The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

World pressure for Gaza truce intensifies
UN chief in Cairo, calls for immediate ceasefire

Gaza/Jerusalem, November 20
The UN chief called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed to the region with a message that escalation of the conflict was in nobody's interest.

Nevertheless, Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket fire continued for a seventh day. For the second time since the fighting began, a rocket was launched at Jerusalem, triggering warning sirens. The police said it fell in an open area in the occupied West Bank and did not cause any casualties. Hamas's armed wing said in Gaza it fired the projectile.

Egypt was trying to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas movement. An Egyptian intelligence source said "there is still no breakthrough and Egypt is working to find middle ground".

Israel's military on Tuesday targeted about 100 sites in Gaza, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the National Islamic Bank. Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said six Palestinians were killed.

The Israeli police said more than 60 rockets were fired from Gaza by mid-day, and 25 of the projectiles were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome system. The military said an officer was wounded.

Some 115 Palestinians have died in a week of fighting, the majority of them civilians, including 27 children, hospital officials said. Three Israelis died last week when a rocket from Gaza struck their house.

In Cairo, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate ceasefire and said an Israeli ground operation in Gaza would be a "dangerous escalation" that must be avoided.

He had held talks in Cairo with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil before travelling to Israel for discussions with its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. Ban planned to return to Egypt on Wednesday to see Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was unavailable on Tuesday due to the death of his sister.

Israel's leaders weighed the benefits and risks of sending tanks and infantry into the densely populated coastal enclave two months before an Israeli election, and indicated they would prefer a diplomatic path backed by world powers, including US President Barack Obama, the European Union and Russia.

Clinton was going to the Middle East for talks in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Cairo to try to calm the conflict. An Israeli source said she was expected to meet Netanyahu on Wednesday.

Netanyahu and his top ministers debated their next moves in a meeting that lasted into the early hours of Tuesday. — Reuters

Nepal to hold fresh polls in April-May to end deadlock

Kathmandu, November 20
The crisis-ridden Maoist-led Nepal government today announced fresh Constituent Assembly elections in April or May next year, in an attempt to break the political deadlock plaguing the country since last year.

Fresh elections had originally been planned for November 22, after the 601-member Constituent Assembly was dissolved by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on May 27, but due to lack of consensus the plan was dropped.

Also today Prime Minister Bhattarai accompanied by Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, reached Rastrapati Bhawan and submitted a budget ordinance of Rs 300.64 billion, for the remaining eight-month period of the current fiscal year, to the President for approval, according to cabinet sources.

The Prime Minister tentatively proposed to conduct elections to the Constituent Assembly in the month of Baisakh as per Hindu calendar which lies in April-May.

A Cabinet meeting held today took the decision to hold fresh elections, Nepal News reported.

The cabinet has decided to conduct fresh elections in April, 2013, due to the government's inability to conduct polls to the Constituent Assembly on pre-scheduled date of November 22, President of Sadbhavana Party and Health Minister Rajendra Mahato said.

However, the exact date of the election is yet to be finalised, he added.

The cabinet meeting also decided to extend the tenure of the Special Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of former Maoist combatants by one month. Its tenure expires on November 14.

The new election date has been proposed by the caretaker government at a time when the main opposition parties, including Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, have been pressing for Prime Minister Bhattarai to step down to pave way for forming a national consensus government prior to holding the fresh elections.

The opposition parties have also asked the President not to endorse the budget ordinance forwarded by the caretaker government, saying that the incumbent government has no authority to announce the budget.

Nepal in 2008 elected the Constituent Assembly that was tasked with the job of drafting a constitution for the post- monarchy country, and completing the peace process. However, severe ideological and political disagreements prevented parties from achieving a constitution. — PTI

Ban on death penalty: India votes against UN resolution

United Nations, November 20
India was among the 39 countries that voted against a UN General Assembly draft resolution which called for abolishing the death penalty, saying every nation had the “sovereign right” to determine its own legal system.

The non-binding resolution called for a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

It was adopted yesterday at the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with social and humanitarian issues, after 110 nations voted in favour of the resolution while 36 abstained.

The draft resolution expresses its “deep concern about the continued application of the death penalty and calls on states to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolish the practice”.

It calls on nations to progressively restrict the death penalty’s use and not impose capital punishment for offences committed by persons under age 18 or pregnant women.

States would also be called on to reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty might be imposed.

Speaking in explanation of the vote, India said each state had the sovereign right to determine its own legal system.

“The draft resolution sought a moratorium on executions. India could not support the text in its present form,” India said in its explanation of the vote.

Among the nations voting against the resolution were Bangladesh, China, Korea, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Libya, Pakistan and the US.

An Indian delegate participating in the vote added that the practice of death penalty was exercised only on the “rarest of occasions” in India and the country’s laws contained provisions for suspending the death penalty in the cases of pregnant women.

The delegate further said that in India death sentences must be confirmed by a superior court and the accused had the right to appeal to a superior court or the Supreme Court.

The resolution is voted on every two years at the Assembly’s third committee. Those who voted in favour included Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Russia, Nepal, South Africa and UK. — PTI

Piracy concern

The UN Security Council, under the presidency of India, has voiced deep concern over the growing threat posed by piracy and armed robbery at sea, asking nations to criminalise piracy and ensure prosecution of pirates and their financiers. The
15-nation Council had held an open debate, which was called by India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri, on the issue of piracy on Monday.

Monarchy, ministers lead the biking craze in Denmark
Aditi Tandon in Copenhagen

Denmark's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic and Interior Affairs Margrethe Vestager rides her family bike

Walking the streets of Copenhagen, it is normal to hit upon Denmark's Crown Prince, Speaker of its National Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister and the city's Lord Mayor biking to work and back every day.

