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The Morung ExpressIf heaven made him, earth can fi nd some use for him

Dimapur VOL. III ISSUE 304 www.morungexpress.com Sunday, November 2, 2008 12 pages Rs. 3

“ -Chinese Proverb

A Daily Publication of Morung for Indigenous Affairs & JustPeace

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress party President Sonia Gandhi and the Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi visit the site of an explosion in Guwahati on Saturday. (AP Photo)

Thannganing HungyoShillong | November 1

SHILLONG KISSED sweet success this evening by entering into the record books for creating the world’s largest ‘jalebi’ at the Polo Grounds – an impressive kick-start-er to the much-awaited Autumn Festival. Measuring at 75 inches in diameter and weighing 3 kilograms, the attempt was how Delhi Mistan Bhandar, the Pop Tate’s of the city, repaid its love to the people for nurtur-ing it for 75 years.

Scores of people, including prominent politicians and bureaucrats, turned up to see history in the making. State Finance Min-ister Conrad Sangma knows how the jalebi tasted – finger lickin’ good. Five burners were put to good use to deep-fry the ‘maida’ flour batter in a pretzel shape. Jalebi is one of the most popular sweets in India and is served as the ‘celebration sweet’ of India.

Kailash Verma, proprietor of Delhi Mistan Bhandar, was confident of making the record as, in his own words, “We have practiced.” The mood of festivity was fur-ther enhanced by impressive displays by the Air Force and floats which were specially designed for the opening day of the Autumn Festival held under the aegis of the Megha-laya Tourism Development Forum, which campaigns for eco-friendly tourism. A Naga contingent also took part in the parade.

In previous years Meghalaya has earned fame for assembling 7,951 drummers, and also 1730 guitarists who strummed their

Shillong sets record for world’s biggest ‘jalebi’

Workers making the world biggest Jalebi in a record attempt as a camera man records at Polo ground, Shillong on Saturday. Shillong made an attempt at the world records by frying the big-gest Jalebi, 75 inches diameter and weighting 3 kgs, and supported by the Meghalaya Tourism Development forum (MTDF). The monster sweet is by local confectioner Delhi Mistan Bhander which is celebrating its platinum jubilee this year and hence the 75 inches size. Shillong holds the Guinness world record for the biggest guitar and drum assemble, last year. (Caisii Mao)

Newmai News NetworkGuwahati | November 1

PRIME MINISTER Dr Man-mohan Singh on Saturday hinted probable involvement of foreign countries in Thursday's serial blasts in Assam and said that the Central government would take effective action whoever is found involved. The death toll of the Thursday's blast has increased to 81 on Satur-day after four seriously injured per-sons breathed their last in on Sat-urday. The toll is likely to increase further as some persons are still found missing since Thursday.

The Prime Minister interact-ed with newsmen at the Guwahati

Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in the city after visiting the blast victims. Dr. Singh today rejected charges that the UPA gov-ernment was soft on terror. "We are not going soft on terror. There can be no compromise with terror," Singh told reporters. "Whosoever is responsible for these dastardly acts...we will take effective mea-sures," he assured.

Asked about involvement of other governments, Singh said, "if other governments are involved we will take up this matter with them also". The Prime Minister said in-vestigators will look at all the clues that they have but for now it would not be proper on his part to com-

ment on the probe. Opposition BJP had accused Singh and the UPA government of being soft in dealing with terror.

"If there is some other govern-ment involved in the blasts, we would take stern action against them," said the Prime Minister while answering to a question on whether the UPA government is taking up the issue with the Bangladesh. Singh how-ever, did not name any particular country and only said, "It is not pos-sible for me to comment on this right now but we would look into all the clues we have received during the investigation.

"I and Soniaji (Gandhi, UPA chairman) are here to express our

solidarity with the people of As-sam at this hour of distress and also to extend our condolence to the relatives of those who had lost their lives during the blast and the injured ones," he said. Singh said the Central and the state govern-ment would do everything to bring back normalcy again.

The Prime Minister on Satur-day visited blast-hit places in Guwa-hati and two hospitals and assured the victims of all help. UPA chair-person Sonia Gandhi and Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev also accompanied the Prime Minister. Union Home Minister Shivraj Pa-til who had been camping in Guwa-hati since Friday also accompanied

the PM to the hospitals.Meanwhile according to the

Press Trust of India, the death toll in the worst ever serial blasts in Assam today rose to 81 with four more persons succumbing to their injuries here. While three died at Gauhati Medical College Hospital, another died at Basistha Army Hospital, official sources said, adding that the condition of 20 other injured was critical. The state administration has said that the injured would be treated at government expense and if re-quired those in serious condition would be referred to hospitals out-side the state.

With Inputs from PTI

“We are not going soft on terror”

People participate in a candle light vigil to pay homage to victims of bombings at the site of an explosion in Guwahati on Saturday. (AP Photo)

Police questions six people GUWAHATI, NOVEMBER 1 (REUTERS): Indian police detained six people on Saturday after a little-known Islamist group claimed responsibility for bombings that killed 77 people in the troubled state of Assam. Police said two cars and mobile phones used to detonate bombs in the remote northeastern state, including its main city Guwahati, had been traced to four men while the remaining two were picked up for possible links with the attackers. A police officer said two of three cars used as bombs in Guwahati had been identified. “One of the vehicle owners has been picked up for questioning,” said Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, an inspector general of police. The Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahideen sent a mobile text message to a local television sta-tion claiming responsibility for the bombings. “We, ISF-IM, take responsibility of Thursday’s blast. We warn all of Assam and In-dia of situation like this in future,” the text message said.

continued on page 3

THE JALEBI RECIPEIngredients

2 cups all purpose fl our (maida), 1½ tbsp. fi ne grained semolina or rice fl our, ¼ tsp. baking powder, 2 tbsp curd (plain yogurt), 1¼ cups warm water, ½ tsp. saffron threads, slowly dry-roasted and powdered, 4 cups sugar, 2 2/3 cups water, ½ tsp green cardamom seeds powder, 1½ tbsp. kewra water or rose water, Ghee or vegetable oil for fryingPreparation

Mix the fl our, semolina or rice fl our, baking powder, curd and 3/4th cup of the water in a bowl (preferably a ceram-ic bowl). Mix well with a whisk.

Add remaining water and 1/8th tsp. of saffron powder, and whisk until smooth. Set aside for about 2 hours to ferment. Whisk thoroughly before use. Prepare one string syrup by dissolving sugar in the water. Just before the syrup is ready add saffron and cardamom powder. Heat oil in a ‘kadhai’. Pour the batter in a steady stream into the ‘kadhai’ to form coils. Make a few at a time. Deep fry them until they are golden and crisp all over but not brown. Remove from the ‘kadhai’ and drain on kitchen paper and immerse in the syrup. Leave in the syrup for at least 4-5 minutes so that they are thoroughly soaked. Take them out of syrup and serve hot or let it cool n serve.

way to the Guinness Records to the tune of Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.’

Today’s successful attempt, however, is

not simply of making a record. It is an af-firmation of a people to make Shillong the sweetest place to live in.

Morung Express NewsDimapur |November 1

THE COMMISSIONER of Nagaland HK Khulu and Director General of Police (DGP), J Changkija today met with the district adminis-tration, police, public leaders and various community rep-resentatives to discuss impor-tant issues pertaining to law and order in Dimapur.

Commissioner Khulu said the meeting today was convened to get first-hand information on the prevail-ing situation in Dimapur. The meeting reiterated on several measures to be ad-opted which was discussed during the Home Minister’s visit on October 31 last. Since April, Commissioner Khulu said, Dimapur has witnessed large-scale factional clashes and the problem still persists with extortions and kidnap-pings taking toll.

