WEINDIANS: Uniting Indians Globally

Houllier poised to take Villa job

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Former Liverpool and Lyon boss Gerard Houllier is set to be appointed as Aston Villa's new manager on Wednesday, BBC Sport understands.This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Guatemala resumes mudslide rescue

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Thousands are at risk from further flooding
Emergency teams in Guatemala have resumed rescue efforts after devastating mudslides buried dozens of people.

At least 44 people have died in slides across the country following torrential rains.

More than 11,000 people have had to be evacuated from their homes and thousands more remain at risk from further flooding and landslides.

Related stories
Rescue work was suspended on Sunday due to bad weather.

Crews resumed work at 0600 local time (1200 GMT), said Cesar Aguirre, a spokesman for emergency services.

"We hope that the rains let up a bit, and allow us to work," he told the AFP news agency.

A massive mudslide engulfed scores of people on Sunday in Nahuala while they had been trying to search for others caught in an earlier landslide.

The mud crashed onto the Inter-American Highway north-west of Guatemala City as the crowd tried to dig out five vehicles and a bus. At least 24 people have been pulled out dead so far in the double slide.

Teams are now using heavy machinery to clear the earth and debris, while Guatemala's civil defence director Sergio Cabanas told the BBC that they'd given up hope that anyone may be pulled out alive.

“My son, he was working with me...but I lost him and I can't do anything about it”

Victim's father

"We have given up for dead all those trapped in the mud," he said.

Scores more landslides and floods have struck other areas of the country.

One man told the AP news agency his son had gone missing in Nahuala when they had joined the effort to look for survivors.

"My son, he was working with me - he was helping, out of solidarity. He was scraping the earth to the side with a hoe, I was with the shovel...but I lost him and I can't do anything about it," he said.

More rains are predicted in the days ahead.

President Alvaro Colom has called on his country's congress to free up emergency funds for tackling what he has called a "national tragedy".

On Sunday, he said that, in 24 hours, 189 different incidents had occurred "mainly in the regions of Suchitepequez, Retalhuleu, Escuintla and Solola".

The devastation was comparable to Tropical Storm Agatha, which killed 165 Guatemalans in May, he added.

Weeks of heavy rain have saturated Guatemala's mountainous terrain, causing hillsides to collapse suddenly.

Parts of the country have seen the heaviest rainfall for half a century, according to Guatemala's national meteorological institute.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

'No climate link' to African wars

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

The Darfur conflict in Sudan was linked to climate shifts

Climate 'drives African conflict'
Climate change is not responsible for civil wars in Africa, a study suggests.

It challenges previous assumptions that environmental disasters, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, had played a part in triggering unrest.

Instead, it says, traditional factors - such as poverty and social tensions - were often the main factors behind the outbreak of conflicts.

The findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the United States.

"Climate variability in Africa does not seem to have a significant impact on the risk of civil war," said author Halvard Buhaug, senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo's (Prio) Centre for the Study of Civil War.

"If you apply a number of different definitions of conflict and various different ways to measure climate variability, most of these measurements will turn out not to be associated with each other.

He added that it was not too hard to find examples of where politicians were publicly making the link between the projected impact of climate change and the associated security risks.

Margaret Beckett, when she held the post of British Foreign Secretary, tabled a debate on climate change at the UN Security Council in 2007.

Ahead of the gathering, the British delegation circulated a document that warned of "major changes to the world's physical landmass during this century", which would trigger border and maritime disputes.

In his paper, Dr Buhaug questioned the findings of research that appeared in PNAS in November last year.

The 2009 paper suggested that climate had been a major driver of armed conflict in Africa, and that future warming was likely to increase the number of deaths from war.

US researchers found that across the continent, conflict was about 50% more likely in unusually warm years.

'Lack of research'

Dr Buhaug said it was too early to make such assertions.

Politicians and policymakers have often linked the threat of climate change to security

Security Council takes on global warming
"It is not a misunderstanding as such, more a case of the research still being in its infancy - we still don't know enough yet," he told BBC News.

