the Iranian nation" and "Down with the US," reported Iran's official news agency IRNA. They also chanted slogans denouncing the unfavourable policies of other countries towards Iran's nuclear program.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 10 (IANS) In the wake of reports that several Kerala policemen were facing criminal charges, state's Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Saturday he would initiate steps to weed out such personnel.
Speaking at a function organised by the State Human Rights Commission, he said: "With reports surfacing about the presence of nearly 850 policemen implicated in various criminal cases, I have directed that such officials should not hold crucial posts. I have also asked that inquiries be made on the present status of these cases and appropriate action taken," said Balakrishnan.
A state police department report Friday said that policemen have been implicated in criminal cases for offences like murder to rape.
The January 2000-December 2006 report said the crimes were committed by officers, including a deputy superintendent of police, and constables. Among the offenders are a woman sub-inspector and five women constables.
The report surfaced after a media house sought the information under the Right to Information Act.
The list includes 14 police personnel of the special intelligence branch and 47 from the crime branch. Fifteen personnel have been accused of murder, 10 for rape and 167 have cases against them for outraging the modesty of women.
While 300 have cases against them for burglary, 70 face criminal cases for threat and extortion.
There are around 54,000 policemen in the state.
Singapore, Feb 10 (DPA) A decline in spoken Tamil has prompted a move to imbue young ethnic Indians in Singapore with a knowledge of the language, media reports said Saturday.
The Tamil Language Learning and Promotion Committee is introducing activities targeted at students from the pre-school to junior college levels.
"It is not possible to change a fundamental social trend like the fall in usage of mother tongues," the group's chairman S. Iswaran was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
But by reaching out to the young, an interest in the language may "possibly last a lifetime", said Iswaran, minister of state for trade and industry.
The city-state's population is predominantly Chinese, but six percent are Indian.
Among the activities planned to spice up language lessons are study trips to Tamil Nadu in India and Tamil language forums for parents.
A soon-to-be launched website will enable parents to download podcasts of nursery rhymes in the language, the report said.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) Tamil Nadu and West Bengal spikers registered wins in their respective matche in the women's volleyball event at the 33rd National Games here Saturday.
Tamil Nadu showed their superiority and thrashed Karnataka 25-11, 25-17 and 25-11 in a Group B league clash at the Karambir Nabin Chandra Bardoloi Indoor Hall while West Bengal trounced Delhi 25-9, 25-12 and 25-16 in a Group A match.
In the men's Group A, Kerala defeated hosts Assam 25-20, 25-18 and 25-20 while Services came from behind after dropping the first two sets to beat Karnataka 21-25, 28-30, 25-20, 25-19 and 20-18.
Bangkok, Feb 10 (Xinhua) As the Valentine's Day draws near, Thai authorities has put rose prices under special watch, threatening to punish any vendors who attempt to over-inflate prices with up to seven years' imprisonment and 170,000 baht ($4,722) in fine, Thai media reported Saturday.
"Although flowers are not goods under government control, selling them at a price too high is legally wrong," said Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, director general of the Department of Internal Trade (DIT), after touring a Bangkok flower market Saturday morning, according to the Bangkok Post website.
On Saturday, three days before the Feb 14 Valentine's Day, which falls on Wednesday, a bundle of 50 red or white roses at Bangkok flower markets costs about 200 baht ($5.56), while the pink ones are priced at around 170 baht ($4.72). For locally-planted bigger roses, a bundle of 50 costs about 350 baht ($9.72).
The average prices of roses this year are slightly higher than those of last year due to lower supply because of a cooler than usual winter in the North, where most flowers are grown.
Sales of roses are expected to blossom to about 500 million baht ($13.9 million) in the lead-up to Valentine's Day this year, according to Bangkok Post.
Dhaka, Feb 10 (Xinhua) Panic ran high among hundreds of visitors in Bangladesh's Dhaka Zoo Friday afternoon when a Royal Bengal Tiger suddenly came out of its cage and attacked a man offering food.
Zoo sources said the victim Mujibur Rahman, 55, an employee of an animal food supply contractor to the Zoo, suffered critical injuries. He was immediately sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment, local newspaper The Independent reported Saturday.
The three-metre long tiger swooped on the man when he offered the big cat beef for its mid-day meal.
Panic gripped the visitors to the Zoo. The frightened visitors ran asunder screaming, in tears and rolled down on the ground raising alarm for help.
