wednesday, FEBRUARY 24, 2010 FALGUN 12, 1416, RABIUL AWAL 9, 1431 Hijri

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Leading News

Curfew clamped in Khagrachhari
30 hurt, 50 houses torches, army deployed

UNB, Khagrachhari

Apprehending escalation of troubles, the district administration clamped down night curfew in the hill-district town and its suburbs in the wake of Bangalee-tribal clashes.
The curfew will remain in force from 8 pm to 6 am, restricting the residents indoors.
At least 50 houses were burnt in arson attacks in seven localities in the strike-bound district town amid clashes between indigenous people and Banglee settlers Tuesday in fresh flare-ups of violence in the hill tracts.
The district Administration imposed ban under section 144 on gathering in the entire area of sadar upazila at 2pm for an indefinite period to avert further outbreaks in a sequel to today's clashes that left over 30 people wounded, including five newsmen.
Army troops have been deployed in the troubled areas of the hill-district town to come to grips with the situation, seen as the worst since the ethnic strife in the hills was calmed through a peace pact over a decade ago.
"Tensions have gripped the town with most people remaining confined to their houses or offices following the clashes," said a resident of Mahajanpara, one of the worst-affected areas.
Witnesses said Bangalee Chhatra Parishad and United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) activists locked into clashes that triggered massive violence in the hill-district headquarters today that left over 30 people injured.
Private television channel NTV reporter Talat Mahmun was among those injured. He was rushed to sadar hospital with head injury.
"As groups of Banglee settlers and indigenous people ran riot amid chase and counter-chase, Bangalee men set fire to some houses of indigenous people at Mahajanpara while the ethnic people torched some houses in the Bangalee-dominated Milanpara area," says a firsthand report.
Meanwhile, life in the rugged Chittagong Hill Tracts virtually came to standstill as a daylong blockade on roads and waterways began on Tuesday morning in Rangamati and Khagrachhari hill districts in protest against Saturday's killing of two tribal people in Baghaichhari upazila of Rangamati.
The United People's Democratic Front (UPDF), a forum opposed to the 1997 peace deal, enforced the blockade in the two districts previously affected by over two decades of bush-war until the accord was signed between government and tribal insurgents.
The other hill district in the CHT region-Bandarbun-had been largely peaceful during the insurgency era as also now, maintaining a fraternal co-existence of different communities.
According to a source in the backwoods area, the UPDF supporters staged demonstrations on Manikchhari-Mahalchhari highway at Kutubchhari in Khagrachhari Sadar upazila in the morning. Section 144 was in force for the fourth day Tuesday in Baghai-chhari upazila in Rangamati from where the deadly violence flared up.
The hill students brought out a procession in Khagrachari district town in the morning demanding fair trial of the killings. All modes of transport were off the roads in both the districts while the river vessels were found anchored.
Road communications of the two hill districts with Chittagong and the capital, Dhaka, came to a halt following the strike. Two tribal people were killed and 15 others injured in a clash between the indigenous community and Bengali settlers at Gangarammukh village in Baghaichhari upazila Saturday.

 Bomb blasts at Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office gate
Khandaker Delwar’s son Paban injured

TBT Report

Two hand bombs thrown targeting BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office exploded at the office gate injuring at least one person on Tuesday night.
The bombs were reportedly hurled by two motorcyclists at 10:10 pm. At that time Begum Zia and a number of party leaders including Sr. Jt. Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam, chief whip Zoynal Abedin Farooque, Shahid Uddin Chy Anny MP, Nazimuddin Alam, JCD President Sultan Salahuddin Ahmed Tuku and others were in the office. Begum Zia reached the office at 8:30 pm and was in a meeting with the leaders. Khandaker Akhter Hamid Paban, son of BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain received injury from a splinter of the bomb and was admitted to United Hospital.
Begum Zia and other leaders were still there in the office at time of writing this report at 11:00 PM. However, neither the BNP Chairperson nor any other leader gave any reaction to the untoward incident. On receipt of the information, RAB and Police rushed the spot and cordoned the area.
However, no information was readily available about the perpetrators or the motive behind the bomb attack targeting the BNP Gulshan office. It may be recalled here that a cocktail was found in front of the BNP office a few days ago. Besides BNP leaders have been expressing concern over the lack of security of Begum Zia for quite some time. DC of Gulshan Police Hafiz Akhtar told Journalists one Pradeep Saha has been arrested along with his motorcycle on suspecion of his involvement in the blasts. He was being quizzed last night.

 Siddhirganj power plant shut down for gas crisis
UNB, Dhaka

Crippled by gas crisis, the newly built Siddhirganj power plant has been shut down just within eight days of its inauguration by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, official sources said Tuesday.
Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB), a subsidiary of the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB), implemented the power-plant project and commenced the 120-MW unit-1 of the 240-MW plant, under a crash course for dealing with a perennial electricity crisis. The PM inaugurated its operation on February 14. The other same-capacity unit of the twin-plant is supposed to come into operation within next two months.
According to sources, the EGCB shut down the plant on February 23 (Monday) after completion of a test run.
An official at the EGCB told UNB that despite gas crisis, they had to commence operation of the plant because of the fact that the PM would inaugurate it to mitigate the power crunch.
"Instructed by the higher authority, we had to arrange gas supply to the new plant through diverting gas from the existing 210-MW thermal plant at the Siddhirganj station and from other sources," said an EGCB official on condition of anonymity.
He noted that the gas-supply company, Titas, had to cut gas supply to other industries in Siddhirganj and its adjoining Narayanganj and Rupganj industrial belt.

  Syndicates manipulate market: Muhith
UNB, Dhaka

Finance Minister AMA Muhith Tuesday made a frank admission that the domestic market is being manipulated by syndicates as he said the existing high-rated prices don't match with adequate supply against the demand for essentials.
"There is no doubt about the syndicates…the existing prices are not logical as there are adequate supplies," he said at a seminar on 'Recent Performance of the Bangladesh Economy' at a city hotel.
The custodian of the exchequer held the view that the government should control the market anyhow to reduce essentials' prices, which lead the inflation rate-an economic barometer. BIDS and the FBCCI jointly organized the review meet on the latest health of the country's economy with FBCCI president Annisul Huq in the chair. Commerce Minister Faruk Khan and adviser to the Prime Minister Mashiur Rahman addressed the function special guests while BIDS researchers Mustafa K Mujeri and M Asaduzzaman presented an assessment report at the seminar. Mujeri in his report suggested that the government should take proactive policy along with market monitoring immediately to rein in the inflation as the prices and expectations are rising internationally after the recovery of the global economy from the recession.
He apprehended that the prices of essentials and rising expectations fueled the country's inflation rate to get boom in coming days. Taking into account the outlook of the productive sector, the development researcher also forewarned that achievement of food security might be a major challenge for the government.

   Anti-nation accords being implemented by Govt: BNP
TBT Report

BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said that the presence of vulture in country's political horizon is being noticed which can launch strike at nation's independence and sovereignty anytime.
He made the remark while addressing a roundtable discussion on "ongoing political situation and future of democracy" organised by Bangladesh Sachetan Nagorik Samaj at the National Press Club in the capital on Tuesday.
Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the government is implementing anti-nation accords in pursuance of the pledges made to its manifesto before the nation election. Activities of the government are not clear and specific before the nation. Sensing the overall activities of the government, it seems that vultures have started roving in country's political horizon.
He said the ruling party promised before the election that it would provide job for all but it has not been implementing the step as local and foreign investments in industrial sector have already decreased due to absence of favorable atmosphere.
Mosharraf Hossain said labour markets for Bangladeshi workers in different foreign countries are going to be closed day by day due to the incompetent foreign policies of the government. If the trend cannot be stopped immediately number of jobless people in the country will increase and that will also put enormous pressure on country's economic growth.
Among others, wing commander Hamidullah Khan (retd), advocate Tajul Islam Khan and Jasim Uddin Sarkar spoke at the programme with justice Abdur Rowf in the chair.

   One more killed in ‘crossfire’
100 extra judicial killings in about seven months

TBT Report

One more outlawed party leader was killed in 'crossfire' between his cohorts and law enforcers at Anjangachhi village in Mirpur upazila in Kushtia early Tuesday taking the total of such extra judicial killings to 100 in about seven months from August 1, 2009 to February 23, 2010.
This is the eight such extra judicial killings in the new year 2010. Earlier, an outlawed party leader, a ringleader of a robber gang, a criminal, an outlawed party leader, a terrorist and a alleged outlawed party leader were killed in shootouts on 9, 11, 12, 30 January and 10, 16 and 19 February respectively.
According to UNB News Agency, a suspected outlaw leader was killed in' crossfire' between his cohorts and law enforcers at Anjangachhi village in Mirpur upazila in Kushtia early Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Saidul Islam Malitha, 35, a regional leader of Purbo Banglar Communist Party, police said. Saidul was accused of 12 cases, including of murder, police added.
Police, recovered a Light Gun (LG), five bullets, three handmade bombs and a sharp weapon from the spot.
The unlawful killings are taking place despite mounting protests by human rights activists, civil society members and political parties and repeated assurances of the government that such killings would be stopped and actions would be taken against those found responsible.
Meanwhile, Odhikar, a leading human-right watchdog, claimed recently that 138 people have been killed "in the name of crossfire or encounter" since January last year. Rights groups at home and abroad as well as some donor agencies/countries have called for an end to such extrajudicial killings.
RAB recently said as many as 577 people were killed in 'crossfire' in 472 incidents until Aug 31, 2009 since the formation of the elite force on March 26, 2004.

   China to explore gas, oil in BD
UNB, Dhaka

China evinced keen interest in helping Bangladesh build a second bridge over the Jamuna River to connect Balashighat in northern Gaibandha district and in exploration of gas and oil in the country, as western companies are already planning expansion of their hydrocarbon business.
Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Zhang Xianyi called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Jamuna official residence on Tuesday evening and informed the Premier about his government's desires.
During the meeting, Hasina and Zhang discussed a wide range of issues, including enhancing bilateral and regional connectivity in the arenas of trade, commerce and economy.
The Prime Minister's upcoming China visit and various events of her visit to the economic superpower were also discussed in the meeting.
The Prime Minister's visit to China is expected to take place on March 17-21 when several agreements on economic and technical cooperation are also expected to be signed.
The Chinese Ambassador at the meeting said his government also wants to assist Bangladesh in the fields of producing high-yielding crops, hybrid seeds, food processing and agricultural machinery.
Besides, Zhang said, China is keen to construct the permanent infrastructure of Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF), including an underground parking lot at the present DITF venue.
"China will send an expert team to Bangladesh soon regarding construction of the permanent DITF infrastructures and underground parking place," the Ambassador said.
In reply, the Prime Minister welcomed the offers of the Chinese government and invited China to use the planned Deep-sea Port of the country for mutual and regional economic benefit of the people.

Back Page

ADP downsized to Tk 28,500 cr
UNB, Dhaka

The government downsized the Annual Development Programme (ADP) to Tk 28,500 crore in its maiden budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year while pushed up the number of uplift projects.
Officials said the National Economic Council app-roved the revised ADP with the spending cuts in its meeting Tuesday with NEC chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
With the trimming, the allocation to the development budget stands at Tk 2,000 crore or 6.6 percent less than the actual ADP size of Tk 30,500 crore.
Under the revised ADP, the number of projects was raised to 1058 from 886 of the original plan, said Planning Minister AK Khandaker while briefing reporters after the meeting. Planning Secretary Habibullah Majumder was present. He said of the revised ADP, Tk 17,200 crore (60.35 percent) will come from government exchequer while Tk 11,300 crore (39.65 percent) as project aid.
Under the revised ADP, the sectors which got comparatively higher allocation of money are education and religion Tk 4,258.79 crore (15 percent), rural development and rural institutions Tk 3,939.65 crore (14 percent), transport Tk 3,878.04 crore (14 percent), power, oil, gas and natural resources Tk 3,546.25 crore (12 percent), health, nutrition, population and family welfare Tk 2,981.18 crore (10 percent), infrastructure planning, water supply, housing Tk 2,972.60 crore (10 percent) and agriculture and water resources Tk 2,963.02 crore (10 percent).
Answering to a question, the Planning Minister said that the progress in ADP implementation (From July 2009 to January 2010) is 35 percent, which was 31 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
"The size of the ADP (Tk 30,500 crore) is higher in the current fiscal and Tk 10,652 crore has been spent till January which was Tk 7,829 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year," he told the media men.
He said a reserve fund of Tk 571 crore has been kept in the revised ADP where the projects under finishing stage, very important or in need of sudden amount will be given preference for further allocation.
The planning minister said they have done the revision of ADP this fiscal after a study and the implementation process of ADP will be monitored. "There will be efforts to have project-implementation progress at 100 percent, especially for the important ones and which are in the finishing stages."

   Govt to procure excavator from UK to lift Buriganga waste
BSS, Dhaka

The government is procuring a modern excavator from the United Kingdom to remove piled up waste on the beds of the Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakkhya and other much-used rivers.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Chairman Abdul Malek Mia told BSS that BBIWTA would procure the modern excavator from the UK at a cost of Taka 10 million from the Climate Change Trust Fund.
He said BIWTA projects involving Taka 249 million under the Climate Change Trust Fund has been appr-oved recently.
The BIWTA chairman said the drive to remove polythene and other waste from the bed of the Buriganga started on January 6. The first phase of the drive would conclude in the first week of March. A total of 0.3 million cubic metres of waste would be revolved in the first phase. State Minister for Environment and Forest Dr Hasan Mahmud said the government has already started working to free the waters of the Buriganga, the Turag, the Balu and the Shitalakkhya rivers by removing waste from their beds.
He said the government has undertaken projects involving Taka 7,000 million under the Climate Change Trust Fund, of which Taka 4,620 million has been spent.
The state minister said the cabinet has approved in principle the draft of the law regarding the climate change. BIWTA officials said the heap of waste on the beds of the rivers Buriganga and Turag is 10 to 12 feet high. They said the government has undertaken two types of projects to increase navigability of the rivers and make those habitable for aquatic creatures. The BIWTA can lift waste from 50 feet under the water using local technology. But the modern excavator is required to go deeper. The length of the modern excavator to be procured from the UK is 60 feet. Its capacity of lifting waste is double than the local device. BIWTA Executive Engineer Rakibul Islam Talukder said current waste lifting is going on in three-kilometer river (Burig-anga) from Babubazar to Jhauchar. The removal of waste is also going on in 500 metres to one kilometer river on both sides of the Babubazar bridge over the Buriganga.
The BIWTA officials stressed the need for creating awareness among the people along with removal of waste. He said throwing waste into the rivers must be stopped.

