THURSday, MAY 27, 2010 Jyestha 13, 1417, JAMADIUS SANI 11, 1431 Hijri

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Leading News

PM for increasing people’s food purchasing capacity
UNB, Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that producing more food does not guarantee access to food, and so it rather the purchasing capacity which has to be increased.
"Producing more food does not guarantee access to food. People must have the purchasing power to buy food. Therefore, the economy as a whole must grow. We have set a target of 8 percent growth rate by the year 2015," she said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the two-day Bangladesh Food Security Investment Forum at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel on Wednesday.
Food Division of Food and Disaster Management Ministry organized the programme in collaboration with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with financial assistance from USAID and DFID and EU.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif Biswas were present as special guests while Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque chaired the meeting.
The Prime Minister said that while food is not secure for all today, tomorrow the potential impacts of climate change are going to make it even more difficult.
She said Bangladesh has the potential to attain high yields in agriculture, as observed in other countries, which is necessary to eradicate hunger. The same is the case with productivity in fisheries and livestock products. "We have the potential. What we need is our resolve to overcome the impediments that stand in the way of achieving this goal."
She mentioned that poverty is a social curse and around 60 million people of the country are poor.
Hasina said that her government is committed to freeing the country of this curse and reducing this number as fast as possible. "For this reason, the government has intensified efforts to expand various safety net programmes for the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable people. But this is not a sustainable way to reduce poverty."
She mentioned that growth in agriculture could reduce poverty most effectively. Her government has therefore taken various farmer-friendly measures, including increasing subsidies and making agri-inputs like seed, fertilizer and fuel available, for boosting agricultural production.
The Prime Minister informed the audience that Bangladesh is already a major victim of climate change although its contribution to it is insignificant. "We have approved 134 Climate Change Action Plans. To meet the costs, we have established a $100 million Climate Change Fund; and also a Multi-Donor Trust Fund worth $150 million from friends."
She said that Bangladesh has also endorsed the Copenhagen Accord. She said that she has appealed to the world community on many occasions to create and meaningfully utilize a 'Multi Donor Trust Fund' to address climate change impacts for the most affected developing countries, including Bangladesh. "Now it is the duty of the developed countries to transfer resources and technology to the LDCs, including Bangladesh."
Hasina said that Bangladesh is fully aware that increasing production and adapting agriculture to climate change or maintaining soil health for future production are indispensable but not sufficient to ensure food security for all.
The Prime Minister said the unprecedented food crisis of 2007-2008 has compelled the entire world to attach higher priority to food security. In particular, it has proven the international market as an unreliable source of food in times of crisis and reminded us of the need to exploit whatever comparative advantage we have in food production. In Bangladesh, the crisis has signaled a policy shift from self-reliance to self-sufficiency.
"During our previous tenure in government in 1996-2001, Bangladesh achieved self-sufficiency in rice production for the first time in 1999-2000. It helped us win the prestigious Ceres Award from FAO. Assuming office for the second term in early 2009, we took pragmatic measures for boosting domestic agricultural production."
She said that at present the country's population is increasing by nearly 2 million a year. On the other hand, arable land is decreasing by 1 percent per year. Under these circumstances, feeding these extra mouths is a formidable job, but not impossible. "And we are performing that job with sincerity," she said.

 Bangladesh economic growth slows to 7-yr low
AFP, Dhaka

Bangladesh said Wednesday that its economy grew at the slowest pace for seven years as the global downturn hit exports while drought and floods cut into agriculture and power troubles rocked industry.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) said growth in the year to June came in at 5.54 percent, the lowest since 2002-2003, when the economy expanded just 5.3 percent.
Bangladesh's financial year runs to the end of June, but the government published the growth figures ahead of the annual budget due on June 10.
Ziauddin Ahmed, a deputy director at the bureau, said the figure was helped by a better-than-expected 6.5 percent expansion of the services sector, which now makes up more than half of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
But the government and central bank's forecast of six percent growth has proved optimistic, as industry only grew five percent, while agriculture expanded 2.77 percent.
"Bangladesh's industry is dependent on exports. But shipments were battered by the worst ever global economic recession," said Zaid Bakht, head of research the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, a government think-tank.
"The energy crisis also affected industrial growth," Bakht said. Bangladesh is in the grips of the worst utilities crisis in its history, with chronic power shortages taking a heavy toll on industry.
Overall exports were down one percent year on year in the nine months to the end of March, with apparel, which accounted for 80 percent of 15.56 billion dollar shipments last year, seeing a fall in orders.
Bakht said farming had also had a bad year with prolonged drought and flash floods hitting crucial rice crops, which are the mainstay of agriculture in the country.
This was somewhat offset as services continued to grow rapidly because of domestic demand fuelled by money sent home by the country's seven million migrant workers, he added.
Remittances were up nearly 20 percent to 8.27 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year and are projected to cross the 11 billion dollar threshold by June 2010.
The statistics office said GDP almost touched 100 billion dollars, nearly double the figure seven years ago, due to an average six percent growth annually during that period.

 HC asks two RAB officials to appear in court
UNB, Dhaka

At long last, two officials of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have to face the music before the High Court for their act on implicating a Satkhira businessman in a false arms charge.
An HC division bench headed by Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury on Wednesday asked Maj Quamruzzaman and deputy assistant director Delwar Hossain to appear in person before the court on June 8 to explain their position. Passing the orders following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petition, the HC bench also asked the government to close the two perpetrators.
Besides, the HC bench directed the Home Secretary to form within ten days an inquiry committee without incorporating security personnel to investigate the incident and submit its report to the court.
In addition the bench issued a rule asking the government to explain in two weeks why any direction should not be given to take legal steps against the perpetrators involved in Satkhira incident.
The HC further asked the respondents to ensure the security of the villagers of Natuardanga and ordered the Director General RAB and Inspector General of Police to inform the court in black and white what steps so far been taken over the incident.
The PIL writ petition was jointly filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh and Society of Justice.
Citing the newspaper reports, Manzill Murshid, the counsel for the PIL petitioners, submitted that on May 22, a RAB team led by Maj Quamruzzaman had snooped around the house of Shafiqul Islam, owner of a shrimp enclosure, in village Natuardanga at Satkhira in a bid to implicate him in a false arms possession charge, but it was foiled by the villagers.
Agitating villagers confined the RAB team for over five hours following the incident, Manzill told the court, adding that the RAB team had to beg the apology of the villagers for their misdeeds.
Such incidents have tarnished the image of the elite force and that is why the persons involved in the matter should not go scot-free, the counsel argued.
During the hearing the HC bench sought the opinion of some lawyers present in the courtroom. Later the bench appointed a panel of amicus curiae to assist the court during rule hearing. They include Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam, Dr M Zahir, Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud and Dr Shahdeen Malik.

   Cabinet body approves 3 rental power projects without tender

UNB, Dhaka

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Wednesday approved proposals for setting up three more rental power plants having total capacity of 240 MW on fast track basis.
The plants are 100 MW Keraniganj, 100 MW Meghnaghat and 40 MW Noapara (Jessore). All the three plants will be run on furnace oil. A meeting of the Cabinet body with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair gave the nod to the projects.
Three private sponsors, who were selected by the government without any open tender, will install the rental power plants within next nine months from the date of signing the contracts. The state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will purchase electricity from the plants at different rates, which are much higher than the present production cost of electricity.
However, three more proposals, placed in the same meeting, were rejected by the Cabinet body on grounds of relatively higher power tariff offered by their sponsors.
The government's highest purchase body asked the Power Ministry to renegotiate with the sponsors. The rejected offers are Summit Power Ltd's 102 MW Madanganj, Khulna Power Company Ltd's 115 MW plant and IEL Consortium's 100 MW Kadda plants.
With the approval to the three rental plants by the Cabinet purchase body, the number of such plants, known as Quick Rental Power Plants (QRPP), has reached six with total capacity of 600 MW.
Among the three selected sponsors, Power Holding Ltd will install 100 MW Keraniganj plant with tariff offer of Tk 7.78 per kilowatt hour (per unit production cost).
JV Consortium of PDV Power Technology will set up 100 MW Meghnaghat plant with tariff of Tk 7.70 per unit while IFDC-Vulcan Energy will set up 40 MW Noapara plant with tariff offer of Tk 7.77 per unit.
Besides, a meeting of the Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee also approved a proposal giving waiver to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), a state marketing outfit of consumer goods, from following the public purchase rules (PPR) in importing bulk sugar ahead of the holy Ramadan. Finance Minister AMA Muhith presided over the meeting.

    75,000 from BD to perform hajj this year: Shahjahan Mia
BSS, Dhaka

State Minister for Religious Affairs Advocate M Shahjahan Mia Wednesday warned that the government would take tough action against those, who would be found involved in cheating with the hajj pilgrims.
He said nearly 75,000 Bangladeshis are expected to perform hajj this year and the government would not tolerate any kind of harassment by mediators of the hajj recruiting agents with the pilgrims.
Mia said this while addressing as the chief guest a discussion on the role of Imams and Teachers in eliminating terrorism and militancy from society through creating awareness among the people. It was organized by the Islamic Foundation at Baitul Mukkaram National Mosque.
The State Minister said the government is very much aware to ensure facilities for the hajj pilgrims and no hajj agent would get any scope to harass the hajj pilgrims. "The government already cancelled the license of a particular agency who created problems with 62 hajj pilgrims last year," he said.
Shahjahan Mia said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina already directed for ensuring all kinds of facilities for the hajj pilgrims and any kind of cheating with them would not be tolerated. Referring to the government preparations for hajj, he said some 15,000 persons would perform hajj under the direct government supervision and another 60,000 under the non- government arrangement.
"The government has already rented houses for the hajj pilgrims at Makkah and Madina," the State Minister said adding that the government also appointed a hajj guide for each sixty pilgrims.
Each hajj pilgrim would require Taka 2,28,615 under a 40- day hajj package in Saudi Arabia, said the concerned ministry sources. The last date to deposit money for hajj is June 22.

   Sahara vows to track down militants’ dens
UNB, Dhaka

Home Minister Sahara Khatun on Wednesday said militants will be tracked down wherever their dens will be located.
She made the remarks a day after the arrest of most wanted Maulana Saidur Rahman Jafar, the kingpin of banned Islamic outfit JMB.
A special police intelligence unit arrested Maulana Saidur along with four other accomplices from city's East Dhania Tuesday morning.
Outlawed Saidur and two others were brought on six-day police remand when they were produced before the CMM court Wednesday afternoon.
Talking to reporters after a commemorative meeting on Bangamata Fazilatun Nesa Mujib organized by Bangamata Parishad, Shahara said the government's drive to catch militants and their patrons are on.
Replying to a question, she said any one involved in patronizing any act of sabotage would also be found out. About June 27 hartal called by BNP, Sahara said let the time come…steps will be taken to deal with it.
Meanwhile, BSS adds: State Minster for Home Affairs Advocate Shamsul Haq Tuku Wednesday called upon the religious leaders and teachers to create awareness among the people against terrorism and militancy in the society.
"The last four-party alliance government has created and patronized terrorism and militancy in the society and the present government is working to eliminate it," the minister told a discussion on terrorism and militancy in society and the role of imams and teachers at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque here.
Tuku said the religious leaders and teachers should be united in their respective areas against terrorism and militancy and motivate the people against its deadly impacts so that they develop hatred against the menace.

