Daily Excelsior... World

India, Pak must ‘seize opportunity’ to resolve Kashmir issue: Aziz

BANGKOK, May 11: India and Pakistan have a ‘unique opportunity’ to resolve the Kashmir issue taking advantage of the ..more

China to build new village for Sri Lanka’s Tsunami victims

BEIJING, May 11: China will build a new village in Sri Lanka for victims of the deadly tidal wave ...more

South American-Arab
summit aims to undercut
US influence

BRASILIA, May 11: Landing together to dampen the international dominance of the United States, South American .. .more

China drafts strategic plan for S&T development for next 15 yr

BEIJING, May 11: China is refining a strategic blueprint prepared by over 2,000 experts and think-...more

Suicide attack kills 30
outside Iraqi recruitment
center

KIRKUK, IRAQ, May 11: A man with explosives hidden under his clothes set them off while standing in a line of job applicants waiting outside a police . ....more

New test predicts
ovarian cancer

WASHINGTON, May 11: A test that looks at four proteins in the blood of women can show whether they have ovarian cancer, a rare ....more

Foreign donors giving
much less aid to
Zimbabwe : UN

UNITED NATIONS, May 11: Foreign donors are so discouraged with Zimbabwe that it attracted..more

Kenya baby saved by dog stirs hearts across globe

NAIROBI, May 11: A baby girl rescued by a dog after being dumped in a Kenyan forest to die was offered homes across the world, with callers from .....more

Actress Zellweger weds country star Chesney ......

France considers law to raise women’s salaries .....

Pizza man sorry for bringing down Canada minister .....

Bush security investigates possible grenade incident .....

India, Pak must ‘seize opportunity’ to resolve Kashmir issue: Aziz

BANGKOK, May 11: India and Pakistan have a ‘unique opportunity’ to resolve the Kashmir issue taking advantage of the recent improvement in bilateral relations, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said here.

Speaking on "Pakistan’s vision in the 21st century" at a lecture at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) near Bangkok yesterday, Mr Aziz added that nuclear deterrence was a "factor of peace and security" in south Asia, but Pakistan was "opposed to an arms race" of either conventional or non-conventional weapons.

"In 2002, when India mobilised one million troops along our border, nuclear deterrence came into play in a very classic sense," he noted.

The Pakistani Prime Minister who was in Thailand on the penultimate leg of his four-nation south-east Asian tour, was addressing academics, Government officials and others at the talk, jointly organised by the AIT and Bangkok’s Thammasat University.

"In south Asia, Pakistan is working with India through the composite dialogue to resolve all issues and ensure durable peace in the region," he said, pointing out that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s recent visit to New Delhi had "made progress on Confidence Building Measures."

Pakistan has offered India a ‘secure energy corridor’ through its territory from central Asia and west Asia, he said.

"The improved relations offer a unique opportunity that must be seized to resolve the Kashmir issue that relates to the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people and, therefore, cannot be sidetracked or wished away," Mr Aziz added.

Both countries need "courage, sincerity and flexibility" to resolve outstanding issues and "to build a better future," he said. (UNI)

China to build new village for Sri Lanka’s Tsunami victims

BEIJING, May 11: China will build a new village in Sri Lanka for victims of the deadly tidal wave disaster which struck the island nation killing thousands.

According to a Memorandum of Understanding signed yesterday by the China Charity Federation and the Sri Lankan Government, ‘China-Sri Lanka Friendship Village’ will be built in Akmeena of Galle district, about 100 kilometres south of Colombo.

It said the project will be completed within nine months. The houses in the village will have minimum floor area of 500 square feet with two bed rooms, a living room, kitchen and toilet.

The Sri Lankan Government will provide land for the construction of houses in the village, with one house costing about USD 4,000, Xinhua news agency reported.

The China Charity Federation had provided 10 million yuan (about USD 1.21 million) of emergency aid to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami hit the country in December 2004.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had visited areas hit by the Tsunami during his trip to Sri Lanka in April.

More than 30,000 people were killed and up to a million were displaced in the disaster. (PTI)

South American-Arab summit aims to undercut US influence

BRASILIA, May 11: Landing together to dampen the international dominance of the United States, South American and Arab leaders railed against the global influence of wealthy nations and Israel at a summit aimed at empowering developing countries.