   BDR mutiny trial begins at Pilkhana
BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Tuesday launched trial of mutineer soldiers stationed at its Pilkhana Headquarters here coinciding with the first anniversary of the February 25-26, 2009 carnage in which 57 army officers serving the paramilitary border force were killed.
"The trial of 86 alleged (ordinary) mutineers of Dhaka sector (of BDR) began Tuesday at the fifth Special BDR Court under the Bangladesh Rifles Act," BDR director general Major General Mainul Islam, who himself is the chair of the three-member court, told a press briefing at the end of the first day proceedings at the Pilkhana's Darbar Hall, the main scene of the massacre.
Charges against the accused were read out by BDR Nayeb Subedar Shah Alam Bhuiyan and the court then ordered the arrest and appearance of the suspects, 19 of them now in jail, two on the run and the rests were on duty at different units of paramilitary force's Dhaka sector. "Justice will be established here (court) on the basis of correct information," Islam said asking the prosecutors to speak on the basis of evidence other than media reports while the prosecutors said 30 witnesses would testify before the court during the trial process.
This is the first in a series of mutiny trials to be held at Pilkhana under the relatively lenient BDR Act which prescribed the highest seven years of imprisonment for defiance of order and discipline while the process to expose the massacre culprits to tougher Speedy Trial Tribunal were underway.
The newsmen were allowed inside the court to witness the two-hour long proceedings at the court with Lieutenant Colonel AKM Golam Rabbani and Major Syed Hassan Taposh being it's two other members. Attorney general's representative, Deputy Attorney General Mohammadullah, who assisted the court in line with its terms of reference, earlier administered the oath of office of the panel members while lawyers Mosharraf Hossain Kajol, Manjur Mahmud, Shahnewaj Tupu and Sheikh Baharul Islam appeared as special prosecutors. Complainant in the trial Major Matiur Rahman told the court that of the 86 suspects, 40 were present at the Darbar Hall, where the plotters started the killing during the 'darbar' of the slain BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed with the soldiers.
The border guards took up weapons and killed the officers holding their families hostage.
The government earlier decided to try the suspected massacre culprits under the fast track Speedy Trial Tribunal under Penal Code and others who extended support to the mutiny but did not take part in the killings under the BDR Act.
The BDR in November last year constituted six special courts, two to sit in Dhaka and four others outside the capital, under Bangladesh Rifles Order 1972 to try the mutineers who did not take part in the killings or lootings.

   Bhola by-election may not be free, fair: Hafiz
TBT Report

Expressing grave concern over the on going terrorist activities in Bhola, BNP leader Maj Hafiz Uddin Ahmed (retd) said that the upcoming by-election to Jatiya San-gsad-3 seat of the district might not be held in free, fair and impartial manner.
He expressed this apprehension while talking to reporters at his Banani residence in the capital on Tuesday. Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said taking the advantages of having majority in the parliament, the ruling party is going to materialise BAKSAL in the country. As part of the plan, ruling party's activists under the shelter of law enforcing agencies and their political leaders are engaged in committing terrorist activities in Bhola as well as elsewhere in the country. If this situation continues, any election in the country under this government will not be held in impartial manner and participation of BNP in the election will not be possible too.
He alleged soon after the Supreme Court verdict, a number of ruling party cadres equipped with various weapons started creating anarchy in and around the area riding motorbikes. Due to the enormous repression, a number of local BNP leaders and activists are being compelled to leave their houses of the area. Besides, some thana and union level party offices were gutted down under the very nose of police and concerned administration.
"So far as I know, election schedule for holding by-election of the constituency is going to be published within one or two weeks. All sorts of preparations for holding a stage managed election have already been completed," he said.
Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said the government and the Election Commission should take necessary measures to curb the criminal offences which are being committed by ruling party cadres ahead of the upcoming by-election. Replying to a query, he said deleting Zia's name from Zia International Airport (ZIA) is an outcome of politics of revenge. Shaheed president Ziaur Rahman as a commander of Z force had announced country's independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He had given Zia BP award after independence. So erasing the name from ZIA is unreasonable and unacceptable.

    Job creation outside Dhaka stressed
BSS, Dhaka

Experts at a seminar in the city Tuesday urged the government to create job opportunities in non- agriculture sectors on a large scale at the district and upazila levels to check the influx of people into Dhaka city.
They also suggested administrative decentralization and making the cities and towns outside Dhaka self-sufficient to this end.
University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof Nazrul Islam attended as the chief guest the inaugural session of the two-day seminar on 'The State: Key Drivers and Scenarios of Urban Informality' at the Council Building of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
BUET Department of Urban and Regional Planning organised the seminar in collaboration with a German technical university.
Presided over by Urban and Regional Planning Department Chief Prof Dr Sarwar Jahan, the seminar was also addressed by BUET Vice- Chancellor Dr AMM Safiullah, among others. Prof Nazrul said more than eight million people are living in Dhaka city at present. This number should not be allowed to increase further, he added.
He opined that the population of Dhaka needs to be dropped to six million to keep it livable in future. Dr Sarwar said the activities of the people working in informal sectors in Dhaka would have to be integrated with the mainstream of economy. If those people are not given due importance, poverty will increase in the city, he added. He suggested giving licences to the rickshawpullers and extending credit facilities to all working in informal sectors.

    Private University (Amendment) Act 2009
APUB urges govt to ditch the bill

UNB, Dhaka

Leaders of the Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh (APUB) Tue-sday requested the government to ditch the proposed bill titled 'Private University (Amendment) Act 2009' to ensure education-friendly atmosphere in country's higher education.
"If the government gets the bill through parliament, country's higher education sector, mostly the 51 private universities, will hit a deadlock," said APUB chairman and former adviser of caretaker government CM Shafi Sami at a press conference at Dhaka Repo-rters Unity (DRU).
He noted that the proposed law provides for bifurcating private universities' boards of governors into Syndicate and Trustee Board for governing the private universities.
"If we provide power and economic responsibilities to separate authorities, a deadlock-like situation will arise in governing the private universities as nobody will take interest in investing their money in this sector without power," he feared.
CM Sami said that the roles and work areas of the Academic Council and the Curriculum Committee will be changed under the proposed bill for establishing control of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Criticizing the law in the making, the former adviser lamented that the proposed bill is giving special facilities to foreign universities in establishing campus in Bangladesh while the domestic universities will have to follow the bill strictly.
"It is an unruly rule for us," said Sami, also an ex-foreign secretary.
He said that the new bill also asks the private university authorities to take permission from UGC in determining tuition fee for the students. "As the UGC does not provide any allocation for the private universities, why we will take permission in determining tuition fee?" he questioned.
National Prof Nurul Islam, APUB vice-chairman Prof Abul Quasem Hyder and APUB secretary-general Prof Dr M Alimullah Mian, among others, also spoke at the press conference.

Editorial

An ominous sign

Very bad days seem to be lying ahead of the people during the coming summer due to the worst possible power crisis. An agency report has said, peak summer is still far away, but load shedding has already crossed 1000 MW in the country, an ominous sign that more sufferings are in store for the electricity consumers in the coming days. The consumers in and outside the capital city are experiencing frequent power cuts, no matter it is day or night. In some cases, such load shedding total 3-4 hours in different spells. According to official sources, the country's highest power generation was about 3,700 MW on Monday evening against a demand for 4,700 MW plus during the peak hours.
Last year, the electricity demand crossed a benchmark of 6,000 MW while the highest generation was 4296 MW in September 2009. However, the highest demand was officially admitted to be 5,200 MW. Officials at the Power Development Board (PDB) apprehend that this year the demand would go up to 6,600 MW and the highest generation might be 4,600 MW in peak summer. This means, the gap between demand and supply will be no less than 2000 MW.
People are forced to suffer terribly due to frequent load shedding as the government has failed to implement its assurance of improving the electricity supply situation. The situation has shown no signs of improvement with outages remaining a vexing problem as there has been no increase in electricity generation. Residents of different areas in the capital are experiencing at least three to four hours of load shedding everyday. Reports from the districts of Chittagong, Barisal, Khulna, Comilla, Faridpur, Mymensingh and Rajshahi said consumers got power for only two to three hours between 6:00pm and midnight.
No initiatives of the authorities to increase power generation and ease load shedding produced substantial results. With every passing day the electricity crisis is worsening instead of being eased. In this city of 15 million, most people are hit hard by power crisis as electricity production is being seriously hampered due to constant gas shortage.
The serious power crisis is impeding industrial production, disrupting irrigation, harming business and causing immense sufferings to the people at all levels. Disruption to electricity supply and frequent load shedding are regular phenomenon in the capital. The government has decided to divert electricity from urban areas to rural areas to facilitate irrigation for boosting rice production. This step is sure to aggravate the electricity shortage further in the cities and intensify the people's sufferings.
The government on its part is continuing efforts to improve the power situation, but with little success. It is taking up different projects to resolve the power crisis, but implementation of those projects will need a few years while the people need the end to the crisis immediately. So, alongside implementing various projects on power generation, the government should take urgent steps to enhance gas supply to power plants and activate the inoperative plants to boost power production with a view to easing the electricity crisis.

  State of health service

A gloomy picture of the appalling state of our health service is depicted in newspapers every now and then. What is stated in the press is sad, but true. Our health service is sick and gripped by anomalies, irregularities and corruption. The health service is run at the expense of the people, but most of them do not get the much required service in times of need.
To start with the grassroots level, the upazila health and family welfare centres are suffering from acute manpower shortage and in some cases there are machines and equipment but no technicians to run those. Thousands of posts of doctors and nurses are now lying vacant. There are some health complexes without doctors and medicines, and in some others patients have to stay on the floor for want of beds. Yet thousands of people throng the hospitals and health centres for treatment as they have no other place to go or no money to go to the private clinics for treatment.
The country's health sector as a whole is corruption-ridden and most of the government hospitals have earned the reputation of being unable to meet the growing demand for medicare to the patients. Almost all public hospitals are plunged in mismanagement, irregularities and anomalies. The patients hardly get proper medical treatment in these hospitals as in many cases medicines meant for the patients are smuggled out and the doctors and nurses seldom pay enough attention to the ailing people.
The way the public hospitals and health centres are run and the patients being treated and even denied medical care cannot be acceptable under any circumstances. It is the constitutional obligation of the government to provide health service and medical care for the citizens. And to that end, it is most essential to modernise the government hospitals making those free from anomalies and corruption. Health service sector must be revitalised and run properly and efficiently.

Analysis

Turning the tide of militancy

When army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani recently described the present phase as transitional, he seemed to call for an approach in which the state's civilian organs take a lead role.

Dr Maleeha Lodhi 

Have the military operations in South Waziristan, other tribal areas and Swat helped to create a strategic moment in the country's struggle against militants? Will 2010 be decisive in reversing the tide of militancy after a deadly year that saw a record number of terrorist attacks and killings? Has military action scattered the local Taliban or irrevocably weakened the movement?
There are no easy answers to these questions in a fluid and fraught situation gravely affected by border volatility that is being heightened by the escalating war in Afghanistan. The consolidation of gains made by military offensives will depend on overcoming a sobering number of hurdles and resolving critical governance issues. This means a greater role for political rather than military actors in the transition to the post-conflict phase.
Militancy has been dealt a lethal blow, but one that is not fatal yet. The necessary, though not sufficient, conditions have been created to turn the tide. The loss within six months of two leaders - Baitullah and Hakeemullah Mehsud - has left the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in confusion and disarray. The assault on the TTP's stronghold in South Waziristan has degraded the organisation's capability.
But its continued ability to strike in the mainland suggests it has more than just a residual capacity and is using its connection with other groups to orchestrate the attacks.
Among the daunting tasks ahead are to dismantle the militants' "syndicate" that remains intact, disrupt its supply line and flow of financial resources - which are also intact - and destroy its intelligence "assets." Also critical is to halt the flow of recruits into the ranks of the Pakistani Taliban, even though this has been affected by its loss of physical space. That the threat may be becoming more dispersed is indicated by the nexus the TTP has established over time with proscribed organisations or their splinters beyond FATA.
While the top leaders have been eliminated as part of a decapitation strategy the rest of the TTP leadership are still at large. Many melted away into the adjoining areas in pursuit of new hideouts, which necessitated cordon and search operations in Orakzai, Khyber and beyond. The leader of the Swat Taliban, Maulvi Fazlullah, is said to have fled to Afghanistan.
None of this minimises the significance of what has happened so far. The army today has a presence in all seven tribal agencies, including North Waziristan, where a division is deployed. It is engaged in counter-militancy missions of varying intensity in a phased way to avoid multiple engagements and minimise the danger of "overstretch." The strategy of dealing with one area at a time seems to be paying off.
The offensive launched last October in South Waziristan - the largest-ever counterinsurgency operation - is now in the "hold" mode, having almost completed the "clear" phase. Five brigades are in the Mehsud area while the region east and west of this is being cleared, where air power is also being used.
The operation has been effective in neutralising the TTP's centre of gravity. The Taliban have been dislodged from their sanctuaries, control of the area wrested from them and their training camps - from where an estimated 80 per cent of suicide bombings were launched - destroyed.
Two of "Operation Rah-e-Nijat's" three objectives have been achieved: establishing the state's writ, and dismantling the insurgents' infrastructure. The third goal, to create space for civilian authorities to engage tribal elders in establishing a sustainable political order, is a work in progress.
This is the imposing challenge of the present phase, in which tribal maliks have to be encouraged to return and their authority revived to reestablish a functional arrangement that can take over from the military. Progress in this task will enable the estimated 200,000 locals who fled the Mehsud area to return for rehabilitation.
None of this will be quick or easy. It will need to be buttressed by significant development activity so that an environment can be created that is inhospitable to the return of the militants and alleviates the socio-economic conditions that feed the insurgency.
The projects being launched by the army in partnership with the local administration after consultation with tribal elders are a step in the right direction. As also are efforts to secure the support of the Mehsud and Waziri tribal maliks for development.
The litmus test of a military operation is when it ends a credible governance authority is fostered. Inability to deliver on this can unravel the military gains and lose critical local support.
Swat's experience is instructive in this respect. Although the phase of "build" and "transfer" (of responsibilities from the military to civilian authorities) has proceeded slower than expected, due to capacity limitations, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts are in full swing even as military action to "sanitise" and secure surrounding areas continues. There is no better testimony to the revival of public confidence and return of normalcy than the repatriation of the displaced population and last month's peaceful by-election to a provincial assembly seat.
But terrorist attacks continue to shake the country. 2009 was the most violent year mainly because of the fierce backlash against the military operations. Daily bomb explosions strained the public's patience and tested the national resolve to fight militancy. Last year surpassed the previous year's grim record: an estimated 2,586 terrorist, insurgent and sectarian-related incidents - including 87 suicide attacks - compared to 2,577 in 2008. 3,021 people were killed in terrorist violence in 2009.
Some of the violence continuing into this year may be reprisals for the intensified US drone strikes in the tribal areas. Increasing attacks on "soft" targets may represent a shift in tactics by militants aimed at shaking the national consensus. This is backfiring as the brutal assaults have only steeled the public will to fight back.
The tribal areas remain volatile. The intensification of military action in Bajaur, and to some extent Mohmand, is a response to resurgent militant activity increasingly launched from across the border.
This reflects a "reverse safe haven" phenomenon, which is a potent reminder of how instability in Afghanistan continues to jeopardise Pakistan's counterinsurgency efforts - and also of the fact that militancy cannot be defeated in isolation to the security situation next door.
The US/Nato offensive in southern Afghanistan can also adversely affect Pakistan. Both "push" and "pull" factors - "push" (militants being driven to Pakistan from Afghanistan) and "pull" (expecting the Pakistani army to act as an "anvil") -- can strain the military's capacity and detract from its anti-militant efforts.
Especially as the campaign is at a delicate juncture. While TTP militants are on the run, having been deprived of a base to train, regroup and operate from, this has not led to a halt in their activities.
The loose network has shown a capacity to regenerate even after the loss of its leaders and recover from fierce internal struggles.
It may now be adapting to mounting pressure by dispersing and coordinating actions with sympathetic groups outside FATA.
A more diffuse threat with the means to cause disruption in the country's mainland will need a different response from military assaults to secure territory. They will require effective law enforcement, improved policing, better intelligence and, of course, sustained public support.
This means replacing a fire-fighting approach with a comprehensive and multilayered strategy that employs a diverse toolkit for what most certainly will be a long haul. When army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani recently described the present phase as transitional, he seemed to call for an approach in which the state's civilian organs take a lead role.
The key question is whether a capacity can be generated for such a "civilian surge" even as the various law enforcement agencies take sustained steps to dismantle the syndicate of terror that still operates in the country. In the longer run the neutralisation of this network will also rest on bringing to an end the conflicts and disputes in the region that have motivated and nourished the forces of militancy.