"My article points to the fact that there has been too much emphasis on single definitions of conflict and single definitions of climate.

"Even if you found that conflict, defined in a particular way, appeared to be associated with climate, if you applied a number of complementary measures - which you should do in order to determine the robustness of the apparent connection - then you would find, in almost all cases, the two were actually unrelated."

Dr Buhaug explained that there were a variety of ways to define what constituted a civil war.

One methods requires the conflict to claim 1,000 lives overall. Another method says unrest can only be categorised as a civil war if it results in 1,000 deaths each year.

Other definitions have much lower thresholds, ranging between one casualty and 25 casualties per year.

"I tried quite a few different and complementary definitions of conflict," said Dr Buhaug.

He found that that there was a strong correlation between civil wars and traditional factors, such as economic disparity, ethnic tensions, and historic political and economic instability.

"These factors seemed to matter, not so when it came to climate variability," he observed.

He says that it will take a while yet, even taking into account his own paper, for academic research to converge on an agreed position.

'Action still needed'

When it came to politicians and policymakers, many of the adopted positions were "speculative", he added.

"It is partly a result of a lack of solid evidence in the first place," the researcher explained.

"If you do not have any solid scientific evidence to base your assumptions, then you are going to have to speculate."

He also said that the end of the Cold War also seemed to have had a impact on civil unrest in African nations.

"You did see a shift in the focus of quite a few conflicts during the 1990s, when the ending of the supply of arms saw some groups lay down their arms, while others sought alternative forms of funding, such as diamonds."

However, he concluded, the uncertainty about the link between conflict and climate did not mean that global climate mitigation and adaptation measures did not matter.

"Targeted climate adaptation initiatives, such as those outlined in various UN (strategies), can have significant positive implications for social well-being and human security.

"But these initiatives should not be considered a replacement for traditional peace-building strategies.

"The challenges imposed by future global warming are too daunting to let the debate... be sidetracked by atypical, non-robust scientific findings and actors with vested interests."

BBC News has approached a number of co-authors on the PNAS November 2009 paper, but we have yet to receive a response.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Iran 'hampers IAEA investigation'

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Iran recently began fuelling its first nuclear power station, at Bushehr
The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran has hindered its investigations by repeatedly objecting to the agency's choice of inspectors.

In a confidential report seen by the BBC, the International Atomic Energy Agency says it cannot confirm that Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful.

The IAEA says Iran has continued to produce low-enriched uranium, despite fresh UN Security Council sanctions.

The US and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is solely for energy production.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the IAEA's report was "troubling to all who care about non-proliferation and global security".

However, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said the report had "damaged the agency's technical reputation", Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

He said all Iran's nuclear activities were under the IAEA's "complete supervision".

The IAEA's report followed Iran's recent decision to bar two experienced inspectors after they reported what they said were undeclared nuclear experiments.

Tehran said the two had made inaccurate reports, but the IAEA says it stands by their findings.

The agency's report said Iran's objections "hampers the inspection process and thereby detracts from the agency's capability to implement effective and efficient safeguards in Iran".

The IAEA said Iran had produced around 2.8 tonnes of low-enriched uranium, compared to 2.4 tonnes in May.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

School clothes boost retail sales

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Despite the growth in sales, the BRC was cautious about consumer spending in the coming months
Retail sales rose in August, partly thanks to strong sales of children's clothing ahead of the new school year, a trade body has said.

Like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of sales from new stores, rose by 1% against a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.

On a total sales basis, sales rose by 2.8% compared with a year ago.

But the BRC said August sales were "not strong" and benefited from being compared with "poor" sales a year ago.

It added that consumers were wary of buying expensive "big ticket" items due to uncertainty over government spending cuts.

"Back-to-to school wear and the onset of autumn helped clothing and shoes produce a small overall improvement in non-food sales," said Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC.

"[But] with the government about to detail its cuts and a VAT rise in prospect, retailers will be hoping consumer confidence doesn't slip over the next few months."

The government will reveal details of its comprehensive spending review next month, and has already announced that VAT will rise to 20% in January next year.

