28 September 2006
Chandigarh, Sep 28 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday urged chief ministers and corporate sector bosses to pull up their socks with a plea to give up the "chalta hai" attitude.
Addressing a conclave of chief ministers of northern states here, Manmohan Singh said: "This chalta hai (everything if fine) attitude for everything will have to go away in our country."
If India wanted to compete globally and be counted, it will have to face challenges and overcome them, he said.
"India should never be satisfied with its performance and strive for more," he said, referring to the 8 percent sustained growth of the economy in the last two-three years.
Without naming any state, the prime minister remarked that some states were on a memorandum of understanding (MOU)-signing spree to grab headlines. These states were trying to compete against one another by offering more incentives through these MOUs, he said.
He urged states to re-work their tax structures to have a common economy.
"The value added tax (VAT) is the biggest success story of recent years. Chief ministers should work to harmonise taxes. Having a common economy and single market is very much feasible and attainable," he pointed out at the conclave organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
By Prasun Sonwalkar,
London, Sep 28 (IANS) The American media is in decline worldwide and India is one of the countries where this decline is the most visible, according to reputed British media expert Jeremy Tunstall.
Tunstall has been a key figure in media research for more than three decades and is mainly known for his seminal book, 'The Media Are American', published in 1977.
Noting the changes wrought over the world since its publication, his forthcoming book to be published by the Oxford University Press later this year is titled 'The Media Were American: US Mass Media in Decline'.
Delivering a widely acclaimed paper at a conference at the University of Westminster on 'Internationalising Media Studies: Imperatives and Impediments', Tunstall highlighted the growing strengths of the media in India to substantiate his thesis that the American media were now in a '50-year decline'.
According to Tunstall, "The US mass media peaked on the world scene during 1944-58. The last five decades have seen a big decline in the share of total world audience time achieved by the American media.
"During the 'sole superpower' era since 1990, American media have experienced a further decline in world audience market share and a big decline in moral authority. While the US media have continued to grow, the media output of the world in general - and of Asia in particular - has grown much faster.
"The US media now reach a small percentage slice of a rapidly growing world audience cake", Tunstall said at the conference.
The decline of the American media, he added, was most visible in the 11 nations (six of them Asian) where 60.9 per cent of the world's people live. India, China, Brazil and Japan had media exports that equal, or exceed, their media imports, he noted.
The American media's decline, Tunstall said, included losing the leadership of the world's news agenda. Recalling that in 1950 the US dominated the world news flow and news agenda outside the Communist countries, Tunstall said.
In that age, of the world's five leading news agencies, three were American - Associated Press, United Press and International News Service (INS). The only other strong world agency in 1950 was the British Reuters.
Tunstall said: "Around 1950, the US had considerable moral authority; the US (and its media) had triumphed against the axis power...Today, the US has only one remaining full-service international news agency, lone AP, which is out-gunned outside the United States by the remarkable strength of the European news agencies - not only Reuters and AFP but also German DPA, Italian ANSA and Spanish EFE (especially strong in Latin America).
"American network TV news operations now have radically reduced reputations and CNN's best years seem to be behind it...United States media are widely seen around the world as having been too friendly with the Pentagon".
Noting that India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh together had 41.8 per cent of world population, Tunstall said that American movies and music and British news peaked in all of these countries during the 1920s and 1930s.
He said: "But after the silent movie period, big domestic movie industries emerged in both China and India. The Communist regime ended all Chinese media imports from the west; the Indian film industry, also, from 1947 managed to shut out Hollywood.
"Today there is some (mainly Japanese and US) foreign production finance, but the Chinese and Indian media are overwhelmingly produced by local nationals in the local languages".
Tunstall, who pioneered the teaching of media studies at City University, London, since 1974, said that today in India commercially strong media (movies, TV, radio, press) in 10 regional languages (such as Tamil, Telugu and Bengali) played a 'big part' in regional politics and in Delhi coalition governments.
The American media now probably had their strongest share of audience hours in Africa, but here too they faced stiff competition from Indian, French and UK media exports.
"American media exporters achieve their highest market share in the one hundred smallest population countries (median population: four million), where, however, only seven per cent of the world's people live", Tunstall said.
Raipur, Sep 28 (IANS) Maruti Clean Coal and Power Ltd, will invest Rs.10.70 billion ($233 million) to set up a 270 MW thermal power plant in the coal-abundant northeast region of Chhattisgarh, Industry Minister Rajesh Munat said here Wednesday.
"Maruti Clean Coal and Power signed a memorandum of understandings (MoU) with the Chhattisgarh government late Tuesday under which the private company will invest Rs.10.70 billion for a 270 MW thermal power plant to be set up in Korba district," he said.
Under the MoU, the company will provide five percent of its total power generation to the state government on variable cost while the government will have a right to purchase power from the plant up to 30 percent of the total production.
"The company will soon table the feasibility report to the state government for a formal approval for the plant build-up process. It will also provide jobs to local people in the plant in accordance with our industrial policy," the minister said.
Chhattisgarh's current power production capacity is 1,405 MW including 1,280 MW from thermal plants and 125 MW from hydel plants.
The state, having the country's 18 percent coal deposits mainly in its northeast regions, plans to become India's power hub by 2011 with an additional generation capacity of 12,000 MW as several public and private players have been lining up large-scale investments.
New Delhi, Sept 28 (IANS) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has spoken out against the "broad-brush treatment" of "equating freedom struggle in Indian-held Kashmir with terrorism" in his memoirs, even as the two countries go about establishing a joint mechanism to fight terrorism.
"The West rejects militant struggles for freedom too badly. The US and Europe too often equate all militancy with terrorism; in particular they equate the struggle for freedom in Indian-held Kashmir with terrorism," writes Musharraf in his recently published memoirs.
Musharraf's "In the Line of Fire: A Memoir," launched Monday night in the US, has climbed up the bestseller lists and hit Indian bookstores Wednesday.
If India was optimistic about a change in Pakistan's approach towards terrorism directed against India, Musharraf makes his sympathies clear for "freedom fighters struggling for liberation" in India-controlled Kashmir.
"Pakistan has always rejected this broad-brush treatment. We demand that terrorism be seen "in all its form and manifestations," says Musharraf, while underlining that "a man can be a legitimate freedom fighter in one context and a terrorist when he does something else."
"This is a serious statement, because when states kill innocent civilians in an effort to crush struggles for freedom, we call it "state terrorism," says Musharraf, accusing New Delhi, by implication, of sponsoring state terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Pakistan's position becomes more difficult to sustain, however, when the mujahideen fighting for freedom in Indian-held Kashmir are guilty of involvement in terrorist activities in other parts of India and around the world," says Musharraf, who ousted democratically elected leader Nawaz Sharif in a military coup seven years ago.
And then comes self-congratulatory utterance about sustaining the peace process between India and Pakistan.
"My efforts towards rapprochement with India and the significant thaw in our relations have saved Pakistan to a large extent from the blame of abetting what the world calls terrorism and we call a struggle for freedom in Indian-held Kashmir."
Distancing the Pakistani state from acts of terrorism - a charge New Delhi has often hurled against Islamabad - Musharraf asserts that the fringe group of extremists in Pakistan are indoctrinated into terrorism by a combination of vested interests and socio-economic deprivation.
India and Pakistan decided to set up a joint institutional mechanism to cooperate in the fight against terrorism after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Musharraf in Havana early this month. The talks between the two leaders lead to the resumption of the peace process between the two countries, which were suspended after the July 11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Mohali, Sep 28 (IANS) Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh Wednesday said an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) would be set up in Punjab soon.
Singh made the announcement during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Indian Institute Of Science Education And Research here.
Singh said the proposal for setting up the institute at Mohali would be taken up shortly.
New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday demanded the resignation of central minister and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary E. Ahamed following a judicial probe report that indicted his party for its involvement in the 2002-03 communal clashes in Kerala.
The Congress, however, ruled out the resignation of Ahamed, minister of state for external affairs, saying that the demand was "baseless".
Fourteen people were killed in two separate incidents when groups of Muslims and Hindus at the coastal village of Marad in Kozhikode district clashed in January 2002 and May 2003.
It its report tabled in the Kerala assembly Wednesday, the Thomas P. Joseph Commission that probed the clashes has found that "activists of the IUML and National Democratic Front, a Muslim outfit, were actively involved in the massacre" on May 2, 2003.
"Being a leader of the IUML that has been indicted in a communal riot probe report, Ahamed does not have any right to continue as a minister," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.
Congress spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi retorted saying, "It is an absolutely baseless demand. There is no need for him to resign."
Acting on the commission report, the Kerala government Wednesday recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the involvement of fundamentalists and terrorists in the incidents.
Welcoming the state government's decision, Ahamed told IANS: "The IUML welcomes the CBI probe into the incident. The IUML has no involvement in the communal clashes. Since its formation, our party has worked for the communal harmony.
"We had condemned the incident and have been cooperating with the government in the probe," the minister said.
"I request everyone in Kerala to observe restraint and ensure communal harmony is not disturbed by this report," he urged.
The report also criticised Kerala's then United Democratic Front (UDF) government led by A.K. Antony for not ordering a CBI inquiry into the incident.
Antony, who is in national capital, maintained he would react only after reading the report.
"But I have heard the state home minister's statement questioning the decision not to recommend a CBI inquiry. It was not my personal decision (not to recommend a CBI probe).
"It was a decision taken by the cabinet on the basis of the advice given by the then advocate general. He was of the view that the judicial probe and the crime branch inquiries were adequate," Antony said.
"But I feel upset that no one has mentioned how my government had contained any after-effects of the Marad clashes. It would have led to serious repercussions anywhere else," he added.
Srinagar, Sep 28 (IANS) A separatist group in Jammu and Kashmir has warned of 'dire consequences' if parliament attacker Mohammad Afzal is hanged even as another frontline group called for a day's shutdown on Friday to protest the decision.
A caller identifying himself as Sadaqat Hussain, spokesman for the Muzaffarabad-based United Jehad Council (UJC), phoned a local news agency here Wednesday evening warning India of dire consequences if it went ahead with the hanging of Mohammad Afzal, the convict in the Indian parliament attack Dec 13 2001.
"It is a clear violation of human rights. Afzal has been framed in a false case and if India decides to hang him, they will have to pay a heavy price for the murder of this innocent Kashmiri", Hussain said.
Senior separatist leader and chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat group Syed Ali Geelani called for a general shutdown Friday to protest the decision to hang Afzal Oct 20 in Tihar Jail.
Geelani's shutdown call has been supported by frontline local guerrilla group Hizbul Mujahideen.
Protesting the death sentence, pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) activists led by chairman Yasin Malik staged a rally in city centre Lal Chowk and later indulged in throwing stones.
Police fired teargas shells and used batons to disperse the protesters. The JKLF chief and some of his supporters were later detained by the police.
Shopkeepers downed their shutters in Lal Chowk as authorities beefed up the security.
"We are with you, Afzal," shouted burqa-clad activists of women's separatist group, Dukhtarani Milat, as they marched in the civil line area.
The women activists blocked traffic in Lal Chowk before police dispersed them.
Meanwhile, Yusuf Tarigama, general secretary of the state unit of Communist Party of India-Marxist and sitting legislator in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly told reporters that he had sought an audience with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam along with some other politicians, intellectuals and journalists to plead for the president's pardon for Afzal.
