MOnday, MAY 17, 2010 Jyestha 3, 1417, JAMADIUS SANI 1, 1431 Hijri

   Leading news  Back Page  Editorial   Analysis  Viewpoints   International   Business/Economy   National   Sports    Back

Leading News

All set for Dhaka-Moscow nuclear agreement
BSS, Dhaka

The government will sign an agreement with Russia on May 21 next for bolstering cooperation for peaceful use of atomic energy, State Minister of Science and ICT Yeafesh Osman said on Sunday.
"We will sign the much awaited nuclear power agreement with Russia during our visit. But, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will ink the final deal on her proposed visit to Moscow in September next," the state Minister told BSS.
To launch the country's first nuclear power plant by the year 2016, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission suggested building HRD (human resources department) as per requirement of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Russia was in the list of countries with whom we had signed MoU. However, with the signing of this agreement, we are moving forward to implement our election commitment to build up a nuclear power project," Yeafesh Osman said.
The State Minister said it would be a state-to-state deal and that is why there is no room for the vendors here.
The state minister said it might take 6-7 years to complete the process to install a 600-1500 MW nuclear power plant. "It is not important at that time who will be in the power. What is important is to resolve the power problem. We know the country needs power for its development and we are committed to generate more power," he added. Earlier, the State Minister had a meeting with the 22-member technical committee that was formed to oversee the issue.
During the meeting Shawkat Akbar, project director of Roopur Nuclear Plant, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission has presented a paper on "Present status of nuclear power programme of Bangladesh-issues and opportunities of Roopur nuclear power project."
Dr Akbar said, "Nuclear power plant is a big financial challenge for the country as it would require $175 to $117 million for 100 MW and this project would be viable for the country when it would able to find out an experienced potential country as a partner with proven and safe technology to implement the nuclear power plant by 2016".
As part of the programme to set up a 600-1500 MW nuclear power plant in Bangladesh the government has already taken necessary steps through signing MoU with China, Russia, USA, France and India for cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear energy. It had also started talks with South Korea in this regard.
"Now only one thing is in our mind to design and build Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant", State minister said.
Nuclear power plant is a big financial challenge for Bangladesh but it could be addressed by mobilising the fund from both local and international financial sources, Habibullah Mozumdar, Planning Secretary told the meeting.

 16 killed, 44 hurt in road crashes at Narsingdi, Bogra, Mymensingh

UNB, Dhaka

As many as 16 people were killed and 44 others injured in separate accidents at different places of the country on Sunday.
At least 11 people were killed and 32 injured when a Dhaka-bound bus from Kishoreganj collided with and dashed down the Haridhoa bridge by another bus to waist deep water near Belabo on Dhala-Sylhet highway Sunday afternoon.
Eight passengers died on the spot while three others succumbed to fatal injures on way to the Narsingdi District Hospital. All the injured were admitted to the district and sadar hospitals.
Those died are Faisal (8), Tanjina (12), Lucky Begum (30), Marya Begum (18), Mili (3), Rifat (8), Parveen (30), Sonia (18) and Sharifa Begum (60). Identity of 2 other young men aged around 24 and 18 was not known.
Survivors said the Bhairab bound bus of Chalanbil Paribahan from Dhaka crossing the Haridhoa bridge collided with and dashed hard the bus of Isha Khan Paribahan from Kishoreganj at about 3pm. The Dhaka bound bus fell down the bridge to waist deep water in the river.
Fire Brigade from Narsingdi rushed to the spot and salvaged the bus.
Another report from Bogra said, a poultry feed load truck tumbled near Mirzapur bazaar on Dhaka-Bogra highway Saturday midnight leaving Mukul Hossain (24) dead on the spot and 10 others wounded. The victims, all day labourers, were traveling on top of the truck. Mukul hailed from Jaldhaka upazila in Nilphamari district. The wounded were admitted to Sherpur upazila health complex.
Meanwhile, UNB report from Mymensingh: Four people were killed and two others injured in separate road crashes in Bhaluka and Trishal on Sunday. Three people were killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a tempo of Lever Brothers Company on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Mohorabari in Valuka upazila on Sunday noon.
The deceased were identified as Manik, 35, Jashim, 30 and tempo driver Farid, 20.
Police said, the accident occurred at about 12:30 pm, when a Mymensingh-bound bus collided head-on with a tempo, coming from the opposite direction, leaving three tempo passengers killed on the spot.
In another incident, a motorcyclist was killed and two others were injured as a bus rammed into a motorcycle at Boilre in Trishal upazila on Sunday morning.
Police said, the accident occurred at around 7;30 am when a Mymensingh-bound bus rammed into a motorcycle, carrying three passengers, leaving Golam Azam, 26 dead on the spot and injuring his son Shafin, 9 and Humayan Kabir, 45.

  Govt to open up VoIP by June - July
Country to get own satellite by next 2 yrs: Minister Raju

UNB, Dhaka

The government, in a bid to minimize long-distance call costs, has almost finalized opening up the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) business for all under a legal framework, Posts and Telecommunication Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju said on Sunday.
"The guidelines have almost been finalized and international call termination through VoIP will hopefully be opened up by June-July," Minister Raju said at a crowded press conference held at National Press Club Sunday noon.
Currently, only five companies - Bangla Trac Communications Ltd, Novotel Limited, Mir Telecom, M & H Telecom and Getco Telecommunications - are allowed to use VoIP under license.
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications hosted the press conference to inform journalists about the government's plan on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD-2010) which will be observed today (Monday).
The government will rent out E1 (an all-digital communications line that allows transmission of voice, data, video, and graphics at high speed compared to standard communication lines) connections to the interested VoIP operators once the entire process is complete.
Replying to a question Minister Raju confidently said Bangladesh would have its own satellite within the next couple of years which will ensure quality and faster telecom services to the people.
"As the project is too expensive and has an involvement of approximately Taka 300-400 billion, we're looking for 'public-private partnership' (PPP) initiative to use the satellite for commercial purposes," he said.
He said a number of international companies including an US-based company had shown their keenness to set satellite lonely. "But we want public-private initiative."
Private television channels will be able to avail satellite facilities with affordable cost once country's own satellite is launched in the space, he said.
"The satellite would serve commercial purposes including improving telecom services, helping to meet the booming demand for it. Telecom operators could subscribe to satellite services on a commercial basis," he added.
There are several thousand satellites in space, launched by more than 50 countries. Bangladesh's neighbours India and Pakistan launched their own satellites in 1980 and 1990 respectively.

    Chevron ready to raise gas production by 150 MMCFD
UNB, Dhaka

As the country has been suffering from acute power crisis due to gas shortage, the leading international oil company Chevron stands ready to deliver 100-150 million cubic feet gas per day (MMCFD) from its three fields, the company officials said.
The US-based Chevron has been operating for last several years in the three gas fields - Bibiyana, Molvibazar and Jalalabad - in the Sylhet region.
Chevron moved for enhancing its production capacity at the gas fields after receiving instruction from the state-owned Petrobangla soon after assumption of the office by the Awami League government last year.
At present, the Bibiyana field is producing about 700 MMCFD while Molvibazar 55 MMCFD and Jalalabad producing 140 MMCFD gas. Country's total production is 1900 MMCFD against a demand of more than 2400 MMCFD.
Sources said Chevron has the ability to produce significant amount of additional gas from all its three fields, but the existing pipeline network has not the capacity to receive the additional gas.
The state-owned Petrobangla officials also admitted the limitations to receiving the additional gas from Chevron's fields.
"The present North-South gas pipeline, which carry gas from upstream to downstream has not adequate capacity to intake more gas. When a gas compressor will be installed at Muchai point of the gas pipeline, we will be able to receive the additional gas from Chevron's three fields," said Petrobangla Chairman Dr. Hossain Monsur.
He noted that Chevron is installing the Muchai gas compressor.
The Petrobangla chief also said that another planned gas pipeline from Ashuganj-Bakhrabad is now under implementation. "If this pipeline is installed, we can easily enhance our gas transmission capacity."
As currently it is difficult to deliver more gas into the pressure-constrained existing pipeline, Chevron has started discussions with Petrobangla, GTCL and the Energy Ministry about building a new pipeline as an additional evacuation route.
Such a new pipeline, combined with additional investments Chevron could make in its fields, could go a long way towards helping solve the country's mid-term energy crisis, in two to three years.?
There is also a requirement to install three big compressors that would help put more gas into the system.
Power Development Board (PDB) has continuously been blaming the gas shortage for the persisting power crisis.

     AL rival groups exchange gunfire in Narayanganj
Clash leaves 4 injured in Jessore

UNB, Narayanganj

Two rival groups of Awami League dealing in jhoot (garments factory wastes) exchanged heavy gunfire at Fatullah BISIC industrial area on Saturday midnight causing panic among the residents.
Locals said about 150 gunshots were heard during the hour long gunrunning starting at 12 midnight.
The groups, one led by listed top terror of west Masdair Rakmat alias Kaila Rakmat and the other also listed top terror of district Imam Hossain Tuhin who hails from Jamtala of the town are long rivals.
Tuhin and his associates from Chashara drove to Masdair and launched the attack at the Jhoot godwon of Rakmat with fire arms. They fired a barrage of gunshots, which were returned by Rakmat and his associates. None was reported hurt, but tension prevailed in the area.
Fatullah Model thana officer Jibon Kanti Sarkar confirmed the incident. He said they are trying to identify and nab the terrorists.
Meanwhile, another reports from Jessore says: four persons including two police were injured in Awami League factional clash at Monirampur sadar upazila town on Sunday.
Rony (20) and Siddique (26) and police sub-inspectors Nasiruddin and Gopal Chandra injured in the clash were admitted to Monirampur Health Complex. Police said rival groups of ruling AL engaged in clash at Monirampur at noon when they chased each other with sticks and exploded home made bombs.
Police also came under attack when intervened to bring the situation under control. Local Jubo League leader Alauddin and two AL activists were arrested from the spot.

    HC asks BIWTA to maintain status quo on construction in Buriganga

UNB, Dhaka

The High Court on Sunday asked the government to maintain a three-month status quo on construction of a recreation centre in the river Buriganga at Kamrangirchar in the capital.
Ordering the status quo, the HC also issued a rule upon the government to explain within three weeks why the impugned construction works should not be declared illegal.
An HC division bench comprising Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice M Delwar Hossain passed the interim orders upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh HRPB), a rights watchdog.
The PIL petitioner alleged that Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) was constructing a recreation centre in the river despite a standing High Court order in June last year that had directed the government to remove all illegal structures from the four rivers around the capital for preventing river encroachment, including Buriganga.
The Shipping Secretary, the BIWTA chairman and its directors (port) and (planning), chief engineer and executive engineer, the deputy commissioner (DC) of Dhaka and the director general of Directorate of Environment have been made respondents in the case.
Advocate Manzill Murshid appeared for the PIL petitioner.

Back Page

Hasina for taking relations with Korea to ‘new heights’
UNB, Seoul

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now in Seoul for her first visit to South Korea, made an impassioned plea Sunday for further enhancement in economic ties between Bang-ladesh and the prosperous East Asian nation.
Addressing the 'Bangladesh Festival 2010', arranged jointly by the Korean Labour Ministry and the Bangladesh Embassy in Seoul's imposing Jangchung Gymnasium gallery, the Prime Minister urged greater export of manpower from Bangladesh to augment the demand for labour in Korea's booming industries, and solicited increased FDI from the Korean private sector in Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister also urged the Korean authorities to increase imports of various products from Bangladesh to offset the imbalance in trade between the two countries, and asked for Korean cooperation in setting up technical training institutes in fields ranging from IT to nursing.
Hasina thanked the Korean government, particularly its Labor Ministry for introducing the Emplo-yment Permit System, through which greater numbers of Bangladeshis are now able to go to Korea more cheaply, while their salaries and benefits have also increased in comparison with the past.
The Prime Minister termed South Korea one of Bangladesh's 'friendliest countries', and urged Bangladeshis living and working in the country to continue their work while abiding by the laws, rules and regulations, thus brightening the image of Bangladesh abroad.
Expounding on the reasons behind her visit to Seoul, the Prime Minister said she intended to take the existing friendly relations between Bangladesh and Korea to 'new heights'.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in Seoul Sunday morning to begin a three-day visit to South Korea.
A flight of Thai Airways carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage touched Incheon Airport at 6:15 am (local time). On her arrival, the Prime Minister was warmly received by high government officials, including the South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister was given a guard of honor at the airport after which she drove in a colourful motorcade to her hotel suite at Grand Hyatt.
Earlier, Hasina left Dhaka on Saturday noon for Bangkok by a Thai Airways flight en route to Seoul on a five-day visit to South Korea and Malaysia.

