Pak PM to chair special meeting on dengue

KARACHI, Oct 20: Concerned over the outbreak of dengue in this city and some other parts of the country, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will chair a special meeting today to review the situation.

The prime minister had asked for a complete briefing on the situation after 23 deaths were reported due to the mosquito-borne disease, which has created considerable panic among the people.

"We have had 20 deaths in Karachi, two in Hyderabad and one in Umerkot while around 200 patients are under treatment in different hospitals after testing positive for dengue fever," Abdul Majid, additional secretary health told PTI.

The government has given out quarter-page advertisements asking the people not to panic and remain calm as dengue is not contagious and does not transmit from person to person.

The announcements also carry a number of warnings and precautionary measures about how best to avoid the fever. Majid said the government had notified all state-owned and private hospitals to set up special wards for the dengue fever patients and to ensure complete availability of blood and testing kits.

"The problem with this fever is that its symptoms are very similar to malaria and flu and it is difficult to detect. The confirmation that it is dengue fever can only be made after special tests. So it is very important for patients to report to doctors on time and get tested," Majid said.

The dengue outbreak has been prevailing for the last four months in Karachi but the maximum 10 deaths have been reported in October. (PTI)

China builds world's largest Chinese bone marrow bank

BEIJING, Oct 20: China has built the world's largest Chinese bone marrow databank covering five lakh donors to help millions of Chinese with blood diseases.

"Our target is to collect data on one million donors by the end of 2010 so as to help more patients find compatible marrow data," an official with the China Marrow Donor Programme (CMDP) said.

The programme, launched in 2001 by the Red Cross Society of China, aims to help millions of Chinese with blood diseases.

Five hundred of the listed donors have volunteered to give haematopoietic stem cells to the CMDP for transplant after human leucocyte antigens (HLA) matching, Xinhua news agency quoted officials from the CMDP as saying.

The establishment of the CMDP is also helping overseas Chinese. In 2005, the databank helped two patients in the United States, one in Singapore and one in Hong Kong find compatible haematopoietic stem cells.

Stem cell transplants have proved effective in treating blood diseases like sickle-cell anaemia, leukaemia and other disorders. Matching of donor and recipient for human leucocyte antigens is pivotal for the success of blood stem cell transplants.

Different races and nationalities differ in HLA. Experts believe that as China has 56 nationalities and a population of 1.3 billion, the CMDP is of great value not only to China, but also to Asia and the world.

So far, the CMDP has set up 30 provincial branch marrow banks, collecting data on the wide basis of locality, race and nationality. (PTI)

Sharif denies knowing about Kargil operation

LONDON, Oct 20: Contesting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's claim that he was aware of the Kargil operation, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said there was no truth in such assertions.

At a press conference here with his once bitter rival Benazir Bhutto, he also maintained that Pakistan's relations has always improved under democratic leadership.

"Musharraf has mis-stated facts when he said the Prime Minister was aware of the Kargil operation beforehand. This is absolutely wrong and I have said it once and I say it again and I will say it repeatedly. So, there is no truth in the assertions and statements of Musharraf or the contents in his book," Sharif said.

Sharif, who has been in exile ever since Musharraf ousted him in October 1999, pitched for "democratic leadership" on both sides.

"Relation with India has always improved under democratic leadership on both sides," Sharif said.

"When I was the Prime Minister, Mr (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee came to Pakistan on a state visit and he said very good things about Pakistan and a very good beginning was made when we signed the Lahore declaration," he said.

Sharif said whenever there was mlitary dictatorship in Pakistan, relations with India have deteriorated. (PTI)

St George IT workers refuse to train Indian replacement staff

MELBOURNE, Oct 20: Upset at losing their jobs due to offshoring, IT workers in the St George Bank in Australia have have refused to train their Indian replacements.

The employees of the Bank were warned in September that they would lose their jobs and were told last Tuesday they would assist training new staff through a "buddy system", a TV channel reported today.

The bank has told 80 of its workers that their jobs will be moved to India.

"It was sickening that the bank was expecting them to do so," over 60 employees of the bank said adding they did not have any problem with their replacements but were upset with the bank.

One of the employees claimed that St George Bank did not help find them other work.

Yesterday, Qantas defended its decision to sack 340 of its IT workers, and move the jobs offshore.

Qantas Chairman Margaret Jackson's told shareholders at the company's Annual General Meeting here, that they had to sack the workers in order to remain competitive.

The Australian Services Union said the move would put passengers' security at risk, as IT deals with sensitive passenger and passport information. (PTI)

OPEC to cut its oil output from Nov 1

DUBAI, Oct 20: The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) today decided to cut its oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day, the first time it has curbed production since April 2004, in a bid to check falling global oil prices.

