Shirin Ebadi, Iranian rights activist, wins Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Oct 10: Iranian human rights activist and feminist lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today, becoming the first Muslim woman to win the honour in the prize’s 102-year history.

Ebadi, 56, was given the prize "for her efforts for democracy and human rights," particularly for women and children in her country, which has been under Islamic rule since its 1979 revolution, the Nobel Committee said.

In 1974 she became Iran’s first woman Judge, but lost that post in the revolution five years later when Islamic clerics took over and decreed that women could not preside over Courts.

In a reaction broadcast on Norwegian radio, Ebadi said her win was "very good for me, very good for human rights and very good for democracy in Iran."

She added that she was "very glad and proud" and hoped the fame the prize brought would help her work in her country.

In 1974 Ebadi became Iran’s first woman Judge, but lost that post in the revolution when Islamic clerics took over and decreed that women were too emotional to preside over Courts.

"My problem is not with Islam, it’s with the culture of patriarchy," Ebadi told Britain’s guardian newspaper in June. "Practices such as stoning have no foundation in the Koran."

Ebadi spent time in jail for attending a 2001 conference on Iranian form in Berlin. She has maintained a high profile in her feminist struggle, also by writing many books and articles.

"Any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from birth to death, but I have learned to overcome my fear," she told the Christian science monitor newspaper in 1999.

The nobel peace prize, which carries a purse 1.3 million dollars, is decided by an Oslo-based nobel committee which Counts two men and three women.

Ebadi was selected from a field of 165 candidates for the prize, among them Pope John Paul II and former Czech President Vaclav Havel. (AFP)

Thai hospitality, food, music at its best for Vajpayee

BANGKOK, Oct 10: The best of the world famous Thai hospitality was on display for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was visibly surprised by a young Thai boy singing a Bollywood number —"Chal Chal Chal Mere Haathi O Mere Saathi", with the classical dancers presenting scintillating performances in the honour of their Indian guest.

The feast of exotic Thai delicacies and the vivacious cultural extravaganza left Mr Vajpayee throughly impressed.

Mouth-watering Thai delicacies — including persillade of Asian flat head Lobster and river Prawns set in an exotic mild spiced lemon grass aspic paper thin mushroom and capon pockets in double boiled consomme with celery root and chives paupiette of white sea bass with spinach and scallop dices, were spread out on the dinner table at a banquet hosted in honour of Mr Vajpayee by his Thai counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra at the tastefully decorated Government guest house here last night.

Mr Vajpayee, seated in the company of the Thai leader, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley, cheered and clapped all through the cultural programme, the Prime Minister’s aides said.

As the banquet function began, Mr Thaksin proposed a toast to the Indian President followed by the playing of the Indian national anthem.

Returning the gesture, Mr Vajpayee proposed a toast in honour of the Thai King, which was followed by the rendering of the Thai national anthem.

After this the two Prime Ministers delivered their speeches.

And at the end of these formalities, the Thai artistes took the stage. The first item on the show was "Raban Kridabhiniharn", a Thai classical dance for the blessing of good fortune and best wishes from the angels for the guest of honour.

A special attraction of the evening was a vivacious and colourful dance presentation by young Thai boys and girls of " Noparatana dance" or nine gems.

Dressed in costumes representing the radiance and colours of nine gems, danced to the tune of foot-tapping music to describe the benefits that each of the nine gems — diamond, ruby, emerald, topaz, garnet, blue sapphire, opal, zircon and peridot.

Then troupes rendered a series of four short dances, representing the four regions of this South East Asian nation.

But the final presentation of the day which drew most applause from Mr Vajpayee was a rendition by a young Thai boy of the famous Bollywood song of yesteryears " Chal Chal Chal Mere Haathi Oh Mere Saathi" from Rajesh Khanna-Tanuja starrer "Haathi Mere Saathi.".

What surprised Mr Vajpayee and the Indian delegation was the young boy’s ability to almost copy completely the voice and style of legendary Kishore Kumar.

The Prime Minister and his delegation enjoyed various Thai cuisines before the two Prime Ministers wished good bye to each other.

