Beijing, June 20
Despite concerns from environmentalists, China today said it would press ahead with the construction of a 110-km-long highway in Tibet to Mt Everest and would not also rule out building hotels in future in the fragile Himalayan region.

The construction of a highway on Mt Everest would be completed before August 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics Games, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional government Qiangba Puncog told reporters here at a press conference.

"We'll ensure the completion of the road by all means by next August," he said.

The project aims to turn a 110-km rough road linking Tingri county of the Xigaze prefecture at the foot of the mountain to the base camp into a blacktop highway fenced by undulating guardrails.

On its completion, the highway will become the major route for tourists and mountaineers who are crowding onto Mt Qomolangma (Chinese name for Mt Everest) in ever larger numbers.

"More tourists are flocking into the Qomolangma base camp in the past two years," said Puncog. "Tourists from Europe and America in particular like to have a glimpse of the Mount Qomolangma."

Some of the tourists, he said, had complained the road there was in poor condition and unsafe.

Organisers of the Beijing Olympics Games have revealed ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history — a 137,000-km, 130-day route that would cross five continents and scale the world's summit. — PTI

New York, June 20
Thirty manuscripts of the ancient Hindu text Rig Veda dating from 1800 to 1500 BC are among 38 new items which have been added to the United Nations heritage list to help preserve them for posterity.

The list includes the world's first feature-length film, the family archives of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel and the proceedings of the trials of South African anti-apartheid figures such as Nelson Mandela.

The items have been included in the 'Memory of the World Register' set up by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), bringing to 158 the total number of inscriptions on the register so far.

Unesco Director-General Koochiro Matsuura announced the additions yesterday, saying he had approved the latest inscriptions, which were recommended by the international advisory committee of the memory of the world programme at a meeting last week in Pretoria, South Africa.

The programme, launched in 1992 to preserve and promote documentary heritage of global significance, much of which is endangered, helps networks of experts to exchange information and raise resources for preservation of, and access to, documentary material.

This year's additions include The Story of the Kelly Gang, an Australian film from 1906 that is the world's first feature length movie, the family archives of Nobel from 1840 to 1900, the personal archives of the Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman and the archives of the Red Cross from 1914 to 1923. — PTI

Paris, June 20
India's state-owned aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has started work on building with composite materials an advanced attack helicopter that can operate in the Himalayan heights of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to HAL chairman and managing director Ashok Baweja, there are some good American, Russian and European helicopters available in the market but they are made of sheet metal and not designed to operate at heights over 8,000 metres. HAL's new helicopter will be made of sophisticated composite materials that can withstand humidity and harsh climates much better than machines made from metals.

Powering HAL's helicopter, Baweja said, would be the "very powerful" Shakti engine that drives the indigenously developed Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) that had already entered service with the Indian armed forces.

There would also be collaboration between the state-run and private industry to create a supply chain for various aircraft and helicopters, Baweja said.

The decision to manufacture the Light Attack Helicopter (LAH) apparently stems from the fact that neither the Indian Air Force (IAF) nor the Indian Army had such machines during the 1999 Kargil conflict to tackle the Pakistani troops who had occupied the heights in the area.

Baweja also said HAL had received a request for proposal (RFP) from Chile for six Dhruv helicopters, and that two would also be supplied to Bolivia.

According to Baweja, HAL had invested $40-50 million on expanding its production facilities to help speed up deliveries of aircraft and various systems to the Indian armed forces.

Baweja's upbeat statements come as global aerospace majors like Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and EADS are setting up partnerships with the Indian industry to supply and manufacture vital equipment ranging from aircraft and helicopters to long-range detection-and-attack systems. — IANS

The main political party in the government, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) ,is facing an imminent split with two members from President Mahinda Rajapakse’s side crossing over to the Opposition in Parliament yesterday and putting the fragile coalition that the President has put together in danger of falling apart.

The two members include a former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera and another former minister Sripathy Sooriyaarachchi who were sacked by President Rajapakse earlier this year after they spoke out against growing human right abuses in the country as well as on nepotism. They crossed the floor of Parliament on Monday and sat with the opposition.

Samaraweera, a stalwart of the SLFP, who worked hard to bring President Rajapakse to power in the November 2005 presidential poll said before he crossed over that the reason for their action was the move away from the extreme policies of the government had adopted and to form a moderate wing of the SLFP in keeping with the policies of the party’s founding fathers.

The two will launch the SLFP (Mahajana) or People’s faction on Friday at the hometown of S.W., R.D.Bandaranaike, and the founder of the SLFP who is the father of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

The move by these two former powerful men the Rajapsake government will cause further problems for the President who is under fire by the international community for growing human rights abuses in the country and his popularity is dropping in the country as well due to the growing cost of living as well as allegations of corruption and abuses of power by those close to him.

Despite his tough talk against the Tamil Tigers, the recent demonstration of air power by the LTTE as well as several bomb attacks in and around Colombo has also not helped the government.