The two-day summit started with 9,000 troops in the Brazilian capital and tanks posted outside the convention center where 15 heads of state and top officials from 34 South American, Middle Eastern and North African nations met for first summit of South American-Arab countries.

In his opening remarks, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Da Silva called the event an "historic opportunity to build the foundation for a bridge of solid cooperation between South America and the Arab world."

Pushing a policy goal he has pursued since becoming the first elected leftist leader of Latin America’s largest country, Silva urged participants to fight for free-trade rules that help the developing world’s masses who live in misery, instead of benefiting only rich countries and multinational corporations.

But Arab states, under pressure from Washington to reform their authoritarian regimes, chose to focus their energy on the Palestinian crisis.

"Israel must withdraw from occupied Arab territories," Algerian President Bouteflika said.

The declaration calls for tighter political and economic links between the regions, but demands that Israel disband settlements and retreat to its borders before the 1967 mideast war. It also lashes out at US economic sanctions against Syria. (AP)

China drafts strategic plan for S&T development for next 15 yr

BEIJING, May 11: China is refining a strategic blueprint prepared by over 2,000 experts and think-tanks for the booming nation’s medium and long-term national scientific and technological development in the next 15 years.

The plan makes an analysis of China’s status quo in science and technology, articulates development guidelines, strategic goals and the overall deployment of the country’s science and technology for the coming 15 years.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao presided over a meeting here yesterday to study and discuss the draft plan, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The draft plan points out the major tasks in these fields, working out policies and measures for scientific and technological reform, establishing an innovation system and protecting science and technology.

The draft work started in June 2003, with more than 2,000 experts from several departments, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, involved.

The meeting yesterday basically approved the draft plan, but decided to collect ideas and suggestions from various sectors for its further improvement. (PTI)

Suicide attack kills 30 outside Iraqi recruitment center

KIRKUK, IRAQ, May 11: A man with explosives hidden under his clothes set them off while standing in a line of job applicants waiting outside a police and Army recruitment center in northern Iraq today, killing 30 people and wounding 35, police said.

Police first thought the powerful blast in Hawija, a small town 240 kilometers north of Baghdad, was caused by a car bomb, but police Maj Sarhad Qadir later said they later found it was an attacker waiting in a line of about 150 recruits.

"I was standing near the center and all of a sudden it turned into a scene of dead bodies and pools of blood," said police Sgt Khalaf Abbas. "Windows were blown out in nearby houses, leaving the street covered by glass." he spoke in an interview from the chaotic scene over his cell phone.

Qadir said 30 people were killed and 35 were wounded, including about 15 who were in critical condition.

Like many other such recruitment centers in Iraq, Hawija’s is located in a building surrounded by cement walls topped with barbed wire in an effort to prevent attacks by car bombs.

Men often lineup outside such centers early in the morning to apply for jobs at a time of high unemployment in Iraq.

Insurgents target such centers, and Iraqi security forces on parol, in an effort to block a key goal US forces: To one day be replaced by newly trained Iraqi soldiers and police.

Hawija is a small town with few facilities, so some of the casualties were taken by ambulance to hospitals in Kirkuk, a city 55 kilometers to the northeast. (AP)

New test predicts ovarian cancer

WASHINGTON, May 11: A test that looks at four proteins in the blood of women can show whether they have ovarian cancer, a rare and deadly cancer that is virtually impossible to screen for now, US researchers said.

While their test is accurate — 95 percent versus 10 percent for the current test — they said it was still not good enough to use as a general screening test in the population.

"This test is able to differentiate healthy individuals from ovarian cancer patients with an overall sensitivity/specificity of about 95 percent," the researchers wrote this week in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in about 22,000 US women this year and 80 percent of cases are not detected until the cancer has spread. That means more than 16,000 US women will die of ovarian cancer this year, according to the American cancer society.

Currently, women are diagnosed based on vague symptoms such as bloating and abdominal pain. A protein called CA-125 is associated with ovarian cancer but only predicts 10 percent of early-stage cases accurately.

