London, February 18
There is a growing support from the medical fraternity here for the 16,000 medical graduates, a vast majority of them from India, who could be left unemployed as a sequel to recent changes in the immigration rules.

Flaying the British Government for lying, a leading magazine, ‘Hospital Doctor’, said: “Former Health Minister Lord Warner was last week exposed in the High Court for failing to consult with overseas doctors groups over changes to immigration laws, despite his claims doctors were consulted. Alas, the government’s failure to consult was not grounds to allow the judge to force a change in rules.”

“A judge’s decision that the government lied changes nothing. The damage has already been done. And was in fact done a year ago when the rule change was imposed.”

It said “as many as 16,000 International Medical Graduates could be left unemployed with little hope of pursuing their chosen career unless they choose to return to their country of origin or elsewhere. Australia is becoming a popular destination for many”.

The Indian and other non-EU doctors who have been badly affected by recent changes in the immigration rules have received support from British Medical Community in a big way.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has strongly criticised the February 9 High Court ruling that disallowed a judicial review of the changes made to immigration rules in April last year.

The BMA said many Indian and other doctors would lose their jobs in the National Health Service (NHS) because of the “shabby and unfair rules.” “The NHS is fast losing its reputation as a fair employer,” it said.

The magazine said: “But with so many investing so much in coming to the UK, creating a new life here over recent years, there will be huge reluctance to go. — PTI

United Nations, February 18
It is “a terrible indictment of the world in 2007” that 18,000 children die every day because of hunger and malnutrition, and 850 million people go to bed every night with empty stomachs, the head of the UN food agency said.

James Morris called for students and young people, faith-based groups, the business community and governments to join forces in a global movement to alleviate and eliminate hunger, especially among children.

“Addressing the hunger issue is the most powerful way to break the poverty cycle,” he said in an interview. “We all simply have to do more.”

Morris said the largest number of malnourished children is in India - more than 100 million - followed by nearly 40 million in China.

“I’m very optimistic that India and China are very focused on this issue,” he said. “They’re making great progress (but) need to do more. (It) needs to be a top priority.”

Elsewhere, there are probably 100 million hungry children in the rest of Asia, another 100 million in Africa where countries have fewer resources to help, and 30 million in Latin America, he said.

“The little girl in Malawi who’s fed, and goes to school: 50 per cent less likely to be HIV-positive, 50 per cent less likely to give birth to a low birth weight baby. Everything about her life changes for the better and it’s the most important, significant, humanitarian, political, or economic investment the world can make in its future,” he said. — AP

London, February 18
Britney Spears has kith and kin worried sick that she is on the verge of a nervous break down after she chopped off her locks, and shaved her head.

The singer dropped in at a salon in California's San Fernando Valley at about 6pm and picked up an electric razor and started to rip through her hair as her fans looked on aghast on Friday.

Britney’s latest step came just hours after she left rehab barely a day before.

“It was shocking to see what Britney did to her hair. She’s in real trouble. She was totally out of it” the News of the World quoted an onlooker as saying.

However, it seems that the decision to go bald was not an easy one, for Britney reportedly sat crying in her car for 10 minutes before she gathered up the courage to go inside and shave off her locks.

According to the Daily Mail, Britney then headed off in her car, only to arrive at the door of the Body and Soul Tattoo parlour in the Sherman Oaks area a few hours later where she got a pair of “cute little lips” tattooed on her wrist.

And when customer Emily Wynne-Hughes asked the singer why she had shaved off her hair, Spears allegedly replied that she was tired of people touching her. "She just said she was tired of having things plugged into her. She didn’t want anybody to touch her. She said she was tired of people touching her and that sort of thing. It seemed like she was kind of sick of it all, whatever it all is. She was very scatter-brained and was not really answering many questions,” said Wynne-Hughes. — ANI

Dhaka, February 18
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh today announced the name of a political party he plans to form soon, saying there is no way he can stay out of politics.

“I will formally launch the party later this month and it will be named Nagarik Shakti (citizens’ power),” said Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his micro-finance scheme that earned him the nickname “banker to the poor.”

Bangladeshis from all walks of life greeted Yunus’s Nobel prize with great joy and national pride, but it is too early to say if he can translate that popularity into politics.

Last week Yunus urged Bangladeshis, through an open letter, to give their opinion on whether he should get involved in politics and launch a party.

Yunus’ associates said the response had been “enormously positive”, but gave no statistics.

Yunus said his party would contest the next parliamentary elections, a date for which has yet to be set after being postponed from last month.

“We will immediately form committees in every village of the country to propagate the emerging venture and muster support for me in politics,” Yunus said on Sunday.

“There is no way I can stay away from politics any longer. I am determined...and it does not matter who says what about me,” said the nobel laureate, apparently about adverse reactions from some political leaders.