   Pakistanis want British MP to remove terror stigma
Reuters, Gujjar Khan

The rise of a Pakistani-born Briton to become the first Muslim woman named in a British cabinet has given Pakistan something to cheer after weeks of introspection and blame over the failed New York bombing.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative Party's chairwoman, has been named minister without portfolio by Prime Minister David Cameron in his new coalition government.
In Pakistan, a country where many fear they are being stigmatised as "terrorists", people are jubilant over her appointment.
Born into a modest family which migrated from Pakistan's central town of Gujjar Khan to Britain in the 1960s, Warsi has been involved in politics since her college days. Newspapers prominently published photos of Warsi standing in front of 10 Downing Street and television channels interviewed her proud relatives and family friends in Gujjar Khan.
Warsi runs five vocational training centres for orphaned girls in villages near Gujjar Khan through a women's charity. Cameron visited Gujjar Khan with her in 2008.
"We feel proud that she is from us," said Hina Shaukat, a student in a vocational training centre in Bewal village near Gujjar Khan. Eight girls sat around her, busily sewing.
Warsi's appointment could not come at a better time for Pakistanis distressed by the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, 30, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen accused by U.S. officials of driving an explosives-laden car into New York's Times Square on May 1. Shahzad's case is not the first linking Islamists in the West to Pakistan. British authorities have said most of the al Qaeda plots against Britain are rooted in Pakistan. Three of the four Islamists who carried out suicide bombings on London's transport network in 2005, killing 52 people, were also of Pakistani origin.
"There is an urgent need to find out why terrorists of all sorts in every nook and corner of the world are either Pakistanis or of Pakistani origin," the liberal Daily Times wrote.
Pakistan has been a breeding ground for militancy since the late 1970s, when it supported the U.S.-backed fight against the Soviet invasion.
Its lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal belt on the Afghan border has become the global hub of Islamist militancy after thousands of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters fled the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
Warsi's appointment has come as a national morale booster.

   BNP urges government not to obstruct its ‘grand rally’ in Dhaka

UNB, Dhaka

Opposition BNP has urged the government and the ruling party not to create any obstacles to its May 19 Dhaka divisional grand rally in the city's Paltan Maidan, as they want to hold the event peacefully.
BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, also chief coordinator of the Dhaka grand rally, made the call while addressing a press briefing at Dhaka city unit BNP's Nayapaltan office on Sunday morning.
He said BNP has been taking all out preparations in its all districts and city units under Dhaka division to hold the Dhaka grand rally successfully and peacefully.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia will announce the next course of anti-government movement from the rally to save the country and its people, he told the reporters.
Nazrul Islam Khan lamented that two big holes have been dug for construction work at the entrance of the East Gate of Paltan Maidan which would disturb the entrance of party leaders and workers and people as well at the venue.
He asked the authorities concerned to immediately fill in the holes to pave the way for people attending the rally.
He said the hole could be dug after May 19 or it can be started earlier to finish the work before the rally as BNP April 28 applied for permission for Paltan Maidan for holding its grand rally. Responding to the remarks of Awami League joint secretary Mahbub Alam Hanif, the BNP standing committee member rejected the allegation saying BNP has no chaos inside itself and mentioned the successful and peaceful holding of the last four divisional grand rallies in Chittagong , Khulna , Rajshahi and Barisal cities .
Nazrul Islam Khan alleged that police is intimidating BNP leaders and workers in various areas are going to their houses to create fearful situations ahead of the grand rally.
He asked the government to stop such 'dirty strategy of sending police' house to house to threaten and intimidate the party leaders.
He also protested the arrests of two BNP activists from near National Baitul Mukarram Mosque while distributing the rally leaflets on Friday. The BNP leader said the government on Saturday allowed permission to use microphone for carrying out campaign of the grand rally and the campaign will start from Sunday.
He also urged the government not to obstruct its campaign by police and its political opponent.

  HC rejects plea of Channel 1
UNB, Dhaka

The High Court on Sunday summarily rejected a petition challenging the government's action of shutting down Channel 1, a private satellite television station that went on air January 2006.
After a brief submission on the writ petition by the lawyers from both sides, a HC division bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Gobinda Chandra Thakur passed the order.
The HC rejected the plea on the grounds of the operator having violated the terms of its license by handing over its equipment, court sources said.
Channel 1 went off-air on April 27 evening after the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) switched off its transmission for using rented telecasting equipment in violation of the law. According to BTRC, Channel 1 had sold off its telecasting equipment and had been using machinery owned by another company.
But as per law, the licensee must own the equipment. Channel 1 started airing programmes on January 24 in 2006. Its founder is controversial businessman jailed Giasuddin Al Mamun, a close associate of BNP senior vice-chairperson Tarique Rahman. Advocate Ahsanul Karim appeared for writ petitioner Mazidul Islam, director of Channel 1, now defunct, while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the government.

    AL wants peaceful BNP rally on May 19: Hanif
BSS, Dhaka

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif on Sunday said his party wants opposition BNP to observe its May 19 programme in the city in a peaceful manner.
The AL does not want to announce any counter programme, he said at a joint meeting of city AL at the central office of the party at Bangabandhu Avenue.
"The AL has nothing to get scared over the BNP's grand rally. They (BNP) held many big rallies in the past, and the AL, too, organised huge public meetings," Hanif said. The BNP is telling lies over its May 19 rally as it did in the case of Bhola-3 by polls, he added. Chaired by acting city AL President MA Aziz, the meeting was addressed by State Minister for Law Advocate Qamrul Islam, city AL general secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Shah Alam Murad, Awlad Hossain, Hazi Selim, Faiyez Uddin Mian, Kamal Ahmed Majumder, MP, Asaduzzaman Kamal, MP, and Abdul Haq, among others. The meeting was held on the observance of Sheikh Hasina's home coming day today (Monday) .
Hanif said the 17th May is an important day for the nation. If Sheikh Hasina did not return on this day in 1981, the AL could not return to power. Referring to the situation after the killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and four national leaders in 1975, he said the AL assumed state power twice after that because of the courage, wisdom, patience and creativity of Sheikh Hasina. He asked the leaders of all levels to observe the day in a befitting manner.
Advocate Qamrul Islam said the BNP is trying to destabilise the country to hinder the war crimes trial. Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya urged all to make all programmes of today (Monday) a success. As part of the day's programme, the AL will hold a meeting in front of the central party office here at 4 pm today.

    JS body for formulating law to regulate diagnostic labs
BSS, Dhaka

Parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday made recommendations to formulate a specific law for regulating all diagnostic centers and pathological laboratories.
Standing Committee Chairman Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim presided over the meeting held at the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Bhaban here, an official release said.
Committee members State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Majibur Rahman Fakir, Mohammad Amanullah, Prof Dr MA Mannan, Matiur Rahman, Nazmul Hasan, Murad Hasan and ZIM Mostafa Ali were present.
The meeting had an elaborate discussion on formulating policies on private medical colleges and emphasized the need for bringing all medical colleges under the jurisdiction of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical Univ-ersity (BSMMU).
It formed a three-member sub-committee to give recommendations on policies to set up private medical colleges.
Besides, another sub-committee was also formed to find out reasons behind repeated foreign tours by the officers of the health ministry and the sources of its funding.

Editorial

Looming admission crisis

A serious crisis is likely to creep up over the admission of the students who have passed the SSC examinations this year to colleges at higher secondary level due to shortage of seats in the elite colleges of the cities on the one hand and the scarcity of students in the colleges in non-urban areas. Disquieting circumstances are likely to arise with the colleges in cities being overcrowded with brilliant students, many of whom are unlikely to get admission due to shortage of seats, and hundreds of colleges outside Dhaka being set to run short of students. Hundreds of colleges outside Dhaka and other cities are likely to face a serious scarcity of admission seeking students at the higher secondary level. This crisis may even threaten the existence of many colleges in the districts.
On the other hand, there is another sort of problem relating to admission to the colleges in the cities specially Dhaka. Most of the brilliant students who fared well in the SSC examination in different groups are interested in getting themselves admitted to the reputed colleges in the capital and other cities. But the number of seats there is too small to be able to accommodate them all. So, hundreds of meritorious students are sure to be deprived of the opportunity of getting admission into the colleges of their choice. In the capital there will be heavy rush of brilliant students from all over the country for admission to reputed colleges like Dhaka College, Notre Dame College, Motijheel Ideal College, City College, Viqarun Nisa College, City College, Holy Cross College etc. Due to this situation students and guardians on the one hand and the college authorities in the districts on the other have been gripped by grave uncertainty and agony.
A total of 9,60,492 students under 10 education boards have come out successful in SSC examinations this year. Students with scores of GPA-4 and above but below GPA-5 fear that they would not be able to get admitted to colleges of the first rank. According to the statistics available with the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, about 3,150 government and private colleges have more than 4.8 lakh seats to offer higher secondary courses. Students with better scores in the Secondary School Certificate and its equivalent examinations under the 10 boards of the country will face tough competition to get admission in well-known colleges.Only a dozen or some more colleges in the capital have traditionally attracted the top scorers in SSC and equivalent exams. A total of 82,961 students have scored GPA-5, but there are less than 20,000 seats in the reputable colleges. Like the previous years, most of the GPA-5 achievers are expected to rush to Dhaka for a seat in these colleges. About 60,000 GPA-5 achievers will have to go for second-choice colleges.
In short, a serious uncertainty looms large over the future educational career of many students who came out successful in this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations as adequate number of seats are not available there in the educational institutions at the higher level to accommodate them. It is really painful to learn that thousands of this years successful SSC level examinees may be deprived of entrance to colleges due to shortage of seats there. They may have to face this unfortunate reality for no fault of their own. If the students want to pursue higher education, it is the state's moral obligation to make the arrangements. As this is a chronic problem, the government should set up more educational institutions at higher level and until that can be done double shifts can be introduced in the existing colleges to accommodate enhanced number of students there.

  Kidney disease

Bangladesh is a haven of many fatal diseases as the arrangements for prevention of those and the treatment of the patients thereof are very poor. Some of these diseases, specially cancer and kidney disease, have emerged as silent killers claiming huge number of lives every year. The magnitude of the crisis arising out of kidney disease in particular is evident from the fact that around 1.5 crore people in the country are reportedly affected by kidney and urology related diseases every year with one third of them living with inactive kidneys. The number of patients is increasing significantly day by day due to lack of awareness and primary treatment and every hour five persons die of kidney and urology related diseases as they do not get timely and proper treatment. Besides, about 75 per cent of people remain ignorant that they are affected by kidney disease while most of the patients are unable to take timely treatment as the cost is very high.
Kidney disease is a problem for the whole world. But the scenario is different in rich and poor countries. The developed countries and their people are solvent enough to spend adequately and so the situation is less grave there. The tragedy for us is that due to serious poverty our people cannot afford the highly expensive treatment and the state is also unwilling or unable to spend enough for this purpose. Prevention is better than cure and all possible measures should be taken at individual and state level for the prevention of outbreak and spread of the disease. To this end creation of awareness among the people is a must. a massive campaign should be launched to make the people conscious of the kidney disease so that they can change their food habit and take such other precaution necessary to avert attack of kidney disease. Above all the facilities for the treatment of kidney disease should be extensive and cheaper to me them affordable for the people.

Analysis

Climate concert in South Asia

Entire nations - the Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka - are poised to go under. Inland terrains are not above it all either.

