SATURday, june 26, 2010 ashar 12, 1417, RAJAB 13, 1431 Hijri

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Leading News

AL urges BNP to withdraw tomorrow’s hartal
TBT Report

As all preparations for a country-wide dawn to dusk hartal called by the main stream opposition for tomorrow are complete the ruling Awami League has reiterated its call upon BNP to withdraw the hartal.
Awami League on Friday urged BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia to call off the hartal of 27 June as their is no situation in the country that justified such a programme which causes sufferings to the people.
The request to BNP for the withdrawal of hartal was made on behalf of AL by its joint general Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif while speaking at a discussion at National Press Club on Friday. He said hartal should be treated as the last resort in the process of democratic movement to realise demands. But he regretted that BNP has opted for using this weapon at the very first instance although in democratic politics hartal has become totally ineffective nowadays.
Awami League Joint Secretary said, the opposition leader first tried to create a political issue against AL out of the Bhola by-election. But having failed she is now raising some other slogans to whip up anti-government movement in the country. She is also trying to use CCC poll results as a political verdict of the people although it was a local body election, Hanif added. The Awami League leader claim that his party did not resorted to use repressive measures against the people during its one and half year rule, although BNP-Jamaat Alliance had let loose a reign of terror in the country from the very beginning of its last term. Besides the government is trying is best to resolve the problems of the people. So the justification for a hartal call is not their at all. He said it is unfortunate that a leader like Begum Khaleda Zia is a spreading lies against the government to derive political benefit.
Urging the BNP to call of the strike of tomorrow Hanif said, even though the opposition party goes ahead with its hartal programme the AL will not take to the street to resist as we are firmly committed to democratic principles.
UNB adds: State Minister for Law Adv Qamrul Islam and former Home Minister Mohammad Nasim also addressed the meeting. Qamrul said Awami League will not face the hartal politically, rather, the opposition's agitation will be faced by the administration.
"A democratically elected government is in place running the country. If any party tries to create anarchy, the government will face it administratively," Qamrul said. Nasim was highly critical of the opposition leader for calling the Hartal 'unnecessarily'.
Referring to Khaleda Zia's call to the government not to take any step against the hartal, Nasim said "Yes, the government will also help you on the question of hartal the way you had helped us during your regime."

 hartal tomorrow
Khaleda asks police, admin
to act impartially
She urges ruling party ‘not to let loose its terrorists on streets’

UNB, Dhaka

Opposition leader and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Friday asked the police and the civil administration to act impartially during the Sunday's dawn-to-dusk hartal.
She also urged the ruling party "not to let loose its terrorists on streets" by organizing any counter program to the hartal.
Khaleda gave the calls at a press conference at her Gulshal office on Friday afternoon, two days ahead of the nationwide day-long hartal, the first against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 18-month-old government.
"We and the people want to observe hartal peacefully," she said and urged the government not to obstruct their peaceful program or resort to any provocative acts.
The BNP chairperson urged the "responsible persons" to ensure that no official make any excess or behave in a biased manner.
Asked about the DMP Commissioner's caution against meetings and processions on the streets on the hartal day, Khaleda said that if the government and its agency create impediments, they will have to bear the responsibility of any evolving situation.
The opposition leader said they have not yet raised formal demand for the resignation of the government or for mid-term elections. "I would like to tell the people in power that still there is time to correct them by realizing the gravity of the situation."
She said: "If the people of Bangladesh do not want you, local or foreign forces will not be able to keep you in power."
Khaleda said the Sunday's hartal is an "alert" and the BNP's next course of action will depend on how the government behaves during hartal and in the future. She alleged that a large number of BNP leaders and workers have been arrested across the country, including the capital, ahead of the hartal and attempts are being made to arrest more party activists. The BNP chairperson condemned such repressive actions of the government and demanded immediate release of the arrested party leaders and workers.
She urged people of all walks of life to express protest against the present "oppressive" government through the June 27 countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal by suspending their daily activities stopped for few hours.
She said people of Chittagong have given "a historic mass verdict" against the failure and misrule of the government through the just concluded Chittagong City Corporation elections. The opposition leader hoped that the government would heed to the alert signal that the people of Chittagong sent to the government.
Khaleda called upon the countrymen to make the Sunday's hartal a total success, following the positive path shown by the people of Chittagong.

 Police take preparations to keep order in capital
UNB, Dhaka

The police administration has taken massive preparations to maintain order in the capital during the opposition BNP sponsored June 27 hartal, with the DMP Commissioner warning of tough action for creating chaos.
After a meeting with senior police officers at the Rajarbag police lines, DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Huq told reporters that 10,000 law enforcers will be deployed in the capital to deal with any untoward incident on the hartal day.
"All kinds of security will be ensured for peaceful hartal, but chaos and indiscipline in the name of hartal will be dealt with strong hand," he said.
The Police Commissioner said as enforcement of hartal is a democratic right of a political party, similarly it is the democratic right of the people to ply vehicles and keep open business and institutions. "Tough action will be taken if any one creates any impediment."
He said all kinds of meetings and processions have been banned on VIP roads. Besides, action will be taken under the criminal law if anyone obstructs movement of vehicles or normal public life at Mirpur, Tongi Diversion Road, Bishwa Road and other important points.
Asked if police will go for mass arrest before the hartal, the Police Commissioner said a list has been prepared of those who may resort to subversive acts and police is trying to arrest them. Official sources said capital Dhaka has been divided into nine sectors to maintain security on the hartal day. Police will be posted at 451 picketing points. Some 74 striking mobile teams and 135 mobile patrols will be on duty.

   BCL factional clash injures 20 in Cox’s Bazar
UNB, Cox's Bazar

At least 20 people were injured in a series of clashes between rival groups of Cox's Bazar district unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on Thursday night soon after the district council began.
Police said although Cox's Bazar district BCL conference was held peacefully at the Cox's Bazar Cultural Centre on Thursday afternoon, the two groups of BCL locked in altercation on the eve of the council election at night.
At one stage, the two groups attacked each other leaving 20 injured on both side. Around 15 rounds of bullet were exchanged during the clash.
The central BCL leaders were detained at the conference hall during the clash. Police rescued them at about zero hours and escorted them for few kilometers on their way to Dhaka by road.
Earlier, Awami League organizing secretary Ahmed Hossain, AL leaders Aminul Islam Amin and Abdur Rahman Badi MP, BCL president Mahmud Hasan Ripon and secretary Mahfuzur Rahman Chowdhury Roton, among others, addressed the conference.

   Dhaka targets dangerous vehicles
AFP, Dhaka

Bangladesh announced a crackdown Friday on the thousands of decrepit and dangerous vehicles that ply Dhaka's busy roads in a bid to ease chronic traffic congestion.
A team of 17 magistrates has been appointed to identify and remove from service an estimated 12,000 buses, minibuses and trucks that are over 20 years old, said Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain.
"This drive will greatly help reduce traffic jams and accidents in the capital," he said.
Buses that are older than 20 years are already banned from the capital's streets, but the law is routinely ignored. Local media reports say illegal buses are involved in the majority of road accidents in Dhaka.
Dhaka is one of the most congested cities in the world, according to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). BRTA said the city has 527,285 licensed vehicles, but this is growing by about 20,000 a year in line with the city's population growth -- which is up from 20,00,000 in 1974 to 12 million in 2010.

   Foreign assistance
BD gets US$ 1829 m in July-May

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh received US$ 1829.73 million as foreign assistance from the development partners during the 11 months (July-May) of the current fiscal year (2009-10).
Of the total foreign assistance, US$ 1445.69 million came as loan while US$ 384.03 million as grants, said a source at the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
Of the total loan, Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided US$ 995.211 million, World Bank (WB) US$ 316.858 million, Japan US$ 75.21 million and the rest by other development partners.
Of the total grant, UK's DFID provided US$ 107.45 million, European Union US$ 41.38 million, Germany US$ 47.93 million, World Bank US$ 40.42 million, UN system US$ 50.06 million and World Food Programme US$ 70.80 million.
During the same period (July-May), Bangladesh's repayment totaled US$ 773.55 million. The development partners earlier made commitments of providing US$ 2404 million to Bangladesh in the current fiscal year.

   Portugal advances with Brazil
AFP, Durban

Portugal qualified for the second round of the World Cup after battling to an ill-tempered 0-0 draw with five-time champions Brazil in their final Group G game on Friday.
In a match that was hyped as a potential showcase for the "beautiful game", there was not much samba on display with seven yellow cards brandished in the first-half alone and only a handful of decent attempts on goal.
Brazil, who had already qualified for the last 16 after wins over North Korea and Ivory Coast, dominated possession and looked extremely solid at the back while Portugal looked over-reliant on captain Cristiano Ronaldo up front.
Portugal, on a run of 17 matches without defeat, needed a draw to guarantee going through to the next round ahead of Ivory Coast and arguably had the best chance of a winner in the 60th minute.

Back Page

President, PM call for establishing narcotic-free society
BSS, Dhaka

President M Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday called for united efforts by all to establish a narcotic-free healthy and peaceful society.
In separate messages on the eve of International Day Against Drug Abuse, they wished success of all programmes taken on the occasion against the abuse and smuggling of narcotics. President Zillur Rahman said the negative impact of narcotics on the family, society and state is serious.
The youth community is derailing and the trend of crime increasing because of the abuse of narcotics. This is affecting peace in family and values in society, he added.
The President said the people of all strata would have to come forward to prevent the spread of narcotics.
He urged all conscious members of families and society to contribute more to save the juvenile and the youth. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in her message that the abuse and smuggling of narcotics are man-made problems. The government is determined to resolve the problems, she added.
The government is working with a view to developing a non- communal, happy and prosperous Bangladesh by building a narcotic- free society, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the country's youth community has fallen a victim to narcotics addiction, but a healthy and committed youth community is essential to materialise the government announced 'Vision 2021'.
Therefore, the youth community must be freed from the grip of narcotics, she said.
The Prime Minister urged the non-government and voluntary organisations, teachers, Imams of mosques and all others to come forward and build a social movement against narcotics.

   Purbachal, Uttara allottees to get letter in July
Fresh offer for Jhilmil project soon

BSS, Dhaka

After distributing the allotment letters for Purbachal and Uttara 3rd project from July next, the capital land development authority is going to offer more plots and apartments at its Jhilmil Residential Project by December next.
In Purbachal New Town Project allotment letters for over 5,611 plots of different sizes-three kathas, five kathas, seven and half kathas and ten kathas-while in the Uttara 3rd Project, over 600 allotment letters for two sizes - three and five kathas- would be handed over to the respective allottees.
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) Chairman Engineer Md Nurul Huda told BSS that making the allotment letter for Purbachal and Uttara 3rd project is almost complete and expressed hope that distribution process will start from next month.
Replying to a question, he said, distribution of letters to the respective allottes has been delayed, as our staff are busy with the refund of money to the unsuccessful applicants.
Over 1.57 lakh applications were received, of them RAJUK made refund of deposit to over 1.40 lakh applicants, who could not succeed in getting plots in the lottery conducted by BUET. Rest of the applicants, who had either lost their money receipt (MR) or deposit receipts, which resulted in RAJUK officials spending more time to refund the money to its genuine owners.
Reducing pressure on the capital and expanding civic facilities to the city dwellers in the extended area, The RAJUK chief said we are going for planned urbanization at Jhilmil project between Dhaka and Keraniganj.
The Jhilmil project is located in Keraniganj across the Buriganga river, beside the Dhaka-Mawa highway, eight kilometers off the zero point in the capital. RAJUK is going to construct a three-kilomteter long flyover from Golap Shah Mazar to Babu Bazar that will connect the Jhilmil area to the city center. In the first phase, the project area comprises 381.19 acres of land, where 1,887 residential plots of different sizes with all necessary infrastructures and urban facilities including schools, colleges, hospitals, medical centers, mosques, temples churches, playgrounds and lakes will be constructed.
The original cost of the project was Taka 136.17 crores and when it was revised it stood at Taka 335.73 crores. In the second revision it was proposed that the estimated cost would be Taka 3512.54 crores (1997-2014) and the project profile (PP) was submitted to the housing ministry on August 16 last year.
In the first phase at Jhilmil, the number of residential plots would be 1,674. Of those 177 plots are of two and half kathas, 1,239 plots of three kathas, 144 plots of five kathas, 108 plots of seven and half kathas and nine would be different seizes while 213 plots have been earmarked for civic facilities.

   Tk 1255cr dev project to upgrade BSC
BSS, Chittagong

The government has taken a massive development project of Taka 1255 crore for upgrading the national flag carrier, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), into international standard shipping organization within the next fiscal of 2010-2011l.
According to the project profile, BSC will purchase six large vessels at a cost of about Taka 1209 crore, renovate its marine workshop with an expenditure of about Taka 47 crore and appoint over three hundred staff within upcoming fiscal.
"BSC authority with the approval of its board has sent separate proposals to the Shipping Ministry for total modernization of the state run shipping organisation to compete global marine trade," Commodore Moqsumul Quadar, Managing Director (MD) of BSC told BSS adding that the draft proposals is now with the planning ministry for its approval.
The MD said BSC carries four to five percent export-import goods by its 13 medium scale vessels, has been reeling under manifold problems including huge shortage of manpower and vessels since 1985. The dearth of vessels that badly affects its operational activities has forced the authorities to renovate its many ships spending huge foreign currencies, the source added.
As part of the modernisation plan, BSC is now going to appoint 154 staff through recent newspaper advertisement with government approval. The process of the recruitment will be completed within next three months, the source added.
On the other hand, the authority has already completed Balancing Modernisation Rehabilitation and Expansion (BMRE) of its two vessels 'Kakoli and Kollol" at a cost of Taka 19.5 crore. BSC source said, the authority would purchase six reconditioned vessels not exceeding 10 years old at a cost of Taka 1209 crore by 2010-2011 fiscal.
Among the vessels one mother tanker for carrying crude oil will cost Taka 350 crore, two Product Carriers for carrying Petroleum oil will cost Taka 418 crore, Two Bulk Carriers for carrying exportable and importable goods including cements, fertilizer, salt and others goods will cost Taka 335 crore and another container vessel for carrying containers will cost Taka 106 crore.
BSC MD expressed the hope to purchase three vessels at the end of this year and another three vessels by June 2011. All existing 15 fleets of BSC are 25 years old and if we will not be able to purchase new ships within one or two years our existence will be at stake, he added.
Under the modernisation programme, all foreign going vessels of BSC will have Long Raise Identification and Tracking (LRIT) System compliance from July next. As part of mega plan, BSC authority has started to modernise their Marine Workshop at a cost of Taka 37 crore within June 2011 next.

