Beijing, January 17
Zhao Ziyang, who introduced market reforms and capitalism to China, but was ousted as the chief of the ruling Communist Party for opposing the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square, died in a hospital here today after a prolonged illness.

A former premier, 85-year-old Zhao who was under house arrest since 1989, died in a deep coma at around 04:30 hours (IST), surrounded by his family.

A brief statement issued by the official Xinhua news agency announcing his death said, "Comrade Zhao had long suffered from multiple diseases affecting his respiratory and cardiovascular systems and had been hospitalised for medical treatment for several times".

"His condition worsened recently and he passed away after failing to respond to all emergency treatment", it said, adding, he had been in a deep coma since Friday after suffering multiple strokes.

His daughter Wang Yannan said Zhao, an articulate protege of late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping who helped China forge bold economic reforms in the 1980s and brought the communist country new prosperity and opened its doors for the outside world, "died peacefully", adding, "He is free at last".

Born in the central Chinese province of Henan in 1919, the son of a wealthy landlord, Zhao joined the Communist Youth League in 1932. He was picked by Zhou Enlai in 1973 to govern China's largest province Sichuan.

Zhou was inducted in the politburo as an alternate member in 1977 and as a full member in 1979. After six months as vice premier, Zhao was appointed Prime Minister in 1980 and later assumed the post of Communist Party general secretary.

When he visited the protesting students at Tiananmen Square and showed sympathy for their cause, his political downfall was sealed and within three weeks, he was ousted from all government posts.

Zhao was accused of trying to split the ruling Communist Party and was purged as general secretary. Deng replaced Zhao with Shanghai Mayor Jiang Zemin who held the post for nearly 12 years before handing the post to Hu Jintao in November 2002.

The Chinese government yesterday said the physical health of Zhao, had become "stable", after statements from foreign media which claimed that Zhao was already dead.

Meanwhile, China's dissident community demanded the government to hold an open and public funeral and make a fair assessment of the accomplishments of the former leader.

"The Chinese government, at the very least, should have an open and public funeral for Zhao Ziyang," Mr Jiang Peikun, whose 17-year-old son was gunned down in the streets of Beijing during the 1989 protest, said. — PTI/AFP

London, January 17
British Asian peers have been criticised for snubbing victims of tsunami disaster despite attending the three-day Pravasi Divas jamboree in Mumbai in the first weekend of the new year.

Despite staying just hours away from the disaster zone, neither Lord Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh (Labour) nor Mr Diljit Singh Rana (crossbencher) cared to visit stricken families in the tsunami-affected areas.

Asian opinion leaders in Britain say they are sad that the British Asian peers have not responded positively to the cause of the disaster. Although Lord Rana said one of the reasons for being in India was “to interact with people on tsunami”, he did not feel the need to go to the affected areas immediately. Lord Rana, who lives in Ireland, feels content with the response of the Irish people to his fund-raising appeal soon after the disaster. He thinks that heading to these areas will not serve any purpose. “The tsunami-affected areas are overcrowded as several agencies are working there. I may come back in February and see if I can go to Kerala or Tamil Nadu.”

Lord Parekh, who teaches in Westminster University here, arrived in India on December 29. He has several reasons to visit India — to attend his nephew’s marriage in Mumbai, deliver the inaugural address at a conference in his home state and receive the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Samman from Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam.

Lord Parekh thinks that he would be a complete nuisance if he were to tour the tsunami-affected areas. “I can achieve far more here by persuading people to donate.”

The Asian opinion leaders are not convinced with the arguments put forth by the peers to defend their insensitive decision.

Swami Nirlaptanadan, co founder of the London Sewashram Sangh in Shephers Bush borough of Hammersmith, near Southall and Wembley, says it sounds unbelievable and funny that peers visiting India should not go to tsunami-hit areas to assess the extent of devastation and get an idea of relief measures.

