Over 40 students fall sick in northeast China

BEIJING, Apr 29: Over 40 schoolchildren in northeast China's Liaoning Province fell sick after they moved into newly-furnished classrooms, families and doctors said today.

At least 45 primary and secondary school students were sent to a hospital in the provincial capital Shenyang Saturday and Sunday from Panjin, a city 100 kilometres to its south.

"The children complained of nausea and fragility in the limbs," a parent said.

"More students are probably arriving later during the day," he said.

The students are under observation at Shengjing Hospital. Hospital sources said they were receiving further checkups to decide whether it was poisoning.

The children included primary and secondary students at Shalingzhen School in Panshan county in Panjin. They all pointed a finger to the newly painted classroom walls and new furniture, which "gave out a sickening odour".

An official with the provincial health department said they have launched an investigation and have sent a medical team to Panshan county, where more students are feared sick.

School authorities ruled out likelihood for food poisoning, Xinhua news agency reported.

Health experts have repeatedly warned homebuyers of toxic emissions in their new homes, particularly cancer-causing benzene that is often found in paint and formaldehyde which is commonly used in kitchen cabinets, shelves, countertops and ready-to-assemble furniture. (PTI)

Pakistan parliamentary panel chief denied visa to Britain

ISLAMABAD, Apr 29: The head of a Pakistani parliamentary panel has been denied a visa to Britain due to "statements" found offensive by the High Commission.

Infuriated over the denial of visa, the top leader of Jamiat-Ulema-Islam (JUI) and Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs, Maulana Sami Ul Haq, raised the issue at the panel meeting and flayed the Government for failing to raise the matter with the British authorities.

Sami ul Haq said that he wanted to go to London to attend the All Parties Conference summoned by Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and had filed a visa request with the British High Commission.

"However, they instead gave me a four page document and said that I had given out these statements due to which they cannot grant me a UK visa," the JUI leader said.

"I protested with them that I am a National Assembly member and the visa refusal is a breech of my privilege," he said.

He also criticised the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs which "did not do anything" in this regard.

The Maulana said even the government is keeping mum over this decision, which is "unfortunate."

Senator Mushahid Hussain asked Maulana Haq to file a complaint in writing after which the committee would take up this issue with the authorities, the Online News said.

The High Commission had earlier also refused to grant the Maulana a visa to visit the country. (PTI)

Caspian sea project agreement revised to accommodate Mittal

MOSCOW, Apr 29: Consequent to India-born billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal acquiring 50 per cent stake in a Kazakh oil firm, which among others has interest in a Caspian sea project, changes have been made to the project's foundation document to reflect its new members.

Caspian Investment Resources Ltd, in which Mittal Investment took 50 per cent stake from Russia's Lukoil for USD 980 million, holds 25 per cent in Zhambay Llp, which is exploring offshore deposits in Caspian sea.

CIR and other stakeholders in Zhambay Llp - Kazakh national oil firm KazMunaiGas and Repsol Exploration Kazakhstan Sa signed the new edition of the Foundation Agreement and Articles of Zhambay Llc in Astana, a Lukoil press release said here.

Repsol holds 25 per cent in the project and the remaining is with KazMunaiGas.

"Changes in the founding documents reflect the new membership of the project partners," the release said.

Zhambay Llc has identified three hydrocarbon structure in the 2,000 sq km exploration area with it in the Caspian sea.

Besides Zhambay, CIR has equity in five Kazakh oil fields -- Alibekmola, Kozhasai, Northern Buzachi, Karakuduk and Arman -- in the Aktyubinsk and Mangistau regions. Current production from the fields, which have total proven reserves of some 270 million barrels, is more than 40,000 barrels per day and is set to increase in the coming years.

Lukoil had used Caspian Investments Resources Ltd to buy Kazakh oil producer Nelson Resources Ltd for two billion dollars in 2005. (PTI)

UTStarcom expects USD 100 mn revenue from India in 2007-08

SHANGHAI, Apr 29: After helping MTNL bundle TV, internet and voice into one service, technology solutions provider UTStarcom is negotiating more deals for Triple Play services in India, where it expects to earn USD 100 million this year.