‘It is a reminder of how our economy is being de-stroyed and our society frac-tured’, Khulu said, and re-minded that there are forces at play which are trying to cre-ate panic amongst the people. The commissioner stressed on the need for better co-ordi-nation among various sectors of society and suggested there be a joint control room where timely information can be shared. Vulnerable sites need to be identified, he said, as the “modus-operandi” of ter-rorist is to create panic” and crowded places are often tar-geted. The problem of illegal immigrants and issue of ILP (inner line permit) was also strongly deliberated upon while pointing out that sev-eral “unauthorized authori-ties” are issuing ILP to illegal immigrants causing large scale forgery of ILP. Khulu said the influx of illegal im-migrants has to be carefully

checked and so, discouraged the use of illegal immigrants as laborers. One the ban of crackers, the commissioner said the same yardstick will be used during all festivals in-cluding Christmas.

Keeping in mind the vol-atile situation prevailing in Dimapur, DGP Changkija said security for Dimapur is being provided to the maxi-mum along with manpower. He said anti-social elements are taking undue advantage of the situation in the name of different underground groups and often taking ex-treme steps like killing. He also said there are reports of militants from neighboring states taking shelter in Na-galand and urged the people to co-operate with the law-enforcing agencies, in dis-seminating timely informa-tion to prevent killings.

continued on page 3

Law & Order Tops Priority

Points of Concern

• Factional bloodshed, ex-tortion and abductions starting to take toll

• Economy and social fabric being destroyed

• “Unauthorized au-thorities” and illegal is-suances by certain sec-tions adding to illegal immigrant problem

• Need to seriously act on influx of illegal im-migrants

• The need to discour-age using illegal immi-grants as laborers

• Militants and insur-gents from other states taking refuge in Na-galand

• Above all, public must act and cooperated with law & order agencies

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 1 (MExN): Amidst the already panicky situation created in Dimapur in the aftermath of the serial bomb blasts in As-sam, a businessman was shot at and critically injured in the head at around 5:35 pm this evening by unidentified mis-creants near Central Plaza, in the heart of the city. Citizens in Dimapur received the news with a shock given the fact that most people now live in the grip of fear and the uncertainty of a fragile situation existing in Dimapur, which has witnessed intense factional violence over the last few months. Today’s shooting incident has

taken place in the heart of Di-mapur inspite of security ar-rangements being beefed up during the last two days. The victim, Moklisur Rahman (37 years and hailing from Kam-rimganj in Assam), who owns a shop near the Central Plaza was returning home after clos-ing his shop when two persons accosted him and fired two shots, one in the right shoul-der and the other in the head, sources close to the victim dis-closed. The source said the vic-tim was with another person during the incident, the other person is yet to be traced.

The victim has been ad-mitted in Faith Hospital and

is presently under very criti-cal condition. Curiously, Di-mapur police have ruled out extortion as the motive for the crime “as the assailants ac-costed the victim and shot him on the streets and not in his shop”. Notwithstanding this strange logic, as usual “further investigation is on”. However, Dimapur city of late has be-come a hot place for business-men who have to face frequent daylight robberies by armed miscreants “claiming” to be underground cadres.

A businesswoman in Duncan Basti this evening disclosed that three persons came to her paan shop on Oc-

tober 31; while the two stayed outside, one of the miscreants entered the shop and after brandishing a pistol took away Rs 3000-4000 and some ciga-rettes from the shop. The inci-dent has not been reported to the police, the shop owner said. “The other shop over there has also been robbed in a similar manner,” she said pointing to a butcher’s shop. Gunmen pointed a pistol at the butch-er’s shop owner and took about Rs 7000 from the cash drawer, other residents in the area said. Police also remain by and large hapless in dealing with such crimes as victims do not report such crimes out of fear.

More pronounced is that, often times they have no faith in the police as earlier occasions have come to establish a trend.

“What can the police do, by the time they come the crime is already has already been committed and the per-petrators also ready fled,” said a shop owner. Nonetheless, with frequent crimes happen-ing in Dimapur and also the bomb blasts happening in oth-er states, the people of Dima-pur are an apprehensive citi-zen fearing the worst like the revisit of the October 2 bomb blast in Hong Kong market and the Railway station that happened in 2004.

Businessman shot; fear grips Dimapur

CMYK

CMYK

2 November 2008Sunday2 Dimapur The Morung ExpressLOCAL

Dimapur, November 1 (mexN): The City Law College Students’ Union, Dimapur organised the an-nual freshers cum parting social on November 1 at Hotel Saramati with Isaac Zhimomi, Financial Invest-ment Consultant, Nagaland as the chief guest. Speaking on ‘education and literacy’, Zhimomi said that ‘receiv-ing quality education in not difficult provided we have certain elements in place.’

He encouraged the stu-dents to know facts so as to gain knowledge as according to him there is no place lazy, lethargic and those who live in dark. “Only the best and efficient will survive,” Zhi-momi said and added that students should set their priorities and should not mix education with politics; “Students should strictly ad-here to the welfare of the stu-dent community.” He called upon the students to try to make our society a “produc-ing society.” Zhimomi said, “Opportunity is not lacking for those who seek. Do not wait for change of time. It is I and you who changes time.

CLCSUD celebrates annual freshers cum parting social

‘Only the best and efficient will survive’

Isaac Zhimomi, Financial Investment Consultant, Nagaland delivering his speech as the chief guest at the annual freshers cum parting social of City Law College Students’ Union, Dimapur on November 1 at Hotel Saramati. (Morung Photo)

Kuzhovesa SohoPhek | November 1

THe DeNIZeNS of Phek Town are facing acute short-age of water supply for the last one week. When con-tacted the department, one of the official response, this supply of shortage follows due to landslides and dam-age of water pipe some 5 kilometers away from the Phek Town Public Water Filtration Reservoir sta-tion which is affecting the dwellers for the past one week. However he further revealed that the depart-ment was working out for the early restoration and ‘we are expecting to restore it back from today’s itself i.e. November 1, 2008.

Interacting with this correspondent, Phek PHeD Junior engineer (Je) Chielo stated that there were some damaged water pipes be-tween the initial source spot and the Reservoir sta-tion, adding that this kind of situation often arises where the defect of the same was detected because of wrong element being done during

its survey. Approximately 5 kilometers of its element need to be re-element so as to bring up a permanent water supply Chielo added. He further added that, the ee along with some techni-cians had already re-sketch the said illegal element and subsequently a proposal to this effect was sent up to the higher ups obtaining the ap-proval of the District Plan-ning Development Board (DPDB) Phek, however no immediate positive signal was yet intimated till date, Je Chielo said.

Commenting over the complaint of the dwellers on cute shortage of water sup-ply, he said, even the main supply center fails to carried out for the said supply, we are putting up our best effort supplying water from the al-ternative project of old water tanker which indeed able to meet the needs of the con-sumers @ 75%, hence, the department felt some extend of satisfaction on our part even in the midst of the main supply face a failure. In view of approaching dry seasons we are working out with our

efforts so as to deliver the re-quirement of the consumers, Chielo commented.

When queried of the present water storage in the reservoir, he said, the functioning of the supply from the filtration reservoir started in the year 2002 with a capacity of 8 lakhs Litres in the reservoir with a pro-vision of more than 30,000 litres per day to the consum-ers. He further revealed that the present filtration reser-voir has the capacity of pro-viding the pure drinking water to the people even to the triple population of the present Town if the pipes were properly fitted with good quality specially the re-element survey is be-ing taken up. He further disclosed that the present reservoir water is commis-sioning with the proper fil-tration system and to avoid the dirty and poisons mix-ing the water a full time chowkidar (day and night) was deployed in the station adding that the dwellers of the town finds a healthier lives after the installation of the present project.

