Musharraf to have
a packed schedule
during India visit

ISLAMABAD, June 23: A full day has been set aside for the summit meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari ...more

Poverty no obstacle
to AIDS treatment: Experts

UNITED NATIONS, June 23: Health and UN officials have said they have evidence,...more

Kumartunga brushes
aside speculations
about her Govt defeat
in Parliament

COLOMBO, June 23: President Chandrika Kumratunga has brushed aside speculation about the defeat of her Govenrment in Parliament, saying "defection by a small party in a coaltion Government is ...more

Putin renews
warning over US
Missile Defence Shield

MOSCOW, June 23: Russian President Vladimir Putin today renewed his warning that Russia will strengthen its nuclear weapons if the U.S. went ....more

Saudi Arabia executes national for murder

DUBAI, June 23: Saudi Arabia has executed a Saudi national convicted of murdering a compatriot during a dispute, Saudi newspapers reported.....more

Pak police arrest
100 in illegal guns
crackdown

ISLAMABAD, June 22: Police have arrested more than 100 people across Pakistan in a drive to flush out illegal weapons......more

Musharraf to have a packed schedule during India visit

ISLAMABAD, June 23: A full day has been set aside for the summit meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Agra on July 15, official sources here said today.

The sources said Musharraf would be having a packed schedule during his three-day visit to India beginning July 14.

As per the tentative itinerary being finalised by the officials of the two countries, Gen Musharraf accompanied by his wife would leave for New Delhi on the morning of July 15 and would stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, where he would have formal as well as protocol meetings with President K R Narayanan, Vajpayee, leader of the opposition Sonia Gandhi, Union Home Minister L K Advani and other leaders.

Musharraf is scheduled to visit Rajghat to pay homage to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. He would also visit his ancestral home in New Delhi the same day.

Later, he would attend a "high tea" reception hosted by the Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jahangir Qazi. He would sign off the day after attending a banquet hosted in his honour by President Narayanan.

After an overnight stay in New Delhi, Gen Musharraf would fly to Agra early next morning where he would have a day-long summit meeting with the Prime Minister.

The summit was expected to go late into the evening and if necessary the next morning, they said.

"The structure as well as format has been kept wide open for the two leaders to strike a personal rapport, friendship and understanding", the sources said.

They said a basic format about the participation of the ministers of both the countries as well top officials to assist the two leaders at the summit has not yet been finalised.

"The structure may evolve after the first two rounds of meeting between the two on July 15th morning", they said.

Both sides have not yet decided about issuing a joint communique or address a joint press conference at the end of the summit.

On July 16, Gen Musharraf is scheduled to fly to Jaipur, from where he will take a helicopter ride to Ajmer Sharif, and visit the Dargah of famous Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

From there, Musharraf would return Jaipur and fly back to Islamabad.

The sources said the visit was initially planned for two days, but has been extended by a day at the request of Pakistan Government in order to devote more time to fruitful discussions with Indian leaders. (PTI)

Poverty no obstacle to AIDS treatment: Experts

UNITED NATIONS, June 23: Health and UN officials have said they have evidence the latest AIDS treatments can work in impoverished villages, contradicting statements by large drug companies that even free anti-retroviral drugs would not help where medical support is lacking.

"Anti-retroviral therapy for poor countries is not a dream any longer. It’s an emerging reality," said Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS yesterday.

Piot spoke ahead of a major UN conference at which officials will discuss global funding to buy medicines for poor countries including the anti-retroviral drugs that can add years to the lives of HIV-infected people. The conference is set to open on Monday.

A small clinic in rural haiti has shown obstacles can be overcome, said Joia Mukherjee, Clinical Director for a Harvard Medical School project that runs the program.

With no job opportunities, people in the area live off subsistence farming, and have no electricity or running water. The clinic has a generator that "sometimes" provides electricity, she said.

