Paddy crisis solved: Supplyco to lift paddy

Thiruvananthapuram: The crisis faced by cooperative societies because of the unlifting of paddy procured by them from the farmers in Kerala was solved at a conference convened by the State Government here.

As per the understanding reached at the conference, the State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) will begin lifting of paddy from the societies from tomorrow for milling, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adoor Prakash told mediapersons after the conference.

The societies and the Supplyco had reached an understanding on the prices of the paddy, he said by not mentioning what would be the prices. However, Prakash made it clear that the societies would not have to incur any loss on account of the procurement. He said the societies would also be allowed to supply rice to the Supplyco for which the price had been fixed at Rs 11.5 per kg.

Prakash said after milling the paddy, the rice would be distributed through the public distribution system by the Food Corporation of India. He said the supplyco would take paddy from societies in five districts and send it to rice mills for milling. About 50,000 tonnes of paddy remained unlifted with the societies in these districts.

Iceland agrees to co-sponsor draft resolution of G-4 nations

- -Reykjavik: In a boost to India's campaign for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, Iceland agreed to co-sponsor the draft resolution of G-4 countries to be tabled before the world body next month.

Addressing a joint press interaction with his Iceland counterpart Olafur Ragnar Grimsson after delegation-level talks between the two countries here, President APJ Abdul Kalam said Reykjavik has agreed to "co-sponsor the draft resolution of G-4 nations."

India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, which constitute the G-4 countries, had prepared a draft resolution on expansion recently. This will be placed before the world body next month in New York.

The President also thanked Iceland's continued support to India's candidature for permanent membership to the UNSC.

Kalam said the two sides discussed the possibility of carrying out research jointly on prediction of earthquakes. "If a breakthrough is achieved, it will be highly beneficial not only to the two countries but to the entire world," he said.

Cabinet reshuffle on cards in June

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may go in for a major Cabinet reshuffle in June, based on the performances of his ministers.

According to highly-placed sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), a reshuffle was on the cards ever since the fall of the Shibu Soren government in Jharkhand.

However, contradictory affidavits filed in the Supreme Court in the matter of former defence minister George Fernandes and the sudden demise of sports minister Sunil Dutt have given fresh impetus to the Cabinet expansion plan.

While there are indications that the portfolio of defence minister Pranab Mukherjee may be changed, the ministers holding additional charges may be asked to lessen the burden, sources in Congress said.

In the case of Mr Mukherjee, the filing of an affidavit in the apex court which gave Mr Fernandes a clean chit and landed the government in a spot, is being cited as the main reason for a change in portfolio. Former Kerala chief minister AK Antony, who has entered the Rajya Sabha, may get defence.

Rail Minister Lalu Prasad too may have to pay for charges against him in the fodder scam besides the sudden turn of events in Bihar. He may be shifted to a lighter Ministry.

JMM chief Shibu Soren, who had been unsuccessful in retaining power in Jharkhand, may be reinducted into the Cabinet.

Similarly, petroleum and panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and steel and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who have been holding dual charges, may be divested of one portfolio.

Some new faces, including Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot, may also find berths in the Cabinet.

French 'Non' puts EU in turmoil

French voters' clear "No" to the EU constitution has left European leaders struggling to define the way forward.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said there was now "a very serious problem" and there was no willingness to reopen negotiations.

In the French referendum almost 55% of people voted "No", with 45% in favour. Turnout was high, at about 70%.

It is a severe - perhaps fatal - blow to the EU constitution, which needs to be ratified by all 25 member states.

French President Jacques Chirac accepted the voters' "sovereign decision" on Sunday, but said it created "a difficult context for the defence of our interests in Europe". He had campaigned hard for a "Yes" vote.

Mr Chirac will address the nation on television on Tuesday and make an announcement about the French government, his office said.

Correspondents say it is widely expected that Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will step down.

The next big test for the EU comes in the Netherlands on Wednesday, when the Dutch vote in a referendum - and the "No" camp has a clear lead in the opinion polls.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair - whose government will take over the EU presidency on 1 July - called for "time for reflection". France's rejection of the constitution raised profound questions about Europe's future, he said.

The BBC's world affairs analyst Paul Reynolds says there is no Plan B for the EU and no clear way forward, with moves towards further integration now in doubt.

Struggle for unity

The constitution was finalised last year after long negotiations among EU governments. Its aim is to streamline EU institutions following the admission of 10 new members last year.
Member states can ratify the constitution through a referendum or by parliamentary vote. So far, nine countries have formally endorsed it and eight national referendums are still to come.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana insisted that the EU's international role must not suffer and warned Europeans against entering "a zone of paralysis psychologically".

The president of the European Parliament, Josep Borell, also put a brave face on the result, saying "I think we have to continue, asking the other countries" and "we should not stop the process" of ratification.

France in turmoil

Late on Sunday, jubilant "No" supporters gathered at the Place de la Bastille in Paris - where the French Revolution began - chanting "we won" and sounding horns.

Those who rejected the treaty came from across the political spectrum, including Communists, dissident socialists and right-wing parties.

One of the leading right-wing opponents of the treaty, Philippe de Villiers, said: "Europe has to be rebuilt. The constitution is no more."

He urged Mr Chirac either to stand down or dissolve parliament.

The leader of opposition Socialist party Francois Hollande, from the "Yes" campaign, voiced "regret" over the result, but blamed Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende urged his nation to approve the treaty despite France's rejection.

"There is all the more reason to say 'Yes' so that some progress can be recorded," he said.

Centre sanctions Kerala Rs 2,000 cr coconut revival project

Kochi: In a big boost to the revival hopes of the millions of farmers of Kerala, the Centre has sanctioned a Rs 1,924 crore project to replace the diseased coconut palms with new saplings. Disclosing this here on Friday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the disease-hit palms would be cut down and new saplings would be planted under the project.

The intimation of sanctioning the project received on Wednesday, he said while inaugurating the three-day coconut festival by the Coconut Development Board in connection with its silver jubilee celebrations.

Earlier speaking, State Agriculture Minister K.R. Gowri Amma said the project, third by the state in the last four years, finally was approved by the Centre and the state had been instructed to take further steps in this regard.

Secretary of Union Agriculture Cooperation Radha Singh said 50-60 per cent of the package would be mobilised as loans from the banks while the Central assistance would to be to the tune of Rs 230 crore.

Sethu project set to sail, dredging next month

NEW DELHI: The Central Government-owned Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) will begin dredging operations in the Palk Straits on the day following the laying of the foundation for the Rs.2427.40 crore Sethu Samudhram Ship Canal Project by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the presence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and DMK president M Karunanidhi.

The ceremony is scheduled for the third week of June, depending on the date cleared by the PMO.

The operations will be carried out simultaneously in the Palk Straits, Adam's Bridge and the Gulf of Mannar, with the dredged residue being dumped in the sea itself, at points having a depth of over 25 metres. Dumping points will be 25-30 km away from Adam's Bridge near Dhanushkodi. A DCI ship will be made available immediately for the work.

Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu, the key man behind the country's dream project, told this website’s newspaper that initially the Ministry had wanted to use the dredged materials as landfill near Dhanushkodi, off Rameswaram, to reclaim the land which had been devastated by a cyclone. But this proposal did not get a positive response from the State Government, with even the Environment Ministry objecting.

In fact, this was one of the 22 conditions imposed while clearing the project. “But in this way we will be saving about Rs.100 crore by deciding to dump the materials in the deep sea,” Baalu said.

According to estimates, the dredging operation will be conducted in a total of 83 million cubic metres area of the sea of which the DCI will take care of 13 million cubic metres. The Shipping Ministry will ensure that regular fishing activity and ship movement to the nearby Tuticorin Port are not affected during the operations.

“The project will provide a lot of job opportunities as about 11 persons will be required to dredge one tonne of material from the deep sea,” says Baalu.

The objective of the 157-km long project is to deepen the sea between India and Sri Lanka to a depth up to 12 metres so as to allow the sailing of vessels up to 10 metres deep. Presently the Gulf of Mannar is shallow and in some places the depth is just 3 metres, he points out.

Besides the DCI, three other agencies will be involved in the works. The Sethu Samudhram Corporation Limited, the special purpose vehicle created for the project, will call for international tenders for the dredging.

The Minister will be visiting the project site on June 4 and 5 to get first-hand details of the project.

Experts from the Suez Canal and Panama Canal authorities will visit the project site soon, says Baalu. While the Suez experts will provide expertise on how to work out costs for the sailing of ships in the canal and safety measures to be adopted by the vessels while cruising the canal, the Panama canal authorities would train personnel involved in the dredging works on the latest techniques.

Leaders split on nuclear treaty

Nuclear chiefs have failed to agree new measures to stop weapons proliferation after a month of talks in New York.
Delegates from 188 nations had been discussing ways to beef up the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which first came into force in 1970.

The accord aims to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, achieve disarmament and promote nuclear energy.

But even amid international concerns about nuclear activities in Iran and North Korea, no deal was struck.



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Politics and procedural wranglings dogged the planned review of the treaty from the start, the BBC's Jonathan Marcus reports from the UN headquarters in New York.

He adds that it is hard to see the conference as anything other than a lost opportunity to bolster the NPT.

'Wasted weeks'

"I regret that the conference has not reached consensus," conference chairman Brazilian Sergio Duarte told the delegates on the final day of the talks.
Three separate committees had been discussing the three key areas that the treaty covers - nuclear disarmament, safeguards on national nuclear programmes and the peaceful use of atomic energy.

Arms control advocates say the US delegation came intent on focusing on the proliferation side of the equation and was totally unwilling to give any ground on US pledges to scrap its nuclear arsenal, our correspondent says.

The delegates also wasted two weeks of the talks arguing on empty procedural wrangling, he says.

In recent months the US and Iran in particular have been at loggerheads over Tehran's nuclear activities.

Washington accuses Iran of using its nuclear energy programme as a cover for developing nuclear weapons - a charge Tehran denies.

Global threat

When the talks began in May, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on world leaders to reinforce their commitment to a treaty and for former Cold War rivals Russia and the US to reduce their current nuclear arsenals.

Mr Annan warned then of the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe.

"In our interconnected world, a threat to one is a threat to all, and we all share responsibility for each other's security," he said.

"The plain fact is that the regime has not kept pace with the march of technology and globalisation, and developments of many kinds in recent years have placed it under great stress."

Now, a grama sabha for children

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a society where elders fix priorities and requirements of children, the Karakulam Grama Panchayat here has taken the lead in conducting a grama sabha exclusively for the future citizens.

The panchayat committee has decided to provide a forum for the children where they will get a chance to air their demands and also get to know what they can expect from the panchayat as well as the Government.

Preliminary step


As a preliminary step to conducting the sabha in June, the panchayat recently organised a get-together of 10 children. And the response was very enthusiastic.

According to the president, R. Sivarajan, the children who came for the meeting were initially shy, but soon were in their elements with each speaking his mind on a number of serious issues.

First in the State


Mr. Sivarajan, who is also the general secretary of the Grama Panchayat Association, claimed the children's grama sabha was a first in the State.

"We are the first to conduct a grama sabha for children. This is the first step for making Karakulam a child-friendly panchayat. We should ideally not take the children for granted. Elders should try to solicit their views on all important issues. Without anyone to prompt them, the children who attended the meeting started listing out their needs and also held forth on what they expected from the panchayat and also the Government. We were really inspired by their performance and now we have determined to do something creative for them," says Mr. Sivarajan.

Lack of playground and libraries was one of their major complaints. Since there was not enough open space, they were being deprived of a chance to hone their skills in sports and games. Suggestions to open more libraries also came up at the discussion.

Suggestions galore

They demanded a change in school timings. A majority of them wanted their classes to begin at 7 a.m. - and had a valid reason, too. Crossing the roads after 8 a.m. is an arduous task on weekdays. Often, they have to wait till they get the help of elders to go to school safely. A change in timings is the best option, they said.

The panchayat had formed a `Kala Gramam' to promote the artistic and cultural instincts of the people.

The children had a genuine grievance that the `Kala Gramam' is in a remote place and out of their reach. They made a fervent request to open more branches of the `Kala Gramam' at different parts of the panchayat.

Some of them spoke about the issue of child labour in the panchayat.

"They emotionally spoke about children of their age working in nearby shops for a pittance. It appeared as if they were agitated by the plight of their friends," Mr. Sivarajan said.

All these were spontaneous responses and the committee is planning to hold a bigger session with better participation.

A peer group has been formed to organise the sabha where the children will prepare a charter of demands and present it to the panchayat.

The committee will discuss their demands and take suitable action in the interest of the children, says Mr. Sivarajan

Bush pledges aid to Palestinians

US President George W Bush has pledged $50m in direct aid for the Palestinian Authority, at a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Bush also reiterated his commitment to the roadmap for peace and the creation of a Palestinian state.

He said that Israel must not take any actions that violated its roadmap obligations and said all settlement expansion on the West Bank must stop.

Mr Abbas is the first Palestinian leader to be hosted by Mr Bush.

He said that he was more confident about the role the US administration would play in achieving peace, but that time was short.

"Time is becoming our greatest enemy, we should end this conflict before it is too late," he said.

'Moment of opportunity'

The new aid is part of a $350m package earmarked for the Palestinians.

It will go to fund housing and infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip.

"These funds will be used to improve the quality of life of the Palestinians living in Gaza, where poverty and unemployment are very high," Mr Bush said.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says that while the money is a pat on the back for Mr Abbas, the US does not want him to feel so comfortable that he fails to take actions it regards as necessary to guarantee Israeli security.

Mr Abbas had asked Congress to channel financial assistance directly to the Palestinian Authority, instead of to NGOs.

US politicians have been reluctant to do that, accusing the PA of corruption, and preferring to fund aid agencies and non-governmental organisations.

Mr Bush also urged other Arab states to help create a supportive environment by providing financial help and refusing those wedded to violence.

He said that the Middle East had reached a moment of opportunity, and this could be transformed into real momentum.

"We remain committed to the roadmap as the only vision of two states living side by side," he said.


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Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip could lay the groundwork for a return to the roadmap, he added.

Mr Bush also praised Mr Abbas for rejecting violence and embracing democracy.

"You have made a start on a difficult journey, requiring courage and leadership each day," he said. "And we will take that journey together."

He urged Israel to remove unauthorised settlement outposts and stop the expansion of existing settlements in the West Bank.

The US president added that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would visit Jerusalem and Ramallah before the Israel withdrawal from Gaza.

Thaw

Mr Abbas is keen for the US to bring Israel's planned unilateral withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip under the auspices of the roadmap.

The roadmap plan, sponsored by the US, European Union, Russia and the United Nations, has been largely deadlocked since it was launched two years ago.

It sets out a phase-by-phase path to ending the conflict within two years, setting up a viable independent Palestinian state and ensuring a secure Israel.

Mr Abbas' visit illustrates the thaw in relations between the US and the Palestinians since the death of Yasser Arafat, who was shunned by Mr Bush.

In Gaza, BBC correspondent Alan Johnston says there is little optimism about the Washington meeting, because they believe the US will not push Israel into the kind of deal that Palestinians would find acceptable.

CCEA approves special packages for tea & coffee industries

New Delhi: Government on Thursday approved a Rs 93 crore special package for the tea industry aimed at promoting modernisation and development of the plantation crop.


The new schemes would be implemented by Tea Board during the remaining period of the 10th Plan period, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.

The funds would be made available from the special fund created with collections of additional excise duty on tea, Chidambaram said. The approved tea package has two components.

An amount of Rs 65 crore would be extended as subsidy for orthodox tea production while the remaining Rs 28 crore would meet the actual deficits of the tea research and development institutions, viz Tea Reseach Association at Tocklai in Assam and United Planters' Association for South India Tea Research Foundation.

The subsidy for production of orthodox tea is a one time scheme that would remain valid during the period 1st January 2005 to 31st March 2007. CCEA has approved the subsidy scheme for production of orthodox tea at Rs 3 per kg for leaf grades and Rs 2 per kg for dust grades for existing levels of production with additional incentives at Rs 2 per kg for the incremental volume over the previous year from 1st January 2005 to March 31, 2007. The actual deficit of two institutions would be met for a period of five years from 2004-05.

There will also be a comprehensive relief package for the coffee industry.

The package meant for the coffee industry would provide much needed financial relief the coffee growers, who are facing financial difficulties, the minister said.

GAIL gets land for Rs 800 cr project in Kochi

Kochi; Pushing its plans for big investment in Kerala, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has got the land required for its Rs 800 crore extraction plant, setting in motion the process of acquiring land for the Rs 7,000 crore gas cracker complex, both of which would come up in the district.

Cochin Port Trust (CPT) has in principle agreed to hand over 25 hectare of land at Puthuvyppin near here to GAIL for setting up a plant for C2-C3 extraction from LNG gas, proposed to be imported by Petronet LNG Ltd.

This was formally decided at a meeting between GAIL Chairman Prashanto Banerjee and CPT Chairman Jacob Thomas and other senior officials of the two organisations.

The CPT, in principle, decided to allot the land adjacent to the LNG terminal complex, proposed to be set up by Petronet LNG Ltd. GAIL's Rs 800-crore plant would help reduce the energy loss as the project would be set up close to the LNG terminal complex.

On GAIL's plans for the Rs 7,000 crore gas cracker complex, in collaboration with the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, at FACT, Udyogamandal near here, it was decided that a joint task force would be formed to work out modalities.

This was decided at the meeting yesterday between FACT Chairman S Balan and Banerjee, who also visited the site. GAIL had demanded 500 acre of land for the project, which was officially announced by the Prime Minister during his visit to Kerala in February.

The joint task force will work out modalities of the land, including the price. GAIL would bring LNG from Petronet LNG terminal coming up at Puthuvypin. The projects are likely to go on stream in 2010.

Apart from these, a Rs 2,500 crore joint venture between NTPC and GAIL was also among the fast track projects with the Union Ministries of Power and Petroleum.

Sonia set to be re-elected party chief

NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi is all set to be re-elected Congress president unopposed. All 89 nominations filed on Wednesday for the post were in favour of the incumbent. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the first to propose her name. But for the sudden death of Cabinet Minister Sunil Dutt, the number of nominations would have crossed the 100-mark as expected by party managers.

Soon after his death was confirmed, it was decided that Ms. Gandhi would not give her consent for any more nominations. As no nomination will be complete without the consent of the candidate, this decision virtually capped the exercise.

Officially, however, the central election authority will accept nominations till Friday afternoon.

Though scrutiny of the papers and their publication were to be taken up within an hour of the close of nominations, the exercise has been postponed to the following day as May 27 is Jawaharlal Nehru's death anniversary.

Elaborate preparations


Elaborate preparations were made for the filing of nominations with delegates from across the country swarming the Congress headquarters from early hours. Most Congress Chief Ministers and practically all Pradesh Congress Committee presidents were in attendance.

The exercise began with the Prime Minister leading veterans of the party to Ms. Gandhi's residence.

After securing her consent, Dr. Singh — accompanied by practically the entire central leadership — went to the Congress headquarters.

The first set of papers was signed, besides by Dr. Singh, by five Ministers — Shivraj Patil, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Arjun Singh, G. Venkataswamy and P. R. Kyndiah — and senior leaders Ambika Soni, M.L. Fotedar, Digvijay Singh and Mohsina Kidwai.

Soon after, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee led another set of senior leaders for filing the second set of nominations.

My privilege: Manmohan


In a brief interaction with the media, the Prime Minister said: "It was my proud privilege to propose Ms. Gandhi's name for the post of Congress president." Asked whether the party had no other leader for the post, he said the nation already decided on her leadership.

That most States did not heed the central leadership's advice to limit the number of nominations was evident from the filing of 89 sets before she cut short the exercise.

The big States were asked to file a maximum of five nominations, the middle-sized States not more than three and the small ones one each.

Among the last nominations filed was the one proposed by Ms. Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi.

Son of Mother India passes away

MUMBAI: Sunil Dutt, one of Bollywood’s best-known faces and Union Sports Minister, passed away in his sleep on Wednesday following a heart attack.

The 75-year-old, who shot to fame with his role in the classic Mother India, is survived by his actor-son Sanjay and two daughters.

Family sources said Dutt, who would have turned 76 on June 6, had been down with fever for the past few days. He did not surface this morning at his usual time of 7 am. At 11 am, his family decided to check on him. A doctor who was called in declared him dead.

News of his death sent shock waves across the country because Dutt was a hugely popular figure. People turned up in large numbers at his home to pay their last respects.

The Union Cabinet condoled his death and declared a day’s national mourning on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Dutt as a “colourful and charismatic” personality and a celebrity in the world of cinema who touched the hearts of millions with his purposeful and socially relevant roles in films.

“Deeply influenced by our ethos and traditions, he brought to bear on his thinking and outlook the liberal, secular and Gandhian values of our society,” Singh said.

He recalled how Dutt, with his actress wife Nargis, organised the Ajanta Arts Welfare Troupe to entertain jawans in the border areas during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars, and how he mobilised public opinion for the fight against cancer.

A five-time MP, Dutt contested his first Lok Sabha elections after joining the Congress in 1984.

Dutt acted in scores of films including the classic Mother India, which propelled him to stardom, Gumraah, Waqt, Sujata, Humraaz, Padosan, Khandaan, Milan, Reshma aur Shera. More recently, he appeared with his actor-son Sanjay Dutt in Munnabhai MBBS.

Born on June 6, 1929 in a the village of Khurd in Jhelum district (now in Pakistan), Dutt grew up as Balraj Dutt in a family that had survived Partition.

A student of Mumbai’s Jai Hind College, he started off as a radio show host and celebrity interviewer, his first encounter with the glamour world. Wife-to-be Nargis was one of the celebrities he met in the course of his work.

His first film was Railway Platform in 1955 with Johnny Walker and Nalini Jaywant as co-stars. But it was Mehboob Khan’s epic Mother India which catapulted him to stardom and saw Dutt tie the knot with Nargis.

His last screen cameo was the laugh riot Munnabhai MBBS where he played father to son Sanjay.

FBI records detail Koran claims

An inmate at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp accused US guards of flushing a Koran down the toilet back in 2002, declassified FBI documents reveal.
The disclosure follows a row over a similar claim made in Newsweek, which the magazine was forced to retract.

The Newsweek claims sparked protests across the Muslim world, and riots in Afghanistan that killed 15 people.

The Pentagon said last week it had seen "no credible and specific allegations" about putting a Koran in a toilet.

Newsweek last week apologised for, and then retracted its report, after saying it could not corroborate the story.

The White House rounded on the magazine, saying its report had done "lasting damage" to the US image in the Muslim world.

But the FBI documents made public on Wednesday, after a request from the human rights group American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), show that such allegations had been made at Guantanamo Bay.

After interviewing a detainee, an unnamed FBI agent wrote on 1 August 2002: "Personally, he has nothing against the United States. The guards in the detention facility do not treat him well. Their behaviour is bad.