"We are expecting to reach the 100 million dollar-mark in India this year at a growth rate of 70 per cent. This will make the country into the third biggest market in terms of revenues, from currently being fourth," UTStarcom Vice President Worldwide Marketing Brian Caskey told PTI here.

He said the company also expected India to be its second largest market in terms of infrastructure bookings, overtaking Japan, by the end of this year.

The company is in talks with telecom operators, including Reliance, and is hopeful of bagging two Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) or Triple Play deals during the current fiscal, Caskey said.

The US-based company had partnered Aksh Optifibre to help state-run telecom major MTNL deploy IPTV in Mumbai and New Delhi last year.

UTStarcom Senior Vice President (International Sales and Marketing) David King said IPTV will be the company's main revenue stream in the near future. "It is already so big in China and Japan and we expect the same from Indian market too," he said.

In China, UTStarcom has deployed IPTV systems with China Netcom in Harbin and with China Telecom in Shanghai.

The Harbin deployment has about 1.12 lakh subscribers while the China Telecom provides services to one lakh IPTV users. (PTI)

'US to oppose IPI project'

ISLAMABAD, Apr 29: US has asked Pakistan to find alternative sources of energy instead of focusing on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (IPI) project, making clear its continued opposition to the project.

US Charge dAffaires Peter W Bodde said Washington would continue its opposition to the IPI project and Pakistan should lay more focus on alternative energy resources such as from coal, wind or solar energy.

Promising to continue its cooperation with Pakistan in the the energy sector, Bodde said Pakistan can conserve energy by 20 percent through alternative energy resources and increase its energy production.

US has agreed to help Pakistan with technology and financial resources in order to convince Islamabad to give up the IPI project that it says will only strengthen Iran's economy at a time when Tehran is involved in a dispute over its nuclear programme.

The US has also suggested an alternative gas project linking the Central Asian states via Afghanistan.

Bodde, speaking at the Quaid-e-Azam University yesterday also said Pakistan would have to assist the Karzai government to improve the situation in Afghanistan and the region.

Terrorism cannot be bought to an end by military offensive alone in the northern tribal areas and much is needed to be done to bring economic and social change in these areas, the American diplomat was quoted as saying by the Online News agency. (PTI)

China to phase out outmoded iron and steel plants

BEIJING, Apr 29: China, the world's largest steel maker and consumer, will phase out 30 million tonnes of outdated iron production capacity as well as 35 million tonnes of steel production capacity to help achieve ambitious emission reduction targets.

The decision was finalised at a working conference held on Friday where Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan stressed that the country's industrial policy for the iron and steel sector must be rigorously implemented.

Zeng said outdated iron and steel production plants should be phased out as scheduled within the year, adding the task was critical to the country's energy saving and emission reduction targets.

China, popularly dubbed as the 'world's factory', also failed to achieve its ambitious GDP energy reduction target set for 2006. Last year, the country only lowered its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 1.2 per cent against a goal of four per cent while pollution emission levels rose by two per cent.

China's 11th Five-year Plan (2006-2010) set a 20 per cent reduction target in per unit GDP energy consumption for the 2006-2010 period, equivalent to four per cent per annum.

The iron and steel sector is one of six major industries that are responsible for about 70 per cent of China's industrial energy consumption and sulphur dioxide emissions.

Local governments should take the major responsibility in ensuring that outmoded production capacities are shut down, Zeng said. (PTI)

China comes out with law to punish 'wrongdoing' civil servants

BEIJING, Apr 29: China, experiencing growing cases of bigamy, today warned its civil servants that they may get sacked for their unlawful or immoral behaviours.

A regulation in this regard, scheduled to take effect as of June One, targets various wrongdoings and misconducts relating to China's civil servants, aiming at "regulating their behaviours and making sure they perform their duty according to the law".

According to the regulation, government officials who engage in organising superstitious gatherings, use drugs, or organise, support or engage in sex trade will be stripped of their posts or fired from office.

The regulation also makes it legitimate to sack government officials who abuse or abandon family members or refuse to support elderly ones, Xinhua news agency reported.

To curb growing bigamy, China is preparing to make its citizens' marital status details available online to prevent bigamies, officials said last week.