"I don't want to go into the legality of the court decision to hang Afzal. All I am going to tell the President of the country is that his hanging would vitiate the Peace process which India and Pakistan are presently pursuing", Tarigama, who is presently in New Delhi, told media persons on phone in Srinagar.
Around 1,000 students of the Kashmir University boycotted classes and shouted slogans in favour of Afzal inside the campus here.
Protests were also held in north Kashmir's Sopore town which is adjacent to Afzal's ancestral village in Baramulla district.
Similar protests were reported from Bandipora town where shops and traffic remained closed for the day.
Mehbooba Mufti, president of the People's Democratic Party which is an alliance partner in the coalition government headed by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, has said she spoke about Afzal's pardon to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when she met him in New Delhi.
According to her, the hanging of Afzal at this crucial moment, when the peace process was gaining ground between India and Pakistan, would result in heightening of tensions locally.
Agra, Sep 28 (IANS) It is the Taj Mahal city all right, but a conservationist is urging the authorities to slow down tourist traffic to Agra due to fears of damage to the world famous Mughal monument.
The large number of people crowding Agra may mar its beauty and accelerate the ageing process of the Taj, warn environmentalists.
At a seminar here, speakers rued that the government and private bodies were encouraging tourists to visit the Taj without bothering about the consequences.
According to one estimate, about 7,500 tourists visit the Taj daily. Some days the number crosses 100,000.
"Taj Mahal is not Kamadhenu (a mythical cow) that can be milked for commercial purposes. It needs rest and respite," said Surendra Sharma, who runs a hotel and is president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, which organised the seminar.
Efforts initiated by the Archaeological Survey of India for the preservation of the Taj also came under fire. The measures were seen as "insensitive".
The conservationists said Agra had got a raw deal from both the central and state governments. "It is sad that Agra still qualifies as the dirtiest city of the country," one conservationist pointed out.
"If the government is serious about developing tourism in Agra, let them fill up the Yamuna with water, build a bridge across the river at Dussehra Ghat to enable tourists to cross the river for a view of the Taj from Mehtab Bagh," said a participant.
They also said that Raja ki Mandi railway station should be renamed as Agra central station for the convenience of domestic tourists and that an international airport should be built in the city.
London, Sep 28 (IANS) Britain's police department has recorded a steep hike in its spending on language interpreters to now touch 21 million pounds a year, mainly due to the large influx of immigrants to the country.
In some cases, the spending on language interpreters shot up by 2,000 percent in the past five years, according to The Times newspaper.
"The demand for interpreters has increased to support people from a wide range of communities involved in the criminal justice system, whether victims, witnesses or offenders. Interpreters are used in a variety of crucial roles, ranging from an interview with a foreign driver involved in a road collision to interpreting documents used in major investigations of serious crime," a spokesman for Staffordshire police said.
The massive increase in spending is a direct result of a large number of people entering Britain, say police. Recent statistics show that around 342,000 people - among them Indians - moved to Britain each year.
West Midlands Police spent 1.7 million pounds on interpreters last year, compared to 439,638 pounds it spent five years ago - up more than 300 percent.
"It is important to stress that this is not just about criminal matters, but an active engagement with both new and established communities about any issues which may affect their quality of life", said a spokeswoman.
"Interpreter services are not cheap. Police need people who are professionally trained," he said. "But there are long-term implications here. Twenty years ago you could expect that someone coming to this country would learn English, but that assumption does not hold any more.
"Many people come here for a short term and have no interest in learning English. This means that police will probably need more interpreter services in the future." Danny Sriskandarajah, associate director of the Institute for Public Policy Research said.
"The provision of English-language teaching in Britain is abysmal. A lot of people want to learn English - they just don't have the means. If a few million pounds more is spent on English-language training, the government could save millions on interpreters in the long term," he added.
Washington, Sep 28 (DPA) US President George W. Bush's plan to lock in tough CIA interrogations of terror suspects cleared the House of Representatives in a measure that would also pave the way for military trials of Al Qaeda figures in US custody.
The hotly disputed bill passed the lower house of Congress by 253-168 votes Wednesday. It sets out broad guidelines for questioning techniques, but critics note that it avoids saying precisely what is allowed and what is not.
Democrats, who opposed the measure, charged that the leeway given to interrogators and the limited legal recourse granted to terror suspects who would face military trials gave Bush dictatorial powers.
The secret CIA prison programme, launched after the Sep 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington, caused international outrage when it was revealed in media reports late last year.
In a dramatic revelation this month, Bush acknowledged the effort and insisted it had prevented terror attacks and made the US safer.
"Today, the House passed legislation that would allow this vital programme to continue and help keep our country safe," Bush said in a written statement.
The US Senate is working on similar legislation and both houses have to agree on a bill before it can become law. Bush urged lawmakers to pass the package before the end of the week, when Congress is due to break before the Nov 7 mid-term elections.
A Senate vote was expected by Thursday, though provisions that bar anyone the US deems an "unlawful enemy combatant" from appealing to civilian courts remain in dispute.
The administration needs backing in law for policies to guide future CIA interrogations, which are more aggressive than military rules allow.
In what its backers say is an effort to uphold the Geneva Conventions, the House bill would bar torture and "cruel or inhuman treatment," including "severe or serious physical or mental pain or suffering."
Opposition lawmakers blasted Bush's plan as undermining US democratic ideals.
Bush's hand was forced when the US Supreme Court ruled in June that the "military commissions" set up to conduct trials of Guantanamo Bay detainees were unconstitutional and against the Geneva Conventions. So far, 10 of the roughly 450 Guantanamo inmates have been charged.
Washington, Sep 28 (DPA) US President George Bush held a "constructive exchange" with his feuding counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan during a dinner at the White House Wednesday.
The dinner and talks lasted longer than expected - more than two hours - but White House officials cautioned reading too much into the length of discussions, CNN reported.
A White House statement after the dinner said the three presidents had a "constructive exchange" on issues affecting the region, and "the common challenge posed by extremism and terrorism."
The two Asian leaders have sniped at each other for days over the blame for a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan and what neighbouring Pakistan could do to counter it. Bush has met both leaders separately over the past week.
US Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the ambassadors to the US from both Pakistan and Afghanistan were among those at Wednesday's dinner.
Hefei (China), Sep 28 (Xinhua) Chinese scientists Thursday successfully conducted the first test of an experimental thermonuclear fusion reactor, which replicates the same energy generation process that fuels the sun.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) fusion device, nicknamed "artificial sun", was tested at the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei, capital of Anhui province.
EAST is an upgrade of China's first-generation Tokamak device and the first of its kind in operation in the world, said Chinese scientists.
Unlike traditional nuclear fission reactors, which split atoms to create energy and produce dangerous radioactive waste, EAST imitates the energy-producing process of the sun, generating energy and producing no greenhouse gas emissions and low levels of radioactive waste.
The reactor will provide a cheaper, safer, cleaner and endless energy resource, reducing the world's dependence on fossil fuels, said scientists.
New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) Supriya Banerji, a senior director of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has been named a recipient of the 'Officer of the Order of the British Empire'.
The earlier recipients include Jamshed Irani, former President of CII and director of Tata Sons, CII said Wednesday.
The then co-chairman of the Indo-British Partnership Initiative, Irani was awarded the Knight of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth during her visit to India in October 1997.
Tarun Das, chief mentor of CII received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, in May 1998 and Rama Naidu, a CII director received the Member of the Order of the British Empire in the same year.
"These awards were in recognition of the pioneering work done for furthering Indo-British ties," said CII.
Supriya has headed CII's UK office for close to eight years. She has also served as head of the CII southern region, and the International Division of CII.
As head of the UK Office, which has been in operation for 25 years, later as head of CII's international work, Banerji led multiple initiatives, which helped improve Indo-British business linkages, the industry body said.
Srinagar, Sep 28(IANS) A policeman was killed and another critically wounded in two separate guerrilla shootouts in this summer capital Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar Wednesday afternoon.
Police said guerrillas shot at and critically injured a constable of the state armed police identified as Farooq Ahmad at Bohri Kadal downtown area of the city.
"The injured constable succumbed to critical injuries en route to the hospital," a senior police officer said here.
In another incident, an assistant sub-inspector of the local police identified as Abdul Gani was shot from point blank range in the busy Maharaja Bazaar locality, half a kilometre from Lal Chowk, the city centre.
"The injured cop has been referred by the doctors at the city's SMHS hospital for specialised treatment to the Soura Institute of Medical Sciences," another police officer said here.
By Irfan Ahmad
There is little evidence to suggest that the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is involved in plotting terrorist attacks. Yet, after the horrendous Mumbai blasts that claimed 200 lives, SIMI is being looked upon as one of the perpetrators.
The media's portrayal of SIMI as a terrorist outfit is misplaced, if not Islamaphobic. A closer look at the evolution of SIMI bears this out. In 1996, SIMI had only 413 core members called ansar.
In 2002, the number of ansars was well below 1,000. However, the print media, particularly the Hindi papers Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran, gave the impression that they were in thousands.
Those who call SIMI a terrorist outfit conveniently overlook the anti-Muslim character of Hindu nationalist forces, which pushed SIMI into radicalising itself for reasons of self-defence.
SIMI is believed to have links with foreign jehad organisations; the focus shifts to Pakistan, while conditions at home are overlooked. Muslims are stigmatised as quislings of the Indian nation.
This is not to suggest that SIMI may not have foreign connections. But the fact is that SIMI's radicalisation a post-Babri phenomenon is predominantly indigenous. Radicalisation does not mean acts of violence; rather, it is a radical language of self-defence.
Since its inception in the mid-1980s, SIMI's primary constituency was the student community. The issues it raised were largely educational and religious. From a puritan Islamic framework, for example, it campaigned against immorality, obscenity and use of hard drugs.
It also launched campaigns to raise educational awareness. The key catalyst to SIMI's radicalisation was institutionalised riots generated by the Ayodhya movement.
State authorities also sided with rioters against Muslims. So grave was the climate that in November 1990, 32 towns of UP were under curfew.
It was in this context that in 1991 SIMI organised the 'action for Muslims' conference in Mumbai, and for the first time called for jehad. SIMI argued that jehad was the only option left for Muslims in order to defend themselves against the Hindu nationalist onslaught.
After the anti-Muslim riots of Mumbai and Surat that followed the demolition of the Babri mosque, SIMI added the theme of martyrdom to its call for jehad.
SIMI's radicalisation increased after Hindu nationalists came to power in the late 1990s. SIMI likened L K Advani to Abu Jehel, the man who routinely tortured the Prophet Muhammad. In 2004, I interviewed SIMI's national president who was just released from jail.
He stressed the need for jehad on the following grounds: "We have been regularly killed in riots, our property destroyed and chastity of our sisters and mothers violated in broad daylight. How many Muslims were killed in Mumbai, Surat, and elsewhere?
Muslims were massacred in Gujarat. What do you expect us to do? We must wage jehad to defend ourselves". As this remark suggests, SIMI's radicalisation bears an organic link to anti-Muslim riots.
Nothing demonstrates this more eloquently than the names of organisations Muslims have formed in the last 10 years: Gujarat Muslim Revenge Force, Muslim Defence Force, Islamic Defence Force and so on.
Yet the government and media call these organisations, all established in the wake of riots orchestrated by Hindu nationalist forces, terrorist.
Such labelling, however, obscures the fact that these organisations are responses to failures of state in stopping violence against Muslims. This is evident from the link between the geography of riots and that of Islamist radicalism.