"About five months ago, the guards beat the detainees. They flushed a Koran in the toilet.

"The guards dance around when the detainees are trying to pray. The guards still do these things."

Guantanamo 'gulag'

The ACLU said the documents showed the Pentagon was aware of such allegations being made at Guantanamo Bay long ago, but had repeatedly turned a blind eye to "mounting evidence of widespread abuse".

The Pentagon did not immediately comment on the documents, but officials have said recently that various claims made by former detainees have been proved false.

Officials say they have begun comparing detainee complaints to see if any are corroborated.

ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said: "Unfortunately, one thing we've learned over the last couple of years is that detainee statements about their treatment at Guantanamo and other detention centres sometimes have turned out to be more credible than US government statements."

Other FBI documents released on Wednesday detailed further accusations, including one by a detainee who said a female interrogator wiped his face with her menstrual blood.

Meanwhile Amnesty International urged the US to shut Guantanamo Bay, calling it "the gulag of our time".

In a report the group said the US had undermined human rights across the world, by trying to "redefine and sanitise torture".

The White House dismissed the report as "ridiculous and unsupported".

Spokesman Scott McClellan said allegations of mistreatment were being investigated.

More than 500 people are being held at Guantanamo Bay, the US naval base on Cuba, suspected of links to the al-Qaeda network.

Some have been detained for more than three years, but have not been charged.

US wants India, Pak, Israel to be non-nuclear weapon states

Washington: The United States wants India, Pakistan and Israel to "eventually" become non-nuclear weapon states, but recognizes that it is an impossible goal now.

US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation, Andrew K. Sammel, in a statement to the 2005 Review Conference on NPT in New York said : "The United States shares the view that the Conference should reinforce the goal of universal NPT adherence. That goal is for Israel, India and Pakistan to eventually join the Treaty as non-nuclear weapon States." "The situation in South Asia also poses unique challenges. Let me reiterate that the United States remains committed to NPT universality. We recognize, however, that India and Pakistan may not join the Treaty for the foreseeable future," the statement, released in Washington, said. "We remain deeply concerned by the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and their delivery systems in South Asia and do not believe they enhance regional security."



"We welcome recent signs of improved relations between India and Pakistan. We continue to urge both countries to end their nuclear and missile competition, and to discuss and implement confidence-building measures designed to reduce regional tensions and diminish risks that nuclear weapons could be used, either intentionally or accidentally, in a crisis."

House Approves a Stem Cell Bill Fought by Bush

WASHINGTON, May 24 - The House passed a bill on Tuesday to expand federal financing for embryonic stem cell research, defying a veto threat from President Bush, who appeared at the White House with babies and toddlers born of test-tube embryos and warned the measure "would take us across a critical ethical line."



The vote, 238 to 194 with 50 Republicans in favor, fell far short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a presidential veto, setting up a possible showdown between Congress and Mr. Bush, who has never exercised his veto power. An identical bill has broad bipartisan support in the Senate; moments after the House vote, the Senate sponsors wrote to the Republican leader, Bill Frist, urging him to put it on the agenda.



The House action is the first vote on embryonic stem cell research since August 2001, when Mr. Bush opened the door to taxpayer financing for the studies, but only with strict limits. The new bill permits the government to pay for studies involving human embryos that are in frozen storage at fertility clinics, so long as couples conceiving the embryos certified that they had made a decision to discard them.



"The White House cannot ignore this vote," said the bill's chief Republican backer, Representative Michael N. Castle of Delaware, adding, "I'm elated."



But opponents also said they were elated. Representative Joseph R. Pitts, Republican of Pennsylvania, said: "I hate to lose, but I feel pretty good about this vote. We beat a veto-proof margin by 50 votes."



The big question now is what will happen in the Senate. Dr. Frist, a heart surgeon from Tennessee who supports the existing policy, is already facing intense pressure from conservatives over the issue of Mr. Bush's judicial nominees and does not seem eager to schedule a vote on stem cell research. He said last week that he wanted to check with his colleagues before doing so.



The House vote followed an impassioned lobbying campaign by advocates for patients, including Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan, who became a strong backer of stem cell research as her husband struggled with Alzheimer's disease, telephoned fellow Republicans this week urging a yes vote, Mr. Castle said.



But Mr. Bush countered with a powerful one-two punch, throwing the full weight of the White House behind the opposition. On Friday, he issued a rare threat to veto the Castle bill. On Tuesday, just hours before the vote, he appeared in the East Room of the White House with families created by a rare but growing practice in which one couple donates its frozen embryos to another.



"The children here today remind us that there is no such thing as a spare embryo," Mr. Bush said, amid the squeals and coos of babies cradled in their mothers' arms. "Every embryo is unique and genetically complete, like every other human being. And each of us started out our life this way. These lives are not raw material to be exploited, but gifts."



The parents, who worked through a Christian adoption agency, applauded enthusiastically. When Mr. Bush said that "every human life is a precious gift of matchless love," a mother behind him on stage mouthed the word "Amen."



The White House event, on what conservative Christians and the president call an important "culture of life" issue, demonstrated just how far Mr. Bush is willing to assert himself on policy that goes to what he considers the moral heart of his presidency. In another sign of how important the issue is to conservatives, the House Republican leader, Tom DeLay of Texas, managed the opposition to the bill, also casting it in stark moral terms.



"An embryo is a person, a distinct internally directed, self-integrating human organism," Mr. DeLay said, adding, "We were all at one time embryos ourselves. So was Abraham. So was Muhammad. So was Jesus of Nazareth."



He went on: "The choice to protect a human embryo from federally funded destruction is not, ultimately, about the human embryo. It is about us, and our rejection of the treacherous notion that while all human lives are sacred, some are more sacred than others."

Any pact on Kashmir will need international guarantees: General

ISLAMABAD: Adding a new dimension to the peace process on Kashmir, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said he would prefer some kind of ‘‘international guarantees’’ for implementation of any pact reached with India on the issue, which he wants to be settled in a year’s time.



‘‘I don’t know, I haven’t thought of this point, but may be the peace process should be guaranteed by the international community. I think if we reach an agreement there should be something other than just bilateral guarantees. I think the international community should play a role in the guarantees. And this is a new thing that I am saying,’’ he said in an interview to Pakistan’s Daily Times.



Last week, he said a solution to the Kashmir issue cannot be on ‘‘any religious basis’’ and will have to be found within India’s stand of no redrawing borders, Pakistan’s stand that the LoC cannot be a permanent border and the boundaries becoming irrelevant.



In the interview, Musharraf said: ‘‘We are talking of guarantees which go beyond us. If we reach an agreement and we are reasonably sure that it will be followed, there is no harm why we should be so stuck up. I think we will have better permanence if the international community is involved, finally, in the guarantee.’’



Responding to a query on where he sees the peace process heading in the next one year, Musharraf said ‘‘if we move forward, which we can, if we have the courage I am very sure this (Kashmir) whole issue can be put behind in 12 months.’’



He said the process may take a better shape within a year’s time. ‘‘I see them looking much better. My only hope is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stays and is allowed to move forward. I am very glad to say that my interaction with BJP leaders, Advani and Vajpayee, has been very good. The only thing that I said was please don’t oppose it because you are in the Opposition. And then the coalition partners, the Communist members who are very strong in the coalition, they are totally on board. We must resolve this issue,’’ he said.



He claimed that Singh had allowed Hurriyat leaders to travel to Pakistan for which Islamabad had extended an invitation to the moderate and hardline factions of the separatist outfit on Monday.



Asked who would represent Kashmiris at the talks, Musharraf said: ‘‘This is another sensitive issue. I feel the true representatives of Kashmiris is the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the APHC. We feel that there has to be a trilateral arrangement where Kashmiris become part of the dialogue process.’’



In the same breath, he claimed ‘‘now the Kashmiris are the APHC and there are Pakistan and India. Now we have a breakthrough. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has allowed them to travel to Pakistan. So once they visit us and they also talk to the Indian government, which we will try to facilitate, we shall have a trilateral arrangement going.’’



‘‘Let us start from here and see if there is any other group who also represent the Kashmiris and need to be included. If so, then let’s bring them together. As I said, if you are moving forward towards a resolution I am sure these are small issues that can be solved as we move forward. Let’s move forward, as I said, towards demilitarisation and issues of governance.’’



He said he did not want to be drawn into a ‘‘debate on sensitive issues’’ such as inviting elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir like leaders of the ruling PDP and the Opposition National Conference.



Replying to a question that even moderate Hurriyat leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq have ‘‘accepted the fact that the APHC is not the exclusive representative of the Kashmiris’’, the PDP and the National Conference have their constituencies and also represent the Kashmiris, he said: ‘‘I am not going to comment on it. To us, the APHC is the sole representative. But if we see forward movement and flexibility on the other side, we would like to show flexibility on our side. But I will not show flexibility if I don’t see flexibility on the other side.’’



To a question whether he was in a position to enforce a ceasefire by militants in Kashmir, Musharraf said militancy could die a natural death if there is an agreement acceptable to India, Pakistan and Kashmiris and he could try to persuade the militants to stop their activities if India was willing to demilitarise.



‘‘If there is an agreement, up to a point one can try and do something (on ceasefire). But I can’t give a guarantee that there will no bullet fired. Absolutely not, that’s clear. I don’t hold a whistle which when I blow it will end all militancy.’’



Referring to the April 6 attack on a bus station in Srinagar, Musharraf said he was against it. ‘‘We are going in a certain direction. Obviously, these are individuals who don’t agree with me or with the Indian Prime Minister.



Unfortunately, these elements will be there to create problems in the transition period. But they will die their own death if we reach a conclusion which the vast majority of Kashmiris and Pakistanis and Indians are willing to accept.’’



‘‘If there is willingness on the part of the Indians to demilitarise, and if the requirement is that there is no militant activity there, then one could get involved in a discussion with all roots and try to persuade and influence them to stop this activity. But this has to be tied in with demilitarisation because there is so much of mistrust and these things can’t be one-sided. It cannot be that you stop all your activities and we will stop or demilitarise later. This is not do-able. It has to be taken as a package,’’ he said.



‘Siachen, Sir Creek unnecessary irritants’



* On Siachen, Sir Creek: Intentions are very good on both sides. Both are actually troublesome on both sides, unnecessary irritants which can be resolved



* On Baglihar: We have taken it to the World Bank. There is a mediator now, a Swiss gentleman who has been nominated. Let him decide. India dragged its feet so long on bilateral discussions that it pushed Pakistan to demand a neutral expert

Lens method finds far-off world

An international team of astronomers has found a planet which, at about 15,000 light-years from Earth, is one of the most distant yet detected.



The new world was discovered when its parent star's gravity distorted the light from an even more distant star.



The way the distant star's light changed betrayed the planet's presence.



Two amateur astronomers in New Zealand helped find the world using "backyard" telescopes, showing that almost anyone can become a planet hunter.



The newly discovered world is several times the mass of Jupiter, but astronomers say the microlensing technique used to find the planet worked so well that it could be used to find much smaller, Earth-sized planets.



Pattern in the signal



Microlensing occurs when a massive object in space, like a star, crosses in front of another star shining in the background.



The near object's gravity bends the light rays from the more distant object and magnifies them like a lens. Here on Earth, we see the star get brighter as the lens crosses in front, and then fade as the lens moves away.



On 17 March 2005, Andrzej Udalski, professor of astronomy at Warsaw University, Poland, and leader of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (Ogle), noticed that just such an event was about to occur near the centre of our galaxy.



A month later, when the more distant star had brightened a hundred-fold, astronomers from Ogle and from the Microlensing Follow Up Network (MicroFun) detected a new pattern in the signal - a rapid distortion of the brightening - which could only be explained by an additional object close to the foreground star - a planet.



"There's absolutely no doubt that the star in front has a planet, which caused the deviation we saw," said Andrew Gould, of the University of Ohio, US.



Gould's estimate of a 15,000-light-year distance to the new planet is an approximation, and he says he will need more data to refine the number. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year - about 9.5 trillion km (six trillion miles).



Global network



Because the scientists were able to monitor the light signal with high precision, Gould thinks the technique could easily have revealed an even smaller planet.



"If an Earth-mass planet was in the same position, we would have been able to detect it," he said.



Ogle finds more than 600 microlensing events each year using a dedicated 1.3m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. MicroFun is a collaboration of astronomers from the US, Korea, New Zealand, and Israel that picks out those events that are most likely to reveal planets and monitors them from telescopes around the world.



"That allows us to watch these events 24/7," Gould said. "When the Sun rises at one location, we continue to monitor from the next."



Two of these telescopes belong to two avid New Zealand amateur astronomers who were recruited by the MicroFun team. Grant Christie of Auckland used a 14-inch (35cm) telescope, and Jennie McCormick of Pakuranga used a 10-inch (25cm) telescope.



Both share co-authorship on the paper submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Antony a surprise choice

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress High Command's decision to nominate former Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony as the candidate for the June 3 Rajya Sabha by-election from the state has come as a surprise as his name was not there in the panel of probables submitted by the KPCC to the Central leadership.



Antony will be filing his nomination on Tuesday. The former chief minister himself had shown no interest in grabbing the upper house berth, left vacant by veteran leader K. Karunakaran after he broke away from the Congress and floated National Congress Indira.



According to sources, it was around 8 P.M. that the AICC General Secretary in charge of Kerala affairs, Ahmed Patel, called Antony to inform him that he was going to be the choice for the Rajya Sabha berth. Though initially reluctant, the former chief minister accepted the high command decision as it was the choice of AICC President Sonia Gandhi. Talking to reporters later, Antony said "it is a bit surprising, a bit dramatic".



Meanwhile, announcing the candidature of Antony in Thiruvananthapuram, KPCC president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai told newspersons that considering the strength of the Congress-led United Democratic Front in the Kerala Assembly, the former Kerala Chief Minister will have smooth entry into the Upper House of Parliament.



It was a last minute decision to send Antony, three-time Kerala Chief Minister and former Union Minister to the Rajya Sabha and he himself described it as a ''dramatic move.'' ''I came to know about it only this evening,'' Mr Antony said, adding that as a loyal party worker he would abide by the decision of the High Command and do the best for the state.



There were several aspirants for the post within the Congress. Coalition partner in the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) - Kerala Congress (M) - had also put forward its strong claim for the seat.



Arackaparambil Kurian Antony, was the Chief Minister of Kerala during 1977-78, 1995-96, and 2001-2004. He was the Leader of Opposition in Kerala Legislative Assembly during 1996 to 2001.



Born on December 28, 1940 as the son of Arackaparambil Kurian Pillai and Elikutty at Cherthala in Alappuzha, he had his primary education in Government High school, Cherthala and took his degree in BA from Maharajas College and BL from Law College, Ernakulam. He came to the public platform leading the student's movements as an activist of Kerala Student's Union (KSU). He served as the president of KSU, Youth Congress and KPCC before becoming the AICC General Secretary in 1984. He was elected several times to the Congress Working Committee.



Antony was a member of Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 91 and 1991 to 1995 and was the minister for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution in Narasimha Rao ministry.

NDA says democracy murdered; LJP, RJD in blame-game

New Delhi: BJP-led NDA on Monday reacted angrily to the dissolution of Bihar Assembly terming the Centre's action as "murder of democracy" while two other key players in the state politics RJD and LJP blamed each other for the development and the Congress said that there was no option left.



Demanding immediate holding of elections, the NDA called for a Bihar Bandh on Tuesday to protest against the Centre's action. It also demanded recall of Governor Buta Singh accusing him of acting as a "UPA spokesman" and said the opposition had lost confidence in him.



BJP said it will challenge the decision in a court of law. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad welcomed the dissolution of the 243-member House and predicted political realignments to "correct past mistakes". Without naming LJP Chief Ram Vilas Paswan, whose party had held the key to government formation after the fractured verdict from the last Assembly elections, Lalu said people of Bihar would not forgive those responsible for imposition of President's Rule and dissolution of the state Assembly.



However, turning the tables against Prasad, Paswan blamed the RJD leader for rejecting all his proposals for having a secular government led by a Muslim Chief Minister. "Who is responsible for dissolution of the state Assembly? He (Lalu) himself wanted it as he was feeling very uneasy out of power."



Accusing RJD and BJP of trying to break his party and playing a "dirty game", Paswan alleged that BJP and NDA had "infiltrated" persons into his party to contest assembly polls and then desert him.



Governor Buta Singh, who is here, rubbished the charge that he had acted under "duress" and said his recommendation for dissolution of Assembly was aimed at preventing horse trading and protecting democracy.



NDA leaders held an emergency meeting following which its Chairman and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee termed the Centre's action as a "murder of democracy" and a "dictatorial step" and accused the Congress of taking the anti-democratic step like earlier in Goa and Jharkhand.



JD-U leader Nitish Kumar, whom the NDA had projected as Bihar Chief Minister in the last polls, demanded appointment of an "apolitical" person as Governor to ensure free and fair polls as Buta Singh was acting as "spokesman of UPA" and said "we have lost confidence in him".



Welcoming the decision, AICC general secretary in charge of Bihar Harikesh Bahadur said there was no other option in the wake of large scale "horse-trading, kidnapping and bribing" of MLAs by BJP and NDA.



Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said that the mandate of the last assembly polls was "definitely" for secular forces and not for BJP-led NDA. He said it was not merely the horse-trading but the "abduction of MLAs", which has been a "characteristic trait" of BJP which was a matter of "serious concern".



"In the interest of democracy, a fresh mandate from people in Bihar is the only way out", he said. Both CPI(M) and CPI, which support the UPA government at the Centre from outside, also welcomed the dissolution.

Major Zimbabwe police crackdown

Almost 10,000 people have been arrested since Wednesday in a police operation in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

Paramilitary units armed with batons and riot shields have been smashing up stalls of street traders as they target the huge informal sector.



"Police will leave no stone unturned in their endeavour to flush out economic saboteurs," Police Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka told the state media.



The black market has thrived as jobless Zimbabweans struggle to make a living.



The country faces shortages of many basics like petrol, maize and toothpaste, and the head of the UN's emergency relief agency is visiting this week to discuss importing food aid.



The police chief said informal business operators had been arrested and fined for operating without licences or possessing scarce staple items such as maize meal, sugar and petrol intended for resale on the black market.



But many of the flea market traders selling second-hand goods have been licensed.



Police have destroyed 34 flea markets and netted some Z$900m ($100,000) in fines and seized some Z$2.2bn of goods.



Zimbabweans in Harare are said to be absolutely furious at the police operation codenamed "restore order".



Clash



Police are hoping to prevent a repeat of protests seen in the last few days by stopping city-bound commuter minibuses.



Angry demonstrators clashed with police at the weekend in what AP news agency described as the most serious unrest seen since the ruling party won March parliamentary elections.



In recent days only a few government buses have been running, leaving thousands of commuters stranded.



Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said President Robert Mugabe was seeking an excuse to impose a State of Emergency and had ordered the crackdown to stop second-hand dealers undercutting cheap imports from China.



Similar operations are taking place in the cities of Gweru and Bulawayo.



The Zimbabwean dollar was devalued by 45% last week.

Bush rejects Karzai army demand

President George W Bush has ruled out handing over command of US troops in Afghanistan to the government there.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he would demand the move during talks with Mr Bush at the White House.



It follows anger over fresh details of torture and the deaths of two Afghan citizens at the main US military base in the country.



"Our troops will respond to US commanders," Mr Bush told journalists, when pressed on the issue.



He said the US and Afghans would "co-operate and consult" over military operations.



He also made no commitment to hand over prisoners to the Afghan authorities.



'Great faith'



The White House talks were preceded by controversies over prisoner torture and Mr Karzai's record on eradicating Afghanistan's illegal drugs trade.

But the two men began their remarks to journalists by strongly praising each other.



"I've got great faith in this man as a leader," Mr Bush said.



And Mr Bush announced that the two men had signed a strategic partnership for the long-term future of Afghanistan that strengthens military, economic and political ties.



Mr Karzai told journalists afterwards that "we are sad" about the abuse of Afghans by US troops, but that it did not reflect on the American people - "these things happen everywhere" he said.



Anti-US feeling in Afghanistan emerged in a wave of riots this month.



'Not acceptable'



The days before Monday's talks at the White House saw renewed controversy over the torture and killing of Afghan detainees at Bagram.





"This is simply not acceptable," Mr Karzai told CNN television on Sunday night. "We are angry about this. We want justice."

New details surrounding the killing of two Afghans at Bagram in 2002, and the torture of other inmates were published by the New York Times on Friday.



Seven soldiers have so far been charged in connection with the two deaths.



The report led Mr Karzai to insist that during his talks with Mr Bush he would request the handover of all Afghan detainees in US custody and also control over US military operations in Afghanistan.



It detailed how prisoners were chained to ceilings and beaten. One female interrogator was reported to have stepped on a man's neck and kicked another in the genitals.



'Unwilling'



But the Afghan leader has also been forced to defend himself from American claims that he has not done enough to clamp down on Afghanistan's illegal drugs trade.



Another report leaked to the New York Times showed US diplomats in Kabul telling their government that Mr Karzai had "been unwilling to assert strong leadership" to curtail Afghanistan's heroin trade.



The BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says that, despite these issues, the fundamentals of US-Afghan relations remain the same - Afghanistan still needs US support for almost every aspect of its security and development.



Mr Karzai has received solid backing from the US since playing a leading role in the campaign to topple the Taleban.





President Karzai's four-day trip to the US comes after recent violent anti-US protests in Afghanistan following allegations in Newsweek magazine - now retracted - that US guards at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had desecrated the Koran.

Rework terms of `Smart City' deal: Achuthanandan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan, has sought an inquiry into the deal between the State Government and the Dubai Internet City (DIC) group for setting up the Smart City project in Kochi.



At a press conference here on Sunday, Mr. Achuthanandan said the terms of the agreement should be reworked to ensure that the project helped provide employment to educated youth without violating the law of the land.



Nobody should be allowed to reap undue profits in the name of creating employment opportunities, he added.



Reiterating that the DIC had nothing to do with the UAE Government, he said the Government had the duty to prove the charge wrong if it was otherwise.



Retrograde move





The Smart City project, he said, would destroy all the gains that the State had made so far in information technology (IT). The Government had said that land and the buildings at the Info Park in Kochi, besides various concessions, were offered to the DIC, under the State Information Technology Policy. While making the claim, it had hidden the fact that the DIC was neither an IT company nor an IT Park and could not, therefore, claim any such concession. The DIC website described the company as a real-estate dealer. Why should the Government offer



concessions to such a company if not to indulge in corruption? he asked.



Referring to the Government's claim that it had to seek the involvement of the DIC in the project as it did not have the resources to create adequate infrastructure in the IT sector, Mr. Achuthanandan said a huge sum would, however, be spent from the exchequer on the project. The DIC would take up only construction of buildings, which would amount to 10 per cent of the project work.



