W O R L D

51 killed in Israeli airstrike on Lebanon
Qana (Lebanon), July 30
At least 51 persons were killed, many of them children, when Israeli war planes blitzed a village in Lebanon today, the deadliest single strike since the Jewish state unleashed its war on Hezbollah 19 days ago.

A Lebanese man sets fire to an UN flag at the entrance of the UN headquarters in Beirut on Sunday. Lebanese protesters broke into the UN headquarters smashing windows and ransacking offices, after an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon. —Reuters photo

Raytheon offers sophisticated radar to India
London, July 30
US armaments major Raytheon has said it is ready to supply to India the advanced AESA radar, which has not been offered to Pakistan, for use with the F-16 and F-18 fighter jets.

NRI guinea pig fears he may die soon
London, July 30
NRI student Nav Modi, one of the "Elephant Men" who nearly died in March during a botched drugs trial in a London hospital, fears he may have only two more years to live.

Infant kept as “collateral” by hospital
Dubai, July 30
A newborn Indian child is being held as ‘’collateral’’ by a Saudi Arabian hospital as his father is unable to pay the full medical bill of SR47,000 (Rs 5,83,250).

UN building stormed in Beirut
Beirut, July 30
Angry Lebanese protestors today stormed the building of the United Nations in Beirut, smashing glass doors and hacking at the furniture n rage at Israel’s deadly bombing of homes in Qana.

Indians flock to Australia
Melbourne, July 30
Indians have replaced Chinese and Vietnamese to become the third largest source for permanent migration to Australia.

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Exploitation of Indians in Nepal. (56k)

51 killed in Israeli airstrike on Lebanon

Qana (Lebanon), July 30
At least 51 persons were killed, many of them children, when Israeli war planes blitzed a village in Lebanon today, the deadliest single strike since the Jewish state unleashed its war on Hezbollah 19 days ago.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora denounced the attack as a “war crime,” demanding an immediate ceasefire in a bloody conflict that has now killed more than 500 and left a trail of destruction across the country.

Rescue workers with bare hands clawed through rubble of flattened homes to find survivors from the raid on Qana, launched just as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was back in the region pursuing a new round of diplomacy to try to end the conflict.

“At least 51 persons were killed. They include 22 children,” said Salam Daher, the Lebanese civil defense chief in the region.

“The bombing was so intense that none could move,” said a distraught Ibrahim Shalhoub (26). “I succeeded in getting out and everything collapsed. I have several members of the family inside and I do not think that there will be any other survivors.”

Israel, which has received staunch US backing since the conflict began on July 12, unleashed its firepower on Qana after flatly rejecting a UN call for a 72-hour truce to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Lebanon.

“There is no place on this sad morning for any discussion other than an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as well as an international investigation into the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now,” Siniora told reporters. — AFP 

Raytheon offers sophisticated radar to India

London, July 30
US armaments major Raytheon has said it is ready to supply to India the advanced AESA radar, which has not been offered to Pakistan, for use with the F-16 and F-18 fighter jets.

The F-16 and F-18 are being considered for an Indian Air Force contract to purchase 126 multi-role combat aircraft, and the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar will significantly boost the war-fighting capabilities of both the jets, Raytheon officials said.

Significantly, Raytheon said it is also willing to “work to secure US government approval” for exporting sensitive technologies like the AESA radar to India. It pointed out that the US government has not offered either the F-18 or the AESA system to Pakistan.

Torkel Patterson, President of Raytheon International, told PTI “Raytheon is looking at a long-term partnership approach in India, rather than a buyer-seller relationship. This approach will be based on establishing partnerships with Indian companies for technology transfer for localised production of certain components.”

Once the Indo-US nuclear deal was finalised, it would “herald a new era in bilateral relations, especially in defence”, Patterson said.

The AESA system, which steers radar beams at nearly the speed of light and is lighter and more accurate than conventional radars, is fitted on the US Navy’s F-18 jets. Raytheon officials said it could also be fitted on the F-16 if the jet is chosen by India for the Air Force contract.

Raytheon has also offered other potent systems like the air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and ATFLIR infra-red targeting pod for use with the F-16 and F-18, company officials said. — PTI

NRI guinea pig fears he may die soon

London, July 30
NRI student Nav Modi, one of the "Elephant Men" who nearly died in March during a botched drugs trial in a London hospital, fears he may have only two more years to live.

"It's a really bizarre feeling when you discover you might be dead in a couple of years or even in a couple of months," 24-year-old Modi who has just graduated from university and was looking forward to a career in his family's electrical business told The Sunday Times.

Modi and his fellow patients were left seriously ill during the trial of the TGN 1412 drug. His head swelled up like a balloon and he suffered multiple organ failure.

