Stockholm, October 15
American economists Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson won the 2007 Nobel prize for economics today for laying the foundations of an economic theory that determines when markets are working effectively.

Hurwicz, at 90 the oldest-ever recipient of a Nobel prize, said he had not expected to become a laureate.

''On the contrary, I thought that my time perhaps had passed already,'' the Russia-born American citizen said in a telephone interview.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the three had established ''mechanism design theory'', which looks at how well different institutions fare in allocating resources and whether government intervention is needed.

Hurwicz, born in Moscow in the year of the Russian revolution, initiated the theory. Maskin of Princeton University and Myerson of the University of Chicago further developed it.

Maskin was born in 1950 and Myerson in 1951, the same year Hurwicz joined the University of Minnesota.

The midwestern university is rarely thought of as a home for pioneering research in the same way as ''Ivy League'' institutions such as Princeton or Harvard or other academic powerhouses such as the Unversity of Chicago.

Maskin, who earned a doctorate in applied mathematics from Harvard, said he was relieved and thrilled to learn that all three of them had won.

''I guess my first thought when I heard Hurwicz was one of the winners was a sense of relief. Hurwicz has been a candidate for many years and he's now 90 years old and time was running out,'' Maskin said in a telephone conference with journalists.

''It was a tremendous thrill to hear that he won and to share the prize with him and with Myerson. Our friendship goes back to university time.''

Their theory now plays a central role in many areas of economics and parts of political science, the academy said.

''Adam Smith's classical metaphor of the invisible hand refers to how the market, under ideal conditions, ensures an efficient allocation of scarce resources,'' the academy said.

''But in practice conditions are usually not ideal,'' it added. ''For example, competition is not completely free, consumers are not perfectly informed and privately desirable production and consumption may generate social costs and benefits.''

Hubert Fromlet, chief economist at Swedish banking giant Swedbank, said that the microeconomic theories these three had developed had become increasingly popular.

''Microeconomics has gained momentum in research,'' he said, adding that at economic conferences it was now common to hear about decision-making processes. ''They are well-known economists within the academic field.'' The economists will share a prize of 10 million Swedish crowns 1.57 million dollars.

Maskin received his doctorate in 1976. He is currently the Albert O. Hirschman Professor of Social Science, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

Roger Myerson was born in Boston in 1951. Like Maskin, he finished a PhD in applied mathematics at Harvard in 1976. He is currently the Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. — Reuters

The PPP chairperson,Benazir Bhutto, is free to return to Pakistan, but the law of the land will apply to her like any other citizen, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said.

He said Gen Pervez Musharraf had been re-elected in a poll that was fully in accordance with the constitution and expressed the confidence that the Supreme Court would decide in his favour within the next few days.

“People in Pakistan have reacted very strongly against the withdrawal of corruption cases against Benazir Bhutto under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO),” Aziz acknowledged in an interview with the CNN. He, however, insisted that the immunity given to her under the NRO was not meant for her only.

To a question about the return of Nawaz Sharif, Aziz said his case was different. Nawaz Sharif was sentenced for the offences he had committed. Through a plea-bargaining mechanism, he left the country and said he would not come back for 10 years. The Saudi government was the interlocutor, intermediary and the guarantor to the deal, he recalled.

To another question, he said the presidential election was fully in accordance with the constitution and by an independent Election Commission.

When the questioner suggested that the entire opposition boycotted the election, Aziz said the key point was President Musharraf secured 57 per cent of the vote.

He said there was no clue about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. “If the world knew where he is, they would have gone after him.”

Shaukat Aziz said Pakistan had a very clear policy that it would never offer anyone from outside a safe haven.

Amid intensified efforts to persuade PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto to defer her return to Pakistan planned for October 18, the government on Monday said it expected a final answer from her today (Tuesday).

But PPP vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim ruled out any change in Bhutto's programme and termed reports about a delay as attempts to confuse people.

Railways minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed talking to a private TV channel said president Musharraf is in touch with Bhutto and explained to her the reasons for the suggestion that she should postpone her journey for some time. He said apart from the Supreme Court cases, which have put on hold the announcement of result of the presidential election and the implementation of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), the security situation in Waziristan has added to the state of insecurity and uncertainty in the country.

"Both Bhutto and the president have established a direct rapport and need not talk through intermediaries," Rashid said when asked if any presidential aide is visiting Dubai. He said there are compelling circumstances for Bhutto to postpone her return. But the government would not put any hurdles if she insists to stick to the announced date.

"I believe she finds it politically weak to revise the date," he said.

He said all arrangements for a grand reception to be accorded to Bhutto on arrival in Karachi on October 18 have been finalised. In fact workers from across the country are already on the move to reach Karachi for this purpose.

Fahim said he has seen reports about government request in the media but nobody has contacted him on the issue. He is going to Dubai under a decision to accompany Bhutto from there. He believed that media reports are designed to confuse the people and disrupt the reception.

Ruling party chief, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in a statement from Jeddah urged Bhutto to accept Musharraf's advice because it is in her own interest and in the national interest.

Meanwhile, the PPP has begun torch-bearing rallies across the country to mobilise popular support for her reception on return.

In a related development, the Nawaz Sharif faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) has strongly repudiated statements by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi that exiled premier Nawaz Sharif will stay in Saudi Arabia for another three years and would not return in coming weeks. 

Kathmandu, October 15
Ahead of Nepal’s crucial parliamentary debate to decide the fate of the monarchy, parties today held hectic consultations to sort out the differences over the issue which threatens to derail the peace process.

Top leaders of Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Maoists held a series of informal meetings to find a middle path after a parliamentary debate on the Maoists’ demand to declare Nepal a republic ahead of the Constituent Assembly poll.