The Government would have to provide power, water and Internet connections and road and rail connectivity to the project site and provide all support services in the years to come.

Manmohan and Sonia celebrate "resilience" of UPA coalition

NEW DELHI: The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government on Sunday marked the completion of one year in office with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi celebrating the "resilience" of the ruling coalition, and expressing satisfaction over a journey well begun while acknowledging the challenges ahead.



Addressing a gathering of his Council of Ministers and the UPA at his residence after releasing the report "A Caring Government — One Year of UPA," the Prime Minister said: "The forging of the UPA, its political resilience and the durability of our alliance bears testimony to our determination to offer to the people of our Republic a political platform that captures the true spirit of our Constitution. The UPA symbolises the values of pluralism and secularism that defined our national movement and are at the core of our national politics."



Stating that she had no hesitation in admitting that the Congress at the Centre had to learn the "ways of participating and governing in a coalition," Ms. Gandhi said: "One year of the UPA has amply demonstrated that parties can pursue larger national interests without sacrificing their respective political and electoral goals. We have kept our identities, but we have remained true to our responsibilities in government and to the people."



Acknowledging the role of the allies and the four Left supporting parties — who stayed away from the meeting — in ensuring the cohesiveness of the ruling arrangement, Dr. Singh said together, an alternative had been offered to the people; "an alternative to the politics of exclusion and majoritarianism; an alternative to the economics of backwardness and bankruptcy; and an alternative to the sociology of conflict and discrimination."



While Ms. Gandhi complemented the Prime Minister for providing a "dignified and effective leadership'' to the Government — instilling "confidence at home'' and enhancing "India's prestige abroad" — Dr. Singh returned the complement several times over; recalling her renunciation which "generations to come will marvel" and was "in the great traditions of sages and saints of this ancient land."



On the past year, both leaders articulated similar formulations with Dr. Singh stating that the mood of the country today was diametrically opposite to what it was last year. "At that time India was shining for a few and the Government could not see what was happening to the many.''

Split in LJP hots up Bihar, Patil seeks report from Buta

NEW DELHI/PATNA/RANCHI: Uncertainty gripped Bihar on Sunday as a split in Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP prompted key players to intensify attempts at government formation and the Home Ministry, taking note of the swift developments, sought a report from Bihar Governor Buta Singh on the situation there.



As Home Minister Shivraj Patil held separate meetings with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Paswan in New Delhi, police in Patna put up roadblocks on the roads to Raj Bhawan and securitymen turned out in huge numbers.



There were indications that the UPA members were trying to iron out differences and stake claim to prevent the NDA from making a formal bid at government formation.



LJP rebels, willing to back JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar as the chief minister, have been flown to Ranchi in NDA-ruled Jharkhand and moved to Ghatsila. Paswan could manage to parade only 10 of his 29 MLAs in New Delhi. Three were flown to Delhi on a chartered flight by LJP general secretary Surajbhan.



Aware of his dwindling numbers, Paswan held an hour-long meeting with Congress leader Harikesh Bahadur to discuss a ‘‘proposal'' on government formation in Bihar.



He was clearly under pressure to relent and agree to a RJD or a Congress-led government. ‘‘I have no objection whether RJD gives inside or outside support so long as it is a Muslim chief minister,'' Paswan said.



Bahadur said, ‘‘Everything is under consideration and we want a UPA government. Whatever the UPA constituents decide will be acceptable to the Congress. We expect a decision soon.''



Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose party asked Governor Buta Singh not to entertain any NDA claim to form the government, threatened to file an FIR against ‘‘horse trading'' and ‘‘wrongful confinement'' of MLAs. He said MLAs were ‘‘being bought just as cattle sold in the Sonepur mela (in Bihar).''



In Patna, the high alert for police and para-military forces has given rise to speculation that something dramatic is in the offing once Buta Singh returns from Delhi.



Both Paswan and Lalu have conveyed to the rebel MLAs that their efforts to cross over to the NDA will be useless if the Assembly is dissolved. In Patna, the RJD criticised the NDA for trying to engineer a split in the LJP.



Bihar Home Commissioner A K Biswas said that they had sought extra police reinforcements to maintain law and order.



NDA leaders, meanwhile, alleged that Buta Singh would go to any length to stop the formation of a JD(U)-led government. The Governor has already charged the NDA with attempts at horse-trading and made it clear that he would not allow such a thing.



Aware that LJP rebels could invite the anti-defection law, the NDA is trying to make its case foolproof before making any claim at government formation.



‘‘We will stake our claim only when two-third members of the LJP split and support us,'' said JD(U) leader Upendra Prasad Kushwaha.

Powerful blasts rock cinema halls in Delhi; 1 dead, 49 wounded

NEW DELHI: One person was killed and at least 49 others were injured in powerful bomb blasts in two cinema halls in the capital during the screening of Sunny Deol-starrer movie Jo bole so nihal to which several Sikh organizations have taken objections.



Immediately after the blasts in Liberty and Satyam Cineplex in a span of 20 minutes and located within three kilometers of each other, Delhi was put on high alert as several cinema halls in and around the National capital, which were screening the film, were evacuated.



Forty-four people, including five women, were wounded in the explosion in Liberty in central Delhi at around 20:25 hours and six people, including two women and a girl child, injured in Satyam Cineplex in West Delhi at 20:45 hours at the fag-end of the evening show, police sources said.



The explosive in Liberty was placed under the fifth row of the rear stall while in Satyam, it went off in the toilet.



The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals where the condition of one person was stated to be serious.



All the cinema halls in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida, which where the movie, have been evacuated as a precautionary measure and night shows there have been cancelled.



A high alert was sounded across Delhi, particularly in cinema halls, following the explosions, police sources said.



The film was withdrawn from all theatres across Punjab last week following violent protests from Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, the supreme body managing Sikh shrines in Punjab and some other parts of the country.



Union home Minister Shivraj Patil, who visited the injured in Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, told reporters that there was no report of death in blasts.



All injuries in the explosions are of minor nature, he added. Window panes, glass panelled snack counters and wooden doors of Liberty and Satyam were damaged. Panic gripped the two packed halls when the blasts took place during the Sunday evening shows of the movie released all over the country just two days back.



Viewers ran helter-skelter for safety. Fire brigade personnel, ambulances and policemen rushed to the blast sites and evacuation of the injured and others was undertaken in right earnest.

Over 14,000 people shifted as high waves lash Kerala coastline

Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 14,597 people were shifted to relief camps as surging sea water entered the fishing hamlets in the coastal belt of Kerala for the second day on Saturday.



The Revenue Department opened 18 relief camps, including two in Alapuzha district to accommodate the affected people.



Most of the affected people were accommodated in 16 camps set up in Thiruvananthapuram district, where the maximum damages to houses were reported.



A report from Thrissur district said nearly 25 houses were partially damaged after rising sea water gushed into fishing hamlets of Chavakkad and Kodungallur areas.



According to fisheries Department, though the water had receded slightly in some areas today, the sea was still rough in Vizhinjam area. About 30 fishing boats, brought here from Poovar and other worst-hit areas were damaged in the tidal waves.



Yesterday, the sea water had entered up to 150 metres in the land partially submerging 400 houses in Pozhiyoor, Adimalathurai, Pallom, Karimkulam and Poovara the worst-hit areas in the district.

Bangladesh river toll reaches 148

The number of pople killed in three river disasters in Bangladesh since last Sunday has risen to nearly 150.



Two more bodies were recovered overnight from the Padma river where a ferry sank on Tuesday.

While ferry accidents kill scores of people every year in Bangladesh, they are more frequent at this time of year due to stormy weather.

One ferry capsized in heavy weather last Sunday and a fishing trawler sank on Thursday.

Officials suspect all the vessels were heavily overloaded.

They have given up hope of finding any survivors and are focusing on trying to retrieve and identify bodies.

'Slow progress'

Officials say 148 people are known to have died, but many more are missing.

On the Padma river workers have been trying to drag the ferry to shore so they can make a full search.

"We have managed to attach two lines to the ferry and have dragged it several metres (10 feet)," Lieutenant Commander Mahbubur Rashid of the Bangladesh navy said on Saturday, the AFP news agency reports.

The salvage operation has been dogged for days by strong currents.

In the first sinking on Sunday, 60 bodies were recovered after a ferry went down in Patuakhali in the south of the country.

On Thursday, a fishing boat carrying an estimated 30 passengers sank in the Meghna river estuary in southern Bangladesh.

Rescue workers have given up looking for survivors there, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Correspondents say that fishing boats frequently earn extra money by carrying passengers in Bangladesh, a country which is criss-crossed by rivers and waterways.

Government to set up innovation fund: PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday announced that the government would set up an 'Innovation Fund' to promote innovation in governance at the grass-root level and establish national awards for outstanding public service.

Addressing District Collectors, who had gathered here for a two-day national conference, the Prime Minister asked them to be ''modest and lead decent but simple life-styles, eschewing conspicuous consumption and extravagant living.''

Singh told the Collectors that fighting the forces of social and communal divisiveness, casteism and regionalism and other anti-national forces and tendencies ''in our body politic'' was not just their constitutional obligation, but ''a sacred duty in the interests of our nation and nationhood, our posterity and our prosperity.'' ''Constitution is supreme and you are duty-bound to uphold it. The values of our republic are sacred and we must work together to protect and preserve them,'' he told the civil servants.

The Conference, which was the first of its kind held to review the impact of various programmes at the district level and discuss improvement of the delivery system, concluded today with the participants agreeing that implementing agencies be strengthened at the district level and homeless and poor be taken care of while undertaking town and country planning.

The Conference also suggested that instead of looking at North East as a land-locked area, its potential as a source of trade and commerce with South-East Asia needed to be tapped.

Importance of stable law and order situation for development was also stressed.

The Prime Minister asked the Collectors to be ''partisan -- partisan towards the poor, the weaker sections, minorities, women and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and all such disadvantaged people who need support of the state.'' Giving reasons for his advice, he said this was necessary ''in order to be ethically neutral in a context of inequality'' in the society that had several prejudices.

While being sensitive to the imperatives of democracy and majority rule, the civil servants must be alert to ''minority opinion''. You must learn not merely to tolerate but respect dissent because your job requirement was that of forging a consensus among contentious claimants,'' Dr Singh said.

Appealing to them to have an abiding commitment to social equity, particularly for the marginalised sections of society and work to make them partners in economic progress, he said the attitude they have to bear as a head of the district was what would be emulated by the people who worked with them.

Stating that every section of society must be able to benefit from the process of reform, he said this would mean immediate attention to issues of agriculture, rural development, health, education, infrastructure, focusing on the weaker sections of the SCs, STs, women, minorities, disabled and all such disadvantaged categories and ensuring communal harmony.

The Prime Minister said the collectors were the ''critical agents'' for ensuring that the new deal to rural India genuinely transformed rural lives and livelihood and asked them to help realise the objectives of the Rs 1,74,000 crore Bharat Nirman programme. Under Bharat Nirman, the government had a target of providing 100 per cent connectivity to India's villages through roads, electricity and telecommunications and ensure 100 per cent coverage under safe water supply by 2009.

The government had similarly targeted programmes for universal elementary education, improvement of rural health through the National Rural Health Mission, universal coverage of mid-day meal, expanded coverage of the ICDS, agricultural transformation through the National Horticultural Mission and addressing food security through the Antyodaya Anna Yojana.

The Prime Minister told them that their job situation was so unique in that they had maximum power to do good in each of the places you work. ''You should make it an experience worth remembering.'' The country had much more resources today to ''change the world around us that we have had ever before''. We have an explosion of ideas. We have a society that is becoming increasingly more politicised and vigilant. These are opportunities not available to your predecessors.

''Therefore be idealistic enough to take up the challenge. Be innovative enough to look for new opportunities,'' he said.

India's ties with Israel will not affect our relations: Abbas

Special Correspondent


India announces Rs. 65 crores for developmental projects in Palestine

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"India is for a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Israel"
A plot of land gifted for the Palestinian Embassy
India wants an end to the violence in the occupied territories


NEW DELHI: The president of Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, on Friday appreciated India's continuing support to developmental projects and said its ties with Israel would not affect the "very close and very strong" India-Palestine relationship.

Speaking to newspersons at the end of his two-day visit to India, Mr. Abbas said India's move to develop closer security and economic ties with Israel was "a matter of sovereignty. They can contact Israel in their interests."

Position remains same


However, India's position on the Palestine dispute continued to remain the same from the beginning. "India is for a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Israel," he said.

He was asked about his talks with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the United Progressive Alliance chairperson, Sonia Gandhi.

The Ministry for External Affairs (MEA), in a separate briefing, said that India continued to support the Palestinian cause and "would do whatever could be done to help the Palestinian people and the state."

To this end, India announced Rs. 65 crores for development projects, mainly for infrastructure development and the social sector.

India had also gifted a plot of land for the Palestinian Embassy, said the MEA Secretary (East), Rajiv Sikri. India wanted an end to the violence in the occupied territories, as it was counter-productive to peace in the region.

On the recent outbreak of violence in the Gaza strip, Mr. Abbas hoped that all parties would adhere to the truce accord. "I hope that we can contain and control all incidents of violence. Truce is in the interest of all parties."

Polls on schedule


Mr. Abbas maintained that the polls to the Palestine National Assembly would be held as scheduled on July 17. "There is no intention to postpone the polls."

Asked about his coming visit to the U.S. next month, he said he would discuss the issue of complete Israeli pullout from the Gaza strip and other areas.

On Israel's decision to release 400 Palestinian prisoners, he said that though this had been announced, it was not known when they would be freed.

At the same time, "we can't forget that 11,000 prisoners are still in jail," Mr. Abbas said.

Chappell all set for sweeping changes in Team India’s fortunes

NEW DELHI: Moments after being installed as India's new cricket coach, and having run the gauntlet of his first official press conference, Greg Chappell returned to his hotel room. It was littered with the remains of his vegan lunch and his morning's reading - The Power of Intention, a book described as “one that might help readers land a better job”.

He went to his desk, sat down and started checking his mail, taking calls and meeting journalists. He has two years to change the fortunes of Indian cricket, and he's not wasting any time.

“I understand the enormity of the job at hand”, he told this website’s newspaper, the smile on his face giving no inkling of the hectic time ahead.

“Cricket is changing. It was very inflexible but today it is moving very fast, from over to over, ball to ball. It is very important for the captain to read the flow of the game and ensure that he doesn't stay rigid.”

Armed with a two-year contract handed out to him, and with the promise of sweeping powers from his employers the BCCI, Chappell could be the most influential India coach yet. John Wright, by comparison, worked from one season to the next.

One of Chappell's first tasks will be to settle the captaincy issue. A potentially tricky situation, given that Sourav Ganguly, while his strongest champion over the past few weeks, is personally on a sticky wicket. “We have worked before and hopefully this time also we will achieve success together”, he said.

Next he must build up a rapport with the players, many of whom were backing the candidature of Tom Moody for the coach's job. He's clear on what that entails. “I'm not here to be a friend. I am here as a coach, a mentor, a parent. And sometimes you have to tell them off, set certain parameters.”

Unlike John Wright who played checkers, Chappell is a chess player, never pushing a bishop to move in the same way as a knight. “Certain senior players who have played a lot of cricket need to be given some leeway. With more freedom, they will also have more responsibility. They have earned the privileges and the others will understand that and strive for it”, he said.

“But”, he added, sitting up and raising his voice, “some rules are non-negotiable, and punctuality and protocol are two of them.” One more distinction: Wright led India to a Test victory in India (1988), Chappell has never even played a Test in India. Did he see it as an impediment?

“It could be. It could be positive also. I won't come in with any fixed ideas to play. I will seek guidance from the senior players, former greats and also those people who make wickets in India”, he said.

He sounded confident of his own abilities. “Having played cricket at the highest level I can read a wicket well. Of course there will be the idiosyncrasies of, say, a Durban wicket where the late tide affects the swing. Most of these are old wives' tales but they sometimes work.”

“Finally it is the captain who goes out tossing the coin, so he should also have a pretty good idea. If he is incapable then we need another captain”, he said - quickly adding that his reference was not to Ganguly in particular.

As Chappell takes on a side debilitated by intrigue and inconsistency, matched only by the selectors who pick them, the job at hand seems tough. Throw in the BCCI's high-handed attitude, the media glare and Chappell could well be on the toughest assignment of his career.

“You have to be seriously mad about what you do”, he said. He's already got the first half down pat.

Karzai angry at US Afghan 'abuse'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned as unacceptable new details of alleged abuse of prisoners by US troops in Afghanistan.
The president's spokesman told the BBC the soldiers involved in the deaths of two inmates and alleged abuse of others should be punished.

The allegations are detailed by the New York Times citing a 2,000-page document leaked from a US army investigation.

They come at a sensitive time as Mr Karzai flies to the US on Saturday.

Correspondents say his four-day trip could also be overshadowed by last week's violent anti-US protests in Afghanistan following allegations in Newsweek magazine - now retracted - that US guards at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had desecrated the Koran.

Mr Karzai, a US ally who came to power following the collapse of the Taleban regime in late 2001, has recently spoken of "US military mistakes".

Officials in Washington said the alleged abuses detailed in the New York Times were being investigated and those responsible would be held to account.

Seven US servicemen have already been charged in relation to the two deaths at Bagram military base, north of Kabul, in 2002.

The new allegations relate to the level of abuse the two prisoners are said to have been subjected to.

'Innocent man'

One of the men who later died - a 22-year-old Afghan known as Dilawar - was said to have been chained to a ceiling by his wrists for four days, and then beaten on his legs more than 100 times during a 24-hour period.

He was being questioned about an attack on a US air base, but the report says most interrogators believed him to be an innocent taxi driver who simply drove past at the time of the attack.

Other reported abuses included:

A prisoner being forced to kiss the boots of interrogators
Another prisoner being forced to pick plastic bottle tops out of a drum mixed with excrement and water
A female interrogator stepping on a man's neck and kicking another in the genitals.
A Pentagon spokesman said the New York Times was trying to make a new story out of old material, adding that the investigation was "very serious and very detailed".

"The standard has always been humane treatment for all detainees. When that standard is not met we will take action," the spokesman said.

The New York Times said it received the report from a person involved in the US investigation who was critical of the interrogation methods used, and of a subsequent inquiry.

The US military initially said there was no indication of abuse in the two men's deaths and that interrogation techniques were methods that were "generally accepted".

After a later inquiry, last October, it emerged that 27 soldiers faced probable criminal charges. Among them are the seven who have since been charged.

PM effects major revamp of population panel

New Delhi,: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday night reconstituted the National Commission on Population (NCP) and pruned it from 131 to 44 members to ensure its "more effective" functioning in achieving population stabilisation.

While the Prime Minister is the Chairman of NCP, Health and Family Welfare Minister A Ramadoss and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia are its two vice chairmen.

UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief L K Advani and BSP supremo Mayawati will be among its members, it was officially stated here.

The NCP will review, monitor and direct implementation of the National Population Policy with a view to achieving population stablisation by promoting synergy between demographic, educational, environmental and developmental programmes.

The Commission will have as members eight union ministers and seven chief ministers -- both from demographically-challenged states and from those where population stabilisation has been successful -- UP, MP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Other members include Presidents of six political parties--Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI-M, CPI and NCP.

More effective functioning

"To ensure its more effective functioning, the Prime Minister has scaled down the size of the Commission, reducing it from the previous 131 members to 44," PM's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru said.

The other members are presidents of Indian Medical Association and Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society of India besides several specialists and prominent citizens.

They are Lila Visaria, Ashish Bose, Meera Shiva, Manu Kulkarni, Bolin Khangoria, H Sudarshan, Mohan Rao (all doctors), Shabana Azmi, Ilina Sen, Viji Srinivasan, Ruth Manorama, T V Anthony, A R Nanda and Azghar Ali Engineer.

The Commission seeks to promote inter-sectoral coordination in planning and implementation of population policies across central and state government agencies.

It will also facilitate the development of an active people's movement in support of the national efforts at population stabilisation with a special focus on demographically weaker states, Baru added.

Staines killer’s death sentence commuted to life imprisonment

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday set aside the death sentence of Rabindra Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh and commuted it to life imprisonment in the triple murder case of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons.

Delivering the judgment in a packed court room, a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Sujit Barman Roy and Justice Laxmikanta Mohapatra acquitted 11 others while maintaining the life imprisonment of Mahendra Hembrum.

“The prosecution (the CBI) has not proved beyond reasonable doubt so far as their identification is concerned. Their (the appellants') conviction and sentences by the trial court cannot be sustained,” the Bench observed in a 110-page judgment.

Those who were acquitted include Dayanidhi Patra, Umakanta Bhoi, Kartik Lohar, Rabi Soren, Mahadeb Mahanta, Thuram Ho, Renta Hembrum, Suresh Hansda, Surath Naik, Harischandra Mahanta and Rajat Kumar Das.

The trial court had awarded capital punishment to Dara Singh while sentencing the 12 others to life imprisonment on Sept 22, 2003.

“Evidence against the accused, including Dara Singh, being of identical nature, they are all equally responsible for the triple murder. No justification is available from the evidence on record to single out Dara Singh for convicting him under Section 302 of the IPC,” the court observed.

“There is absolutely no evidence on record that due to an individual act of Dara alone, the three deceased persons or any of them died. No particular fatal injuries to any of the deceased has been attributed to Dara Singh.

Therefore, Dara Singh cannot be held individually liable for the triple murder, but he can be liable vicariously along with others by invoking Section 149 of IPC,” the bench observed.

With regard the conspiracy charge, the court said, “We are sorry to say that the nature of evidence is absolutely weak and on the basis of such speculative evidence, it is not possible to hold any of the accused guilty for criminal conspiracy under Section 120 (B) of the IPC. Therefore, the conviction and sentences of the appellants under Section 120 (B) cannot be sustained and must be quashed.”

Indicating various shortcomings in the investigation with regard to the identification of the miscreants and the procurement of confessional statements, the court observed, “We cannot accept the investigation to be an impartial one.”

In a virtual stricture to the Central investigating agency, the court observed, “There are circumstances to show that the confessional statements of Umakanta Bhoi must have been secured by coercion, duress and threat.”

The court also took exception to the manner in which the test identification (TI) parade was conducted by the CBI. One of the CBI officers who is also a prosecution witness admitted in his evidence that he had shown the photograph of Bhoi to one Mathai Marandi seven days before the TI parade.

Uzbekistan rejects deaths probe

Uzbek President Islam Karimov has rejected requests for an international inquiry into a bloody crackdown in the town of Andijan last week, the UN says. UN human rights commissioner Louise Arbour said Mr Karimov had told the UN that letting diplomats and media visit Andijan on Wednesday was sufficient.

Uzbekistan says 169 people died, but an army source has said 500 protesters were gunned down by troops on Friday.

Troops on Thursday retook the border town of Korasuv, near Andijan.

