Sunday, May 10, 2009

Only Congress can give a strong govt. to the country: Sonia Gandhi

Dehradun, May 9 (ANI): Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asserted that only a Congress-led government could give a strong government to the people of the country and treat all sections of society equally.

"The country needs a strong government at the centre, a truthful government at the centre who would treat equally all sections of the society. Only Congress party can give you such a government led by Dr Manmohan Singh," said Sonia Gandhi, during an election rally here.

Sonia also reminded the public how there was no 'India Shining' taking place at the time when it was being so much popularised by the National Democratic Alliance in the previous government.

Countering the BJP's consistent mention of the present national security being flimsy, Sonia said it was public to see how the previous NDA government handled terrorism (in Kandhar airplane hijack incident) by submitting before the terrorists' demands and how the Congress handled it under its regime in last five years.

All the five seats of Uttarakhand go to polls on May 13, in the fifth and final phase of Lok Sabha elections in the country.

The election campaigning ahead of the last phase of the elections has intensified, as each party wishes to garner maximum seats in the bitterly contested ongoing elections.

The main contest is between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliancend the main opposition BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

The results of the overall elections will be declared on May 16. (ANI)

Advanced mechanical horse may revolutionise hippotherapy

Washington, May 10 (ANI): Baylor University researchers have built a custom mechanical horse that can help improve the quality of life for children and adults with physical and mental impairments by providing them with the same benefit as hippotherapy, without having to get on to a real horse.

This advancement attains significance as it will remove the difficulty that therapists often face while getting some patients onto the horse.

"Our vision is that the mechanical horse can provide better access and can act as a complementary tool to actual therapeutic horse riding," Science Daily quoted Dr. Brian Garner, a biomechanics expert who is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, as saying.

"If the patient is afraid of horses or it may not be safe for the patient to ride a horse, the mechanical horse can act as stepping stone to build the patient up to a level of stability so they can get onto a live horse," he added.

Hippotherapy repetitively produces three-dimensional rhythmic movements that, according to preliminary research, simulates the movements of the human pelvis while walking. It promotes many physical benefits like increased circulation, development of balance and improved coordination.

Scientists believe that therapeutic riding can help children and adults with various impairments or delays in development, including those with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome and autism.

Dr. Garner insists that the prototype mechanical horse developed at Baylor University mimics a real horse by using a three-dimensional system.

The device, though stationary, has a moving saddle surface that can move in virtually all directions in a cycling pattern, and, thus, replicates as precisely as possible the movements of an actual horse.

For creating it, Baylor engineering students took video-motion photography of several real horses walking, and used the data to create the mechanical horses' movement patterns.

Garner says that the mechanical horse can also differ in speed, from a slow walking pace to a fast walking pace, and is the width of a normal horse.

He adds said that it can be used with or without a saddle and can simulate bare-back riding. According to him, the saddle also simulates real therapeutic riding saddles that have adjustable handle bars.

He and his colleagues will next study the biomechanics of hippotherapy using the horse. (ANI)

India no longer threat to Pakistan: Zardari

Islamabad, May 10: Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani President taking United States line said that India is not a threat to Pakistan and it is facing danger from the 'terrorists inside the nation'.

"Well, I am already on record. I have never considered India a threat," Zardari said in an interview on the PBS news channel's popular show "Newshour With Jim Lehrer" on Saturday.

"I have always considered India a neighbour, which we want to improve our relationship with. We have had some cold times and we have had some hard times with them. We have gone to war thrice, but democracies are always trying to improve relationships," Zardari said while responding to a question about "which being the greatest threat to Pakistan? India, or the militants."

When asked about moving troops from Indian border to the NWFP areas to fight terrorists, Zardari said, "Pakistan has already done so."

