Kathmandu, May 27
The Nepali government warned today that it could use force to throw the unpopular King Gyanendra out of the royal palace if he refused to leave voluntarily.

"The king must leave the palace immediately and move to Nirmal Niwas", peace and reconstruction minister Ram Chandra Poudel said, referring to Gyanendra's private home. "If he does not leave the palace then the government might have to use force to vacate the palace. This will not be good for him", Poudel said.

There was no immediate comment from the palace. A special assembly elected in April is scheduled to hold its first meeting tomorrow and formally declare an end to the monarchy, a key part of a 2006 peace deal with former Maoist rebels that ended a decade-long civil war.

The government has banned demonstrations around major royal sites and the assembly. But Maoists and other major political parties say they are going to take to the streets tomorrow to celebrate the monarchy's end.

The authorities posted more police outside the International Convention Centre, the venue of tomorrow’s assembly meeting, after a pro-Hindu militant group set off two small bombs outside the building, officials said.

Monday's blasts did not cause any injuries but raised security concerns ahead of the historic meet. — Reuters 

Kathmandu, May 27
Nepal’s Maoists may claim credit for the expected abolition of the 240-year-old-monarchy, but the spiritually minded can argue that the dethroning of the Shah dynasty was scripted centuries ago.

According to a legend, Gorkha King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who unified Nepal in late 18th century, was granted a blessing by Lord Gorakhnath that he will rule the country till his 11th generation.

Interestingly, King Gyanendra, 60, who will be dethroned after the country’s Constituent Assembly declares Nepal a republic, is the 11th descendant of Prithvi. Gyanendra became King following the June 2001 palace massacre in which King Birendra and his entire family was killed. In a controversial report, a government inquiry commission blamed Crown Prince Dipendra for the killings.

An ambitious Gyanendra’s sacked the elected Sher Bahadur Deuba government in October 2002. He appointed a series of prime ministers before assuming absolute power in February 2005, a move that hastened his end as he was forced to reinstate Parliament after massive public protests led by parties in April 2006. He was stripped of all his powers by the interim Parliament last year after the Maoists, who waged a decade long armed struggle to press for the monarchy’s abolition, signed a historic peace agreement and joined mainstream.

His picture was removed from the currency and the mandatory presence of the monarch, once revered as demi-god by his people, at important religious and national functions was done away with. Following pressure from Maoists, the interim parliament had declared Nepal a republic last year, subject to ratification by the Constituent Assembly. — PTI 

Pakistan needs 159 years to catch up with industrialised nations, says a report by the Commission on Growth and Development, an independent body based at the World Bank headquarters in Washington.

The commission’s report, however, notes that Pakistan can reach this milestone by 2050, if it maintains an annual growth rate of 8.3 per cent and in 2100, if it maintains a growth rate of 4.9 per cent. Pakistan has maintained the maximum growth rate of 4.8 during the past 10 years with an average of 1.8 per year. Its per capita GDP in 2006 was $2,206.

The report notes that China, which in 2006, had per capita GDP of $6,621, can catch up with industrialised countries in 23 years.

During the past 10 years, China has had an average growth rate of 8.3 per cent, with a maximum of 10.1 per cent.

India, with per capita GDP of $3,308, can catch up with industrialised nations in 50 years. During the past 10 years, India had the maximum growth rate of 7.7 per cent, with an average of 4.9 per cent.

Among the Muslim nations, Malaysia is the closest to catch up with industrialised nations. It can reach this milestone in 35 years, followed by Iran, which can reach there in 54 years. Egypt needs 118 years.

The report notes that in 1960, some of the largest developing countries have put their economies on track to catch up with industrialised countries; many others have not. There are about 150 developing countries in the world. The 10 largest among them account for about 70 per cent of developing countries' GDP, and the 25 largest countries for about 90 per cent.

The growth performance of these 25 countries has been uneven. Because industrialised countries' growth rate is about 2 per cent per capita, developing countries need to grow at much higher rates to catch up. Less than half have been able to reach this performance.