Over 30 per cent of SIMI's members are from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, states with the worst record of riots in the last two decades. In contrast, SIMI has next to no members from Bihar, because the state has not witnessed any riots since 1990.
Alarmist analyses do not take into account the complexity and depth of the phenomenon. Reading the sensationalist headlines that describe SIMI as a terrorist outfit gives rise to a thought: When will we hear the bigger story of virulent Hindu nationalism and state-mediated riots, of which SIMI is only an episode?
To understand the Mumbai massacre, should we not also examine the massive erosion of India's secularism? SIMI is the angry product of that erosion.
The writer is with Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2023069.cms
London, Sep 28 (IANS) European regulators are investigating common painkiller drugs after researchers warned that some of them might increase the risk of heart attack.
The new data, culled from 140,000 patients, suggested that some of the drugs doubled heart attack risk.
The European Medicines Agency which is investigating drugs such as diclofenac, etodolac, ibuprofen, indomethacin, ketoprofen, ketorolac, meloxicam, nabumetone, naproxen, nimesulide and piroxicam recommends use of smallest dose of the drugs by patients as briefly as possible, reported the online edition of Daily Mail.
Millions of people regularly take such drugs, technically known as non-selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories and including ibuprofen, commonly marketed as Nurofen.
A recent version of the drug, Vioxx, was taken off the market in 2004 after it was linked with hundreds of US heart attacks. New research suggests there could be a similar risk in older versions of the drugs.
Questions were also raised over the safety of taking high doses of ibuprofen for long periods. It was suggested that for every 1,000 people taking the drugs, three people a year would suffer a related heart attack.
Patients who are already taking aspirin to prevent heart attacks are being told not to take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as well unless absolutely necessary.
The European Medicines Agency will decide next month whether doctors need new guidance over long-term use of the drugs.
Shandong (China), Sep 28 (Xinhua) The family tree of Confucius, the revered Chinese thinker and educator, will number 1.5 million when the current update is completed.
"More than 1 million descendants of Confucius will be added to the family tree in this update. Women members will be recorded for the first time," said Kong Dehong, a Confucius descendant directing the fifth update of the family tree, at a festival commemorating Confucius in his hometown Qufu in China's Shandong province.
Kong said the job of registering new members has been more or less completed. The new family tree will be edited and printed in 2009, on the 2560th anniversary of the birth of the famous sage.
"We have to adapt to the times. Men and women are equal now. Even if a woman has to leave the family when she gets married to live with her husband, that doesn't change the fact that she is descended from Confucius," Kong said at a gathering of Confucius' descendants from around the world.
Confucius' family tree is regarded as the world's longest, recording more than 80 generations of the Confucius family.
Kong said the family tree doesn't include all Confucius' descendants because links with some branches have been lost and some people in high places are cautious about entering their names in the family tree.
He estimated there are more than 3 million descendants of Confucius living in the world, including 2.5 million on the Chinese mainland. There are several thousand Confucius descendants living in Taiwan, he said.
According to Kong, the updated family tree will include the name of the spouse, as well as the educational background and posts held by the descendants.
Presented in user-friendly digital form, the family tree can be displayed just by clicking on the mouse.
Chinese scholars say Confucius' thoughts, including putting people first, cultivating fraternity, loyalty, filial piety and integrity of personality, and seeking harmony while keeping differences in thoughts and culture, are important to boosting world harmony.
Toronto, Sep 28 (IANS) Four Indian NGOs are among the 10 organisations short-listed for the $1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2006, Alcan Inc. and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) announced Wednesday.
The Canada-headquartered global leader in aluminium and packaging, Alcan created the Alcan Prize for Sustainability in 2004 to recognise outstanding contributions to the goal of economic, environmental, and social sustainability by not-for-profit, non-governmental and civil society organisations.
To ensure credibility and objectivity, Alcan engaged the IBLF to manage the Alcan Prize for Sustainability.
"Ten organisations were selected from a field of almost 200 entries from 55 countries around the world, and they now face a final consideration by an international adjudication panel of distinguished sustainability experts," an official statement said from Montreal.
"Of the 10 organisations selected, four are from India."
The four Indian NGOs are The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Naandi Foundation, The Barefoot College and International Development Enterprises (IDE).
Naandi works with under-served communities spread across 6,000 villages in seven states of India. It also works with over 3,000 government elementary schools across these regions providing health facilities for nearly 100,000 children, learning support for 200,000 children and midday meals for 500,000 children daily.
IDE strives to provide affordable, appropriate and environmentally sustainable technologies to small and marginal farm families through private marketing channels.
The Barefoot College addresses problems of drinking water, female education, health and sanitation, rural unemployment, income generation, electricity and power as well as social awareness and the conservation of ecological systems in rural communities.
Set up in 1974, TERI relies on entrepreneurial skills to create benefits for society through the development and dissemination of intellectual property.
"On behalf of Alcan, I congratulate this year's finalists," said Daniel Gagnier, senior vice president corporate and external affairs of Alcan Inc.
"Since the Alcan Prize's inception in 2004, the 32 short-listed organisations have, through their commitment and collaborative approaches to problem-solving, confirmed Alcan's conviction that cross-sector engagement is the most effective way to pursue international sustainable development," he said.
In selecting the 2006 shortlist, the IBLF coordinated assessment panels in Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Pakistan and Britain.
The assessment process, in which almost 90 representatives of business, governments, academia and the NGO community took part, was fully endorsed by the adjudication panel, which reviewed and approved the shortlist.
Alcan does not have a voice in the assessment or selection of prize applicants.
"As a result of a rigorous first round of assessment, IBLF congratulates the 10 short-listed organisations this year," IBLF managing director Adrian Hodges said.
"The Alcan Prize highlights innovative sustainability practices and how action translates into social, economic and environmental impact. This shortlist demonstrates the commitment to sustainability is alive and thriving in the NGO community."
Bordeaux, Sep 28 (DPA) A team of French surgeons took off on a specially equipped aircraft early Wednesday from Merignac Airport in Bordeaux to attempt the first-ever operation carried out in weightless conditions, the Bordeaux University Hospital Centre (CHU) said.
The Airbus A300 is equipped with a special surgical module, which could serve as a prototype for equipment used in future surgery carried out in the gravity-free conditions of outer space.
The surgery will be to remove a small fatty tumour from the forearm of the volunteer patient, 46-year-old Philippe Sanchot.
"The operation carries no risk to the patient, but aims to demonstrate the use of new surgical techniques and anaesthetics in weightless conditions," the CHU said in a press statement. "Beyond that, it will be integrated in a project of tele-surgery, the applications of which on Earth could be fundamental."
Berlin, Sep 28 (DPA) When your throat feels sore or indigestion threatens, then it is time for a medicinal tea.
"Herbal tea can ease symptoms if there is an indication that something is wrong or at the first sign a illness is getting worse," says Ursula Sellerberg, spokeswoman for an organisation here that represents the interests of Germany's pharmacists.
The body and soul is helped to regenerate itself by the tea's active ingredients and stimulated by the hot water.
"The classic areas where herbal tea is used are against colds, digestive problems and women's complaints," says herbal tea expert Monika Beutgen.
Medicinal teas are also commonly used to ease the symptoms of bladder and kidney complaints as well as sleeplessness. Every herb contains a range of chemical ingredients the strongest of which determines the tea's main effect.
The bitter components of the herbs centaury, absinth wormwood or gentian improve the stomach's function and increase appetite as well as the feeling of being full.
The large-leafed linden induces sweating while fennel, anis, kummel and camomile ease cramps.
"People often combine four or six plants but no more than that," explains Peter Zizmann, president of the Bonn-based Professional Association of Alternative Medicine Practitioners.
Combining herbs increases tea's effectiveness. At the same time the chemical components are also boosted.
With a little knowledge on the subject it is possible to visit a pharmacist and have a tea custom-blended.
An alternative is the pre-blended herbal tea. "Their drawback is they are designed to have a wide range of effectiveness and are not tailored to treat specific complaints," says Zizmann.
Staple blends and individual herbs are also available over the counter in packets from pharmacists and in many local shops.
"Not every herbal tea is a medicinal tea," says Laura Groche of the consumer affairs group Verbraucherinitiative.
"Medicinal teas must contain information on the packaging about their correct usage, their chemical components, dosage, a best-before-date and their licensing number."
When buying herbal tea make sure each tea bag is individually wrapped so that essential oils are not lost. "Only then can a medicinal tea be used to its full effect," explains Beutgen.
Herbal tea is generally prepared by pouring boiling water over the leaves or tea bag. One should not leave the tea in the pot longer than it says on the instructions.
Leaving the tea too long can also have a negative affect on the taste.
Groche also advises drinking medicinal teas for a limited period of time. "They are not suitable for consumption over a sustained period," she says.
Medicinal tea should never be drunk for periods longer than six weeks without consulting a doctor first.
London, Sep 28 (IANS) The verdict on Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's alleged indiscretions on the field will be pronounced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Thursday after a two-day hearing that began on Wednesday.
ICC sources said that all the evidence had been heard and closing submissions will be made when the case resumes at 10 am on Thursday. The verdict will be announced by Chief ICC referee Ranjan Madugalle, who is chairing the two-day hearing.
Inzamam faces ball-tampering and disrepute charges after last month's forfeited Test against England. He had refused to lead his side out on to the field after being penalised for ball-tampering on day four of the fourth Test, also at The Oval.
The sources added that if he were found guilty of ball-tampering, Inzamam would face a fine of between 50 and 100 percent of his match fee. He could also be banned for one Test or two one-day internationals.
On Wednesday, the hearing at The Oval heard evidence from 11 different witnesses including both on-field umpires, including Darrell Hair.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan, Inzamam, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and three expert witnesses called by the defence - Geoffrey Boycott, Simon Hughes and John Hampshire - all gave evidence in the afternoon before the hearing ended around 5.00 p.m. Wednesday.
The Pakistani side is fielding three expert witnesses - Geoffrey Boycott, Simon Hughes and John Hamshire, a former Test cricketer turned umpire. All three have examined various photographs of the ball and their statements could have a bearing on the verdict.
The Pakistan side at the hearing includes Coach Bob Woolmer and Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan, besides a team of legal experts.
Madrid, Sep 28 (DPA) The Netherlands defeated India 3-2 in the opening Pool A match of the women's World Cup hockey tournament here Wednesday. India will meet Germany Thursday.
New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) As India develops and opens itself to global competitiveness, the country needs to gear itself against rampant corruption and fraud, said a US expert.
Well-known US-based management and business consultant Harry G. Harris said: "India still needs to remember that poverty is still prevailing."
Addressing intellectuals and academicians at a seminar on 'Globalization and Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century', Harris said: "Globalisation is though not a panacea and its basic purpose is to provide opportunities for all people. Chinese are ahead of India in this scenario as they realised their potential and devoted funds for the uplift of the down-trodden."
"Stealing and corruption is in the US too, but the only difference is we take strict action as we believe very strongly in protecting our citizens' interest," said a concerned Harris at the seminar held under the auspices of the American embassy and the Centre for Civil Society (India) Wednesday.
According to Harris, a visiting professor of University of California, the elimination of corruption and fraud leads to economic independence and stability. Entrepreneurship is the key to success, he said.
India should closely work with the US for "a sustainable and equitable growth thereby facilitating free flow of opportunities", said Harris, who also serves as International Trade Advisor to the Mayor of Fresno, California, and is president of the Harry G. Harris Foundation, a charitable trust.
