Govt expells journalists from Everest base camp

KATHMANDU, May 2: The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has denounced the expulsion of two BBC journalists from Everest base camp ahead of the Olympic torch relay.

The Government officials turned back BBC Nepal Representative Charles Haviland and his assistant Ishwor Rauniyar from the Everest base camp situated at an altitude of 5,300 metres. The pair were there to cover possible protest shows by Tibetan exiles demanding freedom and human rights in Tibet on the eve of the Beijing Olympic.

Last week the Government deported an American climber from the base camp for wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Free Tibet." The Government has also banned Everest expedition from camp two between May 1 and May 10 as per the request by the China Government.

About 25 security personnel, including army men, have been deployed in the Everest base camp reportedly with orders to shoot protesters to stop anti-China protests during the Olympic torch relay.

The Governments action against the journalist was against free press and freedom of expression, said FNJ in a statement and urged the Government to immediately roll back its anti-free press decision.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has slammed the Government for suppressing the protesters linked with the Olympic torch relay up Mt Everest.

Nepal Government should rescind orders authorizing security forces to use lethal force to suppress protesters associated with the Olympic torch relay, a statement issued by HRW said. (PTI)

IMF to appoint Anoop Singh as Director, Asia Pacific Dept

WASHINGTON, May 2: The International Monetary Fund is likely to appoint Anoop Singh as its Director of the Asia Pacific Department.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has announced his intention to appoint Anoop Singh as Director of the Asia Pacific Department.

"There are a number of appointments that are in train at the Director-level as part of the Fund's ongoing refocusing effort. It has been my intention to fill these senior positions as quickly as possible," the Managing Director said here.

"Given the skills needed by the Fund and its membership, some of the positions can be filled internally. Today I am announcing my initial actions in this regard," he added.

Singh, an Indian national, who is currently Director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department, will succeed David Burton.

He holds graduate and post graduate degrees from the Universities of Bombay, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics. During his career at the Fund, his appointments have included Director, Special Operations in the Office of the Managing Director; Deputy Director, Asia and Pacific Department; Senior Advisor, Policy Development and Review Department, Assistant Director, European Department, and IMF Resident Representative in Sri Lanka.

Singh has also been Special Advisor to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (I G Patel and Manmohan Singh); Senior Economic Advisor to the Vice President, Asia Region, the World Bank. (PTI)

China secretly built nuclear submarine base: Report

LONDON, May 2: China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, British media reported today.

Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, reportedly shows that a substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft carriers.

The daily reported that one photograph shows China's latest 094 nuclear submarine at the base just a few hundred miles from its neighbours.

Other images show numerous warships moored to long jettys and a network of underground tunnels at the Sanya base on the southern tip of Hainan island.

The images were reportedly obtained by the Janes Intelligence Review after the periodical was given access to imagery from the commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe.

Analysts for the respected military magazine suggest that the base could be used for "expeditionary as well as defensive operations" and would allow the submarines to "break out to launch locations closer to the US".

The Daily Telegraph reported that military analysts believed China's substantial build up of its forces was gaining pace but has remained hidden from the world in the build-up to the Olympics. (PTI)

Asia-Pacific countries to co-operate
on renewable energy dvpt

BANGKOK, May 2: News Network) Asia-Pacific countries have agreed to co-operate proactively on the development of renewable energy in an effort to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and enhance long-term energy security.

The decision, adopted here on Wednesday before the closing of the annual session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), called on countries in the region to share experiences in developing renewable energy technologies and to rapidly disseminate such technologies to developing countries.

It further called on member States to make their research institutions accessible to researchers and technologists from developing countries, according to a statement issued here by the UN Information Services (UNIS) office in Bangkok.

Asia-Pacific countries also requested ESCAP to facilitate such technological development and transfer by working together with multilateral funding agencies, sub-regional groupings, research institutions, and through public-private partnerships and initiatives.

Energy security and sustainable development was the theme of this year's high-level ESCAP Commission session. A study by ESCAP says the Asia-Pacific region cannot count on continuing increases in energy supply to fuel its economic growth.

At the current rate, by 2030, Asia and the Pacific will account for half of the world's energy demand. Much of that -- more than 80 percent -- will be for fossil fuels such as oil and coal, making the region not only vulnerable to volatile energy prices but also to carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.(AGENCIES)

HSBC's Indian-origin employee charged for scam

LONDON, May 2: The police have arrested and charged an Indian-origin employee of HSBC bank in London for an attempted fraud worth nearly 70 million pounds.

The attempt by Jagmeet Channa, 25, was discovered last week at HSBC's securities services division, which settles trades for clients.

A payment to a bank reportedly raised suspicions at the division in HSBC's head office building at Canary Wharf and the police were called.