A number of explosions and some gunfire was heard, but the takeover of the eastern town - where locals threw out their leaders following the events in Andijan - seemed to have been largely peaceful.

The uprising's leader in Korasuv, Bakhtior Rakhimov, who said he intended to build an Islamic state, has been arrested.

'No substitute'

In an interview with the BBC's Newshour programme, Mrs Arbour said that Mr Karimov had told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that allowing foreign envoys and reporters to Andijan was a sufficient measure.

But she said the brief and tightly-controlled visit was "not a substitute for a professional international fact-finding mission which can proceed with some independence".

"I just hope that the president of Uzbekistan can be persuaded that it is in the interests of his people, and of the international community, to let in a credible and transparent process," Mrs Arbour said.

However, she reacted with caution to a report that up to 1,000 civilians may have been killed in Andijan.

The claim was made in a joint statement by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan.

But Mrs Arbour said: "At this point I have no independent access to information - that's precisely why I think we have to continue to press for a credible professional form of intervention."

Rising pressure

The local takeover of Korasuv on Saturday was triggered by the bloody crackdown of protesters in Andijan the day before.

The unrest began when a group of men stormed the town's prison and freed 23 businessmen accused of being Islamic extremists.

These men joined a large protest, which correspondents say was also fuelled by long-term frustration over poverty and unemployment.

Locals say troops then fired indiscriminately into the crowd.

The authorities say no civilians were killed, only Islamic militants who had organised the protest.

Mr Karimov's regime has come under increasing international pressure in the wake of the incident.

US Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan re-iterated American calls for "a more open and responsive government".

Both the UN and Britain have called for an inquiry into the incident.

Kerala to send delegation to UAE, Japan

Thiruvananthapuram: A delegation comprising MLAs of both ruling UDF and oppostion LDF will visit UAE to make an on the spot study of Keralites working there, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Wednesday.

The MLAs to be included in the team, led by State Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed, would be decided after holding talks with party leaders of both fronts, Chandy said.

The state Labour Minister Babu Divakaran would be a member of the delegation, he said. It has also been decided to send an official delegation of state Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman and Revenue Minister K M Mani to Japan to take part in Expo-2005 at Nahoya in Japan next month.

The other two members from the ruling front in the team were former ministers P K Kunhalikutty and K V Thomas. The Opposition representative in the team would be decided later. The team would also include a government secretary and a Planning Board member, he said.

Left plays inside-outside in UPA's slide show

NEW DELHI: A courtship session lasting seven hours at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence on Wednesday failed to soften the Left and bridge the block's growing rift with the UPA leadership.

With senior ministers lining up one after the other to make a presentation of their one-year performance, the Left leaders could, at least, feel the “sincerity” of all the overtures from every UPA senior functionary including chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

But in the evening, the six Left leaders led by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat refused to be signatories to a statement commending the day's review of the achievements of the UPA dispensation.

The Left made it clear that this was “not our government”, that “we are supporting from outside”, that “we are on board only because secularism was under threat” and that “we shall continue to support this government but we are not in agreement with its economic policies”.

The last para of the unsigned statement said, “The UPA partners and the Left parties reaffirmed their resolve to confront and combat communal forces and strengthen the secular pillars of the Indian state.”

This was one of the rare occasions when no joint statement was read out at the end of a UPA-Left meeting. Earlier, after every such UPA-Left meeting, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and senior CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury stepped out to brief the media jointly.

That bonhomie was missing on Wednesday. The Left leaders were whisked away in separate cars. Karat refused to step out and talk to waiting reporters. Even CPI general secretary A B Bardhan refused to oblige the press corps. Among those who shunned the newsmen were the usually media-savvy RSP's Abani Roy and Forward Bloc's Debabrata Biswas.

Karat later told reporters, “It was their presentation, their outlining of what they had done in a period of one year.” Even Abani Roy said, “It had nothing to do with us and our views. The briefing was theirs. All their ministers lined up one by one to describe in detail what each one of them had done over a year. We could put in very little of our views.”

It appeared that the Left felt a bit stranded because the UPA had conceived of the meeting in a very well-thought-out way. Every minister made strong presentations. In fact, the day's discussions had all the ingredients and even the shape of a peace-dialogue between two warring nations.

The Congress had conceived of such an architecture of the talks that the Left had little chance to have its say. Vital areas of difference_issues that are of core importance to the Left_had been carefully omitted. The talks had been sanitised long before they began.

No wonder then that Prime Minister Singh and Sonia Gandhi's kind and generous words for the Left only added to the intrigue. The Left leaders could hardly figure out how they could leave their imprint on the dialogue.

They did raise the issue of Gujarat, wanted a CBI inquiry into the six of the strongest cases pending before the Supreme Court but even that issue was partially hijacked by an equally forceful railway minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav and the Gujarat-based Congress leader, Ahmed Patel.

The Left interjected in discussions concerning the rural employment guarantee bill, the tribal forest rights bill and the broader issue of land reforms. But their comments lacked the punch because the UPA was not willing to give too much time for comments and questions.

One minister was followed by another minister in quick succession and evaluations moved from one subject to another. An ailing Yechury left midway. CPI's D Raja who had to take a flight could not stay the entire conversation.

Chidambaram made a power-point presentation with 37 slides and it came in the seventh hour of a long meeting making it too late for the Left leaders to utter their usual punchlines.

Said Abani Roy: “It was quite cordial. It was their affair today. We had nothing much to say. How can we say we are satisfied. What is good is that their ministers are trying to be accountable.”

US joins push for Uzbek inquiry

The US has joined demands for an international investigation into last week's bloody crackdown on a protest in the Uzbek town of Andijan.
The US state department said reports painted a disturbing picture and called for a credible and transparent inquiry.

Uzbek officials say 169 people died, but an army source said 500 were killed when troops opened fire on protesters.

A leader in the nearby town of Korasuv has told the BBC his region wants to form an Islamic administration.

Bakhtior Rakhimov said his town was willing to fight for its freedom.

'Address causes'

Washington has been under pressure to take a tough line against the repressive Uzbek regime, which is a key US ally in its "war on terror".

Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan re-iterated US calls for "a more open and responsive government".

But he appealed to both sides to show restraint and avoid violence.

The unrest began when a group of men stormed the town's prison and freed 23 businessmen accused of being Islamic extremists.

These men joined a large protest, which correspondents say was also fuelled by long-term frustration over poverty and unemployment.

Locals say troops then fired indiscriminately into the crowd.

The authorities say no civilians were killed, only Islamic militants who had organised the protest.

The US calls for an inquiry come after appeals earlier on Wednesday by United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour and the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Mr Straw also urged Uzbek President Islam Karimov to address "the root causes of the discontent" and "to develop a much more open and pluralistic society".

Foreign diplomats who visited Andijan on Wednesday said they were not allowed to speak to locals.
'Fighting against Karimov'

In the eastern border town of Korasuv residents seized control following the violence in the nearby town of Andijan
Mr Rakhimov, the man apparently in charge of the uprising, told the BBC's Ian MacWilliam the people in the region had put up with Mr Karimov for 16 years, and could no longer tolerate him.

Residents said the real cause of resentment is the lack of work combined with the regime's tough curbs on private trade.

"We're fighting against Karimov, against his policies. He doesn't allow us to work," Mr Rakhimov said.

He said that they wanted to establish an Islamic administration in the area, but he did not elaborate on the aspiration, or whether the town had any connections to the wider Islamic movement.

British MP Galloway says 'blew away' U.S. committee

LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmaker George Galloway claimed victory over a U.S. Senate committee which accused him of profiting from the Iraq oil-for-food program in a triumphant speech to supporters on Wednesday.

"We blew them away," an emotional Galloway told a rally in London after giving evidence to the panel examining how former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein used oil to reward politicians.

"From the emails and feedback we've had from all over the world it is true undoubtedly that there was a worldwide audience out there waiting for someone to speak the truth to power," he added.

The U.S. Senate committee had released documents it said showed Saddam gave Galloway the rights to export 20 million barrels of oil under the defunct humanitarian program.

Galloway defiantly rejected the evidence and condemned the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in an unusually robust performance before a Senate committee.

He returned to a hero's welcome from supporters at a rally in central London and appeared close to tears as he made his way through a scrum of photographers.

Galloway, who won a parliamentary seat in east London in May with his anti-Iraq war Respect party after being ejected from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party in 2003, later cracked jokes about his appearance in Washington.

"I did a bit of sanction busting," he said, brandishing a cigar. "I smoked a Havana cigar just like this one. I smoked it inside the Capitol building, I even blew the smoke at the White House."

Looking relaxed in a black suit and shirt, Galloway's performance was in stark contrast to his highly-charged evidence session in Washington on Tuesday.

In a series of sharp exchanges, he confronted the Republican chairman of the committee, Senator Norm Coleman, and challenged him to back up claims he profited from the now defunct program.

Galloway went on to attack Coleman's support for the invasion of Iraq to oust Saddam. Coleman later said he did not think Galloway was "a credible witness." The U.N. oil-for-food program, which began in late 1996 and ended in 2003, was aimed at easing the impact of sanctions imposed after Saddam's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.



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Left not to attend UPA function

NEW DELHI: : The Left parties on Tuesday decided not to attend the May 22 function being organised by the United Progressive Alliance Government to mark the completion of one year in office.

"It is the right of the UPA Government to publicise its achievements. We are not part of the Government, we are supporting parties and we are not attending it." The decision should not be construed as a boycott or walkout, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan told correspondents after a meeting of the four Left parties here.

The Left representatives would attend the meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for Wednesday and present an assessment of the Government. While there were some achievements, most of the steps taken by the Government did cater not for the poor but for the better-placed sections, Mr. Bardhan said.

The Left parties said several pieces of legislation which could have come, for instance, for unorganised labour and agricultural workers, were not even introduced. The Government made little effort to expedite the employment guarantee bill.

Similarly, there was no sign of the women's reservation bill. Though the Bharatiya Janata Party MP, Kalyan Singh, who is the Chairman of the Standing Committee, which is to examine the Bill, could be blamed, the Government made little effort, Mr. Bardhan said.

Besides, Mr. Bardhan, those who attended the meeting were CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau member S. Ramachandran Pillai, CPI national secretary D. Raja, All-India Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas, secretary G. Devarajan and RSP MP Abani Roy.

India will not be source of proliferation: PM

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that the country is prepared for the broadest engagement with the international non-proliferation regime, but only if its indigenous nuclear and strategic programme is not tethered to outside restrictions.

At an awards event on Tuesday morning, Singh said, “India is willing to shoulder its share of international obligations as a partner against proliferation, provided our legitimate interests are safeguarded.”

The country is “conscious of its responsibilities deriving from the possession of advanced technologies”, the PM said. “We have illustrated our commitments to these responsibilities, through our Parliament passing last week the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery System Prohibition of Unlawful Activities Bill.”

“India will not be, and I repeat, will not be a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies. We will adopt the most stringent measures to safeguard and secure the technologies that we possess, or those that we acquire through international collaboration,” the PM emphasised.

At the same time, he said the government sees no reasons for non-proliferation concerns to be a barrier to high-technology trade and commerce with the country.

“This Bill also highlights our unblemished non-proliferation record and our abiding commitment to non-proliferation principles. The strict regulation of external transfers and tight control to prevent internal leakages should give confidence to the international suppliers of high technology items that their supplies will remain fully secure with us.”

“In the defence field and the nuclear field, our strategic programmes are indigenous and not dependent on external sources of support. Nor can they be the subject of externally imposed constraints. Within these parameters, India is prepared for the broadest possible engagement with the international non-proliferation regime,” the PM said.

Galloway takes on US oil accusers

British MP George Galloway has told US senators who accused him of profiting from Iraq oil dealings their claims were the "mother of all smokescreens".
In a combative performance before a Senate committee, the Respect Coalition MP accused the US lawmakers of being "cavalier" with justice.

He said: "I am not now nor have I ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone on my behalf."

The senators say he was given credits to buy Iraqi oil by Saddam Hussein.

Mr Galloway travelled to Washington to clear his name before the Senate sub-committee on investigations.

He claims the evidence against him is false. He says forged documents had been used to make claims about him before.

Mr Galloway went on the offensive from the start of his testimony, saying the committee had "traduced" his name around the world without asking him a single question.

He told committee chairman Senator Norm Coleman: "I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice."

Sanctions busters?

Mr Galloway said he had met Saddam Hussein on two occasions - the same number of times as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and maps - the better to target those guns. I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war," he said.

The biggest sanctions busters were American companies "with the connivance" of the US Government, he argued.

And he denied being an "apologist" for Saddam.

He said he had been a long-term opponent of the former Iraqi leader, and had a much better record of opposition to his regime than members of the American or British governments.

Mr Galloway, a leading anti-war campaigner, was expelled from the Labour Party for his comments on Iraq.

He is not accused of any criminal act and is not thought likely to face court action as a result of the committee's hearings but he has said he is anxious to clear his name.

At this month's UK general election, Mr Galloway narrowly beat Labour's Oona King to win the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, in East London, for his fledgling Respect party.

Mariam Appeal

The United Nations-backed oil-for-food scheme enabled Saddam Hussein to export oil to pay for essential humanitarian aid to help the Iraqi people cope with UN sanctions imposed in 1991.

Options to buy barrels of Iraqi oil were alleged to have been given as rewards for supporting Saddam Hussein.

The former Iraqi leader sold the vouchers at below market prices to favoured parties, who were able to sell them on at profit.

One of the main allegations raised by the Senate sub-committee is that Mr Galloway received oil allocations with the assistance of Fawaz Zureikat.

Mr Zureikat, who was chairman of the Marian Appeal set up by Mr Galloway to help a four year old Iraqi girl with leukaemia, has strongly denied making any arrangements linked to oil sales on behalf of the MP.

Libel action

Mr Galloway told the senators: "I can assure you Mr Zureikat never gave me a penny from an oil deal, a cake deal, a bread deal or from any other deal.

"He donated money to our campaign, which we publicly brandished on all our literature along with all the other donors to the campaign."

On Monday Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky denied the committee's accusations that he accepted millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations.

In December, Mr Galloway won £150,000 in libel damages from the Daily Telegraph over its separate claims he had received money from Saddam's regime.

Last month the newspaper won permission to appeal against the ruling to pay the damages, plus £1.2m in costs.

The Senate committee's report also accused former French minister Charles Pasqua of receiving oil rights from Iraq, something he has vehemently denied.

White House bashes Newsweek report on Koran

Washington: The White House said on Monday that a Newsweek report based on an anonymous source had damaged the US image overseas by alleging that US interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay.

The May 9 report triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 16 people were killed.

Newsweek's editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized to the victims on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that US military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.

"It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not."

The report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. In the past week the reported desecration was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.

McClellan complained that the story was "based on a single anonymous source who could not personally substantiate the allegation that was made." "The report has had serious consequences," he said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."

Newsweek said in its May 23 edition that the information had come from a "knowledgeable government source" who told Newsweek that a military report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay said interrogators flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet in a bid to make detainees talk.

But the source later told the magazine he could not be certain he had seen an account of the Koran incident in the military report and that it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts, Newsweek said.

Manmohan dissatisfied with UPA’s performance

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday gave six marks out of 10 to the performance of his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi praised his work.

"But I have never been satisfied with a 60 percent! I do sincerely believe that we can do better. In the coming year that will be our endeavour," Manmohan Singh told Congress Working Committee (CWC) members here as the country's oldest party took stock ahead of the first anniversary of the coalition government it leads.

The Prime Minister, who praised Gandhi for successfully guiding the Congress and the coalition, said that it was her "mature, humane and forward-looking leadership" that made the coalition government possible, especially with the Left front.

"Never before has the Congress party had to deal with the challenge of forging a coalition, and running a government on that basis through such uncharted waters. Our party's historical experience with running a coalition government was limited," Manmohan Singh told the party's highest decision-making body.

Urging party members to work for a pan-Indian political party, he said: "We need a more dedicated and energetic government. We have to constantly nurture our political roots and widen our political base."

"We must water every corner of the field so that every root of our party is revived and the harvest is full and bounteous. Such are the challenges before the government and the party," Manmohan Singh said.

Expressing hopes for a better tomorrow, he said: "We have come through many trials of strength and tests of fire and our resolve to make the UPA work has been steeled by this experience."

Listing out his government's achievements in the social sector, economic development and foreign policy, Manmohan Singh said the government had still a long way to go in labour reforms and emphasised on liberalisation of investment policy for employment generation.

"We must do more to protect the interests of workers in the unorganised sector, improve their working conditions and give them social security even as we create a more competitive environment for the organised sector," he said.

"We must reduce wasteful subsidies and divert these resources into investment and employment generation. There is an urgent need for the restructuring of public expenditure.

"If we want to generate resources for investment and employment generation then we must make bold to generate revenues and alter the profile of expenditure. These are easier said than done."

He said the country needed an efficient public sector run by professional and competent managers.

While Manmohan Singh sought Gandhi's leadership to take the party to a glorious future, the Congress president appreciated him for "good work".

With the Prime Minister by her side, Gandhi told reporters after the CWC meeting that the party was satisfied with the performance of the government.

"We have all expressed satisfaction with the work done by the government," she said with a smile. "We congratulated the Prime Minister and his colleagues in the government."

Gandhi said 25 CWC members spoke during the conclave, called just six days ahead of the first anniversary of Manmohan Singh's government.

The CWC, which is meeting for the last time before a new panel takes over, also decided to hold June 9 the election for a new Congress president - seen as just a formality for re-electing Gandhi.

Manmohan Singh and Gandhi are due to present the UPA's progress report Sunday.

The CWC also held discussions on internal squabbling that has affected its party units in various states, besides making sharp observations on the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

One of the key issues was to improve communications and coordination between ministers and workers, and making ministers more accessible to workers, it felt.

The panel, chaired by Gandhi, included some Congress Chief Ministers as special invitees.

Jaya regains her winning touch

CHENNAI: Defying electoral arithmetic, the ruling AIADMK on Monday achieved stunning victories in by-elections held to Kancheepuram and Gummidipoondi constituencies, to retain both.

The victories disproved the conventional belief that high voter turn-out in by-elections usually go against the ruling party.

In Gummidipoondi the AIADMK’s K S Vijayakumar polled 83,716 votes (56.93%) to defeat DMK nominee P.Venkatachalapathy (56,554 votes, 38.46%) by a margin of 27,162 votes.

AIADMK candidate T.Mythili won the Kancheepuram seat by a margin of 17,648 votes. She polled 87,274 votes (53.08%) against the 69,626 votes (42.35%) polled by DMK’s M.Kumar. The Dalit Panthers, which, too, had fielded candidates, failed to impress, with its nominees polling 2,926 votes in Gummidipoondi and 1,946 in Kancheepuram.

The DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) which, only a year ago, had scored impressive leads in these Assembly segments, had to bite the dust. The DMK and its allies were counting on their ‘vote share’ adding up to a comfortable win in both constituencies, and probably paid for their complacence.

On the other hand, the AIADMK, though bereft of alliance, not only wiped out its Lok Sabha election deficit, but also polled enough votes to win by impressive margins.

The AIADMK also managed to improve upon its 2001 Assembly elections victory margin of more than 24,000 votes in Gummidipoondi. But in Kancheepuram the margin, which had been nearly 23,000, has come down. The AIADMK had fought the 2001 elections in the company of Congress, CPM, CPI and PMK, which are now with the DMK.

Shortly after counting of votes began this morning, it was evident by the end of the first round of counting in Gummidipoondi, that the AIADMK was heading for a big win. However, in Kancheepuram it was the DMK which led the first two rounds. But from the third round onwards, Mythili, widow of former minister S.S. Thirunavukkarasu, whose death caused the by-election, surged ahead and never looked back.

Though the DMK and its allies had tried to project the by-elections as a referendum on the four-year AIADMK ‘‘misrule’’, the defeat left them stunned and complaining about the ‘‘play of money power’’ in the constituencies.

AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa, however, described it as a vindication of her faith that the party only needed to have the people with it, even if there was no ally.

The high intensity campaigning, carried out in the backdrop of a pro-active Election Commission cracking the whip on violations of model code of conduct, saw Jayalalithaa campaigning intensively in both the constituencies, even as a dozen state ministers along with a horde of MLAs and other leaders ‘carpet-bombed’ the constituencies.

In contrast, DMK president M Karunanidhi addressed only one meeting in each of the constituencies and left the major burden of campaigning on his party lieutenants and leaders of the constituents of the DPA.

US hardens stance on Uzbekistan

The US says it is "deeply disturbed" by reports that troops in Uzbekistan fired on unarmed civilians during a protest in the east of the country.
It called on the Uzbek government to allow the International Red Cross full access to the part of the country affected by recent protests.

Local sources say several hundred people died when troops shot at unarmed protesters in Andijan on Friday.

The US has been under pressure to take a tough line against the Uzbek regime.

President Islam Karimov has blamed the unrest on Islamic extremists.

His government is a key US ally in the region -
the US has a base in Uzbekistan, which is used by coalition troops engaged in Afghanistan.

A Ukrainian television crew that reached Andijan soon after the shooting reported seeing many bodies in the streets, and said many children had been killed.

The Uzbek authorities say soldiers did not shoot at anyone, apart from gunmen from a radical Islamist group.

The unrest spread to the eastern border town of Korasuv, where locals seized control of government buildings on Saturday. Uzbek troops have now sealed off the town.

The town is currently calm, although there are rumours that the central authorities may move to take control, says the BBC's Ian MacWilliam in Kyrgyzstan.

The authorities in Kyrgyzstan have registered more than 500 refugees from Andijan.

Some said troops shot at them as they tried to cross the border and some died.

The refugees, mostly men but including some women and small children, say they fear government reprisals if they return to Uzbekistan.


US state department spokesman Richard Boucher said that stability in Uzbekistan depended on the government addressing human rights issues and the rule of law
However, he also condemned violent protesters who had stormed government buildings.

Human rights organisations and a leading US Republican Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, have called on the Bush administration to condemn Mr Karimov.

The state department had previously called for all sides to exercise restraint.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Mr Karimov, who has been in power since the collapse of the Soviet Union, to relax his grip on power.

"We have been encouraging the Karimov government to make political reforms, to make the system more open," she said.

UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw, who has condemned the violence, said his Uzbek counterpart had pledged to allow diplomats access to Andijan on Tuesday.

However, the Uzbek foreign ministry made no mention of any such agreement.

The city is currently sealed off. Journalists forced to leave say they saw more than 30 police checkpoints on the main road to the capital, Tashkent.

'Many bodies'

The protests were sparked by a long-running trial of local businessmen accused of Islamic extremism. Their families say they are innocent and have been unfairly targeted.

Witnesses say government troops attacked mostly unarmed demonstrators in the town, killing possibly hundreds of them

Koran abuse report 'may be wrong'

US magazine Newsweek says its report on the desecration of a Muslim holy book by US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay may have been mistaken.
The latest edition says its source is not sure where he saw the assertion that a Koran was flushed down a toilet in an attempt to pressurise detainees.

