The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Special to the tribune
Warsi loses job in UK cabinet rejig
Shyam Bhatia in London

Britain's only Asian-origin cabinet minister and the first ever Muslim in the cabinet has been sacked from her top job as co-chair of the ruling Conservative Party, but will remain in government, albeit as one of the ministers in the UK Foreign Office.

Shortly after she was sacked as part of a cabinet reshuffle, Sayeeda Warsi posted a message on Twitter, saying how it had been "a privilege and an honour to serve my party."

This was a far more dignified response than her appeal, only a few days earlier, when she seemed to be pleading with Prime Minister David Cameron to be allowed to keep her job.

"I'm a woman, I'm not white, I'm from an urban area, I'm from the North, I'm working class - I kind of fit the bill. All the groups that we're aiming for are groups that I'm familiar with."

But Warsi's job was on the line after a series of scandals earlier this year following allegations that she stayed at a friend's house rent free, while simultaneously claiming accommodation expenses. She was reported to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, although a House of Lords inquiry established that she had not broken any rules.

There were other criticisms about how she allegedly failed to declare rental income from a property bought in 2007 and angry claims by her Egyptian doctor host in London, Wafik Moustafa that she had threatened to destroy bottles of alcohol that he kept in his house.

At the time Warsi responded, saying, "I take these questions very seriously- it's why I said at the outset I would fully cooperate with any investigation.

I believe that being a member of the House of Lords is a privilege. Its why I have always ensured that my conduct, including in relation to expenses and allowances, is both in accordance with thelaw and the spirit of the rules."

The cabinet reshuffle and a crackdown on illegal immigrants who allegedly entered the UK via a flawed student visa system has also led to speculation that Cameron could be preparing for an early, snap election.

The crackdown on so-called bogus foreign students has won the PM the full throated approval of right wingers who have long criticized what they believe are inadequate immigration checks.

According to a recent parliamentary inquiry, as many as 50,000 bogus students may have entered the UK since 2009. Some of them may have had their entry facilitated by the London Metropolitan University, which has now been stripped of its right to sponsor foreign students, following an investigation which revealed that huge numbers of its students should never have been admitted to the UK.

Pak religious leaders back Christian girl
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Majority of religious leaders have voiced sympathy with the young Christian girl, Rimshah Masih, accused of blasphemy while one of their groups called for her immediate release on bail.

The chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, Allama Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, demanded that a joint investigation team of intelligence agencies should be constituted to clear confusion about the registration of a blasphemy case against a Christian girl and detention of a prayer leader on the charge of tampering with the evidence.

"To sort out truth from fiction and to identify the real culprit, an investigation team comprising representatives from various intelligence agencies should be formed to carry out an impartial investigation," he said at a news conference while calling for immediate release of Rimshah on bail.

Several prominent religious leaders appearing on TV talk shows have also criticised Rimshah's arrest on dubious evidence and emphasised that Islam stood for protection of minorities' rights and religious beliefs.

The case took a new turn on Friday when the deputy imam of the mosque told the police that the prayer leader Khalid Chishti implicated the poor girl in the case.

Prince Harry makes first public appearance since photo scandal

Prince Harry poses for photographs with Great Britain swimming gold medalist Jessica-Jane Applegate during a visit to the Aquatics Centre in London. — AP/PTI

London, September 4
A fully dressed Prince Harry has made his first public appearance in Britain for a charity awards function here, since his nude photographs of a wild night in Las Vegas went viral.

Prince Harry, 27, made an appearance yesterday at the WellChild Awards, organised by the charity of which he has been a patron since 2007.

A cheeky six-year-old Alex, suffering from Leukaemia, who was due to meet Prince Harry at the awards ceremony, had vowed on TV to bring up the 'cheeky issue' with the Prince, the Daily Mail reported.

Alex had promised his TV audience, he would say: "I'm glad you've got your clothes on Prince Harry." But unfortunately for Alex, when the big moment came, Harry was one step ahead.

Before the youngster had time to follow his script, the Prince wagged his finger and said with a grin, "You keep looking up at your mum. It looks like you're dying to say something but you're worried she'll tell you off. I heard you were on ITV earlier and you said something cheeky, but let's not talk about that here."