The zoo authorities, however, brought the situation under control within half an hour. The apparently furious tiger was finally tamed injecting tranquilliser.
Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 10 (IANS) Former India cricket captain Mansur Ali Pataudi has asked people here to commit themselves to eradicating polio from the country.
Pataudi Saturday went around various Muslim-dominated areas here on the eve of the second round of nationwide pulse polio immunisation program and asked people to make the fight against the disease a success.
He said that the city, which has the highest number of polio cases in India, needed better hygiene conditions and cleanliness.
The former cricketer also said that polio drops should be given to all children irrespective of religion or caste as it was a question of securing their future well-being.
Pataudi answered health-related questions at a press conference later in the evening.
Srinagar, Feb 10 (IANS) Two militants belonging to the Harkatul Mujaheedin (HUM) outfit and a civilian were killed in a gunfight with troops in south Kashmir early Saturday.
According to a defence spokesperson, troops of the counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR) surrounded a house in Chaki Panchan village in Pulwama district, 70 km from here.
"The militants fired indiscriminately at the troops. The cordon was tightened and the hiding militants were engaged in a fierce encounter which ended Saturday morning," Col. A.K. Mathur, spokesperson of 15 Corps, told IANS here.
"Bodies of two militants were recovered from the site of the encounter," he said.
One of the slain militants has been identified as Noor Khan alias Bangladeshi, self-styled district commander of the HUM outfit. Mathur said one civilian was also killed in the crossfire.
"Arms and ammunition including two AK-47 rifles, six grenades, eight magazines and 167 rounds were also recovered from the two militants."
By Prasun Sonwalkar,
London, Feb 10 (IANS) As thousands of Indian doctors make plans to return home or move to other countries for training and employment, Britain's medical community has expressed disappointment over Friday's adverse high court ruling that refused a judicial review of changes to immigration rules.
Indian doctors have historically made significant contributions to the National Health Service (NHS). Thousands had moved to Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, following job offers to meet shortage of medical professionals at the time.
The competence of that generation of Indian doctors has been widely acknowledged and valued, and many others followed in subsequent years under the category called permit-free training. This facility was abolished under changes announced in March 2006.
The changes to rules were since criticised by British doctors at several forums, including in the professional British Medical Journal. Friday's ruling has disappointed not only the Indian community of professionals but also British doctors.
Commenting on the ruling, Edwin Borman, chair of the British Medical Association's International Committee, said: "The government's recent treatment of overseas doctors has been very disappointing.
"They were given the impression that they'd be able to contribute to the NHS, and spend their whole careers in the UK, then the rules changed overnight and many were forced to leave. The failure of the government to consult with the medical profession meant that they had little opportunity to prepare to leave the country."
Andrew Rowland, vice-chairman of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, added: "We're in the middle of the recruitment process for new junior doctor posts and it is crucial that the Department of Health issues full and transparent guidance immediately.
"The deadline for short-listing job applications is two weeks away, so those involved in selection need to be absolutely clear about what this decision means. If they're not, the whole recruitment process will fall apart.
"The government must learn lessons from this episode. It needs to undertake rigorous long-term workforce planning so we can be honest with overseas doctors about opportunities in the UK. If that had happened in the past we wouldn't be in this situation now."
Borman added: "We are disappointed that the High Court has not ruled in favour of doctors on the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. It has always been our opinion that they should be treated the same way as their UK counterparts when applying for posts."
Meanwhile, the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), which went to the court against the changes to immigration rules, is consulting its legal team to consider launching an appeal against the decision.
Several doctors had raised funds to fight the legal case, but the BAPIO is faced with launching another fund-raising drive to launch the appeal. The judge has permitted BAPIO to bring an urgent appeal against his ruling before the Court of Appeal because of its widespread impact on foreign doctors.
However, Indian doctors currently in training or awaiting employment are not optimistic about a positive outcome of any appeal. It is considered unlikely that British authorities would now relax the immigration rules because of Indian doctors' contribution to the NHS in the past.
The logic of the changes put forth by health minister Lord Warner in March 2006 virtually precludes any relaxation. He said: "We now have more than 117,000 doctors working in the NHS, 27,400 more than in 1997, as well as record levels of doctors in training in UK medical schools.
"This investment and expansion, coupled with the reform of medical education, is leading to increased competition for medical posts as vacancy rates fall. There is therefore no longer a need for a specific category in the Immigration Rules to enable doctors and dentists to train in the UK for many years.
