W O R L D

Kalam’s offer to boost IT in ASEAN region
Manila, February 6
Observing that Asean provided a huge opportunity for trade, India today offered its expertise in information and communication technologies to set up a sound e-business infrastructure in the region for information sharing, joint ventures and free trade.
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Isabelle Dinoire who received the world's first partial face transplant addresses a news conference at Amiens hospital in northern France on Monday. Dinoire spoke for the first to reporters since her operation, saying she was thankful to have the opportunity for a new start in life. In a 15-hour operation surgeons used tissues, muscles, arteries and veins from a brain-dead woman to rebuild Dinoire's face. Dinoire, who was mauled by a dog last May, is from the Lille area in northeastern France. — Reuters

US paper defends printing Prophet’s cartoon
New York, February 6
The Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the few US newspapers to publish a caricature of the Prophet Mohammad from a series that sparked a wave of protests by Muslims, defended the action yesterday by saying it was just doing its job.

J&K page: Caricatures of Prophet: strike in valley

Asians sleep in cars to avoid high Dubai rents
Dubai, February 6
Rocketing rents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are forcing some of the Gulf state’s millions of Asian workers to sleep in their cars, a local newspaper reported today.

Jaswant skips Jinnah mausoleum
Islamabad, February 6
Deftly avoiding a visit to Jinnah mausoleum in Karachi ostensibly to avoid criticism from the pro-RSS lobby within the BJP, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today left the Sindh capital and travelled to another city in the Pakistani province before returning to Rajasthan after a personal visit.

Onus now on India, says Musharraf
Islamabad, February 6
Giving a warning of sorts, President Pervez Musharraf has asked India to suggest “new ideas” to resolve Kashmir issue if it rejects his proposals of self-governance and demilitarisation, failing which Pakistan would ask the international community to help resolve it.

Nurse to go on trial for killing 29 patients
Kempten, February 6
A male nurse who has been described as Germany’s worst serial killer since World War II will go on trial here tomorrow to face accusations of killing 29 mostly elderly patients.

‘Dr Death’ faces manslaughter charges
Sydney, February 6
The Australian police today recommended that Jayant Patel, a doctor of Indian origin, linked to the deaths of at least 13 patients, face 26 charges, including manslaughter and fraud.

Kalam’s offer to boost IT in ASEAN region

Manila, February 6
Observing that Asean provided a huge opportunity for trade, India today offered its expertise in information and communication technologies to set up a sound e-business infrastructure in the region for information sharing, joint ventures and free trade.

Addressing the Philippines National Assembly (Parliament), President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam outlined an eight-point road map to boost Indo-Philippines trade from the existing $ 577 million to $ 2 billion in the next three years.

The President also called for developing and marketing products in the international market and facilitate setting up of small and medium-scale enterprises in the Philippines for production and marketing of farm and agricultural implements.

“The future of business will definitely be Asia. Increasingly, the western countries and other leading business groups in the West are focusing on Asian countries. With the western markets getting saturated, this region (ASEAN) provides huge opportunities for business to expand their market share,” Kalam said.

The ASEAN countries can compete and get their market share if there is a robust e-business framework in place which can lead to information sharing, education programmes and knowledge communication among countries of the region.

It can also result in technological and business development and setting up of free trade zones, he said.

Kalam said India with its core competence in the field of information, communication and space technology and a large human capital could contribute to the ASEAN e-business network. — PTI

US paper defends printing Prophet’s cartoon

Editor quits

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian newspaper editor has quit after he embarrassed his Muslim boss by reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a bid to illustrate a story about worldwide fury over the caricatures.

The Sarawak Tribune reprinted the cartoons in its Saturday edition after its Editor-on-Duty made an “oversight” in looking to illustrate the story, said Polit Hamzah, Executive Director of the paper’s publisher, the Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd.

Minister resigns

Beirut: Lebanon’s Interior Minister Hassan Sabeh announced his resignation yesterday after a mob attacked the Danish consulate in Beirut.

Almost 30 persons were injured as furious crowds stormed and set ablaze the building housing the Danish consulate, despite the presence of the riot police.

“I submitted my resignation to the government after criticisms were raised,” Sabeh said after a Cabinet meeting.

Protests continue

JAKARTA: Muslims across parts of Asia staged noisy but largely peaceful protests today against the cartoons published in European newspapers.

The worst violence came in Afghanistan, where one man was shot dead and two others injured in clashes between protesters and police.

Officials in Mehtarlam, Laghman province, said the crowd had been incited by Taliban and Al-Qaida operatives.

