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New Delhi ● Tuesday ● 17 May 2011 UN cheif Ban Ki-moon calls for restraint between Israel and Palestine

Italy’s FM Franco Frattini says Gaddafi regime days are ‘numbered’

Saudi King Abdullah opens largest women-only university

9

International Gaddafi envoys, rebel leaders to hold peace talks in Moscow

Ahmadinejad

Iran Prez to oversee oil ministry Tehran, May 16: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that he himself will preside the country’s oil ministry following the mergers by a number of ministries.

“The Iranian government and the Parliament have consensus on the oil ministry merger.I am the caretaker for the oil ministry,” President Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech on Sunday.

The Iranian chief executive added that the decision to merge ministries was made based on a “legal duty” and “structural obligation” and emphasised that the government’s swift implementation of the law has “executive and scientific” reasons.

Iran’s oil minister Massoud Mir-Kazzemi and other officials stepped down following planned mergers by a number of ministries.

Industry and mines minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and welfare minister Sadeq Mahsouli also left the Cabinet. Iran last week merged the oil ministry with the energy ministry, industries and mines ministry with the commerce ministry, and the welfare ministry with the labour ministry in a move to cut the number of government departments to 17 from 21 and boost the administration’s efficiency.

—IANS

Egypt FM elected Arab League chief

A Libyan boy walks past a mural showing a caricature of Muammar Gaddafi at the revolution sqaure in the Libyan rebels’ stronghold eastern city of Benghazi on Sunday.

PHOTO: AFP

Israel hunts Syria infiltrators MAJEDA EL BATSH MAJDAL SHAMS, GOLAN HEIGHTS

May 16: Hundreds of police fanned out across the Golan Heights on Monday in search of refugees who crossed over from Syria in some of the bloodiest violence in years along Israel’s borders. In Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories, people gathered to mourn the 14 people killed when Israeli troops opened fire on thousands of protesters who sought to breach its northern borders.

Hundreds were injured in

the occupied Golan Heights, as well as in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank and northern Gaza Strip as Palestinians marked the anniversary of Israel’s founding in 1948, in an event known in Arabic as the “nakba” or “catastrophe.”

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said house-to-house searches were ongoing on Monday afternoon and roadblocks had been set up around the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams, where protesters who crossed over from Syria gathered.

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said houseto-house searches were ongoing on Monday afternoon and roadblocks had been set up On Monday morning, the police detained a a 34-yearold Syrian, who was trying to leave the town in a taxi driven by a Palestinian from east Jerusalem, he said.

Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai told Army radio

the military remained “in a state of high alert in the north, the south and the centre.” Defence chiefs also extended a 24-hour lockdown on the occupied Palestinian territories which had been due to end at midnight on Sunday.

Sunday’s violence was some of the worst in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since a 1974 truce accord, and the clashes along the Lebanese border marked the bloodiest confrontation since the 2006 war between the two neighbours.

—AFP

£400 test determines Xhow long you will live

Tehran, May 16: Egypt’s foreign minister Nabil AlArabi was elected as Arab League chief after lastminute diplomacy left him as the only candidate in the race. Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister, was head of the Arab League for 10 years.

Egypt changed its candidate for head of the 22member Arab organisation at the last minute on Sunday, backing Nabil AlArabi, who was quickly elected. Al-Arabi replaces Amr Moussa, who has resigned to run for the office of President in Egypt. “This is the toughest assignment I will have,” Mr Al-Arabi said in an acceptance speech that was broadcast live on television.

Egypt’s state news agency announced the change in candidate and, shortly after, Qatar’s Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, a former secretary-general of the six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, announced his withdrawal.

Egypt had fielded a career diplomat — Mostafa elFekki — a former member of Parliament for the former President’s ruling party, although he quit his post during the 18-day uprising.

—IANS

AASHIMA DOGRA LONDON

May 16: By the end of this year many Britons might be able to get a vague idea about how long they will live. If not a literal “deadline”, a £400 test can tell you how susceptible you are to a relatively short life, in other words, more prone to age related problems like cardiovascular disease, cancer, low fecundity, Alzheimer’s etc.

A company called Life Length is developing the controversial test that simply needs a few drops of blood to give precise results.

It is busy striking deals with medical diagnostic companies all over Europe while anticipating a positive reaction from members of the

Scientists claim telomere testing will become widespread within the next five or 10 years public eager to know how long they will live.

A deal with a company operating in the UK is likely within a year, The Independent reported.

The scientists who developed the test are confident

that the length of the structure on the tip of chromosomes called telomeres is indicative of how fast an individual is aging. They have helped develop the test that makes it possible to compare the “biological age” with the “chronological age”.

A substantial amount of research in the recent past has shown the link between telomere length and life span.

However, never has this scientific discovery powered an over the counter test, accessible to all.

Its sceptics have put forth arguments about ethical considerations and warned of abuse of such a tool by insurance companies and quacks prescribing elixirs of life.

Moscow, May 16: Representatives of Muammar Gaddafi’s government were expected in Moscow on Tuesday and Russia also hoped to host Libyan rebel envoys soon, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

“We agreed meetings in Moscow with representatives of both Tripoli and Benghazi. Envoys from Tripoli will be here tomorrow. Envoys from Benghazi were supposed to be here on Wednesday, but as they informed us, they were forced to ask us to postpone this visit for technical reasons,” Mr Lavrov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

“We hope it will take place in the foreseeable future,” Mr Lavrov said, casting Russia as a potential peacemaker.

“We are ready to conduct dialogue with all,” state-run Itar-Tass quoted him as saying at a meeting in Moscow with the UN envoy for Libya, Abdelilah al-Khatib.

Mr Lavrov repeated Russia’s call for an end to fighting in Libya and the start of talks. “Moscow is very, very interested in the swiftest halt to the bloodshed in Libya and for a shift of the situation into the channel of political dialogue.

Earlier on Monday, the International Criminal Court prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the country’s intelligence chief on charges of crimes against humanity.

Although Moscow appeared set on establishing a diplomatic

Italy, allies plan Gaddafi ‘political exit’ Muammar Gaddafi

conduit out of Libya’s civil war, analysts were sceptical.

“I think if an agreement doesn’t begin with Gaddafi and his immediate family leaving office it isn’t going to fly with the opposition or with NATO,” said David Hartwell, Middle East analyst at IHS Jane’s.