The writer is a former envoy of Pakistan to the US and the UK, and a former editor of The News.

  Independence or Autonomy?

To some extent, independence, just like freedom, is a fallacy. No individual is entirely free or entirely independent of others, with the possible exception of raving lunatics.

Iman Kurdi

China sees the Dalai Lama as a separatist campaigning for an independent Tibet. The Dalai Lama, on the other hand, argues that he is campaigning for a middle way, namely an autonomous Tibet within the People's Republic of China.
The word "within" is important and indeed the memorandum drawn up by the Dalai Lama's negotiating team points out the difference between autonomy within China and independence from China. It all got me thinking.
How often do we mistake a yearning for independence for a yearning for autonomy? So what exactly is the difference between autonomy ?and independence?
The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines autonomy as: "The right of a group of people to govern itself or to organise its own activities." And it defines independence as "freedom from being governed or ruled by another country" and "the ability to live your life without being helped or influenced by other people."
On the personal level, we often use the two words interchangeably. In fact, autonomy is sometimes defined as personal independence. Independence is closely linked to freedom in my mind. It is the trigger that allows us to free ourselves from the yoke of being governed by others.
In my own life the yearning for freedom and independence has been a key motivation since early childhood. And yet today I wonder whether what I hankered for is really autonomy rather ?than independence.
To some extent, independence, just like freedom, is a fallacy. No individual is entirely free or entirely independent of others, with the possible exception of raving lunatics.
It's all relative. Without being drawn into a philosophical or even a psychoanalytical debate about the subject, it is an intriguing aspect of human nature that we long both for connections with others and freedom from the ties ?that bind.
Autonomy comes from the Greek words auto, meaning self, and nomos, meaning law. Essentially what it means is that an individual, or a group depending on the context, has the power to make up and live by its own set of rules and regulations.
Independence, on the other hand, focuses on the idea of being a separate entity not subject to the rules and influence of others.
And so I wonder whether personal happiness requires not a sense of independence, which by definition entails a sense of separation from others, but a sense of autonomy. What we all want is the security of being part of a social group, be that the family, society, nationhood or a religious Ummah, of being intricately and unambiguously connected into the lives of others, whilst at the same time feeling that we have a say over how we live our lives, from the every day banalities of choosing what we eat to the higher-end principles of what we believe in and the moral principles that guide us.
At the group level the same principles apply. Independence focuses on sovereignty while autonomy focuses on the power to make decisions. Institutions will seldom be independent but their success largely depends on their ability to be autonomous. Take the judiciary.
We often talk of an independent judiciary, although perhaps not so much in the Arab world, but it is rarely the case. Being subject to government appointments and funding negates the idea of independence but leaves open the possibility of autonomy. And so we ?come to statehood.
When a group of people see themselves as a culturally or ethnically distinct group that is being governed by a well-defined "other", this "other" often being a state or an ethnic group that has forcefully taken over the group through peaceful or violent means, they naturally feel anger and resentment.
You don't have to look far to find examples of such groups; they exist in every continent. What they have in common is grievance at being subject to the rules of others, combined with economic and social discrimination against them.
When the inhabitants of a geographic region such as Tibet, united by historical, cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious identity find themselves living under the governance of a nation such as China to which they have some historical and geographic affiliation, but from which they also have an unmistakable sense of alienation, and when they live under the very real consequences of being disempowered in their own land, is the answer to be found in independence or in autonomy?
The Dalai Lama has chosen a path to peaceful resolution through autonomy within China rather than independence from China.
Partly this is because autonomy is a more realistic goal than independence. But it is also pragmatic.
Perhaps what applies at the personal level applies equally at the state level. It is not freedom but self-determination, not sovereignty but empowerment that are ultimately key.
We may all scream for independence but what really counts is autonomy, though that in no way erases the legitimacy of independence. What is more, it is no coincidence that the more economically and socially developed a country, the more it favours the concept of regional autonomy.


Iman Kurdi is an Arab writer
based in Nice, France.

Viewpoints

Dialogue critical to combating terrorism

We need to go beyond crisis-management. We need to shift into conflict resolution and business momentum mode. But for all that to
happen, we need to give dialogue a chance.

Sherry Rehman 

Resuming dialogue is always weighed down by anxiety about outcomes. But India and Pakistan need not worry. Nobody realistically expects too much out of tentative renewals. They hold little promise of anything except the exchange of chai and samosas.
Yet even these renewals are bright arcs in the treacherous sky that hangs over nuclear neighbours. Just the mere return of dialogue signals a recognition from both parties that ritual has its uses. It breaks the ice, presages hope, promises substance, and sets the stage for roadmaps and change.
For those invested in teaching the other state a lesson or negotiating a more nationalist identity by spurning dialogue, there's comfort in the sulphur of emotion. They have yet to understand that national security, or its pursuit, through non-coercive diplomacy is a ruthless business. It bets on the long-term and looks to maximise optimal outcomes.
If a military solution is the best option, then all resources need to be marshalled, such as anger, ballistic missiles, artillery and best planners, to the table. If a military outcome is not in best interests, then chai, samosas and gritted charm it is.
New Delhi will serve the region better if it shelves the threat of cutting off dialogue every time there is a terrorist tragedy. The good news is that templates exist for many of the smaller conflicts in the Indo-Pak terrain.
Pressing issues
It is Kashmir and terrorism that loom as big-ticket items on the roadmap.
On terrorism, Pakistan is facing a blitz. It is a cap-acity deficit, not a commitment lag. Democratic governments may be weak everywhere, perhaps more so in Pakistan, but they hedge their futures against war. They seek opportunities for peace and trade, not because they are nice people, but because they are accountable for losses.
War with India is really not an option when more people die in Pakistan from acts of terror than they do in war-torn Iraq, or for that matter, anywhere in the world.
So New Delhi has to grasp the magnitude of the war roiling Pakistan before it makes dialogue a hostage to the terror that rips through the region. This is not to say that composite dialogue is some metric for success. Far from it.
After the fourth round of composite dialogue sorted out the fine print on many well-worn confidence-building measures, the inertia of leaden intentions dragged movement at its usual pace.
Then Mumbai, or 26/11 happened. Suddenly the state became hostage to terrorists and their goals. This is what has to change if the region has to combat terrorism together, which must not be confused with insurgency at this point. Power must not be handed over to the terrorists by succumbing to reactive behaviour.
The identity of much of the terrorists may not be trans-national at a glance, but the sophisticated military resources and funds that drive them do not originate in Pakistan.
Out of control
In the last two years alone, over 5,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives to terrorism. Try as it may, Islamabad cannot possibly provide a guarantee against bombs in India if it cannot guarantee such a blockade in its military's General Headquarters.
On this count, dialogue should lead to the construction of joint mechanisms for intelligence sharing, best practices and optimal outcomes.
Intelligence is the first line of defence in terrorist terrain, and we need to bolster our states with a formal architecture for interaction between India and Pakistan. Interrupting dialogue will only reify hardened positions.
Second, structured talks on Kashmir will have to re-surface, even if they inch forward. If New Delhi refuses to include Kashmir at a later stage on the formal table, then the dialogue will lose momentum as well as political traction in Pakistan.
Talks on Kashmir will also profit from a back-channel, as well as quiet inclusion of Kashmiri opinion in any dialogue for it to remain credible. Territory must always be about people, not just strategic location.
Giving dialogue a chance is critical for taking Pakistan and India out of a bilateral Cold War time-warp. Giving China a role in a separate trilateral commission for nuclear and other talks can help ease that neuralgia.
India's military focus is still Pakistan. That forces the military here to keep troop strengths balanced when all resources are needed on another, dispersed battlefield.
If one is looking for a game-changer, this will be it. For Pakistan, the potential theatre of conflict will shift where needed, and threat perceptions will slowly start to shift closer to our real ground zero at home.
The Indian leadership should strengthen their prime minister's hand to fashion such a grand strategic bargain for South Asia. Because without one, dialogue will go round and round in vilified circles, becoming a low-intensity space for conflict-prevention.
We need to go beyond crisis-management. We need to shift into conflict resolution and business momentum mode. But for all that to happen, we need to give dialogue a chance.

Sherry Rehman is a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and
former federal minister.

  Father figure  

All my life I have been hungry to fill in the blanks, clinging eagerly to every photo or story or scrap of paper that would tell me more of the man who gave me life.

Bill Clinton 

Early on the morning of August 19, 1946, I was born under a clear sky after a violent summer storm to a widowed mother in the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, a town of about 6,000 in southwest Arkansas, 33 miles east of the Texas border at Texarkana. My mother named me William Jefferson Blythe III after my father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. According to his sisters, my father always tried to take care of them, and he grew up to be a handsome, hardworking, fun-loving man. He met my mother at Tri-State Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1943, when she was training to be a nurse. Many times when I was growing up, I asked mother to tell me the story of their meeting, courting, and marriage. He brought a date with some kind of medical emergency into the ward where she was working, and they talked and flirted while the other woman was being treated. On his way out of the hospital, he touched the finger on which she was wearing her boyfriend's ring and asked her if she was married. She stammered "no" - she was single. The next day he sent the other woman flowers and her heart sank. Then he called mother for a date, explaining that he always sent flowers when he ended a relationship.
Two months later, they were married and he was off to war. He served in a motor pool in the invasion of Italy, repairing jeeps and tanks. After the war, he returned to Hope for mother and they moved to Chicago, where he got back his old job as a salesman for the Manbee Equipment Company. They bought a little house in the suburb of Forest Park but could not move in for a couple of months, and since mother was pregnant with me, they decided she should go home to Hope until they could get into the new house. On May 17, 1946, after moving their furniture into their new home, my father was driving from Chicago to Hope to fetch his wife. Late at night on Highway 60 outside of Sikeston, Missouri, he lost control of his car, a 1942 Buick, when the right front tyre blew out on a wet road. He was thrown clear of the car but landed in, or crawled into, a drainage ditch dug to reclaim swampland. The ditch held three feet of water. When he was found, after a two-hour search, his hand was grasping a branch above the waterline. He had tried but failed to pull himself out. He drowned, only 28 years old, married two years and eight months, only seven months of which he had spent with mother.
That brief sketch is about all I ever really knew about my father. All my life I have been hungry to fill in the blanks, clinging eagerly to every photo or story or scrap of paper that would tell me more of the man who gave me life.
When I was about 12, sitting on my uncle Buddy's porch in Hope, a man walked up the steps, looked at me, and said, "You are Bill Blythe's son. You look just like him." I beamed for days.
In 1974, I was running for Congress. It was my first race and the local paper did a feature story on my mother. She was at her regular coffee shop early in the morning discussing the article with a lawyer friend when one of the breakfast regulars she knew only casually came up to her and said, "I was there, I was the first one at the wreck that night." He then told mother what he had seen, including the fact that my father had retained enough consciousness or survival instinct to try to claw himself up and out of the water before he died. Mother thanked him, went out to her car and cried, then dried her tears and went to work.
In 1993, on Father's Day, my first as President, the Washington Post ran a long investigative story on my father, which was followed over the next two months by other investigative pieces by the Associated Press and many smaller papers. The stories confirmed the things my mother and I knew. They also turned up a lot we did not know, including the fact that my father had probably been married three times before he met mother, and apparently had at least two more children.
My father's other son was identified as Leon Ritzenthaler, a retired owner of a janitorial service, from northern California. In the article, he said he had written to me during the 1992 campaign but had received no reply. I do not remember hearing about his letter, and considering all the other bullets we were dodging then, it is possible that my staff kept it from me. Or maybe the letter was just misplaced in the mountains of mail we were receiving. Anyway, when I read about Leon, I got in touch with him and later met him and his wife, Judy, during one of my stops in northern California. We had a happy visit and since then we have corresponded in holiday seasons. He and I look alike, his birth certificate says his father was mine, and I wish I had known about him a long time ago.
Somewhere around this time, I also received information confirming news stories about a daughter, Sharon Pettijohn, born Sharon Lee Blythe in Kansas City in 1941, to a woman my father later divorced. She sent copies of her birth certificate, her parents' marriage license, a photo of my father, and a letter to her mother from my father asking about "our baby" to Betsey Wright, my former chief of staff in the governor's office. I am sorry to say that, for whatever reason, I have never met her.
This news breaking in 1993 came as a shock to mother, who by then had been battling cancer for some time, but she took it all in stride. She said young people did a lot of things during the Depression and the war that people in another time might disapprove of. What mattered was that my father was the love of her life and she had no doubt of his love for her.