    Special care should be given to child and juvenile offenders
BSS, Rajshahi

Special care to the child offenders can help recouping them from further offensive activities and to pave them to lead decent life, said the speakers at a seminar here on Thursday.
Besides, they viewed that positive attitude by all the surroundings have been found as the effective means of recovering the juveniles from offensive activities.
The seminar styled "Role of the concerned officials and persons to free the children and juveniles attached to the law enforcers" organized by the Retired Police Officers Welfare Association at Police-in-cervices training center. Human Development Foundation and District Police Administration jointly supported the program. Additional District Magistrate Khandaker Mahbubur Rahman addressed the seminar as the chief guest while Deputy Director of Department of Social Service Hamida Begum and Additional Superintendent of Police Abdul Quddus Chowdhury as special guests with Superintendent of Police SM Rokan Uddin in the chair.
Referring to the country's constitution the speakers opined that every of the child has social, political, economical and all other fundamental rights. But, they lamented that the rights are being violated and many of the detained children are languishing in the jail due to delay of decision.
They observed that the children are being suffered due to the legal weakness and misapplication of law and underscored the need for strengthening of the local government institutions to solve the problem. In his keynote speech, retired SP Tajul Islam illustrated various forms of child and juvenile crimes and strategies relating to release the detained offenders.
He termed the acquittal of a child from offensive clutch as the way of reducing a number of criminal side by side with increasing a number of honest citizens.
In this context, he stated that the number of child offenders could be reduced to a greater extent with collaborative efforts of all concerned.
Among others, Local unit coordinator of Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust Advocate Abdus Samad, President of Shaw Unnayan Mustafizur Rahman Khan, Executive Director of Sachetan Hasinul Islam Chunnu, Headmaster of Intellectually Disabled School Kolpona Roy and Divisional Coordinator of PCAR Project Abdus Sobhan addressed the session.

    Muktijoddha Sangsad election today
BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad, a platform of the Freedom Fighters of Liberation War in 1971, goes to election today.
It will be the first time after independence that the grassroots level freedom fighters will elect their representatives.
The last central committee of the Sangsad was constituted in 2001 with Muktijoddha Sangsad councilors as voters.
A total of 1, 62,355 voters will exercise their franchise at 481 centers across the country, said joint secretary of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs M Jakir Hossain.
He said the voters would elect 41-member central command council, 17-member district command council and 11-member upazila command council.
All preparations were already completed for fair and free election. Three full panels-Ahad-Mohiuddin panel, Gama- Salauddin panel and Helal-Matin panel - will participate in the election. Some independent candidates are also contesting for different posts.
In the central command council, 216 candidates are contesting for 41 posts, of which 10 are racing for the post of chairman, 37 for six vice-chairmen posts and 15 candidates for the posts of three secretaries general.
A five-member Election Commission headed by Cabinet Secretary Abdul Aziz is conducting the election. Other members are Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Shafiq Alam Mehdi, former secretary Hiralal Bala, Brigadier Gen (retd) Jalal Uddin Siddiqui and Major (retd) Abdus Salam.
In Dhaka, vote centers will be set up at Motijheel Ideal High School, Shukrabad Model School and College and Muslim High School to facilitate the voters to cast their votes in their respective areas.

Editorial

Students’ politics of string

Speakers at a round table discussion in the city on Thursday observed that violence and anarchy are prevailing in the country's educational institutions due to students' politics of string. They said, this politics of string started formally in 1976 following the promulgation of Political Parties regulation Ordinance by then Chief Martial Law Administrator Justice Sayem. Under this ordinance, front organization was incorporated in the definition of a political party. As provided by this regulation, Ziaur Rahman issued the Political Parties Ordinance 1978 which is inconsistent with the definition of a political party enshrined in the constitution. Participants in the discussion organized by 'Sujon' in the city suggested that students' politics of string should be put to an end through the implementation of the Representation of People Order (RPO) Act 2009.
Whatever may be the origin and cause of the politics of string, the fact remains that it has become a scourge for the country's education and society. The disastrous impact of such politics is clearly evident from the acts of violence, extortion, tender manipulation and worse still, admission trade by the pro-government Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). Awami League (AL) has brought about two amendments in its constitution in line with the RPO. According to the amendments, Jatiya Sramik League and BCL will no more be the front or associate organizations of AL. The amendments to the AL constitution has come under pressure from the Election Commission in accordance with the provision of the RPO and the growing public demand for separating the politics of students and professionals from the mainstream political party. But even after that the situation has marked no real change.
Politics of students should not be guided by any political party and it should not be utilized to serve the interest of any party. There may be ideological connection between a political party and a student organisation and they may work hand in hand for achieving some common causes. But politics of string is totally unacceptable and any student organisation should not be dictated or run by any political party. But that was what we had seen happening in the country so long. For decades we have seen students, workers, doctors and other professionals serving the political purposes of various political parties as members of associate or front organisations of political parties. There is no basic change in this trend yet.
Public pressure continues to mount on the politicians to stop politics of string by the students. The teachers are also urged to give up politics of allegiance to political parties. Public opinion stress that there should be practice of politics among the students, but the trend of politics of string now prevailing on the campus must be changed. Because, real education cannot be ensured and quality education cannot be achieved unless students and
Students have been involving themselves in politics with open links with political parties since long, but never before there was much controversy over it or pressure from different circles to stop it. True, in the past students politics was relevant and the students in the past played a vital role in the country's democratic movements including language movement, mass upsurge of 1969 and the liberation struggle. In all struggles against military rule and autocratic regimes students took part actively and contributed much to their successes. So, the question of depriving the students of political activities does not arise. They must be allowed to indulge in politics as a conscious section of the society. The students should concentrate on politics relating to student affairs and national issues of vital importance and should not indulge in politics of string to serve the purpose any political party. Political parties also should refrain from using students for serving their own purposes.

 Ensuring food security

Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management on Thursday asked the concerned authorities to expedite rice collection to maintain market supply steady and keep price at the affordable level. The committee at a meeting further asked the authorities to ensure rice collection in North Bengal achieving the target, in addition to taking initiative to import rice to avoid any supply shortfall. The meeting was told that the country is having enough stock of rice and wheat, the challenge is to keep prices stable.
The directive to build food stock has come timely as sufficient stock of food is essential to ensure food security for the people. Food security is a major issue of concern at home and abroad. There is enough food across the world, yet millions remain hungry in poor countries. So, it can be said that producing more food does not guarantee access to food. In order to ensure availability of food for the people, adequate stock must be built and the purchasing capacity of the people has to be increased.
Poverty is a social curse and around 60 million people of the country are poor. With a view to freeing the country of this curse the number of poor has to be reduced as fast as possible. In the opinion of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, famine does not mean shortage of food, but it means lack of capacity to purchase food. Almost same is the case with food insecurity. This is evident from the fact that huge people in our country are facing food insecurity although there is bumper production of food grains. There are many people who skip the night without food not because of scarcity of food in the markets, but because they do not have the money to procure food. So, along with building adequate food stock, efforts should stepped up for poverty alleviation.

Analysis

McChrystal’s sacking and Afghan endgame

Military men are not expected to express their views publicly and if they do they are liable to be sacked, as we have just learnt. But, a negative view of Obama, even questioning his US citizenship and of course patriotism, is widespread among the right-wing in America.

Shafqat Mahmood

President Obama's firing of General McChrystal was expected. More than the notion of establishing civilian supremacy, it was important for the first black president in US history to assert his authority over the military.
To understand this, one has only to replay McChrystal's take in the Rolling Stone interview on his first viewing of the new president. Obama seemed intimidated in the company of the top military commanders, says the general.
Anyone new in a top job like this could be overawed by his circumstances but McChrystal's interpretation is interesting. In his perception, Obama was intimidated, almost as if he expected him to be. Why, maybe because he was a black man and black people are supposed to be intimidated when surrounded by the cream of the white establishment, which the US military is.
Since I have waded into pop psychology, a few more words may be in order. Although the slaves were freed after the Civil War in 1863, it took another hundred years for the blacks to get their basic rights. A large portion of the white community never accepted them to be their equals and many of them still don't.
For a black man to be elected president of the United States is nothing short of a miracle. The officer corps of the US military, which probably has more right-wingers than any other government institution, must have at some level found this hard to accept.
Military men are not expected to express their views publicly and if they do they are liable to be sacked, as we have just learnt. But, a negative view of Obama, even questioning his US citizenship and of course patriotism, is widespread among the right-wing in America.
It is not so much his policies that have led to this opinion. It is just the colour of his skin. Racism is alive and well in the US, as it is in most parts of the world, including Pakistan. Yes, Pakistan because racism is not just among black and white, it is also based on ethnicity and we have plenty of that.
Anyway, back to the US. Thus for Obama to fire McChrystal is not just any US president asserting civilian authority. It is also not quite a Truman-McArthur moment referring to the time when President Truman dismissed General McArthur from the command of US troops in Korea. This is in many ways bigger and you will hear no end of it in the next few years.
The reaction in the Pakistani media has been interesting because the focus is not that much on how a change of command will affect US policy in Afghanistan. It is on a civilian president firing a military man. Again, no surprise this because when a Pakistan prime minister dismissed an army commander, he lost his job.
The notion of civilian control over the military is sacrosanct in a democracy. It implies the supremacy of the people over institutions of the state. But, just as our democracy is imperfect, some of its basic touchstones will take time to find root.
It would help if the politicians through their conduct made themselves worthy of the enormous powers that the Constitution bestows upon them. No one can question their legitimacy or right to rule but it does not add to their charm if they are seen as criminals surviving in power on a technicality.
This is an issue well worth exploring but let us leave it to another time. The McChrystal sacking has once again brought Afghanistan into focus and it is a matter of vital interest to Pakistan. We are fighting an active war in areas adjoining it and Afghanistan has a long border with our restive province of Balochistan. We cannot afford to have a government there that is unfriendly and belligerent. Therefore, any development in Afghanistan has a direct impact on us.
Does the change in American command in Afghanistan signify any change in policy? The US president has been at pains to emphasise that this is not the case. It may well be because the current American Afghan policy was worked out after a long deliberation. The military was an essential stakeholder in this and was taken on board.
What are this policy's essential contours? Although publicly no one says it, it is clear that Obama has decided to wind up the Afghan war before the next presidential election in 2012. This will not mean that all American troops will leave Afghanistan. They will retain a base in Bagram, but will no longer be engaged in active fighting. In this way, it is a replay of the Iraq pullout, where the Americans will retain bases, but leave the security and the fighting to the Iraqis.
The reason why Obama has arrived at this conclusion is simple. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are unpopular in the United States. The people cannot understand what the US is doing there, particularly in Afghanistan. For Iraq, there is at least the support of the Israeli lobby but there is very little for the war in Afghanistan.
Further, the support for the intervention in Afghanistan is nonexistent in the NATO countries. Since they have provided troops and are suffering casualties, they want to pull out. Even the British, who have been the main American supporters, don't want to stay.
Given this context, the exit strategy devised by Obama included a negotiated settlement that would allow the Americans to declare victory and leave and to build the Afghan state structure to an extent that it can maintain control.
This has echoes of the Vietnam exit that failed spectacularly. But, it could work here because of different ethnicities in Afghanistan. The Taliban do not represent all the Afghans as the Viet Cong did in Vietnam. They are essentially Pashtun and while they are in a majority, they have to coexist with other ethnicities. This creates a space for a negotiated settlement.
People like McChrystal argued that to make the Taliban amenable to negotiations, they have to be put under pressure. This view prevailed despite opposition. Hence, the troop surge and the operation in Helmand and another in the works for Kandhar. The first operation has been unsuccessful and the second will fare no better. The Taliban will perhaps negotiate but on their own terms.
The demand on Pakistan is strange. On the one hand, we are being asked to launch a military operation against the Taliban in North Waziristan and apprehend them in other places if they are here. And, on the other, there is a desire for us to facilitate dialogue with them. Thus, they are asking us to attack those who they want us to help become friends with.
These and other contradictions will play themselves out in the next two years. Since it is in the vital interest of Pakistan to have a friendly Afghanistan, we will have to broaden our links to all the Afghan people. The Americans will leave but we have to live here. It is best to start building bridges with everyone.


Email: shafqatmd@gmail.com
 

  Reduce distrust for constructive dialogue

Terrorist groups are growing powerfully and are a big hurdle for the Indo-Pak peace process. They have hijacked almost all conflicting issues between India and Pakistan.