Kasav a well-trained fidayeen: Ujjwal Nikam

Mumbai, May 10: Ujjwal Nikam, the public prosecutor of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case said that by observing the behaviour of Ajmal Kasab aka Azam Amir Kasav, the Pakistani national and his statements in court proves that he isa 'fidayeen' who had undergone rigorous training both physically and psychologically even to evade the clutches of law.

Nikam who was talking to media said on Saturday, May 9 that Kasav was not only trained in terror attacks but was given intelligence training to escape law by 'dishonest' means. "From what he has told the court, it is clear that he is 'misguiding'. He has been misleading from time to time in regard to his age so that he can go in for a trial under Juvenile Justice Act, which does not attract rigorous punishment like the one prescribed under IPC," Nikam said.

Swine flu is windfall for some top tourism spots

The cruise Zenaiva Cervantes booked was to stop in sun-drenched beach cities on the Mexican Riviera. The cruise she took? That landed her in Seattle, where she pulled her arms tightly to her chest as she debarked on a damp, 50-degree morning.
"We wanted to relax in the warmth," the 61-year-old Tijuana, Mexico, resident said in Spanish Thursday. "If someone had told me I'd be in Seattle eight days ago, I wouldn't have believed them."
At the peak of the swine flu outbreak, major cruise operators Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. — desperate to avoid passenger illness and lost revenue — decided to reroute Mexico voyages until mid-June.
So even though fear has receded, once-sun-seeking passengers like Cervantes are finding themselves in San Francisco, Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada. Cruise companies are compensating passengers for the switch with onboard credit plus vouchers for a future cruise. Passengers also had the choice to stay home and get a full refund, but most passengers are choosing to travel when they planned, the cruise lines said.
What they're losing in sunshine and tan lines, their new destinations are gaining in millions of dollars of business. In San Francisco, the 16 additional swine flu-related landings will boost the year's port traffic 31 percent and bring 49,000 new visitors, said Michael Nerney, San Francisco's maritime marketing manager. Each call could mean $1 million in sales for city businesses and together they'll produce $500,000 in revenue for the port.
"This is highly unusual — shocking, really — as the cruise lines set their sailing schedules 12 to 18 months in advance, and even minor changes are rare," Nerney said.
The great number of alternative ports in the Caribbean makes it far easier to swap stops there. Instead of Cozumel in Mexico, companies are opting for Ocho Rios or Montego Bay in Jamaica, Nassau or Freeport in the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands' St. Thomas, St. Maarten or Key West, Fla., or points across the Caymans and Turks and Caicos.
The Bahamas is happily awaiting diverted ships. Customs receives $15 for each passenger, and island clothing and jewelry shops, bars and cafes depend on tourist dollars, said tourism minister Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said.
Analysts think the benefits may be fleeting for these ports because the outbreak hasn't been severe.
"I think it's a short-term bump that may already be dissipating," said Michael McCall, a hospitality research fellow and lecturer at Cornell University.
Jan Freitag, vice president of global development at Smith Travel Research, noted that, in addition to swine flu, Mexico travel has been affected by fear of heightened drug violence in border states. He sees business travel to Mexico remaining steady and swine flu having minimal impact on leisure traffic unless the virus worsens.
Hotel operators are seeing travelers postpone plans. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts said virtually all guests booked at two of their Mexico resorts in late April and early May will come a few months later instead. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. expected the flu to cost it $4 million to $5 million in revenue but said it could recover much of it from guests rebooked at its U.S. or Caribbean resorts.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says only 10 percent of infected Americans picked up the virus in Mexico, not one-third as previously estimated. But it maintains its warning against nonessential travel to Mexico.
Michael Crye, vice president of technology and regulatory affairs for the Cruise Lines International Association, called that restriction damaging and unnecessary, because areas hit hardest by the flu's spread are inland and the flu season is almost over.
Crye pointed to lessons learned from several rounds of bad publicity after gastrointestinal illnesses like the "Norwalk" virus broke out and said new passenger screenings ensure ships don't help spread the H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu.
"We believe ... we've got a good story to tell, and that you're probably at less risk going ahead with your destination than you would be in virtually any other public place," Crye said.
Eric Brey, head of the Center for Resort and Hospitality Business at the University of Memphis, predicted tourists would have no problem returning quickly to Mexico.
"Outside of this summer, I don't see it being that big a deal," Brey said.
In Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, a place hit hard as tourism has fallen amid the recession, it is usually quiet this time of year. But taxies zipped abundantly by the docks last week.
"(The swine flu) is a good problem for us," said Edward Thomas, CEO of the West Indian Company Dock.
Despite the lack of sunshine, Cervantes, her husband and the thousands of other passengers who ended up in the Pacific Northwest with them enjoyed Seattle's blocks of boutiques and Pike Place Market, where vendors famously sling fish.
"We thought we'd be in our bikinis and bathing suits," said Philipe Tabet, a 53-year-old restaurateur from Albuquerque, N.M., traveling with his wife. "We just had to pack a little bit different, that's all. Unpack, and pack again."