Sunil Sharan

Climate change was the purported theme of the recent summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Thimpu. Instead an India-Pakistan rapprochement hijacked the agenda.
Countries most at risk in the region, the Maldives and Bangladesh, pressed for firm commitments to combat global warming but all they got was a promise to inquire into the issue. Wake up, South Asia, and smell the carbon. Time and tide wait for no man.
South Asia is inured to disasters, both natural and man-made. But now man's excesses are provoking nature's wrath. Entire nations - the Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka - are poised to go under. Inland terrains are not above it all either. Melting glaciers, rising oceans, widespread flooding, mass migration - such promises to be the fate of a region boxed in by snowcapped mountains and deep seas. Monsoons, already fickle, could play even more truant. No matter how resilient, the region is just not equipped to cope with devastation of this magnitude.
But few in South Asia are losing sleep. Active on the world stage, India within itself confines climate to a high-brow discussion. Tiny Maldives' leadership is plunging to the ocean depths to grab attention but can only make so many waves. Pakistan has other things on its mind. A river water dispute with India has taken centre stage with little realisation on either side that this is just a portent of looming disasters.
Here then is a prescription for the region:
- India has emerged as South Asia's principal spokesman on climate change. Saarc needs to supplant it with a unified regional approach. At last year's Copenhagen climate conference, India partnered with Brazil, China and South Africa to represent the developing world. Missing from the mix were Pakistan and Bangladesh, each equivalent to Brazil in population and three times South Africa. Collaborating on climate with its neighbours will engender tremendous goodwill for India. They in turn must not convolve the agenda with festering sores. A breakthrough here has overflow potential to heal old wounds.
- Articulate in layman terms how people's lives are affected by global warming and what can be done to mitigate it. Conspicuous consumption has marked its arrival in the subcontinent. Most people remain blithely unaware of any impending catastrophe.
To throttle emissions, lifestyles would have to be altered and ostentation tempered. Consumers will have to pay their share for remedies such as cap-and-trade, carbon and petrol taxes and renewable energy equipment. They must become aware. Here too a shared approach would be more effective than countries going solo because local mores and attitudes have much in common.
- Clamp down on power theft by installing smart electricity meters. Power cuts are crippling the economy and making life miserable. Approaching 50 per cent, power theft in the region is amongst the highest in the world. Electricity is not manna from heaven that every other plant provides it for free. Smart meters are digital versions of the spinning electric meters ubiquitous today.
Each costs around Rs8,000, in terms of Pakistani currency, and virtually eliminates fraud by detecting when a meter is tampered with or when a wire is illegally hooked to a distribution line. Italy has already installed some 30 million smart meters. The Italians spent an equivalent of nearly Rs25,000 crore on them but are also saving Rs6,000 crore every year, thereby recouping the investment in only four years. All of Europe and much of the US are now following suit with hundreds of thousands of smart meters.
Moneyed classes in the subcontinent consume electricity worth thousands of rupees, if not more, every month but only a fraction pay what they owe. Often the meter reader is paid off. His pickings trickle upwards to the powers that be. By automatically transmitting meter data to a utility, smart meters do away with manual labour and ensure accurate billing. An investment in them could easily pay for itself in less than a year. Lacking though is the political will to approve them.
Surely for once the ruling elites can swap their greed for society's benefit. Not only will utilities be compensated for what they produce, the overall economy too stands to benefit. Sweden is gaining a third of a per cent in annual GDP with smart meters. Imagine the possibilities in far more inefficient South Asia. The need for new power plants, which are mostly fired by coal, would also be curbed, avoiding expenditure and lowering emissions.
- Adopt emerging technologies, institute time-based rates and make procurement transparent. On the horizon are new carbon-fighting technologies such as energy-efficient appliances, electric vehicles, solar farms and carbon capture and sequestration. And just as cellphone companies offer cheap rates at odd hours to free up networks at peak usage periods, so too can electricity consumption be modulated through time-based tariffs. Both pecuniary and environmental benefits result.
South Asian countries typically offer only a single rate for electricity and need to imbibe global best practices in intelligent rate design. Finally, MNCs supplying much-needed infrastructure are wary of the subcontinent's opaque purchasing ways. The European Union has adopted Internet-based procurement to facilitate transparency. Saarc should consider something similar, at least for carbon-battling equipment. Otherwise small countries would struggle to attract vendors. Everyone would benefit from economies of scale.
Were the intra-regional cooperation on climate to succeed, South Asians could be rightly proud of a singular moment in their history when they unveiled a united face to the world, instead of incessantly washing their dirty laundry in public. Faced with an existential threat from the Soviet Union, age-old adversaries England, France and Germany came together. Then what stops South Asia from staging a climate concert to transform a common destiny?


The writer, a director of the Smart Grid Initiative at General Electric from 2008 to 2009, has worked in the clean energy industry for a decade.

  Breaking isolation

In adjusting its policy towards Burma, the US must face reality with a clear vision of what its foreign policy can achieve.
 
Wesley K. Clark, Henrietta H. Fore and Suzanne DiMaggio

The Obama administration's decision to seek a new way forward in United States-Burma relations recognises that decades of trying to isolate Burma (Myanmar) in order to change the behaviour of its government have achieved little. With Burma's ruling generals preparing to hold elections later this year - for the first time since 1990 - it is time to try something different.
Attempting to engage one of the world's most authoritarian governments will not be easy. There is no evidence to indicate that Burma's leaders will respond positively to the Obama administration's central message, which calls for releasing the estimated 2,100 political prisoners (including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), engaging in genuine dialogue with the opposition, and allowing fair and inclusive elections. In fact, the recently enacted electoral laws, which have been met with international condemnation, already point to a process that lacks credibility.
This past fall, we convened a task force under the auspices of the Asia Society to consider how the US can best pursue a path of engagement with Burma. We concluded that the US must ensure that its policies do not inadvertently support or encourage authoritarian and corrupt elements in Burmese society. At the same time, if the US sets the bar too high at the outset, it will deny itself an effective role in helping to move Burma away from authoritarian rule and into the world community.
During this period of uncertainty, we recommend framing US policy towards Burma on the basis of changes taking place in the country, using both engagement and sanctions to encourage reform. The Obama administration's decision to maintain trade and investment sanctions on Burma in the absence of meaningful change, particularly with regard to the Burmese government's intolerance of political opposition, is correct.
Yet there are other measures that should be pursued now. The US should engage not only with Burma's leaders, but also with a wide range of groups inside the country to encourage the dialogue necessary to bring about national reconciliation of the military, democracy groups, and non-Burmese nationalities. The removal by the US of some non-economic sanctions designed to restrict official bilateral interaction is welcome, and an even greater relaxation in communications, through both official and unofficial channels, should be implemented. Expanding such channels, especially during a period of potential political change, will strengthen US leverage.
To reach the Burmese people directly, the US should continue to develop and scale up assistance programmes, while preserving cross-border assistance. Assistance to non-governmental organisations should be expanded, and US assistance also should be targeted towards small farmers and small- and medium-sized businesses. Educational exchanges under the Fulbright and Humphrey Scholar programmes and cultural outreach activities should be increased. These programmes produce powerful agents for community development in Burma, and can significantly improve the prospects for better governance.
US policy should shift to a more robust phase if Burmese leaders begin to relax political restrictions, institute economic reforms, and advance human rights. If there is no movement on these fronts, there will likely be pressure in the US for tightening sanctions. If there is no recourse but to pursue stronger sanctions, the US should coordinate with others, including the European Union and ASEAN, to impose targeted financial and banking measures to ensure that military leaders and their associates cannot evade the impact of what otherwise would be less-effective unilateral sanctions.
If a different scenario emerges, it should open the way for a much more active US role in assisting with capacity building, governance training, and international efforts to encourage economic reforms. One priority should be the development of an appropriate mechanism for ensuring that revenues from the sale of natural gas are properly accounted for, repatriated, and allocated to meet urgent national needs.
In adjusting its policy towards Burma, the US must face reality with a clear vision of what its foreign policy can achieve. US influence in Burma is unlikely to outweigh that of increasingly powerful Asian neighbours. Therefore, the US should make collaboration with other key stakeholders, particularly ASEAN, the United Nations and Burma's neighbours - including China, India and Japan - the centrepiece of its policy.
In every respect, conditions in Burma are among the direst of any country in the world, and it will take decades, if not generations, to reverse current downward trends and create a foundation for a sustainable and viable democratic government and a prosperous society. The US needs to position itself to respond effectively and flexibly to the twists and turns that a potential transition in Burma may take over time, with an eye towards pressing the Burmese leadership to move in positive directions.


Wesley K. Clark, a former NATO supreme commander, is a senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Centre for International Relations. Henrietta H. Fore is a former administrator of USAID. Both are co-chairs of the Asia Society-sponsored Task Force on US Policy towards Burma/Myanmar. Suzanne DiMaggio, director of policy studies at the Asia Society, is project director. ©Project Syndicate, 2010. www.project-syndicate.org

  Crisis in Thailand

Thailand's British-educated prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, gained office without winning an election, so lacks the legitimacy of an endorsement at the polls.
 
Simon Tisdall

If the clashes in Bangkok were transposed to central Paris, international commentators would be talking about revolution, class warfare, the future of the social contract, looming economic catastrophe and the end of democracy. Outside pressure would be immense.
Thailand's latest turbulence, which began in March, has failed to attract that level of interest. That may change as the country struggles to avoid a descent into uncontrolled violence, even civil war.
Despite a long history of military interference, Thailand is still a democratic country with a parliamentary system and a constitutional monarch. Its example matters to Malaysia, to the south, where tensions over ethnic, civil and human rights sometimes produce autocratic responses, and even more so in Burma, to the north, where pro-democracy forces oppose a brutal military dictatorship.
But Thai democracy also matters to Britain and other western countries, which look at a region increasingly influenced by the Chinese communist hegemony and wonder how long key states such as Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, will uphold western democratic values if neighbours discard them.
The confrontation between the redshirts and the establishment also has a significance beyond Bangkok. The rich-versus-poor theme can be overplayed. The reality is more complicated: the exiled billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra is no Robin Hood, and his time in power was marked by a violent war on drugs, high-level corruption and harsh military measures in the south. But both sides have a responsibility to the masses who have not shared much, if at all, in the country's growing prosperity.
Thailand's British-educated prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, gained office without winning an election, so lacks the legitimacy of an endorsement at the polls. If he cannot end the confrontation without more bloodshed, it seems clear he will have to stand down.
Perhaps he should do so anyway. Wiser heads in Bangkok say a national dialogue and early elections are needed. A general amnesty, embracing Thaksin, might facilitate such a process, help end the fighting, and get the bloodstained generals off the hook. The alternative - another army takeover - could tip the country into Burmese-style junta-dom.
The economic impact has wider implications, not least for the tourists who have lately stopped coming. Growth and consumer and investor confidence are all down sharply in what was, until recently, one of the world's few thriving economies. As usual, it will be the poor who suffer.

Viewpoints

Obama is on track on foreign policy

Engagement is not in itself foreign policy. But it is a crucial part of the process by which the US seeks to advance its international goals, and one in which the country can and should invest great human and political capital.

Warren Christopher

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised he would end America's diplomatic isolation and pursue "engagement" in foreign affairs. His opponent tried to turn his proposal against him by saying it would be reckless and naive. Obama regarded his election as a mandate for engagement, and no campaign promise has been more faithfully carried out by his administration.
Engagement is not in itself foreign policy. But it is a crucial part of the process by which the US seeks to advance its international goals, and one in which the country can and should invest great human and political capital.
With former senator George Mitchell engaging in "proximity" talks with the Israelis and Palestinians - discussions between the parties through an intermediary rather than face to face - the United States has entered a new and difficult phase of Obama's policy of engagement. The atmosphere is far from promising. For many years, the parties met regularly in correct if not cordial discussion. But rancour over colony expansion has kept them apart for the past year. Breaking the impasse and restoring face-to-face meetings will require all the creativity and patience that Mitchell showed in his successful peace talks in Ireland.
During the Clinton administration, I made 20 trips to the region for proximity talks to try to broker a deal for the return of the Golan Heights to Syria, an effort that revealed all the weaknesses of proximity talks. The absence of confidence-building, face-to-face discussions between those at the highest ranks contributed to the inability of Syrian president Hafez Al Assad to overcome his paranoia over Israel's intention. The assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995, similarly deprived the negotiations of his essential authority. In the end, even the strenuous efforts of the US could not put the talks back on track.
Beyond Mitchell's efforts, Obama has been using engagement in pursuit of his foreign policy goals. One of the president's chief goals, as he said on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, is "to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world without them". His personal intervention in talks with President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia was instrumental in finalising a replacement agreement for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December. The signing in Prague last month was a tribute to their mutual engagement, producing major reductions in both nations' nuclear arsenals as well as advancing US-Russian ties in general.
The priority that Obama is giving to engagement has also been apparent in recent exchanges with China. The president, unhappy when the Chinese sent lower-level diplomats to meet with him at the climate change summit in Copenhagen, announced an arms package for Taiwan. The Chinese objected stridently.
Mutual respect
To prevent the exchanges from spinning out of control, the president sent Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg to Beijing to reassure the Chinese that the US adheres to the one-China policy and does not support independence for Taiwan or Tibet. The Chinese responded by announcing that President Hu Jintao would go to Washington for a nuclear summit and, when he was there, Hu said that China was open to considering new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
Improvement in human rights has been the policy goal of recent engagement with the repressive nation of Myanmar. Late last year, two senior US diplomats went to Myanmar, pressed the ruling junta to loosen restrictions and were permitted to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Parliamentary elections, though with troublesome restrictions, are now scheduled for the first time in 20 years, and the junta released a pro-democracy activist from prison. Not much progress, but enough to be encouraging.
Policy goals, of course, sometimes remain elusive despite efforts at engagement. Iran, while initially intrigued by the idea of shipping uranium abroad for enrichment under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision, has now descended into a sea of political invective in the wake of controversial election results and an emerging internal opposition. Nevertheless, the US president is working to build a coalition to impose a stricter set of sanctions than those presently in place to dissuade Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions. Engagement with all the members of the Security Council, especially Russia and China, will be vital to achieving passage at the United Nations. As he did with Russia and China, the president will make full use of engagement to achieve that goal.
Obama has judiciously used engagement in pursuit of US foreign policy goals. The measure of his success in using this tool will be judged by the effectiveness of US foreign policy in the hardest cases, such as Iran and North Korea.