Amit Ranjan

After two years of silent war, India and Pakistan are, once again, going to re-engage in dialogue from July 15, 2010. The foreign minister of India is scheduled to visit Islamabad, where he will hold talks on various issues with his Pakistani counterpart. Many people from the subcontinent have high hopes from this bilateral dialogue, but looking into the record of Indo-Pakistan interaction, it seems that this round is also going to meet with a similar fate to earlier rounds. This is not a pessimistic view, rather an empirical one.
Commenting upon the nature of the dialogue, many editorials and columns have been written in various newspapers and magazines in India. The columnists and editors have positively and negatively highlighted the issues likely to be and that must be raised during the bilateral dialogue. The three major issues that have been focused upon by them are: terrorism, water, and Afghanistan. But I dare to differ from the views of all those who give and are giving priority to only these three issues plus the mother of all problems - Kashmir. Priority-wise, for this author, the first thing they must do is to take steps to reduce the amount of distrust persisting between the people of the two countries. Other issues can follow.
The major problem between the two countries is lack of trust. This trust deficit is present at both political as well as at civil society level. So the first step both countries have to take is to reduce the trust deficit, because it is not possible to build trust overnight. To do this, more people-to-people contacts through various exchange programmes by issuing visas to students, journalists, artists, academicians, etc, must take place, without any problems or hassles. Second, the sportspersons from the two countries should be encouraged to play in each other's countries without hesitation.
There must be tournaments at regular intervals, with the host state taking responsibility for security of sportspersons. This practice must continue even if the peace process gets disturbed due to certain unwanted reasons or ill-fated incidents.
Without reducing widely persisting distrust, it is not possible to resolve even a single contentious issue and so there is no use of engaging in a dialogue at regular intervals. Former foreign minister of Pakistan, Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri, wrote in Times of India that, in 2005, both India and Pakistan almost reached a possible solution of the Kashmir issue but the political turmoil in Pakistan derailed it. Mr Kasuri may be correct because he was part of that process, but the question is: can they implement that or any other form of agreement on Kashmir without any public and institutional backlash against the government of the day? The answer is surely 'no'.
This is because the people and institutions are not politically mature to accept any form of compromise on this issue. So, in order to implement any agreement on any contentious issue, the first thing they have to do is politically prepare the people to accept the agreements. This can only be possible by building trust between the people and establishing a peaceful environment in which this trust can flourish.
Terrorism, like a Frankenstein's monster, is ready to engulf both India and Pakistan. Terrorist groups are growing powerfully and are a big hurdle for the Indo-Pak peace process. They have hijacked almost all conflict issues between India and Pakistan. Earlier they had only one enemy that was India, but now they are in the process of making Pakistan a hell by their continuous attacks on the liberal and democratic space in Pakistan.
They derailed the peace process between the two countries twice, in 1999 and then in 2008, by their nefarious acts. Their rise is a serious concern for the two countries because they are not the enemy of any particular country. They are rather enemies of humanity. Both India and Pakistan should not become a pawn in the hands of these groups by abruptly stopping the dialogue process in the middle. The best way to overcome them is to get engaged in dialogue, even when they try their best to disrupt the dialogue process.
On the water issue, the two countries have, once again, drawn their swords against each other. The rising population in India and Pakistan is putting extra pressure on the agricultural and industrial sectors, the largest consumers of water. Due to the amount of distrust present between the two countries, it is not possible to have joint management of water from the River Indus, which had been proposed by David Linthel in the 1950s. If this happens, it will be the best solution to judiciously use the water from the Indus River System. But that is an ideal position. In the present context, the best way to resolve this conflict is to make the people from the catchment area participate in any policy-making process and take decisions according to their interests.
This process is in the spirit of the Helsinki provisions and has been effective in resolving various water disputes in many countries.
On the Afghanistan issue, both India and Pakistan have to understand the ill effects of the presence of extra-regional powers in their neighbourhood. Instead of looking to establish their hegemony over Afghanistan, they must show the way to resolve the issue in a democratic way. Both of them are regional powers and so they have a responsibility towards the region. Instead of locking horns over Afghanistan, they must try to establish peace there by defeating the Taliban in all forms.
Finally, the Kashmir issue is the mother of all confrontations and conflicts between India and Pakistan. Every war and war-like situation between the two countries has emerged on the Kashmir issue. Frankly, it is very difficult to resolve this issue unless both sides are ready to make certain compromises.
The policy-makers are aware of this fact but they hesitate to go for it because of the risk of a public reaction to any form of compromise made by any side. There are also external as well as internal actors who have their vested interest in making this issue linger because it suits their political and economic interests.
To conclude, fortunately or unfortunately, India and Pakistan are destined to be neighbours, so now they have to decide whether they want to stay peacefully like good neighbours or continue with their conflicts for a few more decades.

Amit Ranjan is a PhD student at the South Asian Studies School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He can be reached at amitranjan.jnu@gmail.com

Viewpoints

Mission impossible

But Washington is still searching for a political strategy at a time when its military efforts are floundering
against the realities on the ground.

Dr Maleeha Lodhi

President Barack Obama fires General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces In Afghanistan for making disparaging remarks about top administration officials in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine
l General McChrystal announces at a NATO conference that the US-led military operation to secure Kandahar will be delayed until September
l Top US military officials keep changing the way they define the campaign putting this at odds with their original description. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates acknowledges pressure to show results by year end but adds there are no "illusions" about "big victories".
l Strong reaction from Washington follows President Hamid Karzai's sacking of two top security officials. One of the fired officials accuses him of doubting whether the US-NATO mission can succeed
l Hastily-called Congressional hearings indicate rising anxiety over the war effort as senior officials are subjected to tough grilling
What do these developments signify? That nine years into the war the US-led mission is mired in confusion and uncertainty. The unresolved tensions in American strategy have now caught up: between a surge and exit announced by President Obama last December, between escalating military pressure and the 'reconciliation' plan being pursued by Karzai, between an unrealistic deadline set for Afghan forces to take over security responsibilities and the continued lack of progress in building a professional army, and between promises to improve governance and the absence of an effective 'local partner', exacerbated by deepening American mistrust of the Afghan leader.
This muddled approach indicates that Washington neither knows how to end the conflict nor how to continue an unpopular war that cannot be won. Many NATO nations are already looking for the exits. Most members of the international community would prefer to see a political settlement that brings the conflict to a close. But Washington is still searching for a political strategy at a time when its military efforts are floundering against the realities on the ground.
At least four immediate factors raise questions about the US approach. One, the increasingly troubled relationship between Washington and Kabul which Karzai's dismissal of his intelligence chief and interior minister again brought to the fore. The American response to their removal reflected annoyance over 'losing' officials described as being the "closest to the US".
It led to renewed questioning whether Karzai was an ally or obstacle in officially orchestrated American media comment. This was also fuelled by Amrullah Saleh's desperate and unseemly attacks against his former boss. Among the allegations he hurled at Karzai was that he was striving to strike a deal with Pakistan and the Taleban to prepare for a post-America scenario in Afghanistan. Given Saleh's longstanding animus against Pakistan and his opposition to 'reconciliation' this rant was unsurprising. But revived strains between Kabul and Washington showed how they were marching out of step towards the Afghan endgame.
Two, Washington continues to be ambivalent about the political path Karzai appears to be pursuing. He was able earlier this month to gain the endorsement of the peace jirga for his reconciliation effort to reach out to the Taleban. Of course he only proceeded once he had secured Washington's backing for "reintegration" of low-level Taleban fighters. But US doubts about who to negotiate with and how and when to do so imposes constraints on the ability of these efforts to make headway.
Moreover 'reconciliation' is still a goal and not a strategy. Karzai has yet to evolve a clear political path towards attaining this goal. Meanwhile the declared US intent to press ahead with the military push in Kandahar is at odds with the path of negotiations that the Afghan peace jirga approved. The US still believes that once it has militarily weakened the insurgency it would be better positioned for negotiations as the Taleban would be forced into talking peace. This view rests on questionable grounds. Some of these surfaced during a recent conference on Afghanistan-Pakistan at Centcom headquarters ?at Tampa.
Three, it is more than apparent that despite claims to the contrary, efforts at building Afghan forces to gradually take over security responsibilities and meet the timelines set have made little headway. Building professional and competent Afghan army and police forces has proven much harder than American officials anticipated. The ambitious numbers and tight deadlines set are way off target. As Secretary Gates recently admitted the coalition is short of even trainers to expand the Afghan National Army. Morale in the ANA remains low, illiteracy is high and the rate of defections continues to increase.
This addresses attention to the fourth unresolved contradiction in US strategy: a lack of alignment among different elements and disconnect between various timelines. The start of a troop pullout is planned for next July, the Afghan army is supposed to be sufficiently trained and ready by then to start assuming some responsibility, the military surge is expected to be completed this August, the Kandahar campaign is now delayed till early fall, and presumably what McChrystal once called a 'government-in-a-box' is to be rolled out to 'transfer' authority, even though this failed to happen in Marjah. Somewhere in the midst of this Karzai's 'reconciliation' plan has to unfold.
The various stands of the approach are out of sync with one another or clashing with hard ground realities. This not only casts a shadow over next month's international conference in Kabul but the very fate of the US-NATO mission.


Maleeha Lodhi served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom. For comments, write to opinion@khaleejtimes.com

  War for Kashmiri hearts and minds

Having long carried the cross of Partition, Indian Muslim finds it difficult to talk about his own problems, let alone take
on the Kashmiri's existential angst.
 
Aijaz Zaka Syed

It is nearly seven years since I visited Kashmir as a guest of the J&K Tourism. Fond memories of that weeklong visit to the land that Mogul Emperor Jahangir insisted was "paradise on earth" remain as fresh as the valley's incredible landscape.
The experience of staying at the magnificent Grand Palace, former residence of Maharaja Hari Singh, overlooking Dal Lake and against the backdrop of the Pir Panjal mountain range, is enough to last for a lifetime. The rich Kashmiri cuisine that reminded me so much of our own and the warmth of my hosts and friends added to the experience.
At the end of that trip in the spring of 2003 I promised my friends that I'd visit the valley every year. It's a shame I haven't been able to keep that promise. However, I've stayed in touch with my friends in Kashmir. Some of them write to me now and then commenting on my articles, invariably asking me why I never wrote about Kashmir.
Indeed, for all my love and admiration for Kashmir and its people, I have been running scared of the "K" word. (Not that an opinion piece in a distant, foreign newspaper by a little known writer really made a difference to the existence of Kashmiri people). Maybe it's because of the red lines that Indian Muslims have drawn around themselves.
Having long carried the cross of Partition, Indian Muslim finds it difficult to talk about his own problems, let alone take on the Kashmiri's existential angst. No wonder most Kashmiris despise us. As for the rest of India, Kashmir is like another planet. For all our tolerance and liberal ethos, we still cringe at any discussion involving Kashmir and the appalling humanitarian situation in the state.
The K word has acquired a radioactive nature of its own. India and Pakistan, their media, establishments and armies have fought so long and so bitterly over Kashmir that even the most innocuous, harmless discussion involving genuine concerns and problems of Kashmiri people is impossible today. Except for some solitary but immensely courageous voices, there's been deafening silence in the media on the humanitarian disaster brewing in the state that has become a matter of great national prestige for us.
But this is no time to hide and remain silent. Kashmir is burning. And if something is not done soon, the heat will be felt by the rest of India - and the world. If we really care for India and all that it stands for and represents, we must speak out against the shame of human rights abuses going on in the valley.
Ihave watched with growing horror increasing reports of innocent, young boys - as young as 13 - dying in police firing and so-called encounters with security forces. No week passes without people coming out on the streets even in remote villages over some killing or other.
"In Kashmir Valley," writes Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, the outspoken editor of Kashmir Times, "where gross violation of human rights abuse results in anger spilling out on the roads in the form of protests and stone pelting, the agencies are unsparing, responding to every voice, every stone with a bullet. Young boys and men disappear and one hears about them only when 'encounters with militants' turn out to be fake, the dead men turning out to be missing men and not foreign militants as claimed."
This week alone, three young men were killed in police firing and clashes with security forces, one after another, sparking massive protests all over the state. The current round of protests began with the death of 17-year-old Rafiq Bangroo in police firing.
A day after the student's death, another youth protesting Bangroo's death was beaten to death allegedly in custody. And his young cousin Javed Ahmad Malla was killed on Sunday when police opened fire on the funeral procession.
This is the story of just one week in June. The valley has been regularly rocked by protests over the killings and disappearances of young Kashmiris at the hands of police and security forces for years now.
Nearly hundred thousand people have been claimed by the current round of unrest and insurgency that began in the late 1980s. Thousands of Kashmiri men - and boys - have disappeared never to return. But the cost is much higher. Ghastly scars of this long running conflict are not always visible.
From the rape and murder of two Shopian women to the brutalities routinely meted out to Kashmiris in their own land, it's a long tale of betrayal and a love affair turning into a nightmare.
According to international rights groups, almost every home in Kashmir today has either someone missing or someone emotionally scarred or both. Hospitals have little clue how to deal with the never-ending deluge of psychologically damaged people. In any case, you cannot treat acute mental trauma and scars of the soul with aspirin or those meaningless bottles of glucose.
How did the paradise on earth end up like this? Who has turned Jahangir's "firdous" into a living hell? Perhaps both India and Pakistan should share responsibility for this state of affairs. Their bitter rivalry - and many wars - for this coveted piece of territory has turned Kashmir into a large prison for its people from which they can neither escape nor hope for release.
While Pakistan has long used Kashmir as a trump card against its neighbor, sending wave after wave of militants to kill and get killed across the Line of Control, we have seldom looked at the state as little more than a piece of territory.
If the South Asian giants had treated Kashmir as a living people, rather than as a prized piece of real estate, the Kashmir knot would have been resolved long ago.
Personally speaking, as an Indian, I would want nothing better than have Kashmiri friends with us. With its fabled religious tolerance and cultural diversity, Kashmir is perhaps the best example of India's own breathtaking plurality. It has been home to both Hazratbal and the Amarnath temple for centuries. Srinagar's Jama Masjid and Shankaracharya's temple have long coexisted in harmony. Look at the map and see how it seems to sit like a crown on India's head.
However, we cannot protect this crown at gunpoint. We cannot continue to claim that Kashmir belongs to India even as police and security forces terrorize its people. The bulk of India's security forces - a whopping 716,000 - are deployed in Kashmir, the heaviest concentration of troops anywhere in the world. Take a walk along the Dal Lake in Srinagar and there are more soldiers on the road than civilians.
With so many soldiers on the march and throwing their weight around, it's a virtual battlefront out there. Is it any wonder then there's so much of resentment against the security forces in Kashmir today? That powder keg of anger and frustration blows up every now and then at slightest provocation. With so many jackboots on the ground, how can we ever hope to win Kashmiri hearts and minds?
During his recent visit to the state, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked of "creative political and economic initiatives" to address the Kashmiri alienation. He also talked of an economic road map to put the state on the road to progress.
While "creative" solutions are welcome, when will our leaders in Delhi realize that it's not economic dispossession but lack of political empowerment and continuing atrocities that are at the heart of Kashmiri alienation? Manmohan also warned of "zero tolerance" for human rights violations. Once again, a welcome assertion! But why are those responsible for the shame of Shopian and other outrages still at large?
I don't know if and when the K knot will ever be resolved between India and Pakistan. But if India's leaders really want to win back Kashmiri hearts and minds, they must get the army out of Kashmir now. Right away. Before it's too late!
India is rightly loved and admired the world over for its democracy, its philosophy of peace and nonviolence, love and tolerance. We can win Kashmir only with love, not at gunpoint. Kashmir is the land of love and peace, the land of Sufis and saints. Let's not turn it into a battleground. Please!