This extract is taken from My Life by Bill Clinton) Bill Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States of America

  How real is British outrage over “killer” passports?

The Guardian pointed out that Mossad agents “routinely use…. forged western passports and when caught doing it Israel give assurances they will not do it again.”

Hasan Suroor    

It was billed as the moment when, we were told, Britain would read out the riot act to Israel over Mossad's suspected link to the abuse of British passports by the killers of Hamas commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai last month.
But the first thing that the Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor did as he emerged from a meeting with the Foreign Office chief Sir Peter Ricketts last Thursday was to clarify to waiting journalists that he had come in response to an "invitation" and not summons - making a pointed distinction between being "summoned" (as in the "Iranian envoy summoned for a dressing down") and being simply called for a coffee.
The message Mr. Prosor wanted to get out - commentators noted - was that his meeting with Sir Peter was a routine diplomatic drill and there was no need to get too excited, or read too much into it. In other words, Britain was simply going "through the motions" to calm public opinion. A similar line was coming out of Israel where ministers were said to be "confident" that for all the tough talk Britain would "do nothing" to damage its "strategic" alliance with Israel.
"The U.K. is going through the motions of outrage, but our assessment is that they will do nothing," The Daily Telegraph reported an Israeli government source as saying. The British government, clearly embarrassed first by the disclosure about the misuse of its passports and then by Israeli bid to play down its fallout, insists that it is taking the issue "very seriously" and has ordered an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the theft of identities of six Israel-based British citizens and their use in the cold-blooded murder of Mahmoud as an "outrage."
"We want to get to the bottom of the issue of the fraudulent passports," he said.
He also sought to counter the impression given by Mr. Prosor that his meeting with Sir Patrick was just a fireside chat.
"Sir Peter made clear to Mr. Prosor how seriously we take any suggestion of the fraudulent use of British passports - he also explained the concern we have for British passport holders in Israel,'' he said adding that Britain expected Israel to cooperate with its investigations.
On the face of it, the British government appears to have hit all the right buttons to express its outrage and, in fact, there is speculation that it might even scrap its intelligence-sharing arrangement with Mossad if it is found to have been involved in the Dubai affair.
So, what's going on? Is British anger just a lot of hot air as Israelis seem to suggest? Or, is the anger real?
The cynical answer is that, actually, we'll never know simply because we'll never know the truth about Mossad's involvement. For, notwithstanding the Dubai police claim that they're "99 per cent" sure it was a Mossad operation, Israel alone knows the truth and nobody seriously believes that it is going to accept responsibility.
"Policy of ambiguity"
Nor is the British investigation likely to go far without Israel's active and honest cooperation. But Israel has already made clear that it should not be expected to answer any questions saying that it has a "policy of ambiguity" on intelligence matters, and firmly rejecting any suggestion of Mossad's involvement.
"There is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad, and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief," Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.
This is not the first time that Mossad has been involved in a row over British passports. In the 1980s, its U.K. operations were shut down by the Margaret Thatcher government after its agents were caught with British passports. It then gave an undertaking of good behaviour in future, though as The Times recalled : "No one really believed that Mossad would honour its pledge."
The Guardian pointed out that Mossad agents "routinely use…. forged western passports and when caught doing it Israel give assurances they will not do it again."
"Evidently these diplomatic assurances are worthless," it said branding the Dubai incident as a "breach of trust between two nations who are ostensibly allies."
The government has been accused of acting in a "supine" manner in dealing with Israel. There have been allegations of a possible cover-up with media reports claiming that Britain had advance knowledge of a Mossad plot involving British passports. It has also been reported that Britain knew two weeks ago that British passports were used by the killers of Mr. Mabhouh but kept quiet.
Predictably, the Government has rejected such reports as "completely untrue" and "nonsense" but it is under growing pressure even from uber Israeli loyalists to take a tougher line. Talk to sceptics, though, and they are likely to tell you to go and brush up your history of British-Israeli relations before entertaining such thoughts.

International

‘Pakistan serious on improving India ties’
AFP, Beijing

Pakistan's foreign minister said Tuesday that his country was serious about improving relations with India, ahead of the first official talks between the South Asian rivals in more than a year.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi was quoted by state media as saying in Beijing that Pakistan wanted "peaceful settlement of all outstanding disputes".
The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are set to sit down on Thursday, ending a freeze on dialogue imposed by India after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Qureshi, who is on a five-day visit to China, made his comments in a speech at the China Institute of International Studies, state Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Tuesday that stable India-Pakistan relations were "conducive to regional peace, stability and development".
He added that Beijing "supports their efforts to resolve their disputes through dialogue and negotiation".
Qureshi met Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Tuesday and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Monday.

  US general in Pakistan to bolster alliance
AFP, Islamabad

Top US general David Petraeus held talks in Pakistan on Monday to bolster the relationship with a key regional ally, as a suicide bombing claimed nine lives in the country's northwest.
Petraeus, the head of US forces in central Asia and the Middle East, met premier Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani shortly after his arrival, a statement from the prime minister's office said.
"General Petraeus appreciated the commitment and sacrifices made by the security forces, armed forces and the people of Pakistan in eradicating militancy and terrorism," it said.
The visit by the head of US Central Command follows the capture last month of top Taliban military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Pakistan, in what the US media said was a joint operation by US and Pakistani spies. The involvement of Pakistan-suspected by the West of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan-was seen as a signal of a new era in US efforts to persuade Islamabad to move aggressively against Islamist networks in both countries.
During their talks, Petraeus assured Gilani of his support for "Pakistan?s demand for early reimbursement of the Coalition Support Fund," the statement said, referring to US cash for Pakistan's participation in its "war on terror."
The Pakistani premier stressed the need for closer ties between the United States and Pakistan, it added.
"Gilani said that the gap between culmination of operations and reconstruction of the militancy affected areas needs to be plugged to develop the confidence of the people in the process of consolidation."
Gilani said that "the long-term strategic relations between the US and Pakistan needs to be made more meaningful to further bridge the trust deficit and help develop closer cooperation in all sectors," the statement said.
Petraeus's arrival in Pakistan also coincided with a suicide bombing on a military convoy in the northwestern Swat valley where nine people including women and children were killed.
Swat has been held up as a success story in Pakistan's fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants by local and US officials, who praised the offensive for apparently ending a two-year local Taliban insurgency.
US national security adviser General James Jones visited Swat valley earlier this month and congratulated Pakistani security forces on the "success" of their operations and noted their "tremendous sacrifices".

  Eight die in Afghan bombing as US loses 1,000th soldier
AFP, Kabul

A bomb strapped to a bicycle exploded near a busy bus terminal in Afghanistan, killing eight people Tuesday as the death toll of US troops in the Afghan war surpassed the grim milestone of 1,000.
The attack took place in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province where a massive US-led military offensive against the Taliban entered a tenth day and US defence chiefs said progress was slower than expected.
Sixteen people were also injured in the blast, the interior ministry said.
The Helmand assault by 15,000 US troops, dubbed Operation Mushtarak-meaning "together" in the Dari Persian dialect spoken in Afghanistan-aims to push the Taliban out of the Marjah and Nad Ali areas under their control.
But the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said in Washington progress against Taliban fighters in the target areas was "steady if perhaps a bit slower than anticipated".
Commanders have said it could take another month to bring the areas under total control, though civilian police have already been deployed.
"Afghan and combined forces continue to encounter small but determined pockets of resistance, often from bunkers or other fortified positions," NATO said in an operational update.
IEDs, improvised explosive devices, posed the main challenge, it said, adding "a new patrol base is operational" and "a new police base is being built in southeast Marjah", referring to the main Marjah bazaar.
Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar have been the main focus of insurgent activity since the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001.
Senior military leaders, including US General Stanley McChrystal who commands the 121,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, have said Kandahar is in line for a major anti-insurgent offensive of its own.

  India cautious on Maoist talks offer
AFP, New Delhi

India's home minister gave a cautious response Tuesday to a reported offer of peace talks by Maoist rebels, saying the insurgents must first stop their attacks and make a formal proposal.
"I would like a short, simple statement... saying 'We will abjure violence and we are prepared for talks,'" said Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who issued a government fax number for the declaration.
"I would like no ifs, no buts and no conditions. Once I receive the statement, I shall consult the prime minister and other colleagues and respond promptly," the minister said in a written statement.
On Monday, a senior Maoist leader, Kishenji, told local media that the guerrillas were ready for talks if the government suspended a giant offensive against them.
"We are ready to hold talks with the government only if the joint operation against us is halted for 72 days from February 25 to May 7," senior leader Kishenji told television station Chabbis Ghanta in the state of West Bengal.
The Indian government, which sees the insurgents as the biggest internal security threat to the country, has launched the offensive in several Maoist-infested areas, but has so far failed to significantly curb their operations.
Kishenji also asked for "intellectuals and human rights organisations which are fighting for the cause of the people" to mediate between the Maoists and the government.
Chidambaram has been pushing for talks with the leftist rebels, estimated to number 10,000-20,000, but with the condition that they renounce violence.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party) welcomed the possibility but its spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the Maoists "must shun violence and surrender their arms" before talks can go ahead.

  Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court refuses to free Fonseka
AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court refused Tuesday to order the release of detained opposition leader and former army chief Sarath Fonseka as it deliberates a petition challenging his arrest by the military.
Fonseka, 59, has been held at a naval detention centre since his arrest on February 8, sparking international condemnation and violent protests two weeks after he was trounced in presidential polls by President Mahinda Rajapakse.
"The request for interim relief by way of his release was rejected but the court said immediate family and lawyers can visit him," a court official said.
A further hearing has been scheduled for April 26.
Fonseka's wife had filed a petition challenging the legality of his detention, and asking the court to order his immediate release pending a judgement.
Tuesday ruling means he will remain in custody until the court makes a final ruling.
The government has yet to specify the charges Fonseka will face, but Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse-the president's brother-said he had been plotting a military coup.
The United States, the European Union and the United Nations, among others, have asked Colombo to ensure due process is followed and that democracy is not undermined.
As the battlefield architect of the victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels last May, Fonseka had been hailed as a national hero for finally crushing their 37-year campaign for an independent Tamil homeland.

  Philippine Supreme Court allows Arroyo to run
AFP, Manila

The Philippines' highest court on Tuesday ruled President Gloria Arroyo was allowed to run for a seat in parliament in this year's elections, disappointing critics who said her move was unconstitutional.
The decision meant Arroyo had cleared the final legal hurdle in her bid to win a parliamentary seat in the May elections.
The Supreme Court dismissed a petition by an opposition legislator to bar Arroyo from running, saying an earlier ruling by the Commission on Elections allowing her to run was valid.
"The court did not find any grave abuse of authority on the Comelec's part," a spokesman for the court clerk told AFP, reading from the court resolution.
Critics believe that Arroyo, who is running for a congressional seat to be vacated by one of her sons, wants to enter parliament as a backdoor route back to power.
They allege she intends to use her influence to have the House of Representatives rewrite the constitution and shift the nation's form of government from presidential to parliamentary.
She would then want to become prime minister, with the president relegated to a largely ceremonial role, according to her critics.
Opposition lawmaker Riza Hontiveros had argued in her petition to the Supreme Court and the Commission on Elections that the constitution banned any sitting president from running for re-election in any capacity.
But the Commission on Elections ruled that the constitution only barred her from running again for president.

  China encourages US-North Korea to meet
AFP, Beijing

China on Tuesday urged the United States and North Korea to step up efforts to restart stalled nuclear disarmament talks, as diplomats criss-crossed the region to try to get Pyongyang back to the table.
The US and South Korean envoys to the six-party talks, which began in 2003 and have been on hold since the North stormed out 10 months ago, were both due in Beijing this week for meetings with their Chinese counterparts.
China, the host of the talks and the communist North's sole major diplomatic and economic ally, said efforts by Washington and Pyongyang would be the key to success.
"We encourage multilateral and bilateral meetings and dialogue... on this issue, China adopts a supportive and positive attitude," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.
Such contact between the United States and North Korea "will be conducive to the early resumption of the six-party talks and ensure the peace and stability of northeast Asia and the Korean peninsula," he said.
Qin said US special envoy Stephen Bosworth would hold talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss the North Korean disarmament issue.
South Korea's chief negotiator Wi Sung-Lac was also expected in Beijing Tuesday and would hold talks with Wu.
Meanwhile, a senior North Korean Communist Party official, Kim Yong-Il, held talks Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart Wang Jiarui and met President Hu Jintao, China Central Television reported.

 Iran ready to buy nuclear reactor fuel
AFP, Vienna

Iran is ready to buy fuel for a nuclear reactor or swap its own stockpile of low-enriched uranium for the fuel, but on its own territory, it said in a letter to the UN atomic watchdog obtained by AFP on Tuesday.
"I would like to inform the agency, on behalf of my government, that the Islamic Republic of Iran is still seeking to purchase the required fuel in cash," Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, wrote in a letter dated February 18 to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano.
It is the first time that the IAEA has received a written response from Iran to an international plan hammered out under the agency's auspices last October to supply fuel for a nuclear research reactor in Tehran that makes radioisotopes for medical purposes such as the treatment of cancer. The reactor's fuel is running low and Iran had asked the IAEA to find ways of securing fresh fuel. Under the IAEA's previous director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, the watchdog drew up a plan whereby Iran would hand over its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia for enrichment to the required level of 20 percent.
The material would then be processed by France into the necessary fuel rods for the reactor. The plan's main advantage, from the point of view of the international community, was that Iran's stockpile of uranium-built up in defiance of UN sanctions-would be taken out of Tehran's hands. And that meant it could not be covertly made into an atomic bomb, as many countries feared.
Nevertheless, the Islamic republic has consistently balked at the idea, seeing it a ruse, primarily by the United States, to deprive it of its LEU. And it has demanded that the material be swapped simultaneously on its territory instead.