“The ICC warrant today also makes things more complicated. At the same time, we have something of a military stalemate and even a lull. What is most likely happening is that some countries are using that to try and build up the rebels while they soften up Gaddafi’s forces with air strikes.”

Mr Lavrov also said Russia backed an initiative by the UN humanitarian coordinator “for the declaration of a humanitarian pause to clarify the situation on the ground and provide aid to the population across all of Libya”.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on May 9 that the way sanctions were being applied on Libya over the Gaddafi government’s war with pro-democracy rebels had been delaying delivery of supplies to its population. Russia, a vetowielding permanent mem-

said the crew shut down the engine after receiving a “stall warning”.

Reuters photographer Beawiharta was aboard the plane with his wife, two sons and daughter.

About 20 minutes after take-off, there were two sharp bangs, sending cabin staff scurrying to retrieve the meals they had only just begun serving.

The plane began shaking violently, he said, and the

Cathay Pacific said the Airbus 330, bound for Jakarta with 136 passengers on board, landed back in Singapore “without incident” just before 2 am. It said the crew shut down the engine after receiving a “stall warning”.

Residents of the southwestern Yemeni province of Saada hold up placards calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday, a day after a Gulf mediator met with the embattled President in a new bid to resolve Yemen’s political crisis.

PHOTO: AFP

lights went out. He could smell something burning.

His son, Pradipta, 15, said he saw nothing as he peered out the window.

“But I asked him to cup his hands to get a better view,” Mr Beawiharta said. “He shouted: ‘I see fire! I see fire!’ “Panicked, he then asked: ‘Will we die? Will we die?’ I took his hand and told him firmly: ‘No, we are going to live.’ “Behind us, passengers were praying:

‘God, save our flight! Give us your protection!’”

The prayers got louder and louder, pierced by only the occasional cry of panic.

“A stewardess told us an engine had caught fire and we were on our way back to Singapore. Glued to the window, my son said he could see lights, the sea and ships and then lights on the ground. We all grabbed life jackets from beneath our seats, but the plane landed

smoothly.

“Within five minutes, as firefighters doused the damaged engine, we walked off the plane into the terminal,” he said.

In the waiting room, the pilot greeted assembled passengers.

“The best that we can ever ask of passengers is to stay cool, stay calm... which you did,” he said. “And for that we thank you.”

—Reuters

Extreme makeover: Are humans reshaping earth?

MARLOWE HOOD LONDON

May 16: If alien geologists were to visit our planet 10 million years from now, would they discern a distinct human fingerprint in Earth’s accumulating layers of rock and sediment?

Will homo sapiens, in other words, define a geological period in the way dinosaurs — and their vanishing act — helped mark

the Jurassic and the Cretaceous? A growing number of scientists, some gathered at a one-day symposium this week at the British Geological Society in London, say “yes”. One among them, chemistry Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, has even suggested a new name: the Anthropocene. Whether this “age of man” will be short or long is unknown. But one thing is clear, says Crutzen, who shared his Nobel for

unmasking the man-made chemicals eating away at the atmosphere’s protective ozone layer. For the first time in earth’s 4.7 billion year history, a single species has not only radically changed earth’s morphology, chemistry and biology, it is now aware of having done so.

“We broke it, we bought it, we own it,” is how Erle Ellis, a professor of geography and ecology at the University of Maryland at Baltimore,

spotlight put it. “We don’t know what is going to happen in the Anthropocene — it could be good, even better,” he said.

“But we need to think differently and globally, to take ownership of the planet.”

Dinosaurs were most likely wiped out by a giant meteor that cooled earth’s temperatures below their threshold for survival.

An analogous fate could await humans if temperatures climb by five or six degrees Celsius, which climate scientists say could happen within a century.

But dinosaurs thrived for more than 150 million years before a cosmic pebble ended their extraordinary run, while modern humans have only been around for about 200,000 years, a snap of the fingers by comparison. Another key difference:

dinosaurs didn’t know what hit them, and played no role in their own demise.

Humans, by contrast, have been the main architects of the enormous changes that are threatening to throw what scientists now call the earth system out of whack.

Since Crutzen coined the term a decade ago, the Anthropocene has been eagerly adopted by scientists across a broad spectrum of disciplines. “It triggered

ber of the UN Security Council, abstained from the March vote on a resolution that authorised military intervention to enforce nofly zones. Russia has accused the Nato-led forces carrying out airstrikes of going behind their mandate to protect civilians, saying the coalition has essentially taken sides in a civil war.

—Reuters

Bruni refuses to deny pregnancy rumour on TV

stir against Saleh

Calm, prayers help steer stricken plane back to Singapore Singapore, May 16: Terrified passengers aboard a Cathay Pacific plane prayed together as their aircraft, one of its engines on fire, made its way back to Singapore on Monday, and their calm response earned praise from the captain.

Cathay Pacific said the Airbus 330, bound for Jakarta with 136 passengers on board, landed back in Singapore “without incident” just before 2 am. It

Rome, May 16: Italy and its allies are working on a political solution that would allow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to resign, said Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini on Monday. \ “It would be a political exit that would remove Gaddafi and his family from the scene,” and allow “a government of national reconciliation,” to take over, said Mr Frattini. Possible members of Gaddafi’s government who could take part in the new government “have already been identified”, he said, adding that unveiling the plan, which was still being worked out together with the UN, could cause it to fail. Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court on Monday is due to ask judges in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for three senior members of the Libyan regime.

—IANS/AKI

the realisation that we were in an entirely new era of planet earth,” said Will Steffen, head of Australian National University’s Climate Change Institute. It also triggered debate. At one level, the issues are narrow to the point of pedantry — rock experts quibbling over whether mankind’s present and future geological imprint merits recognition by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.

—AFP

London, May 16: She has kept mum about the “good news” for months and French First Lady Carla Bruni has now added fuel to pregnancy rumours with her latest television interview.

The former supermodel who is reportedly expecting twins with President Nicolas Sarkozy, was congratulated by presenter JeanPierre Pernaut on the show 13 Heures, at which the 43year-old blushed and replied “I congratulate you too,” without saying what for. Bruni had earlier pulled out of a red carpet appearance at Cannes film festival, citing ill-health and has side-stepped the big question in interviews since.

When she scheduled a live interview on a prime time TV show, it was expected that she will finally make it official, reported the Telegraph online.