Time only lapses. Time to be proactive is today, this mo-ment. The time is now.”

P. Leonard Aier, Prin-

cipal, CLC while inviting the social civil societies, stu-dent union and other invi-tees present in the function,

to help the college to grow in quality and not in quan-tity as an divine act of what we can give to the society,

he said “it is not what you get in return but what you give.” He added that though the college in running in restrains but we need to march ahead with the rest of the Country. The Princi-pal while urging the outgo-ing seniors not to be part of that judiciary which do not hesitate to pinch from the provident funds entitled to poor people said “Law is a noble profession.” He also said that if one has positive attitude towards the service, they will definitely get it. And to be in the profession and in the service, Leonard said “Behave as human be-ing. Show to others that you are a good human being.”

T. Limanochet Jamir, President CLCSUD in is presidential speech wel-come the freshers and con-veyed heartfelt farewell to the outgoing seniors. H. Heroto Chishi said that speech on behalf of the outgoing student while Ra-mashankar Pandey said the fresher speech. The vote of thanks was delivered by Moatila Ao, General Secre-tary, CLCSUD.

(Left):Kids exhibit wrestling and (Right): Kids in traditional attire during Chaga Gadi festival in Kohima on Friday

Phek faces scarcity of water supply

Dimapur, November 1 (mexN): With the state govern-ment, in the last few years, giving prominence to farmers provid-ing training, financial assistance, seeds and even machineries has geared up the growth of farming in Nagaland. Farming, in which major population of Nagas is de-pendent on, is showing signs of improvement both in agri-based and horti-based farming.

One such stories of success-ful faming through the help of state government is a Banana Plantation Farm of Kakiho vil-lage under Dhansiripar Sub-Division. Six months after the plantation the banana plants in the farm are bearing fruit. The state Horticulture depart-ment provided the Kakiho Vil-lage Council with 250 numbers

Success story of Banana Plantation Farm banana saplings and adding to the saplings provided by the department, the village council brought another 300 numbers of banana saplings and planted them in the month May 2008.

Kakiho Achumi, head GB of the village said that after six months of plantation, the farm is already harvesting the fruit and selling the produce in the mar-kets. On behalf of all the villagers and village council, Kakiho had expressed profound gratitude to District Horticulture Officer, Dimapur and his staff for pro-viding the villagers with a con-cept which is going to help in the economic stability of the village. On behalf of the department, he has urged all the villages to avail the facilities that the government is providing for the farmers.

Organic farming for better environmentDimapur, November 1 (mexN): An IPM farmers training and practical demonstration was con-ducted under adoption of IPM Village Programme at Naga United Village on October 24, 2008. Altogether 77 farm-ers from 77 household alongwith the Officials of the Department attend-ed the training. The DAO Dimapur N.Wwesah delivered the topic on “Im-portance of IPM in Organic Vegetable Farming.” He stressed on creating awareness on the hazards of indiscrim-inate use of chemicals and to promote Organic farming in the State for better environment and healthier life.

While package of practices on winter vegetable cultivation by using organic in-puts was delivered by Bendanglila APP. N.Wetsah, DAO, Dimapur in a release sad that the Programme was marked by distribution of winter vegetable seeds to all the participants and field demon-stration on vegetable cultivation namely Tomato, Beans, Cabbage, Raddish, Car-rot, Onion, and Green Peas and also in-troduced two exotic vegetables Broccoli and Red Cabbage.

L. D John Poumairefutes allegationDimapur, November 1 (mexN): Refuting the alle-gations made against him in the news item, “NSCN (IM) condemns looting vehicles” published on October 19, LD John Poumai has clari-fied in a press release that he has “never indulged in such activities.” The NSCN (IM) had earlier stated that ‘one L. D John Poumai has been frequently looting Manipur bound trucks and passengers along NH 39 within Angami Region.” LD John Poumai, however denied the charges and stated that “the charges leveled against him are false.”

ZTC informsDimapur, November 1 (mexN): Zunheboto Town Council informs all concern building owners within Zun-heboto Town that ZTC will maintain the pavements and streets for celebration of Ahu-na Festival. ZTC Chairper-son Khehoshe H Yeptho said that any building materials viz. bricks, rods, bamboos etc laying as hindrance in the street will not be tolerated. All respective building own-ers are informed to maintain the material at proper place wef from the date of issue of this notification.

Members of St. Francis De Sales Church Kohima undertaking social work at Common Cemetery BSFCamp Kohima on Saturday

Sunday2 November 2008 Dimapur 3The Morung Express LOCAL

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 1 (MExN): The FGN today said one “major” Kusalie was brutally mur-dered in cold blood by cadres of “transit peace camp” on October 26 and his house was also searched and cash taken away. The outfit referred to this in the backdrop of the May 2008 CPO resolutions to do away with bloodshed and violence.

“In pursuance of the Chakhe-sang Public Organization (CPO) Public resolution dated 17th May and 24th May 2008 to bring about peace and unity among the nation-al workers of FGN, the concerned parties on 17th June, 2008, mutu-ally agreed to abide by the public resolution of CPO,” said a note from one Suluneyi Vero, ‘deputy Secretary, FGN’ in a note today. “That henceforth we shall stop all kinds of killing, abduction, intim-idations among the FGN National

Workers in Chakhesang Region.” “It is also mutually agreed that in the event of violation of this Pub-lic Resolution by any party shall invite non-cooperation from the Chakhesang Public,” it stated.

The note further said, that in the presence of the CPO, peace committee Members, signatures were appended on behalf of con-cerned parties by KL Kronu, mi-dan peyu, of Chakhesang Region, FGN and Acuyi Vadeo (“agent of TPC Kohima”) on June 17, 2008. Thus, the FGN note said, the murder of “major” Kusalie is thus, an act of betrayal of trust and total violation of the Peace Agreement of June 17, 2008. Say-ing he had selflessly rendered ser-vice till his last breath, the FGN prayed that God would grant his soul peace and also comfort the bereaved family members.

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

DIRECTORATE OF HORTICULTURENAGALAND: KOHIMA

NO.HR/HTM/PUB/2007-08 Dated Kohima, the 31-10-08

ADVERTISEMENTAttention Orange Farmers!!!

This is the Orange harvesting Season!!! The following beautifully designed types of Corrugated Orange Boxes with Trays for packaging of Oranges are available in the Department of Horticulture, Nagaland.

LARGE SIZE1. : a) Size : 20”x12”x11” b) Capacity to hold : Minimum 80 pieces of Oranges c) No. of Trays : 5 per Carton d) Price : Rs 40/- (subsidized rate)2. SMALL SIZE: a) Size : 20”x12”x6” b) Capacity to hold : Minimum 40 pieces of Oranges c) No. of Trays : 3 per Carton d) Price : Rs 25/- (subsidized rate)The empty corrugated packaging boxes is available at 1. State Horticulture Nursery at 4th Mile, Dimapur. 2. The Directorate of Horticulture, Nagaland, Kohima. 3. Through all the DHOs on advance payment.

