SUNday, july 25, 2010 sraban 10, 1417, shaban 12, 1431 Hijri

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Leading News

BSF trespasses, abduct 5 boys from Thakurgaon
TBT Report

The atrocities of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) is continuing unabated. According to UNB News agency: Indian border security force (BSF) trespassed and abducted five young boys fishing in Nagor river in Haripur border on Friday.
Mantu, Salahuddin, Kalam, Bihari and Pania, aged between 8 and 15 were fishing in the river when BSF troopers trespassed and held them. The boys were taken to BSF outpost at Shangaon, said their anxious parents.
After long wait for return of the children they complained to local BDR.
BDR company commander of Haripur outpost Atiar Rahman confirmed the abduction. He said a strong protest was lodged with his Shangaon BSF counterpart against illegal trespass and abduction of five children. BSF were asked for immediate return of the young boys.
Officer-in-charge of Haripur thana Humayun Kabir said BSF have agreed for a flag meeting on Sunday when the boys are expected to be returned.
Meanwhile it may be recalled here that: on several occasions in the past BSF personnel trespassed into Bangladesh and even killed Bangladeshi nationals on the border. There had been exchange of heavy gunfire between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and BSF on Sylhet border on June 15. On the previous occasion BDR-BSF gunfire exchange took place on February 28 last.
According to UNB reports from Sylhet, BSF and BDR exchanged heavy gunfire in Jaintapur and Goainghat border in Sylhet on June 15. The firing started when Indian farmers backed by BSF trespassed 200 yards into Bangladesh and started cultivation at Noljhuri border. Firing extended to Tamabil and Protappur borders of Goainghat and Dibir Haor of Jaintapur border.
It may be recalled border forces of Bangladesh and India traded heavy gunfire at Jaintapur border when Indian nationals backed by BSF trespassed for fishing on 28 February afternoon.
It was the fourth time in a month that the border skirmishes took place as Khasia tribe on the other side of the border in Meghalaya State deliberately crossed the border for fishing in Dibir Haor. BSF on February 4 intruded in the area and kidnapped a Nayek of BDR. He was however set free at a flag meeting, BSF regretting their action of illegal crossing of the border.
BDR said Indian nationals backed by BSF crossed the border for fishing in Dibir Haor. On resistance by the fishermen BSF opened fire. BDR returned the fire and the gunrunning continued for about three hours until 6pm.
On February 22, a group of Indian intruders with direct support of the BSF trespassed into Bangladesh territory on Bibirhaor border near Jayantapur in Sylhet, but went back in the face of strong protest by local people.
The trespassers entered two hundred years into Bangladesh territory and caught fishes from a pond. The Indian citizens numbering about 100 were backed by heavily armed BSF troops and their presence made the local people panicky. However the locals protested the intrusion strongly and ultimately all of the intruders returned to India with huge fishes caught from the pond.
The BSF personnel provided security to the Indian trespassers. BSF killed three Bangladeshis on the border on July 20 and with these they killed 37 Bangladeshis in the last four months. The killing by BSF on the border during the nine years period from January 1, 2000 to July 20, 2010 stands at 838.

 Dengue fever occurring sporadically in capital
Physicians call for creating awareness

UNB, Dhaka

Dengue, the mosquito-borne virus fever, is occurring sporadically in the capital, as indicated by a rise in the number of patients with dengue complications being admitted to different hospitals, clinics and private medical centers everyday.
The specialist physicians urged the authorities concerned along with city dwellers to create awareness about this virus fever and work together to destroy all breeding places of the mosquito in the city and get rid of the disease.
"Some 18 Dengue patients have already been admitted to this hospital," Dr Khandoker Azaz Ahmed, Deputy Director (Medical) of Holy Family Medical College and Hospital told UNB on Saturday.
Dr Ahmed, however, said the number of patients admitted to the hospital is comparatively less than recent years.
"Patients with dengue fever are sporadically found in the capital city this season, beginning from July 1."
He also said the dengue season in the country usually starts with the beginning of the rainy season and its peak lasts till mid-September.
Entomologists of the Dhaka City Corporation have said that the city dwellers should cooperate with the initiatives taken by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) to wipe out all species of mosquitoes bearing germs of serious diseases like Dengue, Malaria and Filaria, found in the city.
"It is not possible for the DCC alone to eradicate hundred percent of mosquitoes found in the city as its workers can't use medicine or go inside the residences of the city dwellers," said a senior entomologist of Dhaka City Corporation.
Talking to UNB, Dr Al Mahmud Apollo, assistant registrar of the Medicine Department at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital informed that a female dengue patient is presently admitted to the hospital and continues taking treatment.
He said the doctors and nurses attending all units in this hospital have been especially trained up to address dengue fever properly. "Any patient admitted to medicine ward is firstly diagnosed whether s/he carries dengue virus."
Replying to a question, Dr Apollo also informed that all sorts of examinations are available at the DMCH for the diagnosis of dengue.

 SPECIAL COMMITTEE
BNP for equal govt-opposition representation: Moudud

UNB, Dhaka

BNP leader Barrister Moudud Ahmed MP has said the BNP will join the Special Committee formed to amend the constitution if it is recast incorporating an equal number of members from the ruling and the opposition parties, to bring fundamental changes in the constitution by protecting the national interests.
Moudud, a member of the BNP standing committee, the highest policymaking body of the party, made the remarks at a press briefing at his Motijheel Law chamber in the Saturday afternoon.
He said the special committee to amend the constitution will have to be recast to incorporate an equal number of members from the ruling and the opposition parties.
Terming the Prime Minister's remarks that Bismillah-ur-Rahmanir Rahim would not be erased from the constitution and Jamaat politics would not be banned, Moudud said it has become clear that the ruling party is not going back to the original constitution of 1972.
Former Law Minister Moudud said as a lawyer and 'having a little wisdom' about the constitution, he understands it is not possible to go back to the original constitution, as was suggested after the AL came to power. "It is impossible and constitutionally absurd to return to the original constitution."
He said keeping Bismillah and at the same time keeping secularism in the Constitution will be a hotchpotch to bluff the people by creating a smoke-screen.
Moudud said to restore 1972 constitution is a political slogan of the Awami Legaue. Replying to a question, he said the Fifth Amendment does not state anything about the system of caretaker government so there is no question of changing it.
Moudud said the key to the spirit of the Liberation War was to liberate the country to establish democracy and the rule of law in the country.
He said there was no mention of secularism and socialism in the charter of independence. He said the original constitution was formulated on the basis of the charter of independence.
The BNP leader said the Supreme Court has not yet given its verdict over the Fifth Amendment but the government is hurrying to amend the constitution. The government's hurried moves sound 'mysterious', he noted.

    War crimes trial to be completed within govt’s tenure: Shafique

BSS, Dhaka

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed on Saturday sought the cooperation of Islamic scholars for smooth holding of the trials of crimes against humanity committed during the war of liberation.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a discussion meeting on 'Role of Marriage Registrars in Prevention of Child Marriage', organised by Bangladesh Muslim Nikah Registrars Association at BMA auditorium in the city. The law minister said there is no reason to exonerate those who were involved in killing, looting, arson, rape and other crimes against humanity during the liberation war.
The present government has started the process of their trial to fulfill its election pledge and the trial would complete within the tenure of the present government.
Presided over by Bangladesh Muslim Nikah Registrars Association President Maulana M Khalilur Rahman Sardar, the meeting was also addressed by State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Advocate M Qamrul Islam, Nikah Registrars Association Secretary General Maulana Iqbal Hossain and Joint Secretary General Maulana Shabbir Ahmed.
The law minister said after the killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, the constitution was changed illegally through military declaration. Then the spirit of the Liberation War was eliminated from the constitution.
Now the spirit of the Liberation War would be restored because of the Supreme Court verdict annulling the fifth amendment, he added. Referring to various demands raised by the marriage registrars, Barrister Shafique Ahmed said those would be considered after examination.
Earlier, the law minister attended as the chief guest a reception accorded to first Bangladeshi Everest conqueror Musa Ibrahim at Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban at Dhaka University.

    Constitution should be amended thru’ nat’l consensus: Dr Kamal

UNB, Chittagong

Eminent constitution expert Dr Kamal Hossain on Saturday called for amending constitution on the basis of national consensus.
BNP should strongly take part in constitution amendment process, he said talking to journalists after attending a workshop, organized by International Business Forum of Bangladesh, at a local hotel. Referring to 5th amendment to constitution, he said the 5th amendment done through martial law was not in consistence with constitution. The 5th amendment has been cancelled in a verdict by court and now the government will implement the court verdict, he said.
National consensus, however, is a must if some supplementary changes required to be brought out in the constitution outside the 5th amendment, said Dr Kamal. The amendment to constitution is not a duty of single government or party. It is a court verdict. BNP should participate in constitution amendment process by shunning party competition, he said.
CCC Mayor M Manzur Alam, BNP leader Abdullah Al Noman, former advisor to caretaker government M Hafiz Uddin Khan, among others, addressed the workshop on city governance and development of private sectors.

    Experts for stronger diplomacy over water
UNB, Dhaka

Water experts at a conference on Saturday stressed the need for combined efforts to unite the nation for realizing the potential of its water resources by mitigating the effects of India's moves to construct dams on major international rivers.
They said that although the source of all principal rivers of Bangladesh are outside the country, depending on the upstream water for their flow, India is planning to build dams in upstream areas of the major rivers including Barak. The International Farakka Committee (IFC), New York Inc, organized the day-long conference titled 'Water Problems of Bangladesh: National and Regional Perspectives' at National Press Club in the city on Saturday. IFC chairman Atiqur PK Eusufzai presided over the session while Former UN Environment Specialist and water expert Dr SI Khan presented a keynote paper at the conference.
Speaking at the conference, Dr SI Khan said there are some 54 international rivers in the South Asia region, from which India has withdrawn water from 42 rivers by constructing dams on them. "Although the majority of the water of these rivers come from Nepal and Bhutan, India is trying to use all of the water by overlooking the interests of neighboring countries," he said.

Back Page

Country has now 59.98m mobile phone customers
BSS, Dhaka

The country's mobile phone operators added 13.29 million new customers in one year till June, raising the total number of users to 59.98 millions.
According to Bangladesh Telecommun-ication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), there were 46.69 million customers of six mobile phone vendors till June last year. But the number reached 59.98 millions in June this year.
Of the six operators, the sources said, Grameenphone (GP) maintained its solo lead in terms of customer acquisition by adding 5.30 million subscribers in last one year. The number of GP users is now 26.46 millions which was 21.16 millions till June last year.
Egyptian Orascom Telecom's Banglalink retained the second spot adding 5.06 million clients in the last one year. The number of Banglalink users reached 16.10 millions till June which was 11.04 millions in June last year. Robi, formerly known as AKTEL, owned by Axiata (Bangladesh)
Ltd, remained in the third position with 11.10 million customers. It added 2.25 million subscribers in last one year raising the total number of its customers to 11.10 millions.
The market's new entrant Warid Telecom grabbed the number four position adding .59 million customers in the last one year.
The number of customers of Warid Telecom, the Emirates telecom vendor which was launched in 2008, reached 3.17 millions in June this year. The number was 2.58 millions till June last year.
Citycell, the country's first and only CDMA operator and a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited and Singapore Telecommunication, remained in the fifth spot with 1.99 million customers. The Citycell added only .03 million subscribers in the last one year. The state-run TeleTalk now remained at bottom place with 1.16 million customers. It roped in .06 million subscribers in last one year.
An official of the BTRC told BSS on Saturday that the number of mobile customers is increasing rapidly in the country due to reduction in call charges and SIM prices.

  Khaleda to perform Umrah during Ramadan
UNB, Dhaka

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia will go to Saudi Arabia to perform holy Umrah, possibly in the last week of the holy month of Ramadan, as a royal guest of the Saudi King.
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has invited BNP chairperson and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia to perform Umrah as a royal guest.
Saudi charge d' Affaires in Dhaka Sami Jamil A Al Hindi formally handed over the invitation letter of the Saudi King to Khaleda Zia when he called on her at the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office on Saturday evening.
During the meeting, they discussed maters of bilateral interest between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia gladly accepted the invitation and conveyed through the envoy her thanks to the Saudi King for the invitation, according to a source close to the meeting.
The source said the leader of the opposition and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is likely to perform Umrah in the last week of Ramadan.
Begum Zia usually performs Umrah during the holy month of Ramadan since long.

    University teachers call for ban on Jamaat, Shibir politics
BSS, Dhaka

Teachers of different public universities on Saturday urged the government to ban the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir to stop the politics of 'communalism and fundamentalism'.
Demanding immediate start of the trial of the war criminals, they also said time has come to take a decision to ban the politics of Jamaat-Shibir, who are indulged in the politics of killings in the name of democratic rights.
A human chain programme and rally on holding trial of war criminals was held in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
Biswabiddalaya Swadhinata Shikkhak Parishad (BSSP), a teachers' organization formed to implement ideals of Bangabandhu, organized the programme.
BSSP Convenor Prof AKM Saidul Haque Chowdhury chaired the programme while its member-secretary Prof Wahiduzzaman Chand moderated it. Among others, Dhaka University Teachers Association President Prof Khandaker Bazlul Haq, former general secretary of the association Prof Akhteruzzaman and Prof Mohammad Samad attended the programme.
Talking to BSS, Prof Khandaker Bazlul Haq said the government is pledge=bound to try the war criminals. He said the countrymen, including the young generation, are very much vocal on the issue of the war criminals' trial. The government has already initiated the process, he said.
The process for the trial of the war criminals is a tough job but the government will complete it within the shortest possible time, he added.