Warren Christopher was US secretary of state from 1993 to 1997.

  The continuing tragedy of Palestine

The US and Europe welcomed the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine (anywhere but in their midst) to atone, as if, for their sufferings.

S P Seth

Palestine remains the greatest tragedy of the post-World War II period. Israel continues to occupy the Palestinian homeland over and above what was gifted in 1948 as their state by the international power brokers. Their destiny is currently being negotiated in 'proximity' (indirect) talks with Israel, with George Mitchell, special US envoy to the Middle East, as a facilitator. It is hoped that this might eventually lead to direct talks between the two parties. Whether this will lead to any worthwhile breakthrough is doubtful, considering the record so far following the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Broadly, Palestinians want Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines as their national boundary. Besides, there is the question of the Palestinian refugees still languishing in makeshift camps ever since the creation of the state of Israel, and the status of East Jerusalem, now claimed by Israel as part of its eternal capital. The Israeli position is to pilfer and annex the Palestinian territory through more and more settlements. The basic objective is to make Palestinian lives so miserable that more and more of them will be forced into leaving Palestine to find refuge in one or the other Arab state. The rest of them and their territory will be carved into dependent zones, accessible only through Israeli checkpoints and other control mechanisms.
Realising that a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conundrum is an essential step towards making a new beginning with other Muslim countries, the Obama administration is keen to promote a resolution of this vexed question. But the problem is that, coddled so long by US administrations over many years, the Israeli governments have been in no mood to heed even moderate American advice of freezing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to kick-start the peace talks.
In the US, the Israeli lobby has such a stronghold over politics that Tel Aviv felt bold enough to announce the building of another 1,600 units in East Jerusalem during a recent visit to Israel by the US Vice President, Joe Biden. Such brazenness did not go down well with the Obama administration, leading to some political tensions between Tel Aviv and Washington. Some commentators detect an emerging political space in the US where some responsible policy makers, like Defence Secretary Robert Gates, and General David Petraeus, have highlighted the deleterious effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on US national security interests in the region. And they are both said to be Republicans. General Petraeus reportedly told the US Congress that Arab-Israeli hostilities in Palestine allow al Qaeda and other militant groups to mobilise support by exploiting anger at perceived US favouritism for Israel. However, as long as President Obama feels obliged to reassure Israel at every opportunity about the US commitment to its security, Washington's credentials as an honest broker for the Palestinians will always be doubtful. Indeed, if anybody needs assurance and commitment to their security, it is the Palestinian people, subjected to Israeli military incursions and attacks.
The Israelis even manage to portray themselves as victims, with the support of their powerful backers in the US and Europe. The reality, though, is as put forth in a letter signed by 300 British academics and published in The Guardian about the time of the Israeli invasion of Gaza: "The massacres in Gaza are the latest phase of a war that Israel has been waging against the people of Palestine for more than 60 years. The goal of this war has never changed: to use overwhelming military power to eradicate the Palestinians as a political force, one capable of resisting Israel's ongoing appropriation of their land and resources." The letter goes on: "Israel's war against the Palestinians has turned Gaza and the West Bank into a pair of gigantic political prisons."
Israel was created largely as a safe haven for European Jews who had suffered horrendous persecution wherever they lived in Europe and the US. The holocaust under Hitler was its worst manifestation. Even during World War II, when Jews were dispatched to concentration and death camps under Hitler, the allied governments were indifferent to their plight. Indeed, those fleeing such persecution were often received with hostility and put in detention camps. Not surprisingly, the US and Europe welcomed the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine (anywhere but in their midst) to atone, as if, for their sufferings. The problem, though, was that the Palestinians, who lived in that land, were not considered worth consulting by all the external parties promoting the creation of a homeland for the Jews.
The Western countries, by now overwhelmed by the centuries' old accumulative guilt of Jewish persecution, made more poignant by Hitler's Holocaust, found in the creation of Israel a convenient solution to an age-old problem. The creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine had been the Zionist demand for many years. It was given some validity by the Balfour Declaration of 1917, named after the British foreign secretary. All this resulted in the expulsion of many Palestinians to constitute a Palestinian Diaspora, refusing to accept the loss of their identity.
With its preponderant military power and the occupation of more Palestinian territory following the 1967 war, Israel had hoped to create a fait accompli which the Palestinians would have no option but to accept. But it has not worked out like that, even though Israel was able to break Arab solidarity by signing peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Even the Oslo Agreement of 1993, leading Yasser Arafat's PLO to recognise the state of Israel, did not break the logjam. The building of more and more Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to encircle and dominate the Palestinian territory, and thus effectively negate the prospect of a new state of Palestine, made any real progress virtually impossible.
Even with its military power and support from the US and much of Europe, Israel claims to feel insecure from the surrounding Arab world. Hence, it keeps making more and more demands on the Arabs and the world community for ironclad guarantees for its security, which is an excuse for stalling a political settlement. A strong power like Israel should work to win the goodwill of the Palestinian people by withdrawing to its pre-1967 borders. Only a spectacular initiative like this will eventually work. And only Israel can do this because it has taken away so much and can afford to be reasonable. It is hard to believe that the long-persecuted Jewish people would allow their state to dish out such horrendous treatment to the Palestinians, especially when they had no role in their persecution all throughout history.

The writer is a senior journalist and academic based in Sydney, Australia

  Connecting with disasters

“Telecom is not a luxury in emergency response,” said Paul Margie, US representative of Telecommunications Without Borders, based in France. “It's core to the mission.”

S.L. Bachman

Natural disasters have struck since the Earth's beginning, but one dramatic change is underway: A global telecommunication network and the Internet's social media have shrunk the world, speeding news about any disaster as well as speeding delivery of succor for victims.
News of recent massive earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and China first arrived on other shores not as television video or professional news bulletins, but as amateur reports and images sent by cell phone and Internet. Further expansion of the global electronic network, keeping it censorship-free, would contribute to improved worldwide response to future calamities.
Response to the deadliest 20th Century earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people in Tangshan, northern China, reveals how much has changed: News of the July 1976 earthquake reached China's central government after a coal miner named Li Yulin drove an ambulance six hours to Beijing. Although seismologists around the world knew that something big had happened in China, the secretive Chinese government, then in the throes of political succession, did not formally acknowledge the quake's massive destruction until three years later.
This year, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the Port-au-Prince region of Haiti on January 12 - killing an estimated 222,570, injuring 300,000, and displacing 1.3 million, according to the US Geological Survey. On February 27, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake striking near Concepcion, Chile, killed nearly 1000. And on April 13, a 6.9-magnitude quake in remote Quinghai, China, killed at least 2,183 people. News moved as fast as electronics and telecommunications could carry it. Social media replaced pornography as a preferred destination for Internet users in 2008 and now serves as the earliest news source for any major event, from political upheavals to natural disasters.
Rapid response to the quakes, including targeted fundraising and more effective relief, boosted the status of social-media sites. Ordinary people use electronic media's global reach to spread news and raise money for rescue and relief; rescue and relief workers communicate with one another, the displaced connect with family and friends, and onlookers deliver messages of comfort. Even scientists at the US Geological Survey examine social-media volume and topics for extra data on shaking, surface movement and damage. Governments tempted to censor social media for any opposition would do well to ponder the overall benefits of free information flow.
As recently as two decades ago, natural-disaster assistance could take days to arrive, as news traveled by messengers on foot or vehicle, and later by telegram, telephone calls, fax, and rolls of film packed in lead-lined pouches transported by plane. For this year's quakes, UNICEF, the Red Cross and other NGOs launched relief campaigns in less than 24 hours.
As government and non-governmental agencies converged on the devastated regions, relief workers used email, texting and social media websites to communicate. Social media technicians in the US and Europe worked around the clock to adapt websites and messaging applications to the needs of each community on three continents.
"Telecom is not a luxury in emergency response," said Paul Margie, US representative of Telecommunications Without Borders, based in France. "It's core to the mission."
Survivors, relatives and friends, both inside Haiti and outside, searched for one another using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - all free services. Devastated electric grids or smashed computers are not obstacles so long as mobile devices still work.
Emergency-relief organisations raised millions of dollars using social-media networks. Responding to social network appeals, cell phone users raised $25 million for the Red Cross in two weeks by texting "Haiti" to 90999 and adding $10 to telephone bills.
Facebook, which began in 2004 at Harvard University to connect students with "friends," today claims more than 400 million "active users," and 100 million of those access the site with mobile phones and devices. Some 70 per cent of Facebook members are outside the United States. Twitter, launched in 2007, allows users to upload brief texts, or "tweets," no more than 140 characters, which can be read online or passed among mobile devices of "followers" who sign up for user messages.
Twitter became a fundraising tool for the celebrity concert Hope for Haiti Now, broadcast internationally on January 22. The concert website tracked tweets on a world map - and the map still lights up every few seconds with new tweets from around the globe.
YouTube, a website started in 2005 for sharing videos, boasts more than 1 billion views a day. Millions of hits show that users watched thousands of videos on Haiti's disaster and recovery - and news programmes relied on these as well. Not long after the Chile quake, a "Hope for Chile" video was posted, accompanied by a social-media campaign to raise relief funds.
In addition, mapping websites, such Ushahidi and Crisiscommons.org, used graphics to indicate emergency needs, and searching for people using Google, Yahoo and other search engines gave searchers immediate access to phone numbers, addresses and other details.
International telecommunications may even have saved the life of one Canadian man, who sent an SOS text from his mobile device to the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa, saying that he was alive, awaiting rescue beneath a collapsed building in Port-au-Prince.
Still, a closer look at social media's role after these earthquakes suggests that gaps remain. Border-spanning power of electronic social media has not overcome human nature. Some Twitter messages from Haiti carried rumours, and the FBI issued warnings about charlatans requesting funds via Twitter messaging. Nor have social media bridged the digital divide: Haitian Internet use was low before the earthquake, and many Haitians still rely on radio and word of mouth for news.
Social media websites work best where used the most. After the Qinghai quake, Chinese names entered into Google produced little useful information. Google still struggles with nations, particularly China, over how much information should be made available online.
Although China has opened remarkably since the secretive 1970s, it continues to try and repress information that challenges emergency response. Again and again experience of recent disasters has shown the difference fast and uncensored communication makes to the survivors and relief workers. Social-media responses to natural disasters will accelerate only as long as telecommunications remain fast, cheap and uncensored.

S.L. Bachman is the author of "Globalization in the San Francisco Bay Area," published by the Pacific Council on International Policy

International

US covertly running spy network in AF-Pak to monitor terror despite Pentagon ban: NYT

ANI, New York

Despite an official ban, top US military officials continue to hire the secret services of private spies for information regarding militants movement and other strategic inputs from deep inside the troubled tribal regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials have revealed.
The US Army has been not allowed to carry out ground operations inside Pakistan, and more importantly according to Pentagon rules, the military is not allowed to hire contractors for spying. However, reports suggest that not only the secret network is still operating in the region, daily inputs regarding movement of militants and working of the Taliban in Pakistan are submitted to US commanders.
Citing some Pentagon officials, The New York Times reported that the supervisor who set up this secret contractor network, Michael D. Furlong, was now under investigation.
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell also confirmed that the covert programme was under investigation. He, however, refused to divulge any details about the investigations.
"The program remains under investigation by multiple offices within the Defence Department, so it would be inappropriate to answer specific questions about who approved the operation or why it continues," Morrell said.
"I assure you we are committed to determining if any laws were broken or policies violated," he added.
However, The New York Times claimed that Furlong's operatives were still providing information using the same intelligence gathering methods as before.

   India set to ban 100 Al Qaeda-linked groups
IANS, New Delhi

India is all set to formally designate nearly 100 Al Qaeda-linked international outfits as terrorist organisations and ban them to avoid any legal loophole if anyone associated with them is arrested in the country.
Prominent in the newly-revised list of the banned organisations are Jemaah Islamiyah of Indonesia, Islamic Libya's Jihad Group, the Islamic Combatant Group in Morocco, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, International Islamic Relief Organization, Abu Sayyaf group in Philippines and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
These groups are said to be linked to the global terror network of Al Qaeda and have been outlawed by the United Nations under the UN Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order, 2007.
Indian investigative agencies have been monitoring their activities but were not formally banned in the country.
A home ministry official said there have been no indications that such groups were active or were planning to get active in India but the move to ban them was considered to avoid any legal loophole in case anyone associated with these outfits was arrested.
The revised list of banned outfits will be made official soon once Home Minister P. Chidambaram approves it, the official said.
The home ministry has already banned 34 organisations and their allied groups in India including terrorist outfits fighting in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast and Maoists in central India. The revised list also includes the Khalistan Zindabad Force as one of the terrorist organisations.