The General Medical Council, which conducts the qualifying PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Assessment Boards) test, has been cautioning doctors from India and other non-European Union countries about the competitive job situation in Britain.
It states: "The job market in the UK is very competitive and you should think very carefully about whether you are willing to take the risks involved in competing for posts.
"A recent survey of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) who have passed the PLAB Part 2 exam has shown that finding employment is increasingly difficult. We anticipate IMGs employment prospects will significantly worsen following the Department of Health announcement that from 3 April 2006, IMGs who wish to work or train in the NHS will need a work permit".
By Prasun Sonwalkar,
London, Feb 10 (IANS) As Indian investors stalk British companies with takeover offers, the economic logic of outsourcing operations to India continues to direct the growth plans of major companies, despite protests from the affected employees.
Tata Steel has been the latest big budget Indian investor, having taken over Corus in January. The spate of takeovers by Indian investors and the creation of jobs in Britain has partially reduced the decibel level of protests against outsourcing to India.
The National Health Service (NHS) has announced that it will export hundreds of clerical jobs, including accounting functions, to India. "I recently gave permission to outsource 60 percent of the work to India," NHS deputy finance director Peter Coates said in Mumbai.
"It could go higher, but the constraint is that we cannot move jobs to India at the expense of shedding jobs in the (United Kingdom). Politics will be an important factor," he added.
The latest traffic of outsourcing from Britain to India involves the insurance giant Prudential, which this week confirmed that it will offshore 130 jobs from its main Scottish site to India over the next 12-18 months.
The company, which employs more than 2,500 people at Craigforth, near Stirling, said the jobs would be moved to Mumbai - alongside a further 80 currently based in Reading. It said the move was part of its pledge made last year to cut 150 million pounds from the costs of its UK business.
The latest move follows the decision by the company in April 2006 to move 200 jobs to Craigforth and 230 to Mumbai, as it closed three out of five of its UK sites at Belfast, Bristol and Holborn Bars in London.
Bank major Lloyds TSB, which already has a significant presence in India, announced the closure of its back-office operation at the Thorpe Wood service centre in Peterborough this year.
The Lloyds TSB Group Union claimed that the decision to close the centre was linked to plans to relocate more back-office roles to India, where the bank has around 2,500 workers.
Peter O'Grady, assistant general secretary of the union, said: "Our concern is over what is going to happen to the people in Peterborough. We want to embarrass Lloyds TSB into keeping these jobs within the UK."
A Lloyds TSB spokesman confirmed that the bank had set a "target" to relocate a further 400 back-office jobs to India this year, but denied the Peterborough closure was related.
He said: "We took a very difficult decision to close Peterborough, but these jobs will be moved to other parts of the UK - not outsourced to India. We are speaking to all the individual staff affected at the moment. We have a good track record in redeploying staff elsewhere in the group, but there will inevitably be some natural turnover."
Another firm planning to 'look India' is Thomson Scientific, a multinational information firm, which intends to close its Scottish office in Glasgow and shift the work to India. The company is also likely to axe jobs in Manchester and London.
A company spokesperson said: "In order to continue to maintain our place in the market we need to take action now."
Meanwhile, hospital officials in Birmingham have become the latest to join others in Britain to consider sending confidential hospital notes to be typed up in India. Many hospitals in Britain have already outsourced such work to India.
Reports from Birmingham say that the Dudley Group of Hospitals Trust, which includes Russells Hall Hospital in Pensnett, is planning the cost-cutting move to India.
Suzie Fothergill, spokesperson for Dudley Group of Hospitals Trust, said: "In response to the Birmingham Mail's enquiry regarding outsourcing administration to India, the trust is carrying out a scoping exercise with a view to looking at recommendations for the future. At this stage it is only being reviewed."
The University Hospital Trust in Edgbaston was the first in Birmingham to send administrative work to India, New Zealand and South Africa in August last year.
United Nations, Feb 10 (NNN-Prensa Latina) United Nations announced Friday the delivery of USD2 million to Indonesia for helping the affected people by the intense floods in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities.
UN Emergency Coordinator Margareta Wahlstrom said the money comes from the Central Fund for Response to Emergencies.
Some 512 people have been displaced because of the waters, which according to the National Coordination Board of Disaster Administration, have taken the lives of at least 50 people.