  Hamas PM calls for West Bank to ‘rise up’ over holy sites
AFP, Gaza City

Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya on Tuesday called on Palestinians in the West Bank to "rise up" against Israel over a plan to restore two contested holy sites in the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked outrage on Sunday when he said he hoped to include Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in a national heritage plan. "The decision requires a real response in the West Bank and for the people to rise up in the face of the Israeli occupation and to break every shackle in confronting it," Haniya told reporters. "(The project) aims to erase our identity, alter our Islamic monuments and steal our history," he added. Hamas has in the past made similar calls for uprisings in the occupied West Bank, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority has been confined since the Islamist group seized Gaza in June 2007.
In Hebron there was sporadic stone throwing from Palestinian youths near the Ibrahimi mosque above the Tomb of the Patriarchs but there were no reports of anyone being wounded. The site has often been the scene of tensions between Palestinians and a few hundred hardline settlers who live there under heavy military protection and have converted part of the mosque into a synagogue.
Meanwhile in Bethlehem shops and schools were closed in a day-long general strike and youth set tyres on fire in some areas, an AFP correspondent said. The final list of the sites to be included in the 100-million-dollar restoration project is still under discussion, but Netanyahu's remarks drew protests from the Palestinians, the United Nations, Jordan and Egypt.

  Iraq to ‘sue UK firm behind faulty bomb detector’
AFP, Baghdad

Iraq plans to sue the British company that sold it bomb detectors widely panned as ineffective after they failed to prevent a series of massive bombings in Baghdad, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP that Baghdad wanted financial compensation for the devices, which are used at checkpoints across the country to detect explosives. "More than 50 percent are good, and the rest we will change," he said, referring to the proportion of the detectors found to be defective after an investigation ordered by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"We will sue the British company that sold them to us to get our money back," he added, but declined to name the specific company in question or provide any further details. British firm ATSC manufactured and sold the device, the ADE651, to Iraq.
Its director Jim McCor-mick was arrested by British police on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation earlier this year. He was bailed pending further investigation. In January, Britain banned the export of the ADE651 device after tests showed it was not suitable for bomb detection.
The ADE651 is a hand-held, pistol-shaped piece of equipment which uses a series of interchangeable credit card size paper cards said to be able to detect explosives such as C4 and TNT, as well as weapons.
It was reputedly sold for between 16,500 and 60,000 dollars per unit, and has become ubiquitous in Iraq, having been bought in large numbers by local security forces.

  Prosecutors interrogate 51 Turkish officers
AP, Ankara, Turkey

Prosecutors on Tuesday interrogated 51 Turkish military commanders, including former Air Force and Navy chiefs, over alleged plans to destabilize the country by blowing up mosques to trigger a coup and topple the Islamic-rooted government.
It was the highest profile crackdown ever on the Turkish military, which has ousted four governments since 1960. For decades Turkey's senior officers, self-appointed guardians of the country's secular tradition, called the shots. But the balance of power in this EU-candidate country appeared to have shifted Monday as police rounded up the 51 military commanders, following the gathering of wiretap evidence and discovery of an alleged secret coup plan, dubbed "the sledgehammer," prepared when the commanders were on active duty between 2003 and 2005.
The nationwide sweep has dramatically deepened a power struggle between the secular establishment and the government, which has strong electoral backing and the European Union's support. Turkey's elite military - known as "pashas," a title of respect harking back to Ottoman times - were once deemed untouchable.
"The most heavy sledgehammer to military custody," read banner headline of daily Taraf, which has published leaked military documents that lead to the detentions.
The English-language newspaper Today's Zaman said Tuesday that the operation was launched after experts determined the leaked documents were authentic. The government denies the ongoing crackdown is politically motivated or designed to silence government critics, as is claimed by opposition parties.
"This is not a legal process. This is apparently a sheer process of political showdown," said Deniz Baykal, head of the main opposition Republican People's Party.

  China urges US to ‘undo damage done’ by Dalai meet
AFP, Beijing

China on Tuesday demanded the United States "undo the damage done" by a meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, while lashing out anew over US arms sales to Taiwan.
The latest angry barrage indicated tensions had not abated between Beijing and Washington-an unwelcome sign for negotiators working on the thorny North Korea and Iran nuclear dossiers, who need the world powers to cooperate.
The meeting last week in the White House Map Room between the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, and the US president-who voiced support for Tibetan rights-had already prompted Beijing to summon the US ambassador. "China demands that the US side seriously regard China's position and take credible measures to undo the damage done," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.
He also urged Washington to "take concrete measures to uphold the sound development of China-US relations", reiterating that they had been "seriously affected" by the Dalai Lama's White House visit and the Taiwan arms sales. "This is something that we don't want to see and the US side should shoulder the full responsibility for this," Qin said. Ties between the two sides have been strained for months over a series of other issues-from trade and currency disputes to the future in China of Google, after it fell victim to cyberattacks it says originated in the country.
The Wall Street Journal reported that talks between the US Internet giant and Chinese officials were set to soon resume, although a Google China spokeswoman told AFP she had no knowledge of any such arrangement.

  Iran arrests Sunni rebel accused of links with West
Reuters, Tehran

Iran seized a Sunni Muslim rebel leader on Tuesday behind a bombing which killed dozens of people last year, and who Tehran says has links to al Qaeda and support from Pakistan, Britain and the United States.
There were contradictory reports about how Iranian security forces detained Jundollah leader Abdolmalek Rigi, whose group had claimed the October 18 bombing that killed more than 40 Iranians, including 15 from the elite Revolutionary Guards. Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said Rigi had been in a U.S. military base 24 hours before his arrest, was carrying an Afghan passport supplied by the United States and had earlier visited European countries, state-run Press TV reported.
Rigi's capture comes as major powers push for further United Nations sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which the West suspects could be aimed at making nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
The United States, Britain and Pakistan all deny backing Jundollah, which operates in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Moslehi said Rigi had been arrested on board a plane flying between Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia and the Gulf Arab emirate of Dubai. Television pictures showed him being taken off a plane in handcuffs, accompanied by four masked men.
"We have clear documents proving that Rigi was in cooperation with American, Israeli and British intelligence services," Press TV quoted the intelligence minister as saying.

  Democrats cautiously embrace Obama health plan
AP, Washington

Congressional Democrats cautiously embraced President Barack Obama's new health care plan as their last hope for enacting a comprehensive overhaul. Republicans trashed it, dimming prospects for any deal at the bipartisan health care summit that Obama has scheduled for Thursday to try to jump-start the debate.
A year after calling on Congress to act to reform the nation's costly and inefficient health care system, Obama finally produced a plan of his own Monday. It used legislation already passed by the Senate as its starting point, making changes designed to appeal to House Democrats.
Even after months in which health care gradually turned from Obama's top domestic priority into a political albatross, Obama opted for one last attempt at full-scale legislation. It costs around $1 trillion over a decade, requires nearly everyone to be insured or pay a fine, and puts new requirements on insurance companies, including - in a new twist responding to recent rate hikes - giving the federal government authority to block big premium increases. In the end Obama may have to settle for much less than what he proposed Monday - or nothing at all. But many Democrats said that despite all the bad-news polls and the loss of their filibuster-proof Senate supermajority in a special-election upset, it would still be better to pass a sweeping bill than make small changes or none at all.
If Obama fails on a comprehensive health care overhaul where Bill Clinton and other presidents failed before him, the chance won't come around again anytime soon.
"This is the last time out," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. "So this is it. This is it."

Business/Economy

Analysts favour Price Competition Law to curb soaring prices

BSS, Dhaka

Financial analysts at a seminar here on Tuesday favoured a Price Competition Law to curb the unbridled rise in the prices of all goods, particularly the imported ones, in the greater benefit of the consumers at home.
They said the importers have been suffering enormously due to the unhealthy influence of unscrupulous syndicates at home and abroad due mainly to the absence of a Price Competition Law, ultimately victimizing the consumers. International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group organized the seminar at a local hotel to disseminate the findings of its two studies on A Study on the Trucking Sector and A Study on the Edible Oil Market with the common title Enhancing Competition in the Bangladesh Economy.
Unnayan Shamunnay and the Bureau of Economic Research of Dhaka University carried out the two studies under the financial supports of the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF). Commerce Minister Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan as the chief guest addressed the function, joined, among others, by former competition policy adviser to the World Bank Shyam Khemani, chief executive officer of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) M A Taslim and Professor of Dhaka University Dr Selim Raihan.
Faruk Khan first gave the keynote presenters a patient hearing and then said these studies could have been enriched much had the trucking problems been precisely illustrated in their key findings.
"The exact number of trucks, now being used to carry goods in the country, and how many trucks shall be imported from where should have been mentioned as facts in these studies," he said.
The Commerce Minister asked the businessmen to inform the government whether any law or regulation needs to be streamlined for the sake of smooth transportation of imported goods across the country. Shyam Khemani expressed his dissatisfaction over the state of competition in respect of the import of crude oil and put forward a suggestion for coalition of oil refineries to crush the monopoly practice in this important field. He also advocated for reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to make the ports more efficient and profitable, which would ultimately contribute a lot to the government's annual revenue income.
MA Taslim identified lack of adequate infrastructures and utility services as impediments to have more access of new comers to business.
The edible oil study indicated that although there are fewer players in the market, local prices seem to be linked with international market prices.

 Mitshubishi Sedan car to be assembled in BD
UNB, Dhaka

Mitshubishi Motors Corporation of Japan is going to get its Sedan car assembled in Bangladesh under joint venture with the state-run Progoti Industries Limited, as the famed carmaker tries to spread its wings wider. Besides, the Japanese firm would provide technical assistance for setting up factories for manufacturing spare parts of Bangladeshi vehicles.
A delegation of Mitshubishi, led by its zonal manager for Asia Kazuhide Ogata, held out the offers during a meting with Industries Minister Dilip Barua at the latter's office Tuesday.
"The delegation held an elaborate discussion about the assembling of Sedan Car Lancer EX and Pajero Sports Jeep of Mitshubishi Model in Bangladesh," said an official source. The minister and the delegation both agreed on signing a MoU with Progoti Industries Limited within a few days for Sedan car assembly.
Meanwhile, the team will visit Progoti Industries Limited in Chittagong tomorrow (Wednesday). A MoU is likely to be signed during the visit.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a visit to the ministry earlier had given a directive for Sedan assembling in the country by 2012.

  Pakistan finance minister resigns
AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan's Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin resigned Tuesday, saying he wanted to concentrate on his private banking career and avoid any conflict of interest.
A banker by profession, Tarin initially joined the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as an advisor, but was elevated to the position of finance minister about 16 months ago.
Gilani accepted his resignation at a meeting on Tuesday but has retained Tarin as a government advisor on economics, the prime minister's office said. The prime minister "appreciated" his contribution in "turning around the sliding national economy" and "hoped that Shaukat Tarin would continue to extend his valuable advice to the government when needed," it added.
Tarin was heavily involved in negotiations which led to an International Monetary Fund loan of 1.2 billion dollars for Pakistan, where Islamist militancy, soaring inflation and a power crisis have choked the economy.
Pakistan approached the IMF in 2008 for a rescue package as it grappled with a 30-year inflation high and fast-depleting reserves that were barely enough to cover nine weeks of import bills.
The outgoing minister, who was well-respected by Pakistan's foreign allies, told private Dunya television that he was resigning "on principle".
"I have shares in a (Pakistani) bank and will now concentrate more on my business," he said.
Tarin said he did not want to give the impression that he was using his official position as the finance minister to promote his private business.
"I wanted to avoid this conflict of interests," he said, declining to mention any other reasons for his departure.
But analysts believe Tarin's opposition to government policy lay behind his decision to step down. He reportedly opposed a scheme to rent power plants in a bid to overcome Pakistan's crippling energy crisis.
Former economic advisor Ashfaq Hasan Khan praised Tarin for taking "some difficult decisions to end economic uncertainty" in the cash-strapped country.
"He (Tarin) had to resign because he opposed the controversial rental power project deals," Khan told AFP. Tarin's view that it was not cost effective was "highly embarrassing" for the government, he added.
"Tarin did nothing better for the country but oppose the government's rental power deals, which I think cost him his job," independent economic analyst A.B. Shahid told AFP.

  Finance troubleshooters in Greece as strike looms
AFP, Athens

Trouble-shooters from the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF descended on Greece Tuesday to check on its bid to tame rampant debt on the eve of a general strike against austerity measures.
Greece's government overspending reached 12.7 percent of output in 2009 as the global downturn sent public deficits through the roof, putting government bonds under pressure, weakening the euro and pushing the eurozone into crisis. Under acute pressure from its 15 eurozone partners, the Socialist Greek government has pledged to slash its deficit to 8.7 percent this year, agreeing to painful public spending cuts that sparked Wednesday's union strike call.
The EU has pledged support for Greece but has also ordered strict monitoring for its deficit-cutting program, sending the three-party team on the first of a string of visits to make sure Athens is on the right track.
"It is a purely technical visit, to examine progress on the Greek plan and provide any help necessary," said a ministry official who requested anonymity.
No meetings were planned with the Greek government, except perhaps a courtesy call with the finance minister, and there is no question of the team asking Greece to approve new austerity measures, the official said.
Air, rail and maritime transport are expected to grind to a halt Wednesday as public and private sector down tools from midnight Tuesday (2300 GMT) in anger at the prospect of cuts to benefits or delaying the retirement age to 63.
Called by the powerful GSEE workers' confederation and backed by the civil servant union, Wednesday's strike is to shut down schools, government offices and courtrooms, with disruption to banks, hospitals and state-owned companies.
Greece is also facing a news blackout after the strike received backing from the national journalists' union, which penalises members for breaking ranks.
Athens metro and bus lines will run a skeleton service to allow strikers to get to the street demonstrations planned in the city centre.
Around 200 communist union activists rallied at the door of the Athens stock market Tuesday with banners reading "The rich must pay for the crisis," barring staff from entering but without disrupting market operations.