Back Page

Dipu Moni calls for implementing Thimpu Summit decisions
UNB, Dhaka

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni on Wednesday stressed the need for implementing the decisions taken at the Thimpu Summit of SAARC to strengthen the regional unity.
"Success of this regional grouping largely depends on how effectively we take advantage of the commonalities and complementarities and create an ambience of greater understanding, amity and mutual trust," she said at a seminar at the National Press Club.
Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) organized the seminar titled 'The 16th SAARC summit: An evaluation and way forward'. About geo-political realities of the region, the Foreign Minister said: "We must not lose sight of the continued endeavour of our countries to create an ambience of greater trust. We must not ignore the positive developments in SAARC in the recent years and the firm determination shown by our leadership in Thimpu."
On potentiality of the SAFTA agreement in expanding business in this region, she said there is no doubt that trade under SAFTA could have enhanced further. High level of protection is clearly visible from long "sensitive lists." Non-tariff barriers and para-tariff barriers still inhibit natural growth and expansion of intra-regional trade. She said although implementation of SAFTA in the initial years has been slow, exports have reached US$412 million in the second half of 2009. The Foreign Minister said that the umbrella funding mechanism has already started financing projects with primary focus on poverty alleviation and social development.
She called for establishing the SAARC Food Bank to ensure the food security for the region. She said establishment of the South Asian University is a timely initiative and the University would help create a greater sense of South Asianness amongst the students and scholars alike. "This perception of common identity may help create the foundation for an alliance for peace, friendship and mutual respect in South Asia."
The Foreign Minister said the SAARC mechanisms have not been able to obtain necessary inputs from the sectoral stakeholders, civil society, private sector and think-tanks. "As a result, programs often do not appropriately reflect demand and suffer from low level awareness and ownership," she added.

   Strong election wind in Ctg
TBT Report

The Chittagong City Corporation election wind continues to get stronger with the passing of time.
Both Awami League nomine ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury and BNP candidate Manjurul Alam are now busy making mass contacts to expand and consolidate supports.
According to sources both the principal contenders are now happy that the discord over the candidature in their respective parties are now over and leaders and workers are working unitedly for their victory.
It is clear from the beginning that the main battle over the post of Mayor of Chittagong will be fought between Mohiuddin Chowdhury and Manjurul Alam. Their supporters are hopeful of their respective success in the polls although everything will be decided finally by the voters.
Chittagong city is now full of activities over the ensuring elections.
On Wednesday the two main candidates addressed two separate gatherings. Mohiuddin Chowdhury addressed a meeting organised by Nagorik Committee at West Madarbari while Manjurul Alam addressed a meeting organised by Chittagong Unnayan Andolon. Both the meetings were well attended.

   EC hosts 2-day SAARC CECs meeting, beginning on May 29
UNB, Dhaka

The Bangladesh Election Commission hosts a regional meeting beginning May 29, aimed at building a forum among the Election Comm-issions of the SAARC countries to exchange information, innovation and election experiences.
The meeting on 'Cooperation of Election Commissions in the South Asia Regions' will be held at the city's Radisson Hotel where the heads of the Election Commissions of the SAARC countries will take part in the two-day meeting on May 29-30. Law Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed will be chief guest of the inaugural ceremony of the regional meeting.
Among the SAARC countries, the Chief Election Commissi-oners of Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, India, and Maldives are expected to attend the function. There will not be representative from Sri Lanka as its CEC post is presently vacant.
EC secretary M Humayun Kabir on Wednesday reve-aled this at a press briefing at the conference room of the EC secretariat. He said the meeting will aim at providing a forum for the targeted election commissions to create an enabling environment tow-ards building an institutional framework through personal contact and sharing of experiences from recent elections as well as innovation in the electoral fields, and agreement on an institutional framework for increased cooperation between the Election Commissions in the SAARC region.
M Humayun Kabir also said that there will be a media corner at the Radisson Hotel for the journalists so that they could interview the invited guests at their convenient time. He, however, asked the interested journalists to contact the Director (PR) or Hotel Radisson to fix the times for the interviews.

  USAID administrator outlines areas for cooperation
UNB, Dhaka

The United States will support strategy and core components of the agriculture economy of Bangladesh as the government is prioritizing investment, research, rice, investment in fisheries and livestock.
USAID Administrator Dr Rajiv Shah who came here to attend a seminar on Bang-adesh Food Security Inves-tment Forum made the remarks to journalists at Hotel Sonargaon on Wednesday.
"You heard many of the things including investment in extending research, education, more diversified diets and more diversified agricultural economy. These are the core components of a strategic way forward, we'll support it," he said. Asked about the general impression about Bangladesh Food Security Investment Forum, Rajiv said: "It's a sign of senior-level political leadership and this is an initial outstanding demonstration of political partnership."
The USAID chief said President Barack Obama's administration is working with a much deeper spirit of partnership with countries across the world including Bangla-desh to turn around the rising tide of hunger.
He said Bangladesh would receive US$ 220 million as food aid for the next five years which will help the country move closer to its goal of achieving food security.
"In addition to that, today I announced that we'll invest US$ 20 million in this calendar year, to support this initiative," he said. Appreciating Bangladesh government's sincerity in eliminating hunger, Rajiv said: "We saw this morning a tremendous senior level commitment for coming together with strong political leaders, civil society, private sector and food security experts from organizations all around the world coming to Bangla-desh to really make this effort successful."
"We'll listen to and abide by the guidance that comes from the leadership team here in Bangladesh and that was a core component of President Obama's regional commitment to this effort," Dr Rajiv said. He said eliminating hunger has been President Obama's core commitment. President Obama noted his commitment during his inaugural address, and later mobilized global leadership at the G8 summit last July.
"So, it's a great pleasure for me to be able to be here in Bangladesh and see that presidential commitment to resolving hunger and extreme poverty through agricultural development," he said adding that "We also work in different and more result-oriented ways."

    JMB chief in police remand
UNB, Dhaka

Outlawed JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman alias Zafar and two others were given to six-day police remand when they were produced before the CMM court in Wednesday afternoon.
Maulana Zafar, his associate Abdullah-hel-Kafi and his wife Ayesha Akter, had been arrested from Dhania early hours Monday and seized fire arms and explosive materials from their possession. Three others arrested along with them were not produced to the court today.
Detective police inspector Mahbubur Rahman producing the JMB chief and two others to the CMM court sought their remand for 10 days. He submitted that preliminary investigation revealed that they were connected with militant activities. Their remand in police custody is needed for further interrogation about the militant outfit.
Metropolitan magistrate Konika Biswas granted six-day remand. The government has taken stringent steps to stem out militancy from the country.
Several hundred leaders and activist of JMB have been arrested since their activities surfaced in May 2002. JMB former chief Maulana Abdur Rahman and five other top leaders including Maulana Sid-diqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai were executed on March 30, 2007.
Opposed to democracy JMB floated in late 90s seeks establishment of Islamic law in the country.

    7 people including a cop killed in road crashes
UNB, Jessore

Four people, including a police constable, were killed and 20 others injured in a road accident at Taltala Milepost in the district town on Jessore-Khulna highway Wednesday early morning.
Two of the deceased were identified as police constable Zillur Rahman, 35, of Abhoynagar thana and a teenage girl, Lipi, of the same upazila. The identity of the two others could not be known immediately.
Witnesses said the accident occurred at 5:30am when a Khulna bound BRTC bus collided with a truck coming from opposite direction in the area, leaving two bus passengers dead on the spot and 22 others injured. Later, two of the injured died on the way to Jessore General Hospital.
Other injured passengers were admitted to the same hospital. A couple traveling on a motorcycle died when the motorcycle was hit by a coach at Shimanta Bazaar in Kamarkhand upazila on Wednesday.
The deceased were identified as Farhad Ali, 30, senior officer of Sherpur branch of Bangladesh Agriculture Bank in Jamalpur, and his wife Munni, 25, Khatun. They hailed from Dhap area in Rangpur.
Police said the accident occurred at about 8am when the couple was going to Rangpur from Sherpur in Jamalpur riding on a motorcycle, leaving them dead on the spot. On information, police recovered the bodies and sent it to General Hospital morgue for autopsy. A case was filed in this connection.
A UP secretary was killed in a road crash on Faridpur-Barisal Highway near Kafura bridge in Sadar upazila on Wednesday.
The deceased was identified as Abdur Rab, secretary of Gerda union parishad of Sadar upazila and resident of Harokandi in the town.
Police said Rab riding on a motorbike died on the spot as a bus of Sakura Paribahan rammed his motorcycle while he was going to his UP office from house at about 3pm. Police later seized the bus at Piarpur, but the driver and helper managed to escape.

    All closed jute mills to resume production in phases
BSS, Jessore

Whip Principal Sheikh Abdul Wahab has said that all closed jute mills of the country would resume production in phases.
He was addressing a reception accorded to newly elected CBA leaders of Jessore Jute Industries (JJI) as the chief guest on Tuesday. Wahab said the BNP-led four-party alliance government had destroyed mills and industries during its tenure.
"The alliance government has siphoned off thousands of crore of Taka from the country abroad by selling 4,500 mills and factories to their party leaders and workers in minimum prices," the whip said. He said the present government is relentlessly working to change the fate of the working people by resuming all closed mills and factories of the country.
Wahab further said that the BNP has called the hartal on June 27 to impede the trial of war criminalS as well as hamper the economic development. The function was presided over by CBA president of JJI Iqbal Hasan Mahmud.

Editorial

The ADP for next fiscal

The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved the Tk 38,500 crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the 2010-11 fiscal giving highest priority to the agriculture, rural development and institutions and water resources sectors. The approval was given at the NEC meeting on Tuesday with its chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at the NEC conference room. Of the total ADP allocation, Tk 23,200 crore will come from the local currency which is 60 percent of the total ADP allocation, while Tk 15,300 crore will come as project assistance, around 40 percent of the ADP allocation, said Planning Minister AK Khandaker while briefing reporters.
He said that some 910 projects have been included in the ADP of which 816 projects have been transferred from the revised ADP of the current fiscal (2009-10). The number of newly included projects is 94. As per the ADP, agriculture, rural development and institutions, and water resources got the highest allocation of around Tk 8,167.34 crore or 21 percent of the total ADP allocation.The much talked-about power, oil, gas and mineral resources sector received Tk 6,074.81 crore or 16 percent of the total ADP allocation followed by an allocation of Tk 5,510.57 crore for the transport sector which is 14 percent of the ADP allocation. Replying to another question, the Planning Minister said that there was no direction in the ADP of 10 percent allotments to the members of parliament.
Earlier on Wednesday, an extended meeting of the planning ministry approved the next ADP of Tk 38,500 crore with 35 per cent hike compared to the current fiscal's revised ADP amount.The revised ADP for the current fiscal year was of Tk 28,500 crore while it was of Tk 30,500 in the budget announcement. The meeting was informed that the ADP implementation progress for the first nine months of the current fiscal (July-March) was 48 percent as some Tk 13,570 crore has been spent during the period of the revised ADP of Tk 28,500 crore. The progress of ADP implementation is 2 percent higher than the corresponding period of 2008-09 fiscal. However, if the ADP had not been revised with more than half the fiscal gone, this would not be the case and implementation would have been even lower than last year.
The ADP for the next fiscal is not only highly ambitious, but also much higher in size than that of the current fiscal. But the history of the country's ADP implementation is not satisfactory at all. Every year a big size ADP is included in the budget but at the end of the year the size of the ADP is trimmed and even the downsized ADP is not implemented in full for resource constraints and other reasons.
An intense debate on the size and rate of implementation of the ADP is going on as almost every ADP since independence has been downsized and not a single ADP could be implemented in full. It goes without saying that the rate of implementation of the ADPs in the country is not satisfactory. Actually, announcement of an ambitious ADP, its down-size revision in the mid-way and the snail's pace in implementation of the ADP has become a tradition in our country. The country must come out of this. If the implementation trend recorded in recent years is any indicator, it is useless to announce a big ADP and subsequently slash it down for shortage of funds or non-implementation. It is implementation and not the size of the ADP that matters. So, the practice of announcing an highly ambitious ADP and later trimming it should be avoided and maximum attention should be given to the implementation of the ADP whatever may be its size.

