Daily Excelsior... World

US plans to brief North Korea on counterfeiting crackdown

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: The United States has said that North Korea appears interested in receiving a briefing on Washington's crackdown on the ..... ....more

Iraqi insurgency strong
and could get stronger: Study

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: Despite US claims of progress in quelling the insurgency in Iraq, it remains as robust as ever and could grow a good deal ...........more

Hariri probe is stacked against Syria: Ambassador

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: Syria's ambassador to the United States has accused Washington and the United Nations of having an "ulterior agenda"........more

Maoists in Nepal extend unilateral cease-fire by
one month

KATHMANDU, Dec 2: Communist rebels in Nepal today announced they will extend their unilateral ceasefire by one month. Prachanda, leader of the rebels, said they decided on the extension after considering ..........more

'Myanmar junta uses
"brutal torture" on political prisoners'

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: An Asian human rights group released here what it called the most comprehensive report on torture in Myanmar, accusing the... ......more

Japan's 54th nuclear
power generator set
to start

TOKYO, Dec 2: A new nuclear power generator will start commercial operations next week in Japan, its owner Tohoku Electric Power Co said.............more

Japan Coast Guard
seeks budget to
revamp fleet

TOKYO, Dec 2: Japan's Coast Guard, in a bid to improve its surveillance of the sea dividing Japan and China, . ..........more

Gunman kills journalist
in central Philippines

MANILA, Dec 2: A radio and newspaper commentator was shot dead at a public market in the central Philippines, the 10th Journalist to be killed this year, police said today. The Philippines is the most dangerous . ..........more

Gates grants USD 84.3 mln to stop infant mortality ........

China to plant 'super rice' to double output ........

US says progress on trade deal still possible at WTO summit .........

Indians bag honours at the Asian Television Awards .......

US plans to brief North Korea on counterfeiting crackdown

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: The United States has said that North Korea appears interested in receiving a briefing on Washington's crackdown on the Stalinist state's alleged counterfeiting activities which has threatened to disrupt multilateral nuclear talks.

US officials offered to provide the briefing after North Korea expressed concern over Washington's actions against US dollar counterfeiting, money laundering and proliferation of unconventional weapons.

Pyongyang had claimed that the actions were against the spirit of a September pact in which North Korea agreed in principle to end its nuclear weapons drive in return for security guarantees, energy aid and other benefits.

"That offer (to give the briefing) still stands. And it would appear that the North Korean Government is interested in accepting this offer for such a briefing," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters yesterday.

But he made it clear that the move was not aimed at holding negotiations on the counterfeiting activities, noting that ongoing talks in Beijing among the United States, the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan centered on the nuclear issue.

"As part of this offer of a briefing, the United States never offered to engage in negotiations with North Korea on this matter. There are negotiations in the context of the six-party talks which are directed at the nuclear issue," McCormack said. (AFP)

Iraqi insurgency strong and could get stronger: Study

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: Despite US claims of progress in quelling the insurgency in Iraq, it remains as robust as ever and could grow a good deal stronger, according to a new study.

The study, released yesterday, by two veteran defence analysts working for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy also said the US operation in Iraq was at a "tipping point" that will last for six to nine months.

"I think the outcome of this tipping period is probably going to dictate whether or not the US effort in Iraq succeeds or fails," analyst Jeffrey White said releasing the report.

The study said the insurgency, comprised of nationalists, members of Saddam Hussein's toppled regime and foreign Islamic fighters, showed no sign of losing steam 32 months after the US-led invasion.

"Although thousands of insurgents have been killed and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been detained ... incident and casualty data reinforce the impression that the insurgency is as robust and lethal as ever," it said.

Moreover, the researchers said, the insurgency has managed to exploit only a fraction of the disgruntled minority Sunni Muslim population with any kind of military training.

"Should the insurgency succeed in exploiting this untapped potential, it could greatly increase its military capabilities," they wrote.

The report was prepared by White, who spent 34 years at the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and Michael Eisenstadt, a former civilian-miltary analyst with the US army. (AFP)

Hariri probe is stacked against Syria: Ambassador

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: Syria's ambassador to the United States has accused Washington and the United Nations of having an "ulterior agenda" against his government in pressing on with an investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

"What lies behind all what Syria is facing, is not what Syria has done, or what Syria is presumed to have done, but it is generated by an ulterior agenda by very powerful elements within this administration and elsewhere," Ambassador Imad Moustapha said in remarks delivered at a conference at the US Capitol yesterday.