The ruling six-party alliance had proposed to pass a proposal to go for republic through the Parliament and endorse it by voting during the constituent assembly polls, rather than directly declaring a republic through the Parliament.Nepali Congress vice-president Gopal Man Shrestha said, “If voting occurred on the Maoists’ proposal to declare republic through the interim Parliament, their proposal won’t get majority support but it will divide the six-party unity”.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Nepal-Mashal (CPN-M) urged the government to fix a fresh date for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, saying the country was witnessing instability after November 22 polls were put off indefinitely.

Stressing the need to make CA the main agenda of the special session of the interim Parliament, the CPN-M general secretary Mohan Bikram also appealed to all the parties to press for early elections.

In a statement, the party flayed the Maoists for the deferral of the polls, saying it would lengthen the existence of monarchy and strengthen the regressive forces. — PTI

Beijing, October 15
China's Communist Party must stay firmly in charge as the nation embraces economic and social change, President Hu Jintao said today in an agenda-setting speech vowing tightly- controlled political reforms.

In a ''state of the nation'' report to the 17th Party Congress, Hu said the country he had led for five years would pursue an increasingly open economy but also had to surmount social fissures and an environment battered by breakneck growth.

''Our economic growth is realised at an excessively high cost of resources and the environment,'' he said, drawing dutiful applause from carefully chosen delegates.

But Hu said the country's future was promising -- and even some political loosening was possible -- as long as the Communist Party maintained its long-unchallenged domination.

''China is going through a wide-ranging and deep-going transformation. This brings us unprecedented opportunities as well as unprecedented challenges,'' Hu told over 2,200 delegates -- one of them his predecessor Jiang Zemin, who appeared to doze through stretches of Hu's recital of slogans and goals.

''We must uphold the party's role as the core of leadership in directing the overall situation and coordinating the efforts of all quarters,'' Hu said in the speech lasting more than two hours.

The five-yearly Congress is a chance for Hu to spell out his agenda for the next half of his presidency, entrench his doctrine of a ''harmonious society'' free of discontent, and promote officials who will enforce his policies and probably emerge as top leaders five years hence.

But the tight security, with rings of police stopping ordinary citizens getting anywhere near the carefully vetted delegates, underscored how wary Hu and his colleagues are of any challenge to their one-party rule.

''Look at all the police,'' observed cab driver Wang Jiandong.

''Not even a bird could fly over.'' As the economy grew, the party would also allow the country's increasingly diverse and often restive citizens to have a bigger say in government, he said.

''Citizens' participation in political affairs will expand in an orderly way,'' he said.

Hu also promised to develop a more technologically savvy defence force. But he suggested that China's international environment was generally benign and offered an olive branch to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

''The international balance of power is changing in favour of the maintenance of world peace,'' said Hu, whose government helped broker a nascent nuclear disarmament deal with North Korea. — Reuters

London, October 15
He once quipped at a US airport: "I've nothing to declare but my genius", and even managed to mutter on his deathbed: "Either those curtains go, or I do".

Well, Oscar Wilde would not have been surprised to be dubbed Britain's greatest-ever wit -- he has been rated number one in a poll commissioned by digital TV channel 'Dave'.

The Victorian playwright, who was born in Ireland but lived most of his life in London, gained 20 per cent of votes, just two points ahead of Irish comedian Spike Milligan whose gravestone carries the message — "I told you I was ill".

In the top 10 of famous wits, TV presenter and author Stephen Fry made it to number three while fourth-greatest wit was declared to be BBC's Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson whose politically-incorrect one-liners have won him legions of fans.

Britain's wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill made it to number five for his notorious putdowns. Accused by a female MP of being drunk, he had replied: "Madam, you are ugly. But in the morning, I will be sober." The list also includes noted humourists Noel Coward, the country's late football manager Brian Clough and Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher.

However, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been ranked 12th, well ahead of comediens Jennifer Saunders and Victoria Wood. — PTI

Bangkok, October 15
Truckloads of illegal timber cross the Myanmar border to sawmills in China, while markets along the Thai border openly sell bear paws, tiger skins and elephant tusks.

Further inland, the repressive military regime plans to dam one of Asia’s purest rivers, and allows gold and gem mines to tear up hillsides and pollute groundwater for quick cash.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, had become notorious in the region for ignoring international and its own environmental laws in a single-minded effort to make the money that environmentalists say helps keep the regime in power.

“They may have laws on the books but they mean extremely little,” said Sean Turnell, an expert on the Myanmar economy with Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. “I would say environmental considerations mean zero to them. It wouldn’t even enter their heads.”

After decades of self-imposed isolation, the junta in the late 1980s began courting foreign investors with offers of stakes in gem mines, forest tracts and hydroelectric projects.

Foreign investment allowed the regime to double its military to 400,000 soldiers while offering neighbours like China and Thailand access to cheap raw materials and energy to feed their growing economies.

A Myanmar government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on its environmental record.

Chinese government officials could not be reached for comment and Thailand denied its investment in Myanmar’s contribution to the country’s environmental destruction. — AP

Washington, October 15
Top US Democrats vowed to press ahead with a Bill condemning the mass killing of Armenians decades ago as genocide, brushing off Turkish fury over the sensitive issue.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said possible reprisals affecting Turkey's cooperation with the US military were "hypothetical" and would not derail the resolution.

"Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur," she said on ABC television after the House foreign affairs committee last week branded the Ottoman Empire's World War I massacre of Armenians a genocide. But the White House warned yesterday that the Bill could bring "grave harm" to the already strained relations between Washington and Ankara.

"We regret that the Speaker Pelosi is intent on bringing this resolution for a vote despite the strong concerns expressed by foreign policy and defence experts ... and our Turkish allies," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "We continue to strongly oppose this resolution which may do grave harm to US-Turkish relations and to US interests in Europe and the Middle East." — AFP