  Medicare for villagers

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged the country's physicians and surgeons to render health services properly and timely to the people living in the villages. "People living outside the capital are also human beings and they have also the right to get health services. We'll give you everything for your professional development. In exchange, we want you to render health services properly to the rural people," she said.
Addressing a function in the city Sheikh Hasina also directed the authorities concerned to maintain quality of medical services at the government hospitals, particularly to enhance services of emergency units. She told the doctors that she understands it well why all officials want to get posting in the capital city. "I know that in Dhaka food, accommodation and other facilities are good. But, if all stay in the capital, then what will happen to the rural people - the major portion of the population," she said. The Prime Minister requested the senior physicians to encourage their juniors to work in the grassroots level to ensure proper health services for the villagers.
The prime Minister has rightly dealt with a very important issue. On some earlier occasions also she called upon the doctors to work in the rural areas so that the village people get proper medical care. She even pointed out that the promotion of doctors would depend on their length of services in the rural areas. The people living in the villages hardly get proper health services as the health complexes are not adequately equipped and worse still most of the doctors are reluctant to stay in villages. This trend has to be changed. Government should improve the health care facilities in the rural areas and the staying of each government doctor in villages for a certain period should be made mandatory to ensure proper medicare for villagers.

Analysis

Prospects of reconciliation

The only viable option is a stable and peaceful Afghanistan minus Al Qaeda and foreign militants - an Afghanistan that poses no threat to any country.

Rustam Shah Mohmand

For a host of reasons, the Americans could not have had a better choice to lead an occupied Afghanistan than Karzai - someone who is totally dependent on the US and its military presence for his survival, a Qandahari Durrani Pashtoon, a pacifist, urbane, articulate and charming person who can reach out to the tribes, a great exponent of the policy of appeasement, someone who is apt at making quick 'expediency driven' adjustments having an intense desire to lift up his people and country, and above all, a person around whom the myriad ethnic groups could coalesce in support of the coalition forces.
In this perspective, Karzai, despite many shortfalls, could only be replaced at the peril of helping to unravel the US scheme of things in that country. But both sides have to show their muscle and capability from time to time to extract maximum concessions from the other, and, also to ensure that the fundamental framework of cooperation is adhered to without causing ruptures in the complex relationship.
Thus, the Americans would constantly harp on such themes as governance, fighting corruption, institution building, drug eradication, pluralism and so on. On the other hand Karzai would raise such issues as infiltration, resources, collateral damage, and reconciliation with the Taliban etc.
As the Americans mount pressure or Holbrooke tries to bully the Afghan leader, the latter would inevitably resort to such measures as garnering regional support and reaching out to the resistance inside the country. When the temperatures are up, Karzai would invite the Iranian president to Kabul in a rare show of defiance to convey a message: there are other sources of assistance, the American nemesis Iran included.
But then these gimmicks are well understood in the intriguing cobweb and interplay of forces in this West Asian country. Both the US and Karzai know the dangers of confrontation. Obama was therefore right when he said that differences between Karzai and the US have been overstated. This is an alliance of compulsion and despite many hiccups it would continue.
However, there are serious problems at hand.
Karzai has finally realised that there is an urgent and imperative need for a mid-course correction. In his view, the war is not winnable unless critical adjustments are made. He is also haunted by the awesome fear of going down in history as a Shah Shuja or a Babrak Kamal. He is caught in a vicious dilemma. He just cannot digest the destruction that is visited upon his helpless, weary people every day in terms of innocent civilians (women and children included) being killed and homes and crops destroyed. On the other hand, he is helpless in restraining the coalition forces from unleashing a reign of terror on his traumatised compatriots.
He believes that perhaps by reaching out to vast segments of the Afghan tribes he can strike a deal that would create an environment for mainstreaming the Taliban. Considering the ground realities, the huge losses suffered by the people due to savage military operations, target killings, detentions, humiliations, it is inconceivable that a feeling of 'forgive and forget' can emerge out of a 'Loya Jirga' (grand assembly) that he wishes to convene in end May.
The US has no objection to the grand jirga since it would not come in the way of its military operations or the overall military strategy in that country. But here lies the puzzle.
If Karzai convenes a jirga that calls for opening negotiations with the estranged resistance, and the coalition forces launch an operation in Qandahar, the jirga's decisions would become a laughing stock, further eroding Karzai's credibility, which is already at its lowest ebb.
In this conflict of strategies and goals of the Afghan leader on the one hand and the coalition forces on the other, both are losers. Karzai does not gain much because the jirga, consisting of 1400 notable people, will have no representation from the Taliban; the most important stakeholders will not be represented.
The presence of Hizb-e-Islami would not matter because the party is already represented both in parliament and the government. Further, it is not contributing to the ongoing insurgency. As a matter of fact the entire outfit minus Hikmatyar is either part of the Afghan political mainstream or is supporting it.
It may make some headlines if Hikmatyar's party finally becomes a component of any Loya Jirga, but it would not translate into anything tangible on the ground in terms of its impact on the quantum of insurgency.
In the absence of the three groups fighting the coalition forces (the Taliban, the Haqqani group and the Salafis) the proceedings of the jirga and its decisions would not carry any conviction with rank and file Afghans. Secondly, the Taliban have been consistently demanding the withdrawal of the coalition forces as a precondition for them to engage in any negotiations.
Unless, therefore, there is a visible shift in perception and attitude of the US, all mediatory endeavours will remain bogged down. But what many people don't seem to realise is that upon the replacement of coalition forces with the UN peacekeeping forces, the Taliban will be willing to enter into serious negotiations with the dispensation in Kabul. Details of such an arrangement could be mutually worked out.
The Americans are losers in this battle because it is not easy to defeat a population. If it were only a group or a few thousand odd zealots, as some people claim, the US would have destroyed it long ago.
The fact of the matter is that the Al Qaeda factor is grossly over projected in the Afghan insurgency. As Gen James Jones recently admitted, the number of foreign militants in Afghanistan is about 100 only. And not all of them are involved in resistance. That will show that it is an indigenous Afghan insurgency with a handful of foreign militants supporting it for whatever reasons.
It is equally incorrect to assume that mainstreaming the Taliban into the political process will spell disaster for the region. There have to be enforceable guarantees that in the event of change of complexion of the political situation, Afghanistan's integrity, and pluralism will not be compromised and that the new arrangement will be underpinned by institutions and the rule of law.
But keeping a country in bondage, destroying it by bombing, killing thousands of people for years in order to prevent it from choosing its own way of life or system would be unfair, unjust and unsustainable.
If war, now waged for nearly nine years by 42 nations, with awesome firepower and lethal, destructive weapons, has not delivered, other options must be explored. Any other option would certainly be less harmful in both short and long term.
The only viable option is a stable and peaceful Afghanistan minus Al Qaeda and foreign militants - an Afghanistan that poses no threat to any country. Whether such a country will be controlled by Karzai or the resistance should not be of any immediate concern. Otherwise there would be misplaced focus on setting up future governance methods than on bringing peace and stability to the war-ravaged country.
There has to be a holistic approach rather than stressing on isolating some and incorporating others. The future shape of things should be best left to the Afghans themselves to determine. It is not for the outside world to determine the shape, from and contours of the political system that Afghanistan needs to follow.
Let us agree to recognise Afghanistan's independence.


The writer is a former
ambassador of Pakistan. Email: rustammohmand@hotmail .com

  Discontent in India

These attacks indicate a clear escalation in the activities of the Maoists, a movement that started decades ago among the hill tribes in the eastern state of Assam.

Shahid Javed Burki

Discontent in India has been brewing for a long time. It has now come to the surface with the rise of the Maoist rebellion in several states of central and eastern India. The rebels have inflicted very heavy damage on the security forces that are attempting to bring the insurgency under control.
A large number of people have been killed since April when the Maoists launched one of their more brazen attacks, killing 76 security personnel. They struck again recently blowing up a bus that was carrying 50 people. Of these 18 were special police officers belonging to a separate force to fight domestic terrorism. The Maoists triggered an improvised explosive device near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh India.
These attacks indicate a clear escalation in the activities of the Maoists, a movement that started decades ago among the hill tribes in the eastern state of Assam. According to government sources, there were 2,250 attacks in 2009. In the first four and half months of this year, the rebels have launched 810 attacks. In 2009, 590 people were killed by the insurgents. Their activities in 2010 have already claimed some 200 lives.
As political scientist Samuel P. Huntington wrote more than four decades ago it is almost inevitable that a society and an economy that grows fast will leave behind many segments of the population. This will manifest itself in open discontent if the country experiencing change does not have strong political and economic institutions to absorb discontent and provide relief to those who suffer from what he called "relative deprivation".
Much of the evidence Huntington used for his seminal work came from Pakistan and some Latin American countries. When he was completing his work, the Ayub Khan era was coming to an end in Pakistan and there was a widespread feeling that large sections of the population had not benefited from the admittedly large increase in national output. This feeling was very strong in East Pakistan and also present in the western wing of the country.
Economist Albert O. Hirschman, writing about the same time as Huntington, went a step further and identified what he thought were the options available to those who were not happy with their situation compared to the major beneficiaries of social and economic change. The title of his influential work, Exit, Voice and Loyalty, indicates the options he had in mind.
In a well-developed political system, those not satisfied can hope to be heard by raising their voice; if those who wield power act to redress the felt grievances, they can hope to win the loyalty of the affected population. If not, the adversely affected are likely to exit, moving into the areas that are hard to reach for the forces of the government. This is what the Maoists have done.
That the situation described by Huntington and Hirschman could lead to violence and ultimately regime change was understandable in a country such as Pakistan in the late 1960s when the political system of the times did not provide adequate space to the disaffected. 'Exit' was the only choice available and was exercised by the people not only against Ayub Khan but also Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a few years later.
India is different. For more than half a century it has had a political system that successfully accommodated many diverse people. Why is it then that the groups such as the Maoists have taken up arms against the Indian state? And why is the Indian state finding it so difficult to control the situation?
The answer to the first question is that the mode of development pursued in recent years by New Delhi has led to the creation of much visible wealth for one class of people while there has been little material change for the masses.
Income inequality has increased to the point that the high rates of growth of the last two decades have made little change to the incidence of poverty. The poor in the large Indian countryside have not seen much improvement in the quality of their lives.
The pursuit of growth has led to the exploitation of the areas that are rich in mineral wealth. However, adequate compensation has not been given to the people who have lived there for centuries. It is the mining of coal in some of the forested areas that has led to the rise of the Maoist movement.
In a statement issued by the Communist Party of India (Maoist), that has provided the political umbrella under which most of the dissident groups are operating, the blame was laid at the government's door. "As long as the government refuses to see the socio-political roots of Naxalism and continue to treat it as a problem … Dantewada-type attacks will continue to take place [with] greater frequency and intensity. An all-out war has already been declared. Maoist counter-violence will take on new and deadly forms which these apologists of state terror cannot even imagine."
The Indian state's slow and somewhat clumsy response to the situation is somewhat reminiscent of the one initially adopted by the government in Islamabad in dealing with the Taliban movement. It was only after a great deal of damage had been done to the Pakistani economy and to the country's reputation that the authorities developed a position that has begun to yield results.
In India there is now an intense debate in the media and among the political circles about the best approach that needs to be followed. P. Chidambaram, the home minister, is in favour of using as much force as possible and equipping the security forces fighting the rebels with helicopter gunships. Several ministers in the Manmohan Singh cabinet are in favour of using a softer touch - negotiations and development to win the Maoists to give up their fight. Which way this dispute is settled will have a tremendous bearing on India's future.

Viewpoints

This is not about Iran

The US has been stuck in the two Muslim countries for so long that by now even our old friend Bush and his pals may find it hard to recall why they started these wars in the first place and why a million innocent people had to die. What for?