The elaborate menu included persillade of Asian flat head Lobster and river Prawns set in an exotic mild spiced lemon grass aspic paper thin mushroom and capon pockets in double boiled consomme with celery root and chives paupiette of white sea bass with spinach and scallop dices, bouquet of day fresh market vegetables, steamed potatoes and bouillabaisse sauce seasonal tropical fresh fruits tapioca and sweet Thai melon compote and refreshing‘ Sorbet’ Mocha or exotic lemon grass infusion and Thai sweet egg yolk delicacies. (UNI)

Bone disease worry for former SARS patients

HONG KONG, Oct 10: Dozens of former SARS patients in Hong Kong are suffering from bone degeneration, known as Avascular Necrosis, sources said today, throwing the spotlight back on the controversial cocktail of drugs used to treat many patients during the epidemic.

"A substantial number of cases have already been proven. We are now trying to ascertain the severity," said Leung Ping-Chung, an orthopaedics specialist at the Prince of Wales hospital, where the first wave of SARS infections in Hong Kong were treated.

Almost all SARS patients in Hong Kong were treated with the anti-viral drug ribavirin and steroids earlier this year, but many health experts said at the time the efficacy of the combination was unproven and could lead to serious side-effects.

At least 10 former SARS patients from every major public hospital that tended to SARS victims in Hong Kong have been found suffering from the bone disease, Leung said. At least eight public hospitals handled SARS patients.

Avascular Necrosis has also been observed in some former SARS patients in mainland China, Leung told .

"It must be a general problem (in places which treated their patients using steroids)," Leung said, adding that steroids were used in many of the 30 countries affected by SARS.

In Singapore, where more than 200 people were infected with SARS and 33 of them later died, a hospital spokeswoman said no one was known to be suffering from bone degeneration.

"Now that we see this information from Hong Kong, doctors are on heightened awareness on this matter," said the spokeswoman at Tan Tock Seng hospital, Singapore’s SARS-designated hospital.

Hong Kong’s hospital chief recently said that SARS patients would be treated with an HIV drug, Kaletra, and Ribavirin in future. Such a combination would need lower dosages of steroids.

The link between Avascular Necrosis and heavy use of steroids is well documented. It occurs when blood supply to the bone is impaired, causing the bone to die and finally collapse.

Long bones like the femur — the bone extending from the knee to the hip joint — are particularly susceptible. The disease can be disabling, with the sufferer needing joint replacement.

Leung Ka-Lau, former head of the public doctors’ association in Hong Kong, said the condition could surface later in some people.

Apart from impairing blood circulation and causing Avascular Necrosis, heavy use of steroids can also damage the lungs.

A Government spokeswoman said the hospital authority in Hong Kong was recalling all recovered SARS patients for urgent checks.

"We are recalling all recovered patients to give them checks, we are now studying if it has to do with the treatment," the spokeswoman said.

A 51-year-old former bus driver is one of the former SARS victims suffering Avascular Necrosis. The father of three was put on steroids for three months and now has 50 percent bone degeneration in his right leg and 10 percent in his left leg.

"He feels great pain just walking. He is going for a major operation on his right leg on Monday," said a social worker.

More than 1,750 people in Hong Kong fell victim to the SARS virus between February and June this year after it first surfaced in south China in November. Nearly 300 of them died.

Experts have warned that the deadly disease, which infected over 8,000 people worldwide and killed more than 700 of them, may return during the winter months. (AGENCIES)

American sentenced to death for killing sikh immigrant

NEW YORK, Oct 10: A 44-year-old American convicted of killing a Sikh from Punjab four days after the September 11 terror strikes was today sentenced by a Court in Arizona where execution is carried out by lethal injection. Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, who had migrated to US in 1988, was shot dead outside his petrol station in Mesa on September 15, 2001 by Frank Silva Rogue who mistook him to be an Arab.

A jury in Phoenix, Arizona, which convicted Rogue, 44, of first degree murder after six hours of deliberations last week, also found that special circumstances exist under the state law which warrants death penalty for him.

An appeal is mandatory in cases of death sentence. In Arizona, execution is by lethal injection.

Eye witnesses said Roque, who is on powerful anti-psychotic drugs, showed no emotion when the verdict was read out.

Prosecutors argued that Sodhi’s murder was fuelled by racism and hate and carried out by a man with a longtime drinking problem. Defence team, meanwhile, said that Roque sufferred from mental illness and the terrorist attacks had triggered an episode of insanity. The jury had rejected the insanity plea put forward by the defence and had begun considering whether he should be sentenced to death on Tuesday after hearing from a psychiatrist and family of Sodhi.