A police spokeswoman said Channa, from Ilford in Essex, was charged on 25 April with conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and abusing a position of trust.

He was remanded in custody until 25 June, when he will appear at Southwark Crown Court. The police said three other men aged 26, 33 and 38 were on police bail in connection with the investigation.

HSBC said that no customer funds were involved and no transactions were disrupted. No customer or bank funds were lost, the bank added.

"HSBC is co-operating fully with a police investigation into an alleged fraud at the bank. As the matter is before the courts, we cannot comment further," a bank spokesman said.

Banks around the world have tightened anti-fraud systems after Sociiti Ginirale of France suffered losses of 4.9 billion euros in the fourth quarter from the biggest rogue trading scandal in history. (PTI)

China must have 'substantive' dialogue
with Dalai Lama: Bush

WASHINGTON, May 2: US President George W Bush has told China that it must address the "deep and legitimate concerns" of the Tibetan people and hold "real" and "substantive" talks with the Dalai Lama's representatives.

"I welcome the recent statements by the Chinese government expressing its willingness to meet with representatives of the Dalai Lama, precisely what I had suggested (Chinese) President Hu Jintao do," Bush said in his first comments since since Beijing's decision to resume dialogue with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

"It's important that there be a renewed dialogue -- and that dialogue must be substantive so we can address, in a real way, the deep and legitimate concerns of the Tibetan people," Bush told a gathering here on the occasion of the Asian American Heritage month.

China has been under intense global pressure, including from Bush, to hold dialogue with the 72-year-old Dalai Lama since the anti-government protests erupted in Tibet which was followed by Chinese crackdown in the Himalayan region.

Last week, China surprised many by saying that it will meet with a representative of the 72-year-old exiled Tibetan spiritual leader soon to bring an end to pro-Tibetan protests that have disrupted the Beijing Olympic torch relay and threaten to spill over into the Games in August.

The Dalai Lama has cautiously welcomed the Chinese dialogue offer but insisted that there must be "serious talks" to reduce resentment in Tibet or otherwise holding discussions "just to show it to the world" would be "meaningless".

China has previously held in-camera meetings with the spiritual leader's representatives, but none have taken place since July 2007. (PTI)

US military achievement in Iraq has
reached peak: Think Tank

NEW YORK, May 2: An international think tank has called for fundamental political changes in Iraq, stressing that the US military surge which contributed to reduction in violence has reached the limit of what it can achieve.

"Without fundamental political changes in Iraq, success will remain fragile and dangerously reversible," the International Crisis Group (ICG) asserts and emphasizes the importance of devising a different approach that focuses on pressuring the Iraqi government to agree to political compromises, engage in negotiations with fuller range of Iraqi actors, including still active insurgents and alter the regional climate.

The Sunni insurgency, ICG says, has been seriously weakened as previously marginalized Sunni tribes found in the US a new patron and turned against al-Qaeda.

"Increasingly divided and with several important groups co-opted by the US, the armed movements are a shadow of their former selves. As for al-Qaeda in Iraq, it appears in disarray, a victim of US attacks but also of its own brutal excesses," it says but warns that these trends are not necessarily permanent and hardly equate with durable Sunni Arab acceptance of the political process.

The US policy, it says, is bolstering a set of local actors operating beyond the state's realm or the rule of law and who impose their authority by force of arms.

"None of these points to progress toward a fully inclusive political process", says Peter Harling, Crisis Group's Iraq, Syria and Lebanon Project Director. "The US now seems intent on militarily defeating insurgents who, although they express deep misgivings about the current political system, are eager for genuine negotiations". (PTI)

Mothers 'want well-mannered children'

LONDON, May 2: Mothers may pamper their children but they want their offsprings to be well-mannered as well.

This inference can be drawn from a survey in Britain which has revealed that mothers are increasingly returning to the values of their grandparents to teach their children old-fashioned manners.

In fact, according to the poll, women are very keen to instil the importance of saying 'please' and 'thank you', telling the truth, table manners and giving up seats for the elderly, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported today.

The survey, which was carried out for Marks & Spencer, questioned 1,084 women on their attitudes to motherhood. Three quarters of respondents felt it's appropriate to teach kids how to be on their best behaviour before the age of three.

One in three women polled said that they started teaching their kids the value of money and the importance of saving between the ages of three and five. In fact, many kids are encouraged to pay into a piggy bank or savings account and earn pocket money by doing chores such as gardening.

The survey also found that mothers encouraged their children to say "I'd like" not "I want", to share with friends and siblings and to queue properly rather than push in.

It revealed that it is increasingly the mother who takes the role of the disciplinarian -- a reversal of the traditional role. Almost half of those questioned felt that mothers play the leading role in enforcing household rules.