The original claims triggered outrage throughout the Muslim world.

Newsweek extended sympathy to victims of riots in Afghanistan, where at least 15 have died following the report.

Clerics there threatened holy war unless the US handed over the culprits
More than 100 people have been injured in violent anti-US protests from Afghanistan to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza.

The US authorities had promised prompt action if the allegations proved to be true.

'Sympathies to victims'

"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong," Newsweek's editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on news stands on Monday.

Mr Whitaker said Newsweek wanted to "extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the US soldiers caught in its midst".

In its new account, the magazine said that one of its reporters spoke to "his original source, the senior government official, who said that he clearly recalled reading investigative reports about mishandling the Koran, including a toilet incident".

"But the official, still speaking anonymously, could no longer be sure that these concerns had surfaced" in a forthcoming report by the US military, the magazine added.

Newsweek said that when it told Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita about what the source said, the spokesman became angry.

"People are dead because of what this son-of-a-bitch said. How could he be credible now?" Mr DiRita was quoted as saying.

Outgoing CEC blasts bid to slight poll panel

NEW DELHI: Outgoing Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishna Murthy on Sunday said that the controversy over IAS officer Saptharishi’s remarks on the countermanding of Chapra Lok Sabha polls was aimed at ‘‘denigrating’’ and ‘‘weakening’’ the Commission.

‘‘I felt it was sad. It was very unfortunate such things should have happened. My own inference is it is an attempt to denigrate the Election Commission so that its authority gets weakened,’’ he told reporters on the last day in office at the Nirvachan Sadan here.

Murthy said he was ‘‘upset’’ as the credibility of the Commission’s decision was being ‘‘questioned and politicised’’. He was certain this ‘‘agni pariksha’’ was good as the Commission could come out with flying colours.

‘‘I was upset that the credibility of the Election Commission’s decision was being questioned and it was getting politicised,’’ Murthy said. ‘‘There is no need to doubt the credibility of the Election Commission.’’

He said fortunately, the reaction from every responsible quarter to the controversy was in favour of the Commission. Murthy said the EC had ‘‘never exceeded its jurisdiction and will never allow itself to be irresponsible’’.

Hitting out at parties, Murthy said there were attempts by them to find some excuses to criticise the EC’s decisions.

‘‘Unfortunately, no political party likes it to be disciplined. Whenever rules and regulations are required to be enforced, the political party concerned does not like if it is enforced strictly.’’

However, the CEC said he was demitting office as a ‘‘happy man. I am a happy man and quite happy. I was to carry on the tradition of the Election Commission and the credibility of the Commission is at its peak.’’

Murthy, who will be succeeded by senior most Election Commissioner B B Tandon on Monday, favoured turning the model code of conduct into a law to give penal powers to the EC.

Observing that the model code of conduct was evolved through a consensus among parties and that this was being interpreted differently by some people, the CEC said the Commission’s consistent stand has always been to warn the violators of the code and act tough if the violations were repeated.

To a question on poll officials banning politicians from visiting their constituencies during the Bihar polls, he said the action was intended at ensuring purity of the polls. The official had acted as per the powers given by the law.

On his efforts to bar politicians with criminal antecedents from entering the political arena, he said, ‘‘I feel considerable time has been lost. But I understand the compulsions of coalition politics.’’

Referring to his meeting with President Kalam after the recent controversy, Murthy said he along with other the two Election Commissioners had explained the factual position. ‘‘I clearly pointed out that there was no fault in the decision taken by the Election Commission. There was enough material, there were enough complaints warranting the decision taken.’’

Asked about the highlight of his tenure, Murthy said there was international recognition on the credibility of Indian elections which ultimately resulted in the EC entering into a memorandum of understanding with the United Nation on utilisation of Indian personnel for conducting elections anywhere in the world.

Murthy said an advisor to the UN Secretary General had met him and wanted to know whether the Commission could undertake a package programme to conduct elections in smaller countries. It was indicated to the UN that it was possible. He had also mentioned that there was scope for setting up of an international academy for election management.

He said the Commission was quite convinced about the fairness of the electronic voting machines and said in the recent elections, whether to the Lok Sabha or the Bihar Assembly, no party could get a majority. ‘‘What other proof do you want on the fairness of elections...?’’

Police arrest two suspected human skinners

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzanian police arrested two men accused of killing a 9-year-old boy and selling his skin for 20,000 shillings ($18) to make sorcerers' get-rich-quick charms, a senior officer said Friday.

Police said they arrested Martin Kalunga, 25, and his associate Nico Benson, 31, in Lilwa village in southern Tanzania Tuesday after neighbors overheard Benson accusing Kalunga of plotting with their buyer to skin him as well.

The identity of the buyer was unclear.

"The two were arrested after they had a loud quarrel, because Benson suspected Martin of colluding with their buyer to skin him," Suleiman Kova, police commander for the southern Mbeya region, told Reuters.

"During interrogation, Martin confessed that they were both skinners and that they had skinned a boy in Mbozi six months ago. They then threw his body into the river Jianga," Kova said.

"These cases are few but are very shocking," he said.

Kova said police expected to charge the pair once they had completed investigations into the identity of the victim, whose remains have not been found.

He said he was not aware of any report of a missing child that would match the description given by the suspects, but police were still making inquiries.

Human skins are used by witch doctors to make charms or potions designed to make their users rich, especially in southern Tanzania, renowned as a center for traditional sorcery.

Police say the once rampant practice has decreased significantly in recent years due to tougher action by the authorities, describing this as the first suspected skinning case in southern Tanzania since April 2004.

Kova said there were three reported cases of skinning in 2003 and 14 suspects have been arrested since April last year in relation to various skinning cases, although providing evidence of skin removal is often difficult.

"We have to find a body and do a post mortem to have a good case," Kova said.

New Cancer Drugs Are Driving Up Cost of Care

Nearly two years ago, Mary Vaughan was diagnosed with a recurrence of an aggressive breast cancer that had invaded her skin and lymph nodes. Because she already had had a mastectomy, surgery was not an option, so Vaughan entered a research study testing a combination of two drugs that target cancer cells.

Today, her disease has all but disappeared. Vaughan, 56, is still on medication but is strong enough to work as a nurse near her home in Santa Barbara. "Most people have no idea I'm sick," she said.

Because Vaughan is in a clinical trial, the cost of her treatment is heavily discounted. That's fortunate, because otherwise her drugs, Avastin and Herceptin, would cost her nearly $8,000 a month — more than Vaughan says she can afford, even with her insurance.

A new generation of drugs is revolutionizing cancer care, but at a staggering expense. By next year, global spending on cancer drugs will total $31.7 billion, up from $22.3 billion in 2004, according to projections by consulting firm Bain & Co. That makes cancer the fastest growing drug category, according to Bain.

The new drugs specifically target cancer cells, unlike chemotherapy, which also attacks healthy tissue. The "targeted" drugs are seen as an advance because they are easier on patients than the harsh drugs used in chemotherapy.

Just a handful of targeted drugs have reached the market, but new ones are under intense study at pharmaceutical firms. Research on targeted drugs is expected to dominate the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which started Friday in Orlando, Fla.

One question hanging over the gathering is captured by the title of a planned seminar: "Can Society Afford State-of-the-Art Cancer Care?" Scheduled speakers include an executive from Genentech Inc., the maker of Avastin and Herceptin.

"These drugs are dramatically driving up the cost of caring for patients," said Leonard Saltz, a cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "We really haven't addressed the question of how much society is willing to pay for them."

Manufacturers acknowledge their drugs are expensive, but say they are products of costly research in a tricky field.

Dr. Gwendolyn Fyfe, the Genentech vice president who oversees clinical trials of cancer drugs, said Avastin was in development for 15 years and failed in several human tests before it was shown to benefit colon cancer patients. The intravenous drug was approved as a treatment for advanced colon cancer in 2004, but is being studied in patients such as Vaughan who have other cancers.

Fyfe, an oncologist, said Avastin and other targeted biotechnology drugs also were difficult to manufacture. Genentech's top-selling cancer drugs are large proteins made in hamster cells that have been genetically engineered to function as miniature drug factories. The cells must be kept at precise temperatures and be fed specific nutrients to produce drugs, Fyfe said — and many things can go wrong during the process.

Studies presented at the meeting Friday showed that Avastin and Herceptin improved the odds for breast cancer patients. Genentech, based in South San Francisco, announced last month that the results were positive, but provided few details until Friday.

Researchers said that Herceptin prolonged the lives of women who used it to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer after surgery. Women who received a combination of Herceptin and chemotherapy lowered their risk of death by one-third compared with those on chemotherapy alone. The research included two studies funded by the National Cancer Institute involving 5,000 patients and a European study of 5,000 patients.

All the women had received treatment for early-stage cancer with a particular genetic mutation targeted by Herceptin, which is approved only for advanced breast cancer.

Compared with the treatment of chemotherapy alone, "The difference is very large," Gabriel Hortobagyi, a breast cancer specialist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said at a news conference.

Also Friday, a different group of researchers said Avastin appeared to improve the life expectancy of advanced breast cancer patients. The doctor who led the study, Kathy Miller of Indiana University in Indianapolis, said patients taking Avastin with chemotherapy had a one-third lower risk of death than those given only chemotherapy. The study, also funded by the National Cancer Institute, involved 722 patients.

Taken together, the studies mean that there soon may be more effective treatment options for breast cancer patients. But the drugs must be added to chemotherapy because they aren't powerful enough to work on their own, and that will add many thousands of dollars to treatment costs.

That's what happened in the case of advanced colon cancer. Until recently, the standard therapy for colon cancer was fluorouracil, administered with a vitamin called leucovorin. The treatment cost $500 all told in today's dollars, Saltz said. Now patients with inoperable colon cancer are treated with a combination of newer chemotherapy drugs and targeted therapies, including Avastin and ImClone Systems Inc.'s Erbitux. The average life expectancy of patients has doubled to 22 months, Saltz said, but the cost of treatment has swollen 500 times to $250,000.

Lee Vermeulen, an expert in clinical economics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said the benefits of the drugs were minimal relative to the cost. Given that the drugs have been shown to extend life, on average, by only a matter of months, "these drugs are overpriced," he said in a telephone interview.

Many hope the targeted therapies can one day be combined so cancer can be controlled as a manageable disease, as is diabetes. The trial that Vaughan is participating in is a step in that direction, said Mark Pegram of UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, who is leading a study that combines Avastin with Herceptin.

Vaughan is one of five women in the study of nine patients who saw significant shrinkage of her tumors. The women all have advanced cancer and the mutation targeted by Herceptin.

Though Vaughan is doing well, she said the Avastin had elevated her blood pressure. Also, Herceptin can cause congestive heart failure, so she must get her heart checked regularly. "Cancer as a manageable disease is not necessarily easy," she said.

Pegram said more studies were needed to be certain the combination of drugs is safe and effective. If the therapy works, the next hurdle will be deciding how to pay for it.

"We have limited resources for healthcare," Pegram said, "and it is going to boil down to a difficult decision."

Iraq rebels 'flushed out by US'

The US has said its forces have cleared an area in north-west Iraq of insurgents following a week-long operation codenamed Matador.
The Americans said they had killed more than 125 rebels for the loss of nine of their own men, with 40 wounded.

The campaign, involving air strikes and at least 1,000 ground troops, took place close to the border with Syria.

Meanwhile, in the capital Baghdad, a senior foreign ministry official has been shot dead outside his home.

The assassination of Jassim al-Muhammadawy, the director-general of administration at the ministry, followed a suicide car bomb attack on a police convoy in the city in which at least four people died.

About 10 others were killed in suicide bombings in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.

More than 400 people have been killed in militant attacks since Iraq's democratically elected government was announced at the end of April.

Syrian alarm

Explosions were heard on the Syrian side of the border during Operation Matador.

The Syrians moved up extra troops as a precaution.
Reports from the area said US troops began pulling out almost exactly a week after the campaign began, and that they had dismantled a pontoon bridge they built across the Euphrates during the operation.

The US said the operation had achieved its goals of eliminating insurgents, and denying a sanctuary and a through route for fighters and materials involved in attacks deep inside Iraq.

"During Operation Matador, marines, sailors and soldiers neutralised this sanctuary, killing more than 125 insurgents, wounding many others, and detaining 39 insurgents of intelligence value," the US military said in a statement.

But there were no reports that they had entered Qaim, a town close to the border known for its insurgent activity.

The area concerned is highly tribal and has traditionally been a route for smuggling across the Syrian border.

Tribal tensions

The Americans said they would continue to monitor the area and would be back.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, says the operation appears to have exacerbated tribal tensions in the area.

About 250 people fled Qaim into the desert as a result of the fighting and are currently receiving assistance from the Iraqi Red Crescent, the AFP news agency reports.

"I left al-Qaim with nothing. My five-year-old son was killed in the clashes," Hassan al-Kubaissi, 34, told the news agency.

The governor of the province was also abducted by gunmen who said they would only free him if the Americans pulled out.

The operation was the largest campaign against insurgents since the US-led assault on Falluja in November.

Is globalisation a force for good?

Globalisation has made the world a smaller place, with increased trade, communications and workforce mobility.
It has touched every country, and its supporters say it increases wealth, consumer choice, and promotes democracy.

But critics say globalisation gives too much power to multinational business, weakening states and making underdeveloped countries poorer.

How has globalisation affected you where you live? Is it capitalism at its most dangerous or an opportunity for poor countries to become richer? What is its effect on the economy, culture , human rights and the environment?

Pope Benedict's creature comforts

Pope Benedict XVI, the 78-year-old former German Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, is making himself at home inside the Vatican.

A few days after his election the new pope moved his furniture, his books and his personal belongings across the road, from his former apartment in a block of flats owned by the Vatican into the official papal residence. It is on the top floor of the centuries-old Apostolic Palace.

And he took his upright piano with him.

Unlike his immediate predecessor, who enjoyed singing but had something of a tin ear, the new Pope is a lover of classical music and likes to play Mozart and Bach for relaxation and pleasure.

His former housekeeper Ingrid Stampa was a music teacher before she came to Rome to keep house for the cardinal.

They used occasionally to play duets together. She taught the viola da gamba, an antique stringed instrument resembling the modern cello
Papal makeover

The Pope's upright piano is now in his study, the room overlooking Saint Peter's Square from the window of which he appears to deliver his Sunday blessing to pilgrims
The papal apartment has seven large rooms plus a private chapel, a roof garden and staff quarters for the German Benedictine nuns who now keep house for Benedict.

It was partly redecorated immediately after the death there of Pope John Paul II.

The whole apartment - which had been occupied for 26 years by John Paul - will be refurbished during next summer while the pope is in residence at Castelgandolfo. That is his official residence from July to September, when Romans fortunate enough to do so traditionally flee the city to avoid the oppressive heat.


Before the unification of Italy in 1870, popes used to live at the Quirinal Palace in the centre of Rome and were often seen travelling around the city.

Because of the anti-clerical nature of the regime which ruled Italy at that time, Pope Pius IX took refuge inside the Vatican and rarely ventured outside its walls
The Quirinal Palace no longer belongs to the Vatican; today it is the official residence of the Italian President.

The new pope is a cat lover and one Rome newspaper reported - erroneously as it turned out - that the new Pope had decided to take his two cats into the Apostolic Palace.

This caused some official eyebrows to be raised, as caged birds and animals are not allowed inside today.

Animal lovers

Some former popes have kept pets, however.

Leo XII, who reigned in the early years of the 19th Century, kept a small dog for company.

When he died, according to the memoirs of the first Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Nicholas Wiseman, the animal was taken to London by an English aristocrat, Lady Shrewsbury, where "the late pope's dog" used to attract attention when it was walked in Hyde Park.

Later popes built aviaries in the Vatican gardens, and Pope Pius XII kept caged birds in the papal apartment - two goldfinches and a woodpecker from the Black Forest in Germany.

They were occasionally allowed outside their cages.

Pope Benedict has resumed many of the Roman habits of his predecessor.

Although for security reasons he can no longer go for walks unaccompanied in the streets around the Vatican as he used to do when he was cardinal, sometimes lingering in a bookshop or eating in a local trattoria, he has already won admiration for his growing rapport with ordinary Catholics.

In his former job as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he seemed a remote and rather unapproachable figure.

Since his election he has become more eager to reach out to ordinary people.

At the end of his latest general audience at the Vatican this week, the Pope spent almost an hour moving among the crowds, talking to the sick, caressing babies, and giving blessings to pilgrims.

And Benedict's new coat of arms reflects this new sense of humility and simplicity.

His heraldic shield is topped not by the papal tiara or crown, but by a simple bishop's mitre

Manmohan Singh, Speaker regret Opposition boycott

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Lok Sabha Speaker on Friday regretted the absence of the Opposition from Parliament during the latter half of the budget session. They hoped the Opposition parties would attend the monsoon session.

In his valedictory address to the Lok Sabha, Dr. Singh reiterated his Government's offer to discuss and debate all issues of concern and emphasised that both the Government and Opposition had a role to play in ensuring checks and balances. He said it would be a sad day if people were to lose faith in the institution of Parliament.

Mr. Chatterjee said he had made repeated requests to the Opposition members to participate in the proceedings of the House and reiterated his assurance that he was prepared to allow any discussion permissible under the rules. "But they have chosen to continue with the boycott. Nevertheless, I am happy that the Opposition did constructively participate in the discussion on the Finance Bill," He noted with satisfaction the Telugu Desam Party's participation in the parliamentary proceedings.

The Speaker also referred to the "disturbing trend of absenteeism" that led to adjournment of the House on several occasion for want of quorum.

Later, at a press conference, Mr. Chatterjee said the Opposition had stayed away from the daily meetings called by the Speaker. The Opposition could disagree with the Government but to extend it to meetings called by the Speaker was unfortunate. The meeting would have facilitated interaction within leaders on either side.

He said the budget session had 38 sittings spread over 212 hours during which 26 Bills were introduced and 26 Bills were passed. Considering the manner in which the Employment Guarantee Bill was held up in the standing committee since its Chairman, (Kalyan Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party) cancelled a meeting due to the boycott, Mr. Chatterjee said he was contemplating setting a three-month stipulation to send back the Bill to House

No change in nuclear policy, says India

New Delhi: The Government yesterday said the new legislation to prohibit unlawful activities in relation to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and their means of delivery in no way indicated any change in India's nuclear policy.

"It does not indicate any change in our nuclear policy. It does not in any manner constrain our nuclear programme, civilian or strategic," External Affairs Ministry spokesman, Navtej Sarna, told reporters here.

Describing the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Bill 2005, approved by Parliament as an "overarching and integrated" legislation, he said India was determined to utilise advanced technologies for its security, welfare of its people and to meeting the nation's developmental requirements.

Through updated controls for the export of WMD-usable materials, equipment and technologies and prohibitions related to non-State actors, India fulfilled its mandatory obligations under relevant UN Security Council resolution.

He said the legislation and its passage underlined India's role as a responsible nuclear power and its respect for such responsibility arising from the possession of sensitive dual use technologies.

India has stated that it was fully committed to safeguard its security as a Nuclear Weapon State and to deepen its autonomous scientific and technical capability for meeting its security imperatives and developmental goals.

Democrats Move to Slow Action on Bolton

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats opposed to President Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton to be U.N. ambassador are trying to delay a Senate vote with a legislative maneuver that ultimately could lead to a filibuster.

As a result, Senate consideration of the nomination is unlikely before the end of the month, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's spokesman said.
The White House, in pushing for confirmation, has taken the position Bolton was needed badly and promptly at the United Nations to work on reform of the institution.

But Sen. Barbara Boxer of California said Democrats were holding up the nomination to compel the State Department to provide more information about the embattled undersecretary.

Frist's spokesman Bob Stevenson said it was "an ominous signal," but that talks would be held with the Democrats to try to work out arrangements for bringing the nomination to the floor.

Next week the Senate will concentrate on a confirmation fight over two of Bush's conservative judicial nominees.

At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher indicated the Democrats' demands for more Bolton documents would not be met.

"We think that we have provided everything that is relevant to this nomination," he said.

The nomination was voted out of the Foreign Relations Committee 10-8 on Thursday without an endorsement, and Democrats vowed to take their fight to the Senate floor.

Boxer told The Associated Press on Friday she would use procedural delays until Democrats receive the requested information.

"It is not fair to bring this nomination to the floor for debate and a vote until all the information has been delivered," she said.

Boxer said the Democrats want to know if Bolton sought the names of U.S. officials whose communications were intercepted by U.S. intelligence, details on the private business activities of a Bolton assistant, Matthew Friedman, and the circumstances of a tough Bolton speech on Syria.

After a day of bomb blast, grenade goes off near a Srinagar school

SRINAGAR: A little red shoe, windscreen fragments, a tiny crater, three patches of blood and the wails of mothers. A day after the uptown Jawaharnagar blast, terror struck at the heart of Srinagar on Thursday, when.

Ties with Pakistan vital, says Manmohan

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that his Government attached great importance to normalisation of relations with Pakistan and that it sincerely desired to find mutually acceptable solutions to all outstanding issues.

Intervening in a debate on his suo motu statement on the visits of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, and the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, to India, Dr. Singh said he told Gen. Musharraf that he would not be able to take the country's public opinion with him in continuing the current composite dialogue process if repeated terrorist acts against innocent men, women and children continued.

The Prime Minister was responding to members' concerns on the need for cessation of cross-border terrorism.

Need for alertness


He said India welcomed the pledge made by Gen. Musharraf not to allow terrorism to come in the way of the bilateral peace process and that both were committed to making the peace process "truly irreversible.'' However, he said, much would depend on the actual ground situation with regard to cross-border infiltration.

On the Baglihar dam issue, he said the reference (by Pakistan) to World Bank was premature since further technical discussions with Indian experts could have led to narrowing down of differences. He asserted that India had never violated the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.

Vital stake in Nepal


Referring to Nepal, he said, India had a vital stake in the security and development of the country with which it enjoyed old ties of culture and civilisation. The only concern of India was that Nepal should approach a new era of modernisation with a strong commitment to constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy.

As for Bangladesh, he said, India was concerned over the use of territory there by Indian insurgent groups and hoped that both countries worked together to resolve these issues.

He said the Government attached great importance to the development of relations with China and that there was scope for expansion of economic interaction with the neighbour..

Referring to the United States, the Prime Minister said the two countries were poised for a major and significant upgrading of relations in the coming days

LBS colleges to end IT course

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The LBS Centre for Science and Technology, a Government of Kerala Undertaking, has decided to wind up from this year the course in Information Technology (IT) at both the engineering colleges under it.

The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the executive committee of the centre. As per this decision, the LBS College of Engineering, Kasaragod, and the LBS Institute of Technology for Women, Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram, will not be admitting students to the B.Tech course in IT from this year. However, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is to be approached for sanction to start an additional batch for Computer Science at both the colleges.