The BRC also highlighted a drop in furniture and flooring sales in August, which it attributed to "renewed weakness" in the housing market.

House prices have risen by about 10% since spring last year, but prices in the past few months have stagnated, according to some house price surveys.

The body also said that non-store sales - those arranged by internet, phone and mail-order - rose by 17.8% from a year earlier, "but this was against an exceptionally weak 8% gain in August 2009".

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Scam fear over electricity credit

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

People who use prepayment meters could be affected
Criminals have managed to clone prepayment meter keys in order to make money by offering discounted credit to thousands of customers.

An estimated 85,000 households have been approached by doorstep salesmen since the start of the summer, according to industry body Energy UK.

But customers who buy the half-price black market credit could end up having to pay again for the energy use.

Energy regulator Ofgem has demanded a report on how the scam has occurred.

"We want Energy UK to set out, among other things, how it was possible for this fraud to occur, and when it was first detected," said Ofgem chief executive Alistair Buchanan.

He said the report, which must be produced within 14 days, would allow the regulator to consider what lessons should be learned and how the fraud could be prevented.

The gangs, who sometimes claim to be from the energy companies, typically offer £50 worth of prepayment meter top-up at half the price.

The salesmen then push the cloned key into the householder's meter to add the credit.

“Just like when you buy something fake online you are the one who will end up losing out in the end”

Christine McGourty Director, Energy UK

Customers get their extra electricity but, since the credit is illegal, they may end up having to pay their energy supplier as well - effectively paying twice.

More than three million people in the UK use prepayment electricity meters.

All of the major electricity suppliers have been affected. They are writing or telephoning customers in England, Wales and Scotland to alert them of the scam.

They are urging people to use the official outlets to buy top-ups such as the Post Office, PayPoint or Payzone and are reminding them that energy companies can identify homes that are using electricity but not paying for it legally.

"Just like when you buy something fake online - like a ticket for a football match or a music concert - you are the one who will end up losing out in the end," said Christine McGourty, director at Energy UK.

She added that the people behind the illegal sales were being sought.

"Energy companies are determined to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice and are working closely with the police at a local and national level to stamp out this illegal activity."

A spokesman for Energy UK said there were no figures showing how many of the 85,000 households affected have been ordered to pay again for their electricity use.

However, along with watchdog Consumer Focus, the industry body has produced posters warning people about the scam.

The spokesman stressed that no official sellers of electricity meter top-ups operate door-to-door. Customers are being asked to report to Crimestoppers anyone they know selling top-ups illegally.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

UK radiotherapy 'lagging behind'

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Radiotherapy 'needs more public attention'
Too few UK cancer patients are receiving state-of-the-art radiotherapy care, experts say.

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) warns only 7% of patients receive a new type of radiotherapy, compared with 20% in Europe.

Writing in the BBC's Scrubbing Up column, CRUK experts said patients were receiving older types of radiotherapy - or having to travel abroad for care.

The UK's cancer tsar said plans were being developed to improve care.

“There are vital areas that need to be addressed to help deliver the best treatment for patients. ”

Harpal Kumar CRUK chief executive

The number of people receiving radiotherapy in the UK tripled between 2000 and 2009, and the number of radiographers (the health service staff who delivers radiotherapy) rose by 40% between 2000 and 2006.

But CRUK estimates that, in total, only 38% of cancer patients in England are getting radiotherapy - although research shows that up to 50% might benefit.

The charity says differences in staffing levels and equipment means UK health care trusts are failing to offer equal opportunities for patients to receive radiotherapy.

And for those patients who are being offered radiotherapy, many suffer unacceptably long waiting times before receiving their treatment, the charity says.

It believes a lack of public awareness about radiotherapy's importance in treating cancer is affecting treatment provision.

A survey of 2,000 people for the charity found only one in 10 knew radiotherapy helps cure 40% of cancer patients.

The survey showed the public is more likely to rate other treatments - surgery, chemotherapy or targeted drugs - as "cutting edge" treatments.

Experts say the UK is lagging behind the US and Europe in introducing new, more targeted radiotherapy technology, such as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or image guided radiotherapy (IGRT).