In capital Kabul, hundreds of young men, many wielding sticks, marched through the city and attacked the Danish Embassy with stones. They later moved off to a main US military base, where they again threw stones.

In Indonesia, the police fired warning shots to disperse 300 hardline Muslims when they threw stones at the police during a protest outside the Danish consulate in country’s second largest city, Surabaya.

District police chief Anang Iskandar said two policemen were hurt in the clash.

In India, shops and businesses were shut and traffic was light in Srinagar following a strike called by lawyers.

Around 300 protesters rallied peacefully in front of the Danish Embassy in Thailand’s capital.

Despite protests and boycotts across the Muslim world, the cartoons have now appeared in papers in Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Poland. — Reuters, AFP

Asians sleep in cars to avoid high Dubai rents

Dubai, February 6
Rocketing rents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are forcing some of the Gulf state’s millions of Asian workers to sleep in their cars, a local newspaper reported today.

The Gulf News said unmarried Asian men in Dubai were living in their cars after finding more conventional habitats beyond their financial reach.

“At first I found it a bit weird to spend the night in my car, but now I am used to it. I have been living like this for five weeks now,” said Subhash Dholakia, who works in sales.

An oil-driven real estate boom is pushing rents higher in the UAE by up to 50 per cent each year, with an average one-bedroom apartment in Dubai costing around 56,000 dirhams annually. Other living costs such as schooling, food, utilities and leisure are also climbing sharply, while salaries rose just 6.5 per cent on average in the year to August 2005.

The men pay 50 to 70 dirhams to tenants who let them use their bathrooms and ironing boards and provide luggage space.

“I get up as early as 5 am and make use of all the house facilities,” said Dilip Sen, an Indian secretary. “I then head for breakfast in a nearby cafeteria.”

The men said they never parked in the same area twice, for fear of being rounded up by police. Foreign labourers, mainly from the Asian sub-continent, make up around 85 per cent of the United Arab Emirates’ 4 million population. — Reuters

Jaswant skips Jinnah mausoleum

Islamabad, February 6
Deftly avoiding a visit to Jinnah mausoleum in Karachi ostensibly to avoid criticism from the pro-RSS lobby within the BJP, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today left the Sindh capital and travelled to another city in the Pakistani province before returning to Rajasthan after a personal visit.

Indian officials confirmed that Singh, who arrived in Karachi on January 30 but went to South West Balochistan for two days to pray at Hinglaj Devi temple, left the Sindh capital for Umarkot in the same province where he was expected to rest tonight before returning home through the Kokharapar-Munabao route in Rajasthan tomorrow.

Singh delayed his departure from Karachi by a day yesterday after being taken ill while his entourage comprising two sons and pilgrims left for Hyderabad in Sindh.

The BJP leader reportedly recovered after resting yesterday and left this morning to join the entourage.

Singh’s expected visit to the Jinnah Mausoleum had generated much interest in media as it followed a similar visit by L.K. Advani whose praise for the Pakistan founder spiralled into a major political controversy back home and ultimately led to his resignation as BJP President. Singh reportedly decided to avoid the visit to prevent any controversy similar to the one faced by Advani. — PTI

Onus now on India, says Musharraf

Islamabad, February 6
Giving a warning of sorts, President Pervez Musharraf has asked India to suggest “new ideas” to resolve Kashmir issue if it rejects his proposals of self-governance and demilitarisation, failing which Pakistan would ask the international community to help resolve it.

“If they reject (his proposals), they should give new ideas. If they do not give ideas, we will approach the international community,” he told reporters in Muzaffarabad in PoK yesterday.

“We are at present going through the bilateral route (to resolve Kashmir issue) but if it fails we will take the multilateral route,” he said adding Pakistan would “demand” international community to resolve the issue “or else there would not be peace here”.

Musharraf and his government ratcheted up the Kashmir issue by organising special meetings and rallies all over Pakistan yesterday to mark “Kashmir Day” which Pakistan observes every year to highlight its stance on the issue. — PTI

Nurse to go on trial for killing 29 patients

‘Dr Death’ faces manslaughter charges

Sydney, February 6
The Australian police today recommended that Jayant Patel, a doctor of Indian origin, linked to the deaths of at least 13 patients, face 26 charges, including manslaughter and fraud. A number of briefs of evidence were forwarded to the Queensland’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recommending Dr Patel be charged with four counts of manslaughter, six counts of grievous bodily harm and 16 charges of fraud. Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said a further two charges of grievous bodily harm would be forwarded shortly against Patel, who has been dubbed as ‘Dr Death’. — PTI