Sri Lankans arrest UK news team

A British Channel 4 News team has been arrested in Sri Lanka after reporting allegations of abuse in camps for displaced Tamils, the broadcaster said.

The Sri Lankan Defence Minister ordered Asia correspondent Nick Paton-Walsh, cameraman Matt Jasper and producer Bessie Du to leave the country.

The report contained claims that dead bodies were left where they fell and allegations of sexual abuse.

The Sri Lankan government has denied the allegations in Tuesday's report.

Mr Paton-Walsh said the crew was being driven to Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, with a police escort.

Investigations

Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera told reporters the trio were arrested in the eastern city of Trincomalee on Saturday. He said investigations were continuing.

A spokesperson for ITN, which produces Channel 4 News, said: "We will be seeking an explanation from the Sri Lankan government for this decision."

The Channel 4 team had been covering fighting between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Its report looked at the conditions in camps that had been set up by the government for the refugees who had fled the northern war zone.

It explored allegations of sexual abuse as well as shortages of food and water.

The United Nations estimates that about 50,000 civilians are trapped by fighting as government troops attempt to oust the Tamil Tigers from their strongholds across the north.

The rebels have been driven back into a small pocket of land on the north-eastern coast.

The Tamil Tigers have fought for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority since 1983. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war.

Sri Lankan shelling 'kills 257'

Sri Lankan government forces have been accused of killing dozens of Tamil civilians in a night of shelling in the country's northern war zone.

The pro-rebel Tamilnet website and government health officials said 257 civilians were killed and 814 hurt.

But the Sri Lankan military denied that any shelling had taken place.

The Tamil Tiger rebels and the military regularly accuse each other of atrocities in the civil conflict - claims that are impossible to verify.

Foreign reporters are banned from the war zone.


See a map of the conflict region

The Tamilnet website reported that heavy shelling had started late on Saturday and continued into Sunday.

It said doctors in a makeshift hospital in Vanni district had taken in 814 wounded people, and cited one doctor as saying 257 people had been killed.

The injured told the doctors "dead bodies are scattered everywhere", according to the site.

'Propaganda' claims

The BBC's Charles Haviland, in Colombo, said health officials confirmed that 257 people had died.

They said two hospitals were struggling to cope with the casualties, and that people were hiding in bunkers and many makeshift tents had been burnt.

They added that among those killed was a government nursing officer.

But the military denied the allegations.

Sri Lankan defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the BBC the accounts were "propaganda" of the Tamil Tigers and that there had been neither shelling nor air attacks on the civilian zone.

"That is a fact," he said.

He said the guerrillas were "holding people to ransom" in their area, and accused the rebels of killing nine civilians who were trying to escape their zone on Saturday.

The UN estimates that about 50,000 civilians are trapped by the conflict.

The Tamil Tigers have fought for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority since 1983.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war.

Karzai urges US to stop strikes

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called on the US to halt air strikes in his country, following an attack that reportedly killed scores of civilians.