"What the research has shown, and what I'm seeing, is that mothers today want to return to an earlier era, like the 1950s, when manners and respect for authority was considered an important issue," behavioural psychologist Donna Dawson was quoted as saying. (PTI)

Pak royal family offers protection
of British monument

ISLAMABAD, May 2: A Pakistani royal family, which once ruled a princely state of the Raj, has surprised all by offering to safeguard a neglected British monument.

The defaced monument, standing on a hillock beside the Kabul river outside Nowshera in the northwestern part of the country, commemorates one of Britain’s most famous military feats-the race to lift the siege of Chitral in 1895.

The monument honours men who rescued Chitral’s ruler Shuja-ul-Mulk after he was besieged inside his royal fort with his British allies.

Ninety five-year-old Col Khushwaqt-ul-Mulk, a descendant of the ruler, has mounted a campaign to save the 40-feet brick and plaster structure by offering to move it 200 miles to their mountain kingdom in Chitral.

Many historians find the safekeeping gesture "touching".

Peter Hopkirk, historian and author of "The Great Game", who retraced the relief force’s march on Chitral, said the proposal was very touching.

"It is decent of them. Considering we were the former colonial power, it is a surprise they do not want to turn their backs on us. It would be wonderful if they could prevent it from disintegrating and disappearing," Hopkirk told the Guardian newspaper.

"The area has been destroyed by buildings and vandals. But it marks a key moment in Chitral’s history. So we want to honour the dead by bringing it to Chitral to take care of it in a place where everybody agrees," Mulk said.

Nowshera was once the key military artery of British India and the junction through which all those who fought on the North West Frontier, notably Winston Churchill, would have passed. (PTI)

3 stranded Indian sailors get relief

DUBAI, May 2: Three Indian sailors, stranded here without pay for three months, finally got their emoluments at the intervention of the Dubai Immigration officials.

The salaries owed to the three and an Iranian totalled almost Dh100,000 (Rs one million). One of them had not been paid for ten months.

The men complained that their employer had mistreated them by leaving them stranded and not paying their dues as the world celebrated International Labour Day.

The men on the Iraqi ship Mariam I docked at Al Hamriya Port in Dubai three months ago. The ship owners later said the vessel had been sold.

Murtender Kumar (24), from India, who worked as an engineer on the ship said, ''Life is so hard here on the ship. We are stranded and we do not know what to do.''

He said he used to work for the same employer some time ago but the ship had been held in Iraq for six months. He joined the crew after the ship was released. (UNI)

Indigenous people demand action to maintain biodiversity

UNITED NATIONS, May 2: Criticizing the Governments for "sidestepping" and "ignoring" their interests in the quest for development, indigenous people from across the world, including India, have demanded steps for maintaining biodiversity in the areas inhabited by them as also their culture, lifestyle and livelihood.

During the two-week meeting of the Forum for Indigenous People which ended today, over 3000 delegates gave vent to their grievances including Governments taking over their lands and ignoring their "legitimate" interests.

The theme for the this year's session was climate change which, they said, affects them most and called for association of the forum with international negotiations to mitigate the effects of changing weather patterns.

A summary of the panel discussion was made available by the United Nations.

Speaking on behalf of the Indian Mundari Literary Council Meenkashi Munda said migration had plagued many communities, and the government had failed to act effectively to address the causes which include lack of education and employment.

As a result, there were cases of young women returning home from employment pregnant, she said, adding that there was also a growing threat of AIDS and cases of child labourers.

The Forum, she said, should maintain a directory of groups dealing with migration issues, or a directory of names of employees to keep track of workers who migrated for employment. (PTI)

Instant messaging: A new language?

NEW YORK, May 2: Instant messaging may still seem incoherent to many, but it's the new language for a generation of technologically savvy young adults, claims a new study.

"Instant messaging is not just bad grammar or a bunch of mistakes. IM is separate language form from formal English and has a common set of language features and standards," said lead researcher Pamela Takayoshi of Kent State University.

In their study, Takayoshi and his colleagues examined the language of instant messaging. Using IM conversations by by students, the group analysed and identified nonstandard features of the language, or the places where writers had used language features which varied from standard written English.

The researchers found that what looked like nonstandard features of written language were, actually, the standardised features within the IM language. The language of instant messaging was found to be informal, explicit, playful, both abbreviated and elaborated, and to emphasise meaning over form and social relationships over content.

"When we look at the kinds of technology young people are using today. We see that many of those technologies -- IM, blogs and Facebook -- are writing technologies. Even the phone is used for writing now," co-researcher Christina Haas was quoted by the 'ScienceDaily' as saying.

Currently, the Kent State team is extending their analysis of IM to the popular Web site Facebook.Com to find out whether the site's language is similar or different to instant messaging standards. (PTI)