My time to lead will come:Bilawal

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Bilawal Bhutto, son of assassinated former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, admitted that he was not a born leader but said he was determined to fulfil his duties regardless of the "critical danger" to his life.

In a web posting on his page on social networking site facebook, the 19-year-old Oxford student said, "I am not a born leader. I am not a politician or a great thinker...My time to lead will come."

Replying to hundreds of messages of condolences, the newly-appointed chief of Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party said, "for now, I’m the one asking questions, not the one answering them."

He said he was still just a student who enjoyed eating junk food and watching television, but added that he would try to learn.

On queries about his elevation to the top post of Pakistan’s largest political party, the Bhutto scion said : "People have questioned why I talk about the virtue of democracy whilst coming into power through such undemocratic means.

"I can say this much in response: These are the right questions to be asking. These questions are what the foundations of democracy and a free society are built on. The important thing is not to stop questioning."

Bilawal spent much of his life outside Pakistan, attending schools in London and Dubai. He enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford, last year.

Bilawal went on to thank the people for their messages of support, describing them as his "brothers and sisters," and paying tribute to the other people who died in the gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27, 2007. (UNI)

Bhutto was reading nobel winner’s book at time of death

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Slain former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto was reading a nobel prize-winning scientist’s book on the emerging biology of the mind at the time of her death.

As she campaigned for her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for the upcoming general election before her assassination on December 27, Oxford-educated Bhutto was making her way through eric R Kandel’s "in search of memory: The Emergence Of A New Science Of Mind".

Bhutto referred to the book while responding to a request from India’s ‘Outlook’ magazine, which had asked eminent personalities to nominate their choice of top reads of 2007.

"I met the Nobel prize-winning author in Colorado, US, recently. It’s the story of Kandel’s life in Vienna as Nazism spread and his family was persecuted," she said in her response to the magazine. "His book is about the brain, how it works and how the memories we form and what we recall make for one’s perception of life.

"Although I’ve managed to read only three chapters so far because I’m campaigning in interior Sindh, I find life is a collection of memories and identity is formed by our self-image and other’s memories of US," she said.

Kandel, who teaches at Columbia University, received the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine in 2000. "In search of memory" has been described as a "deft mixture of Memoir and history, modern biology and behaviour". It traces Kandel’s "intellectual journey" intersected with the search for the biological basis of memory.

Another former Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif, who too was approached by the magazine, said he was reading Pakistan’s constitution of 1973.

"I am reading and re-reading the 1973 Constitution, from which I’ve quoted chapters and articles at my election rallies in Punjab and the (north west) frontier (province)," Sharif said in his brief response to the magazine.

Others who contributed are Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP leader L K Advani and former President A P J Abdul Kalam. (PTI)

China says it attaches great importance to PM’s visit

BEIJING, Jan 3: China today said it attached high importance to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s maiden visit to the communist nation from January 13 to 15 during which the two sides will discuss a host of issues, including finding a "fair and rational" settlement to the vexed boundary problem.

Announcing the long expected visit of Singh, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu said China welcomed and attached great importance to it.

She said China hoped the visit would increase friendship between the people of the two nations and enhance mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields and promote strategic cooperative partnership in the "long term and in a healthy way".

"We are ready to make joint efforts with India to promote strategic cooperative partnership to a new high", she said, noting the two countries were the biggest developing nations and had the common task for development devoted to regional stability and the world at large.

Asked if any agreements were expected to be signed during Singh’s visit at the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Jiang said, "on the specifics, the two sides are still holding discussions and consultations".

On the festering boundary issue, she said the special representatives had three meetings last year and had "good, helpful consultations" on the framework.

"We will make joint efforts to find a fair and rational settlement that is acceptable to both countries".

Jiang noted that the special representatives on the boundary issue last year held three rounds of meetings that had been a "fruitful exploration" on the framework to resolve the row.

She said the bilateral relations had kept a "good momentum" in 2007, which saw "year of friendship through tourism" and strengthening of cooperation in various fields. Both India and China had maintained "smooth coordination" in International and Regional Affairs, she said.

Last year, the bilateral trade increased by 54 per cent year-on-year, Jiang said. (PTI)

Smoking habit may sky rocket diabetic projection

MUMBAI, Jan 3: Housing the second highest number of cigarette smokers in the world could lead to projections in the incidence of diabetes in India going haywire, an expert says.

In a shocking revelation chest specialist Dr Sanjay Mehta said here today that smoking can compound the plight of diabetics manyfold as it reduces significantly the production of insulins leading to severe complications.