Aijaz Zaka Syed

Great leaders see opportunities in challenges, rising to occasion whenever they have a chance to make history. Petty politicians refuse to see beyond their nose even as real opportunities pass them by. I always thought - and still believe-US President Barack Obama belongs to the first category. If he Is where he Is today despite incredible odds that faced him, I believe, it's because of his vision and natural leadership skills.
After years of war and confrontation under his predecessor, he has repeatedly reached out to Muslim world including Iran, offering a fresh start.
This is why I can't make sense of this administration's response to the Iran nuclear deal brokered by Turkey, Brazil and India. It's not just absurdly hostile but totally dumb, defying all logic and common sense.
But then whoever said the US foreign policy was ever inspired by ephemeral things like logic and reason. If it had been, the US forces wouldn't be occupying Iraq and Afghanistan today even as the country blows up billions of taxpayer's dollars on a ?daily basis.
The US has been stuck in the two Muslim countries for so long that by now even our old friend Bush and his pals may find it hard to recall why they started these wars in the first place and why a million innocent people had to die. What for?
But if you thought the disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq would have cooled the hot heads on the Capitol Hill and satiated the neocon-Zionist lust for innocent blood, you'd better think again. Incredibly, as if the total devastation of the two war ravaged countries and loss of over a million Iraqi and Afghan lives was not enough, not to mention the toll of nearly 5,000 US soldiers in Iraq, the US Right is once again pitching for fight with yet another Muslim country, this time with Iran. More incredibly, the same mad rush to the hell that was seen in the run up to the Iraq invasion is being re-enacted all over again against Iran.
Israel's powerful friends in the US political-military establishment and on both sides of the political divide are out with the knives for Iran of course with the powerful US media. And when it comes to 'hit Iran' rhetoric, even highbrow biggies like the Washington Post and the New York Times are increasingly sounding like Israeli government's mouthpieces, perpetually prattling about the clear and present danger that Iran's nonexistent "nuclear weapons" pose to world peace, just as Iraq's yet to be found WMD not long ago did.
As though acting on the cue, leading lights of the administration Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates have ratcheted up the hysterics warning the Ayatollahs on a daily basis.
Haven't we been here before? And why is Obama, if he really means what he says about a new way forward, allowing the same forces that are responsible for most of America's current woes including its dangerous conflict with the Muslim world to dictate his agenda once again? Has this president drawn no lessons from his predecessor's mistakes and recent history?
If the US and its other Western allies had been really concerned about the Middle East peace, they would have heartily embraced the Iran nuclear deal and thanked Turkey and Brazil for persuading Teheran to cooperate with the world community. I know Iran's Ahmadinejad cannot help himself whenever there's a chance to prove his histrionic skills. Bringing Prime Minister Recep Erdogan of Turkey and President Lula da Silva of Brazil, not to mention India's S M Krishna, together in Teheran for the rare photo opportunity was a masterstroke by Iranians, who like all ancient cultures set great store by grand ceremonies and small gestures making profound statements.
The diplomatic coup stunned the Americans, taking the wind out of their sails like whoosh! The Iranians timed the move well, unleashing it to check the US push for fresh sanctions against Iran. Some red-faced US pundits have tried to paint the new uranium swap deal as a panicked Iran's reaction to the imminent punitive measures against Iran.
But if the West once again thinks the threat of force or new sanctions has softened Iran, it's grievously mistaken. It certainly didn't work with Iraq; it's not going to work with Iran. Especially not with Iran. You'd think the Yanks would have realised it by now after their long and tumultuous relationship with Iran. The Iranians are a very proud nation, who take immense pride in their rich past and culture. The talk of use of force and sanctions by nations with a long history of aggression and occupation only rankles them further.
By casually rejecting Iran's reasonable offer to send its uranium abroad (to Turkey) in return for fuel rods from France a year later for use in medical research, the West is only reinforcing the suspicion in much of the Muslim world that it is once again looking for an excuse to annihilate yet another Muslim country. Else, what excuse does Washington have to spurn the deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil? Especially when it is little different from what the Obama administration had offered to Iran last year in Geneva during ?the EU-Iran talks?
In fact, as Ahmed Davutoglu, the architect of Turkey's new foreign policy, revealed to IHT's Roger Cohen, Erdogan had stepped in to defuse the West-Iran showdown only after he was encouraged by Washington to do so.
Besides, the Iran deal has been widely welcomed by the world community including by Gulf Arab states. UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan even sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian leadership. In opinion polls by some European television networks, 60 per cent of respondents supported the arrangement. These small gestures betray a growing unease over the Iran-West confrontation. The world has grown weary of the kind of cynical, divisive politics big powers have been playing in the Middle East.
The Turkey-Brazil initiative not just shows the way forward to the rest of the world - wonder why Arab states didn't think of it? - but suggests the shape of things to come. The US may have snubbed Turkey and Brazil for taking the plunge, upsetting the Western game plan but people around the world have sat up and are taking note of the new movers and shakers on the world stage.
The times, they are a-changing. After centuries of Western dominance of the world, the balance of power is shifting with the emergence of new players like China, India, Turkey and Brazil. The West would ignore these winds of change at its cost.
President Obama has an opportunity to make history. Or allow himself like his predecessors to be waylaid by the forces that have bankrupted his country and put it on a collision course with the world. For this is not about Iran or its nuclear obsession. This is about justice, dignity, freedom and equality. Why are there two sets of rules - one for the Palestinians and one for Israelis? Why do some have the right to steal, occupy, and plunder someone else's land as they please and others cannot even protest?
There will be total peace in the Middle East the day a US president treats Palestinians and Israelis equally.
The global arms race will end the day America opts to see no difference between Israel's nukes and Iran's nuclear ambitions. Can we ever see that day, Mr President? I have a feeling if the Audacity of Hope does not work in your time, it will never ever do so.


Aijaz Zaka Syed is Opinion Editor of Khaleej Times. Write to him at aijaz@khaleejtimes.com

  Think outside the bomb

It’s time to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Sceptics may say a nuclear-free world is an impossible dream, but they said that about abolishing slavery and apartheid too.

Desmond Tutu

This year the nuclear bomb turns 65 - an appropriate age, by international standards, for compulsory retirement. But do our leaders have the courage and wisdom to rid the planet of this ultimate menace? The five-yearly review of the ailing Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), currently under way at the United Nations in New York, will test the strength of governments' commitment to a nuclear-weapon-free world.
If they are serious about realising this vision, they will work now to shift the focus from the failed policy of nuclear arms control, which assumes that a select few states can be trusted with these weapons, to nuclear abolition. Just as we have outlawed other categories of particularly inhuman and indiscriminate weapons - from biological and chemical agents to anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions - we must now turn our attention to outlawing the most iniquitous weapons of all.
Slow process
Gains in nuclear disarmament to date have come much too slowly. More than 23,000 nuclear arms remain in global stockpiles, breeding enmity and mistrust among nations, and casting a shadow over us all. None of the nuclear-armed countries appears to be preparing for a future without these terrifying devices. Their failure to disarm has spurred nuclear proliferation, and will continue to destabilise the planet unless we radically alter our trajectory now. Forty years after the NPT entered into force, we should seriously question whether we are on track to abolition.
Disarmament is not an option for governments to take up or ignore. It is a moral duty owed by them to their own citizens, and to humanity as a whole. We must not await another Hiroshima or Nagasaki before finally mustering the political will to banish these weapons from global arsenals. Governments should agree at this NPT review conference to toss their nuclear arms into the dustbin of history, along with those other monstrous evils of our time - slavery and apartheid.
Sceptics tell us, and have told us for many years, that we are wasting our time pursuing the dream of a world without nuclear weapons, as it can never be realised. But more than a few people said the same about ending entrenched racial segregation in South Africa and abolishing slavery in the United States. Often they had a perceived interest in maintaining the status quo. Systems and policies that devalue human life, and deprive us all of our right to live in peace with each other, are rarely able to withstand the pressure created by a highly organised public that is determined to see change.
Binding ban
The most obvious and realistic path to a nuclear-weapon-free world is for nations to negotiate a legally binding ban, which would include a timeline for elimination and establish an institutional framework to ensure compliance. Two-thirds of all governments have called for such a treaty, known as a nuclear weapons convention, and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has voiced his support for the idea. Only the nuclear weapon states and Nato members are holding us back.
Successful efforts to prohibit other classes of weapons provide evidence that, where there is political momentum and widespread popular support, obstacles which may at first appear insurmountable can very often be torn down. Nuclear abolition is the democratic wish of the world's people, and has been our goal almost since the dawn of the atomic age. Together, we have the power to decide whether the nuclear era ends in a bang or worldwide celebration.
Last April in the Czech capital Prague, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons, but he warned that nations probably would not eliminate their arsenals in his lifetime. I am three decades older than the US president, yet I am confident that both of us will live to see the day when the last nuclear weapon is dismantled. We just need to think outside the bomb.

Desmond Tutu, Patron of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

  Israel’s big secret exposed

As the US and its allies debate ways to penalize Iran, they should take note of Israel's long record of breaking international laws and agreements over the nuclear issue.

Osama Al Sharif  

For decades Israel has jealously guarded the secrets of its nuclear reactor in Dimona and anything to do with its arsenal of nuclear warheads, estimated to be in the hundreds.
It had persistently refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, allow international inspection of its facilities or even admit to being a nuclear power. Ambiguity regarding the nuclear issue has been the cardinal policy followed faithfully by all Israeli governments.
In fact anything the world knows today about Israel's nuclear activities remains unofficial, uncorroborated and incomplete. Those who dared expose the secret, like Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, ended up paying dearly. Vanunu, who revealed important information about Israel's nuclear program to The Sunday Times in 1986 was kidnapped in Rome, smuggled to Israel, where he was tried, found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
And one of the best books on how Israel fulfilled its nuclear ambitions is Michael Karpin's "The Bomb in the Basement," published in 2007 and based on his research for a documentary released in 2001 on the same subject. But in his introduction, Karpin admits that the manuscript for the book was submitted to Israel's military censorship for inspection and that important references and information were eventually deleted. He says that the chief censor, an army general, is entitled by law to block publication of anything that might, in the censor's judgment, damage the state of Israel. Israeli reporters are forced to insert the words "according to foreign sources" when making any references to the country's nuclear program, and to replace the words "nuclear weapons" with "nuclear capabilities."
Such is Israel's determination to keep its nuclear secret under the lid. And yet no one doubts that Israel has, for decades now, acquired what Karpin calls "the ultimate deterrent weapon."
So it was a big setback, a debacle and a huge embarrassment for Israel that London's The Guardian published an exclusive report on Monday, backed by declassified South African documents, revealing that the Hebrew state offered to sell nuclear warheads to Pretoria's apartheid government in 1975.
The documents will be included in a book, to be published next week, entitled: The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's secret alliance with apartheid South Africa. The author, American academic Sasha Polakow-Suransky, is the one who managed to dig-up the documents and get the South African government to declassify them, despite Israeli protests.
So far the authenticity of the documents has been contested only by Israel. The office of Israeli President Shimon Peres has issued a statement describing the newspaper's report as "baseless" adding that there were "never any negotiations" between the two countries. But evidence provided by Polakow-Suransky from various sources confirms that top-secret meetings had taken place between Peres, then defense minister, and South Africa's Defense Minister P.W. Botha, now deceased.
These stunning revelations provide the first official documentary evidence of Israel's possession of nuclear weapons. Even worse, it implicates the government in a scheme to sell nuclear warheads to another country, in this case the apartheid regime of South Africa.
No effort of damage control will be enough to divert attention from Israel's nuclear capabilities, especially as the international community prepares to discuss nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East next week in New York. These latest revelations will almost certainly be used by many countries to focus attention on Israel's irresponsibility as a nuclear power and the dangers it poses to world and regional security by refusing to sign international agreements and open its facilities to independent inspectors.
The Guardian's report, based on Polakow-Suransky's documentations, is the biggest blow to Israel's secretive nuclear activities since the Vanunu affair. But it comes at a time when Israel's defenders are busy trying to impose new sanctions against Iran for failing to meet international demands about its own nuclear program.
The two cases are strikingly different. Iran's intents, questionable as they may be, remain innocuous. It has assured the world that it is developing a peaceful nuclear program and that it has no intention of building a bomb. Moreover, Iran is still engaged with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation agreement. It has recently reached a deal, brokered by Turkey and Brazil, under which it had accepted to ship quantities of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for highly enriched nuclear fuel needed to power its medical research reactor in Tehran.
The world should not treat these latest revelations lightly. If the international and regional will is to ensure non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, then there is only one culprit with a devious track record; Israel. The South African documents prove that Israel has nuclear weapons and that it was willing to supply them to another country.
There is a conspiracy of silence and complicity surrounding Israel's nuclear arsenal. Israel has tried to keep its secret buried for many decades in spite of mounting circumstantial evidence that it had developed nuclear weapons away from the prying eyes of the IAEA. Now its secret is out in the open, but what is more worrying is that Israel has proved to be an untrustworthy nuclear state by offering to sell nuclear warheads to others. This is an act of a rogue state; a menace to world security.
As the US and its allies debate ways to penalize Iran, they should take note of Israel's long record of breaking international laws and agreements over the nuclear issue. Even-handed approach will be welcome, but we have come to expect all sorts of excuses coming from Israeli apologists. It would be unnerving to see those apologists lining up again to provide Israel with a reprieve.


Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and political commentator based in Jordan.

International

President Patil leaves for China to strengthen strategic partnership

ANI, New Delhi

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday left for China to deepen and expand strategic and cooperative partnership between the two countries.
She will be visiting China from May 26-31 and will be the first Indian head of state to visit that country in a decade.
President Patil's visit coincides with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China. Minister of Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and a business delegation will accompany her. "This visit is the first by an Indian Head of State to China in a decade, the last one being in 2000 by the then President K.R. Narayanan. From the Chinese side, President Hu Jintao paid a state visit to India in November 2006," said Rao. Commenting on growing Sino-India relations, she said: "India China relations are characterized by regular high-level exchanges, which are proposed to be maintained and even enhanced. "In the preceding months, our Prime Minister met with President Hu Jintao at Yeketerinburg in June last year and again at Brasilia in April this year. He had very good exchange of views with Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in October 2009, and during the 16th Summit of the Conference of Parties on Climate Change at Copenhagen in December 2009." The Foreign Secretary said that developing friendly cooperation with China has been one of the priorities of India's foreign policy and, New Delhi is pleased that relations are becoming truly multifaceted.
President Patil, on the first leg of her visit in Beijing, will have extensive talks with President Hu Jintao who will also be hosting a State Banquet in her honour on May 27.
She will meet with other senior most leaders of China, including the Chairman of the National People's Congress Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin.

   Govt defying court and Constitution, says Nawaz
Dawn Online, Murree

Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif accused the government on Tuesday of defying the supremacy of law and the Constitution to hide its corruption.
Talking to journalists after a party meeting here, he said that instead of providing relief to the common man, people in the government were busy trying to protect their looted wealth stashed in Swiss banks.
He urged the government to remove NRO-tainted ministers and take immediate steps to bring down prices, overcome power shortage, stop target killings and set up a system free of corruption. Mr Sharif criticised the import of expensive rental power plants and alleged that the matter involved 'heavy corruption'.
He said PIA, Steel Mills and other national institution must be freed from 'looters'.
He called for austerity measures in the budget to solve people's problems.
The PML-N chief urged the government to try murderers of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, people involved in the May 12, 2007, killings in Karachi and those guilty of taking unconstitutional steps on Nov 3, 2007.
He said parliament was supreme and all institutions, including judiciary, parliament and army, should work within their constitutional limits. Answering a question about his earlier statement in which he had described President Asif Ali Zardari as the "biggest threat to democracy", Mr Sharif said he was for democracy and no individual or his actions posed a threat to democracy.
He said he had signed the Charter of Democracy with the late Benazir Bhutto and later an agreement with President Zardari in Murree for a better and democratic Pakistan but bad policies of the Pakistan People's Party shattered the dream.
He urged the government to solve the problems of people affected by he Hunza lake.
He said the PML-N had discussed the sensitive issue of Hazara and would announce its decisions soon. Mr Sharif parried a question about appointment of new army chief.

  US, India feel Sino-Pak Nuclear deal irreversible
Dawn Online, Washington

After talks with a senior US official, India said on Tuesday that it was closely examining reports of China selling two nuclear reactors to Pakistan to see if the guidelines of an international export control regime had been applied to it.
The Indian statement, as reported in the American media on Tuesday, reflects India's desire to prevent the deal but also shows a realisation that it may not be able to do so.
The realisation stems from a change in the US position on this issue. The Obama administration suggested on Monday it would not attempt to prevent the China-Pakistan nuclear deal if the arrangement did not violate Beijing's obligations as a member of a 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group. "We are alert to these reports. We are fully aware of what has been announced. These reports say that the cooperation is ostensibly for peaceful purposes and one within the … safeguards," said Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley expressed similar sentiments at a briefing on Monday, saying that the United States "will seek to make sure that should this deal go forward, it is in compliance with the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group".
The Indian foreign secretary, however, noted that "this matter is under examination" and "the result of this examination will reveal whether the NSG guidelines have been applied in this case".

  Thai Parliament angrily debates protest response
AP, Bangkok

Thailand's Parliament angrily debated the government's handling of protests and violence and the ongoing curfew Wednesday, as thousands of citizens joined Buddhist monks in a mass prayer for peace.
Opposition lawmakers kept Parliament from focusing on next year's budget as they hurled insults and accusations at the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, calling him insincere and questioning his decision to put the capital and other areas under a nighttime curfew. "The curfew has caused many problems for many people. Many people make their living at night. But now these businesses have to lose their incomes because of this," said Surapong Tovichakchaikul, an opposition member from Chiang Mai, a northern city where support is strong for the Red Shirt protesters who led the demonstrations in Bangkok.
The curfew in the capital and 23 provinces is to remain in effect through Friday. "Up until now, almost 100 people have died. Can you continue reading the budget and balance sheets like that? Do you have any feelings?" Surapong said.
The opposition has threatened to seek impeachment or censure of Abhisit and his top ministers, and debate over those moves is expected to take place next week.
On Tuesday, Thai authorities issued an arrest warrant for ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on charges of terrorism, alleging he was a key force behind the deadly street protests. Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile but is widely supported among the Red Shirts, responded that the government should be ashamed of itself for its handling of the crisis that ended with a military crackdown last week.

  US senator Webb to return to Myanmar
AFP, Yangon

A US senator who secured the release last year of an American jailed for swimming to the home of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will return to Myanmar for talks with the junta, his office said Wednesday.
Democratic lawmaker Jim Webb, a strong supporter of engaging Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, also plans to visit South Korea and Thailand during his May 29-June 6 trip to Asia. The visit "comes at a time of great unrest in the region following the North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean vessel, violent protests in Thailand and provocations from the Burmese regime," his office said in a statement.
Webb became the first US official to meet the Myanmar junta's reclusive leader Than Shwe in August, when he won the release of American John Yettaw, an eccentric Vietnam War veteran who was sentenced to seven years' hard labour. Yettaw, who suffers from epilepsy and diabetes, said he had intruded on Suu Kyi's house on a "mission from God" to warn about a vision that she would be assassinated, but his actions landed her with another 18 months' house arrest.

  Thaksin lawyers challenge 'terrorism' arrest warrant
AFP, Bangkok

Lawyers for Thaksin Shinawatra asked a court Wednesday to revoke a warrant to arrest the fugitive former Thai premier on terrorism charges in connection with recent deadly protests.
Thailand's Criminal Court Tuesday approved the warrant after the government accused Thaksin of inciting unrest and bankrolling the mass rallies by opposition "Red Shirt" protesters, many of whom seek his return to power. "The arrest warrant was wrongly issued and based on inaccurate evidence and distorted information," Thaksin's lawyer Thanadej Puangpool told AFP.
"Thaksin's lawyers had no chance to defend him during the court hearing before it decided to issue the warrant," he said, adding that a ruling was expected on June 18 on the request.
Thaksin was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile, mainly in Dubai, to avoid a jail term for corruption. He said in a statement issued Tuesday that the terrorism charges were "politically motivated".
If found guilty, Thaksin could in theory face the death penalty, but the warrant appears aimed at boosting attempts to extradite the tycoon-turned-premier, who has found sanctuary in several countries.
The government has exerted pressure on countries he has visited and has moved to freeze his finances.

  N.Korea makes new threats as cross-border tensions rise
AFP, Seoul

North Korea threatened Wednesday to shut a border crossing and open fire on loudspeakers if South Korea makes good on its vow to blare out propaganda across the frontier in revenge for the sinking of a warship.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Seoul to show Washington's "rock-solid" support for its ally amid the rising tensions, and said the world had a duty to respond to the North's torpedo attack.
After a weeks-long multinational probe into the sinking of a South Korean corvette on March 26, investigators said they found overwhelming evidence that a North Korean submarine was to blame.
The findings into the attack which killed 46 young sailors sparked strong international condemnation of the hardline communist state. The South Monday announced a package of reprisals, including a halt to most trade and a resumption of the loudspeaker broadcasts suspended six years ago.
It is also mounting a diplomatic drive to punish the North through the United Nations Security Council, although veto-wielding member China, the North's sole major ally, is reluctant to sign up.
The North says the South faked evidence of its involvement in the sinking in an attempt to fuel confrontation for domestic political reasons. It threatens "all-out war" against any punitive moves.
The regime announced late Tuesday it was breaking all links in protest at Seoul's "smear campaign" and would ban South Korean ships and planes from its territorial waters and airspace.

 Ahmadinejad urges Obama to accept nuke swap deal
AP, Kerman

Iran's president on Wednesday urged Barack Obama to accept a nuclear fuel swap deal, warning the U.S. leader will miss a historic opportunity for improved cooperation from Tehran if the offer is rejected.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tehran's offer - submitted Monday to the U.N. nuclear watchdog - was inadequate and did not address international concerns about Iran's atomic ambitions.
Washington has denounced the Iranian proposal, brokered last week by Brazil and Turkey, as an attempt by Tehran to avoid a new round of U.N. sanctions over its controversial nuclear program, which the West fears is geared toward nuclear weapons.
"There are people in the world who want to pit Mr. Obama against the Iranian nation and bring him to the point of no return, where the path to his friendship with Iran will be blocked forever," Ahmadinejad said during a rally in the southern town of Kerman.
He also accused Russian President Dmitry Medvedev of caving in to U.S. pressure for new sanctions, warning Moscow's support for the new draft was contrary to the two countries' friendly relations.
"Justifying the behavior of Mr. Medvedev today has become very difficult," he said. "The Iranian nation doesn't know whether (Russians) ultimately are friends, whether they stand by us or are after other things. This is not acceptable."
The unusually harsh words for Russia reflect a strain in Tehran's relations with Moscow, a longtime trade partner of Iran with more leverage over it than Western nations. Ahmadinejad said Moscow had no excuse for giving in to U.S. pressure, and urged Medvedev to change his stance.
"I hope Russian leaders and officials pay attention to these sincere words and correct themselves, and not let the Iranian nation consider them among its enemies," he said.
Sergei Prikhodko, a top foreign policy adviser for Medvedev, said Moscow's position was guided by longterm state interests and was "neither pro-American, nor pro-Iranian."