    BDR expects completion of mutiny trials outside Dhaka in nine months

BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) expected the trial of ordinary mutineers in units outside Dhaka to be completed in next nine months but feared the exposure to justice the suspects belonging to units based in Pilkhana to take a longer period.
A BDR statement issued on Saturday said the recent amendment to the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Order law authorizing director level officers of the border force to chair paramilitary Special Courts which were earlier needed to be headed by the director general alone to try the ordinary mutineers.
"It can be assumed the trial of the (under the amendment) BDR mutinies in units outside Dhaka could be completed in next 6-9 months. But it appears that the process to try the suspects in units based in Pilkhana may take a longer period since the number of accused there is high and the nature of offenses was complicated," the statement said.
The statement said during the February 25-26, 2009 carnage at the BDR's Pilkhana headquarters, mutiny broke out at 60 places while only seven units or sub-units across the country remained out of the purview of the rebellion.
The ordinary mutineers who did not take part in gruesome offences like murders, arson or lootings were being tried under the relatively lenient BDR Act that prescribes the highest seven years of imprisonments.
Under a government decision, the massacre suspects would be tried in Speedy Trial Tribunal under the Penal Code.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police recently submitted chargesheet against 824 people including 23 civilians for their involvement in killing 74 people including 57 military officials, looting of their money, household goods, arms and ammunition and arson at Pilkhana on February 25-26 in 2009.
After the approval of the amendment by the parliament, director level military officers (not less than army colonel in ranks), alongside the BDR chief could perform as the chief of the special courts.

    Court orders re-investigation by CID into murder of businessman

UNB, Sherpur

Chief Judicial Magistrate has ordered re-investigation by CID into the sensational murder of a reputed businessman in his bedroom in the town at midnight 18 months ago.
The court order came upon a naraji petition filed by Habibulla, elder brother of the victim against the police charge-sheet claiming it was biased, heavily influenced by money.
Police Super Anisur Rahman said re-investigation by CID will be started as soon as the court order is available. Chief Judicial Magistrate Mia Mohammad Ali Akbar issued the order on Thursday.
Forkan Ahmed, 42, was brutally murdered when he was alone in the bed room of his Bot-tala home in the town on the night of January 27, 2009. Police arrested his wife Belly Begum, younger brother Majnu, brother-in-law Ramzan and 23 others including his manager and employees for their suspected involvement into the murder.
Finally charge-sheet was submitted to the court against 11 persons by the then sub-inspector Amjad Hossain of Sherpur sadar thana who investigated into the murder.
Claiming the investigation biased, plaintiff Habibullah filed naraji petition and sought for re-investigation by CID. As the lower court rejected the petition, he moved the district and sessions judge's court that admitted his naraji petition and referred it to the Chief Judicial Magistrate.
Close relatives and neighbours of the victim and counsel of the plaintiff alleged that the police investigators heavily influenced by money had prosecuted some of innocent people. They hoped that investigation by the CID might find out the real killers and those behind the gruesome murder.

    Call for addressing artificial crisis of essentials ahead of Ramadan

UNB, Dhaka

Prices of some essential commodities shot up to 178 percent in last one year in the country, said Jatiya Vokta Odhikar Mancho (National Consumers' Rights Platform) on Saturday.
The Mancho staged demonstration outside the National Press Club demanding control of unusual price-hike of essential commodities and mitigate the public sufferings.
S.M. Shaikat, secretary general of the Mancho, said when the government claims that there was no food crisis in the country, TCB report says prices of essentials increased beyond the purchasing power of the poor and even the middle income group ahead of the Ramdan.
Ibnul Sayeed Rana, chairman of Nirapad Development Foundation, Jayedur Rahman, Consumers Specialist of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon and Ashraf Siddiqui of NDF among others, addressed the demonstration.
Shaikat alleged that some dishonest businessmen are creating artificial food crisis by hoarding the essential commodities.
He alleged that there is no provision in the Consumers' Rights Preservation Act 2009 to control the prices of the essentials.

Editorial

Keeping market stable

As the worries are rising among the people about further escalation of the prices of essentials during the holy month of Ramadan, the government is making efforts to stabilise the market. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, at a meeting of AL's parliamentary party asked her party MPs to monitor the market in a bid to foil unscrupulous traders' attempt to manipulate it during the Ramadan. Besides, in the recent days the Prime Minister asked the secretaries to check price spiral during the Ramadan.
Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has asked members of the parliament to monitor activities of daily essentials, to thwart the bid to manipulate the market during month of Ramadan. In a letter issued to all lawmakers the Commerce Minister also asked them to monitor whether dealers of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh collect goods on time from TCB warehouses and distribute those properly to keep prices stable. Reports say, MPs are ready to monitor the market , but some of them argue that this can be done more effectively by the ministry.
On the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, concerns are prevailing in all circles about the looming fear of price hike of the essentials. Even Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spoke on this issue twice in a week. At a meeting with the Secretaries on Sunday last she said, vested quarters may try to increase prices of essentials ahead of the holy Ramadan and asked the authorities to remain alert. She also asked the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh to import pulse, edible oil, sugar and chick-pea on urgent basis before the Ramadan starts. The Prime Minister also emphasized further strengthening the TCB in a bid to keep the prices of essentials within the reach of the mass people. Earlier, the Prime Minister ordered the secretaries concerned to take immediate measures to contain the soaring prices of essential commodities, especially rice.
The government initiative came at the most appropriate time, because the holy month of Ramadan is nearing fast and because the prices of different essential items have already started soaring alarmingly. Price of rice constinues to rise, while that of sugar has increased by Taka 2-3 per kg in last two days. It is a common practice on the part of the traders of the country to increase prices of different essential commodities on various pleas during the Ramadan and thus earn extra profits. But this time the market manipulation has begun well ahead of the holy month. In fact, without any valid reason the prices of rice, lentils, sugar, powdered milk, edible oil, onion, garlic and spices have marked an increase in recent days. Due to exorbitant prices fishes are almost beyond the reach of the common people. Moreover, the prices of vegetables have shot up abnormally. The Prime Minister has genuinely expressed the fear that the prices of essentials may rise further as a section of businessmen are allegedly hoarding different commodities in preparation for selling those at higher prices during the coming Ramadan.
It is reassuring that the government is trying to stabilize the market and to contain price spiral. It is also encouraging that the Food Minister has assured of launching Open Market Sale ( OMS) of rice during the Ramadan to control price. The government move to import several items through TCB to stabilize the market situation is expected to be helpful for easing the volatile market situation. However, in view of continued price hike of rice, the OMS of rice should be introduced just now without waiting for the advent of Ramadan.
The main cause behind the instability of the price situation is lack of market monitoring and strict measures by the government. Against this backdrop, the government decision to import some essential items immediately through TCB, to thwart price manipulation by traders and to stabilizing the market during the Ramadan should be implemented with right earnest.

 Rehabilitating Aila victims

As the sufferings and woes of the Aila victims continue unabated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday asked the lawmakers of Khulna region to make list of the people who suffered loss by the cyclonic storm Aila as the government wants to reach rehabilitation assistances directly to the doors of the victims. She gave the directive while addressing a public gathering at Bagali Union Parishad premises where she distributed cheques of Tk 75 crore among the Aila victims. She distributed a total of Tk 96 crore among 48,000 Aila-hit families. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister saw for herself the damages caused by the Aila storm as the helicopter carrying her flew low when she was going to Khulna from Satkhira. The Prime Minister assured the people of the coastal areas of their food security, saying that none in these areas will suffer from food crisis.
The cyclone 'Aila' had hit the country's coastal districts of Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira on May 25, 2009 leaving 190 people dead and thousands destitute. More than one Year has elapsed, but still there is no sign of cyclone Aila victims' sufferings coming to an end. The affected people still cry for adequate food, safe water and rehabilitation, but with little effect.
It is painful that many people marooned by the Aila are still living in makeshift homes on the embankments of three coastal districts. They have no shelter, no food security, no safe water for drinking, no equipment for cultivation and no work to earn livelihood. Now, after the Prime Minister's visit, it is hoped that the government will do everything necessary to rehabilitate these helpless people and thus redress their sufferings. Arrangements should be made on an urgent basis for shelter, food and drinking water for the Aila victims to retrieve them from the distress and agony they have been plunged in and ultimately they have be rehabilitated.

Analysis

India’s unity is under threat

There has been an increase in violence and political parties are stoking fires
instead of dousing them.

Kuldip Nayar

The escalating violence in India frightens me. Still more frightening is the shape it is taking. Violence has become in some places communal, regional and ideological. The rule of law is waning and sheer force is gaining recognition. I had imagined that the political parties would not stoke fires but find a way to douse them. Instead, I find some of them organising their cadres and arming them to jump into the fray at their asking. For the first time, Hindu extremists are also active.
The Maoists, however misdirected, are at least saying that they do not believe in the ballot box. Their history is written in blood, which has been spilled in half of the 200 districts they dominate. More than 100 Central Reserve Police Force members have been killed in just over a month in the Dantewada and Narayanpur districts of Chattisgarh. There is no stopping the Maoists, who killed 76 passengers of a Mumbai-bound train in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal. How do they serve their cause, which is supposed to be the emancipation of people, by killing them?
For the moment, forget the Maoists. Even those who profess faith in the parliamentary system have become equally brutal when their interests are at stake. Incidents in which the security forces in Kashmir are pelted with stones, instigated by the Hurriyat, take place every now and then. This has been the case for the past year.
The excesses committed by the security forces in Kashmir are reprehensible and there should be an official inquiry. The government's promise of zero tolerance doesn't mean anything when children are killed in action taken against agitators. I do not expect anything from extremists because they are out to destroy the polity and disfigure democracy as much as they can. It is for New Delhi to ensure that no force runs amok and that those found guilty are punished.
In recent months, one has heard about scores of honour killings taking place in northern India, particularly in Haryana, where the khap panchayats openly support these atrocities. Several young men and women who have married within the same gotra have become victims. In some cases, the couples were driven to commit suicide. This is happening in the neighbouring state of Punjab, too. A strange example is that of an Indian expatriate killing his own step-daughter because he did not approve of her marriage to a low-caste Sikh in Brussels. Television networks have rightly brought such brutalities to light.
People are beginning to equate violence and honour killings with the system. Their confidence in the system is being replaced by cynicism. They are finding that the institutions of law and order are being used as instruments of tyranny in the hands of rulers and their cohorts, who manipulate the facts to eliminate opponents and harass their critics.
Whether it is a single-party government or a coalition, the methods employed are no different. The worst culprits are the civil servants. The ethical considerations which once guided their actions have been forgotten. Self-preservation has become the sole motivation for their behaviour.
Disaffected masses
People have become disillusioned. They have come to believe that justice is only a relative term. They have lost their ability to tell right from wrong. They are at a loss as to how to act. No wonder they can be manipulated by a demagogue or a person with a gun.
Political parties should realise that any appeal to violence in India is particularly dangerous. The country has too many fissiparous tendencies. It is absurd to imagine that conflict will benefit socially progressive forces.
I recall that when I was India's high commissioner to the UK, the Soviet Union was tottering. Margaret Thatcher, the then British prime minister, told me about the advice she had tendered to Moscow: Learn from the example of India, which had remained unified for hundreds of years despite people professing different religions, following different castes and speaking different languages.
Thatcher asked me what I attributed this success to. It took me some time to explain to her that in India things were not simply black and white. We believed there was a grey area, which strengthened our pluralism. Twenty years later, I feel that what I told Thatcher is changing - to the detriment of the nation.
Unfortunately, the spirit of tolerance or the sense of accommodation, which was the glue that held us together, is drying up. Parties that are attempting to deny or defeat the ethos of secularism are harming the country's unity. They have their own agendas and want to pursue them even at the expense of the nation. Methods do not matter to them.
I believe in the basic dictum that the wrong methods will not produce the right results. This is no longer merely an ethical doctrine, but a practical proposition. India could disintegrate like the Soviet Union if the nation does not awaken to the dangers of conflict. The Maoists, the Hurriyat and all political parties should eschew not only violence but also the language of violence - which instills division and hatred. The situation is too uncertain for people to be complacent.

Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian high commissioner to the United Kingdom and a former Rajya Sabha member.

  More of the same

Parleys between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart, S M Krishna, failed to break any fresh ground.