IMRT uses computers to control the radiotherapy machine to vary the intensity of the radiation beams, helping to closely match the three dimensional shape of the tumour.

It gives very precise doses to a cancer or to specific areas within the tumour while minimising the dose to nearby tissues.

IGRT takes images of the cancer before and during radiotherapy so the doctor can make sure the treatment is precise and accurate.

Professor Gillies McKenna, director of the Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology at the University of Oxford, said: "Radiotherapy is a critical part of cancer treatment.

"We know that around 20% of cancer patients receive IMRT in Europe, while the UK is only delivering it to 7% of patients.

"This newer type of radiotherapy is more effective in delivering targeted treatment, minimising side-effects to other parts of the body."

Harpal Kumar, chief executive of CRUK said: "Radiotherapy has improved substantially over the last 10 years, but there are vital areas that need to be addressed to help deliver the best treatment for patients.

"Radiotherapy needs the same level of public support that new drugs have. We have seen awareness helping steer priorities with other treatments and believe this should happen with radiotherapy."

He said: "It's important that all areas of the UK offer the same opportunities for patients to have radiotherapy wherever they live."

Professor Sir Mike Richards, the government's national cancer tsar, said: "Delivering state of the art radiotherapy is a complex operation.

"We are now planning ways to boost services to meet the needs of future cancer patients so we can offer radiotherapy to all those who would benefit from it."

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Non-stick pan 'cholesterol link'

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

The chemicals help stop food sticking to the pan
Scientists are concerned that exposure to chemicals used in non-stick frying pans could raise cholesterol levels in children after finding a link.

They have no proof, but the West Virginia team says further research is needed to rule it out.

They studied over 12,000 children involved in a lawsuit regarding a water supply contaminated with the same chemicals used on non-stick pans.

Experts stressed that the children's exposure was much higher than typical.

“More research is needed to identify whether the small quantities of these chemicals that UK children are exposed to actually affect their cholesterol levels”

Cathy Ross British Heart Foundation

Most people are exposed to the man-made perfluoroalkyl acid chemicals because they are used commonly in manufacturing.

Perfluoroalkyl acids like PFOA and PFOS give non-stick pans heat resistance, and also come from the breakdown of compounds used in commercial food packaging and factory treatments for fabrics, carpets and stain-resistant clothing.

Experts know these chemicals can get into the body and travel to the liver - the organ responsible for making cholesterol and handling any fat that comes from the diet.

And other studies have already suggested that PFOA and PFOS may change how well the body deals with these fats.

Stephanie Frisbee and colleagues at West Virginia University School of Medicine set out to investigate this further, looking at a group of children who had been exposed to particularly high levels of PFOA through an industrial accident.

Related stories
Blood tests from the children showed that they did have much higher levels of PFOA than would be expected - their levels were 69.2 nanograms per millilitre on average compared to the 3.9ng/ml national average.

And their higher PFOA levels were associated with increased total cholesterol and LDL or "bad" cholesterol.

The one-fifth of children and teenagers with the highest PFOA levels had total cholesterol levels 4.6 milligrams per decilitre higher and LDL cholesterol levels 3.8mg/dl higher than the fifth of children with the lowest PFOA levels.

The children's PFOS levels were only slightly raised, yet were also linked with higher cholesterol levels.

High cholesterol, particularly LDL cholesterol, is linked to heart disease.

But the experts told the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine that it was too early to say if their findings meant that the children in the study would be at increased risk of heart disease as a result.

Cathy Ross, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, urged caution in interpreting the findings.

"This study was carried out in a specific area in the USA where the levels of these substances were excessively high due to contaminated water.

"It does not show a link to these substances when they are used in coatings for frying pans where they appear in considerably lower levels.

"While the study found that where there were high blood levels of PFOAs and PFOSs there was also a modest increase in cholesterol levels, this is not the same as saying that they caused the rise in cholesterol.

"More research is needed to identify whether the small quantities of these chemicals that UK children are exposed to actually affect their cholesterol levels."