Crown Prince Frederik André Henrik routinely drops his kids to the kindergarten in a specially designed family bike fitted in front with a basket to carry children safely through streets. Country's Deputy PM Margrethe Vestager has a similar routine so does Speaker Mogens Lykketoft.

Led by the wealthiest and most influential people of society, Denmark's traditional craze for cycles is now hitting an all-time high with the country setting a world record by recently crossing 396 km of dedicated cycle lane construction for safety of bikers to and from work.

Nowhere in the world, not even in Amsterdam famous for its bikes, has cycling been integrated into urban design the way it has been in Denmark. Inquiries reveal that the Government of Denmark has placed cycling at the heart of its ambitious goal of becoming the world's first carbon (CO2) neutral country by 2025. Even as the experiment holds out lessons for other countries suffering congested cities, Danes are busy making cycling a way of life.

Today, one in three Danes bikes to work every morning, 55 per cent because they feel biking is the fastest mode of transport. Around 32 per cent find it healthy and 29 pc say it is cheap.

"Until the cartoon controversy broke out and the Prime Minister's security became a cause of concern, even the Danish PM used to bike to work," says Henrik Woco, an expert in tourism in Copenhagen.

The best part of the story is that the craze cuts across segments. Despite Danes enjoying the highest average levels of wealth in the world, often topping the world rankings in average per capita incomes, the majority population chooses bikes, the low expense two wheelers over four.

Cycling's traffic modal share to work and education in Denmark is currently 36 per cent and Copenhagen, the capital, has the highest proportions of journeys to work by bicycle in any European capital. Amsterdam is second with 22 pc.

"The plan is to increase cycling share in traffic to 50 per cent by 2015," according to Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, who has eight Mayors working with him, all avid bikers.

Ayfer Baykal, Mayor for Environmental Administration told this correspondent: "The Danish experiment can be replicated in congested cities across the world that are largely flat and enjoy a dense, compact design. Weather is no deterrent considering Danes cycle though winter temperatures that sometimes dip below minus 15 degree centigrade."

By promoting cycling, Denmark is already cutting CO2 emissions by 90,000 tonne annually. Health expenditure saved by cycling per year is 230 million Euros and net social gain for every km travelled by bike instead of a car is 0.16 Euro.

No surprise then that the use of cars, heavily taxed and discouraged in Denmark, has declined drastically. Part of the credit for that goes to the government that has recently expanded metro carriages to enable people to carry their bikes along.

Probe into Savita’s death will be fair: Ireland

A woman holds a candle during a vigil in memory of Savita Halappanavar and to press for changes to abortion laws in Dublin. — Reuters

London, November 20
Ireland today unveiled a seven-member team that will probe the tragic death of an Indian dentist, who was refused termination of her pregnancy despite miscarrying, and promised that the official inquiry would be fair and methodical that will take into account all factors.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) set up the inquiry team to be headed by Dr Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, a London-based obstetrician/gynaecologist, The Irish Times reported.

Savita Halappanavar, 31, died from blood poisoning at University Hospital Galway on October 28 after doctors allegedly refused to perform an abortion stating "this is a Catholic country".

Philip Crowley, HSE's national director of quality and patient safety, said the inquiry would identify all the facts through a fair and methodical investigation and identify any safety issues arising. He said the investigation would be concluded in "the shortest" possible time and it will be done expeditiously.

Crowley said the inquiry team would be "examining all the factors that may have influenced the death of Savita Halappanavar... The terms of reference have not been published because we are committed to sharing them with Mr Halappanavar in the first instance and until we do so we will not publish them." He, however, said there would be no mystery or great surprises in them.

"There is a standard, evidence-based international approach to investigating incidents and severe adverse events and that is the approach we will be taking in this case," said Crowley.

"I am not going to commit to a precise time frame because then the time frame becomes the issue. My interest is that we conduct a thorough, fair, reasonable and detailed analysis of all the events that contributed to this sad event." Crowley said he did not expect the inquiry would experience any legal impediments. He expressed confidence it would receive full co-operation.

Arulkumaran, the head of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George's Hospital, University of London said the team would over the next three days examine the case notes, look at guidelines and interview the various people involved in the treatment of Savita. "After that evidence is taken then we will analyse (it) and there might be incidents where we might want to ask further questions and we will address these further questions to these individuals concerned," he said.

Other members of the probe team are Cathriona Molloy, a founding member of patient advocacy group Patient Focus; Cora McCaughan is co-chair of the HSE's national incident management team; Geraldine Keohane is director of midwifery and nursing at Cork University Maternity Hospital; John J Morrison is consultant obstetrician gynaecologist at Galway University Hospital (GUH); Catherine Fleming is consultant in infectious diseases at GUH; Brian Harte is consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care at GUH.

Meanwhile, Savita's husband Praveen Halappanavar has demanded the removal of Morrison, Fleming and Harte from the probe team as they are the employees of Galway University Hospital. — PTI

The case

Savita Halappanavar (31) died from blood poisoning at University Hospital Galway on October 28 after doctors allegedly refused to perform an abortion stating “this is a Catholic country”.

2 Cameron aides to be charged for bribery

London, November 20
British Prime Minister David Cameron's former spin doctor Andy Coulson and ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks will be charged as part of the probe into alleged corrupt payments to public officials, the Crown Prosecution Service announced today.

Former News of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman will also be charged, alongside Coulson, with two conspiracies relating to the request and authorisation of alleged payments to public officials in exchange for information, including a royal phone directory known as the "Green Book".

Brooks, 44, who was editor of Rupert Murdoch's the Sun newspaper, is facing charges, along with former 'Sun' chief reporter John Kay and Ministry of Defence employee Bettina Jordan Barber. — PTI