But instead of asking a direct question, presenter Pernaut quizzed Bruni for several minutes on her charity work against child illiteracy, before saying, “I know you don’t like people talking about your private life, but I just want to congratulate you.”

Bruni married Sarkozy, 56, following a whirlwind romance in 2008. The model-turned-musician had her first son Aurelien in 2001 with former lover, the Parisian philosopher Raphael Enthoven. —PTI PUNJAB STATE POWER CORPORATION LIMITED GURU HARGOBIND THERMAL PLANT LEHRA MOHABBAT

CORRIGENDUM-II The opening date of Enquiry No. 114/O&M/PC-1270 dated 27-01-2011 for procurement S.S. Fluidizing Elements is hereby extended to 03-06-2011. Last date for issue of tender documents is 30-05-2011 and tenders shall be received upto 03-062011 (11.30 AM).

All other terms & conditions shall remain the same For further details please refer to PSPCL. website www.pspcl.in Superintending Engineer/HQ, For Chief Engineer/O&M, GHTP, Lehra Mohabbat.

RO No. 1570/1575 dtd. 12-5-2011

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Amy Winehouse’s father says he fought to get her off drugs

NEW DELHI THURSDAY 15 | SEPTEMBER 2011

NEWSMAKERS

Charlie Sheen reunites with father Martin in comedy spoof

CELEB TALK

Demi and I like being romantic and doing special little things

■ Film’s premiere in Toronto cancelled

Mausam to be on screen on Sept. 23

–– Ashton Kutcher Actor

People

Mumbai: Much-talked about film Mausam, which was scheduled for a Friday release, will now hit the screens across the globe September 23.

The decision has been taken to avoid fragmented release, said Shahid Kapoor, who plays the lead role in the film.

“We are here to announce the changed release date of our film from September 16 to September 23. The reason for this is that we had applied for two permisions — a NOC (no objection certificate) from the IAF (Indian Air Force) and certification from the censor board. We got U-certificate from the censor board, but IAF gave us a conditional certificate because they wanted a 30-second scene from a particular sequence to be corrected,” Shahid told reporters here Wednesday.

“They wanted a tiny little

FAMED CLIMBER BONATTI, 81, DIES Rome: Italian Walter Bonatti, one of the world’s celebrated mountain climbers who for decades was embroiled in controversy over the first ascent of Pakistan’s K2, has died at age 81.

He succumbed to an illness on Tuesday in Rome, according to his editor Baldini Castoldi Dalai.

Bonatti pioneered routes for peaks in Europe, South American and the Himalayas.

MONEY DOES NOT MOTIVATE DiCAPRIO Los Angeles: Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio has grossed more than $1 billion at the box office over a span of 18 years, but the actor says that money isn't what motivates him to pursue new projects. The 36year-old, who has given hits like Titanic, Blood Diamond, The Departed, Shutter Island and Inception said money didn’t matter to him until he entered his 30s and wanted to produce, GQ magazine reported.

detail changed. Because the scene required computer graphics, even a small change requires a lot of time. That is why it took us so many days to make the

— AFP,AP

Abhishek injured while shooting, gets 6 stitches ACTOR ABHISHEK Bachchan was injured near the eye while shooting a scene for his next film Bol Bachchan at City Place here on Wednesday.

The actor received six stitches on the injury which will take a few days to heal.

“Abhishek had an accident on a set in Jaipur. He has just flown back... 6 stitches near eye... Is well .. Will take some days to recover,” his father Amitabh Bachchan tweeted.Abhishek was shooting with a rickshaw and fell from it, according to sources. He also received mild injuries on a hand and leg. The 35year-old actor was taken to a private hospital from where he left for Mumbai in a plane.

— PTI

A COMPUTER PROGRAM TO DETECT PAIN?

Chris “The Dutchess” Walton shows off her fingernails, measuring 6.02 metres in length, at the New York Public Library on Wednesday. Walton, who has been growing her nails for 18 years, will enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

— AFP

Actress Priyanka Chopra during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai on Tuesday night.

— AFP

NAHAR’S 1857 LETTER MAY FETCH £1,000

375m-YR-OLD FISH FOSSIL DISCOVERED IN ARCTIC

A LETTER penned during the revolt of 1857 by Nahar Singh, king of the then princely state of Ballabgarh, is set to go under the hammer soon.

The handwritten letter to Lord Ellenborough, the governor-general of India from 1842-44, is to be sold at the Bonhams “Photography and Travel: India and Beyond” auction in London, on October 4 and is expected to fetch an estimated £1,000 to 1,500. “The letter, it seems was written as a ruse to deceive the British in the event of his capture...

As he was fully committed to the cause of Indian Independence” says an official statement by the auction house. — PTI

SCIENTISTS HAVE discovered fossilised remains of a large predatory fish with a fearsome mouth which they believe prowled North American waterways some 375 million years ago.

The lobe-finned fish, now called Laccognathus embryi, probably grew to about five to six feet long and had a wide head with small eyes and robust jaws lined with large piercing teeth.

The beast was likely a bottom-dweller, waiting on the seafloor to lunge at prey passing by, the researchers said. “I wouldn’t want to be wading or swimming in waters where this animal lurked,” Edward Daeschler, of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, said.

— PTI

McCARTNEY TO MARRY FIANCEE THIS WEEKEND BEATLES LEGEND Paul McCartney has reportedly planned to wed fiancée Nancy Shevell at his English farmhouse this weekend.

The 69-year-old musician proposed to New York socialite Shevell, 51, in May 2011 after four years together, and they have been rumoured to be planning to exchange vows at McCartney’s Sussex, retreat this weekend, reported Us magazine.

“It will be a small, intimate wedding. It’s going to be very elegant and classic,” a source said. The couple is also said to be organising a second party in the Big Apple following the farmhouse celebration. “They are having a big party in New York to celebrate later on,” the source added. The nuptials to Shevell will be McCartney’s third. His first wife Linda died in 1998 and his second marriage to Heather Mills ended in a bitter divorce in 2008.

— PTI

STAR BOMBARDS PLANET WITH RADIATION A nearby star is bombarding its companion planet with a barrage of X-rays, hundred thousand times more intense than the earth receives from the sun, a Nasa discovery says.

This radiation from star CoRoT-2a is stripping about five million tonnes of matter from the planet CoRoT-2b every second, suggests data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. CoRoT-2b has a mass about thrice that of Jupiter and 1,000 times that of earth.

