The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Ijaz skips memo hearing Seeks time till January 25 citing security reasons Islamabad, January 16 Controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a key figure in the raging memo row, today sought time till January 25 to come before a judicial commission investigating the scandal, citing security threats. Ijaz, who was scheduled to appear before the Supreme Court appointed commission today, skipped the crucial hearing. Shortly after the commission began its third sitting this morning, Ijaz’s lawyer Akram Sheikh said his client wanted more time to come to Pakistan to appear before the panel. Sheikh said Ijaz had been receiving threats and wanted to get insurance done for the safety of himself and his family. He submitted an application seeking time till January 25 for Ijaz to appear before the three-judge commission. The lawyer further said that Ijaz had made an appointment at the Pakistani Embassy at Berne in Switzerland today to get a visa to travel to the country. The members of the commission asked Sheikh to clarify once and for all whether Ijaz intended to come to Pakistan. Meanwhile, in a related development, Haqqani’s lawyer today contended that Ijaz would not come to Pakistan and was setting all sorts of unnecessary conditions for his visit. Haqqani was forced to resign after Ijaz made public a mysterious memo that had sought US help to stave off a feared military coup in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May last year. The envoy’s lawyer, Zahid Bokhari, told reporters that Ijaz was setting frivolous conditions for coming to Pakistan even though the commission had already ordered authorities to deploy army soldiers to protect him when he arrived. “We want him to be given all possible security so that he can come here to testify before the commission. We will welcome him but we will welcome him with reservations,” Bokhari said. — PTI
	RIM refuses to share data between Haqqani, Ijaz BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has rejected Pakistan’s request for details of communications between former envoy Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz related to the memo scandal. RIM had informed the Pakistan government that under its privacy policy, BlackBerry data could be released only if a request was made by customers who were involved in the communications, Haq said. RIM would not provide such data to a third party, he said. Besides, RIM had informed the government that it did not store some of the data that was being sought by the commission, such as SMS messages and emails, the panel was informed. The Attorney General further told the commission that authorities had been unable to find Haqqani’s two BlackBerry sets at his former office and home in the US.
	Birmingham Murders 3rd suspect held for Birmingham murders London, January 16 A third suspect was today arrested for the twin murder of Indian origin Avtar Singh Kolar and his English wife in Birmingham last week, while the UK police released one of the earlier two arrested people without charge. Stating that the investigators were "extremely encouraged" by the response from the community and information passed to the investigation codenamed Operation Tiler, the West Midlands Police said the third person was arrested just after 1 p.m. GMT today. He has been arrested "on suspicion of murder" of Avtar Singh, 62, and Carole, 58, the police said. Earlier in the day, a 41-year-old suspect arrested yesterday was released without charge. One 24-year-old suspect remains on police bail in connection with the major investigation into the sensation murders of the parents of a serving officer of the West Midlands Police. — PTI — PTI
	‘Off-the-shelf’ arteries, veins coming soon London, January 16 Coming soon: “Off-the-shelf” veins and arteries, says an Indian-origin researcher-led team in UK which claims to have for the first time grown all three main types of cells that make up the walls of a blood vessel. Dr Sanjay Sinha and colleagues at Cambridge University say that the breakthrough may pave the way for new live-saving treatments for a range of medical conditions like strokes and heart attacks. In their research, the scientists claim that over the past four years they used patients' own skin cells to produce different types of vascular smooth muscle cells with 90 per cent efficacy, the 'Daily Mail' reported. "This research represents an important step towards being able to generate the right kind of smooth muscle cells to help construct these new blood vessels," Dr Sinha was quoted by the British newspaper as saying. The team says it could potentially create blood vessels in a laboratory environment for surgeons to use in transplant operations instead of undertaking heart bypass treatments. So- called "test tube" blood vessels could also be used to treat kidney dialysis patients or trauma victims. Dr Sinha added: "We are very excited about its potential. They could be used to build an artificial artery in a test tube or the stem cells could be injected straight into the heart and they could form within it." A US-based biotechnology firm in California managed to grow whole blood vessels in a lab for the first time last June and implanted them into three kidney dialysis patients. But the Cambridge team says it's the first to grow multiple types which could have more