Garlic, onions may save prostate, study finds

WASHINGTON, Nov 7: Men who eat plenty of onions, garlic and similar foods may irritate their romantic partners but may cut their risk of prostate cancer in half, researchers have reported.

Men who ate the most vegetables containing allium — the pungent, sulfur-based compound blamed for the antisocial effects of garlic and onions — had a 50 percent lower risk of having prostate cancer than those who ate the least, the study found.

Ann Hsing of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues interviewed 238 men with prostate cancer and 471 men without prostate cancer about what they ate.

Men who ate more than a third of an ounce (10 grams) a day of onions, garlic, chives or scallions were much less likely to be in the cancer group, Hsing reported in yesterday’s issue of the journal of the National Cancer Institute.

This adds to research showing the right diet can reduce the risk of cancer, the American institute for cancer research, which investigates the links between cancer and diet, said.

"Several case-control studies (in which the diets of cancer patients are compared to the diets of healthy individuals) have linked allium vegetables to lower risk for cancer of the stomach, colon, esophagus, breast and endometrium (lining of the uterus)," the group said in a statement.

Jamie Bearse of the prostate cancer coalition agreed.

"It’s great to see that more flavorable foods are proving to be preventatives for prostate cancer," he said in a statement. "Maybe it will encourage men to put down that big mac and pick up a salad with chives and onions." In a piece of bad news for prostate cancer patients, a team at the University of Rochester in New York found some drugs used to treat prostate cancer can in fact cause it to grow.

"It’s a real surprise that the same compound that kills cancer cells also makes them grow," Chawnshang Chang, who led the study, said in a statement. "The effect of the drug reverses completely."

His team studied a drug called flutamide, made by schering, but he said other, similar drugs are likely to have a similar effect.

A common treatment for prostate cancer is castration using drugs or surgery to cut off testosterone. The hormone fuels the growth of prostate cancer cells in many cases.

But for reasons that doctors have not understood, after one or two years the cancer cells often start growing again.

"In all of the more than 30,000 men who die of prostate cancer each year, the cancer cells have become capable of growing even when we starve the cells of testosterone," Dr Edward Messing, a Urology professor at Rochester, said.

Writing in the journal cancer research, Chang and colleagues said they may have an explanation. Flutamide cuts off testosterone by targeting a protein known as the Androgen receptor. But it also turns on map kinase — an enzyme that promotes cell growth and is known to play a role in breast and prostate cancer.

Yi-Fen Lee, who worked on the study, said the findings do not mean prostate cancer patients should avoid flutamide or similar drugs.

"These drugs are necessary for patients who otherwise have few options," Lee said. "Perhaps these findings will help lead to a new drug target so that men with this disease can be treated more effectively." (AGENCIES)

Depressed US Democrats look to 2004

WASHINGTON, Nov 7: With Republicans basking in victory, a depressed and wounded Democratic Party turned its attention to the White House race in 2004 and searched for answers to Tuesday’s midterm losses.

A large field of potential Democratic candidates, led by former Vice President Al Gore, will decide in the next few months whether to challenge Republican President George W Bush, whose historical sweep of Congress left him in a commanding position heading into 2004.

But the loss of Democratic control in the Senate and the expansion of the Republican majority in the House of representatives left Democrats in a sour mood. It damaged party leaders and could play a role in decisions by potential candidates.

Before anyone can effectively challenge Bush, disgruntled Democrats said, the party must find a vision and a stronger voice of opposition.

"Democrats lacked a national message this year," said Joe Andrew, a former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "It’s clearly not enough to rely on tactics."

The losses dealt severe blows to House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, but could free them up from congressional commitments to make White House runs.

Several Democrats said they expected gephardt, home in St Louis conferring with family and friends, to make that move soon. House leadership elections are planned next week, and he could face a challenge.