  Court extends Madhuri Gupta's judicial custody
ANI, New Delhi

The judicial custody of Indian Diplomat Madhuri Gupta, who was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan"s intelligence agencies, has been extended by 14 days. Gupta was produced at the Tis Hazari court in New Delhi.
She was earlier sent to 14-day judicial custody on May 1. Emerging out of the in-camera proceedings, Gupta"s advocate Joginder Dahiya said: "The Delhi police informed the court that they have filed an application under Section 197 of the CrPC seeking sanction for the prosecution of the woman officer."
The proceedings were held in camera in view of the sensitivity of the case.
Meanwhile, 53-year-old Gupta sought the copy of the FIR registered against her in the case. Gupta is under police custody since April 23.
Gupta, who was posted in Indian High Commission in Pakistan, faces serious charges of having links with Pakistan"s ISI.
She is believed to have leaked the names of India"s undercover agents in Pakistan to the ISI. However, sources say she might not have leaked any sensitive information as she did not have the access to it.

  Sri Lanka wary of Tiger revival abroad
AFP, Colombo

One year after Sri Lanka's army wiped out the Tamil Tigers, there are no signs of the rebel group's revival at home, but concerns remain about extremist fund-raisers abroad.
This week, the country will mark the first anniversary of the defeat of the separatist Tamil guerrillas, who were finished off in a crushing military campaign still dogged by war crimes allegations.
The United Nations estimated that up to 7,000 civilians perished in the final months of fighting, which brought an end to a 37-year civil war that is thought to have claimed up to 100,000 lives in total. Since then, the country has been violence-free. The Tigers, once regarded as the world's most ruthlessly efficient guerrilla outfit with an army, navy and mini air force, appear to be a force of the past.
But despite the calm, the government has sounded the alarm several times about the influence of overseas Tiger patrons-wealthy expatriate Tamils who helped fund the rebels during their struggle for an independent homeland.
"The military capability of the Tigers has been finished off," Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne said on May 7. "But we know there are three groups abroad which are trying to revive the movement."
Jayaratne said one such group was known to be collecting money and weapons to resurrect the Tigers, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), formed by Velupillai Prabhakaran in 1972.

  Thai protesters seek talks as fighting rages, kills 31
Reuters, Bangkok

Thai protesters said on Sunday they were ready for U.N.-supervised talks with the government if the army stops shooting after three days of clashes that have killed 31 and injured 232 people turning Bangkok into a battleground. The comments came minutes after the Thai government moved back from imposing a curfew in Bangkok as fighting raged in two areas of the city of 15 million people, trapping panicked residents and raising the risk of a broader civil conflict.
"We call on the government to cease fire and pull out troops. We are ready to enter a negotiation process immediately," Nattawut Saikai, a protest leader, told supporters. "We have no other condition. We do not want any more losses." The government's immediate response was that no conditions should be attached to negotiations. "If they really want to talk, they should not set conditions like asking us to withdraw troops," said Korbsak Sabhavasu, the prime minister's secretary-general. "It's a positive sign but if there is going to be a talk, there has to be more detail. But they cannot make demands if they want to negotiate."
The curfew would have been a rarity in a city known for raucus nightlife. It had been considered as troops fired live rounds to disperse protesters armed with petrol bombs, rocks, home-made rockets, grenades and guns.
The violence has claimed 61 lives and injured about 1,700 people since mass demonstrations began in Bangkok in mid-March.

  Japan, China in spat over nuclear arsenal
AFP, Seoul

Japan has urged China to cut its nuclear arsenal or at least to stop stockpiling more atomic weapons, prompting a strong reaction from Beijing at their foreign ministers' talks, officials said Sunday. The rare demand came when Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi at regional talks in South Korea Saturday, said Kazuo Kodama, the press secretary of Japan's foreign ministry.
The Japanese minister said China was the only one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council-which also includes the United States, Britain, France and Russia-that was still accumulating nuclear weapons.
"Amongst the P5, it is only China which is increasing its nuclear arsenal," Okada told Yang during the talks on Saturday, according to Kodama.
"Therefore I would like to request the Chinese government either to reduce the number of nuclear arsenals or at least commit ourselves not to increase its nuclear arsenals from the current level," he quoted Okada as saying. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement on Sunday Yang had repudiated Okada's remarks and defended Beijing's nuclear policy. "Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi refuted the irresponsible remarks by Japan on the spot," Ma said in the statement.
"He pointed out that China's nuclear strategy and nuclear policy is transparent. China's nuclear disarmament proposals and efforts are obvious. China's position is legitimate, transparent, and above reproach."

 Philippines' Aquino may not control Congress
Reuters, Manila

Senator Benigno Aquino, soon to be named Philippine president, will have to negotiate alliances to govern effectively because his Liberal Party will not have a majority in either house of Congress, lawmakers said on Sunday. Aquino has a decisive lead in the presidential election, based on unofficial tallies of Monday's vote, but a hostile House of Representatives and Senate could thwart his policy agenda.
Political infighting could also distract him from trying to reduce a fiscal deficit that is expected to be around 300 billion pesos ($6.6 billion) this year, as well as other efforts to reinvigorate the economy.
Aquino is likely to see Liberal Party candidates battling outgoing president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the job of Speaker of the House of Representatives and beaten presidential candidate Manny Villar for the Senate presidency.
"If the opposition controls both houses, it will be difficult for Aquino to push his legislative agenda," re-elected Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said in a radio interview.

 North Korea boats draw warning shots from South
Reuters, Gyeongju

Two North Korean vessels crossed into the South's waters off the peninsula's tense west coast before returning when South Korea fired warning shots, military officers said on Sunday.
The area has been a site of military standoffs and is near where a South Korean navy ship sank in March after apparently being struck by a torpedo, killing 46 sailors.
South Korea has not officially blamed the North for the attack but officials have made little secret of their belief Pyongyang was behind the attack. An international team of investigators are expected to release their findings this week. "Two patrol boats crossed on two separate occasions and warning shots were fired," said an officer at the South's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The apparent maritime border violation by the North's vessels come amid a deepening chill in relations between the rival Koreas, which remain technically at war under a truce that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.
South Korea's belief in the North's involvement in the sinking of its navy corvette Cheonan has been a source of friction between Seoul and Beijing, and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi tried to cool South Korea's exasperation when top diplomats from the two countries and Japan met this weekend.

 Iran in talks with Brazil to resolve nuclear deadlock
Reuters, Tehran

Talks seen as Iran's "last chance" to resolve its nuclear dispute with the West started in Tehran on Sunday between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Brazilian counterpart, state media reported.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva along with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu are trying to persuade Iran to revisit a stalled U.N.-backed nuclear fuel swap deal to break a deadlock over the country's disputed nuclear activities.
"President Ahmadinejad and the Brazilian president have started the first round of talks over Iran's nuclear issue," state television reported.
Western and Russian authorities have said Lula's trip was probably the last chance to avoid new U.N. sanctions against Iran after its refusal to halt its nuclear activities.
A U.N.-backed deal offered Iran last October to ship 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of its LEU-enough for a single bomb if purified to a high enough level-to Russia and France to make into fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.
Iran later said it would only swap its LEU for higher grade material and only on its own soil, conditions other parties in the deal said were unacceptable.
Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have offered to mediate to find a resolution to the impasse at a time when world powers are in talks to impose a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Iran. Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and not intended for military use as the West alleges.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was expected to join Lula in Tehran, but cancelled his trip. Iran said Turkey was still part of the talks, adding that Tehran viewed the mediation positively.
Lula arrived in Iran on Saturday to attend a meeting of Group 15 on Monday. Iran says leaders and top officials from 17 countries from Asia, Africa and South America will attend the meeting to develop economic cooperation among developing states.

   New Brit Govt. to ask Queen to take ‘at least’ five percent pay cut

ANI, London

David Cameron led coalition government is expected to ask the Queen to take a pay cut from the 7.9 million pounds-a-year Civil List payment the royal family receives from taxpayers money.
The royal family had been expecting an increase when the current 10-year agreement comes to an end this year.
But senior figures in the new coalition government have warned that the royals will be advised to follow the Cabinet"s lead and accept a reduction of "at least" five percent, the Daily Star reports.
Downing Street advisers fear increases in royal spending could cause a backlash.
"The round of government cuts that are on their way are so deep, so severe, that there won"t be a single family in Britain who won"t be feeling the pinch.
"There couldn"t be a worse time for the richest family in the country to go to the taxpayer with a begging bowl," the paper quoted an adviser, as saying.
The Queen will also be urged to make a round of royal redundancies, with low-ranking family members like the Duke of Kent and the Duchess of Gloucester being "sacked" from front-rank royal duties, losing their grace and homes.
Experts say it costs more than 40 million pounds a year to keep the royals running, plus 50 million pounds for police and security, the Daily Star reports.

  Abbas to meet US envoy tomorrow
AFP, Ramallah

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will meet with the US envoy this week for the first time since indirect peace talks with Israel began on May 9, a senior Palestinian official said on Sunday.
"President Abbas will meet with (George) Mitchell on Tuesday at around midday (0900 GMT)," the official told AFP.
A spokesman for the US embassy confirmed Mitchell was due to return to the region "within days" but he could not say exactly when he would arrive, nor did he have details of the envoy's schedule.
Mitchell left the region a week ago after managing to secure the agreement of both Israel and the Palestinians to begin an initial round of US-mediated "proximity talks."
The indirect negotiations had been due to start in March but were delayed over a row about Jewish settlement activity in annexed east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians eventually agreed to hold the talks after receiving US assurances a Jerusalem settlement expansion plan would be frozen. Jerusalem and Jewish settlements are among the thorniest issues in efforts to achieve a peace deal.
Israel, which captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, considers the Holy City its "eternal and indivisible" capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.
The last round of direct negotiations between the two sides collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating war on the Gaza Strip in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire aimed at Israeli towns.

  Cathay plane escorted to Vancouver after ‘bomb hoax’
Reuters, Vancouver

A Cathay Pacific airliner from Hong Kong was escorted by military fighter jets to its destination in Vancouver, Canada, after what the airline called a "bomb hoax", but no bomb was found, police said on Saturday.
Police searched the aircraft and luggage after the flight landed at Vancouver International Airport, but "nothing of concern" was found and there was no danger to passengers, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Two Canadian CF-18 Hornets were scrambled from a military base on nearby Vancouver Island to escort the Cathay Pacific Airways plane in response to the threat, according to police and the Hong Kong-based airline.
"The Vancouver Airport Authority had earlier received an anonymous bomb threat," Cathay said in a written statement.
"As a precaution, two military jets escorted the CX838 as it came into land. The jets did not land with CX838, but returned to their base," it added.
"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are conducting an investigation into the bomb hoax and at this stage it is inappropriate for us to comment any further," Cathay added. The flight had 272 passengers and 14 crew on board.
Police did not release details on the threat, but a spokeswoman for Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Authority said the bomb threat had been made by phone.
No arrests have been made and passengers were allowed to leave the aircraft after it landed safely.
The A340 aircraft was parked at a secure area of the airport for a "thorough security search" and screening of baggage, before being cleared, the airline said.

  Saudi journalist who interviewed bin Laden resigns
AP, Riyadh

A prominent Saudi journalist who conducted several interviews with Osama bin Laden and once tried to persuade him to reconcile with the Saudi royal family resigned Sunday as editor of the nation's leading newspaper.
Several Arab news websites said Jamal Khashoggi was fired because of articles in Al-Watan criticizing Saudi Arabia's conservative application of Islam and the religious police who enforce adherence to it. But the newspaper said Khashoggi resigned to pursue other personal plans.
The journalist could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Khashoggi interviewed and traveled with bin Laden at times between 1987 and 1995, including in Afghanistan where he wrote about the battle against the Soviets.
In the early 1990s, he also tried to persuade bin Laden to reconcile with the Saudi royal family and return home from his base in Sudan, but the al-Qaida leader refused.
Bin Laden first fell out with the Saudi leadership over the presence of U.S. troops on Saudi soil during the 1991 Gulf War and was stripped of his citizenship in 1994 after governments in Algeria, Egypt and Yemen accused him of financing subversion there.
Some news websites said recent articles in Al-Watan angered authorities. One article, on Thursday, criticized the Salafi Islamic thought that dominates ultraconservative Saudi Arabia, which segregates the sexes and where judicial and religious authorities interpret religious texts literally.

  Pope tells crowd, priests must resist temptation
Reuters, Vatican City

Pope Benedict, facing the worst crisis of his five-year-old papacy because of a widening sexual abuse scandal, told a crowd of nearly 200,000 Sunday that priests must guard against worldly temptation.
Benedict said such tests should drive Catholics to greater spiritual fervor and stricter adherence to Church rules. "The real enemy to fear and to fight is sin, spiritual ill, which sometimes unfortunately affects even members of the Church," the 83-year-old German pontiff told the crowd gathered in St Peters square.
"We live in the world but we are not of the world, even if we must guard against its temptations," he said. "The tests that the Lord provides drive us to greater fervor and consistency." Benedict's tone marked an extension of the latest change in the Vatican's response to the abuse scandal, which has forced the resignation of bishops in Ireland, Belgium and Germany. In recent weeks, a number of Vatican officials had accused the media, gays or progressives of waging a smear campaign against the Church.
However, earlier last week the Pope said during a trip to Portugal that Catholicism's greatest threat came from "sins within the Church" and he acknowledged it must seek forgiveness, though this was no substitute for justice.
Sunday's demonstration of support, organized by an Italian Catholic lay association, brought nearly 200,000 people to the wide circular space before St. Peters basilica.
Many of those who came from across Italy waved banners such as "The people of Rome with the Holy Father" or "Renewing the Holy Spirit."