Women diagnosed earlier have a much better chance of survival because the ovaries can be removed before the cancer has spread.

David ward of the Nevada cancer institute in Las Vegas and colleagues tested 86 women for levels of 169 different proteins in their blood.

Of the women, 28 were healthy and the rest had ovarian cancer. (AGENCIES)

Foreign donors giving much less aid to Zimbabwe : UN

UNITED NATIONS, May 11: Foreign donors are so discouraged with Zimbabwe that it attracted just four dollars in outside aid for every person with aids in 2004 compared to 74 dollars on average in the South African region as a whole, UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said.

Zimbabwe is one of a number of African countries suffering from the triple threat of soaring AIDS cases, drought and "weak or bad governance," Egeland said after briefing the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Africa yesterday.

But a lack of dialogue between the Government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and potential donors was also to blame for the country’s poor showing in aids funding as well as persistent food shortages, he said.

Zimbabwe was once a breadbasket but its economy has virtually collapsed during the last six years and it now depends heavily on outside aid to feed its people.

Critics blame Mugabe’s policies, who encouraged the seizure of white-owned commercial farms, severely disrupting Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector and scaring off foreign investors.

Mugabe, who is 81 and has been in power since Independence from Britain in 1980, accuses his domestic and foreign foes of trying to sabotage the economy.

Egeland urged Zimbabwe’s Government to cooperate with aid groups and better communicate with potential donors to help address the country’s food shortages. The Government is not doing enough to facilitate the work of teams sent to assess food needs and humanitarian aid groups, he told reporters. (AGENCIES)

Kenya baby saved by dog stirs hearts across globe

NAIROBI, May 11: A baby girl rescued by a dog after being dumped in a Kenyan forest to die was offered homes across the world, with callers from as far away as Japan offering to care for the infant, dubbed angel by nurses.

Catherine Gicheru, news editor of the daily nation, said her newspaper had been swamped by calls from would be adoptive parents in Japan, Venezuela and South Africa after carrying the story of the baby saved from a lonely death by a female dog.

"She was thrown away like garbage, so she has touched a lot of hearts. Everyone is looking at it like a miracle," Gicheru said.

The baby, estimated to be about two weeks old, was handed over to police by a family whose unnamed dog found her in a forest near Nairobi as she foraged for food for her puppies.

The dog carried the baby in her mouth across a busy road and set her down beside her puppies in the compound of the family’s iron sheeted shack.

"Two of my children, Colins and Kennedy, came running to say there was a baby crying in the compound but they could not trace it," the nation quoted housewife Mary Adhiambo as saying.

"I followed them outside and we started looking around the compound and a nearby plot. I saw my dog, which I have had for the last five years, lying protectively with a puppy beside a soiled baby wrapped in a torn black cloth. I held the baby in my arms and carried it to into the house."

Hannah Gakuo, a spokeswoman for Kenyatta National Hospital, said the girl was stable and undergoing tests. Several callers to the hospital had offered material and financial support as well as new homes, she said.

Once the doctors were satisfied she was out of danger she would be handed to the Government’s Department of Children’s Services, which would handle applications from would-be adoptive parents. (AGENCIES)

Actress Zellweger weds country star Chesney

LOS ANGELES, May 11: Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger and country music star Kenny Chesney put the wraps on their brisk courtship with a private Caribbean wedding, just four months after meeting at a concert benefit.

The celebrity nuptials were held before close friends and family on the island of St John in the US Virgin Islands on Monday, according to a statement from Zellweger’s publicist, Nanci Ryder yesterday. The bride wore Carolina Herrera.

Zellweger, 36, and Chesney, 37, began dating earlier this year after they met in January at a Tsunami relief benefit where he was performing.

The Texas-born actress, who won an academy award for her supporting role in "cold mountain," will next be seen in the upcoming boxing feature "Cinderella Man."

Chesney, a native of Tennessee, Burst on the country scene in the mid-1990s and has gone on to record such hits as "She’s Got It All," "You Had Me From Hello," "She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy" and "The Good Stuff."