Mahendra Dabhi, president of the Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Birmingham which has a population of 25,000 Hindus, wanted to know if anybody had confined the movements of the peers, preventing them from proceeding to the tsunami-affected states. ‘’If the peers are representing the overseas Indians at the divas, they should make an attempt to travel to affected areas”.

Ramesh Kalidai, secretary-general and spokesperson of the Hindu Forum of Britain, a 250-member organisation, said it was important for peers to help.

Washington, January 17
Teams of US commandos have entered Iran searching for hidden sites that could be working on developing nuclear weapons, The New Yorker magazine reported in today's edition.

The government of President George W Bush has authorised secret military missions inside Iran at least since mid-2004, the magazine reports.

Their goal is to identify target information for up to 26 suspected nuclear, chemical and missile sites, according to the magazine.

"This is a war against terrorism, and Iraq, is just one campaign," a former high-level government intelligence official told the magazine.

"The Bush administration is looking at this as a huge war zone. Next, we're going to have the Iranian campaign. We've declared war and the bad guys, wherever they are, are the enemy. This is the last hurrah -- we've got our years, and we want to come out of this saying we won the war on terrorism," the official said.

A top government consultant with close ties with the Pentagon told the magazine that the Pentagon civilians -- especially Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz and their fellow neo-conservatives -- "want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible." —AFP

Karachi, January 16
Muttahida Qaumi Movement's founder Altaf Hussain has stated that the MQM will quit the government if an army operation is launched in Baluchistan.

He said in an interview with a private TV channel that any extreme step taken in this regard would not be beneficial for the country and the nation.

When his attention was drawn to Baluchistan government's reported request to the centre, inviting the army to intervene, Mr Hussain said that was an internal matter of the government of Baluchistan.

Mr Hussain said that when an army operation was launched against the MQM in 1992 all the nationalities kept silent but the MQM would not do the same. "We can sacrifice ministries and government but will never sacrifice our principles. We are not interested in being part of a government responsible for bloodshed of innocent Baluchis," he said.

Mr Hussain said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement coordination committee was in session and had recommended that the party should quit the government if an army operation was launched in Baluchistan.

Mr Hussain said that similar justifications were used for the action in 1970 but that had resulted in the break-up of the country. He said a roundtable conference of all Baluch nationalist parties must be called to resolve the issues.

Beverly Hills (US), January 17
The Howard Hughes epic ‘The Aviator’ and the road-trip romp ‘Sideways’ earned best-picture Golden Globes, boosting their status as front-runners for the upcoming Academy Awards.

‘The Aviator’ won yesterday for the best dramatic film, giving it an edge at the Oscars, which favour heavyweight drama. ‘Sideways’ won for comedy film.

Jamie Fox of the Ray Charles film biography ‘Ray,’ Hilary Swank of the boxing saga ‘Million Dollar Baby,’ Annette Bening of the showbiz comedy ‘Being Julia’ and Leonardo DiCaprio of ‘The Aviator’ also boosted their Oscar odds by winning the top acting Globes. — AP

Islamabad, January 17
Pakistan has once again ruled out screening of Indian films in the country as the film industry here cannot compete with Bollywood.

"Exchange of films with India is not possible in the present circumstances because our film industry cannot compete with Indian movies and a decision in this regard will be taken at an appropriate time," Culture Minister Ajmal Khan told the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, Culture, Tourism, Minorities and Youth Affairs in a meeting with the Pakistan Censor Board officials in Lahore recently.

Mr Khan's statement was contrary to his predecessor Mr Rais Munir Ahmed's, who had told the Senate that the government was considering exchanging films with India. — UNI

Bangkok, January 17
A subway train slammed into another one at a station during morning rush hour today, injuring as many as 200 persons, six months after the subway system opened in the Thai capital, officials said.

Some of the victims were bleeding as rescue workers carried them up the stairs of the Cultural Center station to ambulances. Others, dazed and crying, were helped up the stairs to the street.

The badly injured driver of one of the trains was trapped in the wreckage until rescue workers pulled him out, said Ms Yupadee Srinak, spokeswoman for the underground train service. — AP