"We need some new people and new ideas at the top of the chain," Tennessee Democratic Rep Harold Ford told CNN, saying that if Gephardt ran again for Democratic House leader "he should be prepared for some opposition." The Democratic failures at the Congressional level might encourage candidates from outside Congress to jump in the Presidential race, analysts said, and outsiders like Vermont Gov. Howard Dean saw their stature enhanced merely by not being in the Washington inner circle.

At the core of the Democratic field over the last six months has been Gore, the narrow loser of the 2000 race after a five-week recount in Florida. Gephardt has been mentioned, along with Daschle Dean, and Democratic Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina.

Dean is the only one who has definitely said he is in the race, although Kerry is certain to run as well. Other potential candidates include Gary Hart and Bill Bradley, both former Senators and failed Presidential candidates, and veteran Cens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Joe Biden of Delaware.

Gore’s decision, due by the end of the year, will be the first step toward shaking out the field. If Gore gets in, his name recognition would make him an instant frontrunner and he could knock out his 2000 Vice Presidential running mate, Lieberman, who has promised not to run against Gore.

Analysts said Gore might be helped with activists by his decision to speak out against Bush’s plans in Iraq, although the party’s thirst for a fresh face could help first-termer Edwards or Kerry, who are not as well known nationally.

"Democrats should not mistake the magnitude of this loss there has to be a major regrouping," Gore told ABC’s Barbara Walters in an interview taped on Wednesday, saying Democrats needed to present "a constructive alternative" to Bush.

Partial transcripts of the interview were released, but the full interview will not air until next week.

Analysts said Democrats could start scouring the lists of new Governors for possible stars who could rise to the top the way Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton did in 1992 against Bush’s father, who was seen as unbeatable after the Gulf war in 1991. "The field has opened wide," said Gary Jacobsen of the University of California-San Diego. "There is no obvious democratic choice and no one looks particularly strong."

Possible long-shot late entries like Govs. Roy Barnes of Georgia and Gray Davis of California saw their chances go up in smoke on Tuesday. Barnes lost reelection despite vastly outspending his Republican opponent Davis won narrow reelection against a Republican who was running what his own party leaders said was the worst campaign in the country.

Democrats said they saw a silver lining in Tuesday’s results —Bush and Republicans will have to show success and cannot blame Senate democrats for their failures.

"Now republicans will have to deliver on the issues on which they campaigned and we will be watching," said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, head of the party’s Senate campaign committee.

Terry Mcauliffe, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Gubernatorial pickups in battleground states like Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin would put the party’s Presidential nominee in a strong organizational and fund raising position.

A huge wild card will be the success or failure of any possible military mission in Iraq. A continued sputtering economy, failure in Iraq or other missteps by the Bush administration could put democrats back in the race.

"We have to remember how quickly things change in politics," said former Democratic Rep Vic Fazio. "People who are handed elections two years out can lose."

Amy Isaacs, National Director of the Liberal Americans for Democratic Action, said Democrats "have to stop running scared" if they have any hope of reclaiming the White House.

"If Democrats articulate a message instead of trying to meet the Republicans in the Middle, they can come out victorious," she said. (AGENCIES)

Eyes on Bhutto’s jailed spouse as key to
breaking Pak crisis

ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: All eyes were focussed on the jailed spouse of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto today, as the two-day old alliance of Islamists and secular opposition parties against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf showed signs of folding.

Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari is at the centre of back-room wheeling and dealing by Musharraf’s supporters to wean Bhutto’s party back from its deal with the Islamic bloc and into a coalition with the pro-regime parties, officials involved in the deal-making have told AFP.

Musharraf’s decision late yesterday to postpone the inauguration of the Parliament elected four weeks ago was widely seen as a move to buy time to stymie the anti-mMsharraf coalition.

Bhutto loyalists in her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have said privately that they would only side with the Musharraf-backed parties if Zardari was released from six years’ custody, and that graft charges against Bhutto were dropped to allow her to return freely from self-imposed exile.

Zardari, accused of gross corruption while he was a member of his Wife’s cabinet, is due to appear before an accountability court for a bail hearing later today in one of a raft of corruption cases against him.