The meeting of the ministers of OPEC decided to cut the group's oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 26.3 million bpd from November 1.

The meeting, which ended in the early hours today, decided to review its decision in the group's next meeting scheduled for December 14 in Nigeria.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of UAE Energy Minister Mohammed bin Dhaen Al Hameli.

Earlier, Qatar's second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah had said that pricing was not OPEC's immediate concern and a cut in actual production levels was on top of the agenda.

OPEC announced the move to help shore up flagging prices, with Saudi Arabia ready to shoulder a third of the reduction.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al Nuaimi said his country would cut output by 330,000 bpd. Saudi Arabia currently produces about one third, or 9.1 million bpd, of OPEC's actual oil output. The UAE energy minister said his state would be cutting 90,000 barrels from its current daily output of about 2.5 million barrels. (PTI)

Muslim teaching assistant loses case for wearing veil in class

LONDON, Oct 20: A Muslim teaching assistant in United Kingdom has lost her bid to wear a veil in class with an employment tribunal ruling that the school was within its rights to suspend her from work on the issue.

The ruling against Aishah Azmi marked the latest development in an escalating row over Muslim veils opened by Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw.

But the 24-year-old now intends to apply for legal aid to appeal against the decision, if necessary taking her case all the way to the European courts.

In a ruling described as "common sense", a tribunal threw out the classroom assistant's claims of discrimination and harassment on religious grounds. She had been suspended from her job as a bilingual support worker for insisting on continuing to wear her full-face veil.

Pupils had complained they found it difficult to understand her during lessons because they could not see her lips move.

But in a test case, the employment tribunal in Leeds ruled Headfield Church of England Junior Schools in Dewsbury was within its rights to suspend her from work.

It found that ordering Azmi to remove the veil was a "proportionate means" of ensuring "children received the best possible instruction and assistance in the England language".

The decision gives schools the right to insist Muslim teaching staff remove their veils.

The tribunal, however, backed her victimization claim on the grounds the school failed to follow proper procedures, awarding Azmi 1,100 pounds.

Azmi said her position on wearing the "niqab" had not changed. She made clear she would not be returning to the school while her appeal against the tribunal's decision was considered as she still refused to be in the presence of male teachers unveiled.

Her intention emerged as she gave a press conference wearing a full black veil through which only her eyes could be seen. Despite her stand on the veil, she arrived at the event wearing a denim jacket over the garment. Beneath, she was wearing denim jeans and wedge heels.

Azmi's refusal to remove her garment in lessons sparked increasingly bitter exchanges in the row over veils which began when Straw stated that he had suggested to his constituents to remove their veils.

Race Relations Minister Phil Woolas demanded her sacking for "denying the right of children to a full education".

Prime Minister Tony Blair said veil was a "mark of separation" which makes people of other ethnic backgrounds feel uncomfortable.

The tribunal criticized politicians for intervening while the case was still current, declaring it was "most unfortunate" they had made the comments.

Azmi is currently on full pay of 15,000 pounds a year but it will be up to the school whether that continues for the duration of the appeal. (PTI)

IAEA says it needs greater resources to tackle new challenges

NEW YORK, Oct 20: The United Nations atomic watchdog has said it needs greater technological, regulatory and financial resources to tackle new challenges, including preventing nuclear weapons from falling into terrorist hands.

"Our focus is on a moving target," UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told the IAEA’s Symposium on International Safeguards currently underway at its Vienna headquarters.

"We cannot just continue to do business as usual. We cannot continue with mechanical or mechanistic operations," he added, stressing the importance of safeguards as a tool for peace and security.

On the agency’s finances, he noted that its budget is only 130 million dollars. "That’s the budget with which we’re supposed to verify the nuclear activities of the entire world," he said, adding that one billion dollars were reportedly spent just by the United States-led Iraq Survey Group checking on weapons of mass destruction there after the 2003 war.

"Our budget, as I have said before, is comparable with the budget of the police department in Vienna. So we don’t have the required resources in many ways to be independent, to buy our own satellite monitoring imagery, or crucial instrumentation for our inspections," he added.

While the expansion of nuclear power generation is good because of shortages of energy, concerns about climate change and the development prospects of 2.4 billion people who have no access to modern systems, it also means that nuclear technology will spread to more and more countries, applicable for both peaceful and non-peaceful purposes," he said.

Another challenge, ElBaradei said, comes from the political environment. "There has been temptation for countries to develop nuclear weapons in the last decade or so. We started with Iraq, then there was Libya.

