W O R L D

USA allowed Pak to go nuclear: report
Washington, March 23
The USA and other Western powers allowed Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons because they needed Islamabad's support to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan, says a think-tank report distributed in Washington yesterday.

Parents of Florida woman appeal to reverse court order
Pinellas Park, March 23
The parents of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo urged a US appeals court to reverse a lower court decision and order her feeding tube reinserted before their daughter died.

Mary Schindler, mother of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo, speaks to the media in front of the Woodside Hospice, where Schiavo is being cared for, in Florida on Tuesday. — Reuters photo

80 rebels killed in Iraq
Tikrit, March 23
Eighty suspected insurgents were killed in a 17-hour operation involving Iraqi and US forces launched against their training camp north of Baghdad, an Iraqi army commander said today.

2 Indians among 3 killed in blast
Beirut, March 23
Three persons, including two Indians, were killed when a bomb blast rocked a Christian quarter north of Beirut early today, stoking fears of further violence in Lebanon at a moment of political tension and public foreboding.

Modi to face protests in UK London, March 23 Unfazed by the cancellation of his visa by the US Government and the subsequent storm over the issue, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is flying in here on Friday to attend the March 26 ‘‘Vibrant Gujarat’’ celebrations amidst signs of brewing protests in the UK. Even as the Asian Music Circuit, organisers of the event at the Royal Albert Hall here, are busy giving finishing touches, South Asia Solidarity Group, AWAAZ and other organisations today announced their decision to organise protests outside the venue. — PTI In video: Narendra Modi gets UK visa. (28k, 56k)

Pope showers a minute’s blessing
Vatican City, March 23
Looking gaunt, Pope John Paul II appeared at his open studio window today and blessed the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square. In the approximately one-minute-long appearance, the ailing pontiff raised his hand in blessing a few times, but didn't speak.

New gene mechanism in plants discovered
Upending prevailing genetic theory, a team of scientists at Purdue University have discovered a mechanism in plants that allows them to correct defective genes from their parents by tapping into an ancestral data bank of healthy genetic material.

USA allowed Pak to go nuclear: report
By arrangement with the Dawn

Washington, March 23
The USA and other Western powers allowed Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons because they needed Islamabad's support to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan, says a think-tank report distributed in Washington yesterday.

The USA and the erstwhile West Germany had prior knowledge of Pakistan's clandestine efforts to buy nuclear material, but decided to ignore them, says the Observer Research Foundation, which is affiliated with the Washington's Brookings Institution.

The report claims that even the present US Vice-President Dick Cheney, who was Secretary of Defence during the Afghan war, had blocked an in-house report on Pakistan's proliferation activities to help sale of F-16 aircraft to Islamabad.

"Washington's priorities changed dramatically following the occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces in 1979," says the report, adding, "The Americans were far too obsessed with driving out the Soviets to waste time worrying about stopping Pakistan from going nuclear."

In the case of Iran, the report says, the USA seems to have taken a diametrically opposite stand. While Iran insists it intends to use enriched uranium only in power stations, Washington argues that Iran is making fuel for atomic warheads. Britain, France and Germany are also putting diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to scrap uranium enrichment.

Pakistan's nuclear programme, which began after India's first nuclear test in 1974, also had the tacit support of China, the report claims. The genesis of Pakistan's programme, the report says, goes back to former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who way back in 1965 said, "If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leave, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own. We have no alternative."

The report claims, "Pakistan relied heavily on clandestine deals with nations like Germany, the USA, China and North Korea to buy, sell and barter nuclear know-how and materials."

Pakistan had maintained such extreme security to its nuclear programme that its army, which guarded the installations, did not even allow the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to visit Kahuta, where a uranium enrichment centrifuge facility was established, the report says. Centrifuges are used to purify uranium for use as fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons.

Parents of Florida woman appeal to reverse court order

Pinellas Park, March 23
The parents of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo urged a US appeals court to reverse a lower court decision and order her feeding tube reinserted before their daughter died.

In a blow to the parents, and to the US Congress and the White House that stepped in to try to prolong Schiavo's life, US District Judge James Whittemore earlier on Tuesday rejected a request to order resumption of feeding tube.