Senior politicians from both the pro- and anti-Musharraf camps have said he is expected to win bail and be released into house arrest in Islamabad on medical grounds, under a deal moving closer to finalisation.

The deal, however, involves concessions from the couple which may include the surrender of some assets by Zardari and Bhutto staying away from Pakistan for another two years. (AFP)

India to step up defence cooperation with Laos

VIENTIANE, Nov 7: India today agreed to step up defence cooperation with Laos, including training of the South East nation’s air force pilots, and offered help in power transmission, exploration of minerals and agriculture sector as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ended his bilateral meetings on a high note.

The Prime Minister, who witnessed the signing of agreements yesterday including a 10 million dollar line of credit to least developed nation, held a series of meetings today with President Khamtay Siphandone, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, Defence Minister Maj Gen Doungchay Phichit and Agriculture Minister Siene Saphanthong.

During the meetings, Mr Vajpayee expressed his keenness to help in the reconstruction of Laos which has stood by India in the international fora on all issues, including Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir.

Mr Vajpayee, the first Prime Minister to come to Laos after Jawaharlal Nehru in 1954, leaves Dor delhi tomorrow after a short visit for bilateral talks in Bangkok with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

In an effort to increase high-level contacts, the Prime Minister has invited his counterpart Bounnhang Vorachit to visit India. The invitation has been accepted and dates will be worked out through diplomatic channels.

The Laos Defence Minister will be visiting India in January-end as also the Chairman of the National Assembly Samane Vighaket whom also the Prime Minister met.

During the bilateral talks here, the two countries expressed concern at the growing threat posed by international terrorism and stressed on the need to cooperate closely in the fight against the menace.

They emphasised on the need for all countries to implement their obligations under the UN Security Council resolution 1373, including ensuring that all terrorists are denied safe haven, a joint statement issued this evening said.

The Laos Defence Minister, when he called on Mr Vajpayee this evening, appreciated India’s help in training defence personnel of his country and said Laos would want its air force pilots and technicians to also undergo training from Indian Air Force. The Prime Minister agreed to this request. The visit to Vientiane assumed significance for New Delhi since laos will be the coordinating country to the India-ASEAN and will be hosting the summit in 2004.

Mr Vajpayee made a special point of appreciating Laos’s condemnation of the attack on the parliament on December 13 last year.

The Laos leadership was unanimous in appreciating the help India has given to the country, especially the Kirloskar pumps which had contributed immensely to gaining self-sufficiency in rice.

President Siphandone welcomed Mr Vajpayee by saying he was the second great man from India, after Mr Nehru, to come to the country.

The lao leaders said Mr Vajpayee’s visit was an encouragement to the Buddhist Lao people since he was coming from a land in which their religion was born, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs R M Abhyankar told newspersons.

Mr Siphandone recalled that India had supported his country at every international fora and assured that Laos would do the same for New Delhi.

He sought India’s help in fully exploring the large mineral wealth of Laos. Another area where India could help was in the energy sector, in the north of the country. The South of Laos had a surplus of power and even exported it to Cambodia but the north had no transmission lines.

Mr Vajpayee agreed to both these requests.

Agriculture Minister Saphanthong, who is also president of the India-Lao Friendship Committee, asked for India’s help in irrigation management, crop protection and setting up of vegetable extraction plants. (UNI)

Bangladesh to seek return of criminals from India

DHAKA, Nov 7: Bangladesh will formally ask New Delhi to return the criminals who have taken refuge in India following the deployment of Army in the country.

"We will soon formally request India to send the criminals. These criminals have fled through different means and are living in Barasat in West Bengal and lake town in Kolkata," Bangladesh Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"Many criminals have fled to different countries including India after the change of Government following last year’s election," Khan said.

"We are having friendly relations and understanding, we will get cooperation" from India in getting the criminals back, he said.

Khan said the two countries have pledged not to give sanctury to any criminal and terrorist in each other’s territory.