   Obama, Netanyahu to meet next week
Reuters, Jerusalem

U.S. President Barack Obama has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next week, Israeli government sources said on Wednesday, for an apparent fence-mending visit.
Israeli commentators portrayed the surprise talks as an attempt by Obama to counter criticism by U.S. Jewish leaders and in Congress over what was widely seen as his cold shoulder toward Netanyahu after a public dispute over settlement policy.
Obama will host Netanyahu on Tuesday and a formal announcement was likely later in the day after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, on a visit to Israel for his teenage son's Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, meets the prime minister, the sources said.
The trip to Washington was tagged on to a visit by Netanyahu, beginning on Thursday, to France, where he will attend a ceremony welcoming Israel to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and to Canada. He last saw Obama in March in a low-profile White House meeting that was portrayed in Israel as a snub to Netanyahu because it did not include the usual photo-opportunity afforded visiting foreign leaders.
Earlier that month, Israel embarrassed Washington and angered Palestinians by announcing during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden a project to build 1,600 homes for Jews in Ramat Shlomo, in an area of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem. Announcement of the settlement plan, which Netanyahu has said would not get under way for at least two years, led to a delay in the start of indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks, which eventually began under U.S. mediation three weeks ago.
Israeli media reports predicted Obama would attempt in the upcoming White House talks to portray his relationship with Netanyahu in a warmer light, ensuring photographs would be taken and possibly holding a news conference with him.

  Nasrallah threatens ships going to Israel in future war
Reuters, Beirut

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday the Shi'ite guerrilla group would attack all military, civilian and commercial ships heading towards Israel's Mediterranean coasts in any future war.
"If you (Israel) put our coasts under siege in any future war, I say all military, civilian and commercial ships heading to Palestine's coasts on the Mediterranean will be under the fire of the Islamic resistance fighters," he said via a video-link in a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon. Earlier this year Nasrallah threatened to hit Israel's Ben Gurion airport if the Jewish state struck Beirut's international airport in any future conflict. "(As for) those ships which will go to any port on the Palestinian coast from north to the south, (I say) we are capable of hitting it and are determined to go into this..if they besiege our coasts," he said.
"When the world will witness how these ships will be destroyed in Palestine's regional water nobody will dare to go there just as they will block (others) from coming to our coasts," he told thousands of supporters.

  US to unveil missiles in Poland amid Russian criticism
BBC Online

A battery of US Patriot surface-to-air missiles is to be unveiled in Poland, amid criticism from Russia.
The missiles are positioned about 60km (40 miles) from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, and Russia said their deployment would not help ties.
The battery will be rotated in and out of Poland for the next two years, along with dozens of US troops who will train Polish counterparts to operate it.
It is the first US deployment of its kind in Poland, officials say. The short-range Patriot missiles, which were delivered to a military base at Morag on Monday, are designed to intercept surface-to-surface missiles.
'Unanswered questions'
A Russian foreign ministry statement on Wednesday criticised the move.
"Military activities like these do not contribute to strengthening our common security, developing relations of trust and predictability in the region," said the statement, which was carried on Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.
"We have more than once stated that we do not understand the logic and focus of US-Polish co-operation in this sphere," it said.
The statement also said Russian questions to the Poles and Americans had remained unanswered, as had their "arguments in favour of moving the area of temporary deployment farther from the Russian borders".
The Patriot missile deployment was originally planned under former US President George W Bush.

  Obama chides Republicans, backs California senator
Reuters, San Francisco

President Barack Obama chided Republicans and joked about his own unpopularity on Tuesday while raising money for a California senator whose support he needs to advance his policy agenda.
Obama journeyed to San Francisco to raise campaign cash for Democrat Barbara Boxer, who is battling to win a fourth term in November congressional elections.
"I don't travel for just anybody," Obama said at the first of three fundraising events on his second trip to California for Boxer, a sign of the importance he puts on getting her re-elected in what is normally a safe state for Democratic candidates.
The events were expected to raise $600,000 specifically for Boxer and $1.1 million for Democratic Senate candidates.
Like his last trip, Obama had to defend his administration's pace at changing the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. "Move faster on 'Don't ask, don't tell,'" a man in the audience shouted, interrupting the president. The White House on Monday backed a proposal that would move toward repeal of the ban. Obama spent a big part of his remarks criticizing Republicans for leading the country into an economic mess before his election and working against him now in Congress.

  Facebook privacy settings to be made simpler
BBC Online

Social network giant Facebook will roll out a new set of privacy settings to all its users starting on 26 May. Founder Mark Zuckerberg and other senior Facebook executives will discuss the changes at its Palo Alto headquarters at 6.30pm (BST). Facebook faced a barrage of criticism from users over a series of tweaks that left its members unsure about how public their information had become. Some profile owners have threatened to quit the site on 31 May in protest.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted the company had "missed the mark".
"I can confirm that our new, simpler privacy settings are starting to roll out tomorrow evening so stay tuned on our blog for more details," said a spokesperson.
Facebook's vice president of product Chris Cox described the last few weeks as "extremely humbling".
Significant changes to the settings began in December, when the social network changed the default rule on profile information. Users had the choice of whether to open information to just friends, friends of friends or everyone, with defaults suggesting different settings for different aspects of a person's profile.

  What's the difference between being lonely and a loner?
BBC Online

Just under half of us have felt depressed because we have felt alone, says a report. But not everyone who is alone is sad about it, so what is the difference between being lonely and being a loner? Loneliness - most people have or will experience it at some time in their life, according to a new report published by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF).
Young or old, male or female, rich or poor, it doesn't matter - loneliness is indiscriminate.
One contributing factor included in the Lonely Society report is the rising proportion of people living alone. The figure doubled between 1972 and 2008, going from 6% of the population to 12%, according to government figures. But not everyone who is alone is lonely, so what's the difference?
Loneliness is not about being physically alone, it's about a person's individual experience of isolation and how they evaluate it, says the MHF. A loner gets pleasure and satisfaction from solitude, a lonely person doesn't. While human beings are sociable animals by nature, personalities vary and at the opposite ends of the spectrum are extroverts and introverts. "For an extrovert it is all about seeking stimulation from other people but an introvert's replenishment comes from solitude," says psychologist Ros Taylor.
"A loner can be perfectly content with their own company, while being alone will make another person utterly miserable."
Professor Jenny de Jong-Gierveld defines loneliness as an "unpleasant or inadmissible" lack of certain relationships in your life. Essentially, you can be surrounded by friends but still feel lonely because you aren't emotionally intimate with any of them.
If you don't feel the same loss from not having close relationships it's not necessarily a problem. In fact, some are in favour of being a loner. The renowned psychologist Anthony Storr argued that solitude is necessary for mental health and creativity. Crucially, loner or lonely, problems start when both become extreme. Most of us experience loneliness at some time, but what makes it harmful is when "it settles in long enough to create a persistent, self-reinforcing loop of negative thoughts, sensations and behaviours", says American psychologist John Cacioppo.

Business/Economy

Local Govt Division gets highest allocation in next fiscal’s ADP

UNB, Dhaka

The Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal, which was approved on Tuesday, proposed highest allocation of Tk 7069.88 crore or 18.36 percent for the Local Government Division among the Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) ministries. On Tuesday, the ADP for the 2010-11 fiscal amounting to Tk 38,500 crore was approved at a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The approved ADP is Tk 8,000 crore higher than the original ADP for the 2009-10 fiscal and Tk 10,000 crore higher than the revised ADP for the fiscal. The ADP for the current fiscal was originally Tk 30,500 crore but later revised to Tk 28,500 crore.
A Planning Ministry source said that as per the approved ADP, the Power Division under the 33 MTBF ministries and Divisions has been proposed the 2nd highest allocation of Tk 4916.22 crore or 12.77 percent of the total ADP for fiscal 2010-11. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division has been proposed an allocation of Tk 877.83 crore.
Under the other MTBF ministries, Health and Family Welfare Ministry has been proposed the 3rd highest ADP allocation of Tk 3439.63 crore or 8.93 percent, followed by Roads and Railways Division with an allocation of Tk 3357.84 crore or 8.72 percent.
The Education Ministry has been proposed an ADP allocation of Tk 1604.69 crore, followed by Water Resources Ministry Tk 1404.73 crore, Bridges Division Tk 1276 crore, Agriculture Ministry Tk 913.97 crore, Housing and Public Works Ministry Tk 479.03 crore, Industries Ministry Tk 467.71 crore and the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division Tk 465.56 crore.
Among the 18 non-MTBF ministries, Home Ministry has been proposed an allocation of Tk 302.91 crore, Election Commission Secretariat Tk 300.48 crore, Defense Ministry Tk 219.68 crore, Banking and Financial Institutions Division Tk 135.26 crore and Establishment Ministry Tk 112.53 crore.
The proposed allocation for the 33 MTBF Ministries and Divisions is Tk 34,484.00 crore or 89.57 percent of the total ADP for fiscal 2010-11 while that of the 18 non-MTBF ministries and Divisions is Tk 4016.00 crore or 10.43 percent. As per the approved ADP for next fiscal, agriculture, rural development and institutions, and water resources sector got the highest allocation of around Tk 8,167.34 crore; power, oil, gas and mineral resources sector Tk 6,074.81 crore; and the transport sector Tk 5,510.57 crore.
The education and religious affairs sector will get an allocation of Tk 5,184.16 crore, which is followed by the health, nutrition, population and family welfare sector at Tk 3,920.25 crore.
The basic planning, water supply and housing sectors will get an allocation of Tk 3,530.73 crore.
A block allocation of Tk 1,588.31 crore has been kept in the next ADP, which is 4.13 percent higher than the current fiscal.

 DSE index returns to green zone
BSS, Dhaka

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) got back the strength Wednesday after two days fall on profit taking trading on Monday and Tuesday.
The DSE index rebounded to 6073.92 at Wednesday's close with around 85 points or 1.41 per cent gain.
Banking sector contributed to the rally when seven banks got the day's top 10 gainers list.
Among them, share price of Southeast Bank rose by 14 percent after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved its right offer.
The other major gainers in banking sector advanced by 7 to 11 percent.
Beximco, ACI Formulation, Aftab Automobile, Titas Gas and Summit Power were in the top 20 lists, influencing the day's rebound with the banking issues.
GP, the largest issue, closed almost flat at Taka 283.40 on lackluster trading.
Stockbrokers said GP had been experiencing dull trading since its financial disclosure, which failed to meet the investors' expectation.
Continuous trading on the spot market is also another reason for the timid trading by the investors, they said.
Investors are also not clear about the future of some mutual funds', which left many no options than concentrated on banking and financial issues.
The daily turnover, however, remained high mainly because of huge fund flow from undisclosed sources.
The Wednesday's turnover over of Taka 2,060 crore was more than the average turnover on DSE.

  British economy picks up, but deficit must be tackled: OECD
AFP, Paris

Britain's economic recovery is gaining traction, helped by a pick-up in exports, but the country's massive public deficit remains a problem which must be tackled, the OECD said on Wednesday.
"A weak fiscal position and the risk of significant increases in bond yields makes further fiscal consolidation essential," the Paris-based group of developed economies warned in its latest Economic Outlook report.
Britain, like many countries, has spent heavily to keep its economy on track during the global slump and committed hundreds of billions of pounds (dollars) to bailout a series of failing banks.
This, together with previous overspending, resulted in a massive blow-out in the public deficit to a record 11.1 percent of gross domestic product for the fiscal year to March 2010, according to British figures.
The OECD warned the public deficit would likely continue above 10 percent for 2010-2011, while total national debt was put at 86 percent for next year.
European rules set limits of three percent and 60 percent for the two measures but Britain, an EU member but not part of the eurozone, is only one of many countries to have breached these levels during the crisis.
At the same time as the government has borrowed more, it has had to pay higher rates of interest to investors, with the yield or return on British government bonds rising, adding to the cost of debt.
The economy endured a record-length recession, contracting for six quarters through to the last three months of 2009 when it inched ahead 0.1 percent.