Aijaz Zaka Syed is a Dubai-based commentator. Write to him at mailaijaz@aol.com

  Emotions are private

Americans shouldn't expect their president to wear his heart on his sleeve.

Jonathan Zimmerman

In 1965, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr published his now-classic tribute to John F. Kennedy. A Thousand Days recounted the triumphs and tragedies of Kennedy's brief presidency, but the book was primarily an exploration of his character, which Schlesinger summed up with a single word: cool.
'Cool' was an emotional style, emphasising detachment and self-control. A cool person had feelings, of course, but he didn't wear them on his sleeve. Instead, he drew a firm line between his inner and outer worlds.
"The Kennedy style was the triumph, hard-bought and well-earned, of a gallant and collected human being over the anguish of life," Schlesinger wrote. "His 'coolness' was itself a new frontier."
I thought of these words as I read the recent attacks on President Barack Obama, who has supposedly displayed a lack of emotion amid the oil-spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Across the political spectrum, pundits are blasting Obama for his coolness in the face of crisis.
The New York Times and Fox News, which are typically at loggerheads about Obama's policies. But when it comes to the president's feelings - or his apparent lack thereof - they stand united: Obama should be emoter-in-chief, and he's falling down on the job.
Times columnist Maureen Dowd called Obama "bloodless", while her colleague Charles M. Blow urged him to "openly empathise with the anger of others". Over at Fox, meanwhile, Sean Hannity was also squealing for some presidential feeling. He said that some say, "[Obama's] so cool under pressure that he hasn't been able to show enough emotion to the American people". Hannity said, "I don't think it's going to fly."
Three Cs
I hope they're wrong. By demanding that Obama show his emotions in public, the critics reinforce the very worst parts of US political culture. Americans can never know what the president is "really" feeling, and - most of all - they shouldn't want to know. So why do they? The answer lies in three broad and mutually reinforcing trends in contemporary American life: confession, celebrity and cynicism. Together, these '3 Cs' threaten to bury US politics in a shallow, superficial gauze. Americans should laud Obama - not lambaste him - for trying to resist them.
America's cult of confession holds that everyone should express their most intimate feelings, preferably on the internet or a reality show. Never mind that the public display of emotions erodes intimacy itself, which is premised on the idea that certain feelings should be reserved for the private realm. Everything is public, or should be.
That line of thinking makes everyone a celebrity, in ambition if not in fact. By airing all of your laundry, dirty and otherwise, you too can achieve a status formerly reserved for Hollywood stars and professional athletes. Dispense with the idea of a firm or stable self. In the new 'reality', we are what we post, blog or Tweet.
And that makes all of us cynics, too. Deep down, we know that we can't be anything that we want. So we become arch and ironic, about ourselves as much as each other. In a land where everyone is manipulating their images, unmoored from fact or authority, whom can you trust? Nobody.
In their plea for Obama to show his 'real' feelings, then, Obama's critics are actually moving US politics away from a shared reality - and into the zone where nothing is true.
After all, who can argue with feelings? The quest to discover US leaders' 'real' feelings reflects what philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre has called 'emotivism', which holds that all judgments are simply "expressions of attitude or feeling".
They're not. The best arguments are the ones that reflect logic, evidence and - yes - reason. So Americans should applaud the president for keeping a lid on his emotions, which would simply interfere with a clear analysis of his policies. Has Obama extracted too little from BP or too much? Has he used the tragedy constructively - to promote a wiser energy policy - or is he simply trying to score political points for his party?
I don't know the answers, but they have nothing to do with Obama's emotions.


Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University.

International

Afghan minister vows no corruption over mineral riches
AFP, London

Afghanistan will be totally transparent in awarding contracts to exploit vast mineral wealth in the war-torn country, its mines minister vowed Friday.
Wahidullah Shahrani, in London to promote opportunities for foreign investors, told BBC radio that Kabul had taken steps to clean up its reputation for corruption.
Under new legislation Kabul will "make sure whatever will be the revenue from the mining operations, it will collected in a very transparent manner, and they will be allocated through the normal budgetary procedures," he added.
A recent study by US geologists found Afghanistan had reserves of valuable minerals on a larger scale than previously believed, possibly up to one trillion dollars.
The value of the minerals, which include lithium, iron, gold, niobium, mercury and cobalt, was estimated at about a trillion dollars, the study said.
Former mines minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel was dropped from the cabinet in February after US media reports that he accepted as much as 20 million dollars to give a copper mine contract.
But his successor Shahrani said Friday: "There are some allegations that have been published in the media. But we have not been able to come up with some evidence."
He stressed that Karzai's government is working with the World Bank, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the International Advisory Council (IAC) to ensure openness.
"We have already committed to them that all our mining operations .. should be overseen by the International Advisory Council to help the government to achieve the highest degree of transparency," he added.
President Hamid Karzai said in January that the deposits could help one of the world's most impoverished nations become one of the richest, based on preliminary findings of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The mineral wealth of the country has not yet been exploited because the country has been mired in conflict for three decades, and is today embroiled in an insurgency by Islamist militants led by the Taliban.

   Bhopal victims angry over new relief package
AFP, New Delhi

Indian campaigners criticised a new 280-million-dollar government package for victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster on Friday, saying it did not go far enough.
Satinath Sarangi, from the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said the new measures would not help the children and grandchildren of those affected by the world's worst industrial accident.
The Indian government said Thursday it would double the compensation for families of the dead and others suffering health problems, meaning 45,000 people would receive additional payments.
"We are asking the group of ministers to include second and third generation individuals who suffer from contamination," Sarangi told AFP, referring to continued pollution after the accident and congenital diseases.
"More importantly we want the government to chase Dow Chemical and hold them responsible."
The new package, unveiled more than 25 years after the accident, comes amid public anger over the handling of the disaster by former governments, with pollution and health problems still rife in Bhopal.
The gas leak killed thousands of people instantly and tens of thousands more from its lingering effects over the following years.
The accident was caused by a pesticide plant 51-percent owned by US chemical group Union Carbide that spewed 40 tonnes of toxic gas into residential areas of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh state in December 1984.
Union Carbide, now owned by Dow Chemical, struck a 470-million-dollar out-of-court settlement with the Indian government in 1989, which absolved it of further responsibility for the medical costs or clean-up of the site. About 100 protestors demonstrated outside the residence of the home minister on Friday, demanding that the Indian taxpayers money must not be used for the clean up of the gas site.
In a move certain to provoke a legal struggle with Dow Chemical, India said it will explore the possibility of extracting more compensation from the company.

  UN war crimes panel chief criticises Sri Lanka ban
AFP, Colombo

The head of a UN panel probing alleged war crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war has criticised a decision by Colombo to block him and colleagues from entering the country, a report said Friday.
Marzuki Darusman, a former Indonesian attorney general, was named Tuesday to lead a team advising UN chief Ban Ki-moon on possible war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during its 37-year separatist war that ended in 2009.
"Everybody loses out if we cannot go to Sri Lanka, it will make it harder for the truth to be unearthed," Darusman told the BBC, describing Sri Lanka's decision to ban them as "most unfortunate."
His remarks came after Sri Lanka's External Affairs minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said Colombo will not grant visas to members of the panel.
The panel was "totally unnecessary," Peiris said Thursday.
He said Sri Lanka had announced its own commission into the end the war, which pitched government troops against Tamil Tiger separatists, and post-conflict ethnic reconciliation.
The UN panel was set up after international pressure for an independent probe into allegations that Tamil civilians were killed by government troops and that surrendering rebels were also executed in cold blood.
The United States, which has been pushing for a war crimes probe, urged Colombo to "take advantage" of the UN initiative.
Ban has asked his three-member panel to complete its work in four months.
When the panel was named on Tuesday, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky emphasised it had a mostly consultative role and that "primary responsibility for investigating rests with the authorities of Sri Lanka".
However, many diplomats see the UN's move as a precursor to a full-blown war crimes investigation.
The UN itself has said that at least 7,000 Tamil civilians perished in the first four months of 2009 before the government secured final victory over the Tigers that May.

  Swollen river threatens major city in central China
AFP, Beijing

Chinese rescue teams scrambled to shore up flood defences Friday as a swollen river threatened a major city, after heavy rains across the nation's south and centre left more than 200 people dead.
Workers and soldiers were patching up dykes in Hunan province after water in the Xiang river, which passes through Changsha city, where over six million people live, surged to its highest level in a decade.
The surge rose 2.5 metres (over eight feet) above the river's danger marks, the third highest reading since 1953 when records of water levels began, the civil affairs ministry said.
"Water levels on the lower reaches of the Xiang river are rising and will not go down, and will surpass flood warning levels again," the flood headquarters of the ministry warned. Authorities ordered reservoirs in the upper reaches of the river to store up more water in an effort to reduce the surging flood crests, it said.
Although heavy downpours were not expected around Changsha on Friday, more than 180 millimetres (over seven inches) of rain fell in parts of Hunan on Wednesday and Thursday, ensuring that rivers would remain swollen, it added.
Overall, downpours in south and central China were receding Friday, it said, but heavy rain continued to fall in parts of Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang provinces and Guangxi region, where major flooding has already taken place. At least 211 people have died and 119 are missing since torrential rains triggered flooding and landslides in south and central China from June 13 to June 24, the ministry said.
In all, 377 people have been killed and 147 more have gone missing in floods across China so far this year, it added-up 12 fatalities from a day earlier.

  Police arrest ‘Red Shirts’ over Bangkok bomb attempt
AFP, Bangkok

Thai police said Friday they had arrested two men linked to the anti-government "Red Shirt" movement over an attempted bombing at the headquarters of a government coalition party earlier this week.
Police accused Kamphon Kamkong and Dejphon Pujong of masterminding Tuesday's attack, which apparently failed when makeshift explosives hidden in a fruit cart detonated prematurely.
The pair worked as security guards for the Red Shirts during recent street protests in the capital that sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead and nearly 1,900 injured, police said.
Lieutenant General Aswin Kwanmuang, assistant national police chief, said the two suspects had confessed to hiring Anek Singkhuntod, 28, to bomb the Bhumjaithai party building in the Thai capital.
Anek was the only person injured in the explosion and remains in hospital.
Thailand's government has denied accusations of having a hand in the bombing by critics who believe it would like to extend emergency powers brought in as a result of the demonstration.
"The government did not create the situation," said deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban. "The government has a duty to ensure peace and order as people with ill intentions have not stopped inciting unrest."
The bombing attempt rattled nerves because it coincided with the cremation of a rogue general killed during the anti-government protests-which attracted the largest gathering of Reds since a bloody army crackdown on May 19.

  S.Korea raps ‘reckless’ North on war anniversary
AFP, Seoul

South and North Korea fired off a volley of cross-border accusations Friday as they marked the 60th anniversary of a war which killed millions of people and kept the peninsula divided to this day.
At a solemn ceremony in Seoul to commemorate the war's outbreak, President Lee Myung-Bak told the North to stop its "reckless military provocations" and to apologise for the sinking of a warship that has sent tensions soaring. Pyongyang in turn accused Seoul and its US ally of trying to provoke a new war and reportedly declared a "no-sail" zone off its west coast.
The three-year conflict, which began with a North Korean invasion on June 25, 1950, left the peninsula in ruins and cost close to three million lives by most estimates, including tens of thousands of US troops.
But what has sometimes been described as the "forgotten war" ended only with an armistice and not a peace treaty, leaving the communist North and the capitalist South still technically at war six decades on.
Pyongyang insists the 1950-53 war was triggered by provocations from the South and its US ally, which still stations 28,500 troops south of the border.
And with tensions high over the sinking of the warship in March, the North's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said peace is still threatened "due to the US and the South Korean puppet forces' vicious moves to provoke a new war". South Korea has accused the North of torpedoing the Cheonan in an attack that cost the lives of 46 sailors, and has called for the UN Security Council to censure the reclusive communist regime.
The North denies any involvement, and accuses the South of mounting a US-backed smear campaign to fuel tensions, warning that planned reprisals could trigger a new war.

  Indonesian jails becoming terror schools: Police
AFP, Jakarta

Indonesian police warned on Friday that the country's prisons were at risk of becoming terrorism schools after a former detainee was arrested for allegedly plotting to attack the Danish embassy.
Islamist extremist Abdullah Sunata, 32, considered Indonesia's most-wanted man, was arrested in Central Java on Wednesday as he allegedly prepared to attack the embassy and a police parade.
He was released in 2009 after serving only a fraction of a seven-year sentence for his role in the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, which killed 10 people.
An alleged accomplice, identified as Sogir, detained in a separate raid in Central Java on Wednesday, had also spent time in jail for the embassy attack.
A third terror suspect killed in the raids, former soldier Yuli Harsono, 33, became radicalised while serving jail time for smuggling ammunition, police said.
National police spokesman Edward Aritonang said Sunata's case was further evidence that the mainly Muslim country's prisons risked turning into "schools" for terrorists. "Abdullah Sunata was a convict. He served time in prison. Inside prison, did he improve himself?" the spokesman told a press conference.
It was time to look at a "new system or method, so the counselling for prisoners truly works and prisons don't become schools" for radicalisation, he said.
Hundreds of terrorists have been convicted, jailed and released since Indonesia was shaken by the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly Western tourists. With rare exceptions-notably three of the bombers who were executed in 2008 -- most have been given lenient sentences and even financial help to find jobs and reintegrate into moderate Indonesian society.
But glaring cases of recidivism such as Sunata's have forced senior police to admit that the so-called deradicalisation programme has failed.