Arif Nizami

Pakistan has been at the epicentre of hectic diplomatic activity in the past few weeks. However, as they say, no matter how much things change they remain the same. Parleys between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart, S M Krishna, failed to break any fresh ground.
Talks with Ms Hillary Clinton resulted in the US secretary of state arm-twisting Islamabad into signing an unequal transit trade agreement with Kabul and the sop of $500 million's project assistance. The fine print that this money was part of the assistance already pledged under the Kerry Lugar Bill was conveniently swept under the carpet.
Shorn of diplomatic verbosity, the wide gap between Islamabad's wish list and the demands of the West, with India Pakistan's perennially estranged neighbour, has not narrowed a bit. The only silver lining is Islamabad's markedly improved relations with Kabul.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, visibly disappointed and sombre at the joint press conference with his Indian counterpart, looked more like a jilted lover than the foreign minister of Pakistan. Had he taken too seriously the bombastic claims of his predecessor, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, that a Kashmir solution had virtually been clinched under Musharraf?
It is naive on our part to expect New Delhi to start meaningful talks on Kashmir on Washington's prodding. Striking a sympathetic chord with the West, India's priority remains engagement of Pakistan on terrorism and trade. S M Krishna or any member of his team need not have been on the cell phone with New Delhi during the talks, as claimed by Mr Qureshi, for instructions on this count.
On the contrary, in the talks it was Islamabad that was ill prepared and was caught on the wrong foot. New Delhi has exploited to the hilt the testimony of David Haedley, a maverick of half-Pakistani, half-American descent who has been working as a mole for the Americans and later ostensibly for the Taliban. In sharp contrast, Islamabad failed to walk the talk by providing any concrete evidence on RAW's alleged involvement in Balochistan.
The much-hyped second round of strategic dialogue with the US also proved to be a damp squib. It ended with a litany of oft-repeated demands and statements from the US secretary of state. As on her previous visit, she repeated her claim that Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan and elements in the Pakistani government are aware of his whereabouts, a charge predictably denied by the prime minister. Ms Clinton also wanted tougher action from Pakistan to combat militants and expressed her apprehension that another terrorist attack on US soil will be devastating for Pakistan-US relations. Who doesn't know this?
Predictably, the US secretary of state reiterated Washington's stance that Islamabad is not entitled to civilian nuclear technology a la New Delhi, on the pretext that it was not a responsible nuclear state, thanks to the so-called A Q Khan network. Similarly, market access that is available to some other South Asian countries and is a long-standing demand of our textile industry remains unavailable to Islamabad.
It is obvious that the "trust deficit" between the US and Pakistan acknowledged by both sides remains high. On one side, Washington wants Islamabad to "do more" while on the other it implicitly blames elements within the Pakistan military of being complicit with the terrorists.
It wants Pakistan to forgo its present strategic paradigm and launch an attack against Taliban sanctuaries in North Waziristan. However, it is unable to play any mediatory role between India and Pakistan, apart from facilitating a fruitless dialogue between the two adversaries. The collateral damage inflicted in the tribal areas, owing to the constant drone attacks has made the onerous task of winning hearts and minds even more difficult with US approval ratings in Pakistan stubbornly remaining at an all-time low.
The country's economy is in dire straits, and our policymakers have little option but to follow US diktats. The only stumbling block, or, rather, a balancing element, is the military that adheres to its own version of India-centric policies.
Pakistan Afghanistan transit trade deal signed under the matronly gaze of the US secretary of state is an unequal treaty. While advantageous for Kabul, it has few benefits for Islamabad. Getting access to Central Asia is easier said than done, thanks to the large swaths of Afghan territory controlled by the Taliban.
Access to Central Asia through war-torn routes in Afghanistan is also expensive, if one has to pay all the warlords on the way. Afghan trucks plying to Wagah and Karachi would not only be financially detrimental to the local trucking industry but could also serve as a fresh source for drugs and arms smuggling.
Ominously, on the eve of the strategic dialogue, speculative stories appeared in the media about COAS Gen Kayani, whose term was to end in November this year, being granted an extension by the prime minister. One newspaper came up with the fantastic claim that the US secretary of state has pleaded for the army chief's tenure be extended for the sake of continuity in the war on terror.
Such a demand coming from Washington would be construed as a blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan. Despite the closeness of relations between Islamabad and Washington the decision to grant an extension hopefully has been taken because of the pivotal role Pakistan is playing in the war on terror, rather than on the basis of US demands.
Now that Gen Kayani's term as COAS has been extended for another three years for the sake of "wider national interest," more speculation in the media will be counterproductive. Although military strongmen giving themselves extensions has been he norm, it is the first time that such a step has been taken by a civilian government.
President Mohammad Ayub Khan promoted himself from general to field marshal, whereas Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf as presidents gave themselves extensions as army chiefs.
Islamabad's regional security environment has markedly improved as a result of better relations with Kabul. The process started after Musharraf's exit from power, has now culminated in Gen Kayani and his ISI chief facilitating a dialogue with the Taliban. Pakistan's neutrality in the controversial presidential elections held last year in Afghanistan and Karzai losing faith in the Nato forces' ability to defeat the Taliban has helped tip the balance in Islamabad's favour.
Relations with Afghanistan have improved to the extent that Kabul has agreed to send Afghan military officers for training to Pakistan--a proposal which Karzai had been vehemently resisting till recently. India, which has invested heavily in Afghanistan and has a vast intelligence network along the border with Pakistan, is visibly upset over these developments. The virulent anti-Pakistan propaganda in the Indian media on this count is clear indication of New Delhi's withdrawal symptoms.
A key conference on Afghanistan led by Hillary Clinton and chaired by UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon and attended by 80 countries and organisations, including India and Pakistan, has endorsed Karzai's plan for talking with those Taliban who are willing to renounce violence. Obviously, this is a window of opportunity for Pakistan. But it has to tread cautiously, lest it is accused of treating Afghanistan as its backyard.

The writer is a former newspaper editor. Email: arifn51@hotmail.com

Viewpoints

Making success fail

If the prime ministers raised the dialogue to the political level (the foreign ministers'), it was because they wished to proceed with a political dialogue on the pending issues without minimising the Mumbai blasts issue.

A.G. Noorani

The India-Pakistan foreign ministers' meeting on July 15 raises six questions. What was its main purpose? How did they try to fulfil it? What derailed a meeting which nearly succeeded? What impact did Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai have? And also the press conference? Finally, how do we proceed from here to fulfil the remit which Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani gave the foreign ministers at Thimpu on April 29?
No joint statement was issued but Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's statement on April 29 and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's the next day shed ample light. He said, "There has been a trust deficit and we have to bridge it. It can be done through CBMS [confidence-building measures]. It will not happen in a day. It is a process." Also, "We have Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachen, water dispute, trade relations and terrorism as the major issues" to discuss.
Ms Rao said that the prime ministers "focused on the renewal of dialogue" to "restore trust and confidence" and "the searchlight is on the future and not on the past". She revealed that Dr Manmohan Singh had, indeed, expressed his concerns about Lashkar-i-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, the slow progress in the trials in Pakistan of the Mumbai cases, and the increase in infiltrations across the Line of Control (LoC). She said "all issues of concern will be discussed". Both agreed that the dialogue mattered, not its "nomenclature".
If the prime ministers raised the dialogue to the political level (the foreign ministers'), it was because they wished to proceed with a political dialogue on the pending issues without minimising the Mumbai blasts issue. Defining India's policy, on June 13, Ms Rao mentioned "one dilemma. How do we deal with the persistent threat of terrorism" and urged Pakistan to "act effectively" against the terrorist groups. She spoke of the political dialogue as well. "We also have to reaffirm the progress made…in the composite dialogue or back-channel diplomacy." In Islamabad on June 24, she said, "We must avoid stock phrases like 'road map'." At the "joint press stakeout" both sides were optimistic.
On June 26, Home Minister P.C. Chidambaram went to Islamabad and was convinced that the Interior Minister Rehman Malik and he "understood the situation and agreed that we should address the situation with the seriousness it deserves". Mr Malik assured the visitor that India would not be disappointed with his replies to its queries on terrorism.
Born with a foot in the mouth, on July 13 Home Secretary G.K. Pillai talked about the alleged ISI role in the Mumbai blasts. In Islamabad on July 14 the foreign minister, S.M. Krishna, said in a prepared statement "I look forward to receiving feedback on the issues raised by our home minister" - less than three weeks earlier. Referring to Headley's disclosures he said: "We naturally expect a response from Pakistan. I am here to find out what that response is."
He repeated this in his opening statement at the conference. His emphasis went beyond the Thimpu remit. The matter was under discussion between the home ministers. Pillai created a nasty ripple in the pond, Krishna muddied the waters somewhat; but not altogether. For, all the pending issues were discussed; significant accord was arrived at; yet differences remained. These, however, fouled the atmosphere. A joint press conference is held only if there is total or near total accord and there is a relaxed atmosphere. Neither condition existed. Even so, the foreign ministers nearly pulled it off. An unwise diversion on infiltrations triggered off ugly sparring at the press conference.
That should neither obscure the gains nor impede the process. Mr Qureshi said, "We had a discussion on all the issues that are of importance whether it is terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, the recent developments in Jammu & Kashmir, Sir Creek and Siachen."
He said that the progress made in the last four years should not be brought to "naught". This confirmation of the progress in the back-channel is no small gain. He looked forward to India's written proposal on Sir Creek which had been made verbally earlier. He assured Mr Krishna that Pakistan would "very seriously" take steps on the leads provided on the Headley interrogations and take steps to hasten the trial of the Mumbai blast cases. "We have made progress on Kashmir-related CBMs."
At his press conference the next day Mr Qureshi admitted that they had "reached agreement on many issues". He remarked, "It is the nature of India-Pakistan talks that whenever there is progress there is always a last-minute hitch. There was no hitch from Pakistan's side."
The claim is not valid. He was impatient and that was reflected in his rude reference to directions from New Delhi. You don't say that if you are to meet again. He shed the patience he had advised at Thimpu.
There lay the rub. They had agreed to meet in December. Officials had successfully drawn up a 'calendar' of dates for talks on all issues by designated secretaries, till December - water resources, trade, Sir Creek, visas, cross-LoC trade, exchange of prisoners, release of fishermen, enhancing people-to-people contact and visits by MPs. The foreign ministers were to review progress in these talks in December. Mr Qureshi insisted on including Kashmir and Siachen in the calendar for "substantive talks". India agreed to do so "at an appropriate time". The talks broke down on this fatuity, brilliantly described by Mr Iqbal A. Akhund in his Memoirs of a Bystander. Indians and Pakistanis revel in cleverly playing a game of words; "all the more so because they play it in a foreign language".
The matter could have been resolved simply by agreeing to hold talks on them in December dropping both "substantive" and "at an appropriate moment".
The best guarantee of accord is not a calendar of talks but generation of what lawyers call a "negotiating frame of mind." On July 20 Mr Krishna said, "I have invited Foreign Minister Qureshi to visit India in the later part of the year so that we can take it up from where we left in Islamabad." On July 22 he paid warm personal tributes to Mr Qureshi who said on July 21 that he was prepared to walk the "proverbial extra mile". The best course is to revive the jettisoned accord. That can be done now by a joint announcement to hold talks on the issues which were agreed on July 15. Why wait till December?


The writer is an author and a lawyer.

  Obama’s lost promise

Obama pushes for legislative progress on climate and nonproliferation in the face of daunting opposition. He did not have to go for a climate-and-energy bill this year.
 
Strobe Talbott

As Barack Obama approaches the halfway point in his first term as president, there is growing disappointment over his perceived failure to have lived up to the hopes inspired by his 2008 campaign and election.
That is largely because those hopes were unrealistic. Obama inherited from George W. Bush the In-Box from Hell. The war in Afghanistan was already a disaster, going from bad to worse for six years - with onerous consequences in civilian and military lives lost. On Day One, he confronted a pair of dangerous dilemmas over the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, and the task of trying to breathe life into a moribund Middle East peace process.
Near the end of the campaign, the global financial earthquake hit, with its epicenter on Wall Street. Several days after the election, Obama met with his economic team for a full briefing and the calamities that, absent bold action, might lie ahead. After pondering the nightmare scenario, Obama asked his advisers if perhaps it wasn't too late to ask for a recount of the election returns.
The economic crisis is both immediate and long-term. When Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came to Brookings in May he was asked: "What problem, above all others, keeps you awake at night, Mr. Chairman?" Without a moment's hesitation, he astonished us with a curt answer. The No. 1 threat to the country, he said, is the national debt, on a trajectory to exceed the US gross domestic product within 15 years.
On top of all these daunting challenges, Obama had focused, from the beginning of his campaign back in 2007, on two existential ones: the unravelling of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and climate change. On several occasions he referred to these threats jointly as the reason why the Earth is "a planet in peril."
Put all this together, and it's a defensible proposition that none of Obama's 43 predecessors came into office facing a welter of global problems of this urgency, complexity and consequence. To be sure, his hero Abraham Lincoln had a full plate waiting in the White House in 1861, but it was essentially one plate, taking up the entire table. And while the nation was in mortal peril, the planet did not yet so qualify.
Obama's theory of the case for American foreign policy starts from the premise that there has been a profound transformation in the nature, distribution and interaction of power. For the first time in history, the major states are at peace with one another. Moreover, to an unprecedented degree, they are collaborating in the search for ways to translate common interests into collective action, and to concert their resources and coordinate their policies in dealing with threats that they cannot manage on their own.
Those threats tend to come from weak or failed states, not strong ones. Or they come from non-state actors - international NGOs of the most malignant sort, Al Qaeda being the most notorious example but by no means the only one. Or they come from potentially disastrous natural consequences of human activity.
Taken together, these defining characteristics of our age require more emphasis and more effective reliance on diplomacy, partnerships, alliances, coalitions of the willing, and international norms and institutions. Back in the early 1980s, when Obama was in his 20s, he worked as a community organiser in Chicago. On several occasions during his campaign he cited that experience at a local level as teaching lessons that are applicable globally to the cause of better organising the community of nations in an increasingly interdependent world.
In short, he believes in improving the practices and mechanisms of global governance. We've not heard Obama use that phrase, nor is he likely to use it, since to many Americans it has connotations of world government and black helicopters. He speaks instead about "strengthening our common security by investing in our common humanity."
But for Obama - and the US - to catalyse international cooperation, there must be a degree of domestic political cooperation between the Republicans and Democrats and between the executive and legislative branches of government.
The single most consequential drama playing out in Washington right now - with implications for the entire world - is the effort on the part of the administration and some members of the Senate, including, to their credit, a few Republicans, to pass a bill that takes the first step toward putting a price on carbon as well as establishing national targets and a basis for emission-trading.
Unless the US finally commits itself to federally legislated mandates for greenhouse gas reductions, it's hard to imagine the international effort getting traction of any kind on that issue and certainly in anything like the time frame necessary to bend those two closely linked curves of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
A similar fight is brewing in the US Congress on nuclear proliferation, and the stakes are comparably high. The new strategic arms treaty that Obama has signed with President Dmitry Medvedev would be the first such pact ratified under a Democratic president. Yet in part for exactly that reason - to keep Obama from, as they say in Washington, "putting points on the board" - a number of Republican senators are trying to slow the treaty down if not stop it. Even if the US Senate ratifies the treaty, the current debate over it may have served its opponents' purposes by laying the ground for a full, fierce assault against the administration's determination to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the Senate rejected 11 years ago. A second defeat would severely damage the prospects for stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
These two issues pose a test not just for the US government, not just for American democracy - but a test of the idea and institution of democratic governance itself. What a cruel, even fatal irony it would be if this system and philosophy of governance that we're so proud of - democracy - were to empower the tyranny of short-term and shortsighted expedients over long-term imperatives relating to the survival of the human enterprise.
Obama pushes for legislative progress on climate and nonproliferation in the face of daunting opposition. He did not have to go for a climate-and-energy bill this year. In fact, he had a lot of advice not to do so. But he's done it for a simple reason: Rather than letting the political calendar dictate lawmaking and policymaking, he is heeding the countdown on how little time we have to get serious about global warming before it's too late. In other words, Obama has, consciously and necessarily, put the promise of his presidency at risk in order to have any chance of ameliorating the far greater risk to our planet, to our ecosphere and to our progeny.
Whatever fate is in store for the current president of the United States, one thing is certain. His success in tackling the major issues of our time depends on his establishing a degree of common purpose with his partners in national governance at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and with his partners in global governance around the world.


