Dhaka, December 31
Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, who favours strong ties with India, today vowed not to allow Bangladesh's territory to be used for terrorism against its neighbours, two days after her grand alliance swept the country's first general election in seven years.

The 61-year-old charismatic leader said “continued good relations with neighbours”, particularly with India, would be a major agenda of her government.

“The Bangladeshi soil will never be used to carry out any terrorist act against our neighbours,” Hasina, whose grand alliance bagged 262 seats in the 300-member parliament, said in her first post-victory press conference.

Her remarks came in response to a question about New Delhi's assertions in the past that the Bangladeshi territory was being used for carrying out terrorist attacks on India.

“When we were in power we took a strong position on this (terrorism) and we will do that in the future. I have always maintained that we want peaceful relations with our neighbours,” Hasina said.

Proposing formation of a South Asian task force to fight terrorism in the region, Hasina said “I want continued improved relations with the neighbours...

Houston, December 31
India-born Kalpana Chawla and six other astronauts of the ill-fated shuttle Columbia, who perished in one of the worst US space mishaps in 2003, had just 41 seconds of consciousness to respond to the impending disaster, according to a NASA report on 
the tragedy.

Narrating Columbia's final moments on February 1, the 400-page report said the astronauts were unaware that their re-entry was compromised.

The Columbia crew's first warning of trouble was a cabin alarm seconds earlier that signalled a problem with the shuttle's control jets. The astronauts had just 41 seconds of consciousness to respond. In a vain attempt to get the spaceship back on course, William McCool, the pilot, pushed several buttons on a control panel and tried to restart systems as the vessel, with its heat-shield shattered, violently spun, pitched and rolled some 2,00,000 feet above Texas, a little north of Dallas. The compartment housing the astronauts broke apart over a 24-second period as it plummeted to 1,05,000 feet.

Things happened so fast that none of the crew was able to close the visor of his/her helmet - one astronaut was not even wearing one, the report said.

They succumbed to violent trauma as the crew compartment snapped away from the shuttle's body, and the life-sustaining oxygen inside rushed out through small but growing breaches in the walls above and below them. The violence inside the fractured ship tore the astronauts from their seat belts and slammed their heads around in their helmets with a lethal force.

The air escaped so rapidly that the astronauts were unable to close the helmets' visors in time to remain conscious, Houston Chronicle reported.

The crew performed courageously, trying to problem-solve their way to safety. But the accident was not survivable, NASA's Spacecraft Crew Survival Investigative Team said.

Apart from Chawla and McColl, Columbia's crew members were Rick Husband, Mike Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

NASA had started the investigation into the fate of the astronauts within weeks of the crash at the request of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. — PTI 

London, December 31
An Indian woman, who became the world’s oldest mother after giving birth to a baby girl through the IVF, is planning for a second child.

Rajo Devi, 70, from Badhu Patti in Haryana, gave birth to a baby girl, named Naveen Lohan, on November 28, and now wishes to have a boy.

Rajo and her husband Bala Ram, 72, are hoping that IVF doctor Anurag Bishnoi will help them have a son.

“It’s amazing to finally be a mum,” the Telegraph quoted Rajo as saying.

“I’ve waited for so long to have a baby of my own. Doctors said I was healthier than many women half my age. I would love to have a boy as well,” she added.

The couple was trying for a child since they married when Rajo was 15 and Bala was 17.

“We prayed to all fertility gods at Hindu temples but it never happened before,” said Rajo.

“We thought it was not to be as every passing year there was less and less chance of become parents.”

“I thank the doctor for making this possible,” she added.

Bala Ram had mortgaged all his crop of rice and bamboo for next year and took high-interest loans to pay for the £2,000 IVF treatment. “It was hard and we made lots of sacrifices, but it was worth it,” he said.

“All our family and friends are so happy for us. They did not ridicule us for being childless. Now, they’ll help us bring the baby up. We finally have someone who can carry on the farm when we die. Maybe in future the doctor can also give us a son,” he added. Donor eggs from another IVF patient were fertilised with Bala’s sperm and implanted into Rajo, who became pregnant at the second attempt in April. — ANI

Bangkok, December 31
Anti-government protesters today vowed to renew demonstrations that have plagued Thailand over the past year after taking a break for the New Year holidays.

After a year of almost relentless protests, some hope emerged for calmer political waters in 2009 as seemingly weakened demonstrators suspended their siege of Parliament.

Thousands of loyalists of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra walked away from protest sites in Bangkok late yesterday after the new government outwitted them and succeeded in delivering a vital policy speech that the demonstrators had tried to prevent by surrounding the Parliament building.

Instead, the lawmakers gathered quickly at the Foreign Ministry for the policy declaration before the protesters had a chance to react effectively. — AP