Still, patients walk up to seven hours to the clinic and wait overnight to receive aid. Seventy people have been treated with anti-retroviral therapy, and all have seen their health improve, Mukherjee said.

"Our patients have gained weight, gone back to their farming, gone back to being able to take care of their children ... It’s more or less a miracle," Mukherjee said.

On a larger scale, Brazil has provided a dramatic example of how drug treatment can slow the spread of AIDS. A decade ago, world agencies projected 1.2 million brazilians would be infected with HIV today, the number is 600,000.

The key has been early intervention with local production of generic medicines provided to patients at no charge and doctor training for simple clinics, said Paulo Teixeira, coordinator of Brazil’s AIDS program, which provides free treatment to anyone infected.

Drug resistance can occur when patients fail to take drugs properly. But the rates are no greater than in wealthier nations, Teixeira said.

"Sure we have problems ... But the message is it’s possible even in a developing country and in very poor settings," Teixeira said.

About 36 million people worldwide are estimated to have the aids virus, and 25 million of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa, where medical resources are scarce.

Peter Mugyenyi, Director of the Joint Clinical Research Center in Uganda, where aggressive programs have cut HIV prevalence in adults, predicted that his African neighbors would find ways to get the drugs to patients who are desperate for treatment.

"Please don’t ask any African patient if he wants treatment, and don’t ask him whether he will comply with it," Mugyenyi said. "It is a big, big yes. Anti-retroviral therapy can be used in Africa." (REUTERS)

Kumartunga brushes aside speculations about her Govt defeat in Parliament

COLOMBO, June 23: President Chandrika Kumratunga has brushed aside speculation about the defeat of her Govenrment in Parliament, saying "defection by a small party in a coaltion Government is not unusual."

"The Government has adequate support today, as it had in 1994. Mere crossing over by a small party (the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress) will not affect the Government. We are till strong enough to defeat the no-confidence motion," a state owned newspaper quoted her as saying.

The President said the United National Party, which has been defeated at the last ten elections, was using this opportunity to come to power with the help of small parties.

Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony for a cooperative hospital complex in Nittambuwa, about 60 kms from here, the President said "we will not step down until the majority of the people ask us to do so."

She said alternative means had been found to strengthen the Government. "We will never undermine the interests of the majority by placing the interest of a faction above them."

Referring to the withdrawl of support by the SLMC, she said the Sri Lanka Freedom Party had come to power with the help of coalitions in the past. It had come to power in 1994 with the help of coalition partners, she said.

Meanwhile, the politcial uncertainity plaguing the country got murkier, with a split between Muslim leaders Rauf Hakeem and Ferial Ashraff widening.

The dramatic turn of events began yesterday with Ms Ashraff rejecting an offer by the Hakeem-led SLMC to make her the chairperson of the party. Mrs Ashraff, who heads the National Unity Allaince (NUA), a sister party of the main SLMC, reportedly saw the offer as a sop.

The political drama deepend when the SLMC rejected an invitation by President Kumaratunga for talks yesterdy afternoon. The party was apparently furious over the President’s statement criticising Mr Hakeem’s conduct and policies.

Confusion reigned with Hakeem loyalists seeking disciplinary action against Ashraff loyalists for not crossing over to the opposition as decided earlier.

The Hakeem faction has seven and the Ashraff faction four lawmakers.

The support of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), with ten members is crucial. Party sources said JVP s elusive leader Somawansa Amarasinghe, based in the UK, will play a crucial role in their central committee deliberations on the UNP s no-confidence motion this evening.

As of now, the no-confidence motion has been signed by 97 members UNP (88), TLFf (5), TELO (3) and ACTC (1). If the SLMC Hakeem faction which has 7 members and JVP with 10 members decides to back the motion, as the UNP hopes it will, the no-confidence motion will be easily carried, with a total 114 in favour in a House of 225 members.

The Government was reduced to a minority, with 110 members, after the SLMC withdrew support on Wednesday. (UNI)