Dr Mehta, a chest specialist at the Lilavati Hospital told newsmen that India had the dubious distinction of not only being the global capital of diabetes but also the second largest number of smokers in the world.

"Diabetes is not caused by sweets, as most would tend to think; it is caused by the body’s inability to process the sugars" he added.

There were more than 35 million diabetics in India, many of whom were smokers and these diabetic smokers were unwittingly complicating their dreaded disease putting their lives to extreme risk’’ he added.

According to him world over 1.3 billion were addicted to smoking worldwide with 74 million of them in India alone! The health burden of diabetes epidemic in India would become insurmountable if immediate action was not taken to help diabetics stop smoking. (UNI)

3 Indian students killed in house fire

SYDNEY, Jan 3: Three Indian students were charred to death when a massive fire engulfed a house today in the western Melbourne district of footscray in Australia.

The three victims— aged 30, 24, and 22— could not be saved as the fire spread quickly through the house, which firefighters said, had no smoke alarm.

The bodies of two of the men were found at the rear of the house once the blaze had been extinguished, Metropolitan Fire Brigade Spokesman Trevor Woodward was quoted as saying by local media.

The third victim was found a short time later in the hall, he added.

However, a man, a woman and their daughter managed to escape the fire unharmed, he said. "They are in shock and the families of the Indian victims are being contacted," Mr Woodward added.

House owner Mr Phong Nguyen said the house had been rented by a family of three for the last 18 months, adding he did not know the three students were living at the property.

"They’re certainly not on the rental list," he said.

Officials said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained yet.

The roof of the house was totally destroyed by the huge fire, which broke out at 1245 hours while trees and shrubs in the front yard were burnt. (UNI)

Women take longer to pay off their student debts than men

LONDON, Jan 3: Women take more time to pay off their student debts than men, figures have shown.

It takes a female graduate 16 years to get back in the black after leaving university, compared with 11 for a man. In effect, women take five years more to pay off their student debts than men.

This is a result of the "gender pay gap", which sees many women earning up to 20 per cent less than men.

Women are also more likely to take a career break to bring up children.

The figures, which are based on British Government projections for students who started university in 2006, were published in response to a Parliamentary question by the tories.

"This shows that women get a raw deal in the labour market. Women’s earnings are more intermittent and still lower than men’s," Conservative Party Education Spokesperson David Willetts was quoted as saying by Britain’s daily Mail today.

"This year interest rates on loans doubled from 2.4 per cent to 4.8 per cent and this shows that those debts hit women the most," Willetts said.

But Labour Minister Bill Rammell pointed out that both male and female graduates earn more over their lifetimes than those without a degree.

"Employers appreciate the highly-developed skills and talents that all graduates bring to their businesses and are willing to pay accordingly," he said. (PTI)

Machine capable of revealing our most private thoughts

LONDON, Jan 3: Scientists have developed a machine which is capable of reading our mind and revealing our most private thoughts.

American researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that with the aid of a sophisticated scanner and computer programme, they were able to determine how the brain lights up when thinking about different subjects.

Using an advanced form of MRI scanner, they analysed how the brain reacted to ten drawings of tools and buildings. They then used a computer programme to work out whether a person was thinking about a tool or a building.

"We hope to progress to identifying the thoughts associated not just with pictures but also with words and eventually sentences," said Dr Svetlana Shinkareva, one of the researchers.

The device’s possibilities can be extended and the team envisage a time when it will be used to conduct infallible lie detector tests, while the accurate interpretation of a person’s intentions could allow police to arrest criminals before they break the law, as seen in the film minority report.

The researchers’ analysis was found to be 97 per cent accurate. Despite being limited to picking up the thoughts behind just ten pictures, the researchers are confident that they will soon be able to identify entire sentences.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, also showed that different people think about the same thing in the same way.

"This part of the study establishes, as never before, that there is a commonality in how different people’s brains represent the same subject," the study, reported in the daily mail of Britain, said. (PTI)

Pakistan’s banned ‘burqavaganza’ to be staged in India

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: A satirical play depicting the oppression of women that was banned by the Pakistan Government will be staged at the annual theatre festival of India’s National School of Drama which begins in New Delhi today.

"Burqavaganza", which makes a "tongue-in-cheek comment on a serious issue" was banned by the Pakistan Government last year because it was against "quranic injunctions on the veil". It will staged at the Kamani auditorium on January 12.

Madeeha Gauhar, the head of Ajoka Theatre Group that create the play, said: "We are taking `burqavaganza’ to India at the invitation of the NSD for their Golden Jubilee Celebrations."