Sources said 24 of the 43 sub-districts in the province of Jakarta are still affected, and the situation in many areas of the Great Jakarta is under evaluation.
UN said many countries and organizations help Indonesia, with donations, medications, food, clothes and blankets.
The World Health Organization has offered emergency means and rubber boats and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Fund for Children and the UN Population Fund have offered money, sanitary products, drinkable water and others.
Pretoria, Feb 10 (NNN-BuaNews) The United Nations Mission (UNMIS) in Sudan has reported that armed men have assaulted and tried to abduct a group of female internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The women were on their way to fetch firewood in Darfur.
In the latest violent incident to plague the war-torn region, the mission said Arab nomads attacked the IDPs about four kilometres from Kalma camp in South Darfur on Tuesday.
In separate incidents in south Darfur, locals broke and looted the office of a non-governmental organization (NGO) at Kass during a demonstration.
According to the mission, fire also broke out at a camp of IDPs in El Sereif, near the provincial capital of Nyala.
The incidents occurred as the joint commission established to oversee last year's Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the recent surge in attacks against humanitarian workers.
The statement followed a meeting of the commission in the north Darfur and was signed by representatives of the UN, the African Union, the European Union and the United States as members.
It was also signed by Canada, France, the League of Arab States, the Netherlands, Egypt and the United Kingdom as observers.
The Sudanese Government signed the DPA in May last year with some of the rebel groups it had been fighting in Darfur, but fighting has raged on since then, mainly against the rebels that did not sign the pact.
About four million people now depend on humanitarian aid, and at least 200,000 have been killed and 2 million others displaced from their homes because of the ongoing fights between the government, allied armed forces and the rebels.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced this week that his Special Envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson, together with African Union (AU) counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim, would travel to Sudan next week in a bid to revive the stalled peace process.
Mr Eliasson and Mr Salim will travel on Monday to the capital, Khartoum, and to Darfur for talks with the Government and representatives of rebel groups that did not sign the DPA.
Mr Ban is awaiting a response from the Sudanese government to a letter he sent last month outlining the details of a hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, its command structure and funding.
Khartoum has already agreed in principle to such a force replacing AMIS.
Meanwhile, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Gu,henno on Thursday briefed the UN Security Council on the Secretary-General's latest report on the work of UNMIS.
It included the implementation of the comprehensive peace deal ending the separate conflict between Sudan's north and south.
In that report, Mr Ban said a peaceful resolution of the Darfur conflict could go a long way towards restoring trust in the January 2005 peace deal that ended the 21-year civil war with the south.
"Implementation has not progressed as effectively as we hoped," Mr. Ban wrote, noting several violations of the ceasefire, including clashes in the town of Malakal in Upper Nile state in November that left at least 150 people dead.
Both parties in southern Sudan must stop using militias as proxy forces and make the integration of armed other groups a priority, he added.
Jaipur, Feb 10 (IANS) An uneasy calm prevailed in Kalyanpur and Rishabhdeo towns of Rajasthan, where tribals have been protesting the handing over of a temple to the Jain community as ordered by the Supreme Court.
"No untoward incident has been reported from both the towns since Friday evening," Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria told IANS here Saturday.
The two towns in Udaipur district, over 420 km from here, had been in the grip of protests since Thursday.
Tribals in Rishabhdeo, over 60 km from Udaipur, started violent protests following rumours that after the handover, they would not be allowed to enter the 15th century temple, which is of special significance to Jain pilgrims who come to worship the idol.
The tribals, who worship the temple's presiding deity as "Kala Baba", were irked over the Supreme Court ruling last month transferring the ownership rights of the ancient temple to the Jain community.
One person was killed while seven were injured in police firing Thursday. Police resorted to fire control the violent mob.
However, the minister said the situation was under control and the matter had been resolved peacefully.
"The district administration has been making announcements through loud speakers since Friday that everybody can worship at the temple," Kataria said.
New York, Feb 10 (DPA) US auto concern the Chrysler Group will under a new restructuring programme cut 1,000 salaried jobs and lay off 10,000 workers on hourly rates, according to US reports.
Newspaper the Detroit News in its Friday addition said the 1,000 positions amounted to 7 percent of the company's 14,180 US salaried staff.
The Chrysler Group is a subsidiary of the German DaimlerChrysler AG company.
Officials at the US firm declined to confirm the report, which cited sources close to the company.
