Washington, August 5
Two American woman journalists, detained in North Korea for five months, had an emotional reunion with their families today after former US President Bill Clinton secured their release following a surprise diplomatic mission to the reclusive Communist country.

An aircraft carrying Clinton, Euna Lee (36) and Laura Ling (32) touched down amid tight security at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank outside Los Angeles. A large crowd, including a battery of mediapersons, had gathered for the arrival. North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong Il granted a “special pardon” to the two --- who were arrested in March for allegedly illegally entering the country through China --- after Clinton’s brief and unannounced trip to Pyongyang.

The women were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labour on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign. North Korean media reported that Clinton had apologised to Kim for the behaviour of the two scribes.

Clinton expressed “words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for hostile acts committed by Ling and Lee against North Korea after intruding into it from China,” North Korean state-run news agency KCNA reported. However, the US denied that any apology was made.

The White House said it is “enormously pleased” with the release of the women. Clinton made the trip after the women’s families asked him to travel to the communist country and seek their release, CNN quoted a senior administration official as saying.

Former Vice President Al Gore made the same appeal to Clinton. The two journalists are employed by Gore’s California-based media company, Current TV. Doug Ling, Laura Ling’s father, reacted to the news of his daughter’s release outside his home in Carmichael, California, saying it was “one of the best days in my life.” “I figured, sooner or later, they’d be back,” he said.

In Los Angeles, family friend Welly Yang said the Lings had “done everything they could, while respecting the North Korean government, to try and get Laura home.” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also expressed her relief that the two women were released. — PTI

Former Prime Minister and Chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, has said that he gave up his premiership as he opposed Indian and US designs to attack China by using Nepali soil.

Prachanda made this revelation while addressing a training programme of Maoist party members in Kathmandu on Tuesday, reports Nepali national daily Rajdhani Daily.

Prachanda said his claim was based on the information that he got from a senior Indian professor. He, however, did not disclose the identity of the professor.

“India and the US had hatched a conspiracy against my government soon after I visited China last year during the Beijing Olympic Games as prime minister, deviating from the normal practice -- of a newly elected Prime Minister of Nepal paying the first official visit to India,” Prachanda said, quoting the professor.

“Our government’s firm stance on one-China policy came as a stumbling block to the US and Indian plan to attack China,” he said, adding that “we will never let them make their desire to attack China a success.” He warned that the attack against China would begin the third world war.

Thereafter, he said, India opted harsh measures against Communist parties in Nepal by “using other coalition partners”.

Coming down heavily against India and the US, Prachanda said the two countries were trying to provoke the Maoists and derail the ongoing peace process.

Referring to the recent government decision to ban the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Prachanda said, “The Government of India had made such a decision to abolish the communist movement from the world.”

Pakistan’s former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf has been given full protocol and military security in London by the Pakistan government, officials here have admitted. The Pakistani mission in the British capital has deputed its diplomatic staff to extend Musharraf full protocol of ex-president during his stay in the city, Pakistan’s high commissioner to the UK Wajid Sham-ul-Hassan said.

A group consisting of a dozen army personnel led by a colonel has been assigned to provide round the clock security to the former military dictator. Army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed a guard contingent has been assigned but declined to give further details including the number of soldiers deputed.

“We are bound to act in line with Islamabad’s directions and have been formally instructed by the Foreign Office to provide the protocol of an ex-president to Pervez Musharraf, which we are extending him,” said Sham-ul-Hassan.

He said the high commission used to send a protocol car and a protocol officer to receive and see off Musharraf whenever he arrived or left Britain. It also arranged for a ‘VIP’ lounge for Musharraf but the money was paid by the ex-dictator, he added.

Officials here could not cite rules under which Musharraf has been provided armed guards abroad. But former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg said according to the Pakistani army’s rules and regulations no such protocol was permissible for an ex-army chief.

Beg disclosed a few years back there was “some rule” for providing a batman, a PS, a driver and an army telephone to an army chief on his retirement. “However Benazir Bhutto, during her second tenure as prime minister, had ordered the then COAS Jahangir Karamat, to withdraw these facilities from me,” he said.

Washington, August 5
A bit of daily yoga and meditation, combined with six weekly group sessions, can lower stress and improve sleep quality for sedentary office-goers, says a pilot study. “Because chronic stress is associated with chronic disease, I am focussing on how to reduce stress before it has a chance to contribute to disease,” said Maryanna Klatt, professor at Ohio State University (OSU), who led the study.

The study offered participants a modified version of what is known as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a programme established in 1979 to help patients assist themselves in their own healing. Mindfulness refers in part to one's heightened awareness of the factors that cause stress.

Participants attended one-hour weekly group meetings during lunch and practised 20 minutes of meditation and yoga daily at their desks. After six weeks, participants reported greater awareness of stress factors, felt less stressed by events, and fell asleep more easily than did a control group that did not experience the intervention. — IANS