"Burqavaganza" was first staged by Ajoka in Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital, in March last year before being banned after some women Parliamentarians of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal religious coalition raised it in the national assembly.

"There was only a verbal ban, there was noting in writing. We have filed a writ against the Government," said Gauhar. Her husband Shahid Nadeem said the ban was announced by a federal minister, though such a step could only be taken by provincial authorities under Pakistani laws.

"The play is an exposure of a lot of the hypocrisy that goes on behind the burqa. It is also a critique of the US policy for this region," said Gauhar. "It is not just a comment on Pakistan but on the larger implications of the whole attempt to Islamicise politics."

Some have even compared the play’s subject matter to the aggressive behaviour of burqa-clad students of Jamia Hafsa, the girls’ seminary attached to Lal Masjid, the Islamabad mosque that was stormed by the military to flush out armed militants.

Gauhar, who was recently in Islamabad to stage the very famous play "Bulha", said, "there is nothing offensive in the production against Islam or any other religion. The play uses the burqa as a metaphor for double standards and cover-ups in society. The play shows all characters (men and women) wearing burqas, including politicians, terrorist leaders and policemen.

"It had been made very clear in our brochure and before and after the play that the theme of the play is not critical of any one’s religious beliefs or dress preferences, but about the hypocrisy and double standards and the feudal-tribal mindset," she said.

Nadeem, who is also the writer and director of ‘burqavaganza’, said it was regrettable that the play was banned because it would have enabled people to think about a serious issue. The play is about what the world would have been like if the Jamia Hafsa brigade had succeeded, he remarked.

"The play has a message for Muslims everywhere. It also has a message for the non-Muslim world that muslims should not be identified with the Hijab alone. We are a society as diverse and modern as others. Muslims have much to offer to the world," said Nadeem.

Gauhar, whose group is the oldest theatre company in Pakistan, said they had faced censorship before, particularly during the regime of late General Zia-ul-Haq. "But we never expected this from President (Pervez) Musharraf’s Government as he has been talking about `enlightened moderation’," she said.

Nadeem, who has been imprisoned by three military regimes and is banned from having his plays on Pakistan’s state-run TV, had to leave the country in the 1980s during Zia-ul-Haq’s regime. (PTI)

Smoking-in-public ban fails to extinguish HK habit ......

HONG KONG, Jan 2: Hong Kong smokers have been lighting up 12 million more cigarettes a month since the city imposed a public-smoking ban a year ago, a newspaper said today.

Hong Kong's Customs and Excise Department said it had collected duty on an average of 289.6 million cigarettes monthly in 2007, compared with 278 million per month in 2006.

The figures suggest that Hong Kong people were smoking 12 million more cigarettes a month, despite a ban on Jan 1 last year on smoking in most public places.

"I think the smoking ban can prevent second-hand smoke in public places ... But to motivate people to quit, the government still has a long way to go," medical sector legislator Kwok Ka-ki was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

The anti-smoking laws brought Hong Kong, a city of seven million, in line with several countries that have banned smoking in most public places. Germany and France introduced bans yesterday.

The Hong Kong ban isn't absolute, with more than 800 bars, saunas, nightclubs and mahjong parlours granted exemptions till mid-2009, drawing fire from anti-smoking campaigners.

Hong Kong's growing population and the low price of cigarettes were cited as factors for increased tobacco use.

"The price of cigarettes and tobacco has not increased for seven years," Anthony Hedley, an anti-smoking campaigner with the University of Hong Kong, told the Post.

Hong Kong has around 840,000 smokers according to government figures.

Smokers in China, which took back control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, are the world's most enthusiastic, with a growing market of more than 300 million making it a magnet for cigarette companies. (AGENCIES)

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Miscarriage ups risk of trouble in next pregnancy ....

NEW YORK, Jan 2: Pregnant women who suffer a miscarriage in the second-trimester are at high risk during a subsequent pregnancy of a spontaneous preterm birth and repeat second-trimester miscarriage, a study indicates.

Dr Michal A Elovitz and associates studied three groups of women: 30 women who had a spontaneous second-trimester miscarriage; 76 women with a spontaneous preterm birth; and 76 women with full-term deliveries. All of the women had a subsequent pregnancy beyond 14 weeks' gestation.

They frequency of subsequent second-trimester loss was highest (27 per cent) in women who suffered a second-trimester loss in the first pregnancy, they report.

The frequencies of subsequent second-trimester loss were 3 per cent and 1 percent in the spontaneous preterm birth, and full-term delivery groups, respectively.