medical uses. "One type of blood vessel will be not suitable for everything. We are looking at making arteries and now we have the tools to engineer all different types of blood vessels which are appropriate for each patient," Dr Sinha said. Experts have hailed the findings published in the 'Nature Biotechnology' journal. Jeremy Pearson, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "This is very technologically advanced as they have managed to grow more types of cells and there is the potential to scale it up." — PTI Life-saving breakthrough n Breakthrough may make possible new life-saving treatments for a range of medical conditions n The scientists claim that over the past four years they used patients' own skin cells to produce different types of vascular smooth muscle cells with 90 per cent efficacy
	GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS Top honours for Clooney, Streep Los Angeles, January 16 The 69th Golden Globe Awards this year had some starry names like George Clooney, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep and Madonna landing major honours and ‘The Descendants’ taking home the Best Motion Picture prize. As Clooney bagged the Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) award for his role in ‘The Descendants’ beating superstars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, Streep won the Best Performance by an Actress in the same category for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady’. ‘The Descendants’ was nominated alongside ‘The Help’, ‘Hugo’, ‘The Ides Of March’, ‘Moneyball’ and ‘War Horse’. Queen of pop Madonna’s track ‘Masterpiece’ from her directorial venture ‘W.E.’ won the Best Original Song (Motion Picture) trophy. Oscar winner Kate Winslet grabbed a Globe for her performance in the mini series ‘Mildred Pierce’. Veteran filmmaker Martin Scorsese clinched the Best Director (Motion Picture) for his ‘Hugo’, while Woody Allen took home the Best Screenplay award for ‘Midnight In Paris’. Jean Dujardin was named the Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for his performance in ‘The Artist’, which was named the Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical). The film was nominated alongwith ‘50/50’, ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘Midnight In Paris’ and ‘My Week With Marilyn’, whose lead star Michelle Williams won in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) category. ‘The Adventures Of Tintin’ was named the Best Animated Feature Film ahead of ‘Arthur Christmas’, ‘Cars 2’, ‘Puss In Boots’ and ‘Rango’. The Best Foreign Language Film award went to Iranian picture ‘A Separation’ by Asghar Farhadi. It left behind Angelina Jolie’s ‘In The Land Of Blood And Honey’, Christian Bale-starrer ‘The Flowers Of War’, ‘The Kid With A Bike’ from Belgium and ‘The Skin I Live In’ from Spain. — PTI
	Mars probe crashes into Pacific Moscow, January 16 A Russian space probe designed to boost the nation’s pride on a bold mission to a moon of Mars came down in flames today, showering fragments into the south Pacific west of Chile’s coast, officials said. Pieces from the Phobos-Grunt, which got stuck in the Earth’s orbit, landed in water 1,250 km west of Wellington Island in Chile’s south, the Russian military Air and Space Defense Forces said in a statement carried by the country’s news agencies. The military space tracking facilities were monitoring the probe’s crash, its spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said. Zolotukhin said the deserted ocean area is where Russia guides its discarded space cargo ships serving the International Space Station. RIA Novosti news agency, however, cited Russian ballistic experts who said the fragments fell over a broader patch of Earth’s surface, spreading from the Atlantic and including the territory of Brazil. It said the midpoint of the crash zone was located in the Brazilian state of Goias. The $170 million craft was one of the heaviest and most toxic pieces of space junk ever to crash to Earth, but space officials and experts said the risks posed by its crash were minimal because the toxic rocket fuel on board and most of the craft’s structure would burn up in the atmosphere high above the ground anyway. The Phobos-Ground was designed to travel to one of Mars’ twin moons, Phobos, land on it, collect soil samples and fly them back to Earth in 2014 in one of the most daunting interplanetary missions ever. — AP
	Landslide win for Kazakh ruling party Astana, January 16 The ruling party of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev today won a landslide victory with over 80 per cent of the vote in parliamentary polls which observers said failed to meet democratic standards. Two nominally opposition groups won seats for the first time in Kazakh Parliament after yesterday's elections which veteran leader Nazarbayev hoped would breathe fresh life into politics while maintaining stability. But the only clearly anti-government party, the All-National Social Democratic Party (OSDP) which failed to make parliament, denounced the elections as among the dirtiest ever in Kazakhstan and vowed street protests. Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party won 80.74 per cent of the vote in the polls, the central election commission announced. "This is our shared victory," Nazarbayev told his supporters after the results were announced. — PTI