In each batch 60 students can be admitted. Since it is only in August or September that the AICTE invites proposals for starting fresh courses in engineering, the additional batch for Computer Science is likely to start only next year. With the existing facilities and the available staff, it will be possible to run an additional batch in Computer Science at both the colleges, it has been pointed out.

Both the engineering colleges under the LBS Centre being of the self-financing kind, it will not be viable to conduct a course without adequate number of students.

Fee concession


Further, as per the existing rules, fee concession should be provided to students whose annual family income is below Rs. 1 lakh, which puts an additional burden on the managements of institutions. It is the gradual decline in demand for the IT course in these colleges that has led to such a decision, according to highly placed sources at the LBS Centre. Last year, 14 seats were vacant at the Kasaragod college and 11 at the institute in Poojappura for the IT course.

In the previous year too, there were vacant seats at these colleges for this branch.

The trend has been that even students initially seeking admission to the IT course move over to other courses after the Centralised Allotment Process.

With no colleges in the State offering post-graduate courses in IT, the demand for the course has been on the decline.

It may be recalled that the Engineering College in Munnar, under the Centre for Continuing Education, another autonomous institution under the Government of Kerala, had done away with the IT branch two years ago, after opting for an additional batch in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

"Greater cooperation between SEBI, DCA vital"

Naresh Chandra committee for corporate governance on Thursday said that there was a need for greater co-operation between SEBI and the Department of Company Affairs (DCA).

Participating in a roundtable on 'Corporate Governance: Myth to Reality', organized by CII, Naresh Chandra said "In India, committees have noticed the duplication of work between SEBI and DCA."

In the foreword to the book by the same name and written by Kaushik Dutta and his wife Kshama V Kaushik, Chandra said, "at least one committee has questioned the manner in which stringent conditions are being stipulated under clause 49 of SEBI regulations on listed companies."

He said the company recommended that SEBI may refrain from exercising power of subordinate legislation in areas where specific legislation exists in the Companies Act 1956.

"Obviously there is a need for greater co-operation between SEBI and DCA," Chandra said.

Also participating in the discussion were Tejendra Khanna, Chairman of Ranbaxy and Tarun Das of CII.

Tejendra Khanna of Ranbaxy said, "we operate in the US market where strict quality control is the order of the day. If it's flouted, companies are not allowed to do business there. We are proud of our standards in Ranbaxy."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Senate approves bill to permit 50,000 foreign nurses to US

Washington: The US Senate has approved a bill permitting 50,000 foreign nurses to enter the country to meet the huge shortage, a move that will benefit Indian nurses who are much sought after in the country.

Under the bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski, an additional 50,000 foreign nurses will be permitted to enter the country. There is a great shortage of nurses in the US numbering upto 250,000, according to recent reports. Indian nurses are preferred by many hospitals in the US because of their better health knowledge and ability to speak fluent English.

The bill also exempted H-2B seasonal guest workers who have already worked in the US from the 65,000 annual cap. This will mainly help Mexican workers. Another immigration provision passed by the Senate seeks to allow 10,500 Australian guest workers to enter the country annually under terms similar to the H-1B high-tech visa category. With the approval from Senate, the bill is one step short of becoming law, pending the signature of President George W Bush.

Paswan floats new formula, RJD dismissive, Congress cold

New Delhi: In a bid to break the deadlock in Bihar, LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday shed some of his aversion to Lalu Prasad and favoured a Congress-led government with a Muslim Chief Minister but the RJD rejected it outright while Congress cold shouldered it.

Amidst reports that his MLAs were getting restive over the continuing impasse in government formation, Paswan, whose 29 MLAs hold the key to the new government, met Congress President Sonia Gandhi along with about 20 legislators and suggested that her party should make the government with a Muslim as Chief Minister.

"If the Congress gives a Muslim candidate for the post of chief minister, we can reconsider our stand on not taking RJD support in Bihar," he told reporters. He said the Congress president told him that she would consider the proposal in consultation with party leaders.

However, party general secretary Ambika Soni said that Congress had only 10 members in the 243 member Assembly and it had no role in Paswan's scheme of things. She also said that the party had already given in writing its support to formation of RJD government.

Dismissing the formula, RJD spokesman Shivanand Tiwary said no government was possible by Paswan's proposal and it was just an attempt to keep his MLAs together.

LJP together with Congress (10), RJD (76) and Left parties (15) could be in a
position to muster majority in the House of 243 if Lalu Prasad agrees with the proposal that the Chief Minister will not be from his party.

Paswan to meet Sonia; may discuss formulae to end Bihar stalemate

NEW DELHI: Amid reports of a possible rebellion by the restive MLAs, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, with key to government formation in Bihar, is likely to meet UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday understandably to discuss two new formulae to end the stalemate in the state.

Paswan is understood to be toying with two proposals with the first being a coalition with LJP joining a dispensation headed by Congress and Lalu Prasad-led RJD playing a minor role.

He, however, wants the Chief Minister, agreeably from Congress, to be from the Muslim community.

According to reports, the second formula is in line with his stated stand to keep RJD out and involve JD-U in the government with a Muslim CM from the party if the latter agrees to snap with BJP and come out of NDA.

The two formulae have been evolved on the basis of the feedback from the seven-member LJP committee headed by Ranjan Yadav to explore possible permutations and combinations in the present situation.

LJP has crucial 29 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly and its equidistance from the RJD and BJP has been a stumbling block in the formation of a government in state under President's rule after the elections threw a hung Assembly.

North Korea edging closer to nuclear tests

North Korea has taken "preparatory steps" toward testing a nuclear weapon, a Bush administration official said Wednesday. The Asian nation's communist government, meanwhile, said it has finished removing spent fuel rods from its nuclear reactor, a key step toward making more bomb-grade plutonium.
The developments exacerbate an already tense standoff between the United States and North Korea. The news comes as North Korea, long believed to have enough material for up to eight atomic bombs, approaches the nuclear threshold.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer told Japanese officials in a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday about North Korea's test preparations, and State Department spokesman Richard Boucher in Washington confirmed Schieffer's comments. Boucher also cautioned against reading too much into them.

North Korea's foreign ministry said Wednesday that the removal of 8,000 fuel rods from a five-megawatt nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang, was aimed at helping North Korea "bolster its nuclear arsenal."

Two U.S. intelligence officials with access to classified information on North Korea cautioned that the evidence of an impending test in the northeastern province of Kilju is highly ambiguous. It's based mainly on satellite photos of tunneling activity that could indicate burying a nuclear device for an underground blast, they said. The officials asked to remain anonymous because the information they outlined is classified.

North Korea's military does extensive tunneling to hide sensitive equipment or provide shelter from air attack, the officials said, and the tunneling could also stem from mining operations.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview Tuesday that his analysis of the evidence has convinced him North Korea is ready for a test that only awaits North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il's approval.

"I wouldn't call it speculation," Roberts said. "I don't think there's any question that North Korea is determined to increase its activity with nuclear weaponry."

Removal of the fuel rods, weighing a total of 50 tons, is a first step toward "reprocessing" the spent nuclear fuel to extract bomb-grade plutonium, according to David Albright, a nuclear weapons expert and director of the Institute for Science and International Security. The rods will have to sit in a cooling pond for three to six months, and the chemical process of extracting the plutonium — enough for three to five weapons — would take an additional six months.

A North Korean test would likely use plutonium extracted from fuel rods in an earlier round of reprocessing over the last three years, Albright said. A test would increase tension on the peninsula but would also provide U.S. intelligence with some valuable information.

In the event of a test, seismic sensors in the region should be able to tell U.S. intelligence the size of the bomb, Albright said. The U.S. military has aircraft with sensing equipment that patrol the waters off North Korea trying to pick airborne traces that might have leaked from an underground test site.

But Anthony Cordesman of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies said testing a nuclear weapon won't prove that North Korea has a device small enough to deliver on a missile or from an aircraft

White House intruder in the net

WASHINGTON: The pilot of a small plane that triggered a security alert by entering restricted airspace near the White House and Capitol Hill has been taken into custody.

The White House and Capitol Hill had to be evacuated briefly after the pilot of the Cessna ignored commands and flew into the high-security airspace.

A fighter aircraft of the US air force intercepted the intruding plane. The pilot was taken into custody by the Maryland police on landing.

A White House official said a red alert was sounded and people in several other government buildings, including the treasury department and the supreme court, too were ordered to leave offices. But within minutes, the US secret service gave an all clear signal, allowing staff to return to work.

On April 27, Bush went to an underground shelter and Vice President Dick Cheney had been taken to a secure location after security officials received a false alarm that an unidentified aircraft had entered the restricted space near the White House.

Four shot dead as Afghans riot at reported US insult to Koran

AFGHAN police opened fire on protesters yesterday, killing four and wounding dozens more, during violent demonstrations over a report that United States interrogators had desecrated the Koran.

US forces stationed in the conservative city of Jalalabad, 80 miles east of Kabul, were called back to base when the trouble began, leaving Afghan authorities to handle it, at their request, an American spokeswoman said.

Government offices were set on fire, shops looted and United Nations buildings and diplomatic missions attacked as thousands of people took to the streets, witnesses said.

Police fired several times to disperse crowds. Four people were killed and 52 wounded, the provincial health chief, Fazel Mohammad Ibrahimi, said after compiling information from three city hospitals.

"Police had to open fire, they were destroying the city," said the provincial police chief, Hazrat Ali.

About 1,000 school students demonstrated in nearby Laghman province. In Khost city, also in the east, protesters burned a picture of the US president, George Bush, and a US flag. Kabul was quiet.

The protests are thought to have been provoked by a report in Newsweek magazine which claimed investigators examining abuses at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had found interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet".

About 2,000 students chanting "Death to America" protested in Jalalabad on Tuesday, demanding an apology and punishment for those involved in the incident. Many more turned out yesterday, said a witness who estimated the number at more than 5,000.

Cars were smashed, shops ransacked and government buildings, including the governor’s office, set alight.

Protesters looted the Pakistani consulate and attacked an Indian mission, one witness said. Smoke billowed across the city, which sprawls along the main road to Pakistan.

Two UN cars were set on fire and two UN offices attacked, said a UN spokeswoman, Ariane Quentier. All staff had been accounted for and confined to safe areas.

Witnesses said police and national army troops had restored order by early yesterday afternoon.

In Kabul, the US embassy said it was deeply concerned and saddened by the loss of life. The US government was investigating the allegation about the Koran; disrespect towards the holy book of any religion was unacceptable, it said.

Afghanistan’s US-backed president, Hamid Karzai, said on a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels that the riot showed Afghan authorities were not ready to handle protests.

Zurück in der Schweiz

sda. Nach einem Not-Ambulanzflug am Morgen kam am Abend der Grossteil Verletzter mit einem Linienjet nach Zürich. Für den Linienflug hatte die Rettungsflugwacht Rega eigens eine Maschine der Fluggesellschaft Belair gechartert. Damit wurden 35 Personen, darunter 31 Verletzte, aus dem südtürkischen Antalya nach Zürich gebracht. Die Verletzten, die um 18.30 Uhr in Zürich-Kloten landeten, wurden mit Ambulanzfahrzeugen in Spitäler in der ganzen Deutschschweiz gebracht.
hZwei Schwerverletzte mit Lungenverletzungen mussten während des dreistündigen Fluges mit Sauerstoff und Medikamenten versorgt werden, wie der leitende Rega-Arzt, Oliver Seiler, gestern Abend vor den Medien sagte. Diverse weitere Unfallopfer hatten Knochenbrüche, Quetschungen oder Prellungen. Die Versorgung der Patienten und die Stimmung an Bord seien sehr gut gewesen.
Bereits am frühen Dienstagmorgen waren fünf Schwerverletzte mit einem Ambulanzjet der Rega in Zürich angekommen.
Es seien gestern alle Opfer des Busunglücks wieder in die Schweiz zurückgekgebracht worden, hiess es weiter. Die Rega war mit einem fünfköpfigen Ärzteteam im Einsatz. Verletzte und Angehörige waren am Flughafen von Medien und Schaulustigen abgeschirmt und in einem speziellen Raum zusammengeführt worden.
Bei dem schweren Unglück vom Sonntag waren drei Menschen ums Leben gekommen und 47 weitere verletzt worden. Die genaue Ursache des Unfalls ist weiter unbekannt. Bei den Todesopfern handelt es sich um einen Mann mit Wohnsitz in der Schweiz - die Nationalität ist unklar - sowie um ein türkisches Ehepaar, das in der Schweiz lebte und Ferien in der Heimat machte.

Iraqi insurgents take U.S. troops by surprise

BAGHDAD — U.S. forces on an offensive across a remote desert region in western Iraq have encountered surprisingly stiff resistance from insurgents who have established a base of operations near the Syrian border.The insurgent sanctuary has been used to launch a wave of deadly attacks in Baghdad in recent weeks, sometimes using foreign fighters coming through Syria, U.S. officers said Tuesday.
"A lot of these folks are coming across unarmed," said Col. Bob Chase, operations officer for the 2nd Marine Division. "Somewhere in these northern areas, they were given the training and weapons to carry out their acts." (Related video: Insurgents strike back)
The U.S. offensive, called Operation Matador, was launched at dawn Sunday near Qaim, south of the Euphrates River. It is among the largest military operations in Iraq since the offensive to drive insurgents from Fallujah in November.
By Tuesday, 1,000 Marines, soldiers and sailors, supported by fighter jets and helicopter gunships, were on the north side of the Euphrates River, sweeping through insurgent safe houses and smuggling routes near the Syrian border.
As U.S. forces pressed on, insurgent gunmen kidnapped the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province, Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, and told his family he would be released when U.S. forces withdraw from Qaim. Mahalawi was seized as he drove from Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi, his brother, Hammad, told the Associated Press.
More than 100 suspected insurgents and three Marines have been killed in fierce clashes along the banks of the Euphrates since the offensive was launched, according to U.S. Central Command.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have struggled to better patrol the 350-mile Syrian border. But the "tyranny of distance and mass" makes it difficult to seal off from illegal crossers, who use centuries-old smuggling routes, Chase said.
A brigade-sized Iraqi force (1,500-3,500 troops) currently training in Fallujah and Ramadi will soon be ready to man border posts and block the flow of foreign fighters, he said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari plans to address the issue at meetings with Syrian officials in the coming weeks, his spokesman, Laith Kubba, said. "We don't think (smuggling) is done with the Syrian government's approval, but more is needed to be done to make sure there is effective control there," Kubba said. "We take it very seriously, and we expect the Syrian government to take it seriously."
U.S. officers believe militants in strongholds in the western desert are responsible for attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere, the U.S. military said in a statement.
Bombings in Baghdad have increased in recent weeks. More than 300 people have been killed by car bombs and other attacks since the Iraqi government was named two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, two more suicide car bombs detonated in the capital. Timed two hours apart, the blasts killed seven civilians and wounded 26, sending billows of black smoke through city streets, said Muhammed Al-Nuami, an Interior Ministry official.
The offensive near Qaim encountered resistance shortly after kicking off. Intelligence had suggested that insurgents were hiding on the north side of the Euphrates River, Chase said. But as Army engineers assembled a pontoon bridge near the town of Obeidi, waiting Marines came under mortar fire from the south side of the river, Capt. Jeffrey Pool, a Marines spokesman, said in an e-mail.
The Marines, supported by F/A-18 and Air Force F-15E fighter jets, turned and fought toward Obeidi, Chase said.
Insurgents also launched a counterattack near a Marines outpost in Qaim on Monday, attacking a convoy with small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and two suicide car bombers, according to a military statement.
One car bomb damaged an armored Humvee, the other was destroyed by a tank. No Marines were killed and two car bombers died in the attack, the statement said. Ten insurgents surrendered.
Tuesday, with the pontoon bridge assembled, U.S. troops moved west into the desert, unearthing enemy propaganda, weapon caches and some cars rigged for suicide attack, Chase said.
Since Sunday, Marines had detained 54 suspected insurgents, though that number dwindled to 16-25 after initial interrogations, Chase said. The insurgents were a mix of foreign fighters and Iraqis.
At a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway said there was a reported sighting of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the United States' most-wanted man in Iraq, in the area of the current battle.
"It would be a welcome event to come across him or his body ... in that region," Conway said. "But that's not the purpose of the operation."
During the fighting, insurgents attacked in groups as large as 50 people, Chase said. It is unusual to see enemy formations of that size in Iraq, where militants typically attack using remotely detonated roadside bombs or suicide car bombs. But Chase said the insurgent attacks were not well-coordinated or tactically sophisticated.
The offensive carried echoes of the Fallujah operation, where Marines and soldiers also encountered formations of militants in well-defended positions.
U.S. officials said the offensive there led to a subsequent decline in attacks across Iraq because the city had become a support base for militants. The offensive in Fallujah had "broken the back of the insurgency," Marine Lt. Gen John Sattler said in November.
But insurgents were apparently able to re-establish a base of operations in the west, highlighting the difficulty of stamping out elusive militants.
"We've had a succession of these operations, and it is questionable how much significance they actually have," said Vance Serchuk, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
in Washington and

Neue Niederlage für Berlusconi

Das regierende Rechtsbündnis hat bei den Gemeinde- und Provinzwahlen in Sardinien, Aosta und im Trentino ein neue Niederlage erlitten. In Sardinien siegte die Linkskoalition in sechs der acht Provinzen, darunter in der Hauptstadt Cagliari. In einer Provinz ist eine Stichwahl erforderlich, nur in Oristano blieb das Rechtsbündnis siegreich. Auch bei den Gemeindewahlen in den Provinzhauptstädten Sassari und Nuoro war das Ulivo-Bündnis erfolgreich.



Die schwerste Niederlage erlitt Berlusconis Koalition in Aosta, wo der Autonomist Guido Grimod mit Unterstützung des Linksbündnisses zum Bürgermeister gewählt wurde. Die Nationale Allianz schrumpfte in der Regionalhauptstadt auf ein historisches Tief von 2,3 Prozent, Forza Italia musste sich mit 6,5 Prozent begnügen.luch in Trient schaffte Alberto Pacher das Rennen mit 64 Prozent bereits in der ersten Runde. In Rovereto verfehlte das Rechtsbündnis den Einzug in die Stichwahl. In Bozen schnitt die Ölbaum-Koalition dagegen unerwartet schlecht ab. Der Quereinsteiger Giovanni Benussi von der Nationalen Allianz siegte mit 42 Prozent vor Bürgermeister Giovanni Salghetti mit 35.

"Katastrophe" für SVP
Die Südtiroler Volkspartei wird Salghetti in der Stichwahl unterstützen. Der SVP-Obmann und Bozner Vizebürgermeister Elmar Pichler-Rolle bezeichnete das Wahlergebnis in Bozen als "mittlere Katastrophe". Die SVP verlor landesweit fast vier Prozent. Auch die Bürgermeister von Meran, Leifers und Brixen werden in Stichwahlen ermittelt.

Neue Niederlage für Berlusconi

Porträt: Architekt Benussi in Bozen auf Überholspur

SVP verliert an Grüne und Bürgerlisten

Zwei Richter und Polizist bei Anti-Mafia-Aktion festgenommen
Wissen
Schwacher Presidente
Infografik
Regionalwahlen brachten schwere Niederlage für Berlusconi

Eine Totenklage, auch für Skeptiker

Das Holocaust-Mahnmal in Berlin-Mitte, das so lange und heftig umstritten war, wird zuletzt fast alle zusammenführen. Das Stelenfeld ist schon seit Dezember letzten Jahres fertig, inzwischen ist auch der unterirdische «Ort der Information» eingerichtet. Was fehlt, ist noch die Reaktion des breiten Publikums. Die Kritik aber ist durchweg beeindruckt von Peter Eisenmans Arbeit, und auch die Passanten, soweit sie derzeit durch die Zäune schauen, äussern sich zustimmend, fast befriedigt
Derzeit werden gern Fotos abgebildet, die das Stelenfeld von oben zeigen und den Eindruck sanfter, schwingender Bewegung machen. Aus höher gelegenen Stockwerken der umliegenden Häuser wird es auch so aussehen. Der Fussgänger nimmt es anders wahr, härter, strenger. Die unterschiedlich hohen Stelen beschreiben aus Augenhöhe keine durchgehende Woge, sie staffeln sich, der einzelne Pfeiler ist vor dem nächsten, höheren gut zu sehen. Begibt man sich in das Feld hinein, so verstärkt sich der Eindruck. Da ist das strenge rechtwinklige Raster, in dem die Pfeiler angeordnet sind, die gleichmässig matt-graue Farbgebung (oder Farblosigkeit) von Pfeilern und Boden, die Scharfkantigkeit der Stelen. Doch fühlt man sich weder eingeschlossen noch verloren. Die Strenge des Rasters schafft auch den jederzeit freien Blick in vier Richtungen. Die Gänge sind gerade so breit, dass zwei Menschen aneinander vorbeigehen können, ein wenig Rücksicht vorausgesetzt. Der Boden fällt zur Mitte des Geländes in Wellen ab, dieHöhe der Stelen steigt und sinkt, und vor allem sind die Stelen leicht aus der Lotrechten geneigt, das löst die Strenge dann ein wenig.

Das Verhältnis von Strenge und Auflösung ist auch eines von Masse und Individualität. Grösse, Ebenmässigkeit, Abstraktion des Werkes schliessen sentimentale Einfühlung aus. Der Verwaltungsvorgang des Massenmords, der noch die Totenklage, den letzten Respekt ausschloss, wird nicht durch falsche Anschaulichkeit weggetröstet. Doch ist dies nicht das letzte Wort. Wenn die 2711 Stelen eine kaum übersehbare Menge vorstellen, so gibt die kleine Neigung, die sie aus der Lotrechten rückt, ihnen wieder Individualität. So wird auch der Besucher geleitet. Die schmalen Gänge vor den Stelen machen ihn zum Einzelwesen. Gruppen müssen sich hier auflösen, ein jeder nimmt seinen Weg, keine Hierarchie weist ihn an. Er muss als ein Einzelner sich zurechtfinden im Mahnmal und seinem Gegenstand.

60 years on, Berlin honours Hitler's victims

After years of controversy and delay, Germany opened its Holocaust memorial yesterday - a vast field of concrete slabs in the historic heart of Berlin only a few hundred metres from the site of Hitler's bunker.
The opening is a landmark step in Germany's postwar evolution, and in the slow and often painful process of coming to terms with its Nazi past.

Unlike Russia and Japan, Germany has - in recent decades at least - confronted its history with a relentless honesty. No other country had erected a monument to "the biggest crime in its history" in the middle of its capital, Wolfang Thierse, the president of Germany's parliament, said yesterday. He pointed out that although the Holocaust was carried out in German-occupied Poland it had been "planned and administered" from Berlin.

Information leaks too fast for Microsoft

The difficulty of keeping secrets in the instantaneous age of the Internet and digital cameras should come as no surprise to the world's leading technology company, Microsoft Corp.