It orbits its parent star at a distance roughly 10 times more than that between the earth and the moon, the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics reports.

“This planet is being absolutely fried by its star,” says study co-author Sebastian Schroeter.

— IANS

correction. We got the NOC last (Tuesday) night,” added the actor. The screenings of the film at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival were also cancelled due to the censor delay, the organisers said.

“We are extremely disappointed that the studio has informed us that the film will not have received the necessary regulatory approvals in India, forcing us to cancel all screenings of Mausam,” Cameron Bailey, co-director of the festival, said in a statement.

Mausam, a romantic film, is Shahid’s father Pankaj Kapoor’s directorial debut and in the film Shahid plays a fighter pilot and is seen “flying” a fighter.

The romantic saga will see Shahid falling in love with a Kashmiri girl, played by Sonam Kapoor.

— IANS

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS? Models walk the ramp during Mercedes-Benz Spring 2012 Fashion Week in New York on Tuesday.

Other stories

Can a computer tell when it hurts? It can if you train it, US researchers said on Tuesday. A team at Stanford University in California used computer learning software to sort through data generated by brain scans and detect when people were in pain.

“The question we were trying to answer was can we use neuroimaging to objectively detect whether a person is in a state of pain or not. The answer was yes,” Dr Sean Mackey of the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, whose study appears in the journal PLoS One. Currently, doctors rely on patients to tell them whether or not they are in pain. And that is still the gold standard for assessing pain, Mackey said. But some patients — the very young, the very old, dementia patients or those who are not conscious — cannot say if they are hurting, and that has led to a long search for some way to objectively measure pain.

— Reuters

11

Model Jessica Stam (from left), actress Jennifer Garner with a fan and Marissa O’Donnell during Toronto International Film festival on Tuesday.

— AP

HEALTH CHECK

X disease brings financial losses Weakness AASHIMA DOGRA LONDON

A condition of severe weakness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), prevalent in the UK Asian community, affects atleast 2.6 per cent of the country’s population and incurs heavy financial burden on UK economy and patient families. New research showcased at the

British Science Festival has quantified these monetary losses to be over 102 million sterling, much more than the amount spent on treatment and research.

Children suffering form CFS are severely affected, making them unfit for regular schooling and in need of full-time care.

According to the study, their families experience a

monthly loss of around £247 in income and spend £206 more than usual.

“In almost all the families we looked at [either of the parents] have had to reduce or give up work and at the same time they were increasing expenditure on their children buying beds, special diets, entertainment and other child care,” said Dr Esther Crawley of University of

Bristol, paediatrician and lead author of the study.

Early detection and treatment is the best way to neutralise personal and economic problems brought on by CFS. “We found that on average families suffer for 3 years and then seek medical services only 18 months after quitting their jobs,” she said.

Given the nature of the symptoms, diagnoses is

not easy; in the UK only 40 per cent of the GPs are confident about diagnosing it in its early stages.

Scientists insists on better training for GPs to recognise CFS as a severe medical condition as they are the first entry point to specialised treatment.

The data came form families of patients that are actively involved in treatthe ment.

‘TURMERIC COMPONENT CURBS CANCER’

Washington: A new study has found that curcumin, the main component in turmeric, kicks off cancer-killing mechanism in human saliva.

Researchers at the University of California, led by Marilene Wang, found that curcumin suppresses a cell signalling pathway that drives the growth of head and neck cancer. The inhibition of the cell signalling pathway also correlated with reduced expression of a number of pro- inflamma-

tory cytokines, or signalling molecules, in the saliva that promote cancer growth, said Dr Wang. “This study shows that curcumin can work in the mouths of patients with head and neck malignancies and reduce activities that promote cancer growth And it not only affected the cancer by inhibiting a critical cell signalling pathway, it also affected the saliva itself by reducing proinflammatory cytokines,” she said.

— PTI

Published by T. Venkateswarlu for and on behalf of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited at S – 7 & 8, Green Park, Main Market, New Delhi – 110016 and Printed by him at BFL Infotech Limited, C – 9, Sector – III, Noida – 201301. Editor – T. Venkattram Reddy, RNI Registration number 57290/94, Postal registration number : DL(S)-05/3238/2009-11, Price in Nepal - Nep. Rs. 20.00 per copy.

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Shatrughan files complaint with TV association over Bhojpuri KBC dues

NEW DELHI WEDNESDAY 30 | NOVEMBER 2011

NATION

No paper prepared to bring changes in CrPC, says Omar

DIPLOMATIC VISIT

WORLD AIDS DAY TOMORROW

We have good relations with India. We can jointly fight terrorism.

HIV plan for 200 organisations

–– Gen. Abdul Mubeen Bangla Army Chief

Briefs

AGE CORRESPONDENT

TIGER CENSUS TO BEGIN IN NAXAL AREA

NEW DELHI, NOV. 29

Raipur: In a significant move, Chhattisgarh forest department has initiated steps to conduct tiger census in core areas of tiger reserves, considered Naxal strongholds, in the state by adopting camera trap method, official sources said here on Tuesday.

The core areas of tiger reserves have, hitherto, been left out of census of big cats following Naxal threats. The remote areas of tiger reserves in Chhattisgarh are virtually under the control of the Left-wing insurgents.

READY FOR BIG ROLE

National Defence Academy cadets celebrate after their passing-out parade in Pune on Tuesday.

— PTI

It took more than a decade for Abheena Aher, a transgender, to finally be allowed to be in her skin.

While her mother had started cursing the forefathers after Abheena disclosed her identity to her, the fear of getting deprived of studies never allowed her inner self to come out in open for the “self declaration”.

At 35, Abheena is at ease — she dresses up like a female, looks good in a kajal and lipstick and can very well manage walking with high heels. Abheena was just 13 when she realised that she was different. In her words, she knew that she was the “chosen one” and it was at that young age that she decided that she could not be a loser. “I knew that I would make my life meaningful,” she said with confidence.

The change, however, did not come handy. She struggled hard till the age of 28.

The programme is building capacity for 200 community-based organisations to provide HIV prevention programming

“After all I had to put an act of being a man. My mother and friends would tell me every now and then to be a man. But it was really difficult. I was eveteased and went through a lot,” she said. After completing her studies in college, Abheena decided it was a time for the changeover-she grew her hair and her wardrobe had changed-filled with all women clothes.