  Low turnout deals blow to HK democracy campaign
AP, Hong Kong

Most Hong Kongers stayed away from special elections Sunday that five opposition lawmakers had triggered, dealing a blow to their democracy campaign in this former British colony.
With just two hours to go before polls closed, only 14.6 percent of Hong Kong's 3.4 million registered voters had cast ballots in the special election to fill vacancies in each of the territory's five major electoral districts.
The contest was engineered by five legislators who resigned in January to set up a showdown against pro-Beijing candidates that would be a de facto referendum on democracy. But Hong Kong's leading pro-China political parties boycotted and Beijing condemned the resignations.
While Hong Kong has continued to enjoy Western-style civil liberties under Chinese rule, its top leader is picked by a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists and its 60-member legislature is half-elected, half chosen by interest groups.
The five ex-legislators pressed ahead, running for their old seats and arguing that a strong turnout would be a mandate to negotiate with Beijing. They set a target turnout of 25 percent - which they estimate to be their base - but appear set to fall short.
"The turnout rate right now is so-so. I hope more people will come out to vote in the next few hours," one of the former lawmakers, Tanya Chan, said.
The head of Hong Kong's leading pro-Beijing political party said the referendum campaign had failed.
"The low turnout rate is a reflection of public opinion - most people in Hong Kong do not support the de facto referendum on universal suffrage.

Business/Economy

Show zero tolerance to those hindering power sector growth
ICCB urges govt

BSS, Dhaka

The International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB) has strongly recommended that the government should adopt an innovative hydrocarbon exploration policy and take 'zero tolerance' strategy to any obstruction to implement this policy.
In this regard, the ICCB in its monthly news bulletin, released on Sunday, referred to the Philippines and the West Bengal of India as the success cases to follow for power sector development.
Both the Philippines and the Indian state of West Bengal made significant improvement in power generation and distribution in the past two years, thanks to the bold energy policies to their respective government.
Comparing the availability of resources, the ICCB firmly favoured coal exploration for meeting the country's long-term energy demands.
The Bangladesh chapter of the global business-body believes that the exploration of coal would be the effective hydrocarbon resource as the existing gas supply would only be available for a decade.
"The gas supply is currently just under 2000 mmcfd, against demand of over 2200 mmcfd," the ICCB said.
In contrast, it said that the country has the estimated reserve of 3,300 million tonnes with 884 million tonnes proven reserves, which the country could use for power generation.
The ICCB estimated that the per capita power consumption in Bangladesh is the lowest in the region with only 183 kwh compared to 325 in Sri Lanka, 408 in Pakistan and 665 in India.
It said that the country had been facing a load-shedding to the tune of 1800-mw every day, causing huge loss to the business and immense sufferings to the people.
The ICCB, however, appreciated the government initiative of increasing power generation and recommended decisive steps in developing coal-based power sector.
It further said that a prudent policy would attract investment in power sector as the country already earned some reputation for its high foreign exchange reserve and credit ratings by two independent agencies like Standard & Poor's and Moodys.

 94 plots lying unused in Mongla EPZ for 9 years
UNB, Bagerhat

Despite having much potential Mongla Export Processing Zone (EPZ) could not be developed properly as its 94 plots have been lying unused for the last nine years.
Entrepreneurs are not showing much interest in investing in the EPZ area and only eight local and foreign companies have been operating here at present. Bagerhat Chambers of Commerce and Industries sources said the EPZ was not developed properly due to non-cooperation of the authority concerned. Thousands of unemployed people of the Southern region would get employment opportunity if sufficient number of industries were established here, they added.
The EPZ was established on 193 acres of land in March 2001 at Mongla port area. The price of plot is almost half comparing to other EPZs' plot and there are opportunities of goods transportation here through roads and waterways. EPZ sources said 30 plots out of 142 have been allotted so far and 11 factories have been built up on the land. Eight factories are operating now while three others have been shut down.

  Euro rescue package ‘just buys time’: Merkel
AFP, Berlin

A trillion-dollar package to shore up ailing eurozone economies merely buys time until the deficits of certain members of the 16-member zone are cleaned up, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday.
Speaking at a conference of the Confederation of German Trade Unions, Merkel said that recent speculation against the euro "is only possible because of huge differences in the economic strengths and debt levels of member states."
With the rescue package, "we have done nothing more than to buy time until we have brought order to these competitive differences and to the budget deficits of individual euro countries," she said.
The giant fund of loan guarantees, for which Germany will have to make available up to around 150 billion euros (186 billion dollars), was agreed in emergency talks in Brussels last Sunday.
Dubbed "shock and awe", the package briefly cheered markets and offered some respite to the plunging euro, but doubts quickly resurfaced about the ability of governments to push through crippling cuts to conquer their deficits.

  Holistic energy policy sought in next budget
BSS, Dhaka

Discussants at a seminar laid emphasis on developing all sources of clean and alternative energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuel.
It is important as the fossil fuel is not only contributing to global warming but also becoming costly financially and politically, they observed.
They urged the government to take a holistic approach in developing a long-term energy policy and said depletion of fossil fuel is also coming as a stark reminder to seek newer sources of energy.
Chairperson of BKSF Dr Kazi Kholiquzzaman presided over the discussion organized on Saturday at Jatiya Press Club by Equity and Justice Working Group facing the forthcoming budget.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Major General (Retd) Subid Ali, Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on ministry of Agriculture Shawkat Momen Shahjahan, BNP lawmaker and opposition chief whip Joinul Abdin Faruque, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Emranul Haq Chowdhury, Mustafa Kamal Akand and Shamsudduha spoke on the occasion.
The discussants laid emphasis on quick development of power and gas while suggesting its rational use and prudent use of subsidy to keep budgetary load lower.
They also demanded caution in taking new loans for power and energy sector saying Indonesia and Philippines now pay from 70 to 80 percent of their revenue budget in repaying loans for power sector.
Subid Ali Bhuiyan said energy security is the top priority of the present government. Inadequate energy supply will only reduce economic growth and attaining chance of food security, he said adding the nation should now look for alternative energy sources beyond coal and gas.
Increasing use of fossil fuel is only worsening the climate, the discussants said adding its less use is now the demand of the time.
Joinul Abdin Faruque said both the government and the opposition should have a common strategy in developing a long term energy policy including the wind and solar sources.

  EBRD upgrades economic projection for central Europe and Asia

Xinhua, Belgrade

The economic growth rate in the region of central Europe and central Asia was slightly more optimistic than projected, but the recovery remains "fragile," announced the Chief Economist for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Erik Berglof, at the bank' s annual meeting in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on on Saturday.
According to a EBRD statement on Saturday, the growth rate for its region of operation for 2010 has been upgraded from 3.4 to 3.7 percent. However, this general outlook was largely influenced by improved economic numbers from the largest economies of the region: Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Other countries, specifically Romania and Bulgaria have had their projected growth rates revised downward.
The potential impact of the economic crisis in Greece could also have a detrimental effect on the recovery in neighboring countries.
"We have not seen any significant spillovers yet, but it remains a serious concern," said Berglof at the annual meeting. "The current difficulties could affect the flow of remittances, the engagement of Greece banks in South Eastern Europe and, more generally, investors' confidence in the region."
Berglof also cited the region's dependence on western Europe, where the economic situation remains fragile, and follow- on effects from the crisis: "Unemployment is still rising, domestic demand remains low and the countries at the same time face a drop in revenue and higher social spending."

  IDCOL plans to go for solar panel manufacturing next month

BSS, Dhaka

Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), the state-run non-banking financial institution, is set to manufacturer solar panel by the next month with a view to substantially reducing the cost of Solar Home Systems (SHSs).
"There has been a significant progress in setting up the long- cherished solar home manufacturing plant. Our goal is to bring down the cost of SHSs by at least 20 percent," Islam Sharif, chief executive officer of the IDCOL told BSS.
He said five companies have been pre-qualified and out of them one or two companies would be awarded with contract for setting up a solar home manufacturing plant in June.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide 83 million US dollar for the project, he said adding that funding is not a matter, rather focus would be on maintaining quality.
About 60 percent cost of each SHS goes to panel, which is now being imported from India, China and Japan and the cost of each SHS could be reduced by 20 to 25 percent once assembling plant is set up, Sharif hoped. Echoing the same voice, IDCOL stakeholders said the cost of SHS is too high which only benefits only middle-income villagers keeping a large number of hardcore ones in darkness.
Asked about the reason behind the success of IDCOL as it had fulfilled its target three years ahead of stipulated period in 2005, he voiced that although the company is run by the government, it is free from any 'bureaucratic tangle' which led to the success. Transparency in selection process of Partner organizations (POs) and management teamwork also contributed a lot to that end, said the IDCOL chief.
About the quality, he said "We never compromise with quality in exchange for cheaper and our focus was always on quality not quantity. If our product is durable then others would be encouraged to use it. "Describing about the performance of all 23 POs of the IDCOL, he said other than two POs, all are producing up to the mark such as Grameen Shakti and BRAC.
He described maintaining quality as very important for any service and said each SHS can bring change in whole life of a poor family as somebody make business and someone earn livelihood through a SHS.
Up to January this year, 4, 54,170 SHS in addition to 31,909 small SHS have been installed under the solar energy programme and it has also a target to install 6.5 lakh this yearend and one million by 2012.The IDCOL has so far invested Taka eight crore and out of this Taka six crore as loans while Taka two crore as grants. It has also Taka 1,000 crore for investment.
The IDCOL is channeling both grants and soft loans for installation of SHS from the World Bank (IDA), Global environmental Facility (GEF), German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), German Development Cooperation (kfw), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

  Doha conclusion key to global recovery : WTO
AFP, Manama

The conclusion of the stalled Doha Round of free trade talks is crucial to the recovery from the global financial crisis, World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy said on Sunday.
"The Doha Round, at this moment of the crisis exiting, is a vitally needed and, to be frank, a very low cost global economic stimulus package," Lamy told participants at an economic forum in Bahrain.
"Estimates suggest that the implementation of this round... would inject to the tune of 300-400 billion dollars a year into the global economy," he told participants at the Bahrain Global Forum. The Doha Round of talks launched in 2001 were due to be wrapped up in March, according to a target set by the G20 group of leading and emerging economies, but previous deadlines have been repeatedly missed.
The negotiations have focused on dismantling obstacles to trade for poor nations by striking an accord that would cut agriculture subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods.
Discussions have been dogged by disagreements over issues including how much the United States and the European Union should reduce aid to their farmers and the extent to which developing countries such as India, China and South Africa should lower tariffs.
"When we look at the agricultural subsidies of members such as the EU, the US, Japan or Switzerland that have crowded developing world exports out of international markets, you discover the need for the Doha Round," Lamy said.
"These subsidies would be slashed by about 80 percent," if the talks were to reach a conclusion.
The WTO director-general highlighted US resistance to the Doha Round resulting from different congressional interests, saying that Washington was trying to get more concessions.

  Britain faces painful cuts after political honeymoon
AFP, London

Britain's new premier David Cameron is riding high after taking power in a "love-in" coalition tie-up-but with painful budget cuts looming, his honeymoon may come to a swift end, experts say.
Cameron, whose Conservatives are in an unlikely alliance with Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats, has pledged an emergency budget within 50 days to tackle a deficit of 163.4 billion pounds (192 billion euros, 238 billion dollars) -- 11.6 percent of gross domestic product.
"No modern government has inherited such a difficult economic situation," said finance minister George Osborne, vowing to cut the deficit at a "significantly accelerated" rate compared to Gordon Brown's Labour.
While some experts say the new government may surf a wave of goodwill to take drastic action quickly, others warn of serious trouble ahead if the two coalition parties traditionally seen as enemies fall out.
The new team of Prime Minister Cameron and his deputy Clegg are on a journey that Azad Zangana, an economist with fund managers Schroders, compared to a ride on the "tunnel of love" at a fairground.
"If all goes well, the pair will make a nice couple by the time they come out at the other end, hopefully with public finances being returned to a sound footing," Zangana said.
"If not and if either party rocks the boat, this coalition could find itself very wet."
During the election campaign, Cameron's centre-right Conservatives repeatedly said they wanted immediate action to tackle the deficit.

