W O R L D

Oz shuts door on cooks, hairdressers
Sydney, May 17
Passing a course in cooking or hairdressing will not deliver permanent residency in Australia after the government today took the scissors to its skills-shortage list. Cooks and hairdressers accounted for 12 per cent of the 41,000 issued visas in the skilled category last year and 75 per cent of those visas went to those, mostly Indians, who had studied in Australia.

No extension for Kayani
Lahore, May 17
Pakistan's Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said the PPP-led government was not giving any extension to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, as he has not asked for the extension of his tenure.

Afghan plane crashes with 44 on board
Kabul, May 17
An Afghan passenger plane carrying 44 persons, including six foreigners, crashed today in a mountainous northern region where poor weather was hampering efforts to locate it, officials said.

Oz shuts door on cooks, hairdressers

Sydney, May 17
Passing a course in cooking or hairdressing will not deliver permanent residency in Australia after the government today took the scissors to its skills-shortage list. Cooks and hairdressers accounted for 12 per cent of the 41,000 issued visas in the skilled category last year and 75 per cent of those visas went to those, mostly Indians, who had studied in Australia.

Other skilled occupations gone from the visa-friendly list are acupuncturist, dance teacher, hotel manager, piano tuner, interior decorator, journalist and naturopath. "International students who have the skills our economy needs will still be able to apply for permanent migration or be nominated by employers but we will no longer accept the thousands of cooks and hairdressers who applied under the guidelines established by the previous government," Immigration Minister Chris Evans said.

Cooking and hairdressing are two of 219 occupations crossed out from the old list of 400. The new list comes into force at the start of the new financial year July 1 and will be updated annually. Since 2001 foreign students could apply for permanent residency if they completed courses matching skills listed as in short supply.

Previously, there was no preferential treatment for those studying in Australia and the rule was that all students had to return home before applying for permanent residency. The changes in 2001 led to certain courses being touted as guaranteed to deliver a visa. This was the bait that enticed 90,000 Indians to come to study in Australia.

Along with cutting the skills-wanted list to 181 occupations, all 1,300 private colleges have had to apply for re-accreditation. They will find it harder to offer entry into Australia under the guise of providing education. Because foreign students are allowed to be in paid employment for up to 20 hours a week, many come to Australia expecting to finance their studies themselves. Many work as taxi drivers and cleaners, in shops and at fast-food restaurants.

The government has not completely severed the nexus between courses and visas. A qualification earned in Australia counts for more than one earned abroad and there will still be areas of study that are more likely to lead to a visa than others. Evans said the changes would lead to the government setting the skilled-migration agenda rather than private colleges. — DPA

No extension for Kayani
TNS & Agencies

Lahore, May 17
Pakistan's Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said the PPP-led government was not giving any extension to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, as he has not asked for the extension of his tenure.

General Kayani (55) is the 14th chief of the Pakistan Army. He was promoted as a full General in October 2007, and made the Vice Chief of Army Staff. He took over as the new Army Chief after Pervez Musharraf's retirement on November 28,2007.

Mukhtar also said that the government would not write a letter to the Swiss authorities for the reopening of cases against its own President.

He said there was no confrontation between the government and the judiciary, adding that the government was not facing any serious problem from the judiciary. He said the president could only be removed through impeachment.

Mukhtar stressed the need for initiating the Pak-India composite dialogue to resolve any lingering issues.

