London, May 11
Chancellor Gordon Brown today launched his bid to lead the Labour Party and become Britain's next Prime Minister, pledging fresh ideas and a new government and admitting that "mistakes" have been made on Iraq.

Brown began the campaign after formal endorsement from Tony Blair, who yesterday announced that he will step down on June 27 after being at the helm of affairs for a decade, leading his country's economic boom but drawing flak for his foreign policy, especially the Iraq war.

On Iraq, Brown said, "I accept that mistakes have been made." He said he would be visiting Britain's troops and "listening to what the government of Iraq says".

Promising a clean break with the Blair era, the Chancellor said, "this is my message. I will listen, I will learn and I will never lose sight of your aspirations." Brown said he offered "new ideas, the vision and the experience" to earn the trust of the British people.

Launching his campaign at the Imagination Gallery in central London, Brown said Blair "has led our country for ten years with distinction - with courage, passion and insight".

"In the weeks and months ahead, my task is to show I have the new ideas, the vision and the experience to learn the trust of the British people," he said. Standing in front of his campaign logo, "Gordon Brown for Britain", Brown pledged to tour the country to "listen and learn" about people's concerns. He rejected Conservative calls for a snap election, saying the opposition did not call for an election in 1990, when Margaret Thatcher stood down.

Brown also denied he would move the government to the left, saying he would continue to "drive forward" New Labour reforms to the public services. But he said he wanted to strengthen Britain's constitution and give more power to MPs. "One of my first acts as PM would be to restore power to Parliament in order to build the trust of the British people in our democracy.

"Government must be more open and more accountable to Parliament -- for example in decisions about peace and war, in public appointments and a new ministerial code of conduct." Brown also suggested Britain could get its first written constitution. — PTI

Nawalparasi, May 11
Every evening over 700 of the total 1,079 Maoist combatants in the Parivartan Smriti Brigade sub-camp at the Hattikhor area of Nawalparasi district leave the camp.

They do this not because they wish to breach past pacts and understandings but to escape the wrath of nature.

They desert their camps and knock at the doors of locals’ houses pleading for shelter and protection from gales, rain, mosquito bites and possible attacks from snakes and scorpions during the night.

Som Bahadur Adhikari alias Pratikcha, division commander at Hattikhor, located at 12 km north from the East-West Highway at Kawasoti, said:“They take shelter in villagers’ houses in Shiva Mandir VDC Ward No 8 as there is no proper shelter for them inside the cantonment site.”

According to Adhikari, they had earlier built 154 makeshift shelters but over 100 of them were either dilapidated or blown away by gales last month.Of the 20 tents provided by India, around 12 are already torn to disuse.

The Indian government had provided 176 tents for Maoist combatants through the government of Nepal.

“How can we ask them to sleep inside the camps during the night when there is rain or intolerable mosquito bites?”Adhikari asked pointing at the poor makeshift camps.

Prabhat Chettri, another PLA man, said: “Even during daytime, whenever we see black clouds hovering in the sky, we run toward villagers’ houses to protect ourselves from rain showers.”

He also said they have to face scorching heat inside the camps during day and tolerate mosquito bites during the night. According to Adhikari, over 200 women combatants and some children have been taking shelter inside Hattikhor sub-cantonment site.

The government claimed that it had already released Rs 900 million, of which Rs 500 million was handed over to the Maoist combatant leadership for cantonment management and logistic support for PLA members, while Rs 400 million was released for infrastructure development activities.

Former PM Mir Zafarullah Jamali has urged the government to postpone the MQM rally in support of President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Karachi tomorrow to avoid clashes with supporters of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is to visit the city that day.

Taking part in a debate in the National Assembly, Jamali questioned the wisdom of holding the rally in Islamabad as a show of force in response to the Lahore rally of the suspended CJ. "Are we heading towards another civil war? A similar effort was made in 1977 (by Bhutto government), but it was averted when a huge cache of lethal weapons was thrown in the Ravi," he said.

The former premier urged the government not to create a "civil warlike situation". Instead it should exhibit "courage and wisdom" and change the date of the MQM rally. "It is amazing that the MQM has selected the same day for the rally when the CJP is going to Karachi to address the SHCBA. Take it to the 11th or 13th. But if you want public confrontation, the third party can take full advantage of the situation," he said.

Toronto, May 11
Angry relatives and leaders of South Asian communities today said shocking new testimony at the Air India inquiry proves the 1985 bombing could have been prevented and accused Canada of having a different standard of justice for immigrants.

“They’ve been hiding so many things, and now everything is coming out,” said Premila Sahu, who lost her husband and their two teenage children in the June 23, 1985 Air India disaster, which killed all 329 on board.

“It’s been such a waste of time and money to get this far. But the truth is coming out finally. There’s still more behind all this, we’ll see,” said Sahu, who was very upset that the plane wasn’t searched or, at the very least, ordered to return to Mirabel airport after it took off.

“If the plane was gone, why didn’t they call it back to the airport?” she was quoted as saying by the Canadian press.

Relatives were particularly upset about the fact that the flight was allowed to leave Canada before a bomb-sniffing police dog could search the plane or its luggage, according to surprise testimony by Serge Carignan, a former dog handler with Quebec’s provincial police, at the inquiry on Wednesday in Ottawa.

In his testimony, Carignan, who was never interviewed by investigators, disputed Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Transport Canada documents that said the plane and luggage had been searched at Mirabel before takeoff.— PTI

Washington, May 11
The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives has voted to fund the Iraq war on an instalment plan, a move quickly rejected by President George W. Bush as “haphazard”.

The House move came largely along party lines with a 221-205 vote, which would allow $43 million in emergency war funding, but force Bush to show progress in Iraq by July before lawmakers vote again on freeing up a second $53 billion chunk of funds.

The White House may be hanging tough on the Iraq war supplemental but indications are that moderate Republicans are getting a bit tired with the ongoing operations in Iraq and are calling for a “Plan B”.

Republican Ray LaHood said. “We don’t want politics mixed into it. And after September, if the report is not good, it is going to be very, very difficult.” LaHood was one of the lawmakers, who were in the White House for a meeting with the President on Iraq. — PTI

Geneva, May 11
Thirteen UN human rights experts called on Myanmar yesterday to release Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, whose latest four-year detention term is due to end on May 27.

The UN experts, including independent specialists on arbitrary detention, freedom of opinion and expression and Myanmar human rights, said junta leaders ought to release Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners unconditionally.

Suu Kyi, one of the world's most famous campaigners, has been in prison or house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years without charge or trial. “We believe this would give a significant sign of the government's will to initiate a genuine and effective transition towards democracy,” they said in a statement released in Geneva.

The former Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The military government ignored a 1990 landslide victory by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

She was meant to be freed last year, but those in charge of her detention extended it despite a direct appeal from the then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.His successor Ban Ki-moon has also urged Suu Kyi's release. — Reuters