Mission Director Directorate of Horticulture Nagaland: Kohima

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

DIRECTORATE OF HORTICULTURENO.HR/HD/2008-09 Dated Kohima, the 31st October, 2008

TENDER NOTICESealed tenders are invited from reputed manufacturers/

suppliers for supply of “CORRUGATED BOXES FOR PASSION FRUIT & FLOWERS” during 2008-09. Interested party may submit their quotations affi xing Court Fee Stamp of Rs 7.50p (Rupees seven fi fty paisa only) to the Director of Horticulture, Govt. of Nagaland on or before 8th December, 2008 upto 1200 Hrs. The tenders will be opened on the same day at 1400 Hrs. The tenderers or authorized agents may be present at the time of opening of the tenders. The details of conditions for designing of boxes for supply of the above mentioned items may be obtained from the undersigned during Offi ce Hours. MISSION DIRECTOR (HTM-NE) Directorate of Horticulture Nagaland: Kohima

BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED(A Govt of India Enterprise)

O/o GMTD, NAGALAND SSA, DIMAPURNo.G-14/ADVT/2008-09/11 Dated at Dimapur the 27th Oct 2008

The BSNL Nagaland Telecom is very glad to inform the customers and the denizens of the CHUMUKEDIMA TOWN that the LAND-LINE, WLL, MOBILE, BROADBAND CONNECTIONS will be provided ON DEMAND FROM 3-11-2008 TO 5-11-2008. The concerned BSNL authorities will be present at the telephone exchange, Chumukedima. So, all are requested to avail this facility without delay.

ON SPOT BOOKING OF LAND LINE, WLL, MOBILE, BROAD BANDis available from 3-11-08 to 5-11-08 at Telephone exchange Chumukedima

REBATE FOR RECONNECTION: Rebate for reconnection of telephones disconnected for non-payment will be considered allowing rebate for disconnection period. Also get the phone reconnected.The Contact Numbers are given below

Sub Divisional Engineer (Groups), Dimapur: 9436260434Junior Telecom Offi cer (Groups), Dimapur: 9436004392

Chumukedima, Telephone Exchange: 240498The interested public may come with 2 copies of latest passport size photos and

residential proof. Public Relations Offi cer O/o GMTD, BSNL, NLD SSA Dimapur-797112

1st Death Anniversary of Lt. Pf. Hriipuni, 2nd Nov 2008

How much tears we shed and mourned on this fateful day, the day you left us for your eternal home. Our hearts are still fi lled with emptiness, of your absence. Though you have left us physically to be with our Heavenly Father, we are coming closer to you day by day. The sweet memories of our past will

ever be cherished in our hearts. May your soul rest in peace till we meet again.

Yours loving Mum, Brothers Sisters, and Relatives.

V.J’s Coaching CentreD.C Court Road, Duncan Dimapur

Offers Coaching for the Repeaters ofClass X/XII Arts/XII Sc/XII ComAdmission starts for Regular students those

Who got through in selection test (Class X New Course)

Hostel attached for both Boys & Girls (Separately)For details contact the offi ce or call:

03862-234272/9436600530

Encounter Equip Empower

WOMEN’S CONFERENCE & SEMINARVenue : IMC (Old Lapa Loma Theater)Date : November 3-5, 2008Theme : Daughter of Zion, Women of WorshipTime : 9:00 AM – Seminar, 4:00 PM – Open Services Praise & Worship: Sinai Ministry, Dimapur.Speaker : La Vetta Williams and Team USA.

Features of the ProgramMorning – There will be powerful teaching sessions for womenEvening – Prophetic messages, Healing & Deliverance (Entire program will be interpreted in Nagamese)

How to get forms?Forms are available at Christian Literature Centre, Word of Christ Literature

Center, Bethany Hostel and Nan’s Viand, below Co-operative Bank.Contact : 9436261011, 9436003140, 9862145043, 9436013859, 9436072990

“Come and be transformed in the renewing of your mind. Rekindle your calling, reclaim your destiny, and rebuild

your altar in your life and family unto the Lord!”

FGN laments CPO resolution breach

ATI to conduct human rights trainingKOHIMA, NOVEMBER 1 (DIPR): The Administrative Training Institute, Kohima, is organising two Human Rights trainings with support from the NHRC as per the fol-lowing schedule: i) For uniformed personnel like Police, Prison, Excise, Forest, including district administration – from November 3–4; ii) For non-uniformed personnel like govern-ment officers, NGOs, CSOs, media, etc. – from November 10–11. Departments and organi-sations, NGOs, media, etc., are requested to send their nominations/representatives to the ATI Kohima for the above two courses. Renowned resource persons from outside the state shall be conducting the courses, accord-ing to Course Coordinator, W Ezung. For fur-ther information, interested persons may con-tact the Course Co-ordinator at ATI, Kohima, at: Tel – (0370) 2280068(O), 2280481(R); Fax – (0370) 2280067; Mobile – 9436241448.

KBPF’s monthly Monday morning prayerKOHIMA, NOVEMBER 1 (MExN): The Kohima Baptist Pastors’ Fellowship will hold its Monthly Monday Morning Prayer on No-vember 3 at the Mao Baptist Church, Midland, Kohima at 6:30 am. Sharing will be done by Mohan Philips, Director of National Prayer & Church Transformation, New Delhi. The pro-gramme will also be marked by intercession for Orissa incident, as entrusted and directed by the Nagaland Baptist Church Council. The senior pastor, pastor, associate pastor, assistant pastor, associate pastor (W), associate pastor (Youth), women leader, youth leader and Sun-day school directors have been requested to attend the programme.

NST bus service for Dimapur–LongchemKOHIMA, NOVEMBER 1 (DIPR): A new NST bus service from Dimapur to Longchem under Mokokchung district is being intro-duced with effect from November 3. Tickets for passengers are available at Old NST Sta-tion, Dimapur, or at contact no. 09954539492 or 9856892306.

Weather forecast from 1st Nov to 5th Nov 2008

Districts Rainfall Temp Cloud cover Relative humidity Wind speed km/

hr

Wind direction Cum rainfall from 1-7 NovMax% Min%

Mon No rainfall Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

93 56 3-4 From southernly to easternly .

3mm

Mokokchung -do- Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

95 55 3-4 From south westernly to easternly

3mm

Tuensang -do- Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

96 55 1-2 From North westernly /North easternly to easternly

3mm

Zunheboto -do- Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

96 55 2-3 From southwesternly to easternly.

3mm

Phek -do- Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

96 55 2-3 From Southwesternly to easternly.

3mm

Wokha -do- Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

95 55 2-3 From Southernly to easternly

4mm

Kohima -do- Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

95 52 3-4 From Northeasternly to easternly

2mm

Dimapur -do- Normal Mainly clear sky from 1-4th Nov but on 5th Nov the sky will be mainly cloudy

96 56 2-3 From easternly to north easternly

2mm

Agro advisories for the farmers As there is likely to be no rain the coming days, light irrigation should be given.• The prevailing weather condition is favourable for harvesting and threshing of rice.• Earthing up of turmeric, ginger or cole crop should be initiated during this period.• Make ridges and furrows, as it enable the plant roots to make use of harvested inter row water.• Take up bunding for soil moisture storage and light surface tillage should be given to a depth of 5cm to • keep weeds under check. Pruning off of dried twigs and branches of fruit trees.Ensure good crop stands of already sown crops by taking up proper soil moisture conservation.• Vegetable crops are in transplanting stage.• Waterlogging should be avoided to prevent rhizome rot of ginger.• Damping off disease in tomato,brinjal,chillies,cucurbits etc increases when factors like high moisture and • excessive organic manuring are available. Proper aeration of the soil and good hygienic conditions are helpful in reducing the post emergence.Pea suits well to both rice and maize based cropping system. It is sensitive to waterlogging and acidic conditions. • Therefore application of lime@ 2t/ha 10-15 days before sowing was found effective in increasing yield.Cowpea + mustard can also be taken up as fodder crop. African Tall Maize can be planted as fodder crop.• Under upland situation growing of vegetables like caulifl ower, cabbage. French bean maybe another choice.• As there is likely to be no rain the coming days, light irrigation should be given.•

Imtisenla Walling Agromet fi eld Unit ICAR,Medziphema

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 1 (MExN): The squabble be-tween the NPF and the Con-gress over the High court’s judgment over the imposi-tion of President’s Rule con-tinues. NPF president Dr. Shurhozelie today respond-ed to the Congress statement appended by NPCC vice president Zachilhou Vadeo.