Since 1960, only six countries have grown faster than 3 per cent in per capita terms and 10 had growth rates below 2 per cent, implying that they have fallen farther behind industrialised countries' incomes. Pakistan's real GDP in 2006 was 99 billion in constant 2,000 dollars.

Pakistan's share in total developing countries’ real GDP in 2006 was 1.2 per cent. Pakistan's growth rate between 1980 and 2006 in real GDP was 5.1 per cent and in per capita it was 2.5 per cent. Between 1960 and 2006, the real GDP growth rate was 5.5 per cent and in per capita it was 2.7 per cent. The real GDP growth rate in 1960 was 9 per cent.

In 1960, Pakistan ranked 20th among the developing nations.

Differences in economic performance imply that for many developing countries, per capita incomes are lower than they were a few decades ago.

Because of the consistently improving economic performance of China and India, the share of developing countries in global GDP is increasing.

The corollary is that the share of the US, Canada, Japan, and the European Union has been declining since the 1980s - although these economic blocks together still account for 70 per cent of the world's GDP.

Top leaders of the two main coalition partners, Asif Zardari of the PPP and Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N, met here today for an hour to discuss major issues, including the proposed constitution package and the judges’ issue.

Both sides described the meeting as candid and pleasant, but failed to report the progress on the key issue of restoration of the deposed judges that divided them. This was the first direct meeting between the two leaders since their last series of botched dialogue on the judges’ issue in London early this month that resulted in the PML-N pulling out of the federal Cabinet.

The two leaders avoided the media but spokesmen, including Ahsan Iqbal of PML-N and Farzana Raja of the PPP, said broad principles of the constitution package were considered during the meeting and both sides agreed to empower Parliament and the Prime Minister in order to restore the balance of power that had tilted in favour of the President due to unilateral amendments by Musharraf. It was decided that the PPP would circulate the draft of the package among allies for consideration by senior leaders and top leaders of four-coalition partners would meet to give it a final shape for its introduction in Parliament.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of Asif Zardari’s latest statements against Musharraf that had brought him closer to Sharif’s stance on Musharraf’s impeachment.

Sharif, however, insisted that judges must be restored in accordance with the Bhurban Declaration through a resolution by Parliament followed by an executive order.

The two leaders also discussed the plans by lawyers to launch a march on June 10, if judges were not restored.

Nepal’s Maoists-dominated Constituent Assembly (CA), elected in a historic poll last month, was sworn-in on Tuesday, a day ahead of its first meeting, which is expected to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy. The oath-taking ceremony for the members of the new assembly took place at the Birendra International Convention Centre (BICC) at Nayabaneshwor here amid tight security.

A veteran Nepali Congress leader, 73-year-old Kul Bahadur Gurung, administered the oath of office to over 550 members at the BICC as the eldest member after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in the assembly.

As per the existing constitutional provision, an oldest CA member has to administer the oath of the office to other members before they start the first formal meeting of the CA. Although Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Koirala, 84, is the oldest member in the CA, he did not take the charge being as the head of the state and executive body.

Meanwhile, 26 members to be nominated by the cabinet are yet to be finalised and some of the members, including a Maoist senior leader Mohan Baidya, alias Kiran, were absent in the function.

Once the parties reach political understanding and nominate 26 members, there will be total 601 members - 575 elected by the people through mixed electoral system and 26 nominated - in the CA, which will abolish the monarchy and draft the new constitution of the country. According to a parliamentary official, the parliamentary secretariat has drafted the swearing paper in more than 40 different local languages so that the members can take oath in their own mother tongue.

Yangon, May 27
Myanmar’s military junta has extended opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest by another six months, a government source said today.

The official, who asked not to be named, said a government officer had gone to the Nobel laureate’s home to read out the extended detention order in person.

Suu Kyi has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years under some form of arrest.

Her latest spell in detention started on May 30, 2003 “for her own protection” after clashes between her supporters and pro-junta thugs in the northern town of Depayin.

The extension is likely to dismay Western donor nations, which have pledged tens of millions of dollarsin conditional aid since cyclone Nargis hit on May 2, leaving up to 2.4 million persons destitute.

Activists criticised UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon for not speaking out about Suu Kyi’s detention during his weekened visit to Myanmar, which the UN chief said was purely a humanitarian mission.

