Israel dismisses Hamas truce call as "not serious"

JERUSALEM, Apr 25:An Israeli official says a Hamas proposal for a truce in the Gaza Strip is "not serious" and would only allow the hardline Islamic group to prepare for a new round of fighting.

Israeli Government spokesman David Baker says the group is "playing games, trying to buy time in order to regroup and rearm."

Hamas officials said this week that the group is prepared to accept a cease-fire in Gaza. Israeli troops regularly clash in the coastal territory with militants who attack border positions and fire rockets at Israeli towns.

The announcement from Hamas was a concession, because the group was previously demanding a cease-fire that would include the West Bank as well.

In today's statement, Baker said Israel will "continue to take all measures to defend its citizens." (AGENCIES)

Top IAEA official returning to Iran: Report

TEHRAN, Apr 25: The deputy chief of the UN nuclear watchdog is due to return to Tehran next week for more talks about claims Iran has been studying how to make an atomic weapon, the student news agency ISNA reported today.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deputy director general Olli Heinonen will hold talks in Tehran on Monday, just a week after his last round of meetings, an informed source told the agency.

"Olli Heinonen is coming to Tehran on Monday heading a technical delegation for a continuation of the talks whose first round took place last Monday and Tuesday," April 21 and 22, the source said.

The focus of the talks will be "bilateral cooperation, the June report of the IAEA on Iran and how to solve the differences of opinion between Iran and the IAEA on the alleged studies," it said.

That refers to information provided to the IAEA by some member states claiming that Iran may have been working on how to develop a nuclear weapon.

In June IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is due to deliver his latest report on Iran's nuclear drive for the UN Security Council, which has imposed three sets of sanctions against Tehran.

The IAEA said on Wednesday that Heinonen reached an agreement with Iran in last week's talks to examine the allegations.

However, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki then insisted that Iran has has already answered all the UN atomic agency's questions, including the allegations about the so-called "weaponisation studies." (AGENCIES)_

Man suspected of spying for US shot dead in Pak

ISLAMABAD, Apr 25: Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot dead a man on suspicion of spying for the United States in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region.

Gul Zali Khan, a resident of Birmel near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was shot dead on Wednesday night, sources said today.

Khan was kidnapped from the bus stand in Miranshah three days ago, they said.

A note found on Khan's body said he had been "punished for spying for the US". (PTI)

Gold rises from 3-week low as decline
lures jewellery buying

SINGAPORE, Apr 25: Gold rose from three-week low in Asia underpinned by increased demand from jewellery makers after the precious metal dropped below 900 dollar.

Bullion for immediate delivery gained 5.52 dollar to 891.65 dollar an ounce and traded at 890.42 in Singapore. Gold is 13.8 per cent below the March 17 peak. Silver was little changed today at 16.77 dollar an ounce.

Jewellery demand has been dropping since the third quarter in 2007 as buyers pared purchases after prices rallied to a record 1032.70 dollar on March 17. Gold fell below 900 dollar on April 23 for the first time since April 3.

Interest in bullion as an alternative asset waned as crude oil futures fell for a third day from a record 119.90 dollar a barrel reached on April 22 and the dollar headed for its biggest weekly gain in more than a month against the euro.

Crude oil fell for a third day to trade at 115.60 dollar a barrel in Singapore. The euro was at 1.5668, compared with 1.5682 in New York late yesterday when it tumbled the most since Dec. 14.

Gold in futures for June delivery was up 0.3 per cent at 892 dollar an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For February 2009 delivery, it fell 0.9 per cent to 896 dollar an ounce) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange. (AGENCIES)

Prisoners don't bother to escape
comfortable British prisons

LONDON, Apr 25: Prisons in Britain are so comfortable that inmates do not use opportunities to escape, according to a prison officers' union leader.

Inmates have access to mobiles, drugs and even sex in prisons, Glyn Travis, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association told a radio station.

Travis told Talk Sport radio yesterday that drug problem in prisons was now "out of control" and added that even prostitutes were sometimes smuggled in.

Citing the example of the Everthorpe Prison in east Yorkshire, Travis revealed that members of the public were using ladders to climb over the prison walls to smuggle drugs inside, yet none of the prisoners had tried to escape.