The NPF chief said the Guwahati High Court had not given a final ruling or judgement, either on the “di-rective” of August 21 2006 is-sued by the Speaker, or on the decision of the Speaker sus-pending the voting rights of the 3 Independent MLA’s and not counting the votes cast by the 9NPF MLA defectors. The high court had merely given their “opinion or re-mark on them, and use them as some of the grounds for

refusing to interfere with the Central Government’s deci-sion to impose President Rule in Nagaland,” the NPF said. According to Shurhozelie, “even as on today the said ‘di-rective’ of the Speaker would have been still valid and op-erational, but for the dissolu-tion of the 10th Assembly”. He said that the directive was issued only for the duration of the 10th Assembly.

Over the decision of the Central Government to im-pose President’s Rule in Na-galand, the NPF said “we still feel that it was unjusti-fied and against the spirit of the Constitution”. The Gu-wahati High Court had not exactly justified the imposi-tion of the PR and “they had only refused to interfere on the matter, as the petitioner (Yitachu) was unable to prove

in court that the President of India’s satisfaction to impose President’s Rule in Nagaland ‘was founded on wholly irrel-evant or extraneous consid-erations’”. This was, the NPF said, partly due to the refus-al of the State Government during the President’s Rule to furnish him the required documents he had asked for from the Government.

On the issue of ‘fixing re-sponsibility’ for imposing the PR, the NPF said “we know that it was the Congress party who had managed the defec-tions and changed of heart of certain MLA’s with the aim of capturing power through the back door and against the people’s mandate”. But when their ‘unethical attempt was thwarted by the Speaker’, the NPF said, by upholding the true spirit of the Constitution

and the Anti-defection law, the state Congress leaders rushed down to Delhi, “even sacrificing their Christmas and New Year, and demand-ing imposition of President’s Rule in Nagaland”.

“They ultimately suc-ceeded in their attempt, be-cause this had also suited the mentality and designs of every ruling dispensation in Delhi, who had never allowed any regional party to complete its mandate tenure, during the last 45 years of the existence of Nagaland State,” the NPF asserted. “It is this negative and biased attitude which we are against, and which we want to make very clear to the people of Nagaland, so that they can make up their minds on whose party is for the Naga cause, and which party is not,” the NPF added.

NPF hits back in HC’s ruling battle

From page 1Police say the group

may have been seeking to avenge attacks on Muslim settlers by indigenous tribes that killed at least 47 people last month. Ethnic tensions have simmered for decades in Assam where over the years Muslim settlers, most-ly from Bangladesh, have moved to this Hindu and tribal-dominated region.

Security officials said they were investigating if the ISF-IM group was the same as an Islamic militant organisation formed in 2000 in Assam to avenge attacks by indigenous people. But police say the text message could be a ploy to di-vert attention from the real attackers. “You never know,

it could be their diversionary tactic. We have not closed our options,” Mahanta said.

Police also were talking to a lawyer who said he had seen two men park a car near one of the blast sites in Guwa-hati and leave nervously. Po-lice were preparing sketches of the pair. Police were in-vestigating the links of ISF-IM with the Indian Muja-hideen, which first emerged in November 2007 and has claimed several major at-tacks across India this year. Police were trying to find out if ISF-IM was a front for Ban-gladesh-based Harkat-ul-Ji-had al Islami (HuJI) that has often been suspected of at-tacks on Indian cities. HuJI has ULFA links.

Police questions six people

Law & Order Tops Priority From page 1

Changkija has appealed to the public to extend help to strengthen the forces and ad-ministration in safeguarding the community. The commis-sioner, HK Khulu and DGP J Changkija have both appealed to the public to extend full co-operation to the police and ad-ministration. It is a serious con-cern for all of us, the DGP said and urged different organiza-tions and community to help each other and stand in unity to fight elements that seek to destroy our profession and hamper our works, he added. The commissioner taking note of problems and suggestions from various organizations, has assured such will be ap-prised to the state Cabinet.

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 1 (MExN): The Krishi Vigyan Kend-ra (KVK), Aboi in Mon district con-ducted two days training programme at Aboi and Ngangching village on October 29 and November 1. Alto-gether 75 practicing farmers, rural youths, school drop-outs and self help groups attended the training.

Dr. MS Sachan, Subject Mat-ter Specialist (GPB) imparted the training on seed production of winter crops with special reference to mustard, pea and winter maize. He encouraged the farmers to grow more rabi crops which takes a rela-tively shorter period to get better returns in terms of food and seed production.

Likhase LT Sangtam, Subject

Matter Specialist (Agri Ext) spoke on formation and management of self help groups and entrepreneur-ial development for rural youths. He advised the villagers to form self help groups with clear objective of bringing positive change in socio-economic through self help and self reliance. W Shoyan Konyak, SMS (Agronomy) spoke on pack-age of practices for mustard.

Seeds of rapeseed and mus-tard, pea, winter maize and other inputs were freely distributed to the farmers for demonstration and testing purpose. This was stated in a press note issued by Manoj Singh Sachan, Subject Matter Specialist (Genetics and Plant Breeding), KVK, Aboi in Mon district.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra conducts two days training

CMYK

CMYK

Sunday2 November 2008 4 Dimapur The Morung Express

DAILY CROSS WORDLEISURE

DOWN

Answers to CROSSWORD #1140Across: 1. Copper, 4. Accuse, 9. Pulse, 10. Ranting, 11. Rockets, 13. Arson, 14. Denote, 15. Snoops, 16. Fever. 20. Airmail, 22. Ex-tract, 23. Swing, 24. Talent, 25. Ranger.

Down: 1. Caper, 2. Pelican, 3. Eye, 5. Container, 6. Units, 7. En-gines, 8. Frost, 12. Entertain, 14. Deflect, 16. Orating, 17. Parts, 19. Vital, 21. larger, 23. Sea

CROSSWORD # 1141The Morung Express number gameS U D O K U

Sudoku # 1125

Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.”