 US seeks to reassure allies after sacking of commander
AFP, Washington

The top US military officer was en route to Afghanistan Friday to explain the sacking of the allied commander in Kabul as the Obama administration insisted the United States was not "bogged down" in the fight against the Taliban.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, departed late Thursday for a tour of Afghanistan and Pakistan to reassure the region's leaders that the war effort would not be derailed by the departure of General Stanley McChrystal.
"My message will be clear. Nothing changes about our strategy. Nothing changes about the mission," said Mullen.
He spoke a day after McChrystal was forced to step down as commander of the NATO-led force over disparaging remarks about administration officials in a bombshell magazine article this week.
McChrystal's disrespectful display was "unacceptable" and President Barack Obama's choice as the new commander, General David Petraeus, was the "best possible outcome to an awful situation," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at the same press conference.
Gates insisted there was forward movement in the Afghan war, in the latest bid by the administration to defend the mission in the face of troubling signs from the battlefront and a spike in allied and US troop casualties.
"I do not believe we are bogged down. I believe we are making some progress," Gates said. "It is slower and harder than we anticipated."
The defense secretary said he fully supported the change in command and that allies or adversaries should not "misinterpret" the decision as a softening of Washington's commitment to the war.
Obama said Petraeus, revered in Washington for his role in turning around the Iraq war, would hit the ground running thanks to his work on Afghanistan as head of the regional Central Command, which oversees both war zones.
"Not only does he have extraordinary experience in Iraq, not only did he help write the manual for dealing with insurgencies, but he also is intimately familiar with the players," including Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama said at press conference with his Russian counterpart.
Obama faced calls from some lawmakers to shake up the diplomatic team for Afghanistan, which they said was needed to repair strained military-civilian relations and bolster ties with Karzai's government.
But a State Department spokesman said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had full confidence in the diplomats carrying out policy on Afghanistan.

   Israeli warplanes launch three raids on Gaza: witnesses
AFP, Gaza City

Israeli warplanes flew three raids against the Gaza Strip overnight wounding one person, witnesses and Palestinian medical officials said Friday.
A Palestinian man was hurt when the planes attacked the town of Rafah, in the southern part of the territory close to the border with Egypt.
Nobody was wounded in the two other raids on the former airport, also in the south, and the town of Beit Hanun in the north.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the raids to AFP.
"Our planes attacked an armoury in the north of the Gaza Strip and two tunnels used for gun running in the south" from Egypt, she said.
"The raids are a reaction to the shelling Thursday from the Gaza Strip of the western sector of the Negev desert" in southern Israel, she added.
A dozen mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with seven of them hitting Israel but none causing any casualties or damage, an Israeli army spokeswoman said earlier. Around 100 rockets and mortar rounds have hit Israel since the beginning of the year, the army says.
However, the number has declined significantly since Israel launched a devastating assault on the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave at the end of 2008 to put a stop to rocket fire.

   Belarus warns of energy transit cut if Russian debt not paid

AFP, Minsk

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday warned he would halt Russia's Europe-bound transit of gas and oil if Moscow does not cover a debt for transit in the next two days.
"I once again warn the government: Gazprom's failure to fully pay for services in the next days must lead to a halt of any services on the shipment of hydrocarbons-both oil and gas-for Russia," Lukashenko was quoted as saying by his office.
"You have the opportunity-come to an agreement. But you have two days."
On Thursday, Russian gas giant Gazprom paid Belarus 228 million dollars in gas transit fees, but Belarus insists the Russian gas firm owes it a total of 260 million dollars.
Gazprom quickly issued a terse statement denying it owed Belarus further payment.
"Gazprom does not owe anything to Belarus according to the conditions of the current contract," it said.
It added however there was an agreement in principle on the "addendum to the contract for 2010" and the two companies planned to sign it "in the near future", apparently signaling its readiness to pay a higher transit fee in line with Belarus's demands.
Lukashenko's statement comes after the two ex-Soviet neighbors took major steps Thursday to put to rest a four-day energy feud that sparked a brief interruption of gas supplies via Belarus to Europe.
The dispute flared when Russia reduced gas supplies to Belarus over a debt of nearly 200 million dollars. After an initial cut of 15 percent, Gazprom ramped up reductions to 60 percent on Wednesday, causing a 40 percent reduction in supplies to European Union member Lithuania.
Russia resumed full supplies to Belarus on Thursday when it confirmed Minsk had covered its arrears and for its part sent Belarus 228 million dollars in gas transit fees.
Friday's threat raised the stakes in the convoluted energy spat as Lukashenko warned of oil supply disruptions in addition to gas supplies.
Oil supplies are also a major bone of contention between the two countries. In January Moscow and Minsk signed a new deal on Russian oil deliveries to Belarus, ending a month-long dispute that had raised fears European supplies could be threatened.
A disagreement over oil export duties last month also held up the creation of a single customs bloc that Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan had wanted to launch from July 1.

  Georgia removes historic Stalin statue in home town
AFP, Tbilisi

Georgia secretly removed a historic bronze statue of Joseph Stalin from the main square in his home town of Gori overnight Friday in a repudiation of the ex-Soviet republic's most infamous son.
Officials said the six-metre (20-foot) statue would be moved to a local museum and replaced in the city's central square, which was bombed during Georgia's 2008 war with Russia, with a monument to victims of the conflict.
"We have taken the decision to remove the monument of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin from the central square of Gori and to build in its place a memorial to victims of the Soviet dictatorship and to those killed in the 2008 war," Culture Minister Nika Rurua told journalists.
"Stalin was a man who killed millions of innocent people, who killed the best representatives of not only Georgian society but the best people in many countries," he said. "I believe this decision was overdue."
The towering statue had stood in the central square of Gori since 1952 and generated controversy in recent years as the pro-Western government of President Mikheil Saakashvili repeatedly hinted it would be removed.
Many local residents however remain fiercely proud of Stalin and have opposed plans to remove the monument.
Local media reported that police sealed off the area around the statue during the removal and barred journalists from filming the process.
The huge statue of Stalin, in an overcoat staring out over the Caucasus Mountains beyond, was one of the few monuments to the dictator still standing anywhere in the world.
Born as Joseph Dzhugashvili to serf woman in Gori in 1878, Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist from the late 1920s to his death in 1953.
Stalin is a deeply controversial figure in the former Soviet Union who is accused of causing the deaths of millions of Soviet citizens in his brutal Gulag prison camps and through the forced collectivization of agriculture.
Stalin's supporters however praise his role in the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

  Australian new PM reassures Obama on Afghanistan
AP, Canberra

Australia's new prime minister said she used her first telephone conversation with President Barack Obama on Friday to assure him the country's military commitment to Afghanistan would not change under her leadership. Some observers have speculated Prime Minister Julia Gillard may push for an early withdrawal of Australia's 1,550 troops from Afghanistan as the war loses popularity among Australians and elections loom.
"I assured President Obama that my approach to Afghanistan will continue the approach taken to date by the Australian government," Gillard told reporters on Friday, less than 24 hours after she was sworn in as the country's first female prime minister. "I fully support the current deployment, and I indicated to President Obama that he should expect to see the Australian efforts in Afghanistan continuing," she added.
The White House said Obama "praised the special alliance between the United States and Australia, and the shared interests, values and bonds that underpin it" during their conversation. "Both leaders underscored their shared commitment to closely work together on the broad range of global challenges confronting both countries, including in Afghanistan," the White House said. The U.S.-led international military alliance in Afghanistan has struggled to maintain an adequate force as support for the nearly nine-year-old war fades across the United States and Europe. The Dutch plan to pull their 1,600 troops from Afghanistan by August.

  It's a walk in the park now for US and Russia
AP, Washington

The meeting of the presidents of the United States and Russia was most unusual: They ate hamburgers and shared french fries for lunch, told jokes and took a walk in the park. No summit, no sanctions, no weapons treaty. They did strike a deal on chicken exports.
The camaraderie Thursday between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was on intentional display. They met not about nuclear weapons. Obama's first time hosting Medvedev at the White House probably will be remembered most for the extent to which they got along like a couple of buddies. It was all a metaphor for two countries that were once at risk of Cold War annihilation, and just two years ago were back to cold shoulder animosity.
And for Obama, on an oppressively hot day, in the midst of a most difficult week, it amounted to a surprising chance to relax. The buzz around the White House centered much more on the presidents' unexpected jaunt for cheeseburgers to Ray's Hell Burger in Virginia - Medvedev took jalapenos- and less about the many substantive matters they discussed.
Even Obama acknowledged the topics seemed a bit foreign. "You know, sometimes it's odd when you're sitting in historic meetings with your Russian counterpart to spend time talking about chicken," Obama conceded in describing an agreement to export U.S poultry products to Russia.
Yet he said it was, in fact, a multibillion-dollar matter and a sign of something even greater: the ability of the United States and Russia to get beyond nuclear security, one of the areas in which both sides have made concrete progress in recent months. Now they can talk more about trade, technology, space and sports. The smiling Obama was a man in contrast to the one of a day earlier, when he was forced to sack the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for a magazine story in which the military leader and his aides had mocked and ripped administration leaders.
"We may be able to finally throw away those red phones that have been sitting around for so long," Obama said, evoking the symbol of scary U.S.-Russia relations. Obama said that was doable because both men have Twitter accounts, although he flubbed the line, calling the social networking site "Twitters."
Upon questions from reporters, Obama said there will be no more firings in the chain of command over Afghanistan, although he will be sternly monitoring his team.
Medvedev seemed reluctant to wade into the topic, recalling the ultimately disastrous Soviet invasion of Afghanistan decades ago.
"I have quite friendly relations with President Obama," he deferred, "but I try not to give pieces of advice that cannot be fulfilled."

Business/Economy

G8 summit gathers amid budget cut row
AFP, Toronto

The United States urged Europe to reform its economies to raise growth as world leaders gathered for a summit Friday, amid tension over US warnings about the global recovery.
The United States has expressed concern about the speed at which European nations, particularly Germany, are withdrawing state spending put in place after global financial crisis and economic downturn.
US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said: "Our job is to make sure we're all sitting there together to focus on this challenge of growth and confidence because growth and confidence are paramount." Geithner played down America's differences with Europe telling the BBC the two sides "have much more in common than we have differences." He said the summit offered US leaders "the chance to sit together and look at whether we've got a broad strategy across the country that's going to strengthen this recovery."
Europe "can make a choice to put in place the reforms and policies that will provide the possibility of stronger growth rates in the future," he said, as thousands of officials, journalists and activists descended on eastern Ontario province.
The talks among the Group of Eight leading countries here were also to tackle global security and development, amid calls to deliver on past promises. Budget cuts have become a pressing issue in Europe since the Greek debt crisis, and because of risks that similar problems could arise in other eurozone countries.
US officials have argued that unduly rapid and deep budget cuts could endanger global economic recovery and even provoke a so-called double-dip recession. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has argued however that the German model of deficit cutting and disciplined public finances, and a focus on economic efficiency, is the one to be followed.
"I think that there will be very fruitful, but also very contentious, debates on this issue," Merkel acknowledged.
Geithner said: "Everyone agrees that those deficits have to come down over time to a level that's sustainable," he said. But he warned the world "cannot depend as much on the US as it did in the past." The treasury secretary's remarks appeared to put the emphasis on structural economic reforms in Europe.

 No alternative to industrializations for development of N-region

BSS, Rangpur

Newly elected Vice-president of the FBCCI Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu has said there in no alternative to industrializations for overall developments of the country's economically backward northern region.
For rapid industrializations and boosting economy, he suggested the government for taking immediate steps to supply natural gas and adequate electricity to the backward Rangpur division and other parts of the northern region for the purpose.
Babu, who is also former President of Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) and Managing Director of Motahar Group of Industries, said this at a reception accorded to him by RCCI Wednesday night on his election as the Vice-president of FBCCI.
Chaired by RCCI President ATM Shahnewaz Bablu, the ceremony held at the RCCI auditorium, was addressed by its Senior Vice-president Abul Kashem, President of Nilphamari Chamber Abdul Wahed Sarker and former RCCI President Golam Mostafa.
Besides, Rangpur Press Club President Sadrul Alam Dulu, President of Rangpur District Shop Owners' Association Rezwan Ali Litan, President of Rangpur bankers' Association Abdul Samad, former RCCI Vice-president Mostafa Ahmed, addressed.
All officials and directors of RCCI, leaders of different business organisations of Rangpur, noted businessmen, elite of the city, bankers, academicians, educationists, professionals and socio-cultural activists were present.
In his speech, Babu said that he will play his due roles in the Apex body of the country's business organization for quicker developments of the economically backward Rangpur division and the northern region as a whole.
He said that supply of natural gas, adequate electricity, setting up of the Science and Technology University at Rangpur, its direct inter-city train communications with Dhaka and other facilities are essential for speedy dev-elopments of the region.

  Present govt investment friendly: Dilip Barua
BSS, Dhaka

Industries Minister Dilip Barua on Friday said the present government is an investment-friendly government.
The government is giving all types of incentives and assistances to both local and foreign investors, he told a re-launching function of godrej hair color products at the Bangabandhu International Conference centre in the city. Godrej Sara Lee (Bangladesh) Pvt Ltd organized the function. Lawmaker Reza Ali, Chief Operating Officer of Godrej Sara Lee, India Ravi Bhenketeshar and Vice President of International Operation of Godrej Sara Lee, India Mohan Sapre, among others, addressed the function.
Specialized industrial zones are being established for increasing investment in the industrial sector, Dilip said adding the present government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has created an investment-friendly atmosphere in the country. Describing Bangladesh as an important country in Asia for investment, he urged the Godrej authorities to come forward for more investment in Bangladesh.
Drawing attention to corporate social responsibility(CSR), the minister said each business concern should be careful of consumers rights and welfare. He called upon the Gedrej Sare Lee to take different initiatives for welfare of people as part of CSR. Nearly 500 Bangladeshi employees are working in the company, Dilip hoped more people will get employment opportunities in the company in the days to come with expansion of business activities in the country.