"We have seen the nuclear test in North Korea. So it’s becoming fashionable, if you like, for countries to look into the possibilities of protecting themselves through nuclear weapons," he added.

Turning to the problem of undeclared activities in breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Weapons (NPT), he cited the Iraqi programme discovered in 1991 and 20 years of Iranian activities that also went unreported, stressing the need for enforcement of an additional protocol providing for speedy, unannounced inspections.

Another challenge arises over verification of arms dismantling in a country that has already moved into the weaponization field. "We are going to face the question for sure in North Korea," ElBaradei said, referring to its claimed nuclear weapon test last week.

Because of its modest financial resource, the IAEA has to rely on Member States for support in using new tools such as environmental sampling and satellite monitoring, but would prefer to have its own programme in the field, he added.

But above all, "access is the key. You can use environmental sampling, you can use satellite monitoring, but there is no substitute for being on the ground. We have seen how important that is in many countries where we are on the ground and are doggedly asking questions until we understand what is really going on," he stressed. (PTI)

French contingent to fire anti-aircraft missiles

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 20: The French contingent with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) will fire its anti-aircraft weapons if intruding Israeli planes attacked them, UNIFIL Commander Maj-Gen Alain Pellegrini has said.

But the action would be purely in self defence and any action beyond that would need change in the rules of engagement, he told reporters who repeatedly questioned him about whether the French contingent is ready to use anti-aircraft weapons which it has already deployed.

Strongly criticising the violations of Lebanese airspace by the Israeli planes, he firmly rejected the suggestion that the flights were justified as Israel claims that they are meant to locate any smuggling of arms to Hizbollah.

The violations, he said, are unacceptable. But at the moment the peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, is trying to deal with them through diplomatic channels. Under the present procedure, a violation is reported to the Secretary-General and Department of Peacekeeping Operations takes it up with Israeli authorities.

"However if diplomatic means are not enough, maybe we can consider other ways," Gen Pellegrini said.

The Security Council resolution ending the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah allows deployment of up to 15,000 peacekeepers but Pellegrini said the figure represented ceiling and the mission does not require more than 10,000 soldiers.

"I'm very pleased to be able to report that considerable progress has been made since the adoption of resolution," Pellegrini said, describing the deployment as a "rapid expansion" and noting the mix of European and non-European contributing countries.

The near total withdrawal of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) from southern Lebanon has been the most significant event since the resolution was passed especially as it happened "without any major disruptions," he said, adding that the Lebanese military has also fully deployed up to the Golan Heights.

"An appropriate solution" is still being sought for the removal of Israeli forces from Al Ghajar, the one village which they still occupy. Al Ghajar is located on Lebanon's border with the Golan Heights and has Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian citizens.

Pellegrini said the aim would be to have a UNIFIL unit stationed inside the northern part of the village to enable Lebanese armed forces to enter escorted by the peacekeepers to affirm their authority over that section.

In response to a question, he said UNIFIL had no evidence of any weapons smuggling from Syria and had also not found any illegal weapons inside the Mission's area of operations.

The peacekeepers with robust mandate which allows them to carry heavy weapons and fire in self defense as also take action in case of any violations of the Council resolution were deployed in Southern Lebanon with avowed aim of enabling the Lebanese armed forces to take control of their the entire territory. (PTI)

Pak rights comm asks Govt to ensure protection of minorities

ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: Amidst complaints of harassment and victimisation of Hindus residing in an area where a Shiv temple is located in Karachi, the Pakistan Human Rights Commission has asked the Government to ensure that minorities are protected in the country.

"A continuous stream of complaints was being received against the harassment and victimisation of Hindus residing in Pawmal Das Compound, opposite Kakri Ground, Lyari in Karachi, where a Shiv Mandir was located," said a statement of the commission, headed by rights activist Asma Jahangir.

"Reports were also received about butchers turning the compound in which a temple is situated into a slaughtering area," the statement said.

The compound houses a historic Shiv Mandir within its premises, but it has been taken over by a self-styled Pir (religious leader) Syed Hussain Mian Bukhari, whose followers claim that the temple was a mosque earlier, according to the ‘Daily Times’.

As a result of this Hindus have been forced to offer their prayers in a makeshift room on another side of the compound, it said.

In another statement, Jahangir expressed deep concern over how the authorities were dealing with prisoners on the death row.

The Commission had monitored a few death row cases and come to the "horrifying conclusion that in a number of cases, due process was not followed or that the evidence was not compelling enough to prescribe capital punishment." (PTI)

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