UN calls for restraint in Bangladesh

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16: Expressing concern over continuing violence and tensions ahead of next month’s elections in Bangladesh, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for restraint and compromise among the country’s major political players.

In a statement yesterday, Annan expressed the hope that all parties will make the necessary compromises to ensure a peaceful and transparent electoral environment.

Under the Bangladeshi constitution, when an election is called, a non-party caretaker government is charged with overseeing the polls and ensuring they are free and fair.

Annan urged the caretaker government "to ensure a level playing field, particularly through the restoration of confidence in the Bangladesh Election Commission".

The statement also urged the national army to continue to play a neutral role, "thereby creating an environment conductive to peaceful elections."

Chief UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed the Secretary-General’s appreciation for "efforts by political parties to refrain from the use of violence in their programmes" and urged continued restraint.

Demonstrations and clashes between supporters of rival political parties in recent weeks have left dozens dead and hundreds injured, according to media reports.

Late last month Annan issued a statement expressing concern at the situation and dispatched a senior UN elections official to Bangladesh to hold meetings with key political and election figures. (PTI)

Spacewalkers to finish space station rewiring job

HOUSTON, Dec 16: Astronauts today prepared for a spacewalk to finish rewiring the International Space Station's power grid, while NASA, stymied in its efforts to free a jammed solar panel, considered turning to the spacewalkers for help.

Lead spacewalker Robert Curbeam will team with first-timer Sunita Williams to complete a power grid rewiring that Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, Sweden's first astronaut, started on Thursday.

The rewiring, delayed after the 2003 Columbia disaster, will provide a power upgrade needed to support additional laboratories due to arrive next year.

NASA said the six-hour spacewalk could be extended by up to one hour to inspect, and possibly help resolve, the problem with the panel.

''We are currently visualizing this as an inspection task,'' Stephen Robinson at Mission Control told the astronauts on Thursday. ''Think of it as going up and taking a good close look and telling us what is really going on.''

The 33-metre panel retracted enough on Wednesday to allow new solar arrays to rotate and track the sun. But NASA needs the whole span folded up so it can be moved to a new position next year.

NASA had concerns the panel would not retract as planned because it had been exposed to the extreme temperatures of space for six years -- twice as long as planned -- after Columbia halted construction on the station until this year.

Kirk Shireman, deputy space station program manager, said the astronauts could be asked today to push on the storage box to try to free a guide wire they suspect is preventing the array from folding properly.

MAY POSTPONE REPAIRS

NASA may also decide later today to mount a fourth spacewalk to fix the stuck array, or to postpone repairs to another mission.

''We are perfectly willing to live without that task if we don't have time,'' Shireman said at a briefing late yesterday. ''We'll live to fight another day. The primary objective ... Is to rewire the space station.''

Half of the space station will be powered down to protect the astronauts during the spacewalk while they unplug and move cables. Mission controllers said they expect some tense moments while they wait to see if the new routing switches and cooling system work after the new connections are made.

The first spacewalk went flawlessly and ended an hour early, boosting hopes that Curbeam and Williams would have time for the added task of inspecting the panel.

The spacewalkers are expected to remove some debris shields from Discovery's payload bay and stow them on the outside of the space station to be installed on the Russian service module next year.

A fourth spacewalk on Monday would delay the shuttle's departure from the station by a day and likely would force the crew to skip a final inspection of Discovery's heat shield.

NASA has been meticulous about scouting for damage on the shuttle's protective heat shields since losing Columbia to a debris strike in 2003.

Discovery is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 21.

(AGENCIES)

Moratorium on executions in Florida, California

NEW YORK, Dec 16: A moratorium has been put on executions of condemned prisoners in California and Florida states of the United States though for different reasons.

In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush suspended executions and appointed a commission to examine the humanity and constitutionality of the execution by lethal injection.

The governor’s action came following a botched execution and in California, a federal judge ordered moratorium because the lethal injection could give excruciating pains after it is administered and thus constitute a cruel and unusual punishment which violates the constitution.

Judge Jeremy Fogel said California’s "implementation of lethal injection is broken but can be fixed" and asked the state to submit revised protocol to remedy the situation. Thus the executions could resume if the problem is satisfactorily fixed.

In Florida, the commission comprising doctors, lawyers, scientists and law enforcement officials will determine whether the protocol satisfies the constitutional and humanity imperatives and suggest revised protocol to eliminate the shortcomings.

The commission is expected to submit report by March and the executions could be resumed after that.

In California, the Judge examined the question whether three-drug cocktail given to execute a condemned person is cruel and violates the constitution and whether it is so painful that it "offends" the constitution which prohibits such punishment. (PTI)

China to import more to reduce record trade surplus

BEIJING, Dec 16: China, under fire from United States for its mounting trade surplus, will boost its imports from major trade partners.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the new measures include increasing imports of large machinery components, advanced technology and resource-intensive goods.

"We will continue to give duty-free status to imports from the least developed countries and expand imports from them," a ministry official said.

The announcements follow the signing of four business contracts between China and the United States on Wednesday, involving a USD 550 million aircraft engine deal with GE Aviation and the US retailer Home Depot’s acquisition of Chinese home improvement store Home Way.

China’s exports have rocketed from USD 245 billion to the estimated USD 800 billion in 2006 since its accession to the World Trade Organisation in 2001.

Meanwhile, China’s trade surplus rose to a record USD 157 billion in the first 11 months of the year.

The growing gap has led to increased trade friction and intense pressure from the United States for an appreciation of the Chinese yuan.

An increase in imports would help redress the trade imbalance and optimise the structure of the mounting foreign reserve, Zhang Junsheng, a professor with the WTO research institute at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing said. (PTI)

Suspicious package at UN headquarters creates panic

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16: A suspicious looking package found in the press area of the United Nations headquarters here led to anxious moments but was found not to contain any harmful substances.