But this week, the behemoth software maker apparently was caught off guard.


Microsoft intends to preview its new gaming console, dubbed Xbox 360, to the world on Thursday via an MTV special. The Redmond, Wash.-based company invited 200 people to attend the Los Angeles taping and asked them not to reveal what they saw until the show's broadcast.


Some of the attendees apparently couldn't resist and snapped photographs that have been widely circulated on the Web. (Note to Microsoft's publicity department: The next time you decide to give 200 strangers a sneak peek at a product you should probably insist participants check their cameras at the door.)


The photos reveal that Xbox 360 is slightly concave, features an oversized power button, wireless headset and DVD remote.


Microsoft isn't the only company contending ever more frequently with leaks about upcoming products.


In December, Apple Computer Inc. sued 25 unnamed individuals who allegedly leaked product information.


It is unknown whether Microsoft plans any legal action. The company has refused to comment.

The World of Pain Specialists

May 9, 2005 — Dr. Paul Rumble, a veterinarian from Milford, Conn., knows first hand the challenges of living with chronic pain. Following abdominal surgery for diverticulitis, a buildup of scar tissue left him in agony.
Laparoscopic treatments, which use a tiny camera to guide surgeons' hands, provided temporary relief, but not enough. When the problem came back, Rumble's physician prescribed morphine. The drug worked, but taking it also meant relying on a narcotic to be free of symptoms.

India, Russia agree to strengthen ties

Moscow: Cementing their strategic ties, Russia on Monday expressed its readiness to further expand cooperation with India in civilian nuclear energy, defence and space. The two sides also decided to set up a study group to examine the feasibility of a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement.

At a meeting lasting more than the scheduled 30 minutes with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed Moscow's willingness to look into issues of civilian nuclear energy cooperation with India, including the supply of nuclear fuel for Tarapore plant and new nuclear power reactors.

During the talks, held in a very warm and cordial atmosphere, "Putin agreed to look into these issues after the festivities of the 60th anniversary of Nazi defeat were over," National Security Advisor M.K. Narayan told reporters here after the meeting.

Russia is helping India in the construction of Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu under a deal signed in 1985 by then Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and erstwhile Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. However, after the break up of the USSR, Russia joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which bans it from selling civilian nuclear technology to non-signatories of the NPT, including India.

Singh apprised Putin of India's non-proliferation efforts and plans for the adoption of non-proliferation bill by the Indian Parliament soon. Singh expressed happiness and appreciated the support given by Russia for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

Narayanan said cooperation in space-related activities also figured in the discussions and the fact that the agreement on Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONAS) has been signed showed that "we are working further to enhance cooperation in this sector."

"As our economic relations do not mirror our strategic partnership, the Prime Minister has proposed to set up a joint working group to study the feasibility of an Indo-Russian economic cooperation agreement," Narayanan said, adding it was immediately accepted by Putin. The two leaders felt that the economic cooperation between the two countries was not in keeping with their strategic relationship, he said.

In the "win-win" discussions, Putin assured Singh that Russia has "always stood by India and will always stand by India," Narayanan said. Putin on more than one occasion has emphaised that all issues between India and Russia would be addressed in the spirit of the special relations that existed between the two countries, he said.

Iran 'to resume nuclear activity'

Iran says it will resume uranium enrichment activities within the next few days, in a move which could put talks with Europe in jeopardy.
Tehran has said for days that it plans to resume conversion of raw uranium into gas, but it has not said when.

Germany has said such a move could lead to Iran being referred to the United Nations Security Council.

The United States has accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has strongly denied.

UN threat

The deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Mohammad Saeedi, told a university conference that the first stage of Iran's suspension of enrichment-related activities would be lifted at its Isfahan site.

Iran is known to be converting uranium yellow cake into gas at the site to make the feed material for centrifuges.

Tehran says it had already converted 37 tons of raw uranium into gas before its suspension came into force.

Earlier, one of Iran's negotiating partners, Germany, warned that a resumption of enrichment would lead to the collapse of talks between Europe and Iran - and might culminate in the referral of Tehran to the UN Security Council.

Iran, however, says it only agreed to suspend enrichment and related activities for a short period, and it is impatient with the pace of progress in negotiations with Europe.

Tehran is also likely to stress that it is not resuming full-blown enrichment, just the preparatory phases.

Kingdom of Heaven takes US by storm

Sir Ridley Scott's Kingdom Of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom, shot straight to the top of the US box office chart.

The epic, in which 12th-century Muslims battle Christians for control of Jerusalem, took an estimated £10.5 million (20 million dollars) in ticket sales.

But despite its success, it failed to stump an 11-week box office downturn and paled in comparison with other blockbusters marking the start of the summer season.

Pope Laid to Rest as World Mourns

Vatican Crowd Hails John Paul II With Rallying Cry for SainthoodVATICAN CITY, April 9 -- Before they carried Pope John Paul II through the Door of the Dead to his burial place in St. Peter's Basilica, the 12 Vatican pallbearers slowly turned his cypress coffin so he would face his flock one last time.

The 300,000 or more mourners on St. Peter's Square on Friday morning -- a kneeling, standing, tearful and radiant throng of Croatian students, Filipina nuns, American teenagers and other pilgrims from countless countries -- momentarily froze. Then came the cries from throughout the crowd: Giovanni Paolo! Santo Subito! John Paul! Sainthood at once!

In the stillness within St. Peter's, beyond the reach of television cameras and away from the cacophony on the square, scores of scarlet-robed cardinals formed an honor guard, lining both sides of the aisle leading to the entrance to the crypt. A handful of the pope's closest colleagues accompanied the coffin. The rest of the cardinals doffed their zucchetti, or skullcaps, in tribute.

"It was total silence," said Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles. "After the Holy Father had passed by and everybody left and were out of sight, we turned to go back and take off our vestments, and no one said a word. Not a word."

So went the last minutes of John Paul's funeral Friday: sadness and anticipation, silence and cheers. John Paul, the pontiff who became a global phenomenon, received a hero's send-off from the healthy and the lame, the privileged and the poor before being lowered privately into a simple grave beneath the basilica.

Even after his coffin had disappeared, the crowd was unwilling to let go: The mourners remained outside and applauded for 10 minutes. The knell of the basilica's 10-ton bell was followed by chimes from steeples throughout Rome. Hundreds of thousands of other mourners watched the funeral Mass on television screens at parks, plazas and fields in and around the city. Millions more watched from around the world.

The enormous number of mourners emphasized a challenge for the next pope: how to match John Paul's appeal and visibility. He reigned over the world's Roman Catholics, now numbering 1.1 billion, for 26 years. He traveled to 129 countries outside Italy and spent about one of every 10 days of his papacy on the road. He helped inspire peaceful revolts against Soviet domination in Eastern Europe; gratitude was evidenced by the scores of red-and-white flags of Poland, his homeland, that flapped on the square. He also chastised the West with a steady barrage of pronouncements against abortion and contraception, materialism and consumerism, homosexuality and war.

This week, commentators here and abroad praised John Paul's efforts. Yet the church and its leaders face many serious problems that deepened during his years in office.

In recent months, Vatican officials have lamented that Europe has grown ever more secular, that finding recruits for the priesthood has become increasingly difficult, that the faithful in Latin America are drifting toward Protestant churches and that the voice of the church has not been heeded on matters of war and peace.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who presided over the Mass, had the delicate task of eulogizing John Paul while also pinpointing work that remained unfinished. His sermon was the first of several by top prelates due to be delivered each day until April 18, when the cardinals will convene a conclave to elect a new pope. Few words will be more closely heeded than Ratzinger's. He was the Vatican's official guardian of church doctrine and discipline, and a close collaborator of the pope. He is now a leading papal candidate. His homily was, in effect, the conclave's keynote address.

In the middle of the sermon, delivered in Italian, Ratzinger recalled the title of a recent book written by John Paul: "Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way."

"With these words," Ratzinger declared, "he roused us from a lethargic faith." The crisis of faith has been a consistent theme of Ratzinger's public statements and calls for church renewal. Ratzinger also noted that John Paul had sacrificed a comfortable life as parish priest to become auxiliary bishop of Krakow.

In Ratzinger's eyes, this is a parable of sacrifice that stands in contrast to calls by some Catholics that priests should be allowed to lead normal, married lives. Ratzinger said of John Paul: "He realized how true are the Lord's words: Those who try to make their life secure lose it."

Leaders mourn Soviet wartime dead

More than 50 world leaders, including US President George W Bush, have been paying tribute in Moscow to the Soviet people's sacrifice in World War II.

A mass parade took place in Red Square - the latest in a series of events in Europe marking 60 years since the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

The 75-minute commemoration was followed by the laying of wreaths at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

But the event has been overshadowed by disagreements over the war's legacy.

Soviet sacrifice

Despite the grey skies, Moscow's city centre was transformed into a sea of colour for the celebrations.
They began with four soldiers marching across Red Square with the Soviet victory flag, to the sounds of a military band. Thousands of servicemen bearing Red Army standards followed.

World leaders saluted as 2,500 frontline veterans were driven past in trucks, carrying red carnations.

Fighter jets flew over the square streaming red, white and blue smoke, the colours of the Russian tricolour flag.

Addressing the crowds, Russia's President Vladimir Putin stressed the extent of the Soviet sacrifice to save the world from the Nazis.


"For us the victory is the victory of all of us," he said, addressing the selected crowd attending the parade.

The world was "also aware that the Soviet Union lost dozens of millions of citizens over those years", he added.

"All the people of the Soviet Union suffered such losses that will never be repaired," he said.

"Thanks to the valiant elements of our army we repulsed the enemy," he said.

President Bush, the first US president to attend a Russian victory parade, earlier hailed the liberation from the Nazis, but said the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe that followed was "one of the greatest wrongs of history".

Objections

More than 40 million people had lost their lives by the time World War II ended in Europe on 8 May 1945, including 27 million from the Soviet Union.
The ceremonies took place amid tight security.

Central Moscow was closed off and people encouraged to watch the commemoration on television, leading to complaints that the event was not for ordinary people.

World leaders attending included French President Jacques Chirac, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is forming a new cabinet following his election victory, did not attend. Britain was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also came, despite the absence of a treaty ending World War II hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was at the parade, despite strong objections from many Poles who said he should not attend as the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 did not bring
The ceremonies took place amid tight security.

Central Moscow was closed off and people encouraged to watch the commemoration on television, leading to complaints that the event was not for ordinary people.

World leaders attending included French President Jacques Chirac, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is forming a new cabinet following his election victory, did not attend. Britain was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also came, despite the absence of a treaty ending World War II hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was at the parade, despite strong objections from many Poles who said he should not attend as the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 did not bring
The ceremonies took place amid tight security.

Central Moscow was closed off and people encouraged to watch the commemoration on television, leading to complaints that the event was not for ordinary people.

World leaders attending included French President Jacques Chirac, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is forming a new cabinet following his election victory, did not attend. Britain was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also came, despite the absence of a treaty ending World War II hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was at the parade, despite strong objections from many Poles who said he should not attend as the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 did not bring
The ceremonies took place amid tight security.

Central Moscow was closed off and people encouraged to watch the commemoration on television, leading to complaints that the event was not for ordinary people.

World leaders attending included French President Jacques Chirac, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is forming a new cabinet following his election victory, did not attend. Britain was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also came, despite the absence of a treaty ending World War II hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was at the parade, despite strong objections from many Poles who said he should not attend as the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 did not bring
The ceremonies took place amid tight security.

Central Moscow was closed off and people encouraged to watch the commemoration on television, leading to complaints that the event was not for ordinary people.

World leaders attending included French President Jacques Chirac, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is forming a new cabinet following his election victory, did not attend. Britain was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also came, despite the absence of a treaty ending World War II hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was at the parade, despite strong objections from many Poles who said he should not attend as the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 did not bring
The ceremonies took place amid tight security.

Central Moscow was closed off and people encouraged to watch the commemoration on television, leading to complaints that the event was not for ordinary people.

World leaders attending included French President Jacques Chirac, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is forming a new cabinet following his election victory, did not attend. Britain was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also came, despite the absence of a treaty ending World War II hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was at the parade, despite strong objections from many Poles who said he should not attend as the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 did not bring
freedom to Poland. The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states prompted Estonia and Lithuania to boycott Moscow's commemorations, which mark the signature of the unconditional surrender in Berlin.

They have demanded a fresh apology from Russia, but President Putin said it was not necessary, as the 1939 pact that effected the handover had already been criticised by Soviet-era authorities.

A Festival of Democracy is also under way in Germany, in a sign of reconciliation with past enemies and relief at the defeat of the Nazi dictatorship.

Is this Pope good news for India?

In multi-religious India, a papal election would normally be no reason for concern.



Not this time. For Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI — as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) issued a notification against the writings of Bombay-born Jesuit priest Fr Anthony deMello.



DeMello was instrumental in founding the Sadhana Institute for pastoral counselling and spirituality in Lonavala.



On June 24, 1998, nine years after Fr deMello’s demise, the CDF’s notification proclaimed that some of deMello’s positions were “incompatible with the Catholic faith and can cause grave harm”. The CDF was acting on deMello’s supposed non-conformist teachings, which drew widely from other Eastern religions.



In a website dedicated to his brother, William deMello, now settled in Australia, wrote, “It is with great sadness that the surviving members of the deMello family read the criticism directed at our brother by the Vatican.



But we know from history that prophets and holy men have often been misunderstood and misinterpreted by others with a vested interest… What a great pity that some officials of the Catholic church have not recognized a faithful son who was only trying to unite, in the name of Christ, people of all persuasions, while staying dutiful and loyal to his original upbringing!”



A close associate of Fr deMello, requesting anonymity, said, “With this new Pope, you can expect liturgy to become more rigid. Progressive thinking will not be allowed in seminaries. Writings will be monitored and the evolution of new thought will be hindered.”



Former editor of the Catholic weekly The Examiner, Fr Benny Aguiar observed, “It is well known that Cardinal Ratzinger was Pope John Paul II’s right hand man. They collaborated on all statements and papers that came out from the Vatican. Ratzinger believes that Christianity has been shattered by the process of secularism.”



However, sociologist Fr Rudolf Heredia said, “One of the biggest issues in our country is inter-religious dialogue. Cardinal Ratzinger has already indicated a change of position.



Ratzinger’s first homily post the election spoke of dialogue with the Jews.



American President Bill Clinton who was anti-communist, opened the doors to China; Ronald Reagan helped thaw relations with Russia; former prime minister Vajpayee initiated talks with Pakistan. So you never know.”



Yet another hopeful voice said, “His conservative stance earlier was in keeping with his position in the Vatican.



Now however, with the whole focus and responsibility of the Church on him, it is possible that he’ll be more sensible and up to date.” As Heredia said, “Give the guy a break, the poor man hasn’t had a honeymoon yet.”

Russian firm in secret arms deal with Pakistan

A Russian company is supplying Pakistan with sensitive defence technology to "blind" smart weapons guided by the Global Positioning System without an official agreement between the two governments, military industry sources said.



This is seen as a possible violation of Russia's export control norms.



The Russian company VTF, affiliated to Scientific-Research Institute of Telecommunications in the city of Voronezh is supplying the generators for jamming GPS receivers of the smart weapons to Pakistan, according to the local military industry sources.



Pakistan wanted the sensitive technology to protect its key military installations. Pakistani company Trillium Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd is involved in the deal with VTF.



VTF's representatives have frequently visited Pakistan to negotiate the supplies of GPS jammers and radio-interception and control systems used in electronic warfare, defence industry sources told PTI.



Russian GPS jammers first surfaced two years back in Iraq when many US smart weapons missed their targets during massive strikes on key installations of Saddam Hussein's regime, causing a row between Moscow and Washington.



In a bid to tighten Russia's export control regime and hand over its charge to the military from the civilian authorities, Russian President Vladimir Putin last week appointed his close ally Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov as the chairman of the State Export Control Commission.

Baltics 'should move on from war'

US President George W Bush has told the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that he understands their history, but it is time to move on.
He was referring to their dispute with Russia over their annexation by the Soviet Union after World War II.
The leaders met in Latvia at the start of Mr Bush's tour to mark 60 years since the end of WWII in Europe.

Russia has protested against Mr Bush's visit there ahead of his trip to Moscow to attend major commemorations.

The Baltic states have been pressing Russia - successor to the Soviet Union - for a new apology over their loss of independence.

Mr Bush supports the demands of his Nato allies, who are also European Union members.

But Moscow has refused. Russia sees itself as the main power which helped bring freedom to Europe, defeating the Nazis at an enormous human cost - 30 million Soviet lives were lost.

Democratic neighbours

Cabinet deal amid Iraqi violence

Iraqi politicians have reached a deal to fill a string of key contested cabinet posts, ending three months of political deadlock.

The announcement came hours after a suicide bomber killed 17 people in a busy part of central Baghdad.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari had sought a deal with Sunni Arabs, hoping to stem a rise in insurgent violence.



He refused to reveal the names of the new candidates, insisting they would be presented to Iraqi MPs on Sunday.



Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and his two vice-presidents have signed off the names, Mr Jaafari said.



Reports said that agreement had been reached on all five empty cabinet positions, including the sensitive defence and oil portfolios.



Mr Jaafari indicated that a Sunni would be appointed as human rights minister, and that he was seeking a woman to fill a final deputy prime minister's position.



Earlier, unnamed sources indicated that Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab, would be named defence minister with Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a Shia, filling the oil ministry portfolio.

Pakistan 'not yet ready for Indian firms'

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakistan, poised for economic growth of at least 7.5 per cent this year, has removed all barriers to foreign investment but Indian companies won't be welcome until the rivals' dispute over the Kashmir region is resolved, the country's prime minister said yesterday. "The atmospherics between the two countries are getting better. But the economic relations have to move in tandem with progress on many issues including the core issue of Kashmir," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in an interview with international news agencies during a visit to Malaysia.



The Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between the two countries, is claimed in its entirety by both, and is at the centre of a nearly six-decade territorial dispute between the nuclear rivals.



Aziz, a former Citibank executive hand-picked by Pakistan's leader, President Pervez Musharraf, to run the government, said the country's economy has seen a major turnaround in the last five years. He said growth in gross domestic product is expected to be 7.5pc this year.



"Pakistan is open for business. Pakistan of today and tomorrow is not the Pakistan of yesterday. The Pakistan of today and tomorrow is a Pakistan of opportunities," said Aziz.



"It is a very open economy. There are no sectors not open to foreign investments," said Aziz, who is on a tour of Southeast Asian countries to court foreign investors.



Asked if this openness extends to Indian companies as well, Aziz said: "Not yet ... we want to see progress on all issues (with India) in tandem."

Kerala district calls for removal of PepsiCo plant

Concerned and angry over the receding water table, which could aggravate their water woes, residents of Kerala's Palghat District organised a rally to demand the closure of a plant run by the soft drink giant PepsiCo.

Claiming that the plant was responsible for their water-related plight, the demonstrators urged the concerned authorities to support the Pudussery local body's decision not to renew PepsiCo's licence.

But the company has managed to get a stay order from the Kerala High Court on the issue.

PepsiCo installed its plant in 14.32 hectares of land in Pudussery village in March 2000. It has dug seven bore wells of about 850 feet in depth and an open well to draw water for their plant. Villagers said their wells dried up after PepsiCo began functioning in the area. At least 70,000 people live in Pudussery village.

"Water resources are a part of the society that cannot be exploited by anyone, not even the government. Government is just a custodian of this. And that is what is being violated here. We are agitating against this. This is going to be the strongest protest in Kerala. We are just starting this agitation from here, we will continue with our agitation anti-Pepsi Cola," said Panian Ravindran, Kerala state Joint Secretary of the Communist Party of India.


The locals have also been campaigning against a Coco Cola plant in neighbouring Plachimada village, after a UK-based news channel reported that the plant discharged untreated pollutants.

Despite its over one billion people, India's $1.5 billion a year carbonated drinks market accounts for a tiny fraction of global sales for Coke and Pepsi - about one percent in Coke's case.

Blair returns to power, but with reduced margin

Blair returns to power, but with reduced margin


LONDON: Tony Blair won a third straight term in power on Friday, but a chastened prime minister admitted voters had acted to curb his power after the unpopular Iraq war.


Voters turned out on Thursday after a month of electioneering in which his opponents labelled him a liar over the US-led war.


In the early hours of Friday morning, the Labour party secured the 324th seat in parliament that guaranteed it an overall majority.



An exit poll and projections by the BBC and ITV suggest the premier will end up with a majority somewhere between 60 and 80 seats, down from 161 last time.



After winning his own seat in Sedgefield a sombre Blair said: "It is not yet clear, obviously, what the majority is. But it seems as if it is clear that the British people wanted the return of a Labour government but with a reduced majority."



He acknowledged the impact of his support for war in Iraq. "I know Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country but I hope we now can unite again and look to the future," he said.



A sharply reduced majority would diminish Blair's authority in his third and last term and his mood contrasted sharply to that when he won landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.



It could also hasten his fall, with powerful Chancellor Gordon Brown waiting in the wings and now far more popular both in the party and with the public.



Projections suggest Labour only secured 36 percent of the vote, an all-time low for a winning party. In almost all its seats, its vote share had dropped from the 2001 election.



"Clearly this is a very unpopular government. It has done very badly," said Anthony King, professor of politics at Essex University.



But Blair has still become only the second premier in British history after Margaret Thatcher to win three elections in a row.



He is also the first leader to win three successive terms for Labour.




LONDON: Tony Blair won a third straight term in power on Friday, but a chastened prime minister admitted voters had acted to curb his power after the unpopular Iraq war.



Voters turned out on Thursday after a month of electioneering in which his opponents labelled him a liar over the US-led war.



In the early hours of Friday morning, the Labour party secured the 324th seat in parliament that guaranteed it an overall majority.



An exit poll and projections by the BBC and ITV suggest the premier will end up with a majority somewhere between 60 and 80 seats, down from 161 last time.



After winning his own seat in Sedgefield a sombre Blair said: "It is not yet clear, obviously, what the majority is. But it seems as if it is clear that the British people wanted the return of a Labour government but with a reduced majority."



He acknowledged the impact of his support for war in Iraq. "I know Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country but I hope we now can unite again and look to the future," he said.



A sharply reduced majority would diminish Blair's authority in his third and last term and his mood contrasted sharply to that when he won landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.



It could also hasten his fall, with powerful Chancellor Gordon Brown waiting in the wings and now far more popular both in the party and with the public.



Projections suggest Labour only secured 36 percent of the vote, an all-time low for a winning party. In almost all its seats, its vote share had dropped from the 2001 election.



"Clearly this is a very unpopular government. It has done very badly," said Anthony King, professor of politics at Essex University.



But Blair has still become only the second premier in British history after Margaret Thatcher to win three elections in a row.



He is also the first leader to win three successive terms for Labour.