  Indian parliament in uproar over food prices
AFP, New Delhi

India's national parliament adjourned in uproar on Tuesday after opposition parties attacked the government over galloping food prices, one of the hottest domestic political issues. The first official working day of the three-month-long budget session ended in chaos despite appeals to the opposition by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to disrupt business.
Lawmakers from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party) took to their feet, shouting slogans and waving papers as they demanded a debate on food prices, which leapt 17.97 percent over 12 months in the first week of February. Speaker Meira Kumar, after repeated attempts to restore order amid the din of shouting and jeering, adjourned the 543-member elected lower house. The upper house was adjourned too after similar unruly scenes. India's inflation last week jumped to its highest level in more than a year due to the rocketing prices, particularly of cereals and sugar which have risen in response to poor harvests.
India had its weakest monsoon in nearly four decades last year, which hit farm output. Congress party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi dismissed opposition allegations of state indifference to the pressures that rising prices have put on Indian households.

National

Agriculture credit can help ensuring food security in country

BSS, Rajshahi

Speakers at a loan-disbursement and farmers gathering ceremony here Monday mentioned that the qualitative and quantitative agricultural credit could help ensuring food security and economic emancipation of the country.
In this context, they viewed that the Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) has a vital role to play to ensure quality loan for attaining the cherished goal of food security.
The RAKUB under its 'Fisheries Village, Share-Croppers and RAKUB-Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) Joint- Supervising Credit Programs' organized the ceremony at Bakhtiarpur village under Durgapur upazila.
Local lawmaker Abdul Wadud Dara addressed the ceremony as the chief guest while RAKUB Chairman Yeahiya Mollah and its Director Dr Rustam Ali Ahmed, BMDA Chairman Nurul Islam Thandu and its Executive Director Engineer Abdul Mannan, Upazila Chairman Abdul Mazid Sarker and UNO Altaf Hossain Sheikh spoke as special guests.
Managing director the bank Muhammad Fazlul Haque chaired the session while Zonal Manager Abdul Khaleque Khan illustrated the aims and objectives of the credit programs in his address of welcome.
Marking the ceremony, loan of Taka 77.15 lakh were disbursed among 64 farmers for expediting the farming of fish, hybrid nursery and betel leaf along with flourishing the small and medium enterprises. Abdul Wadud Dara urged all the officers and employees of the bank to discharge their duties with utmost sincerity and honesty on the basis of social responsibility.
He added that the banking activities must be transparent and accountable along with free from all sorts of corruption, harassment and monopoly.
Terming the agriculture as the main driving force of the country's economy, he said the agricultural production and employment opportunities could be enhanced to a greater extent through successful execution of the government's agricultural credit policy and programs.
He laid stress on agriculture to ensure food security for bringing the poor and marginal farmers under safety net as cherished by the present government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
In this regard, he expected that an agriculture revolution could be taken place in the northwestern Bangladesh through the best uses of the RAKUB's money and BMDA's irrigation water.
"Collective efforts of the farmers and the bankers could be the effective means of bolstering the agro-based economy of the northwest Bangladesh," said RAKUB Chairman Yeahiya Mollah.
He termed northern region as the granary of Bangladesh and called upon the field officers and staff to render their service wholeheartedly towards helping the farmers produce surplus food through utilizing its existing natural resources. In this regard, he suggested increased credit flow towards the potential sectors, especially for food grain production by encouraging the farmers more cultivation.
He also underlined the need for dynamic banking service particularly in loan disbursement and recovery of the classified loans side by side with ensuring transparency in the overall activities.
In his speech, BMDA Chairman Nurul Islam Thandu called for close coordination between the service-delivery activities of RAKUB and BMDA to supplement the government endeavor to attain food security and to build a digital Bangladesh.
He viewed that building of a strong national economic base is largely depends on bolstering the rural economy and added that 50 percent achievement of the government pledge to build Digital Bangladesh could be possible through the banking sector.
Managing Director Fazlul Haque mentioned that RAKUB has launched some new programmes to infuse dynamism into its business activities and socio-economic development of the northwestern region and the programs are gaining popularity among the target groups.

  Language Movement aimed at non-communal society: Shafique

BSS, Dhaka

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed Tuesday said that the spirit of the Language Movement was to establish a democratic and non- communal society.
"Our great War of Liberation also followed the spirit of the language movement," he said while addressing a function at Shaheed Dr Milon Hall of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) here as the chief guest. The Teachers Association of BSMMU organised the function to accord reception to some doctors-turned-veterans of the great Language Movement.
Dr Ahmed Rafiq, Dr Sayeed Hyder, Dr Ali Asgar and Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed were accorded the reception for their outstanding role in the 1952 language movement.
Health adviser to the Prime Minister Professor Dr Syed Muddaser Ali, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor of the BSMMU Dr Pran Gopal Dutta, Secretary General of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Professor Dr Md Sharfuddin Ahmed, Secretary General of the Association Professor Dr Quamrul Hasan Khan, Secretary General of the Swadinata Chikitsak Parishad Professor Iqbal Arsalan and Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed addressed the function with President of the Association Dr Mohammad Moazzam Hossain in the chair. The law minister said after the assassination of Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one politician, one chief justice and later one general declared themselves as the country's President.
"All of them had violated the Constitution," he said adding that the Supreme Court in its decision in the Fifth Amendment Case declared illegal their accession to state power.
He said the Supreme Court judgement paved the way for restoring the sprit of the War of Liberation in the country's Constitution, which was in several stages erased. "The Supreme Court judgement has proved the supremacy of the Constitution, which was hailed at home and abroad," he said.

 Tobacco replaces boro paddy in Bandarban
Public health faces threat

UNB, Bandarban

Tobacco has replaced the boro paddy on the lands here as growers are showing more interest in cultivating the harmful stuffs for making more profits.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources, this year, a total of 4,085 hectares in the seven upazilas have been brought under tobacco cultivation which is 1,759 hectares more than previous year. Sources said, in the current season, some 4,710 hectares have been brought under boro cultivation though the target was set for 6,051 hectares.
Besides, tobacco cultivation is leaving a bad impact on vegetable cultivation in the district. Growers here have become reluctant in farming other food grains and vegetable like potato, wheat, maize and sweet potato, DAE sources said.
Lama upazila vice-chairman M Ayub Ali said tobacco cultivation has been increased alarmingly in the remote hilly areas of Lama and Ali Kadam upazilas.
"Marginal farmers here are also cultivating tobacco on the premises of their houses for want of cultivable land. This causes health hazards to their family members" he said.
He alleged that farmers are forced to cultivate tobacco getting advance money from the tobacco companies.
Dr Mithu Islam, medical officer of Sadar Hospital said women and children are the worst sufferers of tobacco cultivation.
Nur Mohammad, Deputy Director of the DAE said the DAE with the assistance of army has taken a scheme in 2008 to grow the interest of the farmers in cultivating spices instead of tobacco.
Under this project, the farmers have been imparted training and provided with modern cultivation methods and necessary equipment thus reduced tobacco cultivation to a great extent, he said.

  Education UK Exhibition from March 4
BSS, Dhaka

The 12th annual education UK Exhibition will begin from March 4 to find out how a UK education will prepare the students for an exciting career of their choice.
Organised by the British Council, the Exhibition will provide prospective students and their parents, teachers, personnel and training managers with an opportunity to meet representative delegates from more than 37 UK higher education institutions, the organizers said at a press conference Tuesday at a city hotel. Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Alauddin Ahmed will inaugurate the two day exhibition.
The exhibition will remain open in Dhaka on March 4 and 5 from 11 am to 8 pm at the Winter Garden of the Sheraton Hotel. In Chittagong the exhibition will be held on March 7 from 11 am to 8 pm at the Peninsula Hotel, Chittagong. The entry fee to the education UK Exhibition is Taka 50 and will include a welcome pack with information on all the UK institutions attending.
There will also be a UK Border Agency Stall at the Exhibition and staff will provide answers to UK visa related queries.
Director of British Council Bangladesh Charles Nuttall, Head of Performance, Marketing and Communication of British Council Bangladesh Raiqah Walie-Khan and Head of Visa and Consular Services of British High Commission Bangladesh Stuart Percival spoke at the press conference.
British Council Director, Charles Nuttall said, "We are delighted that this will be one of the biggest education exhibitions we have had so far in Bangladesh and we have 37 high quality UK institutions to represent."
"We understand that the recent suspension of student visa applications may be causing concern for genuine students who wish to study in the UK," he said.
This of course is in the hands of the UK Border Agency, and not the British Council, but we are doing everything we can to provide information as and when becomes available, on our website and at the Education centres in Dhaka and Chittagong, Charles Nuttall said.
The UK wants genuine students for quality education, Stephen Bridges said, adding that the myth that the Bangladeshis have that the UK visa is very difficult and education there is very expensive is not true.
Visitors will have the opportunity to seek advice on undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses, scholarship opportunities in the UK, the organizer said.
They said Bangladeshi students are very keen and best performing ones in English Language skills, which creates opportunities for them to pursue higher education abroad.

  Bumper pulse production likely in N-region
BSS, Rangpur

The farmers have exceeded the fixed target of farming pulses for the first time in recent years in northern Bangladesh where a bumper production of the essential commodity is expected this season, officials said Tuesday.
Harvest of all varieties of pulses has been continuing in full swing now everywhere predicting a pleasant production as the farmers are getting excellent yield rates now with satisfactory market prices, the officials, farmers and market sources said.
Officials in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Tuesday told BSS that the farmers have brought a total of 1,36,344 hectares land under pulses farming against the fixed target of bringing 94,928 hectares during this season in the northern region.
"The cultivated area is 44 percent higher than that of the fixed target and a total of 1,36,344 tonnes pulses are expected to be produced in the region this season against the fixed production target of 94,928 tonnes with one tonne yield rate per hectare," they said.
The all variety pulses grew well under favourable climatic conditions since the beginning of this farming season that predicts a bumper production, the officials said.
Official sources Tuesday told BSS that the DAE has fixed a massive target of producing 94,928 tonnes of various pulses from 94,928 hectares land in all 16 districts of the northern region during this Rabi season.
The DAE, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC) and other organisations and departments took adequate steps under various ongoing programmes to make pulses farming programme successful.
Adequate assistance including necessary training, inputs, high quality imported and locally produced seeds, agri-loans etc were provided to the farmers under the ongoing Special Action Plan for increasing pulse production throughout the country.
At the same time, different NGOs had also taken special steps under their various ongoing poverty-alleviation and income generating programmes to increase pulse productions and meet nutritional demands of the poor in the region.
The DAE officials that the farmers have cultivated lentil on 47,400 hectares, gram on 4,670, hectares, Mashkalai on 46,207 hectares, cowpea on 3,278, Arhar on 210 hectares, mugbean on 296 hectares and Khesari on 34,283 hectares this season in the region.

  30 thousand hectares brought under maize cultivation
BSS, Chuadanga

A total of 30,000 hectares of land have been brought under maize cultivation in all the four upazilas of the district during the current cultivation season.
The four upazilas of the district are Chuadanga Sadar, Alamdanga, Damurhuda and Jibannagar. According to an official source, of the total land, 14,000 hectares have been brought under cultivation in Chaudanga Sadar upazila, 7000 hectares in Alamdanga upazila, 8000 hectares in Damurhuda upazila and 1000 hectares in Jibannagar upazila.
During this season, a total of 95,000 metric tons of maize are expected to be produced from the four upazilas. The source said the maize cultivation was increased by 9,000 hectares in the current season. The cultivation target of the crop was fixed at 21,000 hectares for the season. For the last few years, maize has become important cash crop in the region.

   Investment potentialities of Bangladesh before Singaporean trade leaders unveiled

BSS, Singapore

Speakers at a seminar here Tuesday unveiled the prevailing investment potentials of Bangladesh, especially after liberalizing investment policy by the grand alliance government under the dynamic stewardship of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is pledge-bound to make a digital nation.
They told the seminar, gathering of the leaders of the international trade organizations, especially the Singaporean investors that the present government of Bangladesh has reformed and restructured existing laws and regulations to attract new foreign investment in Bangladesh.
The seminar on "Investment Climate and Business Opportunities in Bangladesh" was organized by the Bangladesh High Commission here in collaboration with International Enterprise (IE), Singapore and Singapore Business Federation (SBF).
The seminar was aimed at showcasing secure, high value and high return projects and investments in Bangladesh with focus on Real Estate, Infrastructure, Health Service, Pharmaceuticals, Tourism, Agribusiness and Manufacturing sectors. Dr Syed Abdus Samad, Executive Chairman of Board of Investment in Bangladesh presented the keynote paper during the seminar.
In his address, Dr Samad while highlighting the current initiatives undertaken by the present democratic government in Bangladesh stressed that Bangladesh offers the most attractive incentives for foreign investors in the whole South Asian region.
Syed Yusuf Hossain, Chairman, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank and M. Anis Ud Dowla, Chairman of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) of Bangladesh addressed the seminar as panel speakers.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to Singapore, Kamrul Ahsan made a welcome address at the Seminar while Teng Theng Dar, Chief Executive Officer of SBF and IE Deputy Chief Executive Officer Chua Taik Him also spoke at the event.
Among the panelists, Syed Yusuf Hossain spoke on the regulatory framework governing investment in Bangladesh, Dr Atiur Rahman highlighted the overview of financial incentives and options available for foreign investors and M. Anis Ud Dowla, Chairman, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry presented the key sectors and projects for investment on Private-Public Partnership basis.
The Bangladesh High Commissioner during his statement emphasized that the Bangladesh High Commission in Singapore attaches high priority to pursuing vigorous economic diplomacy in this international trade hub. He also mentioned that Bangladesh has been identified as a potential investment destination due to many reasons.
He mentioned a few among these, namely, its strategic location beside two major rising economic giants, such as India and China, and the fact that easily trainable pool of human resources who can offer competitive cost effectiveness are available in Bangladesh. At the end of the Seminar a lively "Question and Answer" session was held where representatives of many renowned Singapore businesses attended.
The seminar was intended to inform local and foreign business houses on the new initiatives undertaken by the Government of Bangladesh to encourage investors, financers and trading houses to make investment and do business in Bangladesh.
Singaporean entrepreneurs including representatives from financial institutions and trading houses and a large number of expatriate Bangladeshis residing in Singapore participated at the event held at the IE Enterprise, Singapore.