“It is shameful that Ban Ki-Moon went to Burma and failed even to utter her name,” Mark Farmner, director of the Burma Campaign, UK, said in a statement.

“He is playing into the regime’s hands. The UN is crawling on its knees before the regime, afraid to speak the truth in case it affects aid access deals, which the regime is already breaking in any case,”he said.

The military, ctiticised for its slow response to the disaster which left 134.000 dead and missing, has slowly opened the isolated Southeast Asian nation to foreign aid and workers.

But the generals have also shown no sign of relaxing their iron grip on the country.

Earlier today, the police arrested 20 youth members of Suuu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (INLD) trying to march to her home in the former capital, opposition sources said.

At least six police trucks, a prison van and a fire engine parked near the NLD headquarters was seen before a ceremony to mark the end of the latest phase of her house arrest.

However, her formal house arrest under a state security law did not start until November 27 of that year. It was renewed once for six months, and has since been renewed every year on or around May 27. — Reuters 

Los Angeles, May 27
Hollywood filmmaker Sydney Pollack, who won a pair of Academy awards for the epic romance, ''Out of Africa'' and earned praise for his acting stints in films such as ''Tootsie'' and ''Michael Clayton,'' died yesterday after a battle with cancer, his spokeswoman said. He was 73.

Pollack, whose illness first came to public attention after unspecified health issues led him to withdraw last August as director of an HBO television movie, died at his home in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of Pacific Palisades at about 5 p m local time, surrounded by his family.

Spokeswoman Leslee Dart said Pollack was diagnosed with cancer about 10 months ago, but doctors were never able to determine the primary source of the disease. He had devoted more time to producing and acting in later years.The tall, curly-haired Indiana native, who got his start as an acting coach under the legendary drama teacher Sanford Meisner before becoming a prominent TV director, once described his acting stints as ''an excuse to spy on other directors.''

''Directors are very territorial,'' he told CNN.com in a 2005 interview. ''They're like lions, urinating on every corner of the stage.'' The time Pollack spent on either side of the camera served him well on both.The Directors Guild of America issued a statement yesterday night saluting him as ''the quintessential actor's director'' and a gifted filmmaker who ''let the dialogue and the emotion of a scene speak for itself.'' He drew Oscar attention as recently as last year, playing a prominent supporting role as George Clooney's boss in the legal thriller, ''Michael Clayton,'' for which he served as a producer and shared a best picture Academy Award nomination.

But his biggest triumph came with the 1985 drama, ''Out of Africa.'' Based on Isak Dinesen's 1937 memoir, the film starred Meryl Streep as the Danish owner of a coffee plantation in Kenya and Robert Redford as an American-born adventurer with whom she falls in love.The movie earned 11 Academy Award nominations in all and seven wins, including Pollack's Oscars for best picture and director.

He followed that film five years later with the 1990 drama ''Havana,'' a critical and commercial flop that also starred Redford, this time as a cynical gambler who becomes involved with a Cuban revolutionary in 1958.Still, Pollack scored many more triumphs than failures, earning Oscar nominations for directing Jane Fonda in the Depression-era drama ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They'' -- his first major success -- and Dustin Hoffman in the cross-dressing comedy ''Tootsie.''Pollack himself played a small but memorable role as Hoffman's agent in ''Tootsie,'' which also earned him a nomination for best picture (as one of its producers) and earned a best supporting actress award for Jessica Lange.

In one of his more recent roles, Pollack made a guest turn on the HBO mob drama, ''The Sopranos'', as a former physician imprisoned for killing his family. He also had a recurring part on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace,'' as Eric McCormack's philandering dad. —Reuters

London, May 27
A British woman has revealed that she was raped 800 times and made pregnant by her evil father - a case which is chillingly similar to Austrian incest fiend Josef Fritzl.

The 38-year-old, Anne Marie Wilson, whose 16-year nightmare began when she was just 11, said her dad, John McMillan, told her she must give birth so that he could claim child benefits. She became pregnant six times but had four miscarriages and one stillbirth. Her other child, Jennifer, survived for only eight months.