  Greek PM does not rule out legal action against US banks
AFP, Athens

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou raised the possibility of taking legal action against US banks which he said in an interview on Sunday bore "great responsibility" for Greece's debt crisis.
Asked in an interview with CNN whether Greece was the victim of investment banks, he said: "I think, yes the financial sector, I hear the words fraud, lack of transparency, so yes there is great responsibility here."
When the interviewer followed up by asking whether legal action were a possibility, he responded "I wouldn't rule out that this may be a recourse," according to extracts of the interview aired on Greek public television.
The Greek parliament is currently looking into deals Greek authorities carried out in 2000 with help from Goldman Sachs that allowed them to mask the extent of Greece's debts through the use of complex financial instruments. "Right now there is a parliament investigation in Greece, we are looking into the past how things went in the wrong direction and what kind of practices were negative practices," Papandreou said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has led criticism in Europe against banks' role in the debt crisis, slamming "treacherous" practices during the Greek drama and urging governments to crack down on speculators hunting profits in the turmoil.
Greece is paying a painful price for its past overspending with the government forced to slash civil servants' and pensioners' pay while raising taxes as a condition for a 110 billion euro EU-IMF bailout.
However, a poll published Sunday in the Ethnos newspaper found that 58.8 percent of the 1,028 people surveyed expected the country to steer clear of bankruptcy while 36.6 percent considered default inevitable.

National

Govt instructs DCs and BDR commanders to restrict public movement in borders to contain BSF killings

BSS, Dhaka

The government has instructed the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Battalion and Sector Commanders of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) of the bordering districts to take immediate steps to restrict public movement along side the bordering areas during the night time.
"We have issued such instructions to all DCs and unit commanders of BDR of the bordering district to contain killing of Bangladeshi nationals by our counter parts," Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun told this while briefing the journalists after presiding over an inter-ministerial meeting on bordering issues at her ministry.
The meeting was attended, among others. by State Minister for Home Advocate Shamsul Haque Tuku, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder, Director General (DG) of BDR Major General Md Rafiqul Islam, Additional Director General (ADG) of the Coast Guard and high officials from the concerned ministries.
Advocate Sahara Khatun said that during the last visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India both the countries have agreed to solve bilateral bordering issues in line with the Mujib-Indira Border Agreement singed in 1974.
"We have also decided to repair the international territorial pillars to protect our land and to check killings, smugglings and illegal entrance to Bangladesh," she said adding that we have already asked the Indian side to seal some identified Phensidyl factories alongside the border.
The meeting also decided to raise a coastal unit in the BDR to guard about 130 kilometers bordering areas alongside the Ray Mongal River between India and Bangladesh, she said adding that before raising the unit, Bangladesh Coast Guard will oversee the remote areas.
Replying to a question, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told the reporters that a total of 46 spots have already identified by the government where maximum killings were occurred in the night time.
The public movement in the Indian side during the night is almost zero, so that the killing by BDR is very few, he said adding that the smugglers usually cross the border in the night. The DCs and the BDR unit commanders have been instructed to take necessary measures to contain killing of Bangladeshi people by BSF, Sobhan Sikder said adding that the issue would be pointed out to the Joint Boundary Working Group to be held in India in next September.

  Rabindra University to be built in Shilaidah like Shantiniketan: Azad

BSS, Kushtia

Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad has said the proposed Rabindra University in Shilaidah would be built in style of Bishwa-Bharati University in Shantiniketan of Indian West Bengal, formed by the great Bengali poet Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
"Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman once at his speech in historic Goreermaat in Kolkata had said a university to be built in Shilaidah as like Shantiniketan, now his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken the initiative to realize his dream," Azad said. The Information Minister was addressing as the chief guest at a function organized by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Society to mark the Birth Anniversary of Tagore at Shilpakola Academy here. Indian High Commissioner Rajeet Mitter, Society's President Prof Dr AK Azad Chowdhury, Members of the Advisory council Barrister M Amir ul Islam and adviser Mozaffar Hossain Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion while President of the society's Kushtia wing vice-chancellor of Kushtia Islami University Prof Dr M Alauddin was in the chair. The Information Minister said the Bishaw Kobi had loved the nature and people of Kushtia, where at the bank of Padma River he wrote his many world renowned poems and songs.
Mentioning that Tagore had translated his famous book 'Geetanjali,' which brought Nobel for him while staying in Shilaidah, Azad said the proposed university would preserve memories of the great poet in this historic Shilaidah.
The Minister also hoped that the organization like Bangladesh-India Friendship Society would contribute a lot in further strengthening the relations between the two neighboring countries.
Azad also underlined the need for starting the preparation work of celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore from now on as Dhaka and New Delhi are set to celebrate jointly the anniversary under a month long programme next year.
Earlier, the Minister unveiled a bust of Rabindranath Tagore, received as a donation from India at a ceremony at Tagore Lodge here. Indian High Commissioner Rajeet Mitter also joined at the ceremony.

  Fake saline factory unearthed in Pabna, adulterated mangoes seized

UNB, Pabna

A mobile court in two separate raids on Saturday unearthed a fake oral saline making factory at the Pabna BSCIC Industrial area, and two fruit contaminating storages at Salimpur village in Iswardi upazila.
The mobile court also fine them Tk 410,000 for producing fake saline and storing adulterated mango.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint team comprising officials of the district administration, RAB, DB and BSTI officials conducted the raids on two fruit storages at Salimpur village at 11am. During the raid they found a huge quantity of green mangoes being contaminated with chemicals in the godown in order to prematurely ripen them, and make them look ready for consumption.
The team also recovered 1200 kilograms of carbonated mangoes from the storages and realized a fine of Tk 210,000 from the owners of the godowns. Then the team then raided the BSCIC Industrial area in the town and discovered the two fake saline-making factories - Safe Food Products and Nectar Food - where fake tasty saline was being produced and marketed.
The team fined them Tk 200,000 and instantly realized the money from the two factories. After the raids, ADC (taxes) Imamuddin Kabir, who led the joint team, told journalists that the two factories were making fake oral saline and packing the covers with the packing of tasty saline of United Foods Limited.
He said the factory owners did not obtain any permission from the concerned authority to produce saline nor they did produce any valid paper or document during the raid.
BSTI, Rajshahi Division`s Deputy Director Alauddin Hossain said the factories were being illegally run sans any chemist to test their products.

  Task force members seek media support to keep rivers pollution free

BSS, Dhaka

Members of the Task Force on maintaining navigability and normal flow of important rivers on Sunday sought media support in supplementing the government's efforts in keeping the rivers free from pollution by creating awareness among masses.
The 7th meeting, chaired by the Task Force chairman Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, also directed the law enforcement agencies to intensify the ongoing drives against illegal establishments built on the banks of the river Buriganga.
The committee members Law Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed, State Minister for Environment and Forest Dr Hasan Mahmud, State Minister for Land Mustafizur Rahman, State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam, and Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen were present.
Sanjida Khanom, MP, Editor of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam, among others, were present at the meeting in the Shipping Ministry conference room here.
The committee asked sub-committee of the Task Force to disclose yearly progress by holding meetings with all concerned. It was disclosed in the meeting that the government has taken a project worth Taka 22.13 crore to set up pillars for river demarcations in Dhaka, Munshiganj and Gazipur and the finance ministry has sanctioned a Taka 1.13 crore for the Sunamganj district. The law enforcers during the last few days have knocked down 63 illegal establishments at the city's Kamrangichar and Mirpur areas and Narayanganj district.
The committee members asked the law enforcement agencies to remain vigil so that none can throw garbage on the rivers putting the environment at risk and vessels must not discharge oil-mixed wastes on the Buriganga River.

  Bomb panic at CMC,
classes-exams suspended

BSS, Chittagong

A bomb phobia gripped Chittagong Medical College (CMC) on Sunday that forced its authority to suspend classes and examination.
The frantic two hours long search by the law enforcers at last came in futility when they got no existence of the planted bomb.
An unknown phone call received by Monwar Hossain, Private Assistant (PA) to CMC Principal at about 9:30 am said that a bomb had been planted inside the academic building that would explode by 12:00 pm on Sunday.
The PA instantly informed the Principal of the matter.
A combined team of Rapid action Battalion and police failed to trace out any kind of bomb existence in their two and a half hour raid.
Panic stricken teachers and staff came out from the academic building and heaved a sigh of relief after the deadline of the explosion of bomb expired. Law enforcers are on with the investigation into the incident.

Sports

Sunamganj becomes champion in Sylhet divisional karate
TBT report

Sunamganj District Sports Association (DSA) emerged champion, while Moulvi Bazar finished runners-up in the Sylhet divisional competition of the Electra 4th Divis-ional Karate Championship.
Sunamganj won two gold medals and two silvers to seal the top spot, while Moulvi Bazar secured two golds and one silver in the day-long competition, held in Sylhet District Gymna-sium in Sylhet on Sunday.
Four teams took part in six categories in the competition, organized by Sylhet DSA under the aegis of Bangladesh Karate Fede-ration (BKF). Additional Commissioner of Sylhet Division Goutam Kumar Ghosh inaugurated the competitions as chief guest.
The General Secretary of BKF Moazzam Hossain Sento, General Secretary of Sylhet DSA Imran Chowdhury and other officials were also present on the occasion.

  Robi Asiad hockey qualifiers
Bangladesh finishes fifth defeating Oman 4-1

TBT Report

Bangladesh secured fifth place in the Robi Asian Games hockey qualifying round defeating Oman 4-1 at Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.
Bangladesh bounced back from its morale-shattering 1-0 defeat against Singapore to seal its second victory in the Asian Games qualifiers.
After a barren first half, Krishna Kumar scored the first goal for Bangladesh on 41 minutes but Oman restored the parity 10 minutes later when Basim hit the board with a deft flick.
Mamunur Rahman Chayan scored on 57 minutes to put the hosts on an advantageous position against Oman. Bangladesh scored two goals more through Kamruzzaman and Chayan on 63 and 70 minutes respectively to seal a 4-1 victory over a side, which confirmed its title earlier with the last match against Bangladesh in hand.
However, the victory will serve as a solace for the hosts, whose dismal performance throughout the competition broke the hearts of thousands of home fans.
With the last-match victory over the champions and a fifth place finish out of seven participants, though, Bangladesh earned a berth in the 16th Asian Games hockey, to be held in the Chinese city of Guangzhou in November next, Bangladesh is going to miss the more prestigious Asia Cup hockey for the first time as the top two teams are eligible to feature in the tournament. Earlier, Hong Kong thrashed Thailand 5-1 in the first match of the day. Prolific striker Arif Ali scored three goals, while Asghar Ali and skipper Akbar Ali scored one goal each for Hong Kong. Tanakoon Jongtavon netted the only goal for Thailand.
Arif Ali scored the first goal after nine minutes from a penalty stroke to put the winners a 1-0 lead. He struck his second from a penalty corner seven minutes later to establish a 2-0 advantage at the half time.
Hong Kong kept up the momentum after the break also. Hong Kong captain Akbar Ali extended the lead with his 41st-minute strike before Arif Ali smashed his third on 59 minutes (4-0). Asghar Ali added the fifth goal to the winners' tally on 62 minutes (5-0).
Tanakoon Jongtavon scored the only goal for Thailand to reduce the margin just three minutes before the hooter (5-1).
In the other match of the day, Sri Lanka defeated Singapore 3-1 after leading the first half 2-0.
Isanka Yayasundara brought the first breakthrough for Sri Lanka from a penalty corner on the half hour mark, while Mulafer Mohamed doubled the lead three minutes later (2-0).
Lahiru Weerasooriya extended the margin on 49 minutes for Sri Lanka (3-0). Enrico Elift Marican scored the only goal for Singapore, who defeated Bangladesh by a solitary goal on Saturday, on 58 minutes (3-1) to confirm its second place finish.

   Shamsur Rahman to join Bangladesh cricket squad
TBT report

Uncapped batsman Sham-sur Rahman was due to leave for England on Sunday night to join the Bangladesh National Cricket Team.
In view of the injury to Tamim Iqbal and the sickness of captain Shakib Al Hasan, who has been diagnosed with chickenpox, the Bangladesh team management requested the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to send a batsman as a back-up.
The Selection Committee of BCB felt Shamsur Rahman would be the right choice as he is comfortable to bat anywhere in the top five and is in form, Chief Selector Rafiqul Alam said on Sunday.
"He will also get ample opportunity to get acclimatized to the English conditions before the Test series starts," he added.
Shamsur Rahman, a 21-year-old right-hander, has averaged 67 for Bangladesh A in the recently concluded two-match four-day series against South Africa A.