  World stocks rebound
AFP, London

Global stock markets rebounded sharply on Wednesday, recovering from recent heavy falls as investors fished for bargains, but gains were capped by lingering eurozone concerns.
In mid-afternoon European trade, Frankfurt jumped 2.04 percent, London leapt 2.29 percent, Madrid rose 1.96 percent and Paris briefly soared by more than 3.0 percent.
"Investors hunted for bargains today in the first positive sign for weeks, helping European Indices to rally," said City Index analyst Nick Serff.
In Asia, Hong Kong surged 1.11 percent and Tokyo rose 0.66 percent, while Sydney picked up 0.98 percent and Shanghai added 0.31 percent.
Markets plunged on Tuesday and the euro fell close to a four-year dollar low as investors fled in the face of concerns about the eurozone and simmering geopolitical tensions between North Korea and South Korea.
The euro meanwhile stood at 1.2274 dollars, one day after it sank as low as 1.2178 dollars, not far from the four-year low that was struck last week as investors had sought the safe-haven US unit.
"The single currency may well have pulled away from four-year lows but the downside risks remain," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

  Tax lawyers for bringing change in income tax
BSS, Dhaka

Leaders of Bangladesh Tax Lawyers Association (BTLA) Wednesday put forward a set of recommendations to bring required changes in income tax in the Ortho Bill 2010-11.
They also urged the government to form a 'National Tax Tribunal' and fix taxes taking the country's socio-economic condition into consideration.
According to a BTLA release signed by its secretary general Quamrul Alam Chowdhury, the tax lawyers forwarded their recommendations to the Finance Minster and the Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) for due consideration.
The recommendations include allowing money earned through legal means for conditional investment in production-oriented industries, exemption of tax limit up to Taka two lakh, exemption of VAT for lawyers, simplification of submission of income tax return.

National

Matia confident of self-sufficiency in food if climate favours
UNB, Dhaka

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury has expressed satisfaction with the way Bangladesh has progressed in agriculture since attaining Independence. Matia pointed out that food production has tripled from 10 million metric tons to 30 million metric tons over the last 3 decades, and that has ensured food security in terms of food availability. "Now, we are confident that we will be able to feed the millions of mouths of the country under normal climatic conditions without any assistance from outside," she said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the two-day Bangladesh Food Security Investment Forum at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel on Wednesday.
Food Division of Food and Disaster Management Ministry organized the programme in collaboration with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with financial assistance from USAID and DFID and EU.
Matia added: "We assure you (development partners) of the best use of your assistance if we are allowed to implement our programmes in a condition-free environment".
The Minister said that availability becomes a challenge to a greater extent during the years when the country faces natural calamities mainly caused by climate change.
"Besides availability, at this moment, there is an urgency to ensure other elements of food security, such as access and nutrition," she said.
Matia said: "We have learned from our experiences that without attaining self-sufficiency in food, donor dependent strategies for ensuring food security may lead to further insecurity and vulnerabilities."
She mentioned that against the backdrop of declining arable land at the rate of one percent per year, the country has progressed well in feeding its large population with agricultural produce from a limited area.
"We have also taken initiatives to ensure fair prices for the agricultural produce and access to food for a large number of poor people. We feel that diversification in agricultural cropping system will also ensure the nutrition challenge for the people."
She said that in order to increase production as well as to reduce costs, the government has emphasized extensive use of surface water. "In order to maintain the rivers and canals as the main sources of fresh and running water, we will have to continue dredging of the rivers which will also help in an expansion of irrigation coverage."
She said that the government is planning to use solar energy to keep irrigation pumps running.

  Citi Bank launches programme for school children
BSS, Dhaka

Citi Bank NA Wednesday launched a programme for the school children aiming to help them improve their skills and knowledge through extra curriculum activities.
Bishwa Sahitya Kendro Chairman Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed and Head of Global Corporate and Commercial Bank, Citi Bangladesh Abrar A Anwar launched the programme namely 'Citi Agameer Alo' at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in the city.
Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed said that the programme would help improve the reading and writing abilities, literary knowledge and communication skills of school going children in Bangladesh.
Highlighting the various aspects of the programme, Abrar Anwar said through the reading development component of the programme, it would broaden 10,000 students' reading experiences and build their confidence in reading.

  US to increase food aid to Bangladesh
BSS, Dhaka

The United States is increasing its food aid to Bangladesh up to $44 million this year from $30-35 million given previously, the Administrator of US Agency for International Development (USAID) Dr. Rajiv Shah said here Wednesday.
"From this year, we will be providing $220 million for food aid for the next five years and an additional $ 20 million for food security aid in this year for Bangladesh," he said at a press conference here.
Apart from it, the US will also help Bangladesh in increasing agriculture productivity under US President Barrack Obama's "Feed the Future Initiative", he said.
Bangladesh is among the 20 potential countries, which will get assistance from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Trust Fund to be managed by the World Bank, he said.
"In last 15 to 20 years, there was almost no assistance from us to Bangladesh in agriculture sector," Dr. Rajiv Shah said.
With losing agricultural land and increasing population, enhancement of agricultural productivity is a must, he said adding that 40 percent of people in the country still face malnutrition and only rice is not a solution to it.
He highlighted an important element of President Obama's Feed the Future Initiative, supporting countries in developing their own food security investment plans. He said the US President Barrack Obama has selected Bangladesh as a model for food security.
The food management system in Bangladesh is impressive, but the country takes a lot of time in floating tenders to import food, which discourages other countries to bid, he said.

  State Minister Qamrul Defamation case against in Sirajganj
UNB, Sirajganj

A libel case was filed on Wednesday against State Minister for Law Advocate Qamrul Islam for making derogatory remarks against slain President Ziaur Rahman.
Lodging the case with the Judicial Magistrate Court (1), Advocate Ruhul Amin Babu, General Secretary of District Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, claimed Tk. 5,000 crore in compensation.
Babu in his case statement said the State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam addressing a meeting in capital recently termed Ziaur Rahman, the former President and Sector Commander of Liberation War, as a spy of the then Pakistani Bahini. He said that he filed the case as the remarks made by the minister tarnished the image of Ziaur Rahman. Senior Judicial Magistrate Pradip Kumar Roy took the case into cognizance and set for hearing.

Sports

Pride at stake for Bangladesh in Lord’s opener
AFP, London

Bangladesh have another chance to confound critics of their Test status when they face England in the first of a two-match series starting at Lord's here today (Thurs-day).
Since their promotion to the five-day format a decade ago, the Asian side have won just three out of a possible 66 matches and lost all six of their Tests with England, including two in Bangladesh earlier this year. But they did ensure that both of those games went into the fifth day.
However, hopes they might perform a similar feat at Lord's or Old Trafford, where the second and final Test starts a week on Friday, suffered a blow when they lost to the England Lions by nine wickets in Derby last week.
Jahurul Islam, with an unbeaten 58 off 153 balls in the second innings, was the only Bangladeshi batsman to pass fifty in the match.
Bangladesh, coached by former South Australia captain Jamie Siddons, can call on several fine spinners, but that will count for little if the batsmen cannot make England's bowlers work for their wickets.
Bangladesh will hope to have their captain Shakib Al Hasan fit following a bout of chickenpox while opening batsman Tamim Iqbal is also expected to play despite a longstanding wrist injury.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan told AFP on Monday all the hosts could do against Bangla-desh was "fail", with anything less than a crushing victory likely to be regarded as a poor result.
This match will be an important one for current skipper Andrew Strauss, who opted out of the Bangladesh tour and missed out on England's World Twenty20 triumph because he no longer plays that form of the game. Strauss, returning on his Middlesex home ground, is set to be joined by two of his county colleagues in the absence of World Twenty20 skipper Paul Collingwood, who has a shoulder injury, and rested paceman Stuart Broad.
Their places are set to be taken by the Middlesex duo of Eoin Morgan, in what would be a Test debut for the former Ireland batsman, and Steven Finn, who made his Test bow in Bangladesh.
Jahurul was buoyed by the absence of two of England's regulars, saying: "Collingwood is a very important player for England in the middle order and Stuart Broad is the best Test bowler for England at the moment, so it's good for us." And as for facing Finn, Tamim said: "I faced Dale Steyn (arguably the world's fastest bowler right now) in South Africa.
For England, as is often the case in the home season preceding an Ashes tour, a big challenge will be focusing on the task at hand.
This is something that affects fans at all levels as Morgan discovered when he met British Prime Minister David Cameron at a Downing Street reception for the World Twenty20 side on Monday.
England
Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wkt), Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Ajmal Shahzad
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Junaid Siddique, Jahurul Islam, Mohammad Mahmu-dullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Mahbubul Alam, Robiul Islam.

  Afridi needs to reunite Pakistan, experts say
AFP, Karachi

Shahid Afridi's priority as Pakistan captain will not be just to win matches, but unite a set of cricketers more notorious for infighting than thrashing their opponents, experts said Wednesday.
The 30-year-old all-rounder was on Tuesday appointed to lead Pakistan in next month's Asia Cup one-day tournament in Sri Lanka and then on the tour of England-uniting the team under one captain for all formats of the game.
Pakistan's catastrophic losses in Australia and problem-prone tours of New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates exposed infighting within the team, forcing captain Younus Khan to quit and Mohammad Yousuf to be replaced.
With few choices left, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) turned to the dashing Afridi, who was last year appointed captain of the Twenty20 form only.
"Afridi has the quality to unite the team," said former Pakistan chief selector Iqbal Qasim, who resigned after the team lost all three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 in Australia earlier this year. "But he will have to work for it." Younus, who replaced Shoaib Malik in January, fell out with some senior players, who then took it upon themselves to oust him.
Following Pakistan's tour of Australia, the PCB banned Younus and Yousuf indefinitely over "infighting in the team", while Malik and all-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were banned for one year and fined heavily.
Afridi, alongwith the Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, were also fined and put under a six-month probation. "We have constant changes in the team management because of which there is less control on players and on the other hand our players lack education and proper upbringing," said Qasim. Another former chief selector, Salahuddin Ahmed, said Afridi was the best choice.
"Afridi can lead this team from the front and can unite it," said Ahmed. "I think he can follow in the footsteps of Imran Khan, who not only united the team in the 1980s and 90s but also won a lot of matches for the country." Afridi himself vowed he will not tolerate any squabbling.
Pakistan face India, hosts Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup, to be played from June 15-24.
They then play two Twenty20 and two Tests against Australia, starting early July, before taking on England in four Tests, five one-day and two Twenty20 matches-all in England.

   Mohammedan losses point after 1-1 draw with Ctg Mohammedan

UNB, Dhaka

Giant Mohammedan SC again lost their valuable point after playing to a 1-1 goal draw with Chittagong Mohammedan SC in the lone encounter of the Citycell Bangladesh League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) here on Wednesday.
It is the 5th draw for the traditional black & white outfit out of 23 matches with 18 wins. Mohammedan SC points tally stands at 59 while Chittagong Moha-mmedan SC 23, both playing 23 matches.
In today's match, Abdul Baten Komol scored for Dhaka Mohammedan while Akbar Hossain Ridon netted for Chittagong Moha-mmedan SC.
After the dull first half, Ridon broke the deadlock taking Chittagong Moha-mmedan ahead in the 53rd minute with a placing shot from inside the danger zone off a close pass from Mohammed Lamin (1-0).
Kamol restored the parity for Mohammedan SC in the 76th minute with a right-footer from inside the D-box taking a close minus from Nasir Hossain (1-1).
Both the teams were apparently reluctant to play positive football as the ball moved around the midfield.
Teams
Dhaka Mohammedan SC - Aminul, Wali, Arif, Shaikat, Mamun, Zahid (Nasir), Komol, Shakil, Sharif (Mamun), Mamunul and Emily.
Chittagong Mohamme- dan SC - James, Alauddin, Markson, Showkat, Asadur (Ariful), Emon, Shafiqul, Linkon, Touhidul (Shariful), Ridon and Lamin.
Referee - Mizanur Rahman.