"We believe that from day one ... That the plot, the masterplan behind the assassination of Hariri, goes far beyond merely assassinating of this national leader," he said at a forum sponsored by the Council for the National Interest Foundation.

"Actually we believe that Syria is also targeted by this crime. And what we are seeing today proves our worst fears," Moustapha said.

A UN commission of inquiry headed by German magistrate Detlev Mehlis is probing the murder of Lebanon's ex-premier. An interim report issued by Mehlis in October implicated top Syrian officials over the February killing of Hariri in a bomb blast in Beirut.

It also criticised Syria for failing to cooperate fully with the investigation.

Washington has been outspoken in pressing for greater cooperation from Damascus, and demanded Syria secure its border with Iraq to stem the flow of arms and insurgents. (AFP)

Maoists in Nepal extend unilateral cease-fire by one month

KATHMANDU, Dec 2: Communist rebels in Nepal today announced they will extend their unilateral ceasefire by one month.

Prachanda, leader of the rebels, said they decided on the extension after considering requests from home and abroad.

The three-month unilateral cease-fire was to have expired this weekend. The extension will offer a chance to find peace in Nepal, Prachanda said in a statement. (AP)

'Myanmar junta uses "brutal torture" on political prisoners'

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: An Asian human rights group released here what it called the most comprehensive report on torture in Myanmar, accusing the military junta of "brutal and systematic" abuse of political prisoners.

The report came on the heels of a US push to place Myanmar on the UN Security Council agenda following persistent allegations of human rights abuses by the country's military junta.

The 124-page report, released yesterday, by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) was based on interviews with 35 former political prisoners in Myanmar and, for the first time, identified military officers directly responsible for the torture.

The group detailed physical, psychological, and sexual abuses as well as poor prison conditions and medical negligence purportedly encouraged by the regime.

"This report is the first to show the shocking full scale of torture in Burma's interrogation centres and prisons," AAPP Secretary Ko Tate said in a statement, using Myanmar's old name.

"It should eliminate any doubt as to the severity of human rights violations against those suspected of political dissent in Burma," he said.

Myanmar's prisons, it said, had "become institutions whose primary function is to deliberately and systematically shatter the identity of political activists and other civilians deemed threatening by the junta."

US Senator John McCain said the report "demonstrates that torture of political prisoners is a state policy" of Myanmar's junta. (AFP)

Japan's 54th nuclear power generator set to start

TOKYO, Dec 2: A new nuclear power generator will start commercial operations next week in Japan, its owner Tohoku Electric Power Co said today, marking the 54th such unit for a domestic industry still trying to recover from a string of safety scandals.

The country's fifth-largest utility said the 1.1-million-kilowatt generator, at its Higashidori plant in Aomori, northern Japan, was expected to start running commercially on December 8.

The unit is Tohoku Electric's fourth and has been undergoing a test run since December 2004. Its full start-up will bring Japan's nuclear power generation capacity to 48.22 million kilowatts.

Japan, which has the world's third-largest nuclear power generation capacity after the United States and France, has a policy of supporting nuclear power, prompted by its lack of natural resources such as oil and natural gas as well as an international movement to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

Nuclear power plants now generate about 30 per cent of the electricity used in Japan and the government plans to raise that to 40 per cent by 2010 by installing new units.

However, the domestic nuclear power industry has been under increasing public criticism because of recent safety scandals and a fatal accident at a plant run by one of Tohoku's peers.

In August 2004, hot water and steam leaking from a broken pipe at a nuclear plant run by Kansai Electric Power Co in western Japan killed five workers, marking the country's worst-ever nuclear power accident.

The company had not inspected the pipe since the unit in which it was located started operating in December 1976.

That accident followed an admission by Tokyo Electric Power Co. that it had falsified nuclear safety documents for more than a decade, a revelation that forced it to shut all 17 of its nuclear power generators for inspections by mid-April 2002.

All three nuclear power units at Tohoku's Onagawa plant in northern Japan have been shut since August, when a strong earthquake jolted the region. (AGENCIES)

Japan Coast Guard seeks budget to revamp fleet

TOKYO, Dec 2: Japan's Coast Guard, in a bid to improve its surveillance of the sea dividing Japan and China, wants to spend 2.9 billion dollars over seven years to overhaul its fleet, a local newspaper said today.