He has conducted extensive research on global management and strategic policy issues in private and public enterprises.
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, Sep 28 (IANS) The India-US nuclear deal has been caught up in a political tiff between majority Republican and minority Democrat leaders with the two blaming each other for the delay in bringing it before the Senate.
Both sides alleged that the other had blocked a unanimous consent proposal - a request to set aside a specified rule of procedure so as to expedite proceedings - that would have guaranteed Senate consideration and a final vote on the enabling bill before Congress adjourns for the November elections.
Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist said "colleagues on the other side of the aisle" had objected to his offer of a unanimous consent agreement to ensure that the Senate could complete consideration of the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation legislation in a reasonable period of time.
Claiming that the boot was on the other leg, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said "unfortunately, the Republican Leader had objected" to his proposal.
The facts are that Republican differences over the substance of the bill have delayed its consideration and some of those disagreements have still not been resolved, as he had learned in his discussions with Senator Frist, he said.
He was responding to Frist's "call on my Democratic colleagues to work with us to develop a unanimous consent agreement to enable the Senate to consider this important measure on the floor this week."
Senate Democrats have been strong supporters of the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation bill since the administration announced this proposal in March and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved it in June, Reid said.
Unfortunately, since this bill was favourably acted on by the Foreign Relations Committee, the Republican leader chose to bring 16 different legislative matters to the Senate floor rather than this important legislation, which is critical to the US-India relationship, he said.
"I do believe it is important for the Senate to act on this matter without further delay. Its passage would mean so much to the vitally important US-India relationship. I pledge to do what I can to ensure that we do just that. I hope the Majority Leader will not pass up yet another opportunity to get this bill done," Reid said.
Frist too said the enactment of this legislation is critical to advancing US-India relations and will help create export opportunities for American businesses.
"We need time to work out the differences with the companion legislation passed by the House. Therefore, the Senate cannot afford to wait until November to pass this critical piece of legislation," he pointed out.
By Arun Kumar,
United Nations, Sep 28 (IANS) India Wednesday called for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations to address the challenges posed by the globalisation of threats and the limitations of current international systems.
"We need to enfranchise the UN to meet the challenges of our time by reinforcing its role and authority as the core of real multilateralism," said Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee during the General Debate of the 61st UN General Assembly.
The discontents of globalisation would only deepen without a reform of multilateral bodies overseeing security, trade, financial flows and development to build an effective and equitable global partnership, he said.
This is an imperative even for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, he said suggesting that the UN be given a role in providing direction to the comprehensive reform of the international financial and trading systems also.
Seeking similar reforms in the architecture of the international security system, Mukherjee said both permanent and non-permanent membership of the Security Council should be expanded to reflect the changed international environment.
The Security Council has not only to be more representative but also more effective if it is to be able to satisfactorily perform the role mandated to it by the Charter.
The General Assembly too needs to be revitalised so that it may effectively address topics such as international law and human rights, financial, budgetary and administrative matters, as well as the global economic architecture and important issues related to development, he said.
Describing the problem of terrorism as one of the most crucial issues of our times, Mukherjee said while this phenomenon has become increasingly global, world's collective response to it has remained rather inadequate.
The international community must signal that it will no longer tolerate the actions of the sponsors and abettors of terrorism or of those who wilfully fail to prevent terrorists from utilising their territories, he said.
While India has gone along with the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy for now, member nations must work together to finalise and adopt the Comprehensive Convention against International Terrorism during the current session itself, he said.
Referring to the threat posed by the existence of nuclear weapon and emergence of new dangers posed by the link of proliferation of WMD related materials and technologies to non-state actors and terrorist groups, Mukherjee said India will be presenting a working paper on nuclear disarmament.
The international community needs to work together to meet these challenges, he said noting that India's record in this regard is impeccable and it has instituted effective measures to ensure that technologies developed by it are not leaked in any way.
Referring to the impasse in international trade negotiations, Mukherjee said while their early resumption is desirable, adherence to the existing mandate is imperative - the mandate of the Doha Declaration, the July Framework and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.
Demanding market access from developing countries, which displace low-income and subsistence farmers to satisfy commercial interests, cannot be supported, he said.
Proportionately lower overall tariff reduction commitments and operable and effective development instruments of special products and special safeguard mechanism are the essential components of securing food security, livelihood security and rural development needs of developing countries.
The overarching principle of special and differential treatment, therefore, remains a categorical imperative, and is the underlying basis of the position of developing countries, Mukherjee said.
Comprehensive reform of the international financial and trading systems must be aimed at building an international architecture that reflects the realities of the 21st century and is able to create an environment that effectively supports national efforts to eradicate poverty.
The UN should encourage time-bound second stage IMF quota reform, involving a basic revision of the quota formula and subsequent increase of quotas for all under-represented countries.
The quota reform has to begin with the revision of the formula, so as to reflect the relative economic strengths of countries in the 21st century.
Turning to development assistance, Mukherjee said while private sector investment was today playing an important role in development, it couldn't replace public investment in developing countries whose absorptive capacities are often limited and where physical and social infrastructure is weak.
Ways must also be found to encourage least developed countries out of the debt trap by extension of debt-cancellation programmes, without insisting on conditionalities, such as encouraging privatisation which, applied indiscriminately, may recreate the original difficulties that necessitated a recourse to debt in the first place.
Noting that developing countries bear the heaviest burden from pandemics, epidemics and chronic disease, Mukherjee called for an enhanced global collaborative effort to confront the proliferation of challenges affecting the lives of the majority of people.
The scourge of HIV/AIDS, malaria, avian influenza and tuberculosis seriously threaten the future of many developing countries by robbing them of their most productive segment of society - the youth - thereby affecting the future of these countries, he said.
The world also needed to address the central issue of the special needs of the developing countries, especially in Africa and the vulnerable small states, Mukherjee said.
India, on its part shall continue to expand its programme of South-South cooperation through New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), TEAM 9 - a special programme for West African countries - and by means of the connectivity mission in Africa as well as assistance, capacity-building and technology transfer aimed at reducing the vulnerabilities of small states, he said.
New Delhi, Sep 28(IANS) Third generation mobile technology (3G), combining telephony and broadband, will be launched in India next year thanks to the boom in telecom services, Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran said Wednesday.
"As we go forward towards the third generation services, the mobile will not only give the benefit of voice but the advantages of broadband connectivity," Maran told a conference on 3G technology here.
"We should be able to launch 3G services by the latter half of 2007 and I have requested the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to study the issue and give its recommendations for our consideration," the minister added.
Maran said 3G would play a major role in developing a variety of services such as e-education and telemedicine, besides offering a far more affordable voice service that will encourage more people in rural areas to become subscribers.
Stating that a target has been set for 250 million phone users in India by 2007 and 500 million by 2010, the minister expressed concern over the dismal penetration of telephone services in rural India despite the country's success in mobile telephony.
"We have a time-bound plan to rollout 2G services in rural India to cover those villages having more than 5,000 population by the end of this year. And by 2007, we plan to cover villages having more than 1,000 population," he said.
"In India, I believe, 3G will play a key role in taking the country to the next level," he said. "3G services are taking off exponentially. India cannot afford to be isolated from the 3G wave that is sweeping the rest of the world."
Bangalore, Sep 28 (IANS) India's Sonata Software Ltd, a leading IT consulting and software services firm, has acquired a majority stake in TUI InfoTec, a subsidiary of the Germany-based TUI AG, for euro 18 million (Rs.1.06 billion) in an all cash-deal.
To fund the acquisition, the Bangalore-based company would use its cash reserves (Rs.600 million/$12 million) and raise the balance through short-term borrowings and term loans, Sonata managing director B. Ramaswamy told reporters here.
"Of the total transaction, euro 5 million is for the 50.1 percent stake in the euro 10-million paid-up capital of TUI InfoTec and the remaining euro 13 million is towards premium. Post-acquisition, the Hanover firm will operate as our joint venture," Ramaswamy said.
The joint venture will enable Sonata to enter new markets in Europe. Leveraging the Indian firm's offshore capabilities, TUI InfoTech will offer IT infrastructure management and software services to the European market.
As preferred IT supplier to the euro 20-billion (Rs.1,200-billion) TUI AG group, the joint venture will be the strategic offshore services provider to Europe's leading tourism and shipping group.
"The new joint venture will have the strengths of both companies to pitch for new business in Europe. With one-third cost advantage over other vendors, we will be targeting new customers in the addressable market, estimated to be about euro 25-30 billion in the domain areas of our offerings," Ramaswamy pointed out.
The Rs.5.1-billion (1 euro=58 rupees) firm expects returns on the investment made in the acquisition over the next six-12 months.
Dubai, Sep 28 (IANS) A high-level Indian parliamentary delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee arrives in Bahrain Thursday on a two-day official visit to that Gulf nation.
The visit is seen as important in view of the upcoming elections in Bahrain, reports here say.
The delegation will meet Bahraini MPs, including parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani, as well as Shura Council (upper house of parliament) chairman Dr Faisal Al Mousawi, Gulf Daily News reported.
"India and Bahrain are poised to start a very busy and fruitful phase in their relationship and this and other high-level visits are part of the pattern," Indian Ambassador to Bahrain Balkrishna Shetty told the Bahrain Tribune newspaper.
"India has offered to train Bahrain's parliamentary secretariat staff, along with staff from many Commonwealth countries, in New Delhi later this year," he said.
Crown Prince and Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Commander-in-Chief Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa is to visit India this year. This will be followed by the first state visit to India by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa early next year.
Israeli security forces launched attacks that harmed Palestinian medical emergency personnel and damaged ambulances on at least six different occasions in the Gaza Strip between May 30 and July 20, Human Rights Watch said in a report. Human Rights Watch called on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to ensure that its troops scrupulously respect the protected status of medical emergency personnel and facilities at all times as it conducts military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Five of the incidents occurred during Israel’s military operations in Gaza that began on June 28, and three of them during the IDF military operation around the Maghazi Refugee Camp that began on July 18. In all of the incidents, the emergency medical personnel said they were responding to Palestinian casualties caused by earlier military activity but had waited for IDF shooting or shelling to stop before attempting to recover casualties. Four of the incidents occurred in daylight hours, and two of them in open areas. In at least two cases, the attack came from unmanned surveillance drone aircraft used by the Israeli Air Force to target wanted persons and armed individuals, and capable of precision targeting.
“Attacks against clearly identified medical providers are an extremely serious matter,� said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch. “Israel should conduct an impartial and transparent investigation of these incidents to determine why medical personnel were endangered, and it should remind its forces that attacks against medical and religious personnel and objects displaying the emblems of the Geneva Conventions are prohibited.�
As of September 12, Israeli authorities had not responded to an August 21 request from Human Rights Watch for information about these incidents. Medical personnel and transports lose their protection if they commit or are used to commit acts harmful to the enemy. However, there is no evidence and there has been no allegation that ambulances have been used for any purpose in the current fighting in Gaza other than providing emergency medical assistance and transporting the dead and wounded to hospitals.
Even assuming that in some of these cases medical personnel or ambulances were hit during renewed IDF attacks on military targets, all of the cases merit investigation because the IDF has an obligation not to prevent clearly marked medical personnel and ambulances unnecessarily from discharging their proper functions, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch researchers in the Gaza Strip spoke individually with six paramedics, one ambulance driver, and one volunteer with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). The drivers came from various parts of the Gaza Strip and recounted six separate incidents in which they came under fire while responding to emergency calls. Dr. Mu’awiya Hassanain, the head of Ambulance and Emergency Management for the West Bank and Gaza under the Ministry of Health, told Human Rights Watch that there had been 23 instances of medical emergency teams coming under fire in Gaza in July 2006, although Human Rights Watch investigated only the six incidents described here.