Mr Karzai, who is in Washington, told CNN air strikes were "not acceptable".

Afghan officials say more than 100 civilians died when US jets attacked targets in the western Farah province.

The incident overshadowed a summit on Wednesday between the President Barack Obama, Mr Karzai, and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari.

"We demand an end to these operations... an end to air strikes," Mr Karzai told CNN.

He said the deaths were "definitely" the result of US air strikes and not Taleban militants, as some US military officials had suggested.
"We believe strongly that air strikes are not an effective way of fighting terrorism, that air strikes rather cause civilian casualties and does not do good for the US, does not do good for Afghanistan," he said.

US military and Afghan officials are investigating the attacks and trying to ascertain how many of those killed were insurgents.

The US says the Afghan estimate is "grossly exaggerated" but has not released its own figures.

At their summit in Washington, the US, Afghan and Pakistani presidents discussed their joint operation against al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

Pakistani forces are currently engaged in fierce fighting with Taleban insurgents in the north-west of the country.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she "deeply, deeply" regretted the deaths, adding that the US would work hard to avoid such "loss of innocent life".

Pakistan 'fighting for survival'

Pakistan's military is fighting "for the survival of the country" against Taleban militants in the Swat valley, its prime minister says.

Yusuf Raza Gilani was speaking as the army tried to retake Swat's main town, Mingora, where a curfew is in force.

The government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law there, which was heavily criticised by Washington.

The militants then moved towards the capital, Islamabad.


See a map of the region

Up to 15,000 troops have been deployed to take on 4-5,000 militants.

The army said it had killed 55 more militants on Saturday, having said that more than 140 militants had died in earlier clashes.

The fighting has already displaced some 200,000 people, while a further 300,000 are estimated to be on the move or about to flee, the UN says.

Sitara Imran, minister for social welfare in North West Frontier Province, called the exodus "one of the huge displacements, internal displacements in the world".

'Feeling helpless'

"This is not a normal war," Prime Minister Gilani told reporters on Saturday, Reuters news agency reports, "this is a guerrilla war."

"This is our own war. This is war for the survival of the country," he said.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad says that for the first time since the military launched the offensive against the Taleban in the Swat valley, the fighting has spread into the centre of Mingora.

An indefinite curfew is preventing people from fleeing the area.

"We are feeling so helpless, we want to go but can't," Mingora resident Sallahudin Khan told Reuters news agency.

"We tried to leave yesterday after authorities relaxed the curfew for a few hours, but we couldn't as the main road leading out of Mingora was literally jammed with the flood of fleeing people."

The army has also accused the Taleban of holding the civilian population hostage and blocking their exit.

Mobile phone networks, water and electricity have all been cut in the town which is normally home to half a million people. There are fears that food and medicine will run out if the fighting does not end soon.

Our correspondent says the government is hoping for a quick victory, while it still has the support of the Pakistani people.

The US says the militants in northern Pakistan pose a direct threat to its security, and has demanded they be confronted.

Pakistani military spokesman Gen Athar Abbas said the military's objective was to eliminate the militants from the Swat valley and also the neighbouring districts of Dir and Buner.

Pakistan launch Cup legal action

Pakistan's cricket board are to take legal action against the International Cricket Council for stripping them of hosting 2011 World Cup matches.

Pakistan were co-hosts for the tournament with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh but the security situation in the country prompted the ICC to act.

PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said: "The ICC didn't consult us before this decision. We have sent them a legal notice.

"We don't think the ICC decision is sound on legal grounds."

Seven Sri Lanka players were injured when gunmen attacked their team bus on the way to the Gadaffi stadium on 3 March.

The security concerns over playing in Pakistan saw the country's recent series against Australia played in Abu Dhabi.

India has also been the target of terrorists when more than 170 people were killed in attacks on the city of Mumbai.