"They put up ladders to climb over the walls, but prisoners were so comfortable in the environment they were living in, none tried to climb up the ladders and escape," he said.

Travis added, "When the ladders came down at night, the members of the public hid inside the prison until their colleagues come over the following morning, put the ladders back up and enabled them to get out. None of the prisoners inside tried to escape."

"It tells me there's something wrong in society when people are breaking into prisons to bring in drugs and prostitutes, but the prisoners are quite happy to stay inside," Travis said.

Travis also told the radio station that drugs were coming into prisons at a large rate, making them cheaper on the inside than on the outside.

"The quantity of drugs in our prisons today is absolutely vast. Every prison in Britain is understaffed and overcrowded. The Government believes the only way forward is to reduce the cost of public prisons, making them less safe and less secure. Staff feel very vulnerable," he said. (PTI)

Computers to scan passengers at UK airports this summer

LONDON, Apr 25: Britain will introduce facial recognition technology from this summer at selected airports as part of its drive to improve security and ease congestion, a media report said today.

The pilot project will start at some airports in Britain and initially cover UK and European Union citizens who have passports with biometric details.

As part of the project, passengers will not be screened by humans, The Guardian reported today.

From this summer, unmanned clearance gates will be phased in to scan passengers’ faces and match the image to the record on the computer chip in their biometric passports, the newspaper said.

British border security officials reportedly believe that the machines can do a better job than humans of screening passports and preventing identity fraud.

The report said "But there is concern that passengers will react badly to being rejected by an automated gate.

"To ensure no one on a police watch list is incorrectly let through, the technology will err on the side of caution and is likely to generate a small number of "false negatives" - innocent passengers rejected because the machines cannot match their appearance to the records".

Such passengers may be redirected into conventional passport queues, or officers may be authorised to override automatic gates following additional checks.

Gary Murphy, head of operational design and development for the UK Border Agency, told a conference here this week "We think a machine can do a better job (than manned passport inspections). What will the public reaction be? Will they use it? We need to test and see how people react and how they deal with rejection. We hope to get the trial up and running by the summer".

Phil Booth of the No2Id Campaign (no to identity cards) said "Someone is extremely optimistic. The technology is just not there. The last time I spoke to anyone in the facial recognition field they said the best systems were only operating at about a 40 per cent success rate in a real time situation".

He told the paper "I am flabbergasted they consider doing this at a time when there are so many measures making it difficult for passengers."

Gus Hosein, a specialist at the London School of Economics in the interplay between technology and society, said "It’s a laughable technology...It’s not that it (the computer) could wrongly match someone as a terrorist, but that it won’t match them with their image. A human can make assumptions, a computer can’t."

So far around 8 million to 10 million UK biometric passports, containing a computer chip holding the carrier’s facial details, have been issued since they were introduced in 2006. The last non-biometric passports will cease to be valid after 2016.

Home Office minister Liam Byrne said "Britain’s border security is now among the toughest in the world and tougher checks do take time, but we don’t want long waits."

"So the UK Border Agency will soon be testing new automatic gates for British and European Economic Area (EEA) citizens. We will test them this year and if they work put them at all key ports (and airports)." (PTI)

ILO calls for better management of risk in the workplace

NEW YORK, Apr 25: The United Nations labour agency has called for better managing risks in the workplace in an effort to reduce the over two million deaths each year resulting from work-related accidents and ill health.

In a new report published on the occasion of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, observed on 28 April, the International Labour Organization (ILO) outlined management techniques that identify, anticipate and assess hazards and risks and take action to control and reduce them.

"Millions of work related accidents, injury and disease annually take their toll on human lives, businesses, the economy and the environment," noted ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.

"We know that by assessing risks and hazards, combating them at source and promoting a culture of prevention we can significantly reduce workplace illness and injuries," he said.

According to the ILO, 2.2 million people die annually from work-related accidents and diseases and work-related deaths appear to be on the rise. In addition, every year some 270 million people suffer non-fatal, work-related accidents resulting in at least three days absence from work and an additional 160 million new people suffer from some work-related illness.

"There is clear evidence that healthy workforces both enhance business productivity and benefit enterprises and national economies by reducing the number of accidents and diseases and lowering the number of insurance and compensation claims," said Sameera Al-Tuwaijri, Director of ILO's Safework Department.