The package was found on the fourth floor of the UN headquarters near offices of CNN, Press Trust of India, Inter Press Service and Associated Press.

The packet gave moments of anxiety as white powder was leaking from it, a UN spokesperson said.

The area was immediately cordoned off but later officials said the substance found was non-toxic.

Earlier, some 20 people who came in contact were asked to wash the exposed areas of their bodies.

The package was found by the Security officials who informed the New York police which, in turn, sent hazardous material experts to examine the substance.

Though the building was not evacuated, precautionary measures were taken, including closing off the surrounding area as well as a corridor off the main lobby on the ground floor near a security office where the package was taken.

Hazardous material experts in yellow space suits could be seen along the corridor with large orange plastic bags. The experts told reporters on the fourth floor near CNN that they might have to be decontaminated along with other UN staff.

The Associated Press office at the UN, which is near CNN, was initially closed off but UN security guards later allowed reporters to leave. (PTI)

Oil prices steady in Asia after gains on OPEC production cuts

SINGAPORE, Dec 15: Oil prices were steady in Asian trade today after sharp overnight gains on news the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would cut output further to shore up the market, dealers said.

At 10:15 am (0745 IST), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was up four cents to 62.55 US dollars a barrel from New York trade where it had risen 1.14 dollars to 62.51 dollars on the OPEC lead.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery was steady at 62.12 dollars.

OPEC's decision to cut output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from February showed the oil cartel's resolve to maintain crude prices at 60 dollars and above, dealers said.

"The indication from OPEC is they are determined to defend the 60-dollar price level," said Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.

OPEC ministers meeting in Nigeria yesterday announced the latest round of production cuts which follows a reduction of 1.2 million bpd from November onwards.

"The market reacted bullishly to OPEC's decision," said Phil Flynn at Alaron Trading. "Some people doubted that it would take the decision and OPEC proved that it is very serious in keeping prices in control."

Flynn said that the decision to start the cuts in February "eased some concerns about cutting into the bulk of winter." (AGENCIES)

Chinese bank snaps up aircraft leasing company for USD 965 mn

BEIJING, Dec 16: Bank of China Ltd, the nation’s second-biggest bank, has confirmed acquiring all shares of Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise for USD 965 million, to cater to the booming domestic civil aviation industry.

The acquisition represents the first major acquisition made by a State-owned Chinese bank as well as a significant diversification of business interests.

The Beijing-based bank will buy 100 per cent of Asia’s largest aircraft leasing company from the existing shareholders and assume USD 2.28 dollars of debt. The price represents 1.8 times to the company’s equity value of USD 535 million as of September 30.

China’s commercial airline fleet flew 133 million people, more than the population of Japan, in the first 10 months of this year and will probably more than triple in size to 3,900 planes in the next two decades, according to Boeing Co.

Leasing aircraft lets airlines expand and replace ageing planes quicker with less of their own money. "In the long run, there must be some sort of aircraft leasing company to serve the country’s demand," Winson Fong of SG Asset Management in Singapore said.

"Aircraft leasing will grow along with the fleet expansion in China," Fong said.

Bank of China said the acquisition is part of its strategy to diversify into non-interest income, and will provide a platform for it to expand into aircraft leasing. The lender will also get cross-selling opportunities with airline companies. (PTI)

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Security at Guantonamo Bay tightened

NEW YORK, Dec 15: Security procedures in Guantonamo Bay prison have been tightened following US military’s analysis that easing off restrictions had "gone too far" in the wake of recent defiance from inmates at the notorious jail.

Three-fourths of the detainees have been placed in maximum-security cells and group activities have been scaled back, the New York Times reported today.

Authorities clamped elaborate security checks following military’s inputs that measures to ease off restrictions did little to check recent incidents like suicides, hunger strikes and riots by the inmates, it quoted officials as saying.

The military had earlier sought to "manage" terror suspects with improved living conditions for inmates and incentives for good behaviour.

The tougher approach reflected the changing nature of the prison population, Commander of Guantanamo Task Force Rear Admiral Harry B Harris Jr told the paper adding "dangerous" men were being held there.

"They’re all terrorists and enemy combatants. I don’t think there is any such thing as medium-security terrorist," he said.

United States officials were quoted as saying the "high-value suspects" were being held apart from the rest of the prisoners at a secret detention facility supervised by CIA officers.

Prisoners held under CIA directives will be charges with war crimes next year after the Defence Department amends rules for military tribunals established by the Bush administration in November 2001, the report said. (PTI)

Bangladesh celebrates 36th Independence day

DHAKA, Dec 16: Bangladesh today celebrated its 36th Independence day marking its liberation from Pakistan in 1971, even as sporadic violence erupted between rival political parties.

A 31-gun salute heralded the 'Victory Day' - a national holiday - as thousands gathered at the National Martyrs' Memorial in Savar to pay homage to freedom fighters who died in the country's liberation struggle.

President Iajuddin Ahmed placed wreaths at the memorial and later led a childrens' rally in the city's Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Exhorting the countrymen to unite in the face of a national crisis, he said, "Despite difference of opinion among the political parties, we must all make concerted efforts to solve our national problems."

On this day in 1971, Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan with India's help. Pakistani troops surrendered to the Indo-Bangla joint command in Dhaka bringing to an end a nine-month war which started in March 1971, killing nearly three million people.

However, celebrations were marred as supporters of Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League and arch-rival Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party clashed in south eastern port city Chittagong early today.

Several people were injured in the incident, reports said.

Political violence over demands for electoral reforms by the Awami League led 14-party alliance since October has left more than 60 people killed. (PTI)

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