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Russia assures more aid to Pakistan
Now, Nepal PM poll on Aug 23
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Indian-British gay couple ties knot in Nepal
Indian among 41 killed in Philippines mishap
Manmohan most loved world leader
Breast cancer’s culprit ‘identified’
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Russia assures more aid to Pakistan
Moscow, August 18 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and discussed the flood situation in the country, terrorism and the situation in the region, especially Afghanistan. Zardari is in Russia to attend the quadrilateral summit hosted by Medvedev with his counterparts from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. The summit will discuss cooperation in Af-Pak peace process, combating terrorism, drug trafficking and promoting economic interaction. Welcoming Zardari, the Russian President said his country was ready to provide more assistance to Pakistan to deal with the worst-ever floods. “This is a severe disaster which caused many deaths and unfortunately brought great damage. We mourn with you and are ready to provide assistance to the Pakistani people. You can count on us,” Medvedev said. “We would like to continue cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and international crimes. That’s why everything we discussed earlier could be continued, even though there is a good political dialogue, it is very important to develop economic ties,” Medvedev said in his televised remarks at bilateral meeting with Zardari. Medvedev, who has met Zardari four times in nearly two years, regretted that there has been no progress in bilateral economic cooperation. “I hope that we will be able to continue discussing this issue now in terms of bilateral economic cooperation and four-party cooperation in a number of projects,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. During his bilateral parleys with Medvedev, Zardari was accompanied by his Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir. — PTI
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Now, Nepal PM poll on Aug 23
Nepalese lawmakers will meet on August 23 for the crucial fifth round of Parliament vote for a new prime minister, further prolonging a leadership vacuum in the country following the failure of Maoist supremo Prachanda and his Nepali Congress rival to garner a majority. More than seven weeks after the 22-party coalition led by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal collapsed, the planned fifth run-off poll on Wednesday was not expected to throw up a clear winner in the 601-member Constituent Assembly, which acts as the country’s interim Parliament. Parliament Business Advisory Committee today scheduled the fifth round of the election of Prime Minister at 3 pm on August 23. Subash Chandra Nembang, Constituent Assembly chairman and the Speaker of the Parliament, announced the formal decision about the postponement of the election today. “The election slated for this afternoon has been postponed because a member of Parliament died last week,” a Parliament secretariat official told the media. Though the reason cited for postponing the runoff today was that the lawmakers wanted to mourn the death of sitting Maoist member Ram Kumari Yadav, sources said parties wanted more time to make the two frontrunners, Prachanda and R C Poudyal stand down. Both the candidates have failed to secure a simple majority in four rounds of polling. The continuing deadlock in the land locked country comes even as the Terai-based Madhesi alliance announced a shutdown in their region to impress upon the political parties to form a national government. But there seems to be no letup among the main contestants to stand down. Hectic consultations were under way among major political parties, with the Nepali Congress and UCPN-Maoist trying to woo the CPN-UML and the Madhesi parties. The UCPN-Maoist, which is largest single party in the House, has claimed the right to form a new government. The Madhesi front of four parties with 84 lawmakers-Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF), MPRF-Democratic, Terai Madhes Democratic Party and Sadbhavana Party-and most other smaller parties favour a national government. The country has been in political limbo for over seven weeks following the resignation of Nepal on June 30.