Ryan Wilson, 21, another guinea pig, suffered gangrene that made his toes and fingers go black. All his toes and three of his fingers will have to be amputated; he had heart failure, kidney failure, pneumonia, septicaemia and liver failure.

Mohamed Abdelhady, 29, a bar manager, suffered severe head and chest swelling. He was so bloated that his girlfriend Myfanwy Marshall said he was unrecognizable.

The patients had volunteered for the trial after being lured with the offer of £2,000 each to test the drug made by TeGenero, a newly formed German drug firm.

Parexel, the American firm that administered the tests, told them there would be no serious side effects.

On March 13 this year, Modi and the other five patients were injected with TGN1412 in the Parexel drug testing suite at Northwick Park in northwest London.

At first, Modi recalled, he did not notice anything. But then a horrifying sequence of events began to unfold: "It started about 40 minutes later with a headache. A couple of minutes later that turned into a severe headache.

"It was like a huge, heavy foot was being pressed down on my head. I started moaning and crying, but the doctor just told me to calm down. He said it would go away. I begged him to do something. I told him the pain was killing me." Modi then developed a back pain so severe that he was unable to lie down. "I was jumping up and down on the bed and screaming." All around the other patients were going through similar agony.

His girlfriend, Divya Vegda, 22, said he was looking like an "Elephant Man". "My whole body was swollen up, puffed up like a huge balloon," said Modi. "It was like they had pumped gas into me." Four months later he still suffers from occasional lapses of memory, severe headaches, back pain and diarrhoea.

He and the others have been led to believe that while their symptoms might persist for awhile, their long-term future was not at risk.

However, a study by Professor Richard Powell, an expert in immunology at Nottingham University, has changed all that.

Last week Modi received the results of Powell's medical tests, commissioned by his lawyers to establish the extent of the damage the drug has done on him. The assessment has left him in a state of shock.

Martyn Day, the lawyer representing Modi and three of the other patients, showed them Powell's findings, last week.

"They face a lifetime of contracting cancers and all the various auto-immune diseases from lupus to MS, from rheumatoid arthritis to ME," he said.

When news of the disaster broke, TeGenero admitted liability. But it has since gone into liquidation and its insurance cover is worth only £2 million, payable if court proceedings are not pursued. The company set up for the purpose of making the drug, is not worth suing.

Modi said "I have made the biggest mistake of my life. I feel like I've given away my life for £2,000. None of us is sure about the future. It could be that in six months' time we are dead." Parexel did not respond when asked to comment. — PTI

Infant kept as “collateral” by hospital

Dubai, July 30
A newborn Indian child is being held as ‘’collateral’’ by a Saudi Arabian hospital as his father is unable to pay the full medical bill of SR47,000 (Rs 5,83,250).

The child’s father Prasad, an electrician, said his wife a Reena Koshi, working as a nurse, delivered twins, but only one survived because of premature birth.

The other baby has been kept in incubator for which the daily fee charged is SR 750 (Rs 9,310) by the Riyadh Medical Complex.

Prasad told Arab News that in response to his appeal, a Riyadh-based polyclinic and a charitable organisation raised funds, which still leaves a shortfall of SR14,000 (Rs 173,730).

‘’We are unable to raise the balance with our meagre income,’’ Prasad, who has been living in Riyadh for the past four years, said. — UNI

UN building stormed in Beirut

Beirut, July 30
Angry Lebanese protestors today stormed the building of the United Nations in Beirut, smashing glass doors and hacking at the furniture n rage at Israel’s deadly bombing of homes in Qana.

After the violent protest at UN headquarters, thousands of people — some in tears and others shouting angry slogans — converged from both Christian and Muslim areas of the capital on Riad Solh Square where the building is located.

After hearing news of the carnage in Qana that killed 51persons, including 25 children, a group of protestors attacked and briefly occupied the UN House in downtown Beirut where they smashed windows, burned curtains and destroyed furniture.

UN spokesman Khaled Mansour told AFP that about 100 UN staff in the building had sought refuge in an underground basement, and that security personnel were trying to extinguish a fire on the second floor.

A small group of protestors burned an American flag while shouting: “Death to America.” Activists also waved flags of several parties, including the yellow standard of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group that has met Israeli attacks with fierce resistance for the past 19 days. — AFP

Indians flock to Australia

Melbourne, July 30
Indians have replaced Chinese and Vietnamese to become the third largest source for permanent migration to Australia.

Of the 10,600 permanent arrivals in Australia in May this year, 10 per cent mentioned India as their country of origin. The figure represents a 6.6 per cent increase from the same period last year.

China, on the other hand, provided 8 per cent of the permanent settlers to Australia in May.

The so-called skills exhibitions organised by the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) and employers in various Indian metropolitan cities are credited with attracting a large number of Indian professionals to this country.

A large number of Indian students in Australia have also applied for permanent visas leading to an increase in the number of permanent settlers here. — UNI