The restructuring plan - codenamed "Project X" - is to be announced next Wednesday. The majority of those to be let go are located at the company's base in Auburn Hills and in other sites in the US state of Michigan.
The company is additionally to trim around 10,000 hourly positions from its total 60,000 unionised workers in order to reduce production capacity in line with shrinking market share.
Chrysler plans to offer unionised workers redundancy payments of $50,000 or more, plus a voucher that can be put toward the purchase of a Chrysler vehicle, the Detroit News reported sources as saying.
New York, Feb 10 (NNN-PTI) Expressing disappointment at the halting of two clinical trials of microbicides in India and Africa, a US based activist group has called for immediate increase in the funding for procurement and distribution of female condoms in countries heavily affected by HIV/AIDS.
In a statement, the Centre for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) has urged UN agencies, major foundations and bilateral aid programs such as PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) to also help increase awareness and provide education on condoms use.
"We join our colleagues in expressing disappointment that two clinical trials of topical microbicides were recently halted in Africa and India," said Jodi Jacobson, Executive Director of CHANGE. "We whole-heartedly support efforts to develop a safe and effective microbicide as an essential woman-initiated HIV-prevention tool."
"But as it is clear that access to an effective microbicide remains some years away, everything should be done right now to make prevention methods available and affordable to all who need them", Jacobson stressed.
The group said these measures are necessary as HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly among women and adolescents.
"This means dramatically increasing funding to buy and distribute the female condom, a method that has been deemed safe and effective by the FDA and the World Health Organisation and has high rates of acceptability among users.
The female condom is available now, and it is time to deliver on the promises that we have made to enhance prevention for women and men," it said.
New York, Feb 10 (DPA) New York will become the first site for testing new machines that could detect nuclear devices or radio-active "dirty bombs", as part of efforts by the US to repel possible terrorist attacks, media reports said.
The new detection devices will be installed in the coming months first in Staten Island, one of five boroughs in the city of eight million people. The machines will be installed at a port terminal to screen cargo and detect naturally occurring radiation and critical bomb building ingredients, The New York Times reported Friday.
At a later stage, the US administration plans to set up an elaborate network of radiation alarm systems at bridges, tunnels, roadways and waterways within a 50-mile (80 km) circle around the city, the Times said.
If the tests are successful, the US Department of Homeland Security, which has oversight over anti-terrorism measures in the nation, would expand the monitoring devices to other US cities.
"How do you create deterrence against terrorism?" asked Vayl S. Oxar, the director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office at Homeland Security. "You complicate the ability for the terrorist to do what they want."
New York's Police Commissioner Ray Kelly warned that the federal plan could overburden the ability of local authorities to maintain the sophisticated devices and manage anti-terrorism activities. City officials have been fighting with Homeland Security to increase funding and federal assistance in fighting terrorism since Sep 11, 2001.
"We are concerned they will put money forward for a piece of hardware and then move to another project," Kelly told the Times. "Whether or not it works, whether or not it causes too many false alarms, which causes a whole other set of problems, all of these things are still to be determined."
But Oxar responded that such possible problems were not enough to derail the project.
"Our philosophy is not to wait for perfection, because perfection never comes," said Oxar, whose office was created in 2005 amid criticism that Homeland Security's anti-terror measures were too disorganised.
Oxar's office has been focusing on two areas of attacks - nuclear weapons and dirty bombs. The latter relies on a crude explosive device to detonate and widely spread radioactive material.
Lucknow, Feb 10 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh has taken several incentives, including providing credit, for micro and small industries in the state in order to make them able to compete with bigger industries and multinational firms and also help them tackle the challenge posed by cheap imports in the local markets.
Disclosing this, state Principal Secretary Industries Govindan Nair said Uttar Pradesh was home to 60 percent of total handicrafts produced in the country and 30 percent of the entire handicraft exports from India was contributed by the state.
In a press release issued here Saturday, Nair said: "To remove the regional disparity in the development of the industrial sector in particular and economy in general, there is a scheme to provide credit in the form of capital subsidy to 29 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and seven districts of Bundelkhand region in southern Uttar Pradesh to facilitate and foster micro and small enterprises in these relatively backward regions."
Schemes launched recently and expected to immensely benefit micro and small industries are technology upgradation scheme, extension of one-time-settlement scheme for defaulted loan repayments, state capital subsidy scheme for micro and small scale industrial (SSI) units and interest subsidy scheme for SSIs.