Things looked different on Tuesday as the marginalised groups — men hav-

2 held for helping Naxal escape KISHENJI ENCOUNTER

RAJIB CHOWDHURI KOLKATA, NOV. 29

‘UNSC REFORM WILL ENHANCE CREDIBILITY’ United Nations: Arguing for urgent reform of the UN Security Council to reflect “contemporary realities” India has said a common refrain among countries is that the world can no longer be subjected to the mercies of a “woefully inadequate system” that was established more than half-a-century ago.

India’s ambassador to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri told the 15-member UN body that its expansion and reform is “essential”.

Other stories

MISSING SDM’S BODY FOUND IN BHAKRA CANAL

Chandigarh, Nov. 29: The body of missing sub-divisional magistrate of Anandpur Sahab was found in the Bhakra canal near Kotli power house Tuesday, prompting Opposition Congress to demand a CBI probe into his mysterious death.

Karanveer Singh Mann had gone missing under mysterious circumstances after he parked his official vehicle near Bhakra Canal on Monday evening.

The police said some passersby informed about the body, and when it was fished out from the canal near Kotli power house, 25 km from the divisional headquarters of Ropar, it was identified as that of the SDM. They said Mann, a senior Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officer who had joined the post of SDM at Anandpur Sahab recently, might have committed suicide by jumping into the Bhakra Canal.

— PTI

FORCES, FRESH FLEET OF COPTERS FOR NAXAL OPS AGE CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, NOV. 29

The BSF will soon deploy more force and a fresh fleet of copters in the anti-Naxal operations to aid security forces. Besides deploying two new battalions (2000 personnel) in Chhattisgarh and Orissa, six new MI-17 copters and a “Dhruv” Advanced Light Helicopter will be deployed in the Naxal-affected areas and will be operated by the BSF air-wing to assist security personnel in deployment, reinforcements and casualty evacuation.

The total strength of central forces involved in the anti-Maoist operations will go up to about 93,000 personnel with the induction of the new battalions.

5

In a major breakthrough into Kishenji’s encounter probe, the criminal investigation department (CID) arrested two villagers from Jamboni in West Midnapore on Tuesday for helping injured female Maoist commander Suchitra Mahato escape during the fierce gun battle on November 24. One of the those arrested is an aged quack Bhudeb Mahato of Benashuli.

Another is Tarachand Tudu alias Pintu of Uttar Sarakata village. Director general of police (CID) V.V. Thambi confirmed their arrest.

While fighting against the joint security forces along with Kishenji in the jungle, Suchitra had received bullet injuries but she managed to sneak out of Burishole forest.

The joint forces then started search operations in the neighbouring villages for

Suchitra. While questioning Pintu’s family members on November 26 morning, the police came to know that an injured woman had come to meet him on November 24 evening.

The family members told the police that when the encounter began, all of them went inside the house except Pintu, 19. His mother Lalita Tudu informed that he was standing besides the cow-

BORDER ISSUE

Sino-India defence talks next month: Krishna

shed. But Pintu, the son of a National Volunteer Force Cadet of the state police, denied it.

Getting suspicious, the joint forces detained him with his brother Chamta for questioning. After intense grilling, Pintu finally disclosed that Suchitra, wearing a sari, had come limping to him with injuries. Without wasting time, he took out his cycle and rode her to Mahato’s house for treatment, according to sources.

AGE CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, NOV. 29

A few days after New Delhi called off the scheduled boundary talks with Beijing which were to be held here, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna has indicated that the defence secretary-level talks between the two countries will take place as scheduled.

The talks are slated to be held in New Delhi on December 8 and 9.

Asked if these talks will be held as scheduled by reporters on Tuesday, Mr Krishna said, “I think, we expect whatever is in the pipeline will continue. He was responding to queries on the sidelines of the Passport Officers’ Conference here. The boundary talks were called off after Beijing demanded that New Delhi prevent the Dalai Lama from speaking at a valedictory function.

IAS FINED FOR RIDING SANS HELMET Gurgaon, Nov. 29: Senior IAS officer Praveen Kumar, who was in the news for slapping a clerk when he was allegedly found collecting bribe and also for hitting himself to calm protesters, found himself at the wrong end of the law.

The Haryana Urban D i s t r i c t Authority(HUDA) administrator was challaned by Gurgaon traffic police today for riding on a motorcycle without helmet after his photo which captured this act was posted by an unidentified person on the Facebook of Gurgaon traffic police on Monday.

Mr Kumar was seen without a helmet while driving a motorcycle of an employee of his office during a round of the areas near Sector 45 where a demolition exercise was underway.

When somebody raised objections to the two-wheeler being driven sans helmet, the IAS officer himself apologised for violating the rule.

A citizen uploaded this photo on the facebook of Gurgaon traffic police which issued a challan to him, deputy commissioner of police(traffic) Ms Bharti Arora said. Mr Kumar told PTI that since he had violated the traffic rule he would soon deposit the penalty amount with the police department.

Justifying his action of slapping the clerk last week, Kumar reportedly said that punishment is necessary at times since he found out that the person was allegedly collecting bribes everyday and distributing it to other officers.

The IAS officer had earlier resorted to beating himself with his shoe to calm protesters during an antiencroachment drive, a dramatic action which hit headlines.

Ms Kumar was earlier Faridabad’s deputy commissioner.

CPI DEMANDS RELEASE OF ANTI-POSCO ACTIVIST

‘CHINA SHOULD TAKE PUSHY INDIA SERIOUSLY’

AKSHAYA KUMAR SAHOO

Beijing, Nov. 29: China must start taking “pushy” India seriously as it has strategically placed itself in the USChina face-off to gain maximum benefits, a leading official newspaper here said on Tuesday.

Days after the postponement of the 15th round of Sino-India border talks, Global Times, an influential tabloid of ruling Communist Party of China, said the talks need to be kept alive to avert a breakdown in ties. In the first such comment from the Chinese media on the postponement of the border talks, the paper said that of late India appears to be interested in having a face-off with China and Beijing should start taking it seriously. The Chinese media has so far avoided publishing any such reports.

— PTI

BHUBANESWAR, NOV. 29

PREZ MEETS STUDENTS

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil meets students during her official visit to Santiniketan as an observer of Visvabharati University, in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, on Tuesday.