 

Notice to Zardari A Pakistani court on Monday served a notice on Asif Ali Zardari in a petition challenging his holding of a dual office, one of President and the other of the head of a political party. The petition questioned the right of the President to hold the two offices. — PTI Interior Minister faces 3-year jail A Pakistani court today dismissed an appeal by Interior Minister Rehman Malik against his conviction in two corruption references by an accountability court and restored a three-year imprisonment awarded to him. The accountability court had sentenced Rehman Malik to a three-year imprisonment in each of the two NRB references. A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court comprising Chief Justice Khawaja Mohammad Sharif and Justice Waqar Hasan Mir dismissed Malik’s plea and restored the sentence after he failed to appear in the court. Malik’s counsel claimed no notice was sent to the minister to appear before the court and a verdict given in his absence would be illegal. He also requested the Lahore High Court to halt the punishment orders against him. Malik is out of the country and there are unconfirmed reports that he may not return till the matter is settled. After the Supreme Court scrapped the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) last December, the two cases against Rehman Malik in which he was sentenced for a three-year-long imprisonment each were reopened in the accountability court. Malik was accused of receiving two luxury cars as graft and taking away 20-tola and Rs 700,000 from the house of an accused during a raid by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in mid 1990s. He was then assistant director of FIA. Legal experts said Malik can now be arrested under the law. “The minister is in the dock as even he moves to the Supreme Court against the decision of the LHC, he first will have to resign from his office,” Muneeb Ahmed advocate said. However, Justice (retired) Wajihuddin said Rehman Malik would continue to hold his office if succeeded to get a ‘stay order or bail from the apex court.

Afghan plane crashes with 44 on board

Kabul, May 17
An Afghan passenger plane carrying 44 persons, including six foreigners, crashed today in a mountainous northern region where poor weather was hampering efforts to locate it, officials said.

There was no immediate word on casualties. Rescuers were trying to reach the crash site near the 3,800-metre-high Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains.

The plane was operated by Pamir Airways, a private Afghan airline making a flight from the northern city of Kunduz to the capital, said Kabul International Airport Police Chief Mohammad Asif Jabar Khil.

At the request of the Afghan government, NATO dispatched a fixed-wing aircraft to the last known position of the plane, but poor weather hampered the aerial search.

Capt. Robert Leese, a spokesman for the NATO air unit assisting in the search, said the US aircraft got within four miles of the crash site, but had to abort due to bad weather. — AP

Bangkok Bleeds
Ultimatum fails to dislodge Red Shirts

Bangkok, May 17
A Thai government ultimatum today failed to dislodge thousands of Red Shirts from a protest camp in central Bangkok as their leaders made a fresh offer to negotiate on the fifth day of raging street battles that have killed 37 persons. A small plane dropped leaflets urging the estimated 5,000 protesters to abandon their fortified camp by 3 pm or face criminal charges and up to two years in prison.

The demand had little apparent effect, and unrest still flared in various parts of the downtown area, with troops firing live ammunition at protesters who were lighting tires to hide their positions. The thick smoke darkened the sky.

Some protesters commandeered a fuel tanker from a gasoline station and pushed it to the middle of the key Rama IV road that has become a battleground. The protesters tried to set it ablaze with a burning tire and fireworks, but were deterred by troops.

Today, the so-called military strategist of the Red Shirts, who was shot in the head in an apparent sniper attack last week, succumbed to his injuries. The shooting last Thursday of Maj. Gen.Khattiya Sawasdiphol had sparked the latest unrest, two months into the standoff in the capital, and his death raised fears violence could get worse.

The Red Shirts, many of whom hail from the impoverished north and northeast, are trying to unseat Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and force immediate elections. They say the coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, and that it symbolises a national elite indifferent to their plight.

The political conflict is Thailand’s deadliest and most prolonged in decades, and each passing day of violence deeply divides in this nation of 65 million, a key US ally and Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. Thailand has long been considered a democratic oasis in Southeast Asia, and the unrest has shaken faith in its ability to restore and maintain stability.

A Red Shirt leader, Jatuporn Prompan, said the only hope now to end the violence was intervention by Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Another protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, said the Red Shirts are ready to negotiate and to submit themselves to the courts.

Despite the conciliatory words, the Red Shirts also continued to insist they will not stop the protests until Abhisit orders a cease-fire. Red Shirt supporters were also seen gathering in other parts of the city, and in at least one place an activist used a loudspeaker to address a crowd of about 300. — AP