Anne Marie decided to reveal her own ordeal after reading about Elisabeth Fritzl, who was imprisoned for 24 years by her evil father.Elisabeth had seven children by the fiend in a dungeon at the family home in Amstetten, Austria.

"Dad used me as his sex slave, raping me once a week. When Fritzl's face appeared on TV, I collapsed on the sofa," The Sun quoted Anne Marie, as saying."Elisabeth was just like me, Josef was just like dad. The sickening details brought back everything”.

"Dad had never put me in a dungeon but he had turned our home into a virtual one, locking me away with fear, threats and abuse.

"He's a sick monster who tormented me with his depraved fantasies. He stole my life, he robbed me of everything." Anne Marie lived with her father, mum Annie and five brothers and two sisters when the abuse began.She said: "I'd always been scared of dad. He had a collection of weapons - a bow and arrow, Rambo-style knives and a shiny axe kept by the side of his bed. They terrified me so I did as I was told. Anyway, he was my dad, the boss. All daughters did what their dads said, didn't they?”

"Too young to know better, I assumed all dads made their little girls have sex. When he first did it I thought, 'Dad really hurt me, so I must have been very naughty'. Shame washed over me as I struggled to understand." Anne Marie said that neither her mum - now dead - nor siblings knew about the assaults, which took place when they were out.

She said: "He told me it's our special secret. If you tell anyone, I'll cut up your mum with my axe. Dad would keep me off school. I barely left the house. On the rare occasion he let me go to school I was too scared to make friends. I only went outside to collect dad's benefit money or pick up his cigarettes from the corner shop." — ANI 

Berlin, May 27
India has allayed fears of international defence manufacturers on its offset clause for military procurement, saying it is a "bridge" between the industry and potential vendors to help private foreign players obtain licences for the joint manufacture of goods.

In his speech at a reception hosted in his honour here on the eve of Berlin Air Show, defence minister A K Antony said the procurement policies had been streamlined and were "transparent".

“The policies have been put in place, including the requirement of an offset of 30 per cent for certain contracts. This will act as a bridge between the Indian defence industry and potential vendors, both foreign and Indian, to help private industry obtain industrial licences for the manufacture of defence products," he said.

Under the offset clause, companies getting a defence tender will have to source nearly 30 per cent of contract from India. However, a company securing a contract for 126 fighter planes will have to source 50 per cent under this clause. The statement from the minister came at a time when some companies had been talking in private of their inability to meet the 50 per cent clause of offset. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Canadian minister quits over secret papers
OTTAWA: Canadian foreign minister Maxime Bernier has resigned after it emerged that he had left classified documents in the apartment of a former girlfriend who was once linked to organised crime figures.“Bernier has learned and informed me that he left classified government documents in a non-secure location. This is a serious error. He has accepted his responsibilities in offering to resign,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper. — Reuters

Australia pardons man hanged 86 years ago
SYDNEY: An Australian Governor gave a posthumous pardon on Tuesday to a man hanged 86 years ago for the rape and murder of a young girl after new research discredited the evidence used for his conviction. Colin Campbell Ross, who was hanged in 1922 at the age of 28, was pardoned by Victoria Governor David de Kretser. Descendants of Ross and victim Alma Tirtschke petitioned for the pardon. — AP

Many ignorant of heart attack signs: Study
CHICAGO: Many people with heart diseases do not know the symptoms of a heart attack, even though their risk of suffering is five to seven times higher than those with no such history, researchers reported on Monday. Symptoms can include nausea and pain in the jaw, chest or left arm. But the research team said shorter hospital stays and a move on outpatient treatment have decreased the amount of education of patients on the subject. — Reuters

Indian origin volunteer wins global award
LONDON: A prominent volunteer of Indian origin, who has worked for over two decades for a number of international as well as community-level projects, has been awarded the International Volunteer Award. Gopaldas Popat (85) has also been named the overall Volunteer of the Year 2008.Harrow-based Popat has been involved in volunteer work for several years and has helped raise funds for international causes in India, Africa and Asia as a patron of the Asian Foundation for Help. — PTI