She said children's heart health was at greater risk from what goes into the frying pan and from an increasingly inactive lifestyle than from what the lining of the frying pan is made of.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Inbred bees 'facing extinction'

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

The study offered a good insight into the potential consequences for species found on the UK mainland
Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.

The lack of genetic diversity is making the bees more vulnerable to a number of threats, including parasitic infection, say scientists in Scotland.

They warn that some populations of bees are becoming increasingly isolated as a result of habitat loss.

The findings are being presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting at the University of Leeds.

Lead researcher Penelope Whitehorn, a PhD student from Stirling University, said the study of moss carder bumblebees (Bombus muscorum) on nine Hebridean islands, off the west coast of Scotland, offered an important insight into the possible consequences of inbreeding.

"The genetic work had already been carried out on these bumblebees, so we knew that the smaller and more isolated populations were more inbred than the larger populations on the mainland," she told BBC News.

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"And as it was an island system, it could work as a proxy for what could occur on the mainland if populations do become isolated from each other as a result of habitat fragmentation."

The study is believed to be the first of its kind to investigate inbreeding and immunity in wild bees.

Uncertain future

Ms Whitehorn found that, although the inbreeding did not seem to affect the bees' immune system directly, it did make the insects more susceptible to parasitic infection.

The ideal habitat on the Hebridean islands offers the resident bee populations a fighting chance
"We found that isolated island populations of the moss carder bumblebee with lower genetic diversity have an increased prevalence of the gut parasite Crithidia bombi," she explained.

"Our study suggests that as bumblebee populations lose genetic diversity the impact of parasitism will increase, which may increase the extinction risk of threatened populations."

She added that the populations of the bees on the islands were "quite healthy because the habitat was so good", but inbreeding did have a range of other consequences, such as the production of infertile males.

"If inbreeding occurs on mainland Britain, where the habitat is not so good, then species may well be threatened," Ms Whitehorn suggested.

Other studies of invertebrates have found other costs as a result of inbreeding, such as a loss of general fitness in the species in question.

Habitat loss is resulting in populations of bees becoming more and more isolated from their neighbours, effectively leaving them as island populations.

Ms Whitehorn cited the example of the short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), which finally became nationally extinct in the late 1980s when a parasitic infection placed increased pressure on the remaining populations, which were already vulnerable as a result of fragmented habitats.

To date, recent attempts to re-introduce the population back into the UK from New Zealand - where it had been introduced from Britain in the late 19th Century, have not been successful.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said efforts to conserve bumblebees were vital as the creatures played a key role as pollinators, especially when it came to wild flowers and commercial crops.

The UK currently has 24 species of bumblebee, after seeing two species become nationally extinct in recent decades.

Of the remaining species, one quarter have been identified as being in need of conservation to prevent them from disappearing from the British landscape.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Footballer Wayne Rooney involved in sex scandal

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

London: English footballer Wayne Rooney reportedly had a series of intimate sessions with a 21-year-old prostitute nicknamed 'Juicy Jeni' while his wife Coleen was pregnant with their first child. The 24-year-old Manchester United striker reportedly made the confession to Coleen about his infidelity via text message as she sat in a hairdresser's salon Saturday, reports smh.com.au.

In an interview to tabloid News of The World, the sex worker, real name Jenny Thompson, said: 'Wayne chased me with sex texts and paid in wads of cash. He didn't seem to care he was betraying Coleen.'

The pair's tryst began when they met at a Manchester casino June last year - two months after the footballer and his wife announced they were expecting their first child.

Thompson revealed that she first bedded Rooney with another girl at the five-star Lowry Hotel.

'We both wore identical black lacy bra-and-brief sets specially bought from La Senza. Wayne told us he'd never had a threesome before. He was shy and awkward - and me and my friend were left to do all the work.'

Rooney again met Thompson on six occasions. He arranged their meetings on prepaid mobile phones and paid more than $1600 in cash or casino chips for her services.

The footballer even reportedly invited Thompson to the family's $7.6 million mansion in Cheshire, but she refused.

Meanwhile, Coleen has left their home and is staying with her parents.