The report came a day after Japan's ruling party hiked the ante in a territorial dispute with China, drafting a bill that would provide protection for ships operating in Japanese economic waters.

The move by lawmakers was aimed at safeguarding Tokyo's interests as talks with Beijing over gas exploration in the East China Sea remained deadlocked.

With similar aims in mind, the Coast Guard plans to spend 350 billion yen (2.9 billion dollars) over seven years to replace older ships and aircraft, the Sankei newspaper said.

Such improvements would allow the Coast Guard to conduct round-the-clock surveillance near disputed gas fields in the East China Sea as well as on Okinotorishima, a remote southern islet, the newspaper said.

A Japanese Coast Guard spokesman said the Coast Guard had no such formal seven-year spending plan, saying it was only allowed to make one-year budget requests.

But he said the Coast Guard was seeking 28.7 billion yen in spending for the next fiscal year that starts in April 2006 to eventually procure 27 new patrol vessels and 11 new aircraft.

''We plan to make further requests from next year to replace old ships with new ones and to improve equipment,'' the spokesman said, adding that such upgrades were not focused solely on improving surveillance in the East China Sea.

Japan says Okinotorishima, some 1,700 km south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean, is its southernmost island and thus confers fishing and other economic rights in a surrounding exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

China does not challenge Japan's sovereignty over the islet but says it is a rock, not an island. Beijing therefore refuses to recognise Japan's claims to an EEZ. (AGENCIES)

Gunman kills journalist in central Philippines

MANILA, Dec 2: A radio and newspaper commentator was shot dead at a public market in the central Philippines, the 10th Journalist to be killed this year, police said today.

The Philippines is the most dangerous country in the world to be a journalist in terms of the number of killings, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

George Benaojan, 27, was talking to a colleague at the public market in Talisay City on the central island of Cebu when a lone gunman shot him in the neck and chest last night.

He died hours later at a nearby hospital, said Superintendent Vicente Loot, the police chief for Cebu province.

''The killing may have something to do with his commentaries,'' Loot told Reuters by phone. ''We are now trying to review his past commentaries to give us a clue to the possible suspects who wanted him dead.''

Benaojan's murder came three days after a Cebu City court sentenced a former police officer to life in prison for killing a newspaper editor on the southern island of Mindanao.

Despite government promises to stop the murders, and cash rewards, the conviction was the first in 73 killings of journalists since democracy was restored in 1986 by a ''people power'' revolt that chased out dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Most of the killings have been related to investigations of corruption, gambling, narcotics and other illegal activities. There have also been cases of reporters murdered on suspicion they were taking bribes.

Benaojan had been getting death threats on his mobile phone and escaped an ambush a year ago when gunmen fired at his car outside his home, said Loot, the Cebu police chief.

''We have talked to many witnesses who saw the whole incident,'' he said. ''We are now making a cartographic sketch of the gunman who escaped with two accomplices in a waiting taxi near the market.''

Benaojan's murder came 12 days after a tabloid columnist was killed by two gunmen near his office in Laguna province, south of Manila. (AGENCIES)

Gates grants USD 84.3 mln to stop infant mortality

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has said it will spend USD 84.3 million to prevent childhood infectious diseases and newborn illnesses in 18 developing countries, including India.

The funds will go to Save the Children and 17 grassroots and maternal health projects in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The grants are focused on low-cost tools and programmes such as antibiotics for pneumonia, sterile blades to cut umbilical cords and teaching mothers the importance of skin-to-skin contact to keep babies warm.

"As a parent, I can't imagine anything more devastating than the loss of a child," Melinda Gates, the wife of Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates, said in a statement yesterday.

"It's tragic that millions of newborns die every year, especially when these deaths are so easily preventable," she said.

Each year, four million newborns die in the first month of life, 99 per cent of them in developing countries, equaling the number of children born in the United States annually, the statement said.

Since its founding in 1995, the Gates Foundation has committed USD 5.6 billion to improving public health in developing countries. (AFP)

China to plant 'super rice' to double output

BEIJING, Dec 2: In an effort to ensure food security for its burgeoning population, China has decided to double its rice production using a new 'super variety' of the grain, that can yield up to 13.5 tonnes a hectare.

