Beijing, September 21
Unruffled by global concerns, Beijing and Islamabad are in talks to build a new nuclear reactor in Pakistan of one gigawatt capacity, three times more powerful than existing ones, apparently without the approval of the IAEA or the NSG.

Qiu Jiangang, Vice-President of the state-run China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which has already built Pakistan’s main nuclear facility at Chashma in Punjab province, said his company was in talks to set up another giant nuclear plant in Pakistan.

“Both sides are in discussion over the CNNC exporting a one gigawatt nuclear plant to Pakistan”, Qiu told a meeting in Beijing without giving any details. Tacitly confirming Qiu’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson here told reporters during a briefing to direct their queries to the CNNC.

But, the ministry said Beijing had informed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its plans to build two more nuclear power plants at Chashma in addition to the earlier two units.

Chinese Foreign Minister’s spokesperson, Jiang Yu who replied to a number of questions about China’s plans to build one gigawatt plant said she too “read the reports” about it and has no information about it.

Qiu, the top official of the CNNC giving details about the progress of Pakistani nuclear reactors said that besides the main plant at Chashma, his company was completing a second reactor there and has contracts to build two more 300 megawatt reactors, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Qiu said the first reactor was operating safely and the second one was being tested and expected to start formal operations by the end of the year.

The new plant of one gigawatt plant, which would be Pakistan’s fifth and more than three times powerful than the existing ones, is being proposed to be built without China notifying either the IAEA or the NSG.

US and India have both expressed concern after China signed a deal in February to build the additional two 300-MW reactors.

Quoting US officials, ‘Wall Street Journal’ said, such plans required special exemption from the 46-nation NSG, which China joined in 2004 and which is supposed to regulate the global nuclear trade.

The paper said, Vann H Van Diepen, the US acting assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation had suggested before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in July that the US would vote against such an exemption.

Pakistan is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and there are concerns by US, Western Nations and India that Pakistan’s nuclear material may fall into the hands of Al Qaida and Taliban who are based close to the Pakistani capital.

The Chinese plans to export yet another nuclear plant to Pakistan comes as Beijing has unveiled plans to invest nearly $120 billion to increase nuclear power generation to 70-80 gigawatts by 2020, the ‘China Daily’ reported today. The paper said to fund the new spending spree CNNC would list its subsidiary CNNC Nuclear Power Co Ltd. — PTI

Kathmandu, September 21
Amid speculation that deposed King Gyanendra has stepped up public appearances in face of the deepening constitutional crisis in the country, the Nepal government today prevented him from attending an ancient religious function to honour the ‘Living Goddess’ at his former palace.

The 65-year-old former monarch was barred from attending a felicitation function for the ‘Living Goddess’ in his ancestral Hanumandhoka palace complex in the heart of the capital at the last moment today on the eve of Indra Jatra, a major Hindu festival in the country.

Nepal’s ‘Living Goddess’ is revered by many as a “virgin deity” in a centuries-old tradition in the country.

On the Indra Jatra festival, the ‘Living Goddess’ in all her bejeweled splendor is borne in a palanquin in a religious procession through parts of the Nepalese capital.

It is a grand carnival attended by people in thousands, who come to see the ‘Living Goddess’ and seek her blessings.

In keeping with an old tradition, the Kumari also blesses the King of Nepal during this festival. Traditionally, the Kumari was regarded as the protector of the royal family.

Gyanendra was invited to the function as the chief guest by the World Hindu Youth Federation, which had organised the programme to felicitate Kumari, the Living Goddess, and former Kumaris.

However, authorities barred him from attending the religious function citing security reason. — PTI

London, September 21
Patients in a vegetative state after a devastating brain damage could soon be able to "talk" or steer a wheelchair, says a top neuroscientist.

Adrian Owen at Cambridge University has already proved that some victims with no outward signs of awareness not only can grasp what people are uttering, but also answer simple questions.

Now he believes a new breakthrough will before long enable them to communicate using a voice synthesizer almost in "real time", and even move around using a motorised wheelchair.

Owen has already shown that using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanner one patient was able to give "yes" or "no" responses to queries, reports the Telegraph.

He and his team have gone a step further and shown that a similar response can be achieved using a much cheaper and smaller Electroencephalography (EEG) machine which measures electrical activity in the brain.

That means that for as little as 30,000 pounds they will have access to the outside world in much the same way as the scientist Stephen Hawking.

However, instead of using their cheek or eyelid to communicate, they will activate different parts of the brain.

Owen, whose team is moving from Cambridge to the University of Western Ontario, Canada, believes the new devices could be available within 10 years.

"I would never have believed that within a few years we would be actually communicating with a patient who was in a persistent vegetative state," he said. — IANS

BRIEFLY

Russian Prime Minister Putin to marry 24-yr-old gymnast?
London: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has apparently split from his wife Ludmilla and is preparing to tie the knot with 24-year-old gymnast Alina Kabaeva. The revelation comes after a Moscow newspaper reported that Putin recently split with Ludmilla and is preparing to marry the young and very pretty Kabaeva. A Russian website alleged that Alina was seen kissing Putin in a Moscow restaurant. There is added piquancy in the fact that, despite her youth, Kabaeva has recently been made an MP. — ANI

NRI makes film on honour killings
London: Avtar Bhogal, an Indian-origin filmmaker, will shortly release his new film on the controversial subject of honour killings among the Indian and Pakistan communities in Britain, a scourge that reportedly leads to the death of at least 12 people every year. Titled 'Honour Killings', the film sheds light on the issue of murder in the name of protecting family honour, which has seen an alarming rise in cases across the UK and parts of the western world over recent years. — PTI

Now, skin patch to cure acne!
London: Scientists have developed what they claim is a high-tech skin patch which could end the embarrassment of acne, the most common type of skin condition, mainly affecting adolescents. The patch, which looks like an ordinary plaster, works by producing an electric charge to kill the bacteria linked to the condition;the overnight treatment has no side-effects, say the scientists at Oplon, an Israel-based technology company. — PTI