Alex played ball and just tickled the prince with his toy penguin, as his mother, Debbie, watched proudly. Yesterday's event was the first time the prince had been seen in public since he returned from Las Vegas. The charity supports critically ill children.

Each year it presents awards to those it considers the bravest in Britain.

In his speech last night, the prince said: "All of you...are, quite frankly, too remarkable for me to adequately describe with mere words. But never one to be shy in coming forward, I'll give it a go."

The daily quoted sources as saying that the Prince was concerned about appearing in public after the media onslaught of the past few weeks but was more worried that the continuing rumpus over his "wild weekend" in Sin City would overshadow such a worthy occasion. — PTI

Suicide attack at Afghan funeral claims 25 lives

Jalalabad, September 4
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 25 persons and wounding dozens, officials said, in one of the biggest attacks on civilians in weeks.

The bomber struck in Nangarhar province near the Pakistani border when residents, along with relatives of a chief from a distant district, were gathered at a graveyard.

An interior ministry statement put the death toll at 25 for the attack in Dur Baba district and blamed the Taliban for bombing. It said the district governor, Haji Hamesha Gul, probably the target of the attack, had been wounded.

The provincial governor's spokesman said at least 25 persons had died at the funeral of one of Gul's relatives.

"We have at least 25 innocent people martyred and more than 30 others wounded," said spokesman Ahmadzia Abdulzai.

The attack was carried out days after 15 men and two women were beheaded in southern Helmand province, punishment meted out by Taliban insurgents for a mixed-sex party with music and dancing.

Despite the presence of thousands of Afghan and foreign troops fighting the Taliban-led insurgency, violence is at its worst since the Islamists were toppled by Afghan and US forces in late 2001. — Reuters

Hezbollah: Iran may hit US bases if Israel attacks

Beirut, September 4
Iran could hit US bases in the Middle East in response to any Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities even if American forces played no role in the attack, the leader of Lebanon's Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said on Monday.

"A decision has been taken to respond and the response will be very great," Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen television.

"The response will not be just inside the Israeli entity - American bases in the whole region could be Iranian targets," he said, citing information he said was from Iranian officials. "If Israel targets Iran, America bears responsibility."

Heightened Israeli rhetoric about Tehran's nuclear facilities, which the West says could be part of a weapons programme, has stoked speculation that it may attack Iran before US elections in November. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world powers on Sunday to set a "clear red line" to convince Iran they would prevent it from obtaining nuclear arms. — Reuters

Indian eatery fined for rats, cockroach infestation in Oz

Melbourne, September 4
An Indian takeaway restaurant in Sydney has been slapped with a fine of over 97,000 Australian dollars after health authorities found cockroaches, accumulated grime and dead rats in its kitchen area.

Former owners of King Cross-based restaurant, RR Associates, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of failing to comply with Food Standards Code between December 7 and December 21 in 2011. They were fined a total of 97,500 Australian dollars, according to ABC news report. The report said when inspectors went to the eatery after a customer complaint, they found rat droppings in the service area and cupboards, a dead rat behind a bin and evidence of rat nests. Council officers told Downing Centre Local court that some of the rat faeces was on the floor of the kitchen, in service area and storage cupboards.

Court heard walls, floors and food contact surfaces were crawling with cockroaches. Officers said samosas waiting to be cooked were stored below shelving encrusted with dirt and the kitchen was infested with cockroaches. — PTI

Quit emailing to relax, boost productivity

Los Angeles, September 4
People can relax and be more productive if they don't have constant access to their emails, according to a new study.

Researchers led by the University of California, Irvine found that without email, workers felt destressed and concentrated better on the task at hand, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The study included 13 volunteers who were civilian employees at the US Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center outside Boston.

"First we did a baseline measure — we had them work as usual for several days. Then we cut off email for five days, continuing to take our measurements. We couldn't see a discernible trend on days 1 and 2. But at day 5, the pattern started to become clear: People became less stressed after being away from email," Gloria Mark, lead researcher said.

"We used monitors that measured the heart rate and also the intervals between heartbeats to obtain a common measure for stress called heart rate variability," Mark added. "It's counterintuitive. When heart rate variability is low — that means the heart is beating at a steady pace — people are actually under more stress," Mark said. — pti