The technology upgradation scheme envisages grant/incentive of 50 percent of the cost incurred on the purchase and import of technology related to micro and small industrial units from recognised and competent institutions, government organisations and research centres, which may contribute towards quality improvement and increase of production.
It also provides for capital subsidy of 50 percent on procurement of necessary additional machines for increasing production and quality control these industries up to a maximum limit of Rs.200,000. Partial reimbursement of interest will be available at the rate of 5 percent per annum if such machines for technology upgradation are purchased by taking loan from financial institutions or banks, maximum limit being Rs.50,000 and will be available for a period of 5 years.
The state government has also decided to extend the scope of the one-time-settlement scheme for a period of three months from Jan 9, 2007, the date on which government issued an order to this effect.
Guwahati, Feb 10 (IANS) West Bengal defeated first time qualifiers Haryana 3-0 in a men's Group A football match in the 33rd National Games here Saturday.
For Bengal, Gouranga Dutta scored a brace while Shankar Sil struck once giving their team three points at the picturesque Northeastern Frontier Railway Stadium.
Haryana played some rough football but failed to edge past the highly skilled West Bengal team trained by former Mohun Bagan coach Biswajit Bhattacharya.
Dutta, who plays club football with East Bengal, and Sil made regular forays into the Haryana defence.
In the 35th minute Sil's powerful left footer, from the edge of the box, foxed Haryana custodian Navjot Singh. A centre from Tapan Maity, operating from the right flank, found an unmarked Sil in the Haryana defence zone and the latter didn't waste any time to open the scoring.
The lead was doubled by Dutta, who scored in the 72nd minute when he found the ball during a goal mouth melee, and pouncing on it he quickly shot it past the Haryana custodian. The East Bengal forward struck again six minutes later.
The Haryana players looked frustrated and started playing rough football. They had to pay the price for it as midfielder Amjad Ali Khan was given the marching orders after he received two yellow cards during the match.
West Bengal will now face Meghalaya in the next match Sunday while Haryana will play Punjab.
Lusaka, Feb 10 (NNN-ZANIS) Zambian Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande has said Zambia 's economy has continued to perform well with the preliminary real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth estimated at 5.8 percent from 5. 2 percent recorded in 2005, against the target growth of 6 percent set for 2006.
Speaking when he presented this year's budget dubbed '' From Stability to Improved Service Delivery'' Mr. Magande attributed the good economic performance in the year 2006 to developments in mining, construction and transport sectors.
Mr. Magande said other sectors that registered positive growth were agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and the service sector.
He pointed out that during the year 2006, inflation fell to its lowest level in the last 30 years with the annual rate of 8.2 percent as at December 2006 compared to the annual target 10 percent and an outturn of 15.9 percent in 2005.
Mr. Magande has further attributed the positive strides in last year's economic performance to the continued implementation of prudent monetary and fiscal policies coupled with increased food production.
He said by the end of 2006, domestic borrowing stood at 1.5 percent GDP. '' This development is reflected by the government's containment of domestic borrowing within the set target of 1.6 percent of GDP.'' Mr. Magande said.
Mr. Magande said the level of government borrowing also eased pressure on inflation and interest rates and helped to contain the interest cost on the domestic public debt.
The Finance minister also said Zambia 's external position continued to improve as reflected in the build up of Gross International Reserves (GIR) to two months of import cover in 2006 from 1.6 months of import cover in 2005.
He added that the current account deficit as a percentage of GDP excluding grants reduced from 11.8 percent in 2005 to 2.3 percent in 2006.
On sectoral performance, Mr Magande said the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector continued to perform well in 2006 registering a growth rate of 2.4 percent, excluding forestry and fishing. He said the agricultural sub sector grew by 3.9 percent.
According to preliminary data, Mr. Magande noted that the construction sector registered growth of 9 percent. He however said there was a slow down compared to the growth rate of 21.2 percent of 2005. Growth in the sector was driven by housing, road construction and other civil works.
On the manufacturing sector, the finance minister says the sector grew by 3.3 percent in 2006 compared to 2.9 percent in 2005.
Mr. Magande said the growth was mainly driven by the food, beverages and tobacco sub sector which grew by 4.5 in 2006 compared to 3.6 percent in 2005.
Other sectors, which recorded a plus in the year 2006, are mining and quarrying, tourism, energy and the transport and communication sectors.