  Govt makes new rule to stop import of toxic ship
BSS, Dhaka

In a bid to stop import of toxic scrap ships, the Ministry of Environment and Forest has decided to make submission of the 'toxic free certificate' compulsory both for importers and exporters.
The environment ministry in a letter Tuesday requested the Ministry of Commerce to take necessary action in this regard in line with a decision taken Monday.
A senior official of the ministry said both the importers and exporters would be hold responsible for entering any polluted ship in the country's territory once the rule comes to effect.
He said both the importers and exporters from now have to provide toxic-free certificate before import and export of a ship, said the official.
Under the existing rules, only the importers have to submit a 'toxic waste free' certificate with the shipping documents for official clearance before import a scrap ship.
The decision of the environment ministry came following a recent press report published in a number of newspapers which blamed for relaxing the existing import rules for some scrap ship importers.
Talking to BSS, State Minister for Environment and Forest Dr Hasan Mahmud said there is no question of relaxing the existing rules or favouring the polluters. Precisely, we are making efforts to make the ship breaking industries environment friendly considering its economic benefit.
In line with the High Court Order and subsequent directives of the Prime Minister, the Department of Environment (DoE) is formulating a rule for management of toxic and hazardous wastes of scrap ships, he said.
The rule would be framed as soon as possible and come to effect after vetting of the Ministry of Law, he said adding the scrap ship traders would have to submit toxic free certificate until enforcement of the new rules.
Ship breaking industry is making a valuable contribution towards strengthening national economy as the government earns about Taka 500 crore revenue per annum from this sector.
But, toxic ships have posed health hazards for ship-breaking workers and widespread environmental pollution in the country's coastal belt leaving about 500 people dead and several hundred injured over the last three decades. The High Court on March 17, 2009, gave eight directives to the government to make the scrap ship breaking industries pollution free and safeguard the lives of workers.

  Hospitals to get medicine in special cover
BSS, Dhaka

Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr AFM Ruhal Haque Tuesday said the government would supply medicine wrapped in special cover to government hospitals from next month.
The system is going to be introduced to stop pilferage of medicine from hospitals and its sale in open market, the minister told a conference of orthopaedic surgeons held in the city's Bangabandhu International Conference Center.
Bangladesh Orthopaedic Society organized the event. The minister said this cover to hospital medicine would be the exclusive right of the government and nobody would be allowed to use such cover nor to sell such medicine in the market. It will be an effective way of reducing misuse of medicine from hospital stock, the minister said. He further said with the accelerated speed and diversification of life style new kind of sickness and growing number of accidents are taking place daily impacting human life. It therefore requires rapid expansion of treatment facilities for trauma patients and surgical operations to meet growing public demand. These are among the top priorities of the government now in public health planning.
He said the government is fully aware of such requirement and doing everything to reach these services to the people. As part of it, the government is going to make sure the availability of such treatment facilities on emergency basis at every district hospital.
He asked the concerned hospital officials of the districts to take the move and put in place every basic surgical and trauma treatment facility in the hospitals without waste of time.

 ‘Bird flu not direct threat to public health’
BSS, Dhaka

Bird flu is not a substantial direct threat to public health all over the world, a Western public health expert said in the city Tuesday, insisting that pandemic influenza like swine flu could be fatal however for humankind.
Dr Eric Starbuck, a US influenza expert, said the world has to remain alert against influenza with an 'expectation of most unexpected things' as well as prepare plans and actions based on the current available evidence.
"Awareness and precautions in advance are the key factors to face influenza challenges," he said while making a presentation on 'global epidemiology of pandemic flu: past and present' at a workshop at Sonargaon Hotel.
Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness Project (H2P), Save the Children USA and Care jointly organized the two-day workshop on pandemic influenza for the potential managers of different organizations, including NGOs, to prepare them better for future planning. Eric explained epidemiological aspects of global influenza pandemic of 1918, 1957, 1968 and novel A H1N1 swine flu of 2009. He said the first and severe most influenza of 1918 had claimed the highest number of lives around the world and majority of the deaths occurred among people aged over 65 years.
On a contract of last year's swine flu, also caused by H1N1 virus, the death toll from the pandemic was much lower and it killed 14,000 lives all over the world against 40-100 million in 1918. The mortality was among the age group of 30-59, opposite the first pandemic influenza of last century.
Eric said ironically the messages that were given in 1918 and subsequent influenza for public awareness were almost identical to last year's messages-stop spitting in public places, avoid direct contacts with infected persons and stay at home during the waves of the flu.

Sports

England brushes aside BCB XI by 112 runs
TBT report

Craig Kieswetter and Paul Collingwood struck centuries as the visiting England cricket team dumped the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) XI by 112 runs in the first warm-up match at Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Narayanganj on Tuesday.
Craig Kieswetter set the tone for the tourists hitting an incandescent 143, while Paul Collingwood inflated the innings with another conspicuous 109-run innings as England amassed 370 for seven in 50 overs after being sent into to bat and then restricted BCB XI to 258 for nine to start its month-long tour with a winning note.
Kieswetter with his skipper Alastair Cook produced 127 runs in the opening stand to set a perfect platform. The young England opener Kieswetter found no trouble to bat freely against the BCB bowlers, who struggled all the way to find their rhythm against their famed opponents. Kies-wetter clouted six over boundaries and 13 bold shots through the ropes to frustrate the home team bowlers. He played only 123 balls to score 143 before being caught by Ariful Hoque off Mahmudul Hasan.
Paul Collingwood blasted six over boundaries and as many fours to cause panic in the field. He treated the BCB bowlers with sheer disdain to score 109 only in 74 balls. Test discard Taposh Baishya took the precious wicket of Collingwood having him caught by Shafaq Al Zabir in the end overs.
Earlier, amid the run feast, Alauddin Babu brought some relief in the hosts' camp taking two wickets in quick succession. He brought the first breakthrough trapping Alastair Cook leg before wicket after the captain had scored run-a-ball 56. With the same team score at 127, Babu took the wicket of Kevin Pietersen, who was also trapped in front without opening his account.
Alauddin Babu finished with two wickets for 86 runs but Taposh Baishya was the pick of Bangladesh bowlers with three scalps for 72 runs. In pursuit of a tough target, BCB XI batsmen never looked on track of chasing the target. Though all top order batsmen equally contributed some runs on the board but none of them was able to score fifty.
Mohammad Sharifullah topscored with 47, while Roqibul Hassan provided the second best 41. Graeme Swann led the England attack picking up four wickets conceding 44 runs.

  Security hits tickets for India, Pakistan clash
AFP, New Delhi

Tough security measures in place for the field hockey World Cup look set to prevent hundreds of fans from watching the opening day's clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan on Sunday.
Tickets for the day's three matches in the 12-nation tournament at the 19,000-seater Dhyan Chand National Stadium are not available online or through the designated outlets in the Indian capital.
"We did not get a stock for the first day, but tickets for the others days are available with us," said a manager of a Cafe Coffee Day shop. "Everyone is asking for tickets for the India-Pakistan match." The website www. ticketgenie.in is selling tickets online, but for matches from the second day onwards and only for the general uncovered stands. Tickets are not being sold for the covered stands on the southern side of the stadium, where the teams' dressing rooms are, for the entire tournament which ends on March 13. A member of the organising committee declined to comment on why tickets for the opening day were not available, amid speculation that police in plain clothes will fill the stands.
"For the other days there is no problem," he told AFP. "As for the covered stands, we have been advised by police not to sell tickets as a security precaution." The Hindu newspaper reported over the weekend that "police want the organizers to refund the money if tickets have been sold for the covered stands." Security concerns for the World Cup were fuelled by a bomb blast last week in the western city of Pune that killed 15 people.
It was the first major attack on Indian soil since the 2008 Mumbai assault by Islamist gunmen that left 166 dead.
India has imposed a security clampdown for the tournament, which is being regarded as a test run for anti-terror measures ahead of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi from October 3-14. Home secretary G.K. Pillai had told reporters on Monday that although there was no "credible threat" to the World Cup, thousands of police and para-military forces would guard the tournament.
Former India hockey captain Pargat Singh, who failed to secure the opening day's tickets for his sports academy students, lashed out at the organisers. "This will be by far the worst organised World Cup," Singh told reporters. "What should have been a showpiece event is fast becoming an embarrassment. "I have been trying to buy tickets for players of my academy for the past two weeks, but still don't know how to procure them," he said.
The media has been barred from entering the stadium or interacting with the players till the tournament starts under instructions from tournament director Ken Read.
"Read has determined that media access to training will not be possible until accreditations are active, which is expected to be on February 27th," a statement from the organisers said on Tuesday.

  Warner leads Australia to win
Cricinfo Online

David Warner hammered the second-fastest Twenty 20 international half-century to hand Australia an eight-wicket win over West Indies and complete its dreams of an unbeaten summer. Warner raced to fifty from 18 deliveries, beating his own 19-ball effort from last season, as Australia reeled in the target of 139 with a ridiculous 50 deliveries to spare.
West Indies' total looked semi-competitive until the first over of the chase when Warner and Shane Watson took 26 off Kemar Roach, who bowled too short and allowed Warner to swing through midwicket. There were three sixes in the over - as many as the visitors hit in their entire innings - and the contest was all but decided.
By the time Warner had cleared the boundary off Darren Sammy in the second over, he had 33 from eight deliveries and Yuvraj Singh's 12-ball half-century record was conceivably in danger. He struck seven sixes in total, all in the midwicket to long-on region and including at least one off each of the six bowlers he faced, before he holed out for 67 from 29.
At the other end, Watson was so good that he too entered the list of quickest fifties, when he reached the mark from 26 balls, but he was utterly cast into the shadows while Warner was at the crease. Watson finished with an unbeaten 62 from 33 and after Brad Haddin fell with one run needed, the debutant Daniel Christian struck a four to complete the triumph.
The win ended the summer on a high for Australia, who since the introduction of ODIs in the 1970s had only had one other summer - 2000-01 - when they didn't lose a match. Warner and Watson blazed home but the result was really set up by an outstanding effort in the field as they again caused problems for West Indies' top order.
The debutants Ryan Harris and Christian grabbed two early wickets each and Steven Smith was everywhere in the field, producing one of the most memorable catches of the summer. The trouble started when Chris Gayle tried to flick Harris over square leg and top-edged to Smith at third man for 12.
Harris followed two balls later with Runako Morton, who edged to Cameron White at second slip for a golden duck. White's catch was sharp but there was far better to come from Smith, who had impressed in the first game on Sunday with two athletic takes on the boundary.
He eclipsed those efforts with a leaping catch at deep midwicket to give Christian his maiden international wicket when Travis Dowlin's heave off middle stump looked to be sailing for six. Dowlin was the man who appeared most likely to guide a West Indies recovery and he made an admirable 31 from 32 balls without ever truly finding perfect touch.
Dowlin needed more assistance from the middle order but Morton, Kieron Pollard, Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith at Nos. 3 to 6 all failed to reach double figures. Hinds fell victim to Australia's slick fielding when he tried to get off the mark with a perilous single only to see White at point throw to Smith at the bowler's end where the batsman was short.
There was a late recovery from Narsingh Deonarine (36 not out) and Sammy, who hit 26 from 11, but the inadequacy of their total was shown by Warner and Watson. It was a memorable way to end a summer of Australian dominance.

  Kashima downs Changchun in Champions League
AFP, Kashima

Kashima Antlers saw off Changchun Yatai of China in the opener of the AFC Champions League on Tuesday with a solitary goal from skipper Koji Nakata.
The breakthrough came in the 42nd minute when Nakata, taking the armband in place of suspended Mitsuo Ogasawara, jumped to nod in from midfielder Takuya Nozawa's free kick.
"Nozawa gave me a really nice ball. I just touched the ball to go in. We can't afford to lose this home game, so I'm happy to gain three points from the win," said Nakata.
"We are targeting to win the championship this season. Although our next game is away, I really want to be back home with a win." Kashima held the initiative from the beginning, repeatedly breaking through from both sides, while Changchun failed to supply Costa Rican striker Johnny Woodly Lambert with a single decent cross.
Antlers defender Toru Araiba hit a long shot from the sideline, which Changchun goalkeeper An Qi managed to parry, then the ball hit the bar before bouncing back in the 14th minute.
In the 34th minute, Nakata's header went over the bar from a left corner, while Brazilian midfielder Fellype Gabriel's shot from close range was caught by the goalkeeper in the 39th minute.
Changchun started to put pressure on the Kashima defence line after the break with forward Liu Weidong replacing Lambert, but a couple of long shots by midfielder Wang Dong and forward Zhang Wenzhao failed to find the net. Midfielder Zhang Xiaofei found himself in the clear in the 71st minute but his sizzling shot went wide.
"We created many scoring chances. Our plan as a team was not to allow our opponents to play their game. We did it quite well. It gives us a lot of confidence," said Kashima's Brazilian coach Oswaldo Oliveira.
"We got off to a good start. It's tough to compete in the AFC Champions League. It's not easy to gain a win.

   Australian stars slap IPL with security demands
AFP, Sydney

Australian cricket stars Tuesday refused to commit to this year's lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) until a list of safety demands addressing "serious" security concerns had been met.
Paul Marsh, head of the Australian Cricketers' Association, said players issued the demands, which follow a reported threat from an Al-Qaeda-linked militant, after a security consultant identified a number of shortcomings. "From the outset it is important to reinforce that players want to play in this year's IPL," Marsh told reporters after a meeting with about 25 Australian players.
"However the independent report has identified some serious concerns with aspects of the current security process. "Specifically these concerns relate to the reported direct threat against the event and the status and implementation of the IPL's security plan." Marsh said players had agreed to take British security expert Reg Dickason's confidential findings back to their colleagues to prepare a list of demands, which would be relayed to the IPL by FICA, the international cricketers' union.
Until the IPL responded to their concerns Marsh said players would not commit to the tournament.
"The players are most certainly concerned, the IPL's had a direct threat ... and the IPL security plans are not currently in a state that we're happy with, those are the two issues," Marsh said
Fresh security worries surfaced last week when the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online news website said it had received a warning from an Al-Qaeda-linked militant about attacking sports events in India. The warning, from Ilyas Kashmiri, cast jitters over the glitzy Twenty20 tournament, along with the field hockey World Cup later this month in New Delhi, and October's Commonwealth Games A right-wing Hindu group earlier withdrew a threat to prevent "kangaroo cricketers" from playing in Maharashtra state, which includes IPL hosts Mumbai and Nagpur, after a series of attacks on Indian students living in Australia.
Marsh previously warned that securing the IPL, which is spread over many venues across multiple cities, was a more difficult task than more concentrated formats such as the Olympic or Commonwealth Games. Australian legspin great Shane Warne last week said the threats had him "thinking twice" about heading to India to captain-coach the Rajasthan Royals, describing them as of "deep concern to athletes across a number of sports."