Four of the incidents occurred during daylight hours. When working at night, the paramedics wore fluorescent clothing and used bright flashlights while on foot. Their vehicles were clearly marked with the word “ambulance� in Arabic and English and unedited video footage of ambulances collecting casualties from different locations in the Gaza Strip during Israeli military incursions in July showed that the ambulances consistently used red flashing lights on their roofs. Human Rights Watch researchers visited three of the sites of the attacks and obtained video footage of the incident of May 29. Accounts by residents where the attacks took place were consistent with the accounts by the paramedics and ambulance driver.
Ambulance drivers showed Human Rights Watch their working clothes, which, for the PRCS, consist of white vests with a large crescent covering the back and the words “Palestinian Red Crescent Society� in English and Arabic. A smaller emblem is on the front. The clothes have fluorescent stripes which reflect brightly at night. PRCS paramedics carry bright flashlights at night and work in pairs, increasing their visibility.
The six incidents were:
* On May 30, around 1 a.m., Israeli artillery fired on paramedics in the northern town of Bait Lahiya as they were collecting casualties. One paramedic was injured. Video footage of this incident recorded the sound and detonation of an incoming shell that wounded the paramedic. The footage did not include any audio or video indication of ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and these or other armed Palestinians.
* On July 12, ambulance paramedics came under Israeli gunfire as they collected casualties in al-Qarrara, southern Gaza Strip, in the early afternoon.
* On July 19, around 1 a.m. Israeli forces opened fire at the location where a paramedic had just stepped down from an ambulance to collect a casualty in Maghazi Refugee Camp.
* In a second incident on the morning of July 19, a drone-fired missile landed close to and gravely wounded a driver who was part of a convoy of three ambulances in Maghazi Refugee Camp that was collecting injured persons from an Israeli strike a short while earlier. The bomb also wounded another paramedic less seriously.
* On July 20, shortly after noontime, a shell that was apparently launched from a ship hit an ambulance en route to collect a casualty on the Sea Road south of Gaza City.
* In a second incident on July 20, in the evening, a drone-fired missile struck a building near two clearly marked ambulances on the southern edge of Maghazi Refugee Camp, wounding to a driver and paramedic.
Paramedics of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and of the Ministry of Health’s Ambulance and Emergency Management Department respond to emergency calls, including those involving victims of Israeli military operations. There is no direct line of communication between the Palestinian ambulance services and the Israeli military, Dr. Muhammad al-Bardawil, head of the PRCS ambulance services, told Human Rights Watch. They must rely on their clear markings and distinction as medical personnel for their own safety or wait for a green light from the IDF via ICRC.
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza told Human Rights Watch that they act as liaison with the IDF for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society for “extremely urgent cases.� In these cases, the ICRC relays a PRCS request to enter an area to attend to a medical emergency to the IDF and the IDF then gives the ICRC assurances for the PRCS to proceed to a specific area. This process can take minutes or hours.
In all six cases Human Rights Watch investigated, the paramedics and ambulances had waited for ongoing hostilities to cease and had taken precautions to safeguard the ambulances and their personnel from the risk of being caught in fighting. The PRCS and the Ministry of Health’s Ambulance and Emergency Management Department have extensive experience operating in zones where military operations are being conducted.
International humanitarian law includes provisions of customary international law which all parties to an armed conflict must follow. The rules of customary international law that protect medical units, including paramedics and ambulances, state that these units “must be respected and protected in all circumstances.� Equally, “medical transports assigned exclusively to medical transportation must be respected and protected in all circumstances.� Medical workers engaging exclusively in medical work in the presence of combatants do not forfeit their protected status, but “they lose their protection if they commit, outside their humanitarian function, acts harmful to the enemy.�
“It is unacceptable that paramedics and ambulance drivers, whose humanitarian task is to recover causalities and assist the injured, should themselves need to be hospitalized for carrying out their jobs,� said Stork. “All parties to a conflict must respect medical personnel, and in these cases where the shelling and gunfire apparently came from Israeli sources, a prompt and credible investigation and sanctions, where appropriate, must follow.�
Testimonies
Human Rights Watch investigated the following six incidents:
1. At around 1 a.m. on May 30, after a period of IDF shelling in the northern Gaza town of Bait Lahiya, paramedic Muhammad al-Muqayyid and colleagues in another ambulance responded to an emergency call. Residents had summoned an ambulance after two armed militants who had earlier entered a dirt road opposite the American School did not re-emerge. Al-Muqayyid said he and his colleagues waited for 15 minutes to make sure it was safe to follow the dirt road on foot to look for casualties. He said there were no aircraft and no Israeli shelling while they waited and when they entered, one holding a bright torch illuminating the way and both wearing fluorescent paramedic uniforms. Several journalists were also present. After some minutes the paramedics found one unconscious man; video footage taken by a Palestinian news agency and viewed by Human Rights Watch showed that he was holding an automatic rifle. The paramedics took him to the ambulance and returned to look for the second casualty when they heard the sound of incoming shelling. Palestinian militants are not known to possess heavy artillery. The video showed them racing back to their parked ambulances with lights flashing when a loud detonation occurred. Al-Muqayyid said: “The shell hit between us and our ambulances, about 20 meters away. I knew immediately that I was hurt. I felt it in my head, chest, abdomen and my leg, but I did not lose consciousness and continued to run. When I got to the ambulance, I could not breathe, but I managed to put on an oxygen mask. Around the area, there were journalists filming and also a radio journalist. They were also injured.�
2. On July 12, between 1- 2 p.m., paramedic Jihad Salim responded to a call in al-Qarrara, northeast of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, together with a volunteer and ambulance driver. Three ambulances, he said, arrived several minutes after what he understood to be a shell had exploded in an open area close to the local flour mill, reportedly causing casualties. The area where the ambulance stopped, on a dirt road a short distance from the main Salah al-Din road, was surrounded by IDF tanks on three sides, to the north, west and south, about 100 to 300 meters away. There were no militants firing in the area as he arrived, Salim said, and a group of children had gathered around the bodies of three casualties. Salim said that the casualties appeared to be around 17 years old, including one disabled boy, and that when he saw them they were not bearing any arms. (An Associated Press report on July 12 cited the Israeli army as saying that “troops opened fire on Palestinian gunmen planting explosives on a road used by the army to enter the central Gaza Strip,� killing four persons near the flour mill.)
The first two ambulances loaded two of the three casualties without incident. Salim said that when his ambulance approached and he stepped down to load the last casualty, he came under gunfire. The crowd disbursed and there was no one else there, Salim said. He said that his dispatcher had made contact with the ICRC but had not yet received clearance to proceed. He said that he and his colleagues had taken precautions and checked the area beforehand, and that they would not have entered the area had they thought it unsafe. “When the bullets started flying, we quickly lay down and pressed ourselves on the ground. Bullets were dancing in the sand in front of me. We stayed like that for about 10 minutes. The firing came in slow bursts, every twenty seconds or so, from the west…. Six bullets hit the ambulance, but we remained unhurt. We stayed on the ground until the shooting lightened up, then went to the ambulance and left.� Muhammad Bardawil, the manager of the PRCS Gaza, showed Human Rights Watch an ambulance with bullet holes that he said was the one involved in this incident.
3. On the night of July 18, at about 10.30 p.m., paramedic Muhammad Abu `Umra and an emergency medical volunteer stationed in the town of Dair al-Balah, responded to a call in Maghazi Refugee Camp, a few kilometers to the east, following an IDF incursion which had begun that night. According to an injured fighter whom Human Rights Watch interviewed in a hospital, the incursion involved an undercover advance IDF team, with helicopters providing air cover, followed by tanks. Abu `Umra, the paramedic, said that when he arrived there was heavy exchange of firing in the fields beyond the camp and many drones overhead, which he said he recognized from their sound. Abu `Umra said he waited in an ambulance outside the camp on the Salah al-Din Road for about three hours, unable to respond until the firing eased. At around 1 a.m. on July 19, he drove into the southeast part of the Maghazi camp, where an injured person lay in a street. A crowd of civilians was gathered several hundred meters away, and as he approached he observed no militants or militant activity anywhere close to the injured person, he said. Abu `Umra said he stopped the ambulance with lights flashing about two meters in front of the casualty and got out. “Immediately after we got out of the ambulance, gunfire began and bullets were flying. We withdrew back into the ambulance and reversed to the safe place where the local residents had gathered,� Abu `Umra told Human Rights Watch. He said that the gunfire did not come from the built-up area of the camp but from the open area where local residents had told him Israeli tanks were in position.
Human Rights Watch researchers observed the abandoned Israeli tank positions in the fields south of the camp when they visited the area on July 27. A wall about 2-3m tall runs along the road where the incident took place, separating the built-up areas from fields to the south, where the Israeli tanks were taking up position in the night of July 18-19. Maghazi residents told Human Rights Watch that, throughout the incursion, Israeli forces hardly left their tanks, bulldozers, or armored personnel carriers, and that they never set foot into the camp or drove vehicles into the camp. They were aware of no Israeli target that Palestinian militants might have been shooting at in the vicinity of the ambulance. The sustained shooting does not indicate an accident, but suggests that the shooting targeted the paramedics or another object in their immediate vicinity. Abu `Umra said: “We waited there another two hours, before firing lightened up again. Then we went in and recovered the casualties.�
4. Later on the morning of July 19, at around 6 a.m., Abu `Umra responded to another emergency call, after having previously collected wounded persons from Maghazi. On this occasion an Israeli missile or bomb hit a convoy of three ambulances. Abu ‘Amra said: “I saw both helicopters and spy planes [drones] over our head. We were in a street with no clear line of sight to the tanks in the field.� A resident of a nearby house, Hajj Ahmad, told Human Rights Watch that he heard two missiles, which he said impacted five minutes apart. Dozens of local residents said that militants had been hit by the first missile and that the other struck the ambulances shortly thereafter.
Muhammad al-Salihi, an ambulance driver who was also present, said that the second missile directly struck Anwar Abu Huli, a 40-year-old driver and paramedic in one of the other ambulances, as he was assisting a group of injured persons on the ground while al-Salihi had gone toward a neighboring house, where there were also injuries. Human Rights Watch researchers observed the impact holes of the alleged drone missile, one taking out a piece of garden wall in front of a house, which corresponded to those seen at other locations, both in Maghazi and in Gaza City. In several other incidents, paramedics rushed onto the scene immediately following drone missile strikes, whereas they waited in cases where fighting involved shelling or gunfire. Drones employ guided missiles and are capable of precision strikes and, in more than half a dozen half a dozen strikes Human Rights Watch researched, fired only one missile in a given incident. Artillery shelling, on the other hand, often lasted longer and typically involved several shells.