In addition to the publication of the report, entitled "My life, my work, my safe work: Managing risk in the work environment," a number of events and activities are planned around the world to mark the Day, from a street campaign on occupational safety and health in Moscow to an international book fair in Buenos Aires to promote the importance of health and safety in the world of work. (PTI)

UNHCR suspends relief operations in Congo

NEW YORK, Apr 25: Renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) North Kivu province has forced the United Nations refugee agency to halt the distribution of aid to internally displaced people and to call off a drive to register newly displaced people in the Rutshuru area.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) suspended operations after reports of fresh fighting between Government troops and fighters from the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) near the Kinyandoni Anglican IDP site in North Kivu.

The clashes on last Saturday and Sunday left at least one woman dead.

UNHCR field staff reported that IDPs were continuing to flock to sites around Kiwanja. The majority is sheltering in public buildings and most new arrivals are women and children. Some said their homes had been destroyed and their possessions looted, while some said they had lost touch with their family.

The UN agency said "medical assistance is of vital importance," and added that suspected cases of cholera had been reported in the region.

The hundreds fleeing in recent days have added to an estimated existing IDP population of 860,000 in North Kivu, which lies next to the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

The displacement in the Rutshuru area, some 70 kilometres north of the provincial capital, Goma, comes three months after the signing of an accord between the Government and rival armed groups. Despite the agreement, tensions have remained high.

A peace agreement in 2003 formally brought years of war to an end, but fighting flared again in North Kivu that same year. An estimated 1.3 million IDPs remain in the DRC, while 350,000 Congolese have fled to other countries. (PTI)

Malaysia to polish guidelines governing places of worship

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 25: Malaysia has said it is planning a streamlined set of guidelines to govern the construction and demolition of places of worship in this multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.

Speaking after chairing a meeting with the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism yesterday, Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Shafie Apdal declined to reveal when the guidelines would be completed, but said it would not be too long.

"It doesn't make any sense to build a mosque where there aren't many Muslims, or a house of worship in the middle of nowhere," New Straits Times quoted him as saying.

The minister's statement comes months after a Hindu temple was demolished in Selangor state on Diwali eve last year, despite vehement protests by the minority community.

The demolition drew anger from the ethnic Indians in this country which saw them largely abandoning voting for the Malaysian Indian Congress and the coalition Barisan Nasional in the March 8 elections. The incident turned several Indians towards the opposition which won dramatically in the polls.

Stating that states should be sensitive to such issues, he hoped that people would apply some common sense in doing things because respecting religions and racial groups in the country "is most important."

Shafie is set to meet senior leaders of the ruling coalition of Barisan Nasional and opposition Pakatan Rakyat, regarding the issue because they were the people in charge of issues like land approval, as well as consult other government departments.

Malaysia, a Muslim majority country, also has Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists. Ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus, form 7.8 percent of Malaysia's 27 million population. Ethnic Chinese who are Christians or Buddhists comprise 25 percent. The majority Malays, who are all Muslims, form 60 percent of the population. (PTI)

Iran breach UN resolution: Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 24:Iran's participation in the 11th Asian Defence Services Conference and Exhibition (DSA 2008) had to be cancelled as the country violated Resolution 1747 and 1803 of the UNSC, said Iran's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Razak said the cancellation was made after a check carried out on the display area of Modlex Exports Centre in Iran which revealed that they were displaying destructive weapons and guided missile systems that were prohibited by the UN.

He said the resolution, among others, banned the movement and sale of destructive weapons or related equipment to other countries.

"Regrettably, Iran had breached the resolution and as such, we had no choice but to ask them not to proceed with the exhibition this time.

"They had displayed defence weapons such as guided missiles, guided missile systems, and so on and this was against the resolutions 1747 and 1903 of the Security Council," said Najib at a press conference at the conclusion of the DSA 2008 at the Putra World Trade Centre, here yesterday.

Najib, who is also the Defence Minister, said Malaysia was bound by the resolution and had no choice but to ask Iran to withdraw from the exhibition.