— PTI

Villagers boo speakers at Sena’s Jaitapur debate PRATIK SALUNKE MUMBAI, NOV. 29

In a shift from the usual “Sena-style” practice, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday organised a “discussion session” on the Jaitapur nuclear power plant project that saw eminent scientists, experts and Jaitapur villagers debating on a single dais.

Significantly, it was seen that the villagers are still angry, with most of the speakers supporting the

nuclear project being heckled and booed by the crowd at the packed Damodar hall in Dadar.

The experts present listed several scientific reasons and the need for nuclear energy in the country, but failed to pacify the crowd.

Amidst the disturbance, Dr Srikumar Banerjee, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, said, “India is an energy hungry country and we will have to exploit all resources. When it comes to radiation emit-

ted by the nuclear plant, it is a fact that it will not affect human beings and other living organisms in the vicinity.”

The discussion was chaired by retired Chief Justice of the Delhi high court A.P. Shah, who repeatedly requested the audience to “respect” the speakers. However, it pretty much fell on deaf ears, with the crowd interrupting speakers with slogans like “shame” and “you are telling lies”.

ing sex with men (MSM), transgenders and hijra community — came out in open in their support to the Pehchan Programme, which is implemented by India HIV/AIDS alliance.

The programme is building capacity for 200 community-based organisations to provide HIV prevention programming for this maginalised group of society.

James Robertson, India HIV/AIDS alliance country director, said it was an “opportunity to unite and renew the commitment of stopping new HIV infections”. “The programme helps mitigate the gaps in the National programme by their interventions.

Thanks to this that lot of ownership for community is there now,” said Abheena, who works as a programme manager for a global fund project for MSM, transgender and Hijra community.

Things may have changed for Abheena but the suffering still persists.

The Orissa government’s frantic effort to resume construction work of the 12million-tonne Posco-India steel plant near Paradip might not bear any immediate fruit as the Communist Party of India has become hostile after the recent arrest of Abhaya Sahoo, chairman of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS).

The party has threatened to intensify its anti-Posco agitation with “more vigorously” and “resoluteness” if the PPSS leader was not released immediately. “The Orissa should government release Abhaya Sahoo immediately and unconditionally,” CPI national general secretary A.B. Bardhan said.

NO STRATEGIC INTEREST WITH CHINA: BANGLA

IIT MODEL CAN CUT BANK FEES ON DEBIT CARD

ATEEQ SHAIKH

K.A. DODHIYA

PUNE, NOV. 29

MUMBAI, NOV. 29

Bangladesh Army Chief General Mohammed Abdul Mubeen on Tuesday ruled out that the Chinese developing port infrastructure for Bangladesh had any strategic interest.

On Tuesday, Gen. Mubeen became the first Bangladesh Chief of Army staff to review a passing out parade in India. Speaking at the occasion of the passing out parade of the 121st course of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, Pune, he said that India and Bangladesh had a lot in common — common inspiration and common problems including terrorism.

He went on to add that he has come to India as a messenger of peace.

The use of cash in the retail sector may soon be a thing of the past if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) accepts a IIT-B proposal that cuts bank fees for debit card payments by bringing down merchant discount rates or card commissions.

A technical report “Cashless Payment System in India: A Roadmap” has been submitted to the RBI and their response is still awaited.

According to Professor Ashish Das and Rakhi Agarwal, who undertook the research and prepared the report, use of debit cards can be popularised throughout India by introducing the same in the retail payment system.

SPOTLIGHT

1 polioXcase raises hope of complete eradication AASHIMA DOGRA LONDON, NOV. 29

The WHO announced earlier November that its expensive campaign against polio was finally showing signs of complete eradication and India especially had made startling progress. Only one case of polio was recorded in India in 2011 and even its sewage was given an “all

clear”.

This is great news but new scientific discussions dissuade us from getting our hopes up. Re-immergence of polio is common; a straight line down to eradication might be fantasy.

China remained polio free in 2010, but recorded 18 cases in 2011. Nigeria went from 11 cases to 44 cases.

India itself topped the

polio charts very recently, having almost half of the world’s polio cases in 2009.

The number went down to 40 in 2010 and this year only one case is recorded.

The threats of re-immergence comes form the nature of the virus — its infection is mostly inapparent, and also from across the borders.

Different strains of the polio virus

lurk in Pakistan and Afghanistan, two of the last few countries to harbour the spread of polio. The reimmergence in China has been shown to have origins in Pakistan.

Continuation of the national vaccination programme, combined with actively vaccinating children at borders can help keeping the virus away.

But scientists worry about the virus load well within the boundaries of nations.

This week’s Journal of General Virology is due to publish a review by Dr Philip Minor from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, a centre of the Health Protection Agency.

In the review, he puts a case for more investigation to

find out if the virus, and not just the disease has vanished. “Improvement of vaccination coverage is very desirable but, in the current situation, there would inevitably be outbreaks unless the virus was eradicated,” he writes in the review. He says, it is harder to get rid of polio than it was to stamp out small pox.

cmyk

cmyk PAGE

Justin Bieber turns photographer for his girlfriend Selena Gomez

NEW DELHI FRIDAY 9 | DECEMBER 2011

NEWS+

Charlize Theron relied on ‘a lot of alcohol’ to get through scenes in new film

50 YEARS AGO IN

Britain suffers as a

BAN ON FORWARD TRADING URGED New Delhi: Communist members demanded in the Lok Sabha today a complete ban on forward trading in the country. During the inconclusive debate on the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, Mr V.P. Nayar and Mr K.K. Warrior said that forward trading militated against the very grain of planned economy and stabilisation of prices. This was despite the minister of commerce, Mr Nityanand Kanungo’s declaration that the stage when the country’s economy was socialised making forward markets redundant was still far off.

Commending the bill for the acceptance of the House, Mr Kanungo struck an optimistic note and said with the enhanced powers for government and the forward markets commission, greater success could be achieved in regulating forward trading in the country. But his optimism was not shared by Mr N.R.M. Swamy and Mr A.C. Guha (both Congress). Mr H.C. Heda, another COngressman suggested that the bill be referred to a select committee so that the views of the parties affected by the bill could be heard and it could be improved upon.

odds

VIRTUAL AVATARS HELP DEVELOP REAL WORLD SKILLS Washington: Virtual worlds can provide youth exclusive environments that can help them learn and negotiate skills which are used in real world settings, like organisational and cognitive skills, a new study has revealed.

Academics on the InterLife project developed 3D “Virtual Worlds” (private islands) to act as informal communities that allow young people to interact in shared activities using avatars. The avatars are three-dimensional characters controlled by the participants.