  Kaneria arrested in 'betting' probe
AFP, London

Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and his Essex county colleague Mervyn Westfield have been arrested in connection with a police investigation into betting, a club official told the Press Association on Saturday.
Kaneria, 29, and 22-year-old pace bowler Westfield were questioned on Friday before being released on bail.
An Essex Police spokesman said: "Two men from Chelmsford have been arrested in connection with a police investigation into first class domestic cricket match irregularities.
"The investigation began in March 2010 following allegations received about two Essex county cricket players.
"On Friday May 14, two men aged 22 and 29 were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and both were released on police bail until September 15 pending further inquiries."
An Essex cricket club representative confirmed to the Press Association that the players involved were Kaneria and Westfield.
It is understood the match in question was a 40-over win against Durham last September.
Both men will be free to continue playing until September 15, meaning Kaneria will be available for Pakistan's Test series against England.
The investigation centres on the practice of 'spot-fixing' whereby money is placed on individual details in a match. Kaneria told AFP in April that he was "surprised and shocked" to see his name linked with the investigation.
"The story is baseless. I have played my cricket for Pakistan as well as for Essex, with pride and honesty," he said.
"I try my best for the county and played my role in helping the county return to Division One (of the county championship). For the last two years I have been Essex's best performer and have never done anything wrong." The leg-spinner has taken 254 wickets in 58 Tests since making his debut against England in 2000.

  Amir Khan overpowers Malignaggi in US debut
AFP, New York

Former British Olympian Amir Khan fashioned a stunning American debut, easily stopping Paulie Malignaggi in the 11th round of a one-sided fight on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Khan retained his World Boxing Association super lightweight title with a technical knockout of Brooklyn native Malignaggi.
Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) was clearly the better fighter, landing jabs and head shots. Referee Steve Smoger finally stopped the bout at 1:25 of the 11th round after the 29-year-old Malignaggi failed to put up a defence. "I think with my speed I can catch any fighter," Khan said. "I knew I was going to catch him and I could see him getting his head knocked back. I could see him get frustrated."
Malignaggi's face was swollen and he had to plead with the ringside doctor before the 11th round just to let him continue.
Malignaggi (27-4) didn't argue with the decision, tapping his chest and congratulating Khan on the win.
Up next in the 140 pound class for Khan could be fighters such as Marcos Maidana and fellow titleholders Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander.

  Auxerre wins Champions League place
AFP, Paris

Lyon and Auxerre sealed prized tickets for next season's Champions League as Marseille capped its French title triumph with a 2-0 victory over Grenoble Saturday.
With Marseille already crowned champion and Grenoble, Boulogne and Le Mans relegated, the only issues to be settled on the final day of league action involved qualification for Europe.
And those stakes set the stage for plenty of drama with Lyon, Lille and Auxerre trading places throughout the night as they fought respective battles for one of the two remaining spots giving entry to Europe's premier club competition.
In the end Lyon, who beat Le Mans 2-0, finished second behind Marseille with Auxerre, 2-1 winners at Sochaux, pipping Lille, beaten 2-1 at Lorient, to the third and final Champions League place.
Meanwhile, two of the league's biggest names-Bordeaux and Paris Saint Germain-saw their respective campaigns fizzle out.
PSG won the French Cup only two weeks ago with a 1-0 extra-time win over Monaco, but any sense of achievement was blunted by a humbling 3-1 defeat at home to an impressive Montpellier side.
Montpellier held on to fifth place, and with it a place in next season's Europa League. Last season's champions Bordeaux will miss out on Europe after their 4-3 defeat away to Lens. Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez insisted that he will still be at the club next season despite being tipped to take over at Bordeaux should Laurent Blanc be installed as France coach after the World Cup.
"This was not my last match with Auxerre," he said. "I have been with this team for a year and a half. We are making progress here and I am happy to continue." Lille, sitting second before the match with a one-point lead on Lyon, had taken a step towards cementing their place in the Champions League when Ricardo Costa opened the scoring in the 33rd minute.
Lorient, however, were soon back on level terms four minutes later as sloppy defending allowed Kevin Gameiro to steal in and drive the ball past Mickael Landreau.
Yann Jouffre's 66th minute strike for Lorient stunned Lille and left them with a 2-1 defeat which, coupled with Cedric Hengbart's 89th minute winner for Auxerre, his second of the game, dropped the northerners two places to fourth and in the Europa League.
"Despite the defeat it's been a great campaign and in another season 70 points could have made us champions and we would have been in the Champions League," said Lille coach Rudi Garcia.
At Lyon the prospect of playing already relegated Le Mans held no particular fears for the Stade Gerland faithful. Still, when Bafetimbi Gomis fired home for Lyon on the stroke of half-time, a goal which looked suspiciously off-side, it naturally caused uproar among the Le Mans players.
They failed to react with goals, however, and Miralem Pjanic put the result beyond doubt in the 68th minute when he doubled Lyon's lead.
Marseille meanwhile finished the season with the league and cup double and already looking forward to next season.
Didier Deschamps' side opened the scoring thanks to a Mamadou Niang penalty in the 41st minute, and fellow forward Hatem Ben Arfa signed his season off with a superbly-taken strike in the 89th minute.

  Federer, Nadal set-up dream Madrid final
AFP, Madrid

Rafael Nadal fears the huge game of Roger Federer in Sunday's final of the Madrid Masters after the elite rivals set up a re-run of their 2009 title match which was won by the world number one Swiss.
The title clash will be the pair's 21st meeting with Nadal holding the advantage at 13 wins to seven.
Nadal, crowd favourite and hero at the Caja Magica, moved onto the cusp of more ATP history with his stirring 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 defeat of fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in his semi-final.
Federer, meanwhile, put his style on show for a 10th consective victory against Spaniard David Ferrer, with the Swiss going through 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
"He's playing really well and conditions here are perfect for him," said Nadal, who could earn a hat-trick of Masters 1000 titles this season after lifting Monte Carlo and Rome should he beat Federer for a 14th time and for the 10th time in 12 claycourt meetings.
"He can win a lot of free points with serve and forehand. This court is perfect for him. He is the favourite here for sure."
Federer is looking to earn his second title of the year after the Australian Open and prime his clay campaign for a trophy defence starting next Sunday at Roland Garros.
"It's very strange that we have not played in a year," said Federer. "I'm really looking forward to playing Rafa again. It's exciting for tennis that we can face off again.
"I thought I served really well tonight. David is one of the best returners in the game, he fought like crazy. I was worried. He's always a danger, I'm glad I was able to win.
"I was hoping something like this would happen in Madrid. I feel my game is coming together."
The Swiss star slugged it out with Nadal's compatriot Ferrer for just over two hours, finally earning a key break for 5-3 and polishing off the battle with an eighth ace. Federer rose to the occasion against the noted claycourt grinder, winning 12 of the last 16 points and producing 38 winners.
Another title at the elite ATP level on Sunday would give Nadal a record 18 for his career, one more than Andre Agassi or Federer.
Nadal improved to 14-0 on clay this season and will now return to world number two behind Federer by virtue of reaching the final.
"The match was very close to getting away from me in the second set," said Nadal.
"Getting into another final is a huge joy. It's been a long spring season on clay and being in this final is a dream.
"Whatever happens tomorrow, this has been very good. Not in my wildest dreams could I have thought of winning two Masters 1000 and getting to the final of a third."
Nadal rallied after dropping his serve three times in the opening set against Almagro, a winner this week over French Open finalist Robin Soderling, Nadal's Paris conqueror a year ago in the fourth round.
"My serve was terrible in that first set. Very strange," complained the four-time Roland Garros champion.
The second seed from Mallorca powered through the second set in typical style and went up a break in the third to drain the life out of Almagro's challenge.
Nadal raced away to 4-1 in the deciding set and broke for victory in the final game as Almagro saved a match point before going down in two and a quarter hours.
"The way I was playing at the start was the way I had to play," said Almagro. "I'll have to keep working and maybe sooner or later I can manage to beat Rafa.
Nadal now has a 6-0 career record against Almagro, the world number 35 whose last title came on clay in 2009 in Mexico.

  Russia boosts security for 2014 Olympics
AFP, Moscow

President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered tighter security for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, a city in southern Russia close to the volatile North Caucasus region, the Kremlin said on Sunday.
Medvedev signed a decree "to impose strengthened security measures for the XXII Winter Olympic Games and the XI Winter Paralympics in 2014 in Sochi," the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.
The statement quoted a senior official, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, as saying that the security measures would reflect "both national and international experience in holding such major sports events."
"No extraordinary measures are planned for Sochi that would create further inconveniences for participants and guests of the Olympics," added Kozak, who heads a state commission in charge of Olympic preparations. No other details were given about the security measures in Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea coast which beat Austria's Salzburg and South Korea's Pyeongchang for the right to host the 2014 Olympics.
Sochi is located close to Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, which has been rocked by a deadly Islamist insurgency in recent years, raising concerns that the 2014 Games could be targeted by militants.

  China wins Thomas Cup
AFP, Kuala Lumpur

A rampant China underlined their dominance of world badminton Sunday by pounding Indonesia 3-0 to emphatically win a fourth consecutive Thomas Cup title.
The victory cemented China's reputation as a leviathan in the sport after their women were shocked by an unfancied South Korea on Saturday, and boosted morale in the camp ahead of the Asian Games in November.
The Chinese men were hot favourites, boasting two of the world's top three singles players, and they did not disappoint.
Temperamental talisman Lin Dan, who handed a demoralising defeat to Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei in Friday's semi-final, led the charge with a stunning win-and then called for an upgrade to first class on the short flight home.
It ought not to have been so easy against Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat, also an Olympic and world gold medallist, and a player who can beat anyone on his day.
But Lin blasted his way to a 21-7 win in the first game, before securing the second 21-14. "We both tried our best to win for our country," Lin said. "We played out our responsibility to ourselves, to our country and to our supporters."
Lin, who has been on top form in Kuala Lumpur, dismissed suggestions that he was a league above his opponents, saying: "Beating them is not that easy because I sweat a lot.
"Tonight we are going back to China and I'm very tired now, so hopefully tonight I can change from economy to first class."
The world number eight pairing of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng then put China firmly in control of the final, beating the much-admired Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan in a three-game thriller. Fu said after the hard-fought 25-23, 16-21, 21-12 win: "At the end of the first set it became a mental battle. We had to prepare really well to win this match."
It was then for makeshift Indonesian number two Simon Santoso to prevent a whitewash but his best badminton of the tournament wasn't enough and he lost a titanic struggle to world number three Chen Jin 19-21, 21-17, 21-7, handing China the cup.

  Pacquiao ready to fight
AFP, General Santos

World boxing champion Manny Pacquiao believes he can continue his phenomenal career in the ring while also fulfilling his dream of helping his poor countrymen as a politician.
Still on a high after winning a congressional seat representing the impoverished southern Philippine province of Sarangani, Pacquiao, 31, said he would continue fighting-both as an athlete and legislator for the people.
"There are many problems in my province, many people who need help and one by one, we will decide what to do to help them," Pacquiao said at a grand celebration in his southern hometown of General Santos on Saturday night.
"I am happy that I won and that people voted for me but it is also a great responsibility and so I must help my countrymen," said Pacquiao, who grew up dirt poor in the south until boxing brought him world fame.
"My agenda is livelihood programmes, education, healthcare and medical assistance. I am thinking of all kinds of bills to pass in Congress."
The party, at a convention centre attended by more than 1,000 people, marked the 61st birthday of his mother, Dionisia, and his landslide victory in last week's national elections.
Pacquiao said he was confident of balancing the demands of being a champion boxer and a legislator.
"It just needs discipline. You just need time management."
Pacquiao also said he would continue making commercial endorsements, a practice that helped make him the world's sixth highest paid athlete last year with earnings of 40 million dollars, according to Forbes magazine.
But asked what his priority would be among his many occupations, Pacquiao said: "For now, I will focus on service."
Pacquiao has long dreamed of a political career, saying he is driven by a fierce desire to help the poor and that public office would be his way of paying society back for the support Filipinos have given him.
Pacquiao is regarded as a national treasure in the impoverished Philippines, where even Muslim extremists and soldiers silence their guns during his fights.
Immediately after his victory in the elections was confirmed last week, Pacquiao said he would give in to his mother's wishes and fight just one more time-in a long-awaited bout with 33-year-old American Floyd Mayweather.
However, Pacquiao hinted on Saturday that he may still have some more fights left in him after a potential Mayweather bout.
"My mother gave me one more fight. I respect my mama but it is up to me whether to continue boxing or not," he said as Dionisia Pacquiao was serenaded on a stage at the party.
"I still respect her as a parent. This issue can be settled through polite negotiations.
"We can't really say (my next fight) would be the last. Maybe I might still be able to fight. It depends. I have not reached a decision. I could retire after one more fight."
His mother has been imploring Pacquiao to stop fighting for years but many fans are still hoping to see him face off against Mayweather to settle once and for all who is the world's best pound-for-pound fighter of their generation.
When questioned if his deal to fight Mayweather had been finalised, Pacquiao only said "not yet."
"It is Bob Arum who is negotiating," he said, referring to the American boxing promoter.