Abu `Umra continued: “In this incident a missile had hit on the corner of the street. We were in three ambulances, because there were a lot of injured after the first strike. The first [ambulance] stopped approximately 10 meters from the incident. We were in the second ambulance with two other paramedics when a missile struck. I was in the [ambulance] at the time and was injured in the hand.� Anwar Abu Huli had already got out to help the injured. Abu Huli was hit by shrapnel in his right leg and upper body. “His leg was completely gone, maybe hanging on by a piece of skin,� one of the paramedics at the scene told Human Rights Watch. Abu Huli was later transferred to the Ikhilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
5. In an incident on July 20, Ala’ al-Susi, a paramedic, together with ambulance driver Hanadi al-Masri, responded to a reported injury from an attack on a car along the Sea Road, south of Gaza City. He said he saw an Israeli gunboat off shore, and believed it had struck the car. When he approached the scene around 12.30 p.m., al-Susi said, he saw that another ambulance from the town of Dair al-Balah, several kilometers to the south, had already responded. Al-Susi said he turned around to head back. Approximately 100 meters from where he turned around, a projectile launched from the direction of the Israeli gunboat to the west hit the rear of his ambulance on the left side, shattering the rear glass. Al-Susi said that his ambulance was the only vehicle moving on the road at the time, and that the other ambulance and the car which had been hit previously were the only other vehicles on the road. No one else was in the area, he said. His ambulance still functioned, he said, so he continued back to Gaza City.
6. In a second incident on July 20, Muhammad al-Salihi, an ambulance driver, and Muhammad al-`Uzaiza, a paramedic, responded at 7.20 p.m. to a call from the southern edge of Maghazi Refugee Camp. It was still light at that time, he said, but they had their lights flashing. An ambulance driver some 30-50 meters in front of them told al-Salihi to follow, as there was no sign of fighting and he considered it safe to proceed. They came to a place about 200 meters from the scene of an earlier strike by a drone-fired bomb. Al-Salihi and al-`Uzaiza both told Human Rights Watch that they did not observe any fighting or armed Palestinians in the vicinity. At that point what al-Salihi described as a missile struck a residential building several storeys high immediately to their left, in between the two ambulances, causing a concrete pillar on the roof to collapse. Al-Salihi said that they were wearing bullet-proof vests, but that shrapnel came through the driver’s window and hit him in the left shoulder, coming through the driver’s window. The paramedic in the passenger seat, al-‘Azaiza, was lightly injured in the hand. Al-Salihi said that the street was too narrow to turn around, so he reversed until he got to a safer area. An impartial investigation into this case is needed to determine why the IDF failed to take precautions to avoid endangering the clearly marked ambulance, even if the building was a legitimate target.
Ramallah/Jerusalem, Sep 28 (Xinhua) An Israeli military court Wednesday ordered the release of Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser al-Shaer, his lawyer said.
"The court admitted there was not enough evidence to keep him in jail. He will be home in Nablus (in the West Bank) in a matter of hours," Shaer's lawyer Osama al-Saadi was quoted by Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz as saying.
Al-Shaer, who was arrested on Aug 19 by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah, had been the most senior Hamas official arrested in an Israeli crackdown against the group.
Israel launched the crackdown after three Palestinian militant groups headed by Hamas' armed wing kidnapped one Israeli soldier and killed two others during a cross-border attack.
More than 24 Hamas ministers and lawmakers, including the Parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik, were detained during the crackdown.
An Israeli military court decided last week to free 18 ministers and lawmakers. But the Israeli army attorney general extended their arrests and kept them in custody.
New York, Sep 28 (IANS) Mauritius, the Indian Ocean island that is home to a nearly 800,000-strong Indian diaspora, has come out strongly in support of India's claim for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
"It is also morally and politically unacceptable that the world's most populous country is still denied a seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council," Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam told the world's leaders at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly.
"We are of the view that the reformed Security Council should include India among its permanent members," Ramgoolam stressed.
"It's deplorable that Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean regions are not represented in the permanent membership of the UN Security Council," he added.
India and Mauritius have signed pacts on a preferential trade agreement (PTA), the transfer of sentenced prisoners, mutual legal assistance and an exploration of the coastal waters to boost their economic and political ties.
Ramgoolam, son of Mauritius's first prime minister, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, visited India last year.
New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) Amid speculation about the scope of the joint anti-terror mechanism with Pakistan, India Wednesday clarified that it would deal with "all forms of terrorism".
"There is no doubt in our minds as to what constitutes terrorism and it is clear that the group is mandated to address all forms of terrorism," external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said in a statement.
"The anti-terrorism institutional mechanism agreed to between India and Pakistan in Havana is clearly mandated by the Sep 16 joint statement to identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations."
Early this week, Pakistan had said the proposed mechanism was not an arrangement to hand over people wanted by either side. Some of those wanted by India have a "different" status in Pakistan by virtue of their association with the "freedom struggle" in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The institutional mechanism does not talk about handing over people by either side or exchanging lists of wanted persons," Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam had said.
The mechanism was to help prevent terrorism in both countries. Islamabad and New Delhi exchanged wanted persons' lists in a different context, when the home secretaries of the two countries met under the composite dialogue process, she said.
"Some of these people, for instance, people who had been here and had been associated with the freedom struggle, have a different status."
Nearly two weeks back, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met on the sidelines of the 14th Non-Aligned Movement summit in Havana and agreed to resume the foreign secretary-level talks, suspended after the July 11 terror attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people.
The two leaders, meeting for the first time after the Mumbai bombings, also agreed to put in place "an India-Pakistan anti-terrorism institutional mechanism to identify and implement anti-terrorism initiatives and investigations".
India had blamed terrorists operating from Pakistan to be responsible for the Mumbai killings but Islamabad denied any involvement.
Los Angeles, Sep 28 (Xinhua) Microsoft released a patch to fix a critical flaw in its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser, ahead of its next scheduled round of security updates.
Breaking its monthly patch cycle, the software maker said hackers had been using the flaw to attack computers via the Internet.
Malicious software unknown to users can be loaded on to a vulnerable Windows computer when users click on a malicious link, Microsoft said Tuesday, adding that for more than a week malicious activity had been on the upswing.
The patch will fix vulnerability in the way that Internet Explorer renders VML (Vector Markup Language) graphics, according to a security bulletin released by the company.
The last time the software maker rushed out a fix was in January, when another image-related flaw in the IE browser was being used to compromise Windows PCs through malicious websites.
With attack code that works on the latest version of Windows XP, now publicly available, the flaw is emerging as a very serious concern for administrators, security experts said, while pushing Microsoft to rush out a fix for it.
There are currently more than 3,000 websites infecting users with malware that exploited the deficiency, said Ken Dunham, an expert with the Internet security firm Verisign.
By Mayank Chhaya,
New York, Sep 28 (IANS) Americans have a weakness for a compelling story, no matter where it comes from and who is telling it. For the past one week that story has been Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf's.
Basking in all the attentions that he is getting in the mainstream American media coinciding with the release of his memoir "In the Line of Fire" by Simon & Schuster, Musharraf has been pushing all the right buttons.
Notwithstanding that the veracity of his claims about the Kargil conflict have been derided by his detractors in India, the Pakistani leader has even managed to get a substantial appearance on The Daily Show, America's talked about nightly comedy show watched by a young demographic which shun real news shows.
Hosted by the Emmy winning comedian Jon Stewart the "fake news show" featured Musharraf on Tuesday night for nearly half of its 30 minute nightly segment. Obviously well-briefed about the irreverent nature of the show, Musharraf seemed to fit the format well.
Stewart, who is know to mercilessly skewer American politicians and other windbags, afforded Musharraf considerable levity. At one point he even asked him how he managed to stay so calm fighting terror while Americans were being so paranoid.
As part of Stewart's "Seat of the Heat" segment toward the end of the show, where guests are asked one "tough" question half in jest and half in seriousness, Musharraf was asked who he thought would win if President George Bush and Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were to contest election in Pakistan. As questions go this was a pretty tricky one. Musharraf first smiled and then said "They will both lose miserably."
World leaders are not known to appear on Stewart's show which America's young turn to make sense of all the complexities of the world news. Although the show is entirely tongue-in-cheek, the host uses the format brilliantly to make significant points about many global issues, especially the Iraq war.
From his utterances on The Daily Show as well as elsewhere it is apparent that Musharraf joined the war on terror out of pragmatism rather than conviction. It is possible that along the way in the past five years he has developed some conviction about his decision.
It is not hard to understand Musharraf's initial reluctance, or predicament at the very least, considering the neighborhood he lives in and the kind of neighbors he chose to break bread with. Having presided over an apparatus that at the very least partially fathered the Taliban and hence by implication played a role in helping Osama bin Laden strike roots in Afghanistan, Musharraf ought to have been a deeply tormented soul in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Knowing what the CIA knew about the Pakistani intelligence's barely concealed involvement with the Taliban and some of the most renegade Islamists in the region, it is conceivable that the Bush administration realized that the only way to break this union between the Pakistani military headed by Musharraf and the Taliban/Al Qaeda would be to issue an unambiguous threat. It is in this backdrop that one has to read Musharraf's assertion on '60 Minutes' that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage threatened that the US would bomb Pakistan "back to the stone age" unless it joined the war on terror.
The timing of Musharraf's disclosure was curious because although the '60 Minutes' interview was done in Islamabad, it must have been known to all concerned that excerpts from it would be aired to coincide with a visit by Musharraf to the United States. No one can accuse Musharraf of coyness when it comes to using the media to his advantage. He knew that he was making probably the most damaging allegation against a country which in many ways controls his political destiny and even personal future. Yet he chose to disclose what may or may not be true.
Armitage has denied having made the threat or at least having used those exact words. However, it is more than likely that the Bush administration leaned quite heavily on Musharraf individually to join the war on terror or else. Musharraf himself said that a "wounded superpower" could have carried out the threat.
What is astonishing is the turn of events after President George Bush and Musharraf met on last Friday. During their joint news conference Bush professed complete ignorance about the threat and Musharraf surpassed himself by citing his commitment to his publisher. Talk about the Pakistani leader craftiness to get away with murder! It is possible that during their one-on-one meeting Bush asked, probably even demanded of, Musharraf to drop the subject altogether.
Musharraf's skill to separate and insulate himself from a large number of egregious actions on his watch, from fostering the Taliban to let Dr. A Q Khan run a veritable retail operation in nuclear proliferation, is not just remarkable, it is breathtaking.
It seems the more they discover Musharraf's brazenness the more they extol him. Purely from a cynical standpoint, Musharraf deserves to be celebrated for turning his country's complicity in incubating terror as the world knows it into a valiant personal fight against it at the risk of losing his own life.
For the average American it hardly matters whether Musharraf's grandiosity has any basis in truth as long as it remains a good yarn.
New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, fully aware of his country's "grim reputation for terrorism," has called for a "drastic change" in the image of Pakistan and asked the media to join him in promoting the "soft image of a culturally rich, inviting and economically vibrant country."
"It is unfortunate that Pakistan's image abroad has been tarnished so badly that the world associates it only with terrorism and extremism," says Musharraf in his recently published "In The Line of Fire: A Memoir."
"Our grim reputation for terrorism and the many travel advisories against us hinder tourism," he says.
Asking the world to look at the country he rules afresh, Musharraf waxes lyrical about "virgin coastline, picturesque mountains, dense forests and mighty rivers" of Pakistan and invites the world to soak in "rich and distinct cultures" of Pakistan's four provinces.
"Ironically, all this has remained the best-kept secret of Pakistan," says Musharraf.
"Worse, the forces of religious extremism and obscurantism reject this cultural activity as being un-Islamic. No previous government had the courage to tell them that they were wrong," says the Pakistani leader in his memoirs that sounds more like his campaign pitch for the elections next year.