Although BBC reported that around 5,000 people have so far been rounded up in the current drive which entered fourth week today, an official spokesman said until yesterday 4,416 people have been arrested including 1223 listed criminals and 73 suspects.

The arrests also include 60 peoples representative including three Members of Parliament. (PTI)

Italy hands over Roopkala Kendra to West Bengal

KOLKATA, Nov 7: The Italian Government today handed over the Roopkala Kendro project, a training-cum-production centre for educational audio-visual for information and development of rural population in East and North East India here, to the West Bengal Government.

The project was handed over to the State Government by the document being signed by Principal Secretary, Department of Information and Cultural Affairs Arun Bhattacharya, Consul General of Italy in Kolkata Domenico Benincasa, Director General, COE, Rosella Scandella and Director and CEO, Roopkala Kendro, Anita Agnihotri, according to official sources.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ambassador of Italy Gaetano Zucconi for the Italian Government and Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance V Govindarajan for the Government of India according to the Italy-Indian agreement for technical co-operation in 1981.

The agreement designated the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs of the West Bengal Government as the agency responsible for the implementation of its obligation on behalf of the centre and the NGO CEO as the agency responsible on behalf of the Government of Italy under the MoU.

Through this technical co-ordination project, Italy has provided an assistance of Rs 9.69 crore to West Bengal in terms of equipment and training. The State Government has provided funds for construction at the training-cum-production building of Roopkala Kendro.

The Kendro has come up under this technical co-operation on five acres of Government land at Salt Lake in the city. (UNI)

Bush calls up Putin ahead of crucial UN vote on Iraq

MOSCOW, Nov 7: Ahead of the crucial vote on Iraq, US President George W Bush today called up his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the UN Security Council resolution, the Kremlin Press Service said.

The two presidents also discussed the agenda for their forthcoming sumit later this month.

However, the Kremlin did not elaborate on the Bush-Putin telephonic discussions on Iraq vote.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov discussed the modified UNSC resolution on Iraq with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Chinese, French and Mexican colleagues ahead of the vote by the apex un body in which Russia holds Veto powers.

According to a Russian Foreign Ministry release Ivanov and his US, Chinese, French and Mexican colleagues noted "significant convergence" of the stands on the principled points of the future resolution in which Moscow’s several concerns have been dispensed with as a result of active discussions, including the exclusion of the possibility of an automatic use of force against Iraq in case of its failure to cooperate with the UN Weapons Inspectors. (PTI)

Final US push for UN resolution to disarm Iraq

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7: The United States, in what it calls Iraq’s last chance to disarm or face war, is pushing the UN Security Council to adopt a tough resolution by tomorrow, and veto-holders France and Russia are edging closer to agreeing.

The resolution, the result of eight weeks of negotiations on scrapping any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction Iraq may have, was formally presented to Council members yesterday and will be reviewed again today.

"The resolution makes very clear that this is a final opportunity for Iraq to disarm," US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said.

The United States wants a vote on Friday but Secretary of State Colin Powell, the key negotiator, has cancelled travel plans next week so he can deal with any last-minute hitches.

In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said today Russia was studying the draft and would focus on ensuring the resolution does not "include any measure allowing the automatic use of force".

The draft took into account Russia’s position with respect to Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a solution to the Iraqi problem which could include lifting UN sanctions, he was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.

In Baghdad, Saddam said: "If these two American and British administrations are able to achieve their wishes, the world will revert to a new law, which is the law of evil based on power and opportunity rather than the law of love and justice."

Iraqi television quoted Saddam today telling visiting Malaysian Information Minister Khalil Yaacob that opposing US and British intentions towards Iraq also served the interests of all countries.

A leading Iraqi newspaper said that China, France and Russia should oppose any wording in the British-US draft resolution that might be used to justify a military assault.

"America wants the resolution to include texts that it uses afterward as a pretext or a cover for committing aggression against Iraq," the ruling Baath Party newspaper Al-Thawra said in a front-page editorial. (AGENCIES)

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