In November, he was named entertainer of the year by the country music association and won the cma’s top album award for "When The Sun Goes Down." (AGENCIES)

France considers law to raise women’s salaries

PARIS, May 11: French lawmakers debated a law on to give women equal pay with men, but critics said the bill lacked teeth and would fail to close the 20 percent pay gap between the sexes.

The draft law aims to ensure women are better represented on the boards of state companies and industrial tribunals and enhance women’s pay when they return to work from maternity leave.

Women first voted in France in 1945, 76 years after most french men won the right, and supporters of the EU constitution say the charter would further enshrine women’s rights.

"The time has come to make huge and positive progress towards putting women in the heart of our economy," Nicole Ameline, Minister for Equality in the workplace, told the National Assembly lower House of Parliament last evening.

Women’s Affairs Ministers from 24 EU states attended the start of the debate.

"France, with it’s European friends, will contribute to giving the world an example of societies successfully combining a competitive economy with the respect for values and fundamental rights," Ameline said.

A spokesman for the state statistics office Insee said its latest data, from 2003, shows French men earn around 20 percent more than women.

But the opposition socialists said they could not support the measure.

"It’s a move in the right direction but it’s inadequate and very weak," said Jean-Marc Ayrault, leader of the socialists in Parliament. "We have decided to abstain."

Women’s groups say the law may be difficult to apply because men and women do not necessarily do the same kind of job which makes it hard to compare salaries.

"If you take a secretary, there are about 700,000 in France and most of them are women," said Annie Ducellier, a consultant on women’s issues.

"It’s hard to show that the secretary in a company is earning less than a man there because there aren’t any men there doing the same job."

But she welcomed the attention the bill had given the issue: "What we don’t know about, we can’t fight. And many people think that equality has already been achieved." (AGENCIES)

Pizza man sorry for bringing down Canada minister

OTTAWA, May 11: A pizza shop owner who forced former Canadian Immigration Minister Judy Sgro to resign by claiming she had offered to help him avoid deportation has admitted he lied and has apologised, Sgro said.

Sgro quit her job in January after Harjit Singh filed an affidavit accusing her of offering to help him stay in Canada in return for Pizza deliveries and assistance with her election campaign. Singh was deported to India in February.

"I now admit I did not have a meeting with Judy Sgro and at no time did she request any campaign assistance from me. Nor did she help me with my immigration problems," Singh wrote in a letter to Sgro which she read out in Parliament yesterday.

At the time of her resignation, Sgro was also under investigation by Parliament’s Ethics Commissioner for giving a temporary residency permit to a Romanian stripper who had worked on her election campaign. She also extended the woman’s expired work permit.

The Commissioner told Sgro this week that she had done nothing wrong but had been put in a conflict of interest by staff who did not give her all the details about the stripper. (AGENCIES)

Bush security investigates possible grenade incident

WASHINGTON, May 11: A device described as a possible hand grenade was thrown within 30 metres of President George W Bush during his speech in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi yesterday, Georgian authorities told the US secret service.

The secret service said it could not independently confirm whether a device was thrown at the President and whether it was a real hand grenade or a fake. It said it was investigating the incident, along with the FBI, the State Department and Georgian authorities.

"After the President departed the country of Georgia, we were notified by host-country authorities that during the President’s speech earlier in the day in Tbilisi, a device described as a possible hand grenade was thrown within 30 metres of the stage," said secret service spokesman Jim Mackin.

Georgian authorities told the secret service that the device hit someone in the crowd and fell to the ground. It did not detonate. A Georgian security officer picked up the device and removed it from the area, Mackin said.

"At this time, the secret service has not seen the reported device. We have agents on the ground in Tbilisi working with the FBI, State Department and host-country security authority to look further into this report," Mackin said.

In his speech to tens of thousands of people jammed into Tbilisi’s freedom square, Bush hailed Georgia’s new democracy as a "beacon of liberty" to chants from the crowd of "Bushi, Bushi."

He later departed Tbilisi and returned to the White House without incident.

The Caucasus is home to a string of local conflicts arising from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgia borders Russia’s troubled Chechnya region and is on the route for a US-backed pipeline linking Caspian sea oilfields to world markets. (AGENCIES)