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Indian-British gay couple ties knot in Nepal
Kathmandu, August 18 Social worker Sanjaya Shah, 42, from the UK tied nuptial knot at a temple in Teku with S Khan, 30, (name changed) from Gujarat yesterday under the aegis of Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an organisation dedicated for the cause of gay and lesbian in Nepal. The BDS charged $200 to issue marriage certificate to the couple, said Sunil Babu Pant, President of the society, who is also the first Nepalese gay lawmaker. As there was no law to permit same sex marriage in India, they came to Nepal for the purpose of wedding, he said. “We are expecting more gay marriages in Kathmandu in 2011, when Nepal is observing Nepal Tourism Year with the aim to attract some one million tourists,” he said. A lesbian couple from US is planning to tie nuptial knot in remote mountain district of Mustang bordering China in March and another couple, one from Philippines and another from Dubai, has also approached the BDS for facilitating their wedding, Pant said. The $200 received from the couple for issuing certificates will be spent in helping the poor lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-sexual people from different parts of the country, he added. Earlier this year, Manvendra Singh Gohil, an openly gay and scion of the family that once ruled Rajpipla in Gujarat, married his partner at a Hindu temple in Kathmandu. Two years ago, Nepalese Supreme Court had ordered the government to enact laws to guarantee the rights of gays and lesbians after the BDS filed a petition. On August 25, BDS is also planning to organize a grand Pride Festival coinciding with the Hindu Gaijatra or Cow Festival. At least 8,000 lesbian and gay people from 40 districts of Nepal will gather in Kathmandu to participate in the procession. — PTI
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Indian among 41 killed in Philippines mishap
Manila, August 18 Nine people, including a 10-year-old boy, survived and eight were taken to hospitals, said police chief Wilben Mayor of Benguet province north of Manila. Mayor said most of the victims were pinned to death while others were thrown out as the bus tumbled down. Working into the night, emergency workers recovered the last of the 41 bodies from the twisted wreckage, said regional disaster agency director Olivia Mercado-Luces. Twenty-six have been identified so far, including four members of a Filipino-American family who were on their way back to the US after visiting relatives in the northern Philippines. The victims’ remains, including a toddler’s, were put in body bags on the highway and were later taken to funeral parlors. The bus zoomed between a tree and a house and plunged into the ravine, Mayor said. The driver, who survived with a broken leg, would be investigated, he said. —
AP
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Manmohan most loved world leader
New York, August 18 In an article titled “The Leader Other Leaders Love”, the magazine said the economist-turned-politician Singh, engineered the transition “from stagnant socialism to a spectacular takeoff in the global economy.” “But it’s Singh’s unassuming personal style that really inspires awe among his fellow global luminaries, who praise him for being modest, humble, and incorruptible,” the magazine said in the article. Besides Singh, British Premier David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud also figure in the list. Besides, India is described as the ‘Best Place to Fly a Kite’. — PTI
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Breast cancer’s culprit ‘identified’ Washington, August 18 Although the cancer-causing gene (or oncogene) Wnt1 has been connected with breast cancer for over 30 years, the signals that trigger it remain largely unknown. Now, Prof Rakesh Kumar of the Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and colleagues have pinpointed the so-called switch, which sparks a type of Wnt signalling in breast cancer, the Cancer Research journal reported. Moreover, the scientists say that this master control switch may explain why increased levels of a protein called MTA1 (metastasis-associated protein 1) are oncogenic in certain types of breast cancer. Like many molecular pathways underlying cancer, Wnt pathways govern normal processes like embryonic development and the communication between cells in healthy people. For reasons little understood, however, certain types of Wnt proteins sometimes go awry, sending off cascades of signals that turn normal cells into cancerous ones. In their research, the scientists have implicated MTA1 and a shorter variation of the protein, MTA1s, in Wnt1 (a type of Wnt) pathway activation. MTA1 belongs to the MTA family of genes, which help a range of cancers progress in many ways. The team found that MTA1 expression triggers cancer-causing signals from Wnt1 in human breast cancer cells. This Wnt1 signaling cascade leads to tumors, they demonstrate, by showing that 8.8 per cent of mice bearing artificially elevated levels of MTA1s grew tumors in their mammary glands. To get down to the details, Kumar and his colleagues show that MTA1 and MTA1s activate the cancer-causing pathway by reducing the levels of a protein known as Six3. This protein is known to inhibit Wnt1 in brain cells, but in their study involving breast cancer cells, it inhibited Wnt1 in a rather non-intuitive way.
— PTI
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Moscow, August 18
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