Strobe Talbott is President of the Brookings Institution and was deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration. This article is based on the Ditchley Foundation Lecture in the UK that he delivered recently? 2010 Yale Center for the Study of Globalisation

 US and Iran are competing in Iraq

The two foreign powers are both intent on installing a friendly government in Baghdad, but neither have yet succeeded.

Marwan Al Kabalan

Iran is eager to see the US withdraw from Iraq so that a formidable obstacle to it establishing military dominance in the Gulf is removed. Image Credit: Illustration: Ador T Bustamante/©Gulf NewsAs the US prepares to withdraw the bulk of its combat forces from Iraq by the end of next month, concerns over the lack of progress in the formation of a new government grow.
The four-month stalemate is interpreted as being a result of the standoff between the US and Iran, the two key foreign powers in Iraq. Each hopes to redraw the political map of the country in a way that suits its own interests.
Most analysts tend to believe now that Iraq, and not nuclear weapons, is the key bone of contention between the two countries. Iran is eager to see the US withdraw from Iraq so that a formidable obstacle to it establishing military dominance in the Gulf is removed.
Another Iranian objective is to prevent the emergence of a pro-US government in Baghdad that would eventually resist its regional ambitions. Washington, on the other hand, wants to withdraw from Iraq because it faces growing challenges in Afghanistan - but without handing Iraq to Iran on a silver platter.
The US, therefore, seeks to find a way to counterbalance Iran by establishing a client government in Baghdad. The nuclear issue in this case is seen simply as an element of a broader geopolitical struggle between the two powers in the region.
Historically, Iraq has always been regarded by both the US and Iran as a strategic challenge. After the 1958 military coup, which ousted the monarchy in Iraq, the US supported the shah to contain the aspirations of pro-Moscow Iraqi officers. Similarly, following the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, Washington relied on Iraq to tame the revolutionary ambitions of the cleric's regime in Tehran.
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Washington led an international coalition to expel the Iraqi forces and prevent Saddam Hussain from accumulating too much wealth and power. Throughout the 1990s, Washington tried to keep the Iranian and Iraqi threats at bay through its Dual Containment policy. When, from the late 1990s onwards, Iraq was moving toward ending its political isolation, Washington regarded that as an extremely destabilising development for its national interests in the Gulf.
Until the 2003 invasion, regional stability from Washington's viewpoint was based on the Iran-Iraq balance of power. The US invaded Iraq on the assumption that it could quickly defeat and dismantle its government and replace it with a pro-American regime, thereby restoring the balance of power. When that assessment proved inaccurate, Washington was forced to assume a policing role as well as acting as a shield to prevent Iran from dominating the country and thereby gaining control of the Gulf.
Regime change
Indeed, the US and Iran both wanted to eliminate Saddam's regime, and they collaborated to some extent during the invasion. But from there, their goals diverged. The Iranians hoped to establish a Shiite regime in Baghdad that would be under Tehran's influence. Washington sought to establish a regime that would thwart the Iranians.
From the very beginning, US strategy in Iraq was in shambles, to say the least. The de-Baathification process drove most of the Sunnis into opposition. At the same time, the Americans were trying to prevent Iran from installing a client government in Baghdad.
The end result was conflict. What was intended to be a short-term operation turned into an extended war, requiring long-term US military commitment. The US could not leave because it had created a situation in which Iraq was too weak to act as a counterbalance to Iran.
The Obama administration believes that the formation of a friendly Iraqi government with sufficient military capability to enforce law internally and to prevent Iran from having too much influence in the country is the only hope to salvage the US strategy. At the very least, Washington believes, any Iraqi government would have to be able to act independently from Iranian influence.
This raises several questions. Can the US form such a government before it leaves by the end of the summer? Can the Iraqis agree on the formation of a relatively strong government that is also on good terms with the US? What about Iran? Would it accept such a government?
So far, neither the US nor Iran have been able to put an appealing government in power. But as the stalemate persists and the date of the US withdrawal approaches, Iraq is set to pay the heaviest price for this struggle of wills between foreign powers.


Dr Marwan Al Kabalan is a member of the Centre for Strategic Studies and Research at Damascus University in Syria.

International

Mullen arrives in Pakistan, holds talks with military
AFP, Islamabad

The US military's top officer arrived in Islamabad on Saturday amid US concerns over the presence in Pakistan of Islamist militants blamed for attacks on NATO-led troops in Afghanistan.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Saturday met General Tariq Majid, the ceremonial head of the Pakistan armed forces, and discussed regional security, an international conference held in Kabul this week and its effects on the region, Pakistan's statement said.
The statement issued in Islambad added that "India-Pakistan confidence-building, progress on efforts by Pakistan against terrorism and violent extremism and other matters of bilateral interest" were also discussed.
Mullen will later meet US officers overseeing military assistance to Pakistan, as well as Pakistan's powerful army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, whose term was extended by three years on Thursday.
"This visit to Pakistan is part of the regular bilateral consultations between the US and Pakistan," the US embassy said in a statement.
Mullen and US officials have praised Pakistan for moving against militants in the northwest but have urged the military to expand its operations to include the Haqqani network, which is based in North Waziristan.
On the eve of his one-day visit, Mullen acknowledged US worries over sanctuaries in Pakistan for extremists, including the Haqqani network, who have attacked international forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Speaking at news conference in New Delhi, Mullen called the Haqqani militants "the most lethal network" faced by the US-led international force in Afghanistan and said he had repeatedly urged Pakistan to tackle the threat.
"I continue to address that with the (Pakistani) leadership as a very, very strong priority," Mullen told reporters at the end of a two-day visit to India.
Kayani "is aware of that priority and in terms of what we think needs to happen," Mullen said. Created by Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and run by his son Sirajuddin, the Haqqani group is one of the toughest foes for foreign forces in Afghanistan, particularly in the east of the country.
Mullen also said Pakistan's intelligence service needed to change its outlook, an apparent reference to charges that Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI sees Islamist militants as a hedge against its arch-rival India.
"I believe the strategic approach, the overall strategic approach of ISI, needs to fundamentally change," he said.
Mullen was due to take an aerial tour at an unspecified location in the north, where Kayani planned to brief him on Pakistani operations against Taliban militants, US officers said.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced on Thursday he had extended Kayani's term for three years, a move welcomed by US officials who credit the general for launching offensives against Taliban militants last year.

   'Pragmatic' India hosts Myanmar's military leader
AFP, New Delhi

Myanmar's military ruler Than Shwe arrives in India Sunday for a state visit that underscores the growing strategic ties between the world's largest democracy and one of its most repressive regimes.
The red-carpet reception planned for Shwe, who rarely travels abroad, has been sharply criticised by human rights groups as a betrayal of India's democratic credentials and an implicit endorsement of Shwe's junta. Shwe will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on economic and military co-operation and a series of trade deals are expected to be signed during the five-day visit. Once a staunch supporter of Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, India began engaging the junta in the mid-1990s as security, energy and strategic priorities began to override concerns over democracy and human rights.
As well as needing the junta's help to counter ethnic separatists operating along their remote common border, India is eyeing oil and gas fields in Myanmar and fears losing out to China in the race for strategic space in Asia. "India and Myanmar will work towards expanding engagements at all levels," an India foreign ministry official said of Shwe's visit. "It is crucial for India to cement its relationship with Myanmar to deal with the insurgency that plagues the northeast and to counter balance China's influence," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The European Union, United States and other countries have targeted Myanmar with economic sanctions and travel bans, but their impact on the military regime has been diluted by support from China, India and Thailand. The junta, which has ruled with an iron fist for nearly 50 years, has promised to hold Myanmar's first elections since 1990 later this year.

  N.Korea threatens nuclear response to naval war games
AFP, Seoul

North Korea Saturday threatened to respond with nuclear weapons to a major US-South Korean naval exercise starting this weekend, saying it was ready for a "retaliatory sacred war".
The threat came from the powerful National Defence Commission (NDC), chaired by leader Kim Jong-Il, as tensions grew over the sinking of a South Korean warship which Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang.
The North routinely threatens war in response to joint military exercises by the two long-time allies, calling them a rehearsal for war.
But tensions have been high for the past two months, since the US and South Korea accused the North of torpedoing the warship with the loss of 46 lives. The North denies involvement and says the "smear campaign" is a pretext for aggression.
The United States and South Korea have announced four-day joint exercises beginning on Sunday-the first in a series-in what they say is a bid to deter North Korea's "aggressive" behaviour.
"All these war manoeuvres are nothing but outright provocations aimed to stifle the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) by force of arms to all intents and purposes," the NDC said in a statement on Pyongyang's official news agency.
"The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the US and the South Korean puppet forces."
The exercise "is as reckless an act as waking up a sleeping tiger", it said.
The North's people and army would "start a retaliatory sacred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent any time necessary" to counter the US and South Korea, which were pushing the situation to the brink of war, it said.

  Five US soldiers killed in bomb attack in Afghanistan: NATO
AFP, Kabul

Taliban-style bomb attacks killed five US soldiers in Afghanistan Saturday, NATO said, as the death toll of foreign soldiers in the nine-year Afghan war climbed towards the 2,000 mark.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the five had died in two separate attacks involving improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the main weapon deployed by the Taliban in their insurgency.
An ISAF spokeswoman confirmed all five were Americans. An incident early in the day claimed the lives of four of the American soldiers, while the fifth was killed later Saturday, according to ISAF statements. Both attacks took place in southern Afghanistan, where the war is at its fiercest, ISAF said.
The deaths bring to 397 the toll of foreign soldiers killed in the war so far this year, compared with 520 for all of 2009.
An AFP tally based on that kept by the icasualties.org website puts the number of soldiers to have died since the Afghan insurgency began in 2001 at 1,965, with 1,205 of them Americans. IEDs are the main cause of foreign soldiers' deaths, according to military officials, who say the payload of the crude home-made bombs is rising as the Taliban insurgents adapt to the greater defences of the foreign forces.
The US and NATO have almost 150,000 troops in Afghanistan, with the surge of an extra 30,000 Americans ordered by US President Barack Obama almost fully deployed, most of them in the southern hotspots of Kandahar and Helmand.
Obama has said he wishes to start drawing down US forces in the middle of next year, and Britain, which has the second largest combat contingent in the country, is eager to pull out within five years.
Afghanistan's army and police are being trained by their international counterparts, with plans to reach a combined force of 300,000 by later this year, aiming for a deadline for taking over security of 2014.

  Rights groups condemn China for jailing Uighur journalist
AFP, Beijing

Human rights groups on Saturday condemned China's jailing of an ethnic Uighur journalist who spoke to foreign journalists about last year's deadly riots in Xinjiang.
A court in Urumqi, capital of the far-western region, sentenced Gheyret Niyaz to 15 years in jail for endangering state security, the Uighurbiz.net website reported on Friday. "We are utterly astonished at the outcome of this trial," the press-freedom group Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. "In giving him such a heavy sentence and imprisoning other journalists and netizens whose sole crime is to have spoken about these events, the Chinese authorities are not encouraging a negotiated solution."
Niyaz, who is also known as Hailaite Niyazi, was detained following deadly July 2009 unrest between the Muslim Uighur minority and members of China's dominant Han ethnic group. His arrest came after he criticised Chinese policy in Xinjiang in comments to foreign reporters.
Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a network of domestic and overseas activists, released a statement saying Niyaz was denied a fair trial at the one-day proceedings on Friday. AFP has been unable to reach the Urumqi court by phone for comment. "CHRD demands the immediate release of Hailaite Niyazi," the group said.