Bob and Mary Schindler immediately appealed to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta yesterday, saying their daughter, whose feeding was halted last Friday under a state court order, was "fading quickly" and her death was imminent.

Doctors have said Schiavo (41), would likely remain alive for one to two weeks without the feeding tube. — Reuters

80 rebels killed in Iraq

Tikrit, March 23
Eighty suspected insurgents were killed in a 17-hour operation involving Iraqi and US forces launched against their training camp north of Baghdad, an Iraqi army commander said today.

Based on passports and documents seized, a number of foreigners were at the camp, located in a remote area near Lake Tharthar, according to US and Iraqi military officials.

‘‘We have killed 80 fighters in a battle that lasted 17 hours. We lost 12 of our men, including four officers,’’ said Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim with the Joint Coordination Centre, a rapid reaction unit that includes Iraqi and US forces. A US military spokesman based in Tikrit confirmed the operation, which took place yesterday, but did not comment on the insurgent casualty toll given by the Iraqi side. — AFP

2 Indians among 3 killed in blast

Beirut, March 23
Three persons, including two Indians, were killed when a bomb blast rocked a Christian quarter north of Beirut early today, stoking fears of further violence in Lebanon at a moment of political tension and public foreboding.

The police reported that the blast in a shopping centre near the port of Jounieh, 20 km north of Beirut, was caused by an 80-kg explosive device.

Two of the three fatalities were Indian, with the nationality of the third yet to be determined, the police said, adding that three persons were injured. Early television reports said the injured were two Sri Lankans and a Lebanese.

The explosion was the second act of violence in a Christian district since the February 14 assassination of popular former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and seemed certain to heighten fears of a resurgence in sectarian killing that devastated Lebanon during its 1975-1990 civil war. — AFP

Pope showers a minute’s blessing

Vatican City, March 23
Looking gaunt, Pope John Paul II appeared at his open studio window today and blessed the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square.

In the approximately one-minute-long appearance, the ailing pontiff raised his hand in blessing a few times, but didn't speak.

The appearance began nearly 15 minutes after the time the Vatican said it would start. There was no immediate explanation for the delay.

Thousands of pilgrims and tourists looked up from the square to the third-floor window. John Paul traditionally holds a public audience on Wednesdays, but the Vatican had said yesterday that it wouldn't be held this week.

The pontiff's appearance was anxiously awaited by faithful after Italian news reports said the 84-year-old leader of the Roman Catholic Church was not responding well to medication.

The chief of the pope's medical team, reacting to suggestions in the Italian media that the pope's health had deteriorated suddenly, ruled out that he might be sent back to the hospital after his discharge 10 days ago.

"No hospitalisation of John Paul II is planned," the ANSA news agency quoted Dr Rodolfo Proietti as saying yesterday. — AP

New gene mechanism in plants discovered
Karen Kaplan

Upending prevailing genetic theory, a team of scientists at Purdue University have discovered a mechanism in plants that allows them to correct defective genes from their parents by tapping into an ancestral data bank of healthy genetic material.

In essence, plants back up the evolutionary path and use past genes to restore traits that would otherwise be lost, according to a study published on Tuesday in the online version of journal Nature. The finding proposes “an extraordinary view of inheritance”, the scientists said in their paper.

The mechanism appears to be a way for self-fertilizing plants, which are more likely to suffer from the negative consequences of inbreeding, to maintain a healthy level of genetic diversity and increase their chances of survival.

It could also be a way for plants to adapt to changing environmental conditions by having a store of diverse traits at their disposal, the scientists said.

The proposal offers a radical addition to the widely embraced laws of Mendelian genetics, which date back to the mid-1800s. They hold that plants and animals inherit only two copies of a gene — one from each parent. If both copies were defective, a plant would have no ability to correct the error.

“This means that inheritance can happen more flexibly than we thought in the past,” said Mr Robert Pruitt, a molecular geneticist who co-authored the paper. “While Mendel’s laws that we learned in high school are still fundamentally correct, they’re not absolute.” If the newly discovered mechanism is also found to be at work in people, “it’s possible that it will be an avenue for gene therapy to treat or cure diseases in both plants and animals,” Mr Pruitt said.

— By arrangement with the Los Angeles Times – Washington Post