"We are working towards the goal of producing 13.5 tonnes a hectare, and I'm confident it will be reached by 2010," Yuan Longping, the 'father of super rice' in China, was quoted as saying by the state media.

The production of rice, a staple food for most Chinese, could double if super strains are planted, Yuan said at the China Rice Summit Forum on Thursday.

Yuan said the latest variety is well on track to produce up to 13.5 tonnes a hectare compared with an average 6.5 tonnes per hectare for conventional seeds.

He said the first two phases of the "national super rice breeding project" yielded 10.5 tonnes and 12 tonnes per hectare in pilot farms in 2000 and 2004, respectively.

Earlier, a dozen strains of the super crop planted in 7.46 million hectares for five years from 1998 increased output by 6.5 million tonnes, 'China Daily' reported.

China started a "super rice" pilot project in 1996 to improve production and quality of rice consumed regularly by more than 60 per cent of China's population and which accounts for 40 per cent of the country's total grain consumption.

Twenty leading super rice strains will be cultivated in six years from 2005, sown in 8.52 million hectares, or 30 per cent of China's total paddy fields, Agriculture Ministry officials said.

Output is projected to increase by 900 kilograms per hectare, they said. (PTI)

US says progress on trade deal still possible at WTO summit

WASHINGTON, Dec 2: America's top trade envoy says it's unlikely negotiators will settle a deadlock centering on farm subsidies at a crucial world trade summit this month.

But US Trade Representative Rob Portman thinks it's still possible to make progress toward an overall trade deal at the gathering of 148 World Trade Organisation countries in Hong Kong on Dec 13-18.

Portman also said the United States is working hard to avoid a watered-down agreement, which would harm the developing countries the summit is meant to help lift out of poverty.

"It's very important right now that we keep our eye on the ball, which is the importance of a broad agreement that really does result in market openings and reduction of trade distorting support," he told a small group of reporters yesterday. "By trying to get through Hong Kong with a watered-down agreement, we would be robbing ourselves of this opportunity ... To truly enhance global growth."

The Hong Kong meeting originally was meant to set a framework for cutting obstacles to world trade in agriculture, services and industrial goods. That framework would then guide negotiators as they completed a trade deal by the end of 2006.

While a final framework probably won't be settled, Portman said, WTO negotiators still could make Hong Kong a success by using the meeting to take stock of where they are in the talks and by setting goals on what negotiators must do next year to agree.

Portman spoke with reporters yesterday before traveling to Geneva to meet with trade representatives from India, Brazil, the European Union and Japan. (AGENCIES)

Indians bag honours at the Asian Television Awards

SINGAPORE, Dec 2: Indian news channel NDTV bagged two awards at the Asian Television Awards 2005, including the 'Cable and Satellite Channel of the Year,' honour while Karan Thapar was adjudged the 'Best Current Affairs Presenter' and UTV the 'Best Children's Programme' maker.

The awards, in their tenth year now and presented as part of the Asian TV Forum (ATF), were announced last night and more than 1,400 entries came in from 129 companies of 14 countries.

NDTV was also the winner in the 'Best News Programme' category for its programme 'Waves of Destruction' on last year's devastating Tsunami.

UTV's programme 'Gol Gol Gullam,' a game show involving children, won the top prize, pipping broadcasters from Taiwan and Japan.

Thapar, who has bagged honours at the Asian TV Awards earlier too, won for his programme 'HARDtalk India,' produced by Infotainment TV Pvt Ltd for BBC World (India).

He has previously won awards for Best Current Affairs Anchor (1999), Best Current Affairs Special (2000), Best Current Affairs Programme (2003) and Best Presenter Award (2003).

More awards came for India in the 'Asian Festival of First Films' segment at the ATF. Aseem Bajaj won the award for Best Cinematographer for the film 'Chameli' while 14-year-old Saksham Kulkarni was adjudged the Best Male Actor for his role in Marathi film 'Pak Pak Pakaak.'

Anita Majumdar, who is of Indian origin but settled in Canada, won the award for Best Female Actor for her role in the film 'Murder Unveiled,' based on real-life story of an Indo-Canadian woman who was murdered allegedly at the behest of her family for marrying an autorickshaw driver in India.

'I For India' was adjudged the 'Best Documentary' and has been directed by UK-based Sandhya Suri. (PTI)