Farraj’s arrest news leaked prematurely

WASHINGTON: News of Abu Farraj al-Libbi’s arrest was leaked prematurely to the press by Pakistani authorities, it has been claimed here.



Such news is often not released for weeks or months on end so as not to alert other members of the network.



Senior officials told the Washington Times that CIA operatives, some of whom recently served in the US military, are in Pakistan aiding government troops.



A report in the newspaper on Thursday said US officials expressed hope privately that if residents of Mardan were willing to turn in al-Libbi, other Pakistanis might be willing to pinpoint Osama bin Laden, for whom a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture or killing has been issued. A US counter terrorism official said al-Libbi worked for Bin Laden in 2002 as chief of his US and African operations before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s arrest.



The arrest of Al Qaeda’s No 3 man, in Pakistan promises to provide new information on Osama bin Laden’s life on the run and deprives the terror network of its chief operating officer, according to American counter terrorism and defence officials. They said if al-Libbi chooses to talk, he is in a position to dish out valuable information about Al Qaeda’s current structure, funding sources and attacks in the pipeline. And most importantly, he might provide information that could rekindle leads to Bin Laden that have grown cold this year. Al-Libbi is potentially the best source of information since the March 2003 capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. “As far as an information bonanza, I know that, to this day, we are still getting actionable intelligence from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and he has been in custody for a couple of years now,” a senior defence official told the newspaper.

Stress hormones higher in September 11 babies: study

London
Pregnant women in or near the World Trade Centre during the September 11 terrorist attacks may have passed on future mental or physical illness to their unborn children.
Researchers found an important marker for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the saliva of babies less than one-year-old who were born after the attacks.
The hormonal ripple effect was worst among unborn children in the last three months of pregnancy. Researchers believe it is the strongest evidence yet for very early risk factors for the development of stress problems in adult life.
Reduced levels of the hormone cortisol found in the children of Holocaust survivors in other studies might be explained by the stress of living with parents who were depressed or anxious as a result of being in concentration camps, or from hearing the stories of how their parents had suffered.
But the study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and Edinburgh University published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, suggests that biological traits are passed on. Scientists already knew that children of 187 women who were pregnant when they were caught up in the 9/11 attacks had lower birthweights than other infants. They asked 38 women to collect saliva samples from themselves and their babies.
Lower levels of cortisol were found in mothers who had symptoms of PTSD and in their babies, a transmission that had been suggested in laboratory tests on rodents.
“This is the first time it has been shown in such a powerful way in humans. It is extremely exciting,” said Jonathan Seckl, professor of molecular medicine at Edinburgh. “Of course, it (9/11) was a unique event.” Rachel Yehuda, of Mount Sinai, the lead investigator, said the findings “suggest a larger role for very early environmental, genetic or genetic-environmental interactions than previously thought.”
Low birthweight is a risk factor for later heart disease, high blood pressure and insulin-resistance. The babies in this study will now be closely monitored for physical and mental health. Better understanding of how low levels of cortisol are linked to disorders might help to develop treatments.
Having PTSD or attention deficit hyperactive disorder might be a problem for a child in a maths class, but less so in a war zone, where it might be helpful to have “a streetwise, permanently scanning-the-horizon kid”, said Prof Seckl.

‘Iraqis to fully replace US troops by 2006-end’

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi army will fully replace US-led coalition forces in the country by early 2007, once it has enough experience, Bruska Shaways, the director general of the Iraqi defence ministry said yesterday.

“By the end of 2005, we’ll have fewer multinational forces (in Iraq) and by the end of 2006, it will be complete,” the number two official said, speaking of their withdrawal.

Shaways acknowledged that Iraq’s new army needed more experience before being able to take full responsibility for the defence of the country.

“My idea is this will not be earlier than the end of 2006,” Shaways said.
“Our training is not enough. We cannot compare a soldier who has finished his training now with one from the former regime who has 10 years of experience,” he added.

US military officials have suggested that American troops could start leaving by early 2006 if the Iraqi military and police are equipped and trained well enough to take over the job.

President George W. Bush has not given a specific timetable for the troop withdrawal, but in mid-April he noted that the number of Iraq security forces had overtaken that of US troops on the ground for the first time since the US-led invasion of Iraq two years ago.

The number of “trained and equipped” members of the Iraqi security forces now exceeded 155,000, while US troop strength fell to less than 140,000 in April following the departure of more units from the country, according to the US Pentagon.
Sabah Kadim, an Iraqi interior ministry spokesman, has conceded however that the number of police and Iraqi soldiers nationwide was closer to 132,000, because of problems of unauthorised absences.

Regardless of the number, Iraqi security forces are getting a trial by fire – battling insurgents who are believed to be loyal to former president Saddam Hussein, Shaways said.

“They need training in battle fighting terrorism and former regime elements,” Shaways said. “I know my troops, I know my people, I know their capabilities.”
Shaways said he has temporarily taken over the day-to-day running of the ministry while Shia and Sunni politicians haggle over which Sunni candidate will take over as minister.

Meanwhile, Nine Iraqi soldiers were killed and 17 people wounded in a car bomb attack in Baghdad yesterday, an interior ministry official said.
Six of the wounded were also soldiers, the source said.
The attack took place in Dura, a neighbourhood in southern Baghdad where insurgents have relocated in recent months after US-Iraqi raids against their strongholds south of the capital.

n BRUSSELS: The US-led coalition in Iraq has decided to hire a private security firm to protect a military training academy outside Baghdad which Nato plans to open in September, an official said yesterday.

Nato military planners recommended the “temporary” solution to avoid a new delay in launching the training centre at Al Rustimayah in the suburbs of the Iraq capital.
Nato leaders agreed last June to set up a mission to train senior Iraqi officers, and began deploying military instructors last September. But so far they have been confined to the heavily-fortified central Green Zone due to security concerns.
So far more than 500 Iraqi officers have received training there, but the military alliance has made it clear all along that it plans to expand its training mission to Al Rustimayah.

The decision to hire a private company to protect the training academy and its staff was agreed by Nato ambassadors yesterday evening, allowing the US-led coalition to contract out the work.

“This is a temporary solution, until the end of the year,” to allow Nato to assess the needs and deploy a Nato-led contingent, said the Nato official, requesting anonymity.

Nato aims to train some 1,000 Iraqi officers per year. A number of the 26-member alliance’s members, notably France and Germany, are supporting the mission although refusing to send troops onto Iraqi soil.

n BAGHDAD: Kurdish leaders fumed yesterday over the removal of a reference to Iraqi federalism in the oath sworn by the country’s new cabinet members a day earlier, and they want to know why,

“I swear before God the Almighty to do my utmost to carry out my duties and responsibilities and to preserve Iraq’s independence and sovereignty,” the ministers read from a piece of paper presented to them on Tuesday when they were sworn in.
The original text read: “... preserve Iraq’s independence, sovereignty and its federal and democratic regime.”

Fuad Massum, an MP and a senior member of President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, said “the Kurdish coalition wants to know who was behind the omission.”

The principle of federalism is of paramount importance to the Kurds, who already enjoy a high level of autonomy in northern Iraq and want to see it enshrined in the permanent constitution, which is to be drafted this year.

“The parliament presidency board will talk to the cabinet to know what happened,” said Hussein Shahrastani, deputy speaker of the national assembly, and a leading member of the Shia United Iraqi Alliance.

India launches two new satellites

India has launched its first satellites to be used for helping mapmakers and amateur radio operators.
The Cartosat, weighing 1.5 tonnes, will supply date that will enable maps precise enough to detail every house in the country.

The Hamsat, weighing about 42.5kg will help expand bandwidth to help amateur radio operators around the world.

India hopes Thursday's launch will help the country break into the lucrative commercial satellite launch market.


The satellites were sent into space on a locally-made rocket from Sriharikota island in southern Andhra Pradesh state.

"The launch took place exactly on schedule," S Krishnamurthy, a spokesman for the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

Stiff resistance

The launch was attended by Indian President APJ Kalam, a keen scientist himself who was once involved with India's satellite programmes..

Amateur radio operators have greeted the Hamsat as it will provide very high radio frequencies to expand ham operators.

The satellite is "India's contribution" to Ham radio operators all over the world for the services after the tsunami in December, Mr Krishnamurthy told the BBC.

Amateur radio operators in India have been active since 1950s but face stiff government restrictions.

Until last year, they were banned from functioning in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands by the defence ministry.

The government lifted the restrictions after December's tsunami, which hit the islands badly.

Within days, two Indian operators landed in the islands and played a major role in getting relief across to the affected people in the islands.

The bigger Cartosat satellite is expected to supply high resolution pictures for making precise maps which would be used in planning towns and disaster assessment, among other things.

Last September, India launched a satellite to be used for expanding the country's educational network.

In September 2002, India successfully launched its first weather satellite to help the country predict cyclones and storms more accurately.

In 2001, it successfully tested its first geostationary launch vehicle, which is capable of launching bigger satellites into a higher orbit.

India also plans to send a spacecraft to the moon by 2008.

Govt approves Smart City project

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state cabinet today approved in principle a Rs 1,500 crore 'Smart City' project to be implemented at Kochi by the Dubai Internet City (DIC), Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced today.



The state Govenment will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DIC shortly, the chief minister told newspersons here after a meeting of the state cabinet.



Stating that the Law and Finance Departments had been asked to study the draft MoU, he said the Smart City project, in which the government would have nine per cent equity participation, would generate 33,300 direct employments within the next ten years.



In the first phase, the DIC would invest Rs 1,500 crore for the project.



All the issues relating to the handing over of the land had been sorted out, he said, adding the Info Park and surrounding 62.27 acres of land would be given to the DIC at a cost of Rs 109 crore.



Another 136 acres of land in the vicinity would be handed over to them at Rs 36 crore.



As part of the state government's IT policy under which those who create 100 job opportunities could be given 30 cents of land, the government would give another 100 acres of land free of cost to the DIC which promised to generate 33,300 job opportunities in a phased manner within the next ten years.



Chandy, who visited the Dubai Internet City during his two-day Gulf tour, said the Smart City would also have world class infrastructure to woo major companies to Kerala.



Denying the charges of Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan that corruption was involved in the land deal with the DIC, Chandy said the entire process would be done in a transparent manner

Pakistan 'catches al-Qaeda chief'

Senior Libyan al-Qaeda suspect Abu Faraj al-Libbi has been arrested in Pakistan, the government says.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that Libbi was captured with five other suspected foreign al-Qaeda militants in the past few days
They were captured in a gun battle in Waziristan in North-West Frontier Province, security sources said.

Libbi is said to have become third in the al-Qaeda hierarchy after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was caught in 2003.

Gun battle

Libbi is wanted in connection with two attempts on the life of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan had put a reward of 20m rupees ($340,000) on the head of Libbi in August last year.

"This is a very important day for us," Mr Ahmed said.

Two Pakistani security officials told the Associated Press the men were held after a gun battle in Mardan, 50km (30 miles) north of Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province.

President Musharraf survived two assassination attempts in December 2003 in which 17 people died.

Libbi reportedly took over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's role after the latter was transferred into US custody.

He was allegedly al-Qaeda's number three after Osama Bin Laden and Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has claimed he had the idea for the plane-based attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September, 2001.

Libbi appeared on a most-wanted list last year, along with Amjad Hussain Farooqi, who was killed in a battle with forces in southern Pakistan last September.

Farooqi was also accused of involvement in the assassination attempts.

Pakistan has handed over more than 700 suspected al-Qaeda operatives to US custody.

Violent clashes rack Kashmir, killing 12

Suspected rebels in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed six people in attacks Tuesday, while at least six militants died in an overnight gunbattle with soldiers, officials said.

Separatist militants hurled a grenade at a police patrol near a bus station in the town of Pulwama, 35 miles south of Srinagar, killing a police officer and wounding 12 people, police said.

In nearby Dooru village, suspected rebels shot dead a political activist. Earlier, a key official in the town of Pattan was killed by gunmen. Police said two of his bodyguards and a police officer were killed as they gave chase to his attackers.

In Punch district, southwest of Srinagar, an hourlong battle between troops and rebels left six militants dead, said army Lt. Col. D.K. Badola.

New Iraq PM fails to fill cabinet

Iraq's new prime minister has failed to put together a complete cabinet in time for ministers' swearing-in on Tuesday.
Seven posts in Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's government - including the defence and oil ministries - remain empty amid partisan haggling.

The power broker for the minority Sunni community, outgoing President Ghazi al-Yawer, stayed away from the event.

Mr Jaafari must bring credible Sunnis into his government to undercut the insurgency, the BBC's Jim Muir says.
Without them, the new government's chances of reaching out to disaffected Sunnis - long-time rulers of Iraq who now find themselves out of power - would be greatly reduced, our correspondent in Baghdad says.

Not until the swearing-in ceremony was it clear that critical positions remained to be filled.

The defence ministry has proved a particular sticking point, with an unnamed source telling AFP news agency that Sunni parties had rejected the three candidates offered to them.

The failure to fill the seven posts is a considerable embarrassment for the prime minister, our correspondent says.

Violence has surged since the partial cabinet was agreed last week.

Iraq's First Democratic Gov't Sworn

BAGHDAD, Iraq's first democratically elected government was sworn in Tuesday after last-minute bargaining by the new prime minister failed to bring the disaffected Sunni minority into key Cabinet posts.

One by one, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and members of his Cabinet walked to a podium and pledged to defend Iraq and its people amid a surge of violence that has killed nearly 170 people in six days.

But five ministries — including the key defense and oil portfolios — remained in temporary hands and two deputy prime minister's slots were unfilled as al-Jaafari struggled to balance the demands of Iraq's competing ethnic and religious factions.

Al-Jaafari particularly wanted the defense minister's job filled by a Sunni Arab as a way to draw the formerly dominant minority into the fight against an insurgency that is thought to be based primarily among Sunnis.

He will act as defense minister until consensus can be reached on a new one. Former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi, the Shiite deputy prime minister, was given temporary responsibility for the key oil ministry.

Violence was unabated Tuesday, including a gunbattle in Ramadi that killed 12 suspected militants and three other people.

Meanwhile, investigators concluded two missing Marine fighter jets likely collided over southern Iraq as the body of one pilot was found, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday at the Pentagon. U.S. officials in Baghdad said the search for the planes was continuing.

Separately, the American military said U.S.-led forces recovered a letter that appeared to be addressed to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi complaining about low morale among his followers and the incompetence of leaders in his terror network.

Al-Jaafari had promised to form a government that would win over the Sunnis, but members of his Shiite-dominated alliance rejected candidates with ties to Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.

After months of wrangling following historic Jan. 30 elections, al-Jaafari negotiated a Cabinet that includes 15 Shiite Arab ministers, seven Kurds, four Sunnis and one Christian. Two of four deputy prime ministers were also sworn in Tuesday, a Shiite and a Kurd.

President Jalal Talabani wished the new Cabinet well in its historic task: "To achieve a unified democratic Iraq."

Underscoring lingering divisions, however, many lawmakers stayed away from the ceremony, which took place in a half-empty hall inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

The new government will hold it's first meeting within days, al-Jaafari said.

The al-Zarqawi letter was seized during a raid in Baghdad on Thursday that also yielded an undated document listing targeting information and sketch maps for kidnappings and bombings, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The military said it was written by Abu Asim al-Qusaymi al-Yemeni, whom they identified as a member of Al-Qaida in the Land Between the Two Rivers, one of the former names used by al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida in Iraq terror group.

The letter, dated April 27, was addressed to "the sheik," a title used by al-Zarqawi's followers to refer to their leader, the military said.

The military has claimed similar finds in the past. In February last year, the military released a letter it said was written by al-Zarqawi complaining that if insurgents failed to prevent the handover of sovereignty, "then there will be no choice but to pack our bags." Postings on Web sites known for their militant content questioned the document's authenticity.

Near the Syrian border on Monday, coalition forces tracked down and confronted suspected members of al-Qaida in Iraq, the U.S. military said. The fighting, which included a U.S. airstrike, killed 12 militants and injured a 6-year-old girl, the military said. Six coalition soldiers also were wounded, it said, without specifying their nationalities.

At least 35 other Iraqis were killed Monday, including eight soldiers cut down by a suicide attacker who blew up a truck at a checkpoint south of the capital and six civilians caught in a car bombing that set fire to a Baghdad apartment building. An American and a British soldier were killed in separate roadside bombings.

On Tuesday, insurgents attacked a checkpoint in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, and 12 militants, an Iraqi soldier and two Iraqi civilians died in the fighting, the U.S. military said. Two Marines were slightly injured, the military said, adding the fighting also wounded four insurgents and two Iraqi soldiers. Five militants were captured, the statement said.

China offers Taiwan pandas, Lien ends historic trip

BEIJING - China offered Taiwan a pair of pandas and other goodwill gestures on Tuesday at the end of a historic visit by a Taiwan opposition leader, but rejected an invitation to Chinese leader Hu Jintao to go to the island.

The gestures came as Taiwan opposition leader Lien Chan ended a historic trip to the mainland, the first Nationalist or Kuomintang (KMT) chief to set foot there since 1949, when the Communists toppled the KMT and swept it into exile on Taiwan.

Under pressure to improve ties with Beijing and seize back the initiative from the opposition, independence-minded President Chen Shui-bian invited Hu on Tuesday to visit the island.

"We hope Chairman Hu Jintao can come to Taiwan. Mainland China clearly lacks understanding about Taiwan and that is why there has been misjudgment and misunderstanding," Chen told reporters during a visit to the South Pacific nation of Kiribati.

China's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) riposted that talks with Chen were impossible until he recognized that Taiwan is part of China and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) dropped its independence-seeking constitution.

"So long as they can carry out the above points, the two sides should be able to return to dialogue and consultations," TAO Vice Chairman Wang Zaixi told a news conference, adding that Beijing was willing to discuss missiles deployed against Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to bring the democratic island back to the fold, by force if necessary. Beijing has sought to isolate Chen by engaging the more conciliatory opposition parties, analysts said.

"In Beijing, we had the opportunity to meet mainland leaders to exchange views on cross-Strait and current issues," Lien told reporters on his return to Taipei.

After a chaotic pro-independence protest had marred his departure to China last week, security was greatly tightened to prevent a repeat on Tuesday. Police banned anyone carring protest banners or weapons from entering the airport.

PANDA DIPLOMACY

China's offer of the two pandas, which it said was "a token of friendship," is highly symbolic. Beijing has a history of lending out the endangered animals as diplomatic goodwill.

"We hope the pandas, with their tame nature, air of nobleness and cuddly looks will bring joy and laughter to the Taiwan compatriots, children in particular," the Xinhua news agency quoted Chen Yunlin, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office, as saying.

The offer, however, could run into trouble. Members of President Chen's party were opposed.
"We feel that their gift of giant pandas is partly to further their political goal of unification," DPP lawmaker Jao Yung-ching told a news conference.

Whether mainland Chinese tourists can start visiting Taiwan is also up in the air. Even if China lifts limits, Taiwan imposes its own restrictions: ordinary Chinese citizens now need invitations from Taiwan groups to visit the island.

China said people from Taiwan made 3.7 million trips to the mainland in 2004, while only 145,000 mainlanders visited Taiwan.
Beijing's decision in mid-2003 to loosen visa restrictions on mainlanders visiting Hong Kong has led to a surge in arrivals and helped underpin the territory's economic recovery.

Xinhua said China planned to scrap tariffs on over 10 kinds of Taiwan fruit and allow imports of six more fruit species, bringing the total to 18.

The move could help the KMT win supporters in southern Taiwan, eroding a key support base for President Chen, who is reviled on the mainland for his pro-independence stance.

Chen Yunlin called for consultations with Taiwan's tourism industry and also said China hoped Taiwan would allow its agricultural organizations to talk with the mainland about issues such as inspection, quarantine and direct transport.

The biggest obstacle to the sale of Taiwan farm produce on the mainland was the absence of direct flights, Xinhua said. Beijing has been pushing for Taipei to end a decades-old ban on direct air links across the Strait.

Lien's visit and one later this week by James Soong, head of Taiwan's People First Party, "helped deepen the affection between Chinese compatriots on the two sides," Chen Yunlin said.
Soong is to meet Hu next week. President Chen said on Monday he had asked Soong to deliver a message to Beijing, but declined to divulge details. (Additional reporting by Tiffany Wu and Alice Hung in Taipei)

Students Pricked with Needle Prescribed HIV Fighting Drugs

PHILADELPHIA, PA (AHN) - After being pricked with a diabetes-testing needle by a classmate, 19 elementary school students are taking drugs to fight the HIV virus - one student has already tested positive.

According to authorities, the child who tested positive for the HIV virus could not have contracted the disease from the needle.

Authorities also stated that the odds of the other children pricked with needle contracting the disease are low, however the drugs would reduce the amount of the virus in their blood or slow the progress of the disease. The drugs do not cure H.I.V. infection or prevent transmission of the virus.

"It may be in there, but it never gets a chance to set up cells in your body," Roger Pomerantz, head of the infectious-disease division at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, said of the drugs' effects on the virus.

The 8-year-old girl who stuck her Taylor Elementary schoolmates with her mother's needle on Wednesday was suspended and will probably be moved to another school.

Pope Benedict XVI Wishes Orthodox Christians Happy Easter

Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful during first appearance of his papacy at window of his apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square

There was a festive atmosphere in Saint Peter's Square. Clapping and cheering erupted when the new pope came to the window of the apostolic palace.

Tens-of-thousands of pilgrims turned out in Saint Peter's Square for Pope Benedict's appearance.

"I address you," he said, "for the first time from this window that my predecessor made familiar to so many people around the world."

"It is a great emotion to be here," said one pilgrim, "and I think you can tell by the presence of so many young people."

In his message, Pope Benedict greeted, with special affection, the Orthodox churches that are celebrating their Easter.

The pope said he hopes the path toward Christian unity will continue.

Recalling that May 1 marks Labor Day in many countries, the pope then expressed the hope that young people may not lack work.

He also addressed current world issues, as his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, used to do from the same window. Pope Benedict said that, in recent days, he often thinks of those people suffering from wars, poverty, and illness.

The pope singled out the African nation of Togo, where elections have led to bloody riots. He expressed closeness to the population devastated by painful internal struggles.
The pope then wished everyone a happy Sunday and offered his blessings.

North Korea 'tests new missile'

Japanese officials say they are checking reports that North Korea has test-fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the missile had flown about 100km (62 miles) into the sea.


E-mail this to a friend Printable version North Korea 'tests new missile' N Korea has not launched long-range missiles since 1998 Japanese officials say they are checking reports that North Korea has test-fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the missile had flown about 100km (62 miles) into the sea.

Japan has been monitoring North Korea after US warnings that it is close to testing its first nuclear warhead.

North Korea has already developed long-range missiles that reach Japan and has pulled out of nuclear talks.

In March the government said it was no longer observing a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing which had been in place since 1999.