Virtual Worlds offer the possibility of realistic, interactive environments that can go beyond the formal curriculum.

The project involved young people undertaking creative activities like film making and photography, and encouraged them to undertake project activities with the virtual environments.

The students had to learn to cope with many scenarios in their island, as well as participate in the online communities over several months. Throughout the project, the researchers encouraged new forms of communication, including those used in online gaming.

— ANI

MOBILE PHONE MAY REVERSE ALZHEIMER’S Melbourne: Radiations emitted from cell phones may protect against and even reverse Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has revealed. Researchers at the University of South Florida conducted a study that exposed 96 mice, most of whom had been genetically altered to develop the Alzheimer’s disease as they aged, to electromagnetic waves generated by mobile phones.

The mice were zapped with 918MHz of frequency twice a day for one hour each time over a period of seven to nine months - the equivalent of several decades in humans, the Herald Sun reported.

— ANI

14

bystander to crisis in Europe Sarah Lyall and Stephen Castle

focus ■ There is looming recognition at 10 Downing Street that if the euro falls, Britain will sink along with everyone else.

But if Europe manages to pull itself together, then it faces being ever more marginalised in decisions on the continent.

N

o matter what happens at the European summit meeting on the euro in Brussels that begins on Thursday, Britain is sure to lose.

There is looming recognition at 10 Downing Street that if the euro falls, Britain will sink along with everyone else. But if Europe manages to pull itself together by forging closer unity among the 17 countries that use the euro, then Britain faces being ever more marginalised in decisions on the continent.

Many Europeans have been irritated by British Conservatives’ quiet satisfaction throughout the crisis with the decision not to join the euro (the United Kingdom ostentatiously kept its currency, the pound), particularly when juxtaposed with the panic

over Britain’s inability to have any significant impact on Europe’s biggest crisis since the end of the cold war.

“Germany is the unquestioned leader of Europe,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. “France is definitely subordinate to Germany, and Britain has less influence than at any time I can recall.”

Of particular concern here is the health of Britain’s financial industry, a vital economic engine at a time of slowing growth and deep cuts in government spending, which is seen to be vulnerable to new European regulations that could hurt British competitiveness in global markets.

Despite all that is at stake, Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government looks doomed to be cast in the role of impotent bystander, torn between anti-Europe forces and European leaders’ moves toward greater fiscal integration on the Continent — with or without Britain.

On Wednesday, Mr Cameron told a fractious Parliament that his main goal in Brussels was to “seek safeguards for Britain” and “protect our own national interest” by resisting measures like a proposed financial transaction tax. But such Britaincentric rhetoric has annoyed the brokers of Europe’s future, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who are trying to find a way to save the euro while imposing legally binding fiscal discipline on the Continent’s floundering southern economies.

They have not been shy about expressing their frustration. Just six weeks ago, after Mr Cameron tried to inject himself into talks about the euro, Mr Sarkozy said bluntly, “You have lost a good opportunity to shut up.” He later added: “We are sick of you criticising us and telling us what to do. You say you hate the euro and now you

British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) and Opposition leader Ed Miliband want to interfere in our meetings.”

Steven Fielding, director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Nottingham, said: “Cameron might sound off to look good to his backbenchers, but in Europe, he hasn’t got much to negotiate with. It’s been made clear that France and Germany can do whatever the hell they like and Britain can say yes or no, but it doesn’t matter, since they’ll do it anyway.”

The paradox of this is that plans for tighter integration among the 17 eurozone countries are at the same time destined to create greater divisions within Europe — divisions between countries that use the euro and those that do not, and divisions within the eurozone itself, depending on the health and importance of the various economies. A two-, three-, four- and even five-tier Europe could possibly emerge.

“The markets have defined who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, and their interest

rates are in many ways the manifestation of this,” said Alexander Stubb, Finland’s minister for European affairs. “When we look at future EU rules, it is the triple-A countries that are running the show.”

The political price of Britain’s self-proclaimed exceptionalism was made clear with a vengeance to Mr Cameron on Wednesday, when he was pounded from all sides in a raucous session in the House of Commons.

Fractious Europe-hating Conservative back-

The markets have defined who are the good guys and who are bad, and their interest rates are in many ways manifestation of this –– Alexander Stubb Finland minister

Sheen ‘nourished’ by narrating Dalai’s book Bernard Vaughan

meanwhile ■ Martin Sheen speaks about how book’s message of compassion and universal ethics resonates with his own beliefs

F

or more than 40 years actor Martin Sheen has inhabited complex characters from the troubled Capt. Willard in the Vietnam film Apocalypse Now to US President Josiah Bartlet on the hit TV drama The West Wing. But for one of his latest projects, Sheen, 71, did not have to reach far. The devout Catholic narrated the audio book of Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, a new book by the Dalai Lama.

Sheen, a longtime social activist, spoke to Reuters about how the book’s message of compassion and universal ethics resonates with his own beliefs.

Q: How did you get into this project?

A: I have a very good agent. My agent is aware

Actor Martin Sheen that I am asocial activist and this is the kind of project I’d support because I’m a big supporter of the Dalai Lama and particularly his non-violent stance on political and social justice issues. So it was a no-brainier. To be his voice for his book was a very special opportunity.

Q: As a devout Catholic, how did you feel about narrating a book that calls for thinking about spirituality and ethics in away that is “ b e y o n d r e l i g io n ” a l t o gether?

A: You can’t separate any honest effort that is truthful. As my wife is always telling me, the truth is universal and omnipresent.

You can’t question where it comes from. The Dalai Lama lives a very honest and truthful life. He’s a reflection of the Gospels, whether he would call it such or not. What he is striving to do with this book is to find a common ground in the secular world because his whole point is that the vast majority of the world is not religious or religiously inclined.

The Dalai Lama at the Gyurmey Tantric Monastery at Gurupura, Karnataka.

Q: Aren’t there already a lot of ethical, non-religious people?

A: Sure and I think the Dalai Lama’s book will encourage them and sustain them. It doesn’t say drop your religion; you can’t go this path and remain a Catholic or a Protestant or a Muslim or a Jew. On the contrary, it’s about your humanity.

That’s where we’re all united. I think what he is trying to do is enlarge the circle. He’s trying to ensure people that they

don’t have to give up anything that they believe in order to enlarge their possibilities.