Corresponding frequencies of subsequent spontaneous preterm birth were 33 per cent, 39.5 per cent and 9 per cent for the three groups, respectively.

"Of great clinical concern," the team notes, "is that women with prior second-trimester pregnancy loss have a high frequency of very early preterm birth."

In this group, spontaneous preterm birth at less than 28 weeks was 10 per cent, versus 1.3 per cent in the other two groups.

The researchers suggest that the biologic mechanism for second-trimester losses may be similar to that of spontaneous preterm birth, possibly related to "cervical ripening" as a primary event. If so, "women with second-trimester loss would be candidates for therapy that reduces subsequent preterm birth," they suggest. (AGENCIES)

Painkillers do not raise risk of kidney disease: Study

NEW YORK, Jan 2: Analgesics other than phenacetin are not associated with an increased risk of developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) at a relatively young age, according to a study conducted in Germany. ESRD is the most advanced form of kidney disease.

Earlier studies associated phenacetin use with renal disease, the study team explains. Phenacetin was withdrawn from the US market in the 1980s after it was implicated in kidney damage and cancer. However, the association of other analgesics with ESRD remains controversial.

Dr Fokke J van der Woude from Klinikum Heidelberg-Mannheim, Germany and colleagues investigated the issue in a population-based study involving 907 cases of ESRD in individuals younger than age 50 years who were matched to 3,622 healthy controls.

There was no association between later development of ESRD and use of all phenacetin-free analgesics together, analgesics with a single substance, or analgesics with multiple components, the researchers report in the online journal BioMedCentral-Nephrology.

Moreover, there was no significant difference in ESRD risk between high and low use of compounds with or without caffeine, and the lack of increased risk persisted when examining patients with different underlying diseases related to ESRD.

For most analgesics, in fact, there was a significantly lower risk of ESRD with low doses of analgesics used over a longer period of time, the report indicates.

"The results suggest that there is no association between ESRD and analgesic use in general, nor with the use of specific analgesics or combinations with or without additional caffeine in the age group below 50 years," the team concludes.

"Overall, our results lend support to the mounting evidence that phenacetin-free analgesics do not induce ESRD," the study team writes. They think the notion of "analgesic kidney disease" needs to be reevaluated. (AGENCIES)

Australia to review its controversial citizenship test....

MELBOURNE, Jan 2: Australia will review its controversial citizenship test introduced three months ago after 20 per cent of aspiring citizens were found to be flunking the exam, slammed as "racist" by critics.

Out of 10,636 people who took their citizenship tests after its introduction in October by the previous John Howard Government, 2,311 failed, the latest official figures revealed.

The new Immigration Minister Chris Evans yesterday said the government would review the citizenship test in light of the poor test results and could make wholesale changes.

"The Government will review the scheme in the new year and assess the process and whether improvements can be made," Evans was quoted as saying by media here.

"The citizenship test should be about increasing awareness of citizens’ responsibilities and of the Australian way of life", he said.

Despite the problems, the minister encouraged people to continue sitting the test.

Under laws introduced by the former Howard Government, anyone who wishes to be an Australian citizen must pass a 20-question quiz on Australian history, values and way of life, including their understanding of "mateship", and demonstrate an adequate knowledge of English.

Howard had denied the tests had racist overtones and marked a return to the kind of exams used until the 1950s that excluded mainly-Asian migrants under the "White Australia" policy.

Only residents who have lived here for four years can apply for citizenship. Those who fail to meet the 60 per cent pass mark can sit the test as often as they want until they get it right.

Last year Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was then in opposition, gave his backing to the scheme, as well as plans to make new arrivals to the country sign a so-called ‘values statement’ stating they agree to abide by the Australian way of life.

The test was opposed by the Liberal backbencher Petro Georgiou, who warned it would create unreasonable barriers for some people wanting to become citizens, especially those who could not speak English or read and write properly.

When the test was introduced, immigration minister Kevin Andrews denied it was an election stunt and said new immigrants needed to better integrate into the community.

New South Wales state’s Anti-Discrimination Board President Stepan Kerkyasharian said today that the test should be refined to be a test of knowledge rather than culture.

"I’d like to see a citizenship test which is easy to administer, easy to take part in, not sort of couched in high-level English terms, and a test about the political system in Australia and what everyday life in Australia is about, not about what happened 20 years ago in some cricket match," he said.

Sam Afra, the chairman of the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria state, said the high failure rate vindicated claims that the test was discriminatory.

"The news that 20 percent of applicants are failing the test confirms our fears that the test would exclude people who would otherwise make a tremendous contribution to Australia," he said. (PTI)