Yesterdays answer Sudoku #1124

W O R D S E A R C H

businEss

CuRRENCy ExChaNgECURRENCY NOTES BUY(Rs) SELL(Rs)US Dollars 47.40 50.70Sterling Pound 76.55 82.05Hong Kong Dollar 5.90 6.60Japanese Yen /1000 475.00 509.00Malaysian Ringtt 12.34 15.27Singapore Dollar 31.45 34.95Thai Bhat / 100 134.70 146.20U.A.E. Dirhams 12.70 13.95Euro 60.20 64.45

For details contact: Urban Station, Near NSC Petrol Pump, 6th Mile Dimapur. Ph No : 240994

DIMAPUR STD CODE: 03862Civil Hospital: 232224; Emergency- 229529, 229474Metro Hospital: 227930, 231081Faith Hospital: 233044, 228846Shamrock Hospital 228254Zion Hospital: 231864, 230889Fire Service: 232201Police Control Room 228400Police Traffic Control 232106East Police Station 227607, 228400West Police Station 232181CIHSR (Referral Hospital) 242555/ 242531

KOhIMA STD CODE: 0370Police Control Room: 2244279North Police Station: 2244923South Police Station: 2242897Fire Brigade: 2222952Naga Hospital: 2222916Oking Hospital: 2243339Bethel Nursing Home: 2224202

1. Little - - - scene of Custer’s last stand (7)7. Frumpy (5)8. Country, capital Quito (7)9. Chew noisly (6)11. Beam (5)13. Subside (4)14. Tennis player, - - - Navratilova (7) 15. Seaweed (4) 16. Ill-fitting (5)17. Warm-up again (6)21. Liveried servant (7) 22. Disney character (5) 23. Swindled (7)

2. Unfinished (10)3. Car’s light (B)4. Civil disturbance (4)5. South African colonist (4) 6. 1950s British PM (4)9. Allege (5)10. Temperature scale (10)12. Russell- - -’ TV astrologer (5) 13. Singer/model, - - - Fox (8)L8. Assist (4)19. Social insects (4)20. Scottish Jake (4)

ChEvROlET CaR PRiCE liSTCAR MODEL PRICESPARK 1.0 BASE 268,648SPARK 1.0 PS 289,992SPARK 1.0 LS 304,641SPARK 1.0 LT 334,123U-VA 1.2 BASE 401,639U-VA 1.2 LS 444,184U-VA 1.2 LT 483,975SRV 1.6 OPT. PACK 790,100AVEO 1.4 BASE 606,461AVEO 1.4 LTD EDI 661,631AVEO 1.4 LT OPT.PACK 754,930TAVERA 2.5 LT 9S BS3 877,748TAVERA 2.5 SSD1 7S (C) BS3 993,249OPTRA ROYAL 1.6 LT (PETROL) 967,686OPTRA MAGNUM 2.0 LT ACC (DIESEL) 1,074,547CAPTIVA 2.0 LT VCDI 1,812,688

aCROSS

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BOOTSCLAMPSCLEANCLEANAREADISTRACTIONSDRILLINGDUSTMASKSEARPLUGFILEGLOVESGOODLIGHTINGGUARDHAMMERSHORSEPLAY

INSPECTMILLINGNAILSOVERCOATPAINTINGSAFETYGOGGLESSAWDUSTSHOPSAFETYSTAININGWRENCHES

Q F X K O Z D K P M P K I F G

D G N N Y T E F A S P O H S L

D I S T R A C T I O N S A T X

U M G N I L L I M L E F M G P

S T A I N I N G V A E E M G B

T D R I L L I N G T F A E Y H

M Y Z B O O T S Y W E D R U Q

A T A D R A U G Q R A X S P T

S S V L C G O M A E R T S A A

K U G V P G L N U N P C P I O

S D L C G E A O A C L E M N C

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B A E M L N L R F E G S L I E

L S Y C V S C Y O S S N C N V

Y R G O O D L I G H T I N G O

Visitors to a real estate fair near a booth displaying the price of apartments at 6,000 yuan (US$877) per square meters in Beijing, China Thursday, October 30. In a bid to counter the economic slowdown, Chinese authorities announced last month a reduction in required down payments for home purchases, a waiver on stamp taxes for real estate deals and plans to step up construction of affordable housing. (AP Photo)

Chen Wen-mei, a 44-year-old Buddhist follower, plays with one of over 300 dogs she looks after at her volunteer shelter in Taipei county, Taiwan, Wednesday, October 29. Chen has seen a sharp increase in abandoned dogs being brought to her shelter over the last few months. Coinciding with the local stock market plunge and a jump in the jobless rate in Taiwan, local animal rescuers say more and more dogs are being abandoned as owners look for ways to cut expenses. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON, NO-vember 1 (reuTerS): Google Inc may decide to scrap its proposed partner-ship with Yahoo Inc rather than accept government-im-posed antitrust restrictions on it, according to two sourc-es familiar with the compa-nies' discussions. "Are they more serious about walking away? Yes. Have they decid-ed? I'm not sure," one source told Reuters on Friday.

"Yahoo wants the deal,

and they're willing to have Google sign anything at the Justice Department to have them do it," said the source. A second source said that Google and Yahoo, Nos. 1 and 2 in the Internet search market, could announce as early as Friday that the deal had fallen apart. Google and Yahoo representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.

Google and Yahoo de-layed implementing the

partnership announced in June to allow the U.S. Justice Department to scrutinize it for antitrust issues. Between them, Google and Yahoo had more than 80 percent of the web search market in August, according to comScore Inc. The deal, which would allow Google to sell advertising for some of Yahoo's online adver-tising space, has drawn fierce criticism from advertisers, who fear higher prices.

Part of the impetus of

Google's walking away could be Yahoo's talks with Time Warner Inc about buying the content and advertising operations of its AOL unit. Google initially struck the deal with Yahoo as a way to fend off Microsoft Corp's unsolicited bid. Yahoo and AOL are conducting due diligence to see what a com-bined company would look like, another source previ-ously told Reuters.

By collecting the rev-

enue from placing Google ads along its search results, Yahoo's cash flow could grow by $250 million to $450 mil-lion in the first year of the deal, the companies had said in June. The deal has since been mired in the regulatory process. In September, the Justice Department hired Sandy Litvack, its former an-titrust chief and Walt Disney Co's former vice chairman, to consult on its probe of the search deal.

Google may scrap Yahoo deal

Jet fuel price to come down Mittal suffers 50 bn decline in ArcelorMittal share value

RBI cuts CRR, repo rates to prop up economy

Remove advertisements of alcoholic drinks in airportsNeW DelHI, NOvember 1 (PTI): Irked over the "gran-diose" display of advertisements of alcoholic drinks in airports, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has asked his counterpart in the Civil Aviation ministry to have them removed as they were legally banned in the country. In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Ramadoss, citing various scien-tific and technical studies, requested him to issue specific instruc-tions to the concerned authorities as advertisements of alcoholic drinks are already legally banned in the electronic and print me-dia. The Health Minister in the letter dated August 25 expressed his disappointment over the "grandiose display inside airport in various cities throughout the country aiming to advertise alco-holic drinks with famous brand names" in the form of large size hoardings, vinyl boards and banners. He said that despite the ad-vertisements being banned, the hoardings were still on display at various airports, including Delhi Airport. Ramadoss has also asked officials in the health ministry to take up the issue with the relevant agencies in the Civil Aviation Ministry.

Fly hyderabad to UK for Rs. 90: British AirwaysHyDerAbAD, NOvember 1 (AGeNcIeS): British Air-ways has announced a one-off introductory low fare to celebrate the launch of its latest route from India. Customers can fly from Hyderabad to the UK at a fare of Rs 90 and Hyderabad to 22 North American destinations for Rs 990. The offer is for eight days only. Bookings can be made from October 31 to November 7, 2008. The fare is valid for the World Traveller (economy class) cabin and for travel from the airline’s first day of operation in Hyderabad De-cember 7, 2008 up to January 31, 2009; inbound until March 2009, the airline stated in a press release. British Airways will be operat-ing five flights a week from Hyderabad to London and a total of 48 weekly flights from six cities in India to the UK. mumbAI, NOvember

1 (PTI): After infusing Rs 1,85,000-crore liquidity into the banking system, the Reserve Bank of India on Saturday effected yet an-other 100 basis points cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR) and a 0.5 per cent reduction in key short-term lending (repo) rate, signaling soft-ening of interest rates to prop up growth.