  Philippines' Aquino set for angry 'State of Nation' address
AFP, Manila

Philippine President Benigno Aquino is set to launch a blistering attack on his predecessor and flesh out an anti-corruption drive when he makes his first "State of the Nation" address on Monday.
Aquino, who is enjoying record public support three weeks into the job, has signalled his speech to parliament will outline the dire economic problems that he says he inherited from former president Gloria Arroyo.
"The work ahead will not be easy over the next few years. Nearly all the funds intended for use over the next few months have been stolen," the straight-talking leader told an army parade on Friday in an apparent preview.
Aquino later told reporters that his administration had discovered some major irregularities by Arroyo's government, and that he intended to use his speech to tell his countrymen about them.
"You will be very, very surprised at the things that we have discovered," Aquino said.
"I think the common reaction was, among those who already know, the expression of the mouth was: 'Ha, they did that! Why did they do that?' There is really no sense, no rhyme, no reason."
Aquino spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Saturday there would be nothing personal in the planned speech.
"There is no intention to spite or to offend Congresswoman Gloria Arroyo," he told reporters, describing it as an objective enumeration of facts.
Local press reports Saturday quoted Arroyo allies as saying the former president, who won a seat in the House of Representatives in the May elections, will be absent from parliament on Monday.
Calls to her office by AFP went unanswered Saturday.
Though many of her allies defected to Aquino's Liberal Party, Arroyo-who was required by constitutional term limits to stand down as president-still has a power base in parliament, where two sons and two in-laws also sit.

  US missile strike kills 12 militants in Pakistan
AFP, Peshawar, Pakistan

A US drone fired four missiles into a compound used by Islamist fighters in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt on Saturday, killing at least 12 militants, security officials said.
The missiles targeted the compound in Dwasarak village, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan district, a senior Pakistani security official who wished to remain anonymous told AFP.
"At least 12 militants have been killed in this attack," he said adding that two US drones fired four missiles.
Two intelligence officials, one in Wana and one based in Peshawar, also confirmed the attack and the death toll.
South Waziristan, considered a militant stronghold, was the scene of a major Pakistani offensive last year.
Dwasarak is close to the Afghan border in the Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan. Officials said militants belonging to local commander Maulana Halimullah were killed in the attack, the second time that US drones have targeted his men.
A security official in Miranshah, the main town of the neighbouring North Waziristan tribal district said militants were also using the compound as a training camp.

 Iran to build world's first nuke fusion reactor: Report
AFP, Tehran

A top Iranian official said on Saturday that Tehran was conducting studies into building an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, which if successful would be the first such plant in the world.
"Studies and examining the feasibility of a national plan titled 'Designing and building experimental nuclear fusion reactor and plant' are under way," Asghar Sedighzadeh, head of Iran's Nuclear Fusion Research Centre was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency. He did not elaborate.
Earlier on Saturday, Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said an eight-million-dollar fund had been set up to conduct "serious" research in the area of nuclear fusion.
He said 50 people had been hired for the work, which the Islamic republic began nearly three decades ago but was initially "not very serious" about pursuing.
"Fusion research has been launched seriously today," ISNA quoted Salehi as saying.
"The start-up budget is 80 billion rials (eight million dollars)," he said.
"It takes 20 to 30 years before this process can be commercialised but we have to use all the capacity in the country to provide the necessary speed for fusion research."
Nuclear fusion has long been touted as the cheap, safe and clean energy source of the future, but efforts to harness it for power generation have so far failed to bear fruit.
Fusion is used in the hydrogen bomb, in which fissile material like that in a simple nuclear warhead launches the process by which atomic nuclei fuse together to release energy.Iran has always rejected Western suspicions that its nuclear programme is aimed at developing a weapons capability.In May, North Korea said it carried out a nuclear fusion reaction that could lead to an almost limitless supply of clean energy, a process that scientists have so far yet to achieve.
Physicists worldwide are striving to develop a nuclear fusion power plant, a project which the International Atomic Energy Agency terms "a great challenge."

   Hamas blasts UN over call for Gaza land aid deliveries
AFP, Gaza City

Hamas on Saturday slammed as "unacceptable" a call by the United Nations for Gaza-bound aid to be delivered over land rather than by sea.
"The UN call to international organisations to use the over-land road to Gaza instead of the sea is unacceptable and illegal," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri said.
On Friday, the United Nations said groups delivering aid to Gaza should do so by land, after Israel warned it would intercept ships trying to bust its naval blockade of the impoverished Palestinian enclave.
"There are established routes for supplies to enter by land. That is the way aid should be delivered to the people of Gaza," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told a news briefing.
"Our stated preference has been and remains that aid should be delivered by established routes, particularly at a sensitive time in indirect proximity (peace) talks between Palestinians and Israelis," he added.
Hamas said the UN position was akin to "collaboration with the Israeli occupier."
"Most of the residents of the territory are still banned from leaving the territory and this is why this call is considered a contribution to the blockade," Abu Zahri said, urging aid organisations to ignore the UN call.
Groups trying to deliver aid to the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave should "continue to reach Gaza by sea until the blockade is really broken."
Israel has warned its forces will prevent any attempt to dispatch aid to Gaza by sea despite a raid by its forces on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists on May 31.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak renewed the warning on Friday, saying the navy would prevent Lebanese ships carrying aid from reaching Gaza.
"If this flotilla does leave Lebanon and refuses to be led by our navy to the (Israeli) port of Ashdod, we will have no other choice than to arrest it at sea," Barak said.
Israel imposed the blockade in June 2006 after its soldier, Gilad Shalit, was captured by Gaza militants and tightened it a year later when Hamas seized power in the coastal strip.

  French military operation underway to free hostage in Mali
AFP, Bamako

French military took further action Saturday to free a 78-year-old hostage being held by an Al-Qaeda affiliated gang in Mali, a foreign military source told AFP in the capital Bamako.
"The French are doing everything to free (Michel) Germaneau," the source said, adding that an "operation is underway" on Mali territory.
Thursday's deadly raid in the Sahara desert, carried out by French-backed Mauritanian forces on a suspected Al-Qaeda base, had just been "a smoke screen", the source said.
"Somewhere else in the vast desert, another (operation) is underway," the source said, adding that forces from other countries in the region were also taking part.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an offshoot of Osama bin Laden's network, is believed to be holding the French aid worker and has been responsible for the murder of a British hostage.
On Friday the United States said that it was not involved in the desert operation that killed six AQIM members, but has been sharing intelligence with both France and Mauritania on extremist networks.

  Tribal mediators halt fighting in north Yemen
AFP, Sanaa

Tribal mediators succeeded Saturday in reaching a ceasefire between Yemen's northern Shiite rebels and an army-backed tribe after days of fighting that killed at least 70 people, a tribal chief said.
Sheikh Qassem Qubaida, who led a mediation team of tribal chiefs, told AFP that the Huthi rebels and the Bin Aziz tribe, led by MP Sheikh Sagheer Aziz, were "persuaded... to stop firing".
He said that the fighting which had flared up again on Friday night around the village of Bin Aziz in Harf Sufyan, in northern Amran province, stopped at around 11:00 am (0800 GMT) on Saturday.
The road linking the restive Saada region with the capital Sanaa through Amran, which was blocked for about a week, was being opened "by clearing the mines planted by the Huthis," he said.
A witness told AFP that Huthi rebels attempted to storm the house of Aziz on Friday night, adding that they bombed the house of his nephew, killing him.
This brought the weekly death toll from the fighting to at least 70 people, after 69 were killed in earlier clashes. The toll is expected to rise further as casualties from Friday's night gunfight were not counted.
The week's clashes have rattled an already fragile truce agreed in February that ended a six-month round of fighting in the conflict between the rebels and the army, which started in 2004.
The Huthis and the government have repeatedly exchanged accusations of violating the February ceasefire.

  Russia insists on tech transfer in French warship deal
AFP, Moscow

Russia's top naval commander Saturday insisted its purchase of French warships would only go ahead if there were a transfer of technology, warning that otherwise there was "no point" in the deal. The comments by Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky come a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy assured workers at a French shipyard that the decision to go ahead with the deal was "certain".
"What is important here is to obtain the possibility of a transfer of key, fundamental technologies... not just in ship building but in several other areas," Vysotsky told the Echo of Moscow radio. "This is without doubt the main condition for this transaction. If this does not happen then there is no point in undertaking this," he added. "We do not need the ship but we do need its possibilities." Russia has been negotiating with France for months to buy the Mistral-class helicopter carriers but the deal has yet to be finalised, with the issue of technology transfer apparently the main sticking point.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told AFP last month that Moscow would only go ahead with the deal if it included a transfer of the technology that makes the Mistral one of the most powerful in the French fleet.

  15 trapped after Russian mine blast
AFP, Moscow

An explosion in a Russian coal mine Saturday trapped 15 miners and injured two others, officials said, adding that rescue efforts were under way, domestic news agencies reported.
"An explosion took place at 2:00 am (2200 GMT) at the Krasnogorskaya mine in the Kemerovo region," about 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles) east of Moscow, a spokeswoman for the emergency situations ministry told Interfax news agency.
Sixty-seven people were working underground at the time of the blast, she said, adding that 52 had been evacuated. Two of them were hospitalised for burn injuries.
Six rescue teams had been despatched, she added. Initial reports said the accident appeared to be a methane gas explosion.
Deadly mine accidents are relatively common in Russia because of ageing infrastructure, violations of ventilation safety requirements and tampering with gas-level monitoring equipment. In May, at least 66 miners and rescue workers died in methane blasts at a coal mine in southern Siberia.
The disaster was the second deadliest mining accident in Russia's post-Soviet history after a tragedy that claimed 110 lives at a different mine in the same region in 2007.

  Surging female vote gives Australia PM poll lead
AFP, Sydney

Australia's ruling Labor party led the election race with a comfortable margin at the end of the first week of campaigning, polls showed Saturday, buoyed by a surging female vote.
Women preferred Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Labor party to the conservative Liberal/National coalition 58 percent to 42 percent, compared with a 50-50 split among male voters, a Nielsen poll showed.
The rallying female vote, which increased by two percentage points over the first week of the election campaign, helped Labor secure an eight-point lead over the conservatives, 54 percent to 46 percent.
"There is a real gender gap in this election," poll director John Stirton told Fairfax newspapers.
Australia's first female leader, Gillard outstripped conservative challenger Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister 55 percent to 34 percent, with an approval rating of 56 percent to Abbott's 43 percent.
Her lead over Abbott as preferred leader was a whopping 28 points among women, compared with 14 points among men.
Of the 1,400 people polled 73 percent said they thought Labor would win, with only 16 percent backing Abbott's coalition.
Gillard was pragmatic about the findings, saying her job "over the next four weeks... is to be out there making our case."

  Senior officers among five killed in Caucasus: reports
AFP, Moscow

Five people were killed, including three senior military officers, in a spate of attacks by militants in Russia's unrest-plagued Northern Caucasus region of Dagestan, reports said Saturday. The three officers died when they came under fire late Friday in the town of Buynaksk west of the Dagestan capital Makhachkala, Russian news agencies and state television reported.
Two lieutenant colonels-the head of the armaments department in the local chief of staff and another senior officer in the department-died on the spot, state television said.
Another officer, the head of the service of rocket and artillery weaponry for the 136th motorcycle brigade, died on his way to hospital.
Two hours later, another Russian serviceman was killed when unidentified individuals entered inside the military base in Buynaksk and stabbed him after stealing his mobile phone, news agencies said. It was not immediately clear if the two incidents were linked.
In another fatal attack in Dagestan, the chief administrator in the village of Cherniayevka, in the Kizlyar district, was shot and killed near his house, an official from Dagestan's interior ministry said, Interfax reported.
The authorities have been battling a persistent Islamist-inspired insurgency in the Caucasus that has claimed scores of lives annually over the past years in the regions of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia. Moscow fought two wars against Chechen separatists in the 1990s and is still battling to pacify the North Caucasus region which remains one of the Kremlin's biggest domestic problems. Earlier this week, militants killed two guards and set off explosions when they stormed a hydroelectric plant in Kabardino-Balkaria, another Caucasus region that is starting to be blighted by unrest.

Business/Economy

Poultry industry unhappy with maximum price
UNB, Dhaka

Poultry industry leaders have strongly protested the decision taken by the Department of Livestock to fix maximum price of one-day chick.
They also demanded withdrawal of AIT on import of maize and tax imposed on pelleted feed production immediately while addressing a roundtable titled "Present Crisis and Prospects of Poultry Industry in Bangladesh" organized by Breeders Association of Bangladesh (BAB) at the National Press Club on Saturday, according to a press release.
Kazi Zahedul Hasan, president of Breeders Association of Bangladesh expressed that the investment in this sector would double within the next 5-7 years if government support is ensured.
Moshiur Rahman, Convener of Poultry National Coordination Committee, stated that poultry would create job opportunities for around 10 million people within next 5-7 years.
"We are exporting most of the raw materials but competing with the world leaders in this sector," Moshiur added.
The breeders requested government's prior planning and preparation for bird flu and urged farmers to maintain bio-security and keeping healthy environment inside and outside the farmers. They also demanded for easy loan for the grassroots farmers.