"They had been told not to display any equipment or weapon that violated the resolution," he said. (AGENCIES)

Sexual harassment at school ‘more harmful than bullying’

NEW YORK, Apr 25: It is known that bullying at school can have serious consequences on a teenager’s health. But, a new study claims that it’s sexual harassment which is more harmful than the other most common form of victimisation.

Researchers in the United States have carried out the study and found that although less frequent, sexual harassment has a greater negative impact on the health of a teenager than bullying at school.

"Schools’ current focus on bullying prevention may be masking the serious and underestimated health consequences of sexual harassment," lead researcher James Gruber of Michigan University said.

In the first of its kind study, Gruber and his fellow researcher Susan Fineran from the University of Southern Maine compared bullying and sexual harassment by using equivalent measurements and time frames, looking at frequency and health implications of both the forms of victimisation among 522 middle and high school students.

The teenagers completed a questionnaire which asked how often they had experienced each behaviour during the year, who the perpetrators were, and their reaction.

Bullying was more frequent than sexual harassment for both boys and girls-just over half the students (52 per cent) had been bullied and just over a third (35 per cent) were sexually harassed.

Almost a third (32 per cent) had been subject to both behaviours. Girls were bullied or harassed as frequently as boys, but gays, lesbians and bisexuals-sexual minorities-were submitted to greater levels of both. Both behaviours have a negative effect on victims’ health.

After taking into account the effects of other stressful life events, ranging from parents’ divorce, moving house, falling in love and getting into trouble with the law, the researchers found that sexual harassment causes more harm than bullying in both boys and girls.

Girls and sexual minorities, however, appeared to be the most affected by sexual harassment, suffering from lower self-esteem, poorer mental and physical health and more trauma symptoms than boys.

"Schools’ current focus on preventing bullying, as well as the tendency to regard sexual harassment as a form of bullying rather than an issue in its own right, draws attention away from a serious health issue.

"Sexual harassment prevention should receive equal attention as a distinct focus, so that schools can continue to provide a healthy environment for children," co-researcher Fineran was quoted by the ‘ScienceDaily’ as saying.

The results of the study have been published in the ‘Sex Roles’ journal. (PTI)

Key players in Haneef’s case likely to skip public grilling

MELBOURNE, Apr 25: Australian Police chief and former immigration minister may escape a public grilling at the inquiry into the bungled prosecution of Indian doctor Mohammad Haneef, who was wrongly accused of involvement in a failed terror plot in Britain.

Before the new Australian Government-ordered inquiry has its preliminary opening in Canberra next week, it has been revealed that police chief Mick Keelty and then immigration minister Kevin Andrews are likely to give evidence in interviews to inquiry head John Clarke, rather than at public hearings.

According to ‘The Australian’ daily today sources have told the newspaper that "it was unlikely that substantive evidence to the inquiry - including that of Mr Keelty and Andrews - will be taken in public."

When asked about the prospect of evidence being given in interviews rather than at a public hearing, a spokeswoman for the inquiry said: "That may well be the case, but it is the inquirer’s intention to make as much of those proceedings public by way of publishing transcripts and things like that.

"What Clarke has said is that there will be opportunities for public input and for the proceedings of the inquiry to be as public or made public without necessarily being hearings in the manner of a royal commission or in a courtroom."

Such a move will prevent Haneef’s lawyers from cross- examining those giving evidence to Clarke about the arrest, prosecution and detention of the Gold Coast doctor.

Haneef, his lawyers and other legal observers have unsuccessfully called on federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland to grant commission-of-inquiry powers to Clarke, to ensure documents were released and witnesses were compelled to give evidence and face cross-examination.

McClelland has previously stated that it will be up to Clarke to seek coercive powers for the inquiry.

Meanwhile, McClelland’s office last night declined to comment on the new development, the newspaper said.

Last month, Haneef had said he was concerned that the "truth won’t be revealed" in his case unless the powers were granted. Clarke will outline the conduct of his inquiry at a preliminary hearing next Wednesday.

Haneef was arrested at Brisbane airport last July after British police tipped off their Australian counterpart that he was linked to the failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

Haneef was charged with extending support to a terror organisation after his SIM card was allegedly found with his second cousin Sabeel Ahmed, one of the accused in the terror plot who has now been convicted of concealing information about the terror plan. (PTI)