Sheikh Hasina, chief of the Awami League and a former prime minister, said on Saturday that “sudden newcomers in politics are dangerous elements and are to be viewed with suspicion”.

Moudud Ahmed, a senior leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and former law minister in the government of immediate past premier Begum Khaleda Zia, was more cautious.

“He is welcome in politics. I wish him success, but personally I feel he would be better off if he didn’t make this venture,” Moudud said on Sunday.

The election, originally set for Jan. 22, was postponed and a state of emergency was declared last month in the wake of countrywide violence between rival political parties, in which 45 people were killed and hundreds injured. — Reuters 

Port Harcourt, February 18
Kidnappers in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta have released an American engineer and his Nigerian driver held captive since January. 23, authorities said today.

Gunmen had seized the two hostages, together with a Briton, on their way to work in the delta’s main city of Port Harcourt, where there has been a spate of kidnappings this year. The Briton was released on February 7 on health grounds.

“They were released at 10 last night. They are in hospital,” said a source at the men’s employer, Nigerian construction company Pivot.

The police commissioner of Rivers state, where Port Harcourt is located, confirmed the release.

“I spoke to the American on the phone and he told me he was in good health,” Felix Ogbaudu said.

He said he did not know the terms of the two men’s release. Most hostages in the Niger Delta are freed after their companies or local government officials pay ransoms.

The lines between militancy and crime are blurred, with many armed groups taking advantage of the security forces’ inability to control the delta to make money from kidnappings and smuggling stolen crude. — Reuters 

London, February 18
Britain’s Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith has admitted that he had an extra-marital affair with a top Asian barrister who had spent first five years of her life in Kolkata.

Goldsmith, 57, a close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair said his relationship with Kim Hollis, the first Asian female lawyer to become a Queen’s Counsel, was now “all in the past”.

In a statement released by his office here, the Attorney General said he and his wife of 33 years, Joy were “very happy” and the allegations were a “private matter”.

He claimed his wife was aware of the affair with Hollis which ended two years ago. Lord Goldsmith is with his wife in California now.

The Downing Street has refused to confirm or deny whether Prime Minister Tony Blair knew about the affair — and if so, exactly when he had been told.

Lord Goldsmith became the second senior legal figure in four days to face allegations of an affair.

Hollis, 49, has enjoyed a glittering career as a criminal barrister. The married 49-year-old and mother of two teenage boys was the joint winner of the Society of Asian Lawyers’ award for the most successful lawyer. — PTI

Islamabad, February 18
Efforts are under way to bring a priest from India to take care of the ancient Katas Raj temples in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Sardari Lal Gosvami, secretary general of the Temple Council of India who had led the Indian pilgrims, said efforts are under way for bringing a pandit from India permanently but the only problems they face are a long-term visa for the pandit and that there is no Hindu community near the temples.

Pandit Vanay Kumar Bansi, who had led the prayers at the temple, told The Daily Times that they want to bring a pandit from India because no pandit belonging to a high caste is available in Pakistan.

They also want a pandit from the same family that used to inhabit Katas Raj at the time when Katas was still the centre of Hindu worship. He said he is one such heir and has being appointed to lead the worship at these temples for the past three years.

According to another proposal, the pandit posted at the temples could spend the week with the Hindu community of Lahore and come to the temples every Sunday or for special worship days.

The Pakistani Hindus are very happy at the restoration and rehabilitation work done at the Katas Raj temples.

The Katas Raj temple site is among the most sacred Hindu temples. — PTI

Beijing, February 18
China, the world’s largest coal producer and consumer, will shift one million people from mining areas and shanty towns before 2008 in the coal-rich Shanxi province which are sinking due to intensified mining.

Shanxi Governor Yu Youjun announced this at a meeting on shanty town reconstruction held in Taiyuan, the provincial capital.

Yu said the provincial government, in cooperation with state-owned coal enterprises, will spend $ 859 million to help 600,000 people move out of the shanty towns and coalmine sinking areas before 2008.

The province reclaimed 2.26 million square metres land of sinking areas last year, when about 37,000 families moved out and are now living in new houses.

Yu noted that in the 2006-2010 period, Shanxi will speed up renovating shanty towns, and build six million square meters of new houses for people in the sinking areas.

As the country’s largest coal rich province, Shanxi faces the danger of expanded sinking areas, due to long-term and intensified coal mining.

In a separate development, Shanxi province has shut down 3,550 illegal coal mines last year.

The province also closed 2,517 illegal mines of other natural resources last year, director of the Shanxi Provincial Department of Land and Resources, Zhang Huaiwen said.

Meanwhile, 196 people were punished for violating Party and government disciplines and 198 others were punished on criminal charges, Zhang said.

A total of 476 people died in 149 fatal coal mine accidents in the province last year, according to the provincial coal industry bureau. — PTI