 Govt allocates Tk 6.11 cr as subsidy for jute decomposing
BSS, Jessore

The government has provided Taka 6.11 crore as subsidy to the farmers of seven districts including Jessore for decomposing of jute.
A total of 3,05,500 farmers of these districts are getting the subsidy in cash.
The subsidy has already been reached to the bank accounts of the farmers and each farmer will get Taka 200.
Bazlul Haq Mia, assistant director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) of Jessore, said that the highest 74,000 farmers of Kushtia district under Khulna division have come under the subsidy facility. A total of Taka 1.48 crore to be distributed to the farmers of the district, he added.
In Meherpur district, Taka 35 lakh has been allocated for some 17,500 farmers of the district.
Besides, the government has allocated Taka 1.56 crore for 38,000 farmers of Jessore district, Taka 76 lakh for 38,000 farmers of Jhenaidah, Taka 66 lakh for 33,000 farmers of Magura, Taka 70 lakh for 35,000 farmers of Narail and Taka 60 lakh for 30,000 farmers of Chuadanga district.
The farmers of the rest three districts under Khulna division have not come under the subsidy as the jute production of these districts is not adequate. The three districts are Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat.
The government in turn will distribute ribbon-ratting machines to the farmers of these seven districts for separating the jute fibers.
The DAE official said the subsidy has been provided to the farmers for purchasing polymer bags that needed to decompose jute in pond or canal waters.

  India PM banks on a good monsoon to tame inflation
AFP, New Delhi

India's prime minister said Saturday he was banking on good monsoon rains to tame soaring inflation as he sought to defuse opposition attacks ahead of an expected stormy parliamentary session.
India's inflation rate is the highest of all leading Group of 20 nations.
"With normal monsoon (rains), the rate of inflation in food prices will abate in the second half of the year," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a state of economy speech ahead of the new parliamentary session opening Monday.
His remarks appeared aimed at undercutting a feisty opposition raring to attack the government on a slew of issues including 10.55 percent inflation that has caused huge hardship to millions of Indians below the poverty line.
Singh said plentiful rains would boost farm output and reduce headline inflation to six percent by December as he sought to deflect attacks on the Congress-led government over rising prices.

  Obama praises Wall Street reform, rejects Republican plan
AFP, Washington

US President Barack Obama Saturday praised a Wall Street reform law enacted this week and rejected a Republican plan to jump-start the economy, saying it will take the country backward.
"Wall Street reform is a key pillar of an overall economic plan we have put in place to dig ourselves out of this recession and build an economy for the long run-an economy that makes America more competitive and our middle-class more secure," Obama said in his weekly radio address. On Wednesday, the president signed into law the most sweeping reform of the US finance industry since the 1930s, promising US tax-payers would no longer get the bill for Wall Street excess.

  ERL to install 77-km submarine pipelines for supply of oil
BSS, Chittagong

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC)-run Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) has launched preliminary work to install 77-kilometer long submarine pipelines for straight supply of imported crude oils from the Bay to the refinery depots.
ERL, a sister concern of BPC, has taken up a TK 952 crore submarine pipeline installation project to ease the delivery intricacy and procrastination in shifting of fuel oil from mother tankers in the deep sea.
BPC sources said ERL had already completed the pre-bid discussion with six foreign companies to appoint an efficient consultant for this project on the basis of Expression of Interest (EI) on July 20 and also asked the companies to submit their proposals within August 30 next.
Deputy Manager (Development) of ERL Monirul Huda told BSS that of the project cost of Taka 903 crore would be financed by Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the rest Taka 49 crore would be available from the Government of Bangladesh (GOB).
"ECNEC has already approved the project and IDB has also given the final consent for releasing the fund," Monirul Huda added.
ERL officials hoped that the final work of the installation would begin in November next and be completed in 2012 if everything is all right.
Monir said the pipelines would a route of 61 kilometers under the sea from the southwest of coastal Island Kutubdia to Parky Beach of Anwara in Chittagong and from there it will finally be linked to ERL oil depots.
A four-member delegate of IDB experts after spot visit primarily agreed to invest in the project in November last year.
ERL invited EI and 33 international companies including from America, Malaysia, Germany and the Netherlands have applied, of which ERL chose six companies and will finally appoint one of them.
General Manager (Planning) of BPC Mahmudunnabi told BSS that if this modern technology-based project is implemented, it would be an epoch-making step for rapid delivery and saving time in supplying crude oils from mother tankers to ERL.
According to BPC sources, Bangladesh annually imports 38 lakh tons of fuel oil, of which 12 lakh tons is crude oil.
This amount of the crude oil is refined in the country's lone oil refinery.
Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), a national flag carrier, presently delivers petroleum products from the mother tankers anchored near Kutubdia Island by its vessels to the depots.
This process of delivery takes much time and over-costs. Besides, the delivery process sometimes is stopped if the BSC ships remain inoperative.

  Global arms trade talks end on upbeat note
AFP, United Nations

Preparatory UN talks on a treaty to regulate the world's 55-billion-dollar arms trade ended Friday with reports of progress in defining the goals, scope and principles a future pact. A future Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was "to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit transfer, production and brokering of conventional arms," said Argentina's UN delegate Martin Garcia Moritan, chair of the two-week session.
The pact would create controls to stop the diversion of conventional arms "from legal markets and uses to illicit markets and unauthorized uses and users, including organized crime and terrorists," Moritan added in a four-page draft outline of a future agreement. Annalisa Giannella, the European Union's representative on non-proliferation, said the "successful outcome" of the meeting marked "a positive start of the ATT negotiating process."
"The active engagement of all delegations at this session, combined with the able stewardship of the committee's chairman, brings the international community closer to agreeing an ATT within the UN framework," she added. Eric Danon, France's envoy to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD), called the level of global agreement on the issue "a new symbol of globalization." He cited "good progress" in outlining the goals, scope and principles of the future treaty, attributing much of the positive atmos-phere that prevailed during the session to Washington now backing a future ATT. The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 2006 calling for such a treaty, but the United States, the world's biggest arms exporter of weaponry, was the only country to vote against it.

  Five regional Spanish banks fail tests, major banks pass
AFP, Madrid

Spanish banking came off worst in the EU stress tests on Friday accounting for five failures out of seven overall, but officials here stressed that most of system here proved to be sound.
All eight major Spanish banks, including Santander, the eurozone's biggest bank by market capitalisation, passed the stress tests as did 14 other regional savings banks known as "cajas" that were analysed.
Across Europe only two other banks-Greece's ATEBank and Germany's Hypo Real Estate-fell short of the EU-wide checkup of the sector.
"For the government, the results are satisfactory.

  White House projects lower 2010 budget deficit
AFP, Washington

US President Barack Obama's administration on Friday lowered its 2010 federal budget deficit estimate by 84 billion dollars to 1.471 trillion dollars on projected spending declines. That would still be a record-high deficit amid massive government spending to pull the economy out of the worst recession in decades.
The new deficit estimate represents 10 percent of gross domestic product, down from the 10.6 percent of GDP ratio seen in previous estimates for fiscal 2010 that ends September 30. In an update of the 2010-2020 budget presented to Congress in February, the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said the improvement in this year's deficit was due to projected lower government spending.
Expenditures for 2010 are now projected to be 118 billion dollars lower than projected in February, totaling 3.603 trillion dollars, or 24.6 percent of GDP.

  India carmaker Maruti posts surprise quarterly profit fall
AFP, New Delhi

India's biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported Saturday quarterly net profit fell by a surprise 20 percent as the company was pummelled by a surge in raw material costs.
Maruti, majority-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said net profit during the fiscal first quarter slid to 4.65 billion rupees (99 million dollars) from 5.84 billion rupees a year earlier, despite a 27 percent leap in sales. The fall was a shock for financial analysts who had forecast Maruti would report a profit of around 6.6 billion to seven billion rupees for the three months to June 30.
"The drop in net profit is due to higher commodity prices" along with other factors such as a fall in earnings from European exports due to a weaker euro, the company said in a statement.
While car sales have soared, the sector has been under pressure from rising prices of raw materials, such as steel, aluminium and rubber, that have been driven by growing demand in emerging market giants such as China and India.
Maruti, which has been producing to maximum capacity and sells nearly every second car in India, reported it had paid 60.80 billion rupees for raw materials-a 26 percent rise from same quarter last year.

National

Scattered initiatives won’t solve traffic jam in city
UNB, Dhaka

Scattered initiatives and chop and change decisions of the authorities may not solve the nagging traffic problems in the capital, experts say.
They say mass transport and commuter trains, increasing east-west connectivity, introduction of high capacity public bus, rationalized routes, route franchising and development of road intersections could be some of the emergency measures that could help reduce traffic congestion. A crackdown against outdated model and unfit vehicles, including bus, mini-bus, truck and covered van, began from July 15 in Dhaka City in a bid to improve the traffic situation and also to prevent road accidents.
Similar drives were taken by the authorities in the past but those did not yield any positive result, as most of the outdated vehicles were seen returning to the city streets immediately after the drives were over. The current drive against old and unfit vehicles is being carried out by 16 mobile courts, each headed by an executive magistrate. The Communications Ministry, departments concerned and transport owners took the decision at a joint meeting on June 24. The meeting decided to remove 20-year-old buses and minibuses, and 25-year-old trucks from the city.
However, the crackdown apparently failed to improve the situation as only 20 vehicles including one truck, two buses and 17 minibuses were seized till Saturday since it started on July 15. Sources at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) said that 1,446 buses, 8,125 trucks and 2,365 minibuses were earlier identified as outdated.
Additional District Magistrate Amitabh Sarker, who is coordinating the 16 mobile courts, told UNB that these courts failed to seize a large number of worn out vehicles as the owners kept those off the streets since the drive began. "We'll continue the drive and we hope to seize more outdated and unfit vehicles," he said.
Meanwhile, with the drive already underway, the Communications Ministry on July 21 suddenly revised its decision to allow 25-year-old trucks to ply in the capital from 11pm-6am. The decision was taken at a meeting between Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain and Dhaka District Truck Workers Association which earlier threatened to go on strike from August 2 to press for their 7-point demand. Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University Dr Ainun Nishat at a recent seminar in the capital observed that there is no alternative to introducing a mass transport system. "It is not possible to ease the traffic jam by merely halting movement of vehicles in the streets," he said. Dr Nishat emphasized on developing the transport infrastructures to effectively address the problem. Former Communication Secretary Syed Rezaul Hayat said coordination between the Home and Communication Ministries might help to solve the traffic congestion effectively.
Executive Engineer of the Roads & Highways Department (RHD) Abdullah Al Mamun in his recent study said that traffic congestion in Dhaka city causes losses amounting to Tk 20,000 crore a year. The report estimates that traffic jam causes up to 3.20 million business hours to be lost every day, which is about an hour per working person.

  Community journalism needed to uplift disadvantaged community

BSS, Rajshahi

Promotion of community journalism has become indispensable for sustainable livelihood development of the disadvantaged community through bringing them under the mainstream of society.
Speakers made this call while addressing a daylong training styled "Adibashi Community Journalism" organized by the Monthly Aastha in the conference hall of Family Planning Association of Bangladesh (FPAB) in Rajshahion Friday.
A total of 10 trainees from different parts of Main thrust of the training was to develop adibashi young and energetic journalists.
President of Aastha Network Ganesh Mardi, general secretary of Jatiya Adibashi Parishad Rabindra Nath Saren and convener of Jatiya Adibashi Chhatra Parishad Harendra Nath Singh conducted the training course elaborating various aspects of community journalism.
The speakers called upon the trainees to perform their professional duties with utmost sincerity and honesty with the best uses of knowledge acquired from the training.
In this context, they viewed that objective reporting could play a vital role in depicting the existing problems and disparities being faced by the aboriginal communities Earlier, editor of the Aastha narrated the aims and objectives of the course while senior journalist Mustafizur Rahman Khan shared his professional experiences on the occasion.
Aastha is the lone media of adibasis of the plain voicing problems, deprivation, land grabbing, torture, isolation, discrimination, heritage, culture, heroic fight, achievement and other aspects of the aboriginal people. So far, it has trained 30 journalists from the adibashi origins.

  Huge contraband items worth Tk 44.55 lakh seized in Dinajpur

UNB, Dinajpur

Members of Bangladesh Rifles seized huge Indian contraband items worth Tk 44.55 lakh in separate raids in Birampur upazila on Thursday and Friday.
Akramuzzaman, captain of 40 Fulbari Rifles Battalion said a patrol team of BDR chased a Dhaka bound truck from Hili on Hakimpur-Ghoraghat road early Friday.
At one stage, the driver fled away leaving behind the truck on Birampur-Dhaka crossing.
Later, the patrol team recovered 3031 bottles of phensidyl kept in 38 cartons and 36 cartons of potato worth Tk 31 lakh from the truck.
Earlier on Thursday, the border guards in separate drives on Chilahati bound Titurmir Express train at Birampur rail station and a bus at Birampur Kalabagan seized Indian phensidyl, sari, city gold, cosmetics, shoes and spices worth Tk 13.55 lakh.