  Global recovery still fragile ahead of G20: India’s PM
AFP, New Delhi

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned Friday that the global economic recovery was still fragile as he headed for a G20 summit of world leaders in Canada.
Singh's warning came as European countries including Britain, France and Germany press ahead with stiff spending cuts despite US fears that slashing budgets too quickly could threaten the nascent pick-up in growth.
The Indian leader said coordinated policy actions taken by the Group of 20 rich and emerging nations since the first summit in Washington in November 2008 had helped prevent a repetition of the deepest recession since the 1930s.
The actions have "also contributed to global economic recovery. This is a sign of the G20's success. At the same time, we have to be conscious that the recovery is still fragile and uneven," Singh said.
"New worrying signs have emerged in the eurozone," Singh said, referring to the eurozone public debt crisis that has engulfed Greece and threatens other overspending European countries.
The G20 summit, whose theme is "Recovery and the New Beginning," takes place in Toronto on Saturday and Sunday.
Singh said the summit should aim to ensure that global recovery is durable, balanced and sustainable.
The meeting should also calibrate exit strategies from expansionary fiscal policies and work on overhauling the global financial system to ensure that the banking crisis which sparked the financial meltdown does not recur.
"As the Indian economy grows and further integrates with the international system, we have an increasingly direct stake in all these matters," Singh said. "To meet our ambitious development targets it's necessary that the global economy continue to recover in a stable and predictable manner," he added.
Asia's third-largest economy grew by a better than expected 7.4 percent in the financial year ended March 2010 and is projected to grow by 8.5 percent in the current fiscal year.

  Sri Lanka records strong post-war growth 
AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka's economy expanded 7.1 percent during the first quarter of this year, the statistics office said Friday, as the island picks itself up after a long civil war.
The growth for the January-March period, up from 1.6 percent at the same point last year, was boosted by expansion in farm produce and services.
"This promising growth was mainly backed by prevailing peace across the country and also easing of the global economic recession to a certain extent," the department said in a statement.
The economy has continued to benefit from stability after the 37-year conflict against separatist Tamils ended in May last year.
Agriculture, which includes rice, tea, rubber and fishing, expanded 9.0 percent, compared
with 3.0 percent a year earlier, lifted by a 47.2 percent growth in tea production.
Makers of Sri Lanka's "Pure Ceylon Tea," the island's chief cash crop, enjoyed good weather and increased global demand.
The country's central bank this month projected the 41-billion-dollar economy would expand 7.0 percent this year compared with 3.5 percent in 2009, due to post-war expansion in reconstruction and farming.
Some 100,000 people perished during the conflict, according to UN estimates.

  Leaders differ on how to nurture a global recovery
AP, Toronto

World leaders, facing serious differences over the best way to nurture a fragile global recovery, are agreeing to disagree in a variety of key areas. Even before the economic talks were to begin over lunch Friday, the leaders engaged in a series of dueling letters and interviews that exposed their conflicts.
The three days of talks were starting at a lakeside resort north of Toronto where the Group of Eight countries - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia - will discuss proposals to increase support for maternal and child health care in poor nations and hold an outreach meeting with leaders of seven African nations.
The G-8 will also spend time exchanging views on hot-button issues, such as Iran's nuclear program and possible sanctions on North Korea following the sinking of a South Korean warship. President Barack Obama, who was arriving after a tough two months dealing with the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, was not getting a lot of support for his cautionary warnings that countries should not pull back their stimulus efforts too quickly. Britain, Germany, France and Japan have all unveiled deficit-cutting plans. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the host for the summit meetings, was urging the countries to agree to concrete deficit-reduction goals as a way of restoring investor confidence following the turmoil caused by the Greek debt crisis. Asked about the disputes over stimulus spending versus deficit reductions, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said, "One size doesn't fit all."
The countries were also struggling to resolve major differences over reform of the financial system, including setting tougher standards for bank capital, the cushion banks must hold to cover losses, and over whether countries should impose taxes on banks to reimburse taxpayers for the bank bailouts and to build up funds to cover future bailouts. Toronto was braced for the potential of disruptive protests that so far have not materialized.
Toronto's downtown core resembled a fortress with a big steel and concrete fence erected over several blocks to protect the summit site. Canadian police patrolled the Lake Ontario waterfront from boats and jet skis. The number of security forces protecting the summit meetings was estimated to total 19,000, drawn from all over Canada.
The G-20 leaders' summits began in the fall of 2008 in response to the global economic crisis that struck with fury after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a major U.S. investment bank. At that time, the leaders joined to assemble multibillion-dollar support packages to restart economic growth and financial rescue efforts to rescue a froze global banking system. But now that the banks are back from the brink and the world's economies are growing again, unity is proving more elusive. Obama sent a letter last week warning that removing the massive government stimulus spending too quickly could represent a repeat of the disastrous mistakes of the 1930s that prolonged the Great Depression.
But Harper sent out his own letter urging establishment of firm deficit reduction goals.
Some leaders didn't appreciate being lectured by Obama on the need for countries running trade surpluses, which would include China, Germany and Japan, to do more to boost domestic spending to help the global economy while U.S. consumers, long the driver of global growth, begin to save more.

  G8, G20 summits must live up to hype: British PM
AFP, Toronto

British Prime Minister David Cameron urged G20 and G8 nations to start delivering on their pledges, suggesting ahead of two key summits that such meetings had become merely "grand talking shops." Cameron, making his first appearance at the summits since taking power in May, said too often, high-profile talks among the most powerful world leaders "fail to live up to the hype." The British premier-who will hold bilateral talks with leaders including US President Barack Obama, Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev and China's Hu Jintao-made the comments in a pre-summit article for Canada's Globe and Mail daily.
In separate comments to reporters, he added the weekend "isn't about a row over fiscal policy," amid signs of disagreements between the US and Europe, but instead should focus on global economic recovery.
"I come to the G8 and G20 in Muskoka and Toronto with a clear commitment to make sure these summits deliver for people," Cameron wrote.
"Too often these international meetings fail to live up to the hype and to the promises made... good intentions are shared in productive talks.
"Then somehow those intentions seem rarely to come to fruition in real, tangible global action. And when we meet again a year later, we find things haven't really moved on. "So the challenge for the upcoming G8 and G20 is to be more than just grand talking shops."
He called for a "tight focus" and "real results" by concentrating on key priorities.
Urging world leaders to outline plans for "getting our national finances under control", Cameron also called for "flexibility" for individual countries.
In separate comments to reporters travelling with him, he added:
"This weekend isn't about a row over fiscal policy. "We all agree about the need for fiscal consolidation. For me, this G20 is about putting the world economy on an irreversible road to recovery."
European countries including Britain, France and Germany are pressing ahead with cuts despite US fears that slashing budgets too quickly could threaten the fragile global recovery. He reiterated his support for a bank tax, but conceded that "this approach won't necessarily be for everyone," and stressed backing for faster action on strengthening bank capital and liquidity.
There was still work to be done in getting banks to lend more money to businesses, he said.
Britain, France, Germany and the US have publicly encouraged G20 partners to accept the tax but hosts Canada, Russia, China, India and Australia are opposed.
Cameron also called for "fresh thinking" on how to boost trade in the face of the long-stalled Doha trade talks. The premier's official spokesman indicated this would include a "greater focus by the UK on bilateral trade deals." "Doha is still our priority but other things can be done in the meantime," the spokesman added.
Cameron noted that while previous agreements on Doha had been made "in good faith," there had been no breakthrough despite over a decade of negotiations.
"I believe that if we are now to travel that final mile, we need fresh thinking and renewed political leadership. We must all put more on the table."
This could include consideration being given to countries opening up their services sector to foreign countries or whether specific areas, like allowing full duty-free access to exports from less developed countries, could be agreed more quickly, he added.

  Obama to focus on Asian powers at G-20
PTI, Washington

Keen to expand America's engagement with Asia, US President Barack Obama will spend a major part of his time at the upcoming G-20 summit in Toronto, focusing on America's ties with major Asian powers including India, China and Japan.
In fact, Obama has scheduled five of his six bilaterals on the sidelines of the G-20 summit with the leaders of India, China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. White House officials say the US President wants to use this meeting as an opportunity to underscore America's commitment to leadership and increased engagement in Asia. From the beginning of this administration, the US President has placed a great priority on renewed American leadership and engagement in Asia, both on economic and security issues, a senior Administration official said.
"This is an eloquent demonstration of the importance that the president attaches to Asia, the importance of Asia to our political security and economic interest. It's an area of rising influence globally and emerging powers," another senior administration official said.
The official pointed out that Obama has important trips lined up to Asia in November-around the next G-20 meeting to Korea, and then to India and Japan as well.
"So we see this is an opportunity to continue our efforts to renew our leadership in Asia, and to also move towards that trip later in the year," the official said.

  Bank of England warns of eurozone debt crisis dangers
AFP, London

The Bank of England warned on Friday the eurozone debt crisis posed a risk to Britain's financial system and urged its banks to build up their reserves. In its Financial Stability Report, the bank praised the 750-billion-euro (one- trillion-dollar) EU-IMF stabilisation fund put together last month to prop up the euro after markets took fright at Greece's debt problems.
But it warned of continuing "market pressures" which could affect Britain's financial system. "The IMF and European authorities put in place a substantial package of support," it noted.
"While these measures helped to stabilise conditions, market pressures have not yet abated." Despite Britain not being a member of the 16-nation eurozone, the BoE said the exposure of the country's financial system to institutions caught up in the currency crisis was a major danger.
It noted there was a risk to Britain's financial institutions when dealing with "European banks that have direct exposures to countries facing increased sovereign risks". The report, which the bank publishes twice a year, also expressed fears over investors retreating from risk in the wake of the crisis which could endanger banks' ability to renew billions of pounds in existing funding.
The BoE welcomed banks' efforts to increase their capital, which it said had "helped them weather recent tensions". But it warned of "a number of challenges in the period ahead", which included increasing lending to help Britain secure its recovery from a record recession and building up bigger reserves in line with expected new regulatory demands. Britain's banks "have a collective interest in providing sufficient lending to support economic recovery", said the report. "They will need over time to build larger buffers of capital and liquidity to meet more demanding future regulatory requirements."
A tougher new regulatory regime for banks will be agreed later in the year.

  US to resume poultry exports to Russia
AFP, Washington

The United States will resume poultry exports to Russia after a nearly six-month ban imposed by Moscow, President Barack Obama said on Thursday after talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"On Friday, we've reached an agreement that will allow the United States to begin exporting our poultry products to Russia once again," Obama said at a joint press conference with Medvedev, who is on a visit to Washington. On January 1, Russia banned the import of chicken treated with chlorinated water, a procedure commonly used by US producers to disinfect chicken.
The new rules were criticized in the United States but Moscow denied that they were politically motivated. US lawmakers had pushed Obama to raise the dispute with Medvedev, calling the ban "arbitrary and capricious" in a letter to Obama. They also questioned Russia's food safety concerns. "Science has shown the use of chlorine solutions to be a safe and cost- effective way to maintain food safety during poultry processing," a group of bipartisan senators said in the letter sent Monday.
The poultry industry accounts for more than 500,000 jobs across the United States and over the last three years, US poultry exports to Russia had averaged more than 800 million dollars, the lawmakers said.

  Africa wants G8 to liberalize farm trade
AFP, Toronto

Africa wants the rich world nations meeting at the G8 summit in Canada to do more to open their markets to African exports, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Friday.
"We should be encouraged to produce. We have vast arable
land in Africa and there is no
reason why we should not be encouraged to export food items to the rest of the world," Jonathan
said as the leaders gathered.
African agricultural exports struggle to compete with production in Europe and North America, where farmers are heavily subsidized.
"The position I believe in and I believe it is the position of many African countries is that the world leaders need to encourage African countries, especially in trade liberalization," Jonathan told journalists.
"Yes, we are asking for assistance in terms of grants and other unconditional loans, but the basic thing is to encourage African countries to export their primary produce," Jonathan said.
Jonathan said current international trade laws work against Africa, adding that: "As long as we are not encouraged to export our produce, then we will continue to be begging and we should not be begging."
The Nigerian president is one of six African leaders due to meet with their G8 counterparts Friday at the G8 summit in Canada.

  US first-quarter GDP growth cut to 2.7 pc
AFP, Washington

US economic growth in the first quarter was revised downward for the second time to 2.7 percent, official data showed Friday, falling short of analyst expectations.
The Commerce Department lowered its estimate on gross domestic product growth for the January-March period from the 2009 fourth quarter from an initial estimate of 3.2 percent, which was revised down to 3.0 percent in late May.
The final reading was lower than the average analyst forecast of 3.0 percent. In a statement, the Commerce Department said that the final figure reflected "an upward revision to imports and a downward revision to personal consumption expenditures that were partly offset by upward revisions to exports and to private inventory investment."
The period marked the third consecutive quarter of growth for the US economy after it emerged from the country's worst recession since the Second World War.
The rate of growth was well below the pace of the final quarter of 2009, when GDP was estimated at 5.6 percent, the strongest growth in six years.

  Japan PM vows to reshape APEC
AFP, Toronto

New Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has vowed to reshape APEC to foster better integration and longer term growth, when Japan takes over the chair of Asia-Pacific's top economic club this year. "Increasingly, the Asia-Pacific region is having its presence felt as a center of world economic growth," Kan, who took over the reins of Japan's government just three weeks ago, writes ahead of two key summits here.
"Asia is recovering from the crisis rapidly and resiliently.
It is driving the world economy with its robust growth. "Therefore as APEC chair in this important year, I intend to reshape APEC for the 21st century under the theme 'Change and Action.'" In a briefing document for the G8 and G20 summits in Canada this week, Kan vows that under Japan's guidance:
"APEC will promote greater regional integration and develop mid- to long- term growth strategies for the whole region." Such strategies must lead to inclusive and sustainable growth and take into account the environment and energy needs, argues Kan, who was due to make his international debut at the two summits.
The 21-member APEC was launched 20 years ago to promote trade and strengthen economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, which now accounts for more than half the world's economic activity and 40 percent of its population. APEC leaders are set to meet for a summit scheduled for November in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo.
It will be held back- to-back with the next G20 leaders summit in Seoul. "It is my intention for Japan to enhance the synergy among the G20, the G8 and APEC by delivering the voices and experiences of the Asia-Pacific region to the world," Kan writes. APEC members include the mighty economies of the United States, China and Japan, as well as minnows Brunei and Papua New Guinea.