Q: How did you feel after wrapping the narration of Beyond Religion, at age 71, compared to how you felt, say, after wrapping Apocalypse Now , when you were in your 30s?

A: I was fragile then, both emotionally and physically. I’d gotten very ill during the latter part of the filming. So I had to recover, not just physically, but

benchers called for him to stand firm on Europe, to “show bulldog spirit,” in a “resolute and uncompromising defence of British national interests,” as one legislator, Andrew Rosindell, put it.

Trying to placate them, the prime minister pledged not to sign anything that did not contain “British safeguards.”

Meanwhile, should the Europeans in the eurozone “go ahead with a separate treaty” that leaves out the noneuro countries, Mr Cameron explained, “then clearly that is not a treaty that Britain would be signing or would be amending.” However, he said, he would still retain “some leverage” over the process.

“The more the eurozone countries ask for, the more we will ask for in return,” he said. But France and Germany have already made it abundantly clear that they will go ahead with their plans for the eurozone without regard to the needs or interests of Britain.

The explosive debate in Britain, while never welpsychologically, emotionally and spiritually. That really began my transformation into the rest of my life and basically led me back to Catholicism. I didn’t have any difficulty at all embracing the Dalai Lama’s philosophy. I didn’t have to go to a different part of myself, like a job, like I was playing somebody else. It took me three days to record it here in Los Angeles, and each day that I went back I was more nourished by what I was learning.

Q: You’ve been involved with many social justice activist campaigns. What is your take on the Occupy Wall Street movement?

A: I think it’s an inevitable expression of the despair and equal measure of hope that people in the 99 percent bracket have, and thank God they’re expressing it with their voice and encampments instead of with guns and Molotov cocktails. It’s outrageous what’s happening in our country.

And the rich don’t get it, they don’t understand.

You can’t just keep tripping over Lazarus every day that you leave your house. He’s rotting in front of your house, you’ve got to be aware of it and you’ve got to become involved. It’s a reflection of your own humanity or lack of it.

Q: How has President Obama perfor med and what’s your outlook on the 2012 presidential election?

A: I think under the circumstances, with what he inherited, two wars, an economy in the toilet, he has done quite brilliant.

I’m very confident he will be re-elected and it’s going to be a big surprise to a lot of people about how far in front he’s going to be.

The people get it: they know he’s on our side. He’s a good and decent man; he’s middle-class.

— Reuters

come, comes at an unusually inopportune time for Mr Cameron. The so-called special relationship with the United States is not looking all that special right now, and enormous cuts in defence spending are making it hard for the British military to maintain its status as America’s right hand.

The austerity budget is fraying at the edges, amid strikes and protests over layoffs and rising fees.

Growth has been slowing, despite Mr Cameron’s insistence that businesses would pick up the pace when it became clear that the government’s finances were sound. And now Britain looks to be in an unusually poor position to defend its interests in Europe.

Members of the Labour Opposition lost no time exploiting what they saw as Mr Cameron’s weakness on the issue.

“Six weeks ago, he was promising his backbenchers a handbagging for Europe, and now he’s just reduced to handwringing,” the Labour

leader Ed Miliband told Parliament, as his party members whooped their approval. “The problem for Britain is that at that most important European summit for a generation, that matters hugely for businesses up and down the country, the Prime Minister is simply left on the sidelines.”

Even more worryingly for the government, several prominent Conservatives, including the Cabinet minister in charge of Northern Ireland, Mr Owen Paterson, broke ranks with the party line and said flatly that Mr Cameron should make good on what they called his promise to hold a national referendum on any proposed European treaty changes. With much of Britain in the antiEurope camp, the no side would surely prevail in such a vote.

Ms Merkel has said that she would like any treaty changes to be approved by the entire European Union, so in theory Britain could exercise a veto. But Germany and France have also said they will make changes in the way the eurozone alone operates, if that is the only way to defend the common currency.

Most dangerous to Mr Cameron was the unwelcome intervention of the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, a potential wildcard rival for the Conservative leadership.

Mr Johnson, who is perhaps Britain’s most popular politician, enjoys injecting himself into questions of foreign policy when the spirit moves him.

If Britain was asked to sign a treaty creating “a very dominant economic government” across Europe, he told BBC radio, then Mr Cameron should veto it. “And if we felt unable to veto it, I certainly think that it should be put to a referendum,” he said. He added that in rescuing the euro, there was a danger of “saving the cancer, not the patient.”

By arrangement with the New York Times

High deficiency of Vitamin C in older IndiansX Aashima Dogra

aside

V

itamin C deficiency is dangerously high among elderly Indians, according to a new study conducted in the nation’s rural and small towns. Seventy four per cent of aged people in north India and 46 per cent in south India were found to be deficient of the essential nutrient.

The study conducted by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and AIIMS, Delhi, found that the deficiency was common in men, varied by seasons like intake of fruit and vegetable going down in the monsoons. In their findings, the authors point out poor diet and exposure to smoke in poor communities as major causes.

Our bodies cannot produce vitamin C on its own (just like most other vitamins, except vitamin D. Therefore, it must be ingested as part of the diet or supplements.

“Most studies show that high levels of vitamin C deficiency in older people.

They are usually expected to be the vulnerable group,” Prof. Astrid Fletcher of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said, adding that the problem of not eating well in old age is compounded in the lowincome group, which often leads to problems like cataracts.

“In an earlier study, we have shown a very strong association between cataracts and the vitamin C deficiency in the Indian population,” she said.

Apparently, the Indian way of life does not allow sufficient vitamin C to stack up. It is lost when heated and processed. This way most Indian dishes are ruled out as sources of vitamin c. “Loss of vitamin C occurs with heating and, therefore, dietary vitamin C in our study and in other studies in India is probably overestimated by at least 25 per cent since the most common method of food preparation among the Indian population is cooking by heat, ” the paper published in Plos One reads.

Primarily, vitamin C is required to help make collagen, strengthen immunity and fight allergies. But when the body is forced to spend most of its vitamin C stock on fighting oxidative stress brought on by smoke, not much is left for the principle purposes, leaving the body malnutritioned.

Seventy per cent of adults in India either smoke (mostly in the north) or chew (more common in the south) tobacco. Most families in the rural population still use cooking fires, the fumes of which cause oxidative stress, that is neutralised by further depleting stock of vitamin C. These levels are markedly higher than those seen in low-income groups in other countries.