In his bestselling book, that hit Indian bookstores Wednesday, Musharraf, who ousted democratically elected Nawaz Sharief in a military coup in 1999, also asserts that contrary to popular perception Pakistan is predominantly a moderate country, albeit one with a small fringe group of extremists.
But he rues that despite his diligent efforts to promote what he calls "a truer image of Pakistan" and its myriad achievements in the field of culture, sports and tourism the world has chosen to tar it with the brush of extremism.
"However much we plead that the vast majority of Pakistan is moderate and that only a fringe element is extremist - and that our national fabric has been damaged by the turbulence to our west in Afghanistan and to our east in Kashmir, not by anything inherent within our borders and society - the message does not get across," says Musharraf, who has used his memoirs to promote him as a moderate leader of a moderate country seven months before elections in Pakistan.
Distancing the Pakistani state from acts of terrorism - a charge New Delhi has often hurled against Islamabad - Musharraf asserts that the fringe group of extremists in Pakistan are indoctrinated into terrorism by a combination of vested interests and socio-economic deprivation.
"I have therefore tried to project a truer image of Pakistan, which I call a soft image, through the promotion of tourism, sports and culture," he says in self-congratulatory tone.
He exhorted the Pakistani media to help him sell the image of a new resurgent Pakistan - a "dynamic, progressive and moderate nation." "We have to defeat terrorism and extremism, but at the same time must also present a culturally rich, inviting and economically vibrant alternative in its place. The media need to gear up to sell Pakistan abroad."
Srinagar, Sep 28 (IANS) Eleven persons, including nine policemen, were injured in a powerful hand grenade explosion in the heart of summer capital Srinagar Wednesday afternoon.
Police said separatist guerrillas attacked a joint patrol of police and Indian paramilitary with a grenade in Budshah Chowk near the city centre late this afternoon.
"Nine local policemen, one paramilitary central reserve police force soldier and two civilian passers-by were injured in the explosion. All the injured were immediately taken to SMHS hospital," a senior police officer told IANS here.
He said Budshah Chowk area had been surrounded by security forces and searches mounted.
The explosion led to the disruption of traffic in Budshah Chowk where shops were already shut following Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front protests during the day.
Earlier, militants shot and killed a police constable and critically injured a police assistant sub-inspector in two incidents in capital city.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks.
New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Nirupama Rao was Wednesday named the country's next ambassador to China.
Rao, an officer of the 1973 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, succeeds Nalin Surie and is expected to take up her assignment shortly.
In 2001, she became the first spokeswoman of the external affairs ministry.
Deepak Bhojwani, India's envoy to Venezuela, will succeed Nilima Mitra as the new ambassador to Colombia.
The government also named A. Ramesh, currently ambassador of India to Kyrgyzstan, as the next envoy to Peru in place of R.V. Warjri.
Mumbai, Sep 28 (IANS) Leander Paes pairing with Aisham Qureshi of Pakistan defeated Ramon Delegado of Paraguay and Konstantinos Economidis of Greece 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles first round of the inaugural Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open tournament here Wednesday.
In other matches, Dennis Gremelmayr and Simon Greul of Germany defeated Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Robin Vik of Czech Republic 1-6, 6-4, 10-5 while the British duo James Auckland and Jamie Delgado outplayed the Italian pair of Stefano Galvani and Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.
For India, it was bad news in the singles as wild card holder Akash Wagh lost to Russian Dmitry Tursunov 2-6, 5-7.
Top seed Tommy Robredo of Spain had an easy 6-4, 6-2 win over Alexander Peya of Austria while third seed Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic thrashed Kobot 6-2, 6-2.
Frenchman Nicholas Devilder defeated Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Islamabad, Sep 28 ((IANS) Pakistan's Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet (ECC), headed by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, has allowed the import of 302 new items from India including various categories of machinery and equipment.
Steel, iron ore and different types of chemicals are now on the list of 302 new items Pakistan can import from India.
Economic Adviser to Pakistan's finance ministry Ashfaque Hasan Khan told The Nation Wednesday that the government had earlier allowed import of 773 tariff lines (items) from India after consulting the stake holders concerned.
Pakistan imports steel and iron ore mostly from Australia.
Khan said that textile sector could benefit by importing dyeing machinery from India.
Amritsar, Sep 28 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday flagged off a new train linking Amritsar and Hardwar even as local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Navjot Singh Sidhu attempted to "hijack" the launch function here before he was stopped by police.
Police cane-charged BJP activists accompanying the cricketer-turned-politician at the Amritsar railway station, injuring some of them.
Manmohan Singh flagged off the Jan Shatabdi Express between this Sikh holy city and the Hindu holy city of Hardwar from Ludhiana by pressing a remote button. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad accompanied him.
However, before the prime minister formally flagged off the new train, Sidhu reached the railway station here with his supporters and performed a religious ritual with a coconut to mark the launch of the new service.
The Punjab police, however, derailed the BJP leader's plans and Punjab assembly Deputy Speaker Darbari Lal then performed the honours.
The prime minister, on a two-day visit of the state from Wednesday, later visited a 300-acre farm of the Fieldfresh group promoted by Bharti Telecom. The project aims at researching ways to increase productivity through modern farming methods.
Manmohan Singh also inaugurated the Ludhiana-Kolkata freight corridor, one of the biggest railway projects in the country.
Ludhiana, Sep 28 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, beginning a two-day visit of his home state of Punjab Wednesday, launched or inaugurated half a dozen key projects, including a dedicated railway freight corridor project and an agricultural research centre.
He also flagged off of the Amritsar-Haridwar Jan Shatabdi Express, inaugurated the Chandigarh-Morinda railway line and laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Eesearch at Mohali.
Punjab is due to go to assembly polls in February-March next year and the ruling Congress hopes the prime minister's visit will help its prospects.
The Rs.220 billion eastern corridor project, linking the industrial city of Ludhiana with Kolkata, is part of the national dedicated freight corridor that will cost nearly Rs.660 billion.
Addressing a rally here after launching the project, Manmohan Singh said the corridor would help in faster transportation of goods and raw material to and from ports.
The prime minister praised Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for making the Indian Railways a profit-making organisation.
From Ludhiana, the prime minister flagged of the Amritsar-Haridwar Jan Shatabdi Express with a remote control.
The new train's starting point, the Amritsar railway station, witnessed dramatic scenes before the formal flagging off of the train as local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Navjot Singh Sidhu did his own "flagging off".
The prime minister then flew to the 300-acre research and development centre of the Bharti Telecom-promoted Fieldfresh group at Ladowal village near here.
Addressing corporate representatives, agriculture experts and farmers there, Manmohan Singh called upon the corporate sector to involve itself more in the farm sector with technological help to enhance productivity.
"The corporate sector can help in enhancing productivity and diversification of the farm sector," he said.
Referring to the green revolution in the country in the 1960s and 70s, the prime minister said it was time to put modern technology to use in the agriculture sector to enhance productivity.
He added that this would also help eliminate poverty from the rural areas.
However, the farming community in the state, expecting a loan waiver to bail them out of indebtedness, was disappointed as Manmohan Singh did not make any specific announcement in this regard.
In a speech in Punjabi, he said the government had extended schemes for farmers to avail loans at 7 to 8 percent rate of interest.
The state government estimates farmers' indebtedness at over Rs.250 billion.
Scores of farmers have committed suicide over the last few years due to financial distress.
The state government has been demanding a bailout package for farmers on the lines of the one announced for those of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra.
The prime minister, however, provided a ray of hope saying that the state government was preparing a report on the issue and the central government would soon work out a scheme to help them.
Later Wednesday evening, Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Mohali, 10 km from state capital Chandigarh.
Ludhiana, Sep 28 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said that India's economic growth was dependent on the agricultural growth and called upon the corporate sector to play a more pro-active role in improving the farming sector.
The prime minister was addressing agriculture experts, corporates and farmers at the research and development farm of the Fieldfresh group, a company floated by telecom giant Bharti.
Inaugurating the Fieldfresh Agriculture Centre of Excellence at its modern 300-acre farm at Ladowal village near here, the prime minister said that the R&D centre was an ideal example of corporate intervention in the farming sector.
"The corporate sector can help in enhancing productivity and diversification of the farm sector," he said.
Referring to the green revolution in the country in the 1960s and 70s, the prime minister said it was time to put modern technology to use in the agriculture sector to enhance productivity again.
He added that this would also help eliminate poverty from the rural areas.
The prime minister complimented Bharti for their farm project.
Company officials said the R&D centre would help farmers with know-how to enhance productivity and grow crops that get them better returns.
The company will implement a farm-to-fork project to export fresh fruits and vegetables from Punjab to markets across Europe, the US and the Middle East.
By Prashant K. Nanda,
Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Sep 28 (IANS) Twenty-eight of Bihar's 32 districts are infected with kala azar, the deadly black fever, as poverty, unhygienic lifestyle and government apathy make the disease endemic to the region.
Experts running kala azar research centres in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and working to develop affordable drugs said the entire Gangetic plains of the state are infected with kala azar.
"It's affecting the poor people in villages who can't afford treatment. The geographic location, poverty, bad hygiene and lack of a definite plan by the government are contributing heavily to the growth of the disease," said T.K. Jha, medical director of one of the two kala azar research centres here.
"Though the government claims that Bihar is home to only 23,000 patients, our estimate is 230,000. The living conditions of villagers are perfect breeding ground for sand flies, the carrier of the disease, and the government seems to be doing almost nothing to improve them," Jha told a visiting IANS correspondent.
Kala azar - medically known as Visceral Leishmaniasis - is a vector-born disease and is characterised by fever, weight loss, swelling of spleen and liver and anaemia that could lead to cardiovascular complications.
The parasite attacks bone marrow and weakens the immune system leading to increased vulnerability to infections and diseases. Black fever is also the second-largest parasitic killer in the world after malaria.
The sand flies multiply in cow-dung that villagers use as fuel or to plaster their shanties with. The flies survive on the sap in banana groves, bamboo stands and decomposed cow-dung and thrive in thatches used to make tiny houses.
Flies that have bitten infected humans also transmit the disease when they bite another person.
Jha, who is the principal investigator of a United Nations Development Programme-WHO project on kala azar, said in the pre-independence era, the parasite came to the state from Assam via West Bengal.
"But things have changed and Bihar is now the source of all kala azar cases. People migrate from here to Delhi or West Bengal and spread the disease there, too," he added.
He said the disease came to Bihar in late 1930s and was there till 1950 and later disappeared from the state due to malaria eradication efforts. "But it came back in 1970 and the mortality rate was 30 percent."
"Now the disease is spreading from west Bihar to east Uttar Pradesh, east Bihar to north of Bengal and north Bihar to Nepal," Jha added.
Kala azar currently occurs in 62 countries, primarily in the developing world. Around 90 percent of world cases are found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and northeast Brazil. Experts say over 60 percent of the cases in the five states are found in Bihar alone.
Treatment of the disease currently costs over Rs.12,000.
"When our income is less than Rs.1,500 a month, how can we afford treatment that costs us over Rs.12,000. Since it is affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the state, the government must give free treatment," said Sevati Devi, a resident of Bishonpur, a village around 15 km from this rural town.
Like Sevati, there are thousands who seek government intervention to fight the disease.
"For the last two months, I have been suffering but the district healthcare service providers could not diagnose the problem. They neither have the expertise nor infrastructure to cure patients," said Mohammad Idris from Motihari district.