Roque was also convicted of attempted first-degree murder, drive by shooting and endangerment in the shooting spree that followed Sodhi’s murder.

Sodhi’s brother Lakhwinder Singh Sodhi said he was relieved that more than two years of waiting were over and that his brother’s killer will not go unpunished.

"The jury brought justice back to our family. They came with the verdict of the truth. We showed the whole world this is the country of justice."

Chairman of the Sikh council Rajwant Singh welcomed the judgement saying "we are quite satisfied that justice has been done though the suffering and the loss suffered by the Sodhi family cannot be compensated... The ruling has given a very strong signal that hate crimes cannot be tolerated in the American society."

Several Sikhs were battered in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks as they were mistaken for followers of Osama bin Laden because they sported beard and wore a turban.

Later Sikh organisations launched a major campaign in the media to explain that their religion demanded sporting of beard and wearing turban. Many wore buttons saying,"I am a Sikh."

Rogue, who faces sentence on other charges stemming from two other shootings of people of Afghani and Lebanese descent on the day of the murder, becomes the 127th person on Arizona’s death row. (PTI)

Spain’s smokers rebel against health warnings on packages

MADRID, Oct 10: "smoking kills", "smoking causes heart disease", "deadly lung cancer" ... "impotency".

Such new and tougher warnings on cigarette packages have not been welcomed in Spain, one of the last smokers’ Bastions in Europe, where tobacco lovers are finding ingenious subterfuges to silence the words of caution.

The latest fad is to insert cigarette packages into cardboard boxes of the same size, showing patterns of leopard skin, green leaves, hearts or ducklings - anything to hide the ominous warnings.

"Smokers have the right to enjoy a cigarette without having to face such harsh and unpleasant messages," says Alvaro Garrido, Director of the Smokers’ club for tolerance, which campaigns for what it calls the rights of smokers.

The cardboard containers known as "Condoms" have been an instant success, press reports said.

Some tobacco Kiosks are also offering stickers to place on top of the health warnings, carrying alternative texts such as "smoking helps you relax" or "working is bad for your health".

The new, more visible and more directly worded health warnings have appeared on cigarette packages from October 1 as part of a national anti-smoking plan, prompting protests in the country dubbed "smokers’ paradise".

"We don’t claim that smoking is healthy, but as adults, we have the right to enjoy the pleasures we choose," Garrido said in an interview.

"Christopher Columbus introduced tobacco to Europe via Spain after discovering it in America, so smoking has a long tradition in our country," he stressed.

In a country proud of its capacity to enjoy life, 37 per cent of people over 16 years are estimated to smoke. Clouds of smoke float over bar counters, and smokers happily litter the streets with cigarette butts.

A smoking ban was imposed in most public places in 1988, but it is only applied half-heartedly, with people continuing to puff on cigarettes at train stations, hospitals or supermarkets.

"As far as we know, nobody has ever been fined for smoking in a public place," anti-smoking campaigner Victor Lopez said.

Some 50,000 spaniards die annually of smoking-related diseases, but health warnings did not prevent 4.5 billion cigarette boxes from being sold last year.

The European Union is backing the attempts by Governments to fight the habit, and recently prohibited tobacco manufacturers from advertising cigarettes with a lower nicotine content as "light" or "mild".

The EU says the terms falsely imply a low toxicity. But tobacco companies intend finding a way around the ban.

"Many cigarette brands already do not display the word ‘light’, but clients distinguish the packages by their colour," one tobacco salesman explained.

Some companies have said they intend to call the "light" cigarettes by new names such as "white" or "silver". The Spanish Government is studying the possibility of suing the companies. (DPA)

Security will delay Iraq rebuilding: UN, World Bank

WASHINGTON, Oct 10: Turning Iraq’s economy around will take longer than the four years recently estimated because the country is so unsafe, a World Bank and United Nations report said on Thursday.

And without security, progress to improve health, education, electricity and clean water may be too slow convince Iraqis of the benefits of an open and democratic society, the two institutions warned.

In their final assessment of the cost of rebuilding Iraq’s economy, the bank and UN have estimated it will take 36 billion over four years to get the war-torn economy up and running again.

But the report, which fleshes out a brief summary issued last week containing those numbers, said this assumed Iraq would be safe for staff and consultants to go about rebuilding the country.

A spanish diplomat, a US soldier and at least 10 Iraqis became the latest victims of regular attacks in the country on Thursday, underlining the frail security situation.