The one percentage point cut in CRR, the amount which banks have to park with the apex bank, has been brought down to 5.5 per cent to infuse additional liquidity of Rs 40,000 crore into the sys-tem. The CRR cut will be in two tranches and the first one of 0.5 per cent will be effec-tive retrospectively from Oc-

tober 25 and the second from November 8. The RBI also cut the repo rate, the rate at which it lends to banks, by 0.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent with effect from November 3.

Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), the amount which banks are mandated to park ingovernment securities, have also been reduced by 100 basis points to 24 per cent. Welcoming the de-cision, ICICI Bank Joint Managing Director Chanda Kochhar said, “it will release much needed liquidity into the system and signal re-duction in interest rates.” To provide further comfort on liquidity and to impart flexibility in liquidity man-agement to banks, the RBI has introduced a special re-

finance facility to scheduled commercial banks. Under this facility, the banks will be able to borrow short-term funds from the RBI up to a maximum period of 90 days.

With Saturday’s mea-sures along with several mon-etary steps taken last month, the apex bank has so far in-jected over Rs 2.5 lakh crore in to the system. Hailing the policy measures, bank-ers also said that they would look at reducing their lend-ing and deposit rates in the near future. Economists said the slew of measures would help to prop up growth, par-ticularly considering that the inflation has started falling drastically on the back of de-clining global crude oil and other commodity prices.

lONDON, NOvember 1 (PTI): NRI steel tycoon Lak-shmi Mittal has suffered a USD 50 billion decline in the value of shares he holds in the ArcelorMittal following the global financial meltdown, a leading economic daily has claimed. Mittal, who owns 45 per cent of the stock in Arce-lorMittal, has seen the value of his personal shareholding fall since late June from USD 66 billion to USD 16 billion, The Financial Times claimed in an analysis of the effect of global financial crisis on the steel industry. “When Mittal talks to investors and analysts next week, he is likely to come in for tough questioning about how much he will cut production in the next few months. “He will also be asked to explain the status of the company’s expansion programme, in

particular two big plants be-ing planned for India, which look likely to be scaled back,” the report said.

Noting that Mittal, Chair-man and Chief Executive of ArcelorMittal, next week faces the biggest test of his career, the report said “the Indian metals magnate will try to convince investors that his vision of the steel industry still has merit, in spite of the battering the sector has re-ceived amid the global finan-cial crisis.” When he presents the third-quarter results of ArcelorMittal on Wednesday from the company’s imposing headquarters in the centre of Luxembourg, Mittal will do his best to put a “brave face on a 72 per cent decline in the share price of the world’s big-gest steelmaker over the past four months.”

NeW DelHI, NOvem-ber 1 (AGeNcIeS): In an effort to bail out ailing air-line companies, the govern-ment on Friday abolished the 5 per cent customs duty on aviation turbine fuel that will have a direct impact on domestic ATF prices.

“The aviation sector is experiencing financial stress, which is partly due to high price of ATF,” the offi-cial statement said. “In order to give relief to this sector, the basic customs duty of 5 per

cent has been abolished.” Oil companies have already announced a cut in jet fuel prices by 16 per cent from Saturday. ATF prices in In-dia are currently 60-70 per cent higher than the interna-tional prices and constitute about 40 per cent of the cost of airlines. High crude prices in the past six months led to a substantial jump in ATF prices, which ate into the profitability of all major air-lines in India. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel wel-

comed the decision: “I thank the finance minister for tak-ing such a proactive stance. Such initiatives will help the sector and benefit the passen-gers in the long run.”

Duty cuts were also an-nounced in steel and iron ore with export duty being with-drawn on steel items. The 15 per cent ad valorem export duty on iron ore fines was re-placed by a Rs 200 per metric tonne specific duty. But it is not likely to have any major impact.

‘Fuel supply agreement issue to be resolved soon’KOlKATA, NOvember 1 (AGeNcIeS): Coal India Ltd on Saturday expressed hope that it will be able to sort out the issue of inking Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) with power utilities.

“A meeting between the Coal Secretary and his coun-terpart in the Power Ministry was held recently where the FSA issue had figured,” CIL Chairman Partha S Bhattacha-ryya told reporters here on the sidelines of a programme to mark the company’s founda-tion day. Bhattacharyya, said the issue would again be dis-cussed with power utilities and hoped that it would be re-

solved soon. Sharma had ear-lier said that they would not sign the FSA if CIL could not assure 90 percent of the com-mitted coal supply to power utilities. The power compa-nies have expressed reserva-tion in signing the agreement over fixing of the ‘trigger level’ or the level of supply below which CIL has to pay a pen-alty. When asked, Bhattacha-ryya described the demand by power companies for ‘trigger level’ as unjustified and ques-tioned how could CIL meet the demand of other sectors in that case.

According to the new coal distribution policy, compa-

nies which require more than 4,200 tonnes of coal annually need to enter into FSA with CIL. Bhattacharyya said that the power utilities also im-ported much less coal than their target last year. Last year, the power companies had imported 8.07 million tonnes (MT) of coal against a target of 12.4 MT, while in the first half of the current fiscal, they were supposed to import 9.05 MT, but in ac-tual term the import during the period was only 3.94 MT, he said. Bhattacharyya said that CIL has signed FSA with companies in steel, cement and sponge iron sector.

Dimapur 5Sunday2 November 2008The Morung Express REGIONAL

GUWAHATI, NOVEM-BER 1 (AGENCIES): The Centre will fully cooperate with the Assam Government in finding the perpetrators behind the serial blasts in Assam. Union Home Minis-ter Shivraj Patil, who visited the blast sites at Kokrajhar and Barpeta Road, Satur-day said both the Centre and the state government would ensure that such incidents would not recur in future. Patil spoke to top police offi-cials before going to the Bar-peta civil hospital to inquire about the wellbeing of the injured in the blasts.

The minister assured the injured that the govern-

ment would provide finan-cial assistance to them and instructed the hospital au-thorities to monitor their condition. Guwahati to have Police Commissioner soon Assam Cabinet has decided to create a new post of police commissioner for Guwahati city in the wake of the serial blasts that claimed 77 lives and to reward individuals who provide information on the explosions.

Government spokesman and Health Minister Him-anta Biswa Sarmah said the cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, today decided to have a post of Commissioner of

Police for Guwahati, which hitherto has a Senior Super-intendent of Police as its top police official. It was also de-cided to reward people who could provide information or clue on Thursday’s blasts.

However, amount of the reward was not announced. “It will be announced later,” he said. Besides these, the cabinet has discussed mea-sures for rehabilitation of the family members of those killed and the injured in the bomb blasts, Sarmah said. The ministers observed a minutes’ silence in memory of those killed and wished for the speedy recovery of the in-jured, he said.

SELF EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES UNDER PRIME MINISTER

EMPLOYMENT GENERATION PROGRAMME (PMEGP)Applications are invited from Rural and Urban unemployed youths, who

fulfi ll the following qualifi cations and other eligibilities, in the prescribed format available with Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Nagaland Khadi & Village Industries Board (NKVIB), and District Industries Centers (DICs) of the respective Districts of Nagaland, for establishment of new Enterprise to be fi nanced by the Banks with beck-end subsidy arranging from 15% to 35% of the project cost.Eligibility Conditions of Benefi ciaries: 1) Any individual, above 18 years of age 2) There will be no income ceiling for assistance for setting up projects

under PMEGP 3) For setting up of project costing above Rs 10 lakh in the manufacturing

sector and above Rs 5 lakh in the business/service sector, the benefi ciaries should possess at least VIII standard pass educational qualifi cation

4) Assistance under the Scheme is available only for new projects sanctioned specifi cally under the PMEGP

5) Self Help Groups (including those belonging to BPL provided that they have not availed benefi ts under any other Scheme) are also eligible for assistance under PMEGP

6) Institution registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 7) Production Co-operative Societies, and 8) Charitable Trusts

Existing Units (under PMRY, REGP or any other scheme of Government of India or State Government) and the units that have already availed Government Subsidy under any other scheme of Government of India or State Government are not eligible.