'Coleen and Wayne were supposed to attend a family christening this weekend but they didn't show up,' said an unnamed friend.

'Coleen had been getting her hair done on Saturday when Wayne texted her to break the news. He's a coward for hiding behind a text message, especially when they'd been together earlier that day,' the friend added.

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It's sweets and prayers as freed cops head home

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Patna/Ranchi: They thanked god, smeared each other with colour and burst firecrackers. The festivals of Eid, Holi and Diwali seemed to have descended all at once for the families and village folk of three policemen who made their way home Monday after an agonising week in the captivity of Maoists in Bihar.
Their joy knew no bounds when policemen Abhay Yadav and Rupesh Kumar Sinha - both from Bihar - and Jharkhand native Ehsan Khan were released by Maoists 'safe and healthy' around 6 a.m. Monday in Lakho Chak area of Lakhisarai district, about 150 km from Patna. 'I am very happy. I can't express my joy when my husband told me over telephone that he has been released and was safe,' Rajni Devi, wife of abducted policeman Abhay Yadav, told IANS over telephone from their village Mohanpur in Begusarai district.

She said she was eagerly waiting for her husband to reach home.

Abhay Yadav's 70-year-old mother Naina Devi said, 'It is like rebirth for my son. We are celeberating the day by playing Holi and bursting firecrackers.'

She thanked all for helping secure the release of her son.

Other villagers were also in a festive mood unlike two days ago when hundreds of them blocked a national highway to protest the Bihar government's failure to rescue Abhay.

Pramod Yadav, a villager, said: 'It was good news for all of us that Abhay was released. People will welcome his arrival. The entire village had been tense.'

Manju Sinha, mother of Rupesh Kumar, told IANS over telephone: 'We are celebrating the day. It is like Diwali for us.'

A large number of people gathered at her home. 'I offered prayers and will visit temples to thank god,' she said.

A similar sentiment was expressed by Rupesh's father Uday Shankar Sinha.

The family members of policeman Ehsan Khan were already preparing for Eid, which is due Saturday. Last week Khan's family in Mandar block of Ranchi in Jharkhand stopped preparations for Eid as he was in the Maoists' captivity.

'We will celebrate this Eid like never before,' Ehsan's father Mohiuddin Khan said. 'We will celebrate Eid Monday, ahead of the real Eid, as my son is reaching home. We are preparing for it already.'

He said it was great news in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. 'We have offered prayers to thank Allah for his safe release,' Khan said.

Ehsan's wife Farida Khanam said she would cook a special dish for her husband and her children were preparing to welcome their father. The family distributed sweets as hundreds gathered at their home.

However, in another Jharkhand home, there was only gloom. Lucas Tete was the only policeman to be killed among the four abducted by Maoists Aug 29. His bullet-riddled body was found near a forest in Lakhisarai district.

The four policemen were kidnapped by Maoists after a six-hour gunfight in Lakhisarai Aug 29.

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IUML blames govt for hooch tragedy

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Malappuram: Indian Union Muslim League today blamed flaws in the excise policy of the LDF Government responsible for
the hooch tragedy in Kuttippuram. Instead of discouraging alcohol consumption, the government had been pursuing a policy of promoting liquor consumption as a major source of state revene, IUML district general secretary Abdurahiman Randathani, MLA, said in a statement here.

He said about a month back the village panchayat had through a resolution urged the government to close down the particular toddy shop, from where the victims of today's tragedy had consumed illicit liquor, he said.

However, the Excise authorities refused to take note of the resolution and allowed the shop owner to thrive senior Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed said today's liquor tragedy is the result of nexus between the government officials and liquor mafia, in the statement he demanded at the government provide adequate compensation to the tragedies of those died and hospitalised. PTI

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Clashes mark KSU march

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Clashes mark KSU march

Posted on: 06 Sep 2010

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NRI businessman sponsors marriages of 107 women

xman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Kollam : Marriages of 107 women were organised here Monday by a social organisation supported by non-resident Indian (NRI) Ravi Pillai, who is considered as the largest employer of Indians in the Middle East.
Each groom was first handed a 'thali' by a guest and after the knot was tied, the couple was handed a token gift of Rs.25,000. The event, organized by the Ravi Pillai Foundation, was witnessed by hundreds of people and dignitaries here.

Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh and Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, Kerala Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran, Education Minister M.A. Baby, Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Oommen Chandy, and state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala besides more than a dozen legislators and a few Lok Sabha members were present on the occasion.

Religious leaders and personalities from the film fraternity were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, Deshmukh said: 'I will come again for such programmes.'

Kovoor Kunjumon, a ruling Left Front legislator who took part in the function, said that it was a great humanitarian gesture on the part of Pillai.

'The foundation will now provide employment to all the men abroad and if someone does not want a job, financial assistance would be provided to them to start a small business,' said Kunjumon.

'The couples were selected after a screening process which was first recommended by the local legislator. I myself recommended five and they got married today (Monday),' said Kunjumon.

The foundation also handed a cheque of Rs.1 million to noted environmentalist and poet Sugatha Kumari.

Hailing from this town, Pillai employs more than 25,000 Indians in his Nasser S Al-Hajri Corporation which is headquartered in Bahrain.

His company is engaged in construction at oil and gas refineries and petrochemical companies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.

A Padma Shri awardee, Pillai has also won the Pravasi Bharatiya award.

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Bhutia, Houghton have reasons to complain

~IronMan~ — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:22:03 GMT

Tue, Sep 7 04:54 AM

India captain asks clubs to be more open to releasing players; coach wants team to play Asian opposition

India football skipper Bhaichung Bhutia rued the fact that clubs in the country were not doing their bit towards churning out players who could be considered for national team selection. Moreover, clubs are keen to retain national players even when there is a pressing need for them to represent the country in key matches, Bhutia said.

"Players coming through the club structure should be good enough to play for the country. That is how the system works in the best footballing countries across the world. Unfortunately, our clubs are not doing that," Bhutia said on the sidelines of a training session. India play Thailand in the home leg of the international friendly on Wednesday. India lost 0-1 in the first leg played in Bangkok.

Bhutia also felt that clubs must be more open to allowing players to play for the national team."Every time a club decided that they must hold back a player, the national side loses its rhythm," Bhutia said.

"When I first started playing we would have 40-50 players showing up at the national camp. Most of the time was spent in just selecting the players. Now the team is more settled. There is continuity in the team. So the players are more confident and are able to feel secure."

Bhutia, at 33, the oldest member of the squad believes that this India side has a great future. "Almost all the players who featured in the last match (against Thailand on Saturday) were young, except Mahesh (Gawli). Seventy per cent of this side has an average age of 25. That is a good sign." Bhutia marked out Mohd Rafi, who is making his international debut, as a special talent. "He has got great potential and has a great future."

Coach Bob Houghton was upbeat when asked about the team's chances. Houghton said that the players were jet-lagged going into the game against Thailand in Bangkok. The India side had flown in from Lisbon after a training session and didn't get enough time to recoup before their first-leg game.

"We were good defensively, but not so good in attack. We created more chances... many more than Thailand did. But we were unable to convert opportunities. But there are no excuses," Houghton said.

Houghton's remarks were echoed by Manchester United legend Bryan Robson, who coaches Thailand.

"They (India) played well in the second session and they were very aggressive after we scored a goal (in 73rd minute). What many teams do is they lose focus or just stray away after a goal is conceded. But India kept on pressing for the equaliser," Robson said. Houghton said that he wasn't amused by snide remarks aimed at the team after they lost after training abroad. "We were not on holiday. We went abroad because we don't have the best facilties here." Following the match against Thailand, India will be playing against two African teams Gambia and Namibia. Ahead of the 2011 Asian Cup, Houghton believed it would be better if India played against teams from the continent.

"We could win 7-0 or we could lose 1-0 and we wouldn't know what it would mean when we play non-Asian countries. We need to be playing Asian sides like Yemen and North Korea so that we can quantify our progress."Midfielder Renedy Singh won't play the game on Wednesday after being diagnosed with a strain in his hamstring.

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