National

Int’l Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking to be observed today

UNB, Dhaka

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking will be celebrated in Dhaka today (Saturday) like elsewhere in the world to fight with the menace of drug addiction and trafficking. By resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987, the General Assembly had decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.
This resolution recommended further action with regard to the report and conclusions of the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.In Bangladesh, different organizations chalked out elaborate programme to mark the day.
Both President Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the occasion.
In his message, President Zillur Rahman called upon all to come forward for prevention of spread of drug and its abuse. He also called upon people of all section of society for playing their due role for protecting our youths from the menace of drug. He hoped that a drug-free beautiful and healthy society would be established with the combined efforts of all. In another message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called for protecting our youth community from drug addiction. People of all segment of society, including non-government voluntary organizations, teachers and Imams, should supplement the government efforts aimed at eradicating drug problem, she said. Social movement against the negative effect of drug should be launched by raising awareness about it, she said, urging all irrespective of party affiliation to work together against the social problem.

  Quality education must be ensured for building developed digital BD: Motahar

BSS, Rangpur

State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Motahar Hossain has said that education is the backbone of any nation for developments and the government is committed to free the country from the curse of illiteracy by 2012.
There is no alternative to ensure quality education for building a developed digital Bangladesh and the present government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has put maximum emphasis on the sector to rid the country of school dropouts, he said.
The government has also taken adequate steps like providing Taka 100 per month to every poor primary school student side by side with giving free tiffin and free books to make cent percent children school-going throughout the country, he said.
Besides, double-shift adult education centre for every 30 illiterate adults are being set up in every village to free the country from illiteracy, he added.
He urged all to come out of their own interests for working unitedly to ensure quality education and build Sonar Bangla as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to make Independence meaningful for all citizens.
He was addressing a meeting organised by Upazila Secondary Education Office on the occasion of distributing encouraging grants among the brilliant secondary students as the chief guest yesterday at Hatibandha upazila parishad auditorium in Lalmonirhat district. Hatibandha UNO M Ashrafuzzaman chaired the occasion that was also addressed by Hatibandha upazila chairman Bodiuzzaman Velu as the special guest.
President of Hatibandha upazila Awami League (AL) Sarwar Hayat Khan, upazila vice-chairmen Amjad Hossain Tazu and Mukti Rani Sarker and Upazila Secondary Education Officer HM Mahbubul Islam, addressed among others.

  War Crimes trials should comply with international standards: IBA

UNB, Dhaka

The War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) examined the compatibility with international standards of the legislation under which the Bangladesh government intends to hold trials of persons accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war of independence in 1971[1].
The IBA took up the initiatives at the request of the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG), according to a statement the office of Lord Avebury, Vice-Chair, Parliamentary Human Rights Group.
It says the purpose was not to challenge the right of Bangladesh to try the perpetrators of these crimes, but to ensure that no objection to the proceedings would be likely to arise on the grounds that the 1973 Act was not in conformity with developments in the legal standards developed over the last 37 years. The statement sent to UNB says at the end of 2009 the War Crimes Committee reported its findings to the PHRG, and after internal consideration, the report was sent to the Bangladesh High Commissioner under cover of a letter from the Chair of the PHRG, Ms Ann Clwyd, requesting that it be transmitted to relevant Ministers in Bangladesh, and asking for their comments. A seminar was held on June 24 in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords to discuss the IBA report, and the High Commissioner finally sent his government's comments on June 21. He was unable to attend the seminar or to send a representative.
The main speakers at the seminar were: Stuart Alford, Chair of the War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association, Khandker Mahbub Hossain, President of Supreme Court Bar Association of Bangladesh, Christopher Keith Hall, Senior Legal Adviser, International Justice Project, Amnesty International Toby Cadman,
International Bar Association.
The representatives of the IBA reiterated that they would be ready to give detailed advice to the Bangladesh government on how the legislation could be amended so as to comply with recent norms of international law, in line with models such as the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, and national tribunals such as those in East Timor and Sierra Leone.
They added that there no doubt were other international legal authorities who would be prepared to offer constructive advice if it were requested.
Lord Avebury undertook to convey this offer of a dialogue to the authorities in Bangladesh, the statement added.

  Digital ‘purjee’ system to be introduced in 13 sugar mills by October 15

BSS, Dhaka

Against the backdrop of sufferings of the sugarcane farmers in getting 'purjee' (a purchase order or permit), the government has decided to introduce digital 'purjee' system in 13 state-owned sugar mills in the country by October 15.
The Digital Purjee Information Service, a joint initiative of the UNDP- supported Access to Information (A2I) Programme at the Prime Minister's Office, and Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation under the Ministry of Industries, has taken the initiative to introduce digital 'purjee' system in those sugar mills.
Earlier, the system was introduced in two state-owned sugar mills-Faridpur and Mobarakganj-under the pilot-based 'purjee' management.
"We have decided to introduce the system in the rest of the 13 state-owned sugar mills keeping in mind the sufferings of a huge number of sugarcane farmers as well as the success of the system in Faridpur and Mobarakganj sugar mills," said Nazrul Islam Khan, National Project Director of A2I Programme. He said the SMS (short messaging system)-based digital 'purjee' system will help reduce the sufferings of the sugarcane farmers in getting purjee.
"Information about providing loan and payment of price of sugarcane will also be given to the farmers through SMS," he said.
Besides, Khan said, trainers of the sugar mills will be provided training on the system under the supervision of the A2I Programme. To introduce digital purjee system, weighing bridges will have to be set up in all sugar mills, he added.
He said this system is now directly benefiting approximately 20,000 sugarcane growers throughout Faridpur, Magura and Jhenidah districts during the sugarcane crushing season. "Around ten thousand sugarcane growers in Faridpur zone are receiving 'purjee' instantly via SMS service every day, and this season, the mills have not had a single day of running below capacity, which is exactly the opposite of last year's performance," he said.
Sugarcane production is a ten-month process. All growers in an area are listed with their local mill where they make advance sales.
The crushing season runs for two to three months during which time growers receive their 'purjee' indicating that they are to bring their promised amount of sugarcane to the mill within three days.

   Major rivers and tributaries continue rising at lower rates in N-region

BSS, Rangpur

The major rivers and tributaries are continuing rising in the Brahmaputra and Ganges basins at lower rates following onrush of hilly waters amid scattered rains during the past 24 hours till this morning, officials said.
The overall river situation remained mostly stable almost everywhere including the low-lying and char areas in greater Rangpur and other areas due to slower rises in the water levels following decreases in the quantum of onrushing waters from upstreams.
However, some very low-lying char areas in Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Gaibandha and Kurigram districts are still facing a pre-flood-like situation where nearly 500 people have become partially marooned, local sources said.
The Water Development Board (WDB) sources said that quantum of onrushing waters from the upper catchments might mark further decrease during the next 48 hours to improve the situations both in the up streams and down streams in the coming days. All the major rivers and their tributaries were flowing well below their respective danger marks (DM) everywhere in the northern region till filing of this report at 5:15pm today, the WDB officials said.
Reports of some erosion incidents were received from several areas throughout the courses of the Teesta, Brahmaputra, Jamuna and Dharla rivers where some 15 more riverside houses with lands were devoured during the past 24 hours, local sources said.
The WDB recorded only 6mm at Kawnia, 17mm rainfall at Dalia, 18mm at Rangpur, 15.2mm at Dinajpur, 9mm at Mohadebpur, 10mm at Naogaon, 11mm at Chilmari, 28mm at Panchagarh and 15mm at Sirajganj points during the past 24 hours till 6 this morning. The Brahmaputra marked rise by 1cm during the period each at Chilmari and Noonkhawa points and was flowing 101cm and 248cm below its respective DM at these points in Kurigram at 6am this morning.
The Dharla marked rise by 28cm during the period and was flowing at 25.61m at Kurigram point this morning, which was only 89cm below its DM today.
However, the Teesta marked falls by 26cm and 21cm during the past 24 at Dalia in Nilphamari and Kawnia in Rangpur to flow 50cm and 126cm below its respective DM at these points this morning. The Karatoa marked a rise by 23cm during the period and was flowing at 17.07m, which was 308cm below its DM at Chak Rahimpur point at 6 am today.
The Jamuna marked rises by 1cm, 6cm and 9cm at Bahadurabad, Sirajganj and Aricha points during the period and the rivers were flowing 89cm, 101cm and 174 below its respective DM at these points at 6 am this morning. The Punorvaba rose by 15m during the period and was flowing 295cm below its DM at Dinajpur, the Little Jamuna rose by another 15 to flow 339 below its DM at Naogaon and the Atrai rose by 28cm to flow 314cm below its DM at Mohadebpur point this morning. The Padma marked rises by 27cm, 3cm and 18cm at Pangkha, Rajshahi and Hardinge Bridge points during the period and was flowing 314cm, 702cm and 583cm below its respective DM at these points in the Ganges basin at 6am on Friday.

   7 awarded life term for killing fish enclosure owner
UNB, Bagerhat

A court in Bagerhat on Wednesday convicted seven people and sentenced them to life term imprisonment for killing a fish enclosure owner in 2005.
The court also fined the convicts Tk 10,000 each, in default, to suffer one year more RI.
The convicts were identified as Krishnapada Mridha, Nitya Mridha, Kamal Mridha, Subhash Roy, Suprakash Mridha, Samir Biswas and Mihir Biswas.
The court also acquitted four other accused - Prafulla Kumar Biswas, Ruidas Mandal, Minati Rani Mridha and Monika Rani Mridha as their guilt was not proved.
According to prosecution, the convicts on February 20, 2005 beat fish enclosure owner Tushar Roy to death over land dispute at Singra village in Sadar upazila.
Later, Tushar's wife China Roy filed a case and police after investigation submitted the charge sheet against 11 people.

   23 shops, 2 houses gutted, 30 people injured in Barisal fire
BSS, Barisal

At least 23 shops, two houses were gutted and 30 people were injured in a devastating fire that broke out at a market adjacent to Gournadi bus stand under Barisal district on Thursday.
Barisal Fire Service sources said the fire broke out from an electric short circuit from Zahid Confectionery in the super market and soon spread to other shops including clothes store, electronic shops, grocery, medicines and restaurants. Being informed, fire service units from Barisal, Gournadi, Uzirpur Rushed to the spot.
They brought the fire under control after struggling for about three hours with the help of locals. The injured persons, including Gournadi Fire Service Reader Fazlur Rahman and worker Sujit, were admitted to Gournadi Health Complex and other local clinics. The vehicular movement on Dhaka-Barisal highway was disrupted for about three hours because of fire.

   New executive body of CJFD elected
BSS, Dhaka

The new executive committee of the Chittagong Journalists Forum Dhaka (CJFD) was constituted today in the annual general meeting (AGM) of the forum at Jatiya Press Club here on Friday.
Saif Islam Dilal, Business Editor of Amar Desh, and Santosh Sharma, Special Corespondent of Amader Samoy, were elected president and general secretary respectively of the forum.
Other elected officer bearers are Vice President Anup Khastagir (BSS), Joint Secretary Hossain Jakir (Jugantar), Treasurer Syed Golam Mostafa (freelance), Office Secretary Sujoy Mohajan (Kaler Kantha), and Sports, Cultural and Social Welfare Secretary Mostafa Kajol (Bartaman Pratidin).

Sports

Japan beats Denmark 3-1 to advance from Group E
AP, Rustenberg

First-half free kick goals from Keisuke Honda and Yusuhito Endo helped give Japan a 3-1 win over Denmark on Thursday and send the Asian country into the round of 16 of the World Cup.
The Danes replied in the 81st when Jon Dahl Tomasson tapped in the rebound from his own penalty kick, but Shinji Okazaki slotted into an empty net in the 87th to seal the win.
Japan took a 2-0 lead after goals from free kicks within a space of less than 15 minutes as the Japanese collected their second win in Group E. They ended on six points compared with three for Denmark.
The Japanese reached the knockout round for the second time. They also progressed in 2002 when they were co-hosts, but missed out in two other editions.
Honda got his and Japan's second goal of the tournament in the 17th with a blistering free kick from the right of the Danish area which went over the wall and swerved beyond Thomas Sorensen's reach into the far corner. The Danish goalkeeper seemed to misjudge the ball, diving late and failing to get his hands on it. Endo's free kick was from directly in front of the Danish goal and he curled his shot around the wall. Despite leaping to his left, Sorensen couldn't get to it.
Denmark was awarded a penalty when Makoto Hasebe brought down Daniel Agger. Tomasson hit the ball at Eiji Kawashima but the goalkeeer couldn't hold it and the Danish captain tapped in the rebound.
Honda tormented the Danish defense with his tight dribbling before passing sideways for Okazaki, a substitute, to put the result beyond Denmark's reach.
The final group match decided the second team to advance, as the Netherlands had already ensured progression. The Dutch beat Cameroon 2-1 in the other group game for its third win. The Danes soon ran out of ideas going forward and became bogged down in midfield.
Three minutes after the restart, Endo almost extended Japan's lead from another free kick, floating a long shot towards a misplaced Sorensen, who failed to grab the ball which bounced off the post.
Bendtner, starting his third straight game despite a lingering groin injury, and Tomasson, who has also been carrying a hamstring problem, probed forward but lacked a clinical touch inside the box. Denmark coach Morten Olsen brought on forward Soren Larsen and midfielder Christian Eriksen but the busy Japanese forward line meant the Danes also had to be cautious.