"When work on the assessment commenced, a main underlying assumption was that there would be a stable security environment," said the report, released by the World Bank.

"This clearly is not the case at the time this needs assessment is being finalized."

The 36 billion will be needed in addition to a separate 20 billion over four years estimated by the US-led authority in Iraq which covers sectors of the economy not touched on in the UN and World Bank report.

The scale of rebuilding would also require a level of planning and implementation capacity found only in highly developed economies, the study said.

"As such, the time frame needed for implementation and disbursements will likely take longer than the period indicated."

The UN and the World Bank both lost staff in a massive truck bomb attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad in August.

The assessment is based on assumptions that will be revised as better data become available, such as that the Iraqi economy could surge 30 percent next year after shrinking 22 percent in 2003.

Gross domestic product per capita should rise to 570- 760 in 2004 from 450- 610 this year.

The document, which looks at the needs of 14 sectors of the economy with a heavy emphasis on infrastructure, will be discussed at a donors conference to be held in Madrid on Oct. 23-24.

Both the 36 billion and 20 billion estimates, which complement each other, are heavily front-loaded and when combined put reconstruction costs in 2004 at 17.5 billion.

The donors conference is aimed at raising cash to fill the funding gaps in the estimate.

The bank and UN stress that the 36 billion is not the same as the financing gap because over time some of the requested money will be covered by Government revenues or private sector financing, therefore reducing the reliance on donor support.

Even so, there is speculation the donations may fall short.

"The challenge will be to mobilize commitments as much as possible now in order to allow projects to be planned and initiated immediately," the document said.

Washington has pledged to contribute 20 billion over 12 to 18 months but experts believe the rest of the world may only commit 2 billion at most for the initial one-year period.

The UN and World Bank report takes into account Iraq’s draft 2004 budget which assumes oil revenues of 12 billion based on output of 2.7 million barrels per day by the end of next year. It also assumes Iraq’s outstanding external debt is at least 70 billion, mostly owed to Governments.

Apart from improved security, the return to healthy economic growth in Iraq will depend heavily on normal functioning of basic utilities, expansion of oil production and private investment.

The report, which does not look in detail at the oil sector because that is covered in the estimate put together by the US-led authority, said repairs and rehabilitation of the oil fields will only bring production up to pre-conflict levels.

"The exploitation of new fields, necessary to raise production to twice this level over the medium term, will require the establishment of a tax royalty, or production-sharing arrangements sufficiently competitive to attract the necessary level of investment," it said.

To restore the utilities sector to health, the report suggests energy prices should be gradually liberalized.

And freeing up food prices should only be done over a set period of time to ensure vulnerable Iraqis are protected from hunger. (AGENCIES)

Beijing suffers flu shot shortage amid SARS fears

BEIJING, Oct 10: Beijing is suffering a shortage of flu shots, doctors said today, just weeks after the city rolled out a high-profile campaign to vaccinate the population as part of its anti-SARS measures.

The Government had promoted flu shots, which offer no protection against the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome, as a way of reducing misdiagnosis in overburdened hospitals.

Doctors have said as many as 1,000 people in SARS-hit Beijing with flu-like symptoms were wrongly diagnosed this year as suffering from the mysterious virus, highlighting the importance of flu prevention.

"We don’t have enough flu vaccines," Shen Li, a doctor at Beijing’s centre for disease control and prevention, told .

"I don’t think the responsible departments made adequate preparations. Even the doctors and nurses can’t get vaccines. Hospitals have not had the vaccines to serve people for a long time," she said.

The Health Ministry told it had not received any reports of flu shot shortages.

Beijing, an arid city of 14 million people where respiratory illnesses are common every winter, had ordered only 1.5 million doses of flu shots, 4.5 million less than the number needed, she said.

A spokeswoman for the capital’s Ditan hospital, a designated SARS treatment centre, said most of its medical staff had not received flu shots due to a lack of supply.

An epidemic prevention station in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province where SARS first emerged, said it had already used up its supply of flu vaccines, months before respiratory illness were expected to hit the semi-tropical region.

China’s health care system, taken by surprise last year by a SARS outbreak that spread all over the world, is expected to be tested again. The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday it was bracing for a possible SARS resurgence this winter.

SARS, which emerged in southern China last year and killed more than 700 people around the world, and the more common flu virus share similar symptoms such as fever, sneezing, coughing and body aches. (AGENCIES)

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