Butt added: "If the ICC say the security situation in Pakistan prompted this decision then the security situation in India and Sri Lanka is also not good.

"There was no proper security assessment of Pakistan nor of the other co-hosts of the 2011 tournament.

"We believe that more could and should have been done to review the actual situation to deal with the matter on a non-discriminatory basis."

'Sea battle' near Tamil war zone

Sri Lanka says its navy has killed at least 14 Tamil Tiger fighters in a sea battle close to the remaining area of fighting on land.

The Tigers, who have been driven back into a small pocket of land by a government offensive, denied having any boats in the area.

The government has told civilians still inside the war zone to move to a smaller "safe zone".

The UN estimates that about 50,000 civilians are trapped by the conflict.


See a map of the conflict region

The defence ministry also said that soldiers had recovered the bodies of 35 rebels killed in fighting on Friday.

The Tamil Tigers have fought for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority since 1983.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war.

'Safe zone'

Sri Lankan naval special forces sank two Tiger boats carrying 14 rebels off the coast of Mullaittivu at about 0300 on Saturday (2130 GMT Friday), according to the military.

They destroyed one "suicide boat" and one "attack craft", as well as capturing a second "suicide boat".

A rebel spokesman said that in fact the army had attacked fishing boats and that no rebels were killed in the sea encounter although, he added, on land there was "fighting all over the place".

He said the rebels' naval wing, the Sea Tigers, still controlled "vast areas of the sea".

The military announced on Friday it had demarcated a new "safe zone" in the conflict area and was asking civilians to move there for their own protection.

A Sri Lankan military official told the BBC the zone was 3 sq km and inside a small strip of coastal land still under the control of the Tigers.

A military official said troops would attack rebel positions outside the new zone to rescue civilians.

Tamil Tigers described the move by the military as propaganda.

They accuse government forces of firing heavy weapons into the no-fire zone causing a high number of civilian casualties. The military has denied the charges.

The UN earlier rejected the term "safe zone".

The International Committee of the Red Cross has told the BBC that because of the volatile security situation, its plans to evacuate more sick and wounded people and deliver food by ship could not be carried out on Friday.

In an earlier statement from Geneva, it said the lives of patients and its workers in the war zone were being put at great risk by heavy fighting. It wants to carry out evacuations on a daily basis.

Witness identifies Mumbai suspect

The first witness in the Mumbai attacks trial has identified the lone surviving gunman, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, in court, the prosecution has said.

Police officer Bhaskar Kadam told the court he was at Girgaum Chowpatty sea front in south Mumbai on the night of 26 November 2008 when Qasab was caught.

Mr Qasab is charged on 86 counts, including waging war against India, murder and possessing explosives.

He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

More than 170 people died in the attacks, including nine gunmen.

Mr Qasab is the sole surviving suspected attacker.

Two Indians, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, are also on trial accused of being members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group and of scouting for the attacks.

They too have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit the same offences as Mr Qasab.

First witness

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the BBC that Mr Kadam described in court how a police officer, Tukaram Omble, had caught Mr Qasab.

Mr Omble was among the more than 20 police officers who lost their lives during the attacks.

Mr Kadam is the first witness to appear before the court.

His examination will continue on Monday, after which the defence lawyers will cross-examine him.

Mr Nikam had earlier told the court that the prosecution would examine witnesses and evidence in a sequence of events starting from Mr Qasab's arrest.

On Wednesday, the defendant confirmed his name to the court and said he was a labourer from Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The presiding judge, ML Tahiliyani, read out the charges at the special prison court.

Mr Qasab said that he understood the charges against him.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

In an earlier hearing, the accused retracted a confession, saying it was coerced.

It will be up to the judge to weigh the evidence at the trial and decide whether the confession should be taken into account.

India has accused Pakistan-based fighters from Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out the attacks, which took place from 26-28 November.

Pakistan has admitted they were partly planned on its soil and the two countries have suffered seriously strained relations.