  England and Germany in World Cup showdown
AFP, Bloemfontein

Be careful of what you wish for. Sometimes it is what you get, as Wayne Rooney has found out. Asked last week if he would relish the prospect of meeting Germany in the second round of the World Cup, England's talisman responded: "Yes! It would be nice to beat them."
At the time, it was presumed a new chapter in the chronicles of one of world football's great rivalries would, if it happened at all, have to wait until a later stage of Africa's first World Cup. Instead, England's sluggish start to the tournament and the consequent draws with the United States and Algeria cost them the chance of topping their group.
That condemned them to a trip to Bloemfontein on Sunday, prompted Franz Beckenbauer to call Eng-land "foolish" and left Rooney possibly regretting a throwaway line Germ-any's tabloids will not allow him to forget.
England would undeniably prefer to be facing Ghana in Rustenburg on Saturday rather than travelling to the heart of South Africa 24 hours later to resume battle with opponents they last met in the World Cup in the semi-final at Italia 90, which Germany won on a penalty shoot-out before going on to lift the trophy.
The trade-off of tougher opposition against an extra day's recovery time may have been one England would have taken however. Rooney has not scored in nine matches for club or country since his stellar season for Manchester United was interrupted by a similar injury he suffered in the first leg of United's Champions League clash with Bayern Munich at the end of March. He has also now gone seven matches in World Cup finals without scoring and, on the evidence of his general body language around England's base camp in Rustenburg, the frustration of not delivering on the biggest stage is weighing heavily on his muscular shoulders.
The Germans though are not counting on a below par Rooney facilitating their passage to a quarter-final encounter with either Argentina or Mexico.
Billed as a squad in transition that, following the injury which ruled captain Michael Ballack out of the tournament, was a little short in quality, Joachim Loew's men have obligingly lived up to their stereotypical reputation of hitting form in time for another major tournament.

   Don’t be content, Asian brass tells Japan, S.Korea
AFP, Cape Town

Japan and South Korea were urged by Asian football's top brass on Friday not to be content with making the World Cup round of 16, with greater spoils ahead.
The two Asian heavyweights have made history in South Africa, punching above their weight to shatter pre-tournament predictions.
Although both made the second round in 2002, it was achieved on home soil.
Never before have they progressed so far overseas and Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam urged them to aim even higher.
Few expected Asia to have two teams still in the tournament, and their exploits have sparked wild celebrations. Even East Asian arch-rival China, a footballing country that promises so much but delivers so little, has offered its congratulations.
In a letter to Bin Hammam after Korea's triumph, the Chinese Football Association said it would "inspire fans and football families in Asia".
In Japan, fans savoured the Blue Samurai's historic charge into the last 16 in the early hours of Friday morning with a 3-1 victory over Denmark in a do-or-die clash.
They congregated at cafes, bars and stadiums across the nation for the late-night viewings and were rewarded with a bold and assertive performance.
Two superb first-half strikes by midfielders Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo put Japan on a solid footing before substitute striker Shinji Okazaki made it 3-1 minutes before the final whistle. It was a similar picture in South Korea when the Taeguk Warriors booked their place with a gritty 2-2 draw against Nigeria on Tuesday evening. Japan captain Makoto Hasebe said it showed the world what Asian football was all about.
Japan now face Paraguay in Pretoria on Tuesday for a quarter-final berth and Honda has backed them to make an even bigger impression. Coach Takeshi Okada is equally optimistic.

  Netherlands beats Cameroon 2-1 at World Cup 
AP, Cape Town

The Netherlands produced its first flair and finesse of the World Cup on Thursday, beating already-eliminated Cam-eroon 2-1 in Group E. Robin Van Persie finished off an end-to-end move in the 36th minute and substitute Arjen Robben rifled a shot off the post in the 83rd minute that Klaas Jan Huntelaar tapped in. In between, Samuel Eto'o scored from the penalty spot for Cameroon in the 65th.
The Dutch won their group with nine points and will face Slovakia in the round of 16 on Monday in Durban. Japan also advanced from the group, beating Denmark 3-1 and eliminating the Danes. Playing with poise and confidence, the Dutch often thrilled the crowd of 63,093 with their creative moves. Yet Eto'o and Cameroon still were able to pierce the defense and threaten goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. In the 73rd, the tens of thousands of orange-clad fans at the Green Point Stadium cheered when Robben made his debut at the World Cup almost three weeks after sustaining a left hamstring injury in a warmup game.
And he immediately showed his value. After tiptoeing carefully during his first moves, he was served a pass on the right in the 83rd. With a move so often seen during his sterling season with Bayern Munich, he cut inside, beat defenders and curled off the post that Huntelaar poked in.
After two victories, Neth-erlands coach Bert van Marwijk was bent to keep his momentum going and played both midfielder Nigel de Jong and Van Persie in the third game, even though both would have been excluded from the match against Slovakia if they had earned another card. Instead, Van Persie scored a typical Dutch goal in the 36th minute, one which flowed from defense to attack with crisp, pinpoint passing and equally precise finishing. After Dirk Kuyt took the ball up on the right, Van Persie played a neat one-two with Rafael van der Vaart and then shot through the legs of Cameroon goalkeeper Hamidou Souleymanou from a tight angle. Cameroon, which put Africa on the football map when it reached the quarterfinals at the 1990 World Cup, did not give up and won a penalty when Van der Vaart handled a free kick from Geremi in the area.
Eto'o, long tipped as one of the World Cup's defining stars, equalized. Late in the game, Cameroon defender Rigobert Song came on for a cameo appearance at his fourth World Cup. While many other teams were often involved in desperate battles in their last group games, Cameroon and the Netherlands played more often with the pace and intensity of a pre-World Cup preparation game.

  Italy’s World Cup exit ‘darkest day’: Press
AFP, Rome

The team of defending champions Italy which crashed out in the first round of the World Cup produced the worst performance of any Italian lineup in the history of the competition, the country's press said on Friday.
"It's total darkness," titled leading sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The worst Italy we have ever seen go out."
Italy were eliminated after a 3-2 defeat by minnows Slovakia in Johannesburg left coach Marcello Lippi's side bottom of their first-round group with a paltry two points. "It was the darkest and most terrible day in the history of Italian football," said La Gazzetta's editorial next to a photo of captain Fabio Cannavaro consoling Fabio Qua-gliarella, one of Italy's scorers in Thursday's match in Rustenburg.
"I dreamt of closing my eyes and hiding my head in my mamma's lap-had she been next to me at the stadium-like children do at the movie theatre when the film gets scary," one op-ed writer said on national daily La Repubblica.
Tutto Sport compared the team to mozzarella cheese, while La Gazzetta said time had caught up with an ageing squad in the end.
"Like Dorian Gray's mirror, on this afternoon in Johannesburg we saw the picture of an old, defeated team without a style of play or any ideas, outclassed technically and physically by a modest Slovak team," the paper said.
It was the first time in 36 years that Italy had failed to progress through the first round of a World Cup and they repeated the feat of France, who fell at the first hurdle as reigning champions in 2002. "In one word: a shameful performance, the third of a series. We ended up last in the easiest group," Gazzetta dello Sport wrote.
Right-wing daily Il Giornale titled "Champions of the other world," next to a cartoon showing 11 coffins on a football field behind an Italian flag. "Shame!" titled sports daily Corriere dello Sport on page one.
"Unwatchable Italy. The fault is Lippi's, the players' and the football federation's," wrote the daily over a picture of Lippi putting his hands in his hair.

  Ballack returns to Bayer Leverkusen 
AFP, Berlin

Former Germany captain and Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack is poised to sign a two-year contract with his old club Bayer Lever-kusen in a 15-million-euro deal, German sports agency SID reported Friday.
The 33-year-old, ruled out of Germany's World Cup side through injury, was released by the English Premier League champions at the end of the season and said he wanted to continue his career in his home country.
Three Bundesliga clubs-Hamburg, Bayer Lever-kusen and Wolfsburg-reportedly showed interest in the powerful midfielder, along with Liverpool and Tottenham in the Premier League and at least one Spanish outfit. Ballack, currently on holiday with his family in Sardinia, will sign the contract with Lever-kusen when he returns, SID reported.
His basic annual pay is set to be around six million euros but various bonuses will push up the total two-year deal to around 15 million euros, the report added.
Ballack played for Leverkusen between 1999 and 2002, scoring 27 goals before a move to Bayern Munich.
He also held talks with Real Madrid's new coach Jose Mourinho, but negotiations broke down as the Spanish giants were too slow to make a concrete offer, according to SID.
The club was unwilling immediately to confirm the report. After playing a prominent role for Chelsea in the Champions League, Ballack will ply his trade in the less high-profile Europa league next season, as Leverkusen, fourth in last season's Bundesliga, narrowly missed out on a Champions League spot.
Capped 98 times for Germany, Ballack was set to take the captain's armband in South Africa, but his World Cup dream died when he injured his ankle playing for Chelsea against Portsmouth in the FA Cup final at the end of May.

  Dutch wary of Slovakia test
AFP, Cape Town

With a 100 percent record, the Netherlands are one of the World Cup's form teams but coach Bert van Marwijk says they were sloppy at times against Cameroon and must do better when facing Slovakia.
The Dutch only needed a point to secure top spot in Group E against already-eliminated Cameroon but took all three with goals from Robin van Persie and substitute Klaas-Jan Hunte-laar cancelling out a Samuel Eto'o penalty.
It sets them up with a clash against Group F runners-up Slovakia, who stunned defending champions Italy 3-2, in Durban on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.
Van Marwijk said he wasn't surprised the unfancied Slovaks' sent Italy out of the tournament and admitted the Oranje face a major test.
Although the Dutch have won three games out of three, a feat only matched by Argentina so far, van Marwijk, whose target is winning the tournament, was not entirely happy with their performance.
He felt they took too long to get into the game and lost their focus at the beginning of the second half, which allowed Cameroon to stay in the hunt with a goal.
At least Holland didn't pick up any injuries, and they were also boosted by star winger Arjen Robben making his South African World Cup bow as a late substitute after missing their opening two matches with a hamstring injury.
He was given a thunderous welcome by the Dutch fans and immediately made an impact against Cam-eroon, cutting in from the right and blasting a shot against the post in the 83rd minute, with Huntelaar burying the rebound to make it 2-1.

  James doing his penalty homework
AFP, Rustenburg

David James believes Engl-and will overcome Ger-many in their World Cup last 16 tie without having to put the country through the ordeal of another penalty shoot-out.
But if it does come to that, the England goalkeeper is confident that he will have done everything possible in terms of preparation to face opponents who last failed with a shoot-out spot-kick 28 years ago, when Uli Stielike was off target in the climax to a tempestuous World Cup semi-final against France.
Even then, the Germans won, maintaining a record of having never lost a shoot-out that stands to this day.
More England-specific history makes equally discouraging reading for Three Lions fans. The last two meetings of England and Germany in major tournaments have been settled by spot-kicks, with the Germans emerging triumphant in the semi-finals of both Italia 90 and Euro 96.
England's campaigns at Euro 2004 and at the last World Cup also ended in shoot-out defeats, both at the hands of Portugal.
James said the spirit in England's camp after coming through a high-pressure final group game against Slovenia justified his confidence, as well as memories of England's 2-1 win in Berlin in the countries' most recent encounter, in November 2008. The Portsmouth goalkeeper said the players would attempt to block out all the hype that inevitably surrounds the build-up to Sunday afternoon's meeting in Bloemfontein.
England made a stuttering start to the tournament with scrappy performances in their draws with the United States and Algeria, but came good under pressure against Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
Given the relative experience in Fabio Capello's squad compared to a German side with an average age of under 25, England are entitled to regard themselves as slight favourites going into the match.

  Strauss accepts fans’ focus may be on football
AFP, Cardiff

England cricket captain Andrew Strauss admits the eyes of the nation may be turned to the football World Cup in South Africa when his side play Australia in the third one-day international in Manchester on Sunday.
Victory at Lancashire's Old Trafford ground-which shares its name with the nearby home of football giants Manchester United-will give England an unbeatable 3-0 lead over the world champions in the five-match series.
But with the England football team playing Germany, their arch-rivals, in the last 16 of the World Cup in Bloemfontein in a match that kicks-off at 3pm local time (1400GMT) on Sunday-midway through the cricket clash-Strauss conceded a majority of English sports fans would be turning their attention to events in South Africa.
"Most people in the country will probably say the football is more important," Strauss told reporters after England's four-wicket win over oldest rivals Australia in the second one-day international in Cardiff here on Thursday. "We will see things differently."
Lancashire chiefs have decided against screening the football match on a giant screen at their Old Trafford because, with a capacity crowd of 22,500 expected, they have safety concerns. Howver, fans will be able to go in and out of the ground to watch the football in nearby pubs. Paul Burnham, co founder of the Barmy Army, an England cricket supporters' group, said Friday: "It's just nice that we are in the next round (of the football World Cup) to be honest, and I'm not that upset-it's much better than not being in it!.
Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes said while there were worries about the cost of obtaining a licence from world football governing body FIFA to screen the match, safety was the club's primary concern. "We did do it once before in 2002 (when England played Denmark at the World Cup), but it was the third day of a Test match with about 14,000 people in the ground, and around eight or nine thousand went to watch on a big screen in the back car park," Cumbes said.
Meanwhile leading British bookmaker William Hill are offering odds of 10/1 on a combined 'treble' bet that England win their football and cricket matches, and that an English driver takes the chequered flag in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Sunday.

  Cannavaro says fear cost Italy
AFP, Irene

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro on Friday blamed fear for the reigning champions' ignominious exit from the World Cup following a shock 3-2 defeat to debutants Slovakia.
The 36-year-old, who has now played his last match for the Azzurri and will move to Al-Ahli in Dubai next season, gave a frank and honest assessment of Italy's disastrous title defence from the team's Casa Azzurri base camp here. And he said when the hour came, the men became shrinking violets.
The other problem, according to the former world player of the year, is a lack of quality in Italy. Cannavaro called on clubs to assume their responsibility in the production of new young talent. Looking back at the match against Slovakia, Cannavaro described it as one of his worst experiences in football.
The Neapolitan defended coach Marcello Lippi's squad selection, particularly the decision to leave forwards Luca Toni, Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli behind. As for his own career, Cannavaro said it was the right time to close this chapter.