A nationwide network of online databases will be completed by 2010, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

In 2005, the ministry instructed provincial marriage registration offices to begin collecting citizen's marriage registration information and putting it into a computerised database.

Chinese couples used to have to get an "introductory letter" from their employers to the local marriage registration office but this formality was dropped in 2003. (PTI)

HC refuses to accept Hasina’s petition on technical grounds

DHAKA, Apr 29: Bangladesh High Court today refused to accept former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s petition seeking protection against "arrest or harassment" on technical grounds as her counsel did not have an "authorized" power of attorney, court officials said.

A High Court bench comprising judges Shah Abu Naim Mominur Rahman and Zubair Rahman Chowdhury declined to accept the petition saying the power of attorney of Advocate Manjil Faruque was not "duly authorized".

The petition sought the court protection against the "arrest or harassment" of Hasina, now in London.

Her lawyer’s tried to file the petition days after the interim Government in emergency-ruled Bangladesh lifted a temporary ban on her return. The ban was imposed as the authorities feared that her "provocative and inflammatory" remarks could destabilise the situation.

Hasina was also faced with a "murder" charge centring a political clash last year and a graft case filed respectively by fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami and a businessman last month. (PTI)

Canada will not tolerate "glorification" of Sikh militants

TORONTO, Apr 29: Taking serious note of a recent Sikh parade in which a militant was glorified, Canada has said that it would not allow such unlawful activities that hurt friendly relations with India.

"Canada obviously does not tolerate any kind of glorification of violence, or of terrorism or banned terrorist organisations," a spokesman of the federal Government said

"... There may have been evidence of those things at a (recent) Sikh parade event at Surrey and we’ve taken note of them. Federal Government is monitoring the issue."

Surrey City Mayor has warned that the city administration would not allow unlawful activities of Sikh militants that hurt relations between India and Canada.

The city administration has been directed to conduct thorough review of the public events before granting permission to them, Dianne Watts said.

"We need to make sure that we are aware of what content is going into the parade," Watts said and added "I think we need to be more vigilant in terms of what that looks like..."

Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade on April seven displayed pictures of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the prime suspect in Kanishka bombing case who died during the trial.

The bombing of the Air India’s Kanishka flight in 1985 had left all 329 people on board dead.

"We have to make sure all politicians, from the prime minister to the premier, all the MLAs and MPs ... Will have a level of comfort that we have done due diligence in terms of content in all parades," Watts added. (PTI)

No uranium for India-Australian Labour Party..

MELBOURNE, Apr 29: The opposition to uranium exports to India continues, even though the Australian Labour Party (ALP) has officially dumped its 25-year old no-new-uranium-mines policy in annual conference.

The Australian Green Party chief Bob Brown today added to the raging debate on export of the crucial nuclear fuel to India by saying that India can attack Australia with bombs made from the Australian uranium.

"We’re in an age where China’s got rockets that can reach Sydney. India just fired a rocket that went 3000km. Double that and they will very shortly ... Be able to reach Australia too and we’re exporting uranium to them. It is daft, it is immoral, it is unnecessary," Bob Brown said.

While not much importance is attributed to maverick politician’s remarks, observers are taking policy speeches at Labour Party’s Sydney conference with much more seriousness. The Australian opposition party is expected to win the government in elections held later this year.

Senator Chris Evans, Labour’s energy spokesman has made it abundantly clear that Labour government would not sell uranium to India as the South-Asian country has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

He has also criticised the ruling Liberals for considering India in its list of uranium export destination countries.

In his speech, titled "Labour and Uranium - an Evolution", Evans has also opposed the idea of a domestic nuclear power industry.

While the head of the opposition Kevin Rudd was making announcement about the much-anticipated u-turn uranium mining policy in the Sydney conference, the Liberal Prime Minister John Howard was busy announcing establishment of 25 nuclear power plants in Australia.

While observers are battling to fathom the logic behind Labour u-turn on mining of the yellowcake and continuing opposition to indigenous nuclear industry, they are expressing empathy for the Indian case to buy Australian uranium.

The usage of polluting Australian coal by the booming Indian economy is also causing concern down under. The sale of uranium to ‘world’s largest democracy and a potential strategic counterbalance to China’ is also being advocated by some quarters for these reasons.

(UNI)

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