   Young Cyber generation needs assistance for building Sonar Bangla: Yeafez

BSS, Badalgachi, Naogaon

State Minister for Science and ICT Ministry Architect Yeafez Osman has said the present younger generation is a cyber one and needs only patronization for realizing the dream of building a Sonar Bangla.
The heroic Bangalee nation achieved its independence at the call of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and will definitely build a digital Bangladesh soon as envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said.
He was launching the first ever 'Chakrail Digital Village' in the district of Naogaon under Badalgachi upazila at a gorgeous ceremony arranged Friday night on Chakrail Government Primary School ground as the chief guest.
Chaired by deputy commissioner of Naogaon Dr Nazmunara Khanum, the occasion was addressed by director of Agriculture Information Service of the DAE Dr Nazrul Islam, director of RDA Abdul Matin, executive director of BMDA Abdul Mannan, Police Super Mofazzel Hossain addressed as the special guests.
Member of the Parliament (MP) from Naogaon-3 (Mohadebpur- Badalgachi) constituency Dr Akram Hossain Chowdhury delivered the welcome speech and moderated the ceremony that was followed by traditional 'Gambhira' cultural function till midnight on Friday night.
After launching the digital village, the State Minister said the present government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working hard for ensuring all rights of the people through providing information using the latest digital technologies.
He told the huge audience, including a large number of farmers, students, women and common people from walks in the society, that the people will now get all their respective necessary information for quicker developments of the village.

   National Fisheries Week being observed
Bss, Gaibandha

National Fisheries Week-2010 is being celebrated in the district from July 21 with a call to increase fish production to ensure food security in the country. To celebrate the week in all the seven upazilas of the district in a befitting manner, Department of Fisheries and the district and upazila administrations have jointly taken up the elaborate programmes.
The programmes include rally, fish fries releasing, publicity, documentary films screening, mobile court conduction, training for the fish cultivators, easy and quiz competitions of the students, staging dramas, cultural function and prize distribution to the winners. On Friday afternoon, an art competition organized by the Fisheries Department and Sadar upazila administration was held in the auditorium of Upazila Parishad of the town here marking the week. More than 30 students of government and registered primary schools participated in the competition with enthusiasm.
Besides, a three-day training on Monsex telapia and Thai pungas fish ended in the training room of the District Fisheries Office here on July 24 as part of the programmes of national fisheries week celebration.
District fisheries officer (DFO) Abu Hena M. Mostafa Kamal, upazila fisheries officers and farm managers conducted the training sessions as resource persons.

   5 including BCL leader held with arms in Habiganj
UNB, Habiganj

Rapid Action Battalion personnel in their separate drives in the district town arrested five people including a leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) along with firearms early hours of Friday.
They were identified as BCL district joint secretary Habibur Rahman Chowdhury Rajib, 22, Imam Hasan, 24, Injamam Ahmad Ehtesham, 22, Abdul Muhit Chowdhury Mishu, 22, and Abdus Samad Shipon, 25.
Acting on secret information, a team of RAB-9 of Srimongol camp led by Lt Commander Kawser Mahmud in separate drives arrested BCL leader Habibur, son of Bazlur Rahman and Imam Hasan, son of Sohrab Ali from their residences in the town at about 3am. Following their confessional statement, the law enforcers raided the house of Abdul Hannan in Chowdhury Bazar area of the town and arrested his son Samad along with one revolver, 1 round of bullet.

   Vietnam keen to strengthen trade relations with Bangladesh

UNB, Dhaka

Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Saturday paid a courtesy call on Nguyen Sinh Hung, Standing Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam at his official residence.
They exchanged their pleasantries and discussed on the common bilateral issues in a very friendly and candid manner. The Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister expressed his interest to promote trade relations with Bangladesh.
He expressed his interest to have a trade agreement between Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said Vietnam has achieved tremendous development in many sectors, especially in agriculture and Bangladesh has many things to learn from Vietnam.
She emphasized on enhancement of trade and investment between the two courtiers.
The Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister mentioned that ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is an effort to ensure peace security and friendship in this region. He expressed hope that in future ARF can be more cooperative on climate change and natural disaster. Dipu Moni mentioned that Bangladesh is also very much concerned about climate change. The Foreign Minister mentioned that both chambers of commerce can work together to promote bilateral trade relations. She also emphasized on agricultural cooperation agreement and student exchange.

   UN counter-terrorism strategy
Bangladesh Rep appointed facilitator to review

UNB, Dhaka

The UN General Assembly President has appointed Dr AK Abdul Momen, Bangladesh Permanent Reprehensive to the UN, as the facilitator to lead the consultations among the member states to review the 'UN Global Counter-terrorism Strategy'.
"The United Nations Global Counter-terrorism Strategy" was adopted by consensus in September 2006 and the member states first reviewed the implementation of the Strategy in 2008.
This year's consultations will focus on "the implementation of the Strategy on the part of member states and to consider updating the Strategy to respond to changes," said a release of the Bangladesh UN Mission in New York.
It said: "This is a true global recognition of Bangladesh's commitment, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, towards steadfast fight against terrorism at the national, regional and global levels."
Ambassador Momen's dynamic leadership has helped to achieve such recognition and honor for Bangladesh, the release added.

   Student's body recovered in Joypurhat
UNB, Bogra

Body of a college student was recovered from nearby Joypurhat district railway station on Friday.
The deceased was identified as Selim, 22, son of Shamsur Rahman of Kazla village in Sariakandi upazila of Bogra district.
Selim was a degree examinee of Bogra Government Azizul Haque College. Family sources said Selim went messing on Thursday afternoon.
Police suspected that the victim was strangulated to death by miscreants taking him to Joypurhat on that night following a previous enmity.
Joypurhat Police on information recovered the body and handed over it to his family members after autopsy. A case was filed with Sadar thana.
Another report from Brahmanbaria adds: Floating body of an unidentified woman, aged about 35, was recovered from Titas River at Hablipara village in Sarail upazila on Thursday afternoon.
Locals said at about 6pm they found the body floating in the river near a graveyard of the village and informed the police. Later, police recovered the body and sent it to hospital morgue for autopsy.

   RFC earns over Tk 11.20 cr last fiscal
BSS, Rangamati

Rangamati Forests Circle, consisting of six territorial divisions, has eared Taka 11,20,70,338 by disposing off seized timbers and collecting royalty of bamboo and other forests products during the 2009-2010 fiscal.
Conservator of Forests, Shafiul Alam Chowdhury told BSS that the Chittagong Hill Tracts South Forest Division has earned highest amount of revenue Taka 4,42,49,970 while the Rangamati Jhum Control Division earned Taka 60,18,836 in the past fiscal.
Of the rest forests divisions, the Chittagong Hill Tracts North Forest Division has earned Taka 2,40,33,102 taking its stance at second in earning followed by the Kaptai Pulpwood Plantation Division Taka 1,66,84,552 while the Khagrachhari Forest Division Taka 1,29,32,856 and Rangamati unclassed State Forest Division Taka 80,89,840 during the last fiscal. The Karnaphuli Paper Mills Limited at Chandraghona under Kaptai upazila of the district, the largest paper manufacturing plant in the south-east Asia, an industrial unit of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, is solely depend for raw materials on RFC, observed the CF.

Sports

Pakistan prevail in thrilling finale
Cricinfo

Pakistan's long, long wait for a Test victory over Australia finally came to an end amid scenes of excruciating tension on the fourth morning at Headingley, as a simple equation of 40 runs for victory with seven wickets still standing was made to look as complex as Fermat's Last Theorem. They eventually crept home with three men still standing, but their collective nerves in tatters, as Umar Gul launched the winning shot through the covers with the scores already level.
The margin of victory looked more comfortable than it felt, and that's putting it mildly. The eventual difference between the sides was the wicketkeeper, Kamran Akmal, whose 13 from 26 balls was as close as Pakistan came to a composed fourth-day performance. That said, had Akmal been given out caught in the gully with five runs still required, who knows what miracles might have transpired. Mike Hussey's low scoop was turned down by the TV umpire, but after Mohammad Aamer had edged another four to balance the books, Akmal slammed another chance which Hussey this time plucked to his left.
The morning had begun amid scenes of raucous optimism from the noisy knots of Pakistan fans in the Western Stand - lured by five pound tickets and the prospect of a chance to witness history - and there was an early moment of poignancy as well, as Rudi Koertzen was given a guard of honour to commemorate the final day of his 108-Test umpiring career.
But as soon as the focus returned to the centre of the field, Australia resumed their attack with the same vigour that had hauled them back into contention in the final moments of the third evening's play. Doug Bollinger, who had jolted Pakistan with two wickets in seven balls, made it three in 17 as the overnight anchor, Azhar Ali, feathered a length delivery through to Tim Paine, only moments after spanking a full toss through the covers to bring up his maiden Test half-century.
At 146 for 4, with a tantalising 34 still needed for victory and Australia's fielders cranking up the chatter, the stage could hardly have been less ideal for the impetuous Umar Akmal, a man who likes nothing better than to blaze away with impunity. He edged Ben Hilfenhaus for a streaky four through third slip, a shot accompanied by a roar of relief from the stands, but one over later, he was gone as well, via a flat-footed poke to a regulation outswinger.
With Bollinger bounding in with the unstoppable intent of a latter-day Merv Hughes, appeals and alarms were two-a-penny. Kamran Akmal survived consecutive appeals for caught behind and lbw - both rightly turned down by Koertzen - before Shoaib Malik was dropped one over later by a diving Michael Clarke at second slip. He couldn't make his luck count, however, as Marcus North at extra cover clung onto a full-blooded drive off Hilfenhaus, to leave Pakistan on the ropes at 161 for 6, with Mohammad Aamer's appearance at No. 8 scarcely helping to settle the nerves.
Kamran's response was two priceless fours in five balls - the first a touch streaky as he snicked an outswinger away through third man, the second more emphatic as he got up onto his toes to punch a drive through extra cover. With 13 consecutive Test victories over Pakistan, including their corker at Sydney in January, Australia's belief did not waver at any stage of the morning, but in the final analysis, they were unable to make amends for their 88-all-out debacle on the first day.

  Anderson declines ICC vice-president request
Cricinfo

Sir John Anderson does not want to be the next ICC vice-president in a decision that further complicates the search for a suitable candidate after John Howard was rejected last month. Anderson, a former chairman of New Zealand Cricket, was seen as the smoothest second choice following the ICC board's order that Australia and New Zealand find another option.
Howard, 70, remains the candidate but Alan Isaac, the current New Zealand Cricket chairman, and his Australian counterpart Jack Clarke will continue discussions before a decision is expected after Cricket Australia's board meeting on August 13. Clarke, an Adelaide solicitor, remains the man most likely to step into the ICC job, but there is the possibility of trying again with Howard, the former Australia prime minister.
Anderson was New Zealand's original choice for the role before an independent panel decided Howard was the best candidate as the countries' joint nomination. The ICC board did not even vote in Singapore on Howard's appointment, which would have included a two-year term as president from 2012, after members from six countries signaled their opposition.
New Zealand Cricket's board learned of Anderson's decision on Friday. "Unfortunately Sir John advised me that he is not available to be considered as a possible nominee," Isaac said.
"The NZC board respects Sir John's position and acknowledges the outstanding contribution he has made to the game of cricket. We have recommenced discussions with Cricket Australia around a proposed way forward." Anderson took on more company director positions after being overlooked originally and is the chairman of an agriculture business.
A decision does not have to be made until the end of August and neither side is chasing an urgent resolution to the drawn-out affair. The Australian board remains angry about the treatment of Howard, who was vetoed due to a mixture of his political links and lack of experience in cricket administration.
The board members were briefed by Clarke at a special meeting on July 9, but decided to wait until next month to discuss potential candidates. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's chief executive, said the Howard decision was still "terribly disappointing".
"The process [of re-nominating a candidate] is something that needs to be done jointly between Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket," he said. "In time we will have a chance to get together and talk about the next step. At the moment John Howard remains our nomination."

   Andy Roddick reaches Atlanta Championships semi-finals
BBC Online

Roddick won 4-6 6-3 6-4 in a repeat of the 2001 Atlanta final, the last time the city hosted an ATP tour event.
He achieved the vital break at 4-4 in the decider after opting to drop back behind the baseline to receive serve.
"I wasn't returning well close in. I just didn't have my timing," said Roddick, who next meets Mardy Fish.
"He was in a pretty decent groove on first serves in the third set...but he doesn't normally pop aces. I gave him a different look."
Roddick, who hit 17 aces during the match, is chasing the 20th title of his career on hard courts.
But fellow American Fish, the sixth seed and champion on grass in Newport, Rhode Island two weeks ago, is likely to prove a tough opponent following his convincing 6-3 6-0 win over Taylor Dent.
John Isner, meanwhile, raced through to the last four in just 56 minutes with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Michael Russell.
Isner, who set a new record at Wimbledon last month when he and Nicolas Mahut played out the longest match in the history of the championships, was delighted to win so quickly.
His match in the previous round against Gilles Muller lasted two and a half hours and he said: "I felt better today than I did in my first match. I knew I would need to play better - even in this ridiculous heat.
"It's brutal when you're out there and you can't get a break from the sun - you can't get a breeze out there. "
Isner's semi-final opponent will be South African Kevin Anderson, who defeated Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-3 6-4.
The pair are former rivals in university tennis and Isner added: "He has rolled through the tournament. He has a huge serve and forehand.

  Bon Jovi donates match tickets to Aussie fans
AFP, Sydney

US rocker Jon Bon Jovi will donate seats to fans as part of his association with new Australian A- League football club Melbourne Heart this season, the club said on Saturday.
Lifelong sports fan Bon Jovi has taken on the role as the club's number one international ticket holder and in a gesture has purchased four premium memberships and will donate seats for each home game to football fans.
Bon Jovi, whose band is touring Australia in December, was until recently the owner of American professional indoor football team Philadelphia Soul and is keen to help out the Heart in their inaugural season, starting on August 5.
"I like to think I pour my heart into whatever I do, so supporting Melbourne Heart FC seemed pretty natural, but I wanted to see if I could share that feeling with Heart fans," Bon Jovi said in a club statement.