  Henin, Nadal cruise, Safina crashes to Japanese veteran
AFP, Paris

Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal each kept on course for their fifth French Open titles on Tuesday, but twice-beaten finalist Dinara Safina crashed out to a player who'll be 40 in September.
Henin was appearing at her first Roland Garros since 2007 following her spell in retirement and beat Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-3, while Nadal eased past French teenager Gianni Mina 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
But Russian ninth seed Safina had a day to forget, as the former world number one fell 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm-the event's oldest female match-winner since Virginia Wade in 1985.
Men's sixth seed Andy Roddick came through a five-setter to beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 and there were also wins for Lleyton Hewitt and Spanish seeds David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Henin, the number 22 seed, is bidding for her fifth Roland Garros title after stepping away from tennis on the eve of the 2008 tournament.
The 27-year-old Belgian cut short her retirement at the beginning of the year and will now face Czech Klara Zakopalova in the second round. "I never expected to be back here again on this court," said Henin after taking her first steps on Court Philippe Chatrier since she overwhelmed Ana Ivanovic in the 2007 final.
Four-time champion Nadal saw off nine break points against 18-year-old wild card Mina, who was making his Grand Slam debut, as he breezed into a second-round meeting with Argentina's Horacio Zaballos.
The unexpected star of the day was Date Krumm, a semi-finalist in 1995, who will meet Australian wildcard Jarmila Groth in round two after seeing off a sour-tempered Safina, whose season has been hampered by a lower back injury.
Safina, 24, who was just three when Date Krumm mader her debut here in 1989, committed 17 double faults in the match.
"I couldn't work on my serve until I came here. I was serving really good at the beginning but I got tight and lost the motion and that's when I started to make more double faults," she said.

  Okada sticks to Japan’s World Cup semi-final goal
AFP, Tokyo

Japan's World Cup squad left for a training camp in the Swiss Alps Wednesday with coach Takeshi Okada insisting he is still eyeing a semi-final berth in South Africa despite recent poor form.
Okada came under fire for asking Japan Football Association president Motoaki Inukai if he should quit in the wake of Monday's 2-0 home defeat to Asian rivals South Korea.
But Japanese media reported that the coach told his squad Tuesday that his offer was only "half serious" and he pledged to "fight together to the end."
"I didn't expect it to be taken so seriously. I should be more careful about what I say," Okada said later, adding that the FA chief had backed him. Before boarding a chartered flight with his squad at Narita airport early Wednesday, Okada said he would not flinch from his aim of raching the last four, which has been widely ridiculed.
The defeat at the hands of South Korea was the latest poor result for the Blue Samurai, who also crashed to a 3-0 defeat against a second-string Serbia at home in April.

  FIFA to release 150,000 more World Cup tickets
AFP, Cape Town

World football body FIFA on Thursday said it will release 150,000 World Cup tickets - including seats at the opening and final matches - for next month's tournament in South Africa.
"All together, for the 64 games, it's 150,000 tickets we'll put back in the system," said secretary general Jerome Valcke at the handing over of Cape Town's stadium ahead of the June 11 kick-off. Tickets were available in all price categories and ranged from 200 seats at the South Africa-France match in Bloemfontein on June 22, to 2,000 seats for the semi-finals.
"It's all categories. It's from game one to game 64," said Valcke. Details of the new tickets will be released on Thursday and go on sale on Friday morning, Valcke said.
South Africans have bought 1.3 million tickets of the roughly three million available, which Valcke said was a "very good response". "We are very pleased with the final result. We were a bit concerned a few months ago, now we are definitely pleased," he said.

  BKSP emerges champion in Under-16 Nat'l Cricket
UNB, Dhaka

BKSP clinched the Standard Chartered Young Tigers Under-16 National Cricket title beating Sylhet Division by virtue of first innings in the two-day final concluded Wednesday at the Dhan-mondi Cricket Stadium.
Sylhet Division resumed the first innings on the 2nd and final day (Wednesday) with overnight score 81 for 4 and were all out for 161 runs in 63.1 overs, replying to BKSP first innings total 194 runs.
Nasum Ahmed contributed 43 runs off 71 balls, including six fours and a six for Sylhet Division while Mizanur Rahman and Toukir Raihan scored 30 and 23 runs respectively.
Salehin Rifat, who took two wickets on Tuesday, finally emerged as the hero of the match, claiming seven wickets for 51 runs.
In reply, BKSP opened the 2nd innings in the afternoon and scored 153 for 7 in 38 overs at end of the day to settle for a draw.
Rafsan Al Mamun (57), Liton Kumar (35), Mosabbir Hamid (25) Salehin Rifat (11) were the main contributors for BKSP in the 2nd innings. Zakir Hossain took two wickets for 13 runs
Finally, BKSP won the match by virtue of 33-run lead in the first innings.

  Bangladesh-WIndies 2nd four-day match ends in draw
UNB, Dhaka

The 2nd four-day match between Bangladesh A and West Indies A team ended in draw without a single ball bowled on the 4th and final day due to unplayable pitch and outfield following rain on Tuesday night and Wednesday noon at BKSP in Savar.
Umpires could not start the 4th day's play due to wet outfield and finally called-off the match at 12:30 pm following further rain at 12 noon on Wednesday.
Replying to Bangladesh's first innings total of 272 runs, the 2nd string Caribbean side (1st innings 268 runs), scored 109 for 3 in 47.3 overs at stumps on the 3rd day (Tuesday).
Earlier, the 2ns string Bangladesh side took a narrow four-run lead over the visitors on the 3rd day with a century by Faisal Hossain, who scored just 100 runs off 199 balls with eight fours and five sixes.
West Indies A team earned an emphatic 114 runs victory over Bangladesh A team in the first four-day match in Dhaka.

  Former Liverpool owner regrets sale to Hicks and Gillett
AFP, London

Former Liverpool owner David Moores has called on George Gillett and Tom Hicks to accept their part in the Reds' struggles after admitting he regrets selling the Premier League club to the Americans.
Moores sold Liverpool to Gillett and Hicks in 2007 after several failed attempts to offload the club to other richer investors.
The American duo have endured a miserable time at Anfield as they have fallen out with both Liverpool's fans and each other, failed to complete the building of a new stadium in Stanley Park and given only limited financial backing to boss Rafael Benitez - resulting in a woeful seventh-placed finish in the Premier League this season.
In a letter to The Times, Moores insists he sold to Gillett and Hicks in good faith - following assurances about their financial status - but accepts "honest mistakes" were made despite him acting "in the best interests of the club". The lifelong Reds fan admits, however, he "hugely regrets selling the club" to the pair.
In his letter, Moores said their offer "was laid out in unambiguous terms ... the document pledged there would be no debt placed upon the club, and significant funds would be made available for investment in the squad and the new stadium.

  Strauss warns England to beware of Bangladesh
AFP, London

Returning England captain Andrew Strauss has warned his side against taking Bangladesh lightly ahead of their series opener at the Middlesex batsman's Lord's home ground.
Bangladesh have won just three of their 66 Tests -- one against fellow strugglers Zimbabwe and two against a West Indies side weakened by player disputes -- and have never even drawn with England.
Strauss, rested from England's 2-0 series win in Bangladesh earlier this year and absent from the side that won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean this month as he no longer plays in the shortest form of the game - knows his side are expected to win well against the Asian minnows.
However, the left-handed opener told reporters at Lord's here on Wednesday, a day before the first of a two-Test series gets underway: "You can't underestimate them.
"They (Bangladesh) have got some very dangerous players. This series, it's important we concentrate on our own game and set our standards very high."
Former captain Michael Vaughan said this week that all England can do against Bangladesh is "fail" if they don't win by an innings at both Lord's and Old Trafford, where the second and final Test starts a week on Friday. But Strauss said: "We'll be marking ourselves not on win/lose, but how close we get to playing the type of cricket we want to play. Strauss, who has been playing county cricket for Middlesex, said he was eager to return to international cricket.
And he insisted he had no regrets about having to watch England win their first major one-day title without him.
"The reason I didn't make myself available is probably the very reason they went on and won it. The first six overs are so crucial and it's not a massive strength of mine to be whacking the ball straight over the bowler's head, which is why I didn't feel myself among the best T20 players in the country and didn't make myself available. "It's fantastic the likes of (Craig) Kieswetter and (Richard) Lumb, played with that freedom which is so important. "I had no regrets at not being there, but had a huge amount of enjoyment and satisfaction out of seeing them doing so well and playing that way."
Looking at the current squad -- which contains four Twenty20 'survivors' in Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan -- Strauss added: "It's great to be part of it again and start putting in place some of the things I've been thinking about while I've been away."
There had been concerns Strauss might struggle to re-assert his authority, with fellow opener Alastair Cook captaining the side in Bangladesh and now injured batsman Paul Collingwood leading the team at the World Twenty20. But Strauss said he'd no regrets about taking a break.

  Dhumketu Club become runners-up in 1st Division
Basketball

UNB, Dhaka

Dhumketu Club became runners-up in the Premier Bank 1st Division Basketball League beating Europa Club by 93-61 points (1st half 51-20) in the league's last match at the Dhanmondi Wooden Floor Basketball Gymnasium here on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Gregarious Club emerged champions of the league.
State Minister for Youth and Sports Ahad Ali Sarkar, who was the chief guest on the closing day of the league, handed over cash prize of Tk 30,000 to league champions the Gregarious Club and Tk 15,000 to league runners-up Dhum-ketu Club.
Premier Bank managing director Niaz Habib was present as special guest.
M. Shamsuzzaman Khan of the Gregarious Club was named the best player of the league while Rumel Rasha of Hornets SC emerged the promising player of the meet.

  Federer shines in French Open rain
AFP, Paris

Defending champion Roger Federer overcame a sloppy first set and two rain breaks to reach the French Open third round on Wednesday with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-4 win over Colombia's Alejandro Falla.
Top seed Federer will tackle either Belgium's Olivier Rochus or German qualifier Julian Reister, the world 165 who hadn't won a match on the main tour until Roland Garros, for a place in the last 16.
"A player like Falla needed the first set to have a chance of winning," said Federer, on a day when bursts of heavy rain brought to an end three days when temperatures had soared to a sweltering 30 degrees.
Federer went into his match buoyed by having already defeated world number 70 Falla twice without dropping a set, including in the second round of Roland Garros in 2006.
But he struggled throughout Wednesday's opening set, having to fend off five break points before he was finally broken by the Colombian left-hander in the 11th game.
There was no pushing the panic button, however, as the Swiss, unusually bedevilled by an embarrassing 21 unforced errors in the first set, hit back immediately before sweeping through the tie-break.
Falla, who has led Colombia into the Davis Cup World Group play-offs for the first time this year, sensed his chance had gone and either side of a brief rain interruption he slipped two breaks down to trail 4-1 in the second set.

  Speed king Soderling, Venus sweep through in Paris
AFP, Paris

Robin Soderling, the 2009 runner-up, took just 71 super-charged minutes to sweep aside hapless American Taylor Dent on Wednesday to reach the French Open last 32.
The Swedish fifth seed, who famously handed Rafael Nadal a first career defeat here last year, crushed Dent 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 and will next face Spain's Albert Montanes.
"I didn't expect to win so easily in the second round of a Grand Slam. I can't remember playing such a short match," said the 25-year-old Swede, who lost just five games in his opening round. "But you have to keep your focus because a match can change very quickly."
Soderling's quickfire victory equalled the 71 minutes it took Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber to beat Australia's Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 last year. The shortest match remains the 1970 final when Jan Kodes defeated Zeljko Franulovic in 68 minutes.
The 29-year-old Dent was humiliated on Court Suzanne Lenglen, never recovering from winning just seven points in the first set, which also saw his service broken three times.
After winning a paltry two games in all, the American, playing in Paris for the first time since 2004, was finally put out of his misery after an hour and 11 minutes.
That was 25 minutes less than it took women's world number two Venus Williams to make the last 32 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja.
Williams, the runner-up to sister Serena in 2002, next plays Slovakian 26th seed Dominika Cibulkova, who made the semi-finals in 2009. "She played very well last year," said Williams. "But I will just try to execute my game plan and not worry a ton about what my opponent is doing."
Like Soderling, men's eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was also in a hurry, taking just 79 minutes to clinch a 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win over French compatriot and childhood friend Josselin Ouanna. "I would rather have played somebody else, but that's the way it is," said 25-year-old Tsonga, the 2008 Australian Open runner-up.