  Okazaki eyes next Games
AFP, Vancouver

Tomomi Okazaki has left Vancouver with the worst results in her five Winter Olympics but the 38-year-old Japanese speed skater has already set her sights on the 2014 Sochi Games, via maternity leave.
"I want to have a baby," the oldest Japanese woman competitor at the Vancouver Olympics told local media as she returned home on Monday.
"It will be four years from now and you never can tell what will happen in life. But I will take one year at a time and challenge again if possible," said Okazaki, who won the 500m bronze medal at the 1998 Nagano Games. She finished 16th in the 500m and 34th in the 1,000m in Vancouver, results that pale before her fourth place in the 500m at the 2006 Turin Games.
"I don't feel any decline in my physical strength," she said. "I love speed skating very much. There are a lot of things which I have left unfinished."
First, she said she would aim to have her first baby in her fourth year of marriage.
Okazaki has role models like Japan's seven-time judo world champion and double Olympic gold medalist Ryoko Tani, 34.
Tani finished third at the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 after having her first child and is aiming for the London Games.
"If I have a chance, I will consult them on how they prepare themselves as athlete mums," said Okazaki.

  BCB to award SA Games gold medal winning cricket team
UNB, Dhaka

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to award Tk 50,000 each to the players and team officials of the 11th South Asian Games gold medal winning Bangladesh cricket team.
The decision came from the 16th meeting of the BCB board of directors held at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium with its president AHM Mustafa Kamal MP in the chair.
The meeting also approved that the GP-BCB National Cricket Academy will award 30 scholarships this year to the talented cricketers.
It further decided to involve former Bangladesh fielding coach Mohammad Salahuddin as a coach with the GP-BCB National Cricket Academy.
The BCB board decided not to renew the contract of National Team Operations Manager Shafiq-ul Haque Heera, which will expire on March 31, 2010.
Meeting sources said that the Board will, however, seriously consider utilizing the vast experience and knowledge of former national captain Heera in some other suitable capacity within the BCB.
A decision regarding the contract of Bangladesh bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake, which is set to expire on February 28, 2010, will be taken after discussion with Head Coach Jamie Siddons on his return from Australia.
The Board has decided not to renew the contract of GP-BCB National Cricket Academy Head Coach Ruwan Kalpage, which expires on March 31, 2010.
The Board had very fruitful and cordial discussions with National Team Captain Shakib Al Hasan and members of the Team Management and National Selectors concerning the team's recent tour of New Zealand.
The BCB Board decided to initiate the appointment of a sports psychologist who would work with all National Selections.
It sanctioned Tk 100,000 to former Bangladesh Test player Mushfiqur Rahman Babu for treating his back injury.

   Rajshahi takes 76-run lead over Khulna
UNB, Dhaka

A fierce bowling spell by Mohammad Shahjada put Rajshahi Division on the driving seat with overall 76 runs lead against Khulna Division on the second day of the EBL four-day National Cricket League at BKSP in Savar on Tuesday.
Resuming the second day today (Tuesday) with overnight 11 for no loss, Khulna Division, in their first innings, were all out for 243 in 75.3 overs.
Nizamuddin Ripon scored 65 runs off 169 balls with four fours while Sahagir Hossain made 41 off 77 balls with seven fours.
Syed Rasel (33), Dollar Mahmud (27) and Amit Majumder (15) were the other notable scorers for Khulna Division.
Shahjada claimed six wickets for 62 runs while Shubhashish Roy grabbed two wickets for 30 runs.
In reply, Rajshahi Division started their second innings and scored 50 runs in 13 overs for the loss of one wicket at stumps on the day.
Opener Jahurul Islam and Saqlain Sajib were batting with 42 and 0 respectively as the bails were drawn for the day.
In another match, Chittagong Division took 73 runs first innings lead over Dhaka Division on the second day at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna.
Resuming the first innings on the second day (Tuesday) with overnight 294 for 8 in 93 overs, Chittagong Division added 18 more runs to take the score to 312 for all.
Tail-ender Arman Hossain contributed 81 runs off 106 balls with nine fours and two sixes, night watchman Gazi Salahuddin scored 72 runs off 144 balls with seven fours and three sixes, while Kazi Kamrul added 45 runs off 96 balls with eight fours.
Talha Jubaer claimed four wickets for 52 runs while Mohammad Sharif and Mosharaf Hossain took two wickets each for 44 and 60 runs respectively.
In reply, Dhaka Division, in their 1st innings, were dismissed for 239 runs in 75.4 overs at stumps on the day. Mehrab Hossain scored 101 runs off 196 balls with 13 fours while Mohammad Sharif made 50 off 72 balls with four fours and a six.
One down Marshal Ayub (27), middle order Nadif Chowdhury (24) and opener Uttam Mujumder (20) were the other notable contributors for Dhaka Division.
Kazi Kamrul scalped four wickets for 31 runs while Iqbal Hossain grabbed two wickets for 59.

   Villa's double extends Valencia's home run
AFP, Barcelona

Spanish international striker David Villa scored twice to keep Valencia on course for a Champions League place as it beat Getafe 2-1 on Monday despite being reduced to ten men.
Valencia - who is in third place in the table eight points clear of fifth placed Deportivo La Coruna - recorded it fourth successive home victory and deserved the three points despite never being at their best.
Alejandro Dominguez twice went close to giving Valencia the lead before Villa struck after 39 minutes.
Villa appeared to have wrapped the game up with his second after the re-start to move to the top of the goalscoring charts with 17 for the season.
However, the game took a twist with the sending off of defender Alexis Ruano for a second yellow card although there looked to be little if any contact.
Manu Del Moral pulled a goal back for Getafe but for all their pressing they were unable to get the equaliser.
On Sunday Real Madrid showed their championship credentials with a 6-2 destruction of Villarreal that put them back on the shoulders of Barcelona at the top of the table.
A Cristiano Ronaldo opener was followed by braces from Kaka - one of them a penalty - and Gonzalo Higuain before Xabi Alonso rounded off the scoring with a penalty to give Real coach Manuel Pellegrini victory over the side he left last summer and leaves his side two points adrift of Barca.
Despite missing several key players, Barcelona cruised to a 4-0 win over Racing Santander on Saturday.
Andres Iniesta scored the opener and then Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez added to the lead with free-kicks before substitute Thiago Alcantara made the win more emphatic with a deflected goal.
Sevilla hold the fourth Champions League spot after they condemned Mallorca to their first home defeat of the season as they ran out 3-1 winners also on Saturday.

   Djokovic sweats his way to opening victory
AFP, Dubai

Novak Djokovic began his bid to make his first successful title defence on the ATP Tour with a weird wobble and an uncomfortable feeling which he described, after his 6-4, 6-4 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the Dubai Open, as "sweaty".
The problem was that the match had appeared all but over when the world number two from Serbia quelled the fluent Spaniard's best efforts and advanced to 5-0 in the second set.
Then, against the odds, Garcia-Lopez broke back twice and looked capable of extending the contest.
"It was not pleasant him coming from 5-0 to 5-4 and serving to get back into the match," admitted Djokovic.
The champion was being very self-critical. Before that he had accelerated from 4-4 in the first set with a winning sequence of seven games in which he began to be consistently too forceful for Garcia-Lopez.
It indicated that, even though he had been unwell during the Australian Open last month, he may now be in decent shape, and will be a strong favourite to make further progress when he takes on his compatriot Viktor Troicki for a place in the last eight.
Another front runner for the title, Andy Murray had the most unusual match of the opening day, despite the routine-sounding 6-2, 6-3 win over Igor Kunitsyn, a Russian qualifier ranked only just inside the top 100.
The second game lasted fully 25 minutes and contained 14 deuces before Murray sneaked it - and it was billed by the tournament's PR as the second longest game in the ATP World Tour's history, though this proved difficult to confirm. Murray appeared to have one or two physical issues, perhaps with his groin and a knee in his first match since playing Roger Federer in the Australian Open final three weeks ago.
"My ankle was sore at the start of the match and I was really out of breath early on. I have not practised that much, or trained that much and there were a lot of long rallies," said Murray. "You don't think that at 1-0 it could make a huge difference to the match, but I think it did. I've never played a game like that before."
It took only two matches for the first seed to go out.
Gilles Simon, the former world number six, still has not won a match on the tour for three and a half months after suffering a straight games defeat to Marcos Baghdatis, the former Australian Open finalist.
Simon, who is trying to recover from a long-lasting knee injury, lost 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in a one-hour, 42-minute match full of long rallies.
Baghdatis did well, for he was suffering from a high fever. He rallied consistently and served aggressively and was pleased to have caused the first seeding upset of the tournament.
Simon's problem is that he has a tendon which is not regenerating, and after a three month lay-off has been practising for just 20 days. He has been told by the doctor that it is fine to play unless he feels pain in the knee again, and then he should stop immediately.
"It is difficult to know what will happen to it. But I must try to play," Simon said.

   Europe bags more medals
AFP, Vancouver

Austria, Germany and Norway added more gold to their treasure chests on Monday while Canada set its sights on the ice dance title as the hosts came to terms with their stunning hockey loss to the United States.
Austria's invincible ski-jumpers soared to a convincing win in the team event for a record-tying fifth consecutive title at major competitions.
Such was their dominance that they scored 1107.9 points-the highest in Olympic team history-to Germany's 1035.8 and Norway's 1030.2. Young gun Gregor Schlierenzauer just managed to stay on his skis in the final jump of the day to lead the 'Eagles' to victory. "For me, this has been a perfect first Olympics," said the 20-year-old, had already picked up individual bronze on both the normal and the large hill.
Germany surged to the top of the medal table alongside the United States with its seventh gold, courtesy of their women's cross-country team who clinched the sprint title ahead of favourites Sweden and third placed Russia.
The winning pair of Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and Claudia Nystad sneaked home in a time of 18min 3.7sec, just 0.6sec ahead of the Swedes. Norway's Petter Northug pulled off a stunning final leg to lead his country to gold in the men's team sprint, with Germany second and Russia third.
Canada's Olympic plans haven't panned out as expected and team bosses admitted Monday that they would not challenge the US and Germany on the medal table, but they defended their controversial "Own the Podium" campaign.
Before the Games started, Canada vowed to dazzle the world and walk away with the most medals but with seven days to go they lag far behind.
"I think we'd be living in a fool's paradise to say we could catch the Americans and win. We're not throwing in the towel. You never do that in a fight," said Canadian Olympic Commi-ttee chief executive Chris Rudge. They have a strong chance of gold with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir going into the ice dance final round of three-the free dance-with a 2.60-point advantage on US champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
World champion Russian pair Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin trail in third.
Canada has never won an ice dancing gold before and Virtue and Moir are confident of re-writing the history books. "We do like our chances," said Moir. Virtue added: We feel like all of Canada is on the ice with us." Canadians need something to cheer about after their National Hockey League-studded ice hockey team crashed to a shock 5-3 loss to arch-rival the United States on Sunday.

   Ronaldo to retire next year
AFP, Sao Paulo

Double World Cup winner Ronaldo said on Monday he would retire from professional football at the end of next year but still had hopes of appearing for Brazil in the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa in June.
The 33-year-old three-times world footballer of the year - widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time - told a media conference in Sao Paolo he was finally calling time on his illustrious but injury-hit career.
Currently playing for Corinthians in Sao Paolo, the player known as 'El Fenomeno' during his prime said he had agreed with the club to play until the end of 2011.
"I've renewed for another two years and they will be the last of my career. I want to give my all. I hope to have fun and end with some big wins," he said, according to the G1 news website.
That could include a final appearance for Brazil in the June 11-July 11 World Cup in South Africa, said Ronaldo, who scored 62 goals in 97 appearances for Brazil.
"We'll see. I still have a chance to go (to South Africa). For the next one (in Brazil in 2014), it's impossible. It's so far away and time is passing - including for me," he said.
The former Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter striker helped Brazil to victory in the 1994 and 2002 World Cup, shrugging off injury to end the latter tournament as top World Cup scorer of all time with 15 goals. He last played for his country in the 1-0 defeat to France in the quarter-final of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He scored his last goal for Brazil four days earlier in the 3-0 win over Ghana.
Ronaldo's stellar career was overshadowed by injury and fitness issues. He was sidelined while playing for Inter by a knee injury in 1999 only to damage the same knee in his comeback for the club in February 2000, effectively keeping him out of action until March 2002.
Ronaldo was a favourite with fans at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium during a prolific spell with Real Madrid, helping them to the Spanish title in 2003, his debut season.
That year he also scored a hat-trick in the Champions League quarter-final, second leg win over Manchester United. But injuries and his failure to control his weight led to his departure in 2007 for AC MIlan.
In February 2008 he ruptured a tendon in his right knee playing for the club against Livorno, an injury that ended his career with the Italian club and triggered his return to Brazil where he signed for Corinthians last year after a long battle to regain form..

  Phelps becomes Youth Olympic Games ambassador
AFP, Vancouver

Swimming legend Michael Phelps on Monday became the first official Ambassador of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), which are held for the first time this year in Singapore.
The 16-time Olympic medallist, visiting Vancouver to catch some of the Winter Games action, will support the Youth Olympics by encouraging the involvement of young people around the world. "The Youth Olympic Games is an excellent initiative, not only for the athletes competing but also those who are inspired to get into sport and be more active," said Phelps. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge added: "We are delighted that Michael is supporting our efforts to launch the Youth Olympic Games.
"Preparations for the inaugural edition in Singapore are on track and the IOC is looking forward to welcoming 3,600 athletes to Singapore this summer."
The YOG mission is to inspire young people worldwide to participate in sport and to adopt and live by the Olympic values.