  Revolt to force Japan FA boss out of office
AFP, Tokyo

The head of Japan's football association, who is spearheading the country's bid for the 2022 World Cup, is to quit following a boardroom revolt over his "forceful" rule, press reports said Saturday.
Motoaki Inukai, 68, is expected to be replaced as Japan Football Association (JFA) president by his deputy and longtime FIFA executive committee member Junji Ogura, 71, in a vote on Sunday, the reports said.
Inukai, whose two-year term was to conclude at the end of this month, had previously sought a second stint while pushing Japan's campaign to stage the World Cup again after co-hosting the 2002 edition with South Korea.
But only a "small number" of the JFA's 25 executives reportedly supported him in an unsigned vote of confidence conducted before the World Cup in South Africa, where Japan unexpectedly reached the last 16 for the first time on foreign soil.
The result has prompted a 10-member panel, tasked with nominating candidates for top JFA posts, to drop Inukai despite his immense influence in the association and pick the moderate and internationally-known Ogura.
Inukai is to continue as head of the 2022 bid committee.
The influential Asahi Shimbun commented: "President Inukai, known for his forceful approach, has at times done business without securing sufficient consensus within the organisation."
The upheaval comes just days after a FIFA inspection team praised Japan's World Cup bid, which includes a plan for 3-D match telecasts.
"Japan's advance to the round of 16 at South Africa 2010 has not worked to his (Inukai's) advantage. His unpopularity in the association has remained while the idea emerged to promote widely trusted vice president Ogura," the daily Sankei Shimbun said.
Since taking over from long-serving Saburo Kawabuchi as JFA chief, Inukai has campaigned to change the J-League's spring-autumn season to synchronise with Europe's autumn-spring season.
But J-League chairman Kenji Onitake has opposed the change as many domestic clubs prefer not to play in midwinter in snow-bound areas.
Inukai, a former president of J-League club Urawa Red Diamonds, has also pushed for footballing exchages with Spain and other powerhouses to develop young talent at home.
Ogura, who managed a football club at Furukawa Electric Co before the J-League's launch in 1993, joined the JFA in 1991.
He was instrumental in Japan's successful joint bid with South Korea for the 2002 World Cup.
Ogura took the post of JFA vice president in 1998 and has been a member of the FIFA executive committee since 2002, a post he will leave next year.
Last month, he received the FIFA Order of Merit for his contribution to football.

  Austerity bites in London with two years to go
AFP, London

The 2012 London Olympics opens in two years' time but while the construction of stadiums is on track, the massive project faces a financial squeeze as Britain's austerity measures bite.
The world's finest athletes will do battle from July 27, 2012 in a once- depressed area of east London which has been transformed by a vast programme of stadium-building and urban regeneration.
The venues may be less spectacular than at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the organisers of the Games in London intend to leave a legacy of improved housing and urban infrastructure rarely created by a sports event.
Sebastian Coe, the former Olympic champion credited with helping to win the Games for London and very much their public face, is treating the daunting 24 months ahead in the same way as he approached his medal-laden athletics career.
Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee (LOCOG), likened the project's progress to being at the 600-metre point of an 800 metres race, the event in which he held the world record for 16 years.
"We are just entering the back straight on the second lap and of course the killing zone in an 800 metres is between 500 and 600 metres. That is the platform that you build for what happens in the finishing straight. "This is where a lot of what you do in the finishing straight and what it looks like when you get across the line is shaped. This year is a very important one for us," he told AFP in an interview. The main Olympic Stadium and its distinctive white crossed- girder design is fast taking shape and the 80,000 seats are being fitted, while the extraordinary Aquatics Centre, its roof resembling a stingray, is impressive. Coe notes with pride that construction of many of the Olympic venues will be completed this time next year.

  Abahani and Mohammedan emerge joint champions in Premier Div Hockey

UNB, Dhaka

Abahani Limited and Mohammedan SC emerged joint champions in the Green Delta Metropolis Premier Division Hockey after Abahani Limited beat Mohammedan SC by 5-2 goals in the last league match at the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium Saturday.
The league committee, after an emergency meeting this (Saturday) evening with officials of the two clubs, announced them joint champions as both teams secured equal 36 points from 13 matches in the league.
This is for the second time Abahani won the joint crown after 2006 with Usha KC. With the day's feat, Abahani Limited not only took their sweet revenge of the first league's defeat against their old foe but also broke Mohammedan's all-win record in the meet. After the match, Abahani coach Kausar Ali said that their team spirit was tremendous on the day and their strikers Sohel Abbas and Puskar Kisha played superbly.
He said: "We played good hockey today… this was our best performance in the league."
Replying to a question, Kausar said Mohammedan did not play well as their local recruits including their star strikers Jimmy and Musa failed to play their natural game. Abahani skipper Faruk Ahmed also expressed his satisfaction over the performance of his teammates.Mohammedan coach Zahirul Islam Mitul admitted that they failed to play their normal game. "Our local recruits showed dismal performance. It was a bad day for us."
In the day's match, Pakistani recruit Sohel Abbas and Puskar Kisha scored two goals each while Modasser Ali Khan netted the other goal for the winners.
Musa Mia and Mohammad Sabbir scored one goal each for the losers, both in the first half which ended 2-2.Abbas opened the account for Abahanbi early in the 6th minute from a penalty corner, as he sent the ball home after taking it from Biplob (1-0).
Musa restored the parity for Mohammedan in the 23rd minute with a powerful hit off a Sabbir pass (1-1).Abahani again went ahead in the 31st minute with Puskar Kisha scoring with a powerful hit off a close pass from Biplob (2-1). Sabbir leveled the margin again for Mohammedan SC in the 34th minute with a direct powerful hit taking advantage of misunderstanding among the Abahani defenders (2-2).After the lemon break, Abbas scored his second goal, the third for Abahani, in the 43rd minute again converting a penalty corner. He took the ball from Biplob and made no mistake to send the ball home (3-2).
Puskar Kisha further widened Abahani margin scoring his second goal, the fourth for his team, in the 57th minute with a powerful hit (4-2). Modasser completed the winners' tally scoring the fifth goal for
Abahani with a direct hit giving no chance to Mohammedan custodian Zahid Hossain (5-2).Earlier, in another match, Dhaka Mariner Youngs Club beat Sonali Bank SRC by 4-3 goals at the same venue.

   Malinga to miss second Test against India
Cricinfo Online

Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan fast bowler, has been rested from the second Test against India beginning in Colombo on July 26. Malinga was one of the architects of Sri Lanka's ten-wicket win in Galle but will miss out at the SSC because of "stiffness in his knee". He will be replaced by Dilhara Fernando, while spinner Ajantha Mendis also returned to the squad.
Aravinda de Silva, the chairman of selectors, said Malinga was rested on the advice of team physiotherapist Tommy Simsek after the bowler complained of stiffness in his dodgy right knee, which had kept him out of Test cricket for 30 months.
"We have to be cautious with Malinga. He was not feeling quite fit to go through a five-day Test. He complained of stiffness in his knee," de Silva said. "We are closely monitoring Malinga's fitness and we are hopeful he will be fully fit for the third Test starting in ten days time." The third Test starts on August 3 at the P Sara Oval.
Malinga had made his comeback to Test cricket in Galle after a long absence and played a critical role in Sri Lanka's victory by taking 5 for 50 in the second innings. He bowled a total of 30 overs in the match for seven wickets.
The setback to Malinga is a severe blow for Sri Lanka especially since the SSC Test will be their first after Muttiah Muralitharan retired from the format. Malinga and Muralitharan had combined to take 15 of India's 20 wickets in Galle.
Mendis, who had taken 6 for 67 in a practice game against the Indians but was overlooked for the first Test, is likely to take Muralitharan's place. The other contender for the spot, offspinner Suraj Randiv, retained his place in the squad.
Following Muralitharan's retirement, former captain Mahela Jayawardene was named vice-captain to Kumar Sangakkara. "We want Mahela, who has a good cricket brain, to be part of the decision-making process in the middle," de Silva said.
Squad: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Prasanna Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welagedara, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath, Thilina Kandamby, Dammika Prasad, Lahiru Thirimanne, Nuwan Pradeep.

   Chelsea star Drogba sidelined for three weeks
AFP, London

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is set to be sidelined for three weeks after surgery on a groin injury.
Drogba, 32, had struggled with the groin problem for much of last season and Friday's surgery was needed to ensure his injury doesn't linger in the new campaign.
The Ivory Coast star is unlikely to recover in time for the Community Shield clash against Manchester United at Wembley on August 8 and could miss the start of Chelsea's Premier League title defence as well.
Drogba, who hit 37 goals last season to fire Chelsea to the double, was hindered by an arm injury at the World Cup and scored just once in three matches as his country crashed out at the group stage.
A Chelsea statement read: "Didier Drogba successfully underwent minimally invasive surgery yesterday (Friday) on the groin injury that had troubled him for some of last season.
"The decision to perform the procedure after his return from the World Cup was made to optimise his rehabilitation, and he is expected to return to full training in approximately three weeks."
Drogba's injury is the latest blow to Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, who has already seen Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech and Brazilian defender Alex ruled out for a month due to injuries suffered in training this week.

   India’s Tendulkar denies blood-in-book report
AFP, New Delhi

Sachin Tendulkar has denied a report that his blood will be used in a special pictorial "celebration" book on the career of the Indian cricket legend. The mammoth book slated to appear in February is designed to be the "ultimate tribute to a living sporting legend" and "the definitive work on his life and career", publishers Kraken said.
The 37-year-old Tendulkar, who is in Sri Lanka playing a Test series, denied reports which appeared last week in British newspaper The Guardian that his blood would used on the book's signature page.
"There is no truth in my blood being part of the book," Tendulkar told The Times of India in comments published on Saturday.
Kraken chief executive Karl Fowler was quoted by the British broadsheet as saying 10 copies of the book would be printed using Tendulkar's blood. Fowler, who had been earlier cited as saying Sachin's blood would be "mixed into the paper pulp so it's a red resin" told the Times of India that his comments had been "misunderstood."

  Carvalho wants to join Mourinho at Real Madrid
AFP, Madrid

Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho says it would be "a dream" to join Jose Mourinho, who was his coach at the English club and at Portuguese side Porto, at Real Madrid.
"If there was a possibility to sign with Real Madrid, I would go there right now swimming or running," he said in an interview published Saturday in Spanish sports daily AS.
"It would be a dream to be able to play for Madrid, which I consider to be the best club in the world, and follow the orders of the best coach in the history of football," the 32-year-old Portuguese international added.
"With Mourinho I experienced two marvellous stages at Porto and Chelsea. To have the opportunity to win another Champions League with him at Real Madrid would be tremendous."
Carvalho won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 when Mourinho coached the club.
He joined Mourinho at Chelsea that year for a fee of around 20 million euros but last year he fell down the pecking order at the west London club.
A regular for most of his time at Chelsea, he made just 18 appearances last season - which he has called "the worst year of my life" - as injuries caused him to fall out of the starting line-up.
Mourinho has arrived in a blaze of glory after leading Inter Milan last season to the treble of domestic league and cup in Italy as well as the Champions League.
He has been given a four-year contract and the brief of winning the Champions League within the next two years.

  Cricket: Butt gives thanks as Pakistan beat Australia
LEEDS, England

Pakistan captain Salman Butt praised his young side and their supporters after leading the team to a first Test victory over Australia in 15 years in his first game in charge.
Pakistan just about held their nerve to complete a three-wicket win on the fourth day of the second Test at Headingley here on Saturday as they finished on 180 for seven.
And when tailender Umar Gul hit the winning run at 11.35am local time (1035GMT) on the fourth day, it meant Pakistan had ended a record run of 13 straight Test defeats by Australia stretching back to 1995.
Pakistan's victory also saw them square the series at 1-1 after a 150-run loss in last week's first Test at Lord's which led to their former captain Shahid Afridi's retirement from five-day cricket.
A raw side, without senior batsmen Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan - both left at home after the fall-out from bans imposed following Pakistan's 3-0 Test series loss in Australia last year - resumed on 140 for three.
They lost four wickets for 40 runs on Saturday before Gul hit Mitchell Johnson for the decisive single.
Pakistan had blown a seemingly gilt-edged chance against Australia in Sydney in January when, chasing 176, they were bowled out for 139 in a 36-run defeat.
"Knowing the history, it was a bit nerve-wracking," opening batsman Butt told reporters afterwards.
"Thank God it went positively and we won."
This series was played in England because no major international cricket has taken place in Pakistan since an armed attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore in March last year.
"Beating the world's best is an achievement which I owe to this young team," Butt said. "We owe it also definitely to the people back in Pakistan.

  BD Army clinch top slot
UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Army clinched the top slot securing seven gold and one silver medal in the Southeast Bank 26th National Senior Boxing Championship that concluded at the Mohammad Ali Boxing Stadium here today (Saturday).
Bangladesh Ansar finished a distant 2nd in the eleven weight-categories meet with three gold, two silver and three bronzes while BKSP was placed 3rd with one gold, one silver and one bronze.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Youth and Sports Ministry M Zahid Ahsan Russell was the chief guest at the closing function of the four-day meet and distributed the prizes.
Southeast Bank managing director Mahbubul Alam and Bangladesh Boxing Federation president Mahbub Ahmed were present on the occasion.