"The socio-economic status of these villagers does not allow them treatment. Here the government needs to step in. At least the government must club the intervention programme with the revised tuberculosis programme in the state," said Shyam Sunder, who runs a kala azar research centre and a clinic in Muzaffarpur.
However, he was optimistic about a new drug developed by the Institute of One World Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company in the US.
"The drug has already got a nod from the WHO and the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). The clinical trials are over and a Hyderabad-based company will produce the oral pills in India," he said.
"Since the cost will be around $15 (about Rs.700), the villagers can now afford treatment," he added.
Sunder, also a professor of medicine at the Banaras Hindu University, said: "The state government had set up a committee to suggest ways to deal with the health menace. We had given them a number of suggestions, including spraying of DDT at least twice a year.
"As experts we can only suggest ways, but the government seems to lag in implementation."
He said the Bihar government had provided free medicine to medical colleges but "how many villagers go to medical colleges? Free and efficient treatment must be given at primary healthcare centres".
Chandigarh, Sep 28 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday bluntly told chief ministers of northern states that hindrances they were putting up in the form of disproportionate taxes and not allowing free movement of goods would not help the states in the long run.
Inaugurating the conclave of chief ministers of northern states here, the prime minister pointed out that at a time when trade barriers were being removed globally, Indian states were imposing taxes and other trade barriers among themselves.
"We have fragmented our internal market. Taxes imposed by states are becoming a hindrance in our development," he regretted.
He said he was well aware of the development concerns of individual states due to which they imposed taxes and put up other trade barriers to generate more revenue.
He suggested that instead of competing with one another, states should work towards a common economy.
Manmohan Singh, who himself grew up in Amritsar, said that northern states lagged behind the western Indian states on many parameters. The human development index and revenue earning of the western states was much more than the northern states, he said.
"If our present rate of growth at eight percent is sustained, Punjab will become a Germany by 2020 while Uttar Pradesh will become like Punjab in development. But for that to happen, the states must correct inter-regional imbalances," he said.
The chief ministers of Punjab (Amarinder Singh), Haryana (Bhupinder Singh Hooda), Jammu and Kashmir (Ghulam Nabi Azad), Himachal Pradesh (Virbhadra Singh), Delhi (Sheila Dikshit) and Chandigarh's administrator and Punjab governor S.F. Rodrigues were present at the conclave, being organized by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The chief ministers will deliberate Thursday on various common issues.
River Basin Friends denounces the MoUs signed between Arunachal Pradesh Government and Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSUs)
Three Memoranda of Understandings (MOUs) for development of hydro electric projects to the tune of 15,000 MW were signed in Itanagar, between the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and the Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSUs), viz NTPC, NHPC and NEEPCO in the presence of the Union Minister for Power, Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde.The combined capacity of these MOUs is almost equal of one third of the total hydro potential of Arunachal Pradesh.
According to the MOUs, NTPC will be taking up implementation of Etalin (4000 MW) and Attunli (500 MW) hydroelectric projects, NHPC will be taking up implementation of the Tawang-I (750 MW) and Tawang-II (750 MW) hydroelectric projects while NEEPCO will take up implementation of the Kemeng-I (1120 MW) and Pare (110 MW) hydroelectric projects. In addition, NHPC would take up implementation of the Dibang HEP (3000 MW) through a joint venture company between NHPC and Government of Arunachal Pradesh. Besides, the Middle and Upper Subansiri Projects (1600 MW and 2000 MW respectively) would also be developed by NHPC after resolution of certain issues relating to environment and neighboring state.
The contents of the MoUs reveal that the 7 projects undertaken have total installed capacity of 10,230 MW. As per the agreement, the state government would get 12 percent free power from the PSUs. 'According to Mr. Gagong Apang, Chief Minister Arunachal Pradesh, the annual revenue that Arunachal Pradesh will get will be Rs.1,254 crore (Rs.12.54 billion). It has been agreed that an amount of 1 paise per unit of electricity generated would be contributed by each project to the local development trust.
These are one side of the whole story said ravindranath of River Basin Friends. There is no concrete commitment on the MoUs on the R & R issues. It is merely saying that an obligation has been cast on the PSUs on the rehabilitation and resettlement issue which is done in any HEP project in India and it needs no elaboration how these R&R have been carried out by the CPSUs even in the mainland India. The power Minister said that a unique feature which has been agreed for these projects has been the creation of a Local Area Development Trust which would be set up to take up developmental activities for the people of the affected areas but it is still a fry cry because that will be undertook only completion of the project but uprooting the people from their homelands/alienating them from their livelihoods will be in parallel with the commencement of the construction works. The ecological damage out of mass destruction of forests, extraction of boulders and aggregates from the
hilly terrains and river beds, dumping of aggregates on the rivers have received rare attention in the whole process. It is beyond the understanding of the people of the region how the same GOI machineries which have banned logging in the name of ecological balance encouraged deforestation, extraction of boulders from the rivers, dumping of aggregates on the rivers for HEP and allied projects that too in such a massive way. The impact in demographic pattern due to influx of labor from outside is the other area of concerned, because Arunachal Pradesh has a unique demographic pattern and is a state which requires ILP for the outsiders. Let the state and the civil societies not forget the tense situation between the local and the Chakmas. Once the people are there the politically vested interest groups starts playing the fouls very systematically beyond understanding of the indigenous people.
What Assam will face in the whole developments has been very systematically and strategically denied from addressing. Assam is in downstream of every river basin where the projects are going to be implemented. In the pursuit of global evidences and findings it is easily understood that construction of the dams will lead to drying up of the river system i.e. desertification, affecting the livelihood of the people downstream in Assam. In the contrary, during the monsoon release of excessive water from the dams (a normal phenomenon) will trigger flood devastation in Assam. We have not forgotten the kurichu dam brusting incident of 2004. The bursting of the 60 MW kurichu HEP projects in Bhutan, constructed by NHPC affected 15 millions people in lower Assam in the year 2004. Hence onwards the live and livelihoods of the people of Dhemaji, North Lakhimpur as well as of Majuli in North bank as well as Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar and Jorhat in South bank of river Brahmaputra
will be under tremendous threat out of the Etalin, Attulin, Debang HEP project; similarly there is every possibility of that the project TawangI, TawangII to create havoc in Sonitpur District in North bank of Brahmaputra as well as Nowgaon and Morigaon District in South bank of Brahmaputra in Assam. The Kameng and the Pare HEP project will be DamoclesÂ’ sword to the people of North Lakhimpur and Sonitpur Districts in Assam.
Being in the down stream of almost 150 mega dams out of 168 planned to be constructed in North east India the River Basin Friends and other Civil Society Organizations of the region, on the ground of riparian rights, have been constantly demanding to stop the ongoing construction works and undertake down stream impact assessment in every river basins on which the dams have been planned and review the policy frame work on the basis of the finding through engaging civil societies of the region. The Civil Society Organizations has constantly demanding to take seismic factor into consideration as the region has witnessed major periodic earth quakes in recent decades. The demand of the people of Assam is in conformity with the global acceptance that damming of the rivers should be preceded by free prior informed consent of the people inhabiting the same basin.
But these concerns have been strategically and systematically ignored by the Central Government as well as on date by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh taking the advantage of the lukewarm dubious role playing by the Government of Assam. Hence itÂ’s the time for the Civil Societies of Assam to determine their fate in their own initiatives through collective action says ravindranath of River basin friends.
River Basin Friends
AKAJAN
District-Dhemaji.787059.
Assam. India
Chennai, Sep 28 (IANS) An anti-virus software built on patent pending intention-based technology and developed by Rudra Technologies was launched in Chennai Wednesday.
This breakthrough anti-virus technology, coming for the first time from an Indian inventor, will help provide computers "permanent and holistic protection from both known and unknown viruses, worms, spy ware and malicious software".
"The current anti-virus technologies are not effective in addressing unknown viruses," Rudra Technologies director and technology inventor N.S. Baskar told reporters here.
Rudra is a core solution and the patent pending technology is disruptive in nature in that it will forever change the key fundamentals of the anti-virus market, its inventor said.
Priced at $40, Rudra works on Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 client systems.
New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) Sania Mirza stunned top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 to progress to the third round of the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Tournament at Seoul Thursday.
According to the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) website, the Swiss ranked No. 9 won the first set easily but the 70th ranked Indian came back strongly to win the next two sets and pocket the second-round match.
On the last two occasions between the two, in Dubai and Kolkata recently, Hingis had emerged the winner.
In the semi-finals of the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata last week, Hingis defeated Sania 6-1, 6-0. And in Dubai earlier this year, Sania had lost 3-6, 5-7 in the first round.
Manila, Sep 28 (DPA) At least seven people were killed as Typhoon Xangsane whipped the Philippines Thursday, triggering widespread flooding, massive power outages and disruptions in public transportation, officials said.
More than 7,000 people were stranded in ports around the country after the coast guards banned all sea travel while all domestic and international flights were cancelled because of heavy rains and strong winds caused by Xangsane.
School classes at all levels and government work were cancelled in the affected areas, including Manila and nearby northern provinces.
Most private offices also sent their employees home early.
The weather bureau said Thursday that Xangsane weakened after it made landfall overnight in the eastern region of Bicol but was still packing maximum sustained winds of 110 km per hour and gusts of up to 140 km per hour.
The storm was moving northwest at 19 km per hour and was expected to cut through Manila and the northern provinces within the day.
Three people were killed in Quezon province after they were pinned by fallen trees, according to the social welfare office.
In the central province of Antique, where about 100 residents have been trapped in their homes in a flooded village since Wednesday, at least three people, including a 12-year-old boy, were also killed.
"We have so far confirmed that one died from drowning and another from hypothermia," Antique Vice Governor Rhodora Cadiao said. "The third fatality is an electric lineman who was killed while trying to repair an electric line."
Anthony Golez, spokesman for the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), urged the public to stay home.
In Manila, many areas were flooded while the capital's overhead commuter train system was shut down as a precautionary measure. Most communities were also without electricity.
Tokyo, Sep 28 (IANS) Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe feels India and Japan have the potential to create a new phase in Asia's history.
"I am convinced that we have a lot to learn from India," Abe told the "Namaste India" festival here organised by the India Centre Foundation in Japan, just a day before he took over as the youngest-ever prime minister of this country.
"India can be a strong partner of Japan in creating a new phase in Asian history and we also need this partnership for our mutual development," Abe said at the event that marked the 10th anniversary of the India Centre Foundation in Japan.
The 52-year-old head of government also recalled his visit to India last year and his "highly satisfying" meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - who is scheduled to visit Tokyo in December.
He also recalled the words of praise for India he had heard from his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi who, as Japan's prime minister, had visited India in 1957 and addressed a huge gathering at the Red Fort in New Delhi.
Abe also inaugurated an Internet portal - Voice of India - created in Japanese and English by the India Centre to push relations between India and Japan.
India Centre plans to publish it in the Chinese and Korean languages too, as part of its vision to promote a close alliance between India and all the countries of Far-East Asia and South-East Asia, officials said.
"Abe cancelled his other important engagements to be here. It shows how much he values our relationship with India," said Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, and added that his presence also showed his appreciation for the India Centre.
The "Namaste India" festival drew large weekend crowds Sep 23-24 - the number of visitors more than tripled from the 50,000 people who attended the event last year, officials at the India Centre here said.
The main attractions of the event this year were performances by sitar maestro Nishat Khan, Japanese Kathak exponent Masako Sato who learnt the art from Birju Maharaj, and another Japanese Odissi dancer Masako Ono.