The Application form will be made available with the respective Departments i.e, KVIC, NKVIB and DIC of the respective District, from 13th Nov.2008 onwards, which will be issued to those candidates. who fulfi ll the criteria under PMEGP scheme, on submission of 02 copies of Passport Size Photograph. Application complete in all respects should be submitted to respective District Offi ces, KVIC, NKVIB & DIC.

For further details, please contact KVIC, NKVIB and DIC of the respective District, on any working day. Asstt. Director I/C, State Offi ce, Khadi & V.I. Commission Dimapur: Nagaland

GUWAHATI, NOVEMBER 1 (AGENCIES): The three blasts here were all car bombs. Explo-sives were packed into the boot spaces of three Maruti 800s and driven to the blast sites. The ex-plosives were a lethal cocktail of RDX, TNT and PETN, one of the most powerful explosives known. PETN or pentrite is usu-ally packaged in small quantities to boost other charges and used in landmines and artillery shells. The chassis numbers of the cars have been retrieved but the regis-tration numbers of two cars have turned out to be fake. It is likely all three cars changed hands sev-eral times before ending up with terrorists, IGP (special branch) Khagen Sarma said.

Investigations on the day after Assam’s worst terrorist attack are pointing towards a stronger HuJI hand. A previously unknown out-fit, the ISF-Indian Mujahideen, has claimed responsibility but investigators are probing to what extent Ulfa helped the jihadi group. They believe a “weakened Ulfa” does not have the capabil-ity to carry out devastation of this magnitude on its own.

The outfit is suspected to be the Islamic Security Force and could be a front for Indian Mujahideen, sources said. “Ji-hadi elements are there but they could not have carried out an at-tack of this magnitude without local support, which primarily is Ulfa. But, it needs to be seen to what extent Ulfa could have helped the jihadis. There are several jihadi groups but the prime suspect is HuJI,” a senior intelligence officer said.

Sources pointed out that Ul-fa’s dependence on jihadis has been growing since it suffered re-verses in the face of counter-insur-gency operations. It suffered the worst in June when two units of its crack battalion, the 28th, declared truce. “We have specific informa-tion that Ulfa is in a crisis over ex-plosives and ammunition. More importantly, there is an acute shortage of trained and dedicated cadres,” an official said.

As the embers at the nine blast sites in Guwahati, Kokra-jhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta cooled, the death toll rose to 75, with nine more people succumb-ing in hospitals on Thursday night and Friday. The toll could rise with more than 300 injured still in hospitals, 170 of them tagged critical and battling for life. “It was meticulously planned and executed with a precision that only highly trained persons can achieve,” a source said. DIG (central and western range) GP Singh said they were trying to ascertain the exact composition of the mixture. The final report will depend on the findings of the seven-member NSG team that is collecting metal shards and other evidence — some of which are barely visible to the naked eye — from the blast sites for forensic testing.

What worries security agen-cies more is the shadowy nature of jihadis who are suspected to have carried out the blasts. Sar-ma said each of the jihadi groups active in Assam would be looked into, particularly HuJI. A claim by an unknown terror outfit on Friday evening has only added

to the mystery, but it strengthens the investigators’ theory that the jihadi hand was stronger than Ulfa in the blasts. The ISF-IM sent an SMS to a local TV chan-nel here, saying: “We ISF-IM take responsibly of the blasts. We warn all of Assam and India of such situation like this in future. We thank all our holy members and partners. Aamin.”

The sender was tracked down to be a Reliance user, Nazir Ahmed from Moirabri area in Na-gaon district. Sources say ISF-IM could be Islamic Security Force and might have allegiance to In-dian Mujahideen. Sarma said: “There is no such organization in the state but we are looking into it. It could be a new name being used.” The state has its own two Muslim fundamentalist organi-zations - Muslim United Libera-tion Tigers of Assam (MULTA) and Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam (MULFA) - but police describe them to be weak, limited to gun running and coun-terfeit currency, sources said.

Investigators in Guwahati — which was worst-hit — are struggling to find clues from the three blast sites because a huge quantity of water was used to douse the fires and chemical and particle traces were washed away. “The blast sites in Barpeta Road, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon will provide definite clues but they have to be compared with those found in Guwahati to see if the same explosives were used,” a source said. The NSG team is trying to correlate Thursday’s attack with the eight other serial blasts in the country so far.

Assam police unprepared for crisis?BONGAIGAON, NOVEMBER 1 (NDTV): A five-minute delay would have spelt disaster on Thursday in the heart of Bongaigaon town. But the action of an alert shopkeeper who informed a con-stable of an abandoned bike on AOC road saved the day. “I constantly monitor all cars and motorcycles parked out side my shop for unattended articles or items. In this case, the man saw me, and came into my shop as well. My suspicion grew after I found the bike lying there for over an hour and then I alerted the constable,” said Banthia, the shopkeeper.

A bomb was found attached to this bike on AOC Road which was moved in the nick of time to a safe location. Soon after, the police removed the device encased in an ammunition box from the bike’s carrier. Later, it exploded. The explo-sion synchronised with the timing of the blasts in Guwahati, Kokrajhar and Barpeta that killed 77 people and injured over 300 persons. “It was our fortune that we could shift the motorbike to an-other location. We did not have any idea at what time it will explode. It is natural for us because we don’t have any expertise in this regard. We have to depend on the Army disposal squad usually. We were waiting for them after detaching the bomb but it bomb exploded,” said Bapreta Lachit Ba-ruah, Superintendent of Police.

The police response may have saved the day but it still exposes a big handicap the forces face in the area where they have been fighting militan-cy for over two decades. Bridges, railway tracks and oil pipelines of the Bongaigaon Oil Refinery in the area have long been targets by the Bodos and the ULFA militants, but the government’s response has been one of indifference.

Three years ago, a sub inspector in Bongaiga-on district died while diffusing a bomb but since then no one has come to replace him. “We want a strong bomb disposal team and a bomb trailer also. This is a bomb prone area and after Guwaha-ti this is the premier township in lower Assam,” said Bapreta Lachit Baruah. Perhaps the motor-cycle will hold a clue. With the chassis and engine number now being traced back to an automobile shop in Guwahati, police are hopeful that this will lead to revealing the identity of the group.

Centre to cooperate with Assam in fi nding blast culprits

Security personnel stand guard on a deserted fl yover near a site of bomb blast during a twelve hour general strike called by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, the umbrella organization of Hindu nationalist groups, and main Indian opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to protest against the blasts in Gauhati, November 1. (AP Photo)

Car bombs were used in Guwahati blasts

ADVISORY ON PUBLIC SAFETYPlease inform the Local Police Station or City Police Control Room about any 1. unclaimed abandoned or suspicious article lying in your locality.Please inform about any unclaimed vehicle, two wheeler parked in your locality 2. for a long time.Do not touch unclaimed, abandoned and suspicious object till the arrival of the 3. Police.Do not leave your personal-baggage or vehicle/two wheeler unattended at any 4. place for long.Do not crowd the place if any suspicious object has been found. Please 5. c-operate with police and clear the area as soon as possible.Do not panic on hearing a rumour, verify facts from local Police Station or City 6. Police Control RoomPlease inform about any suspicious activity that comes to your notice to the 7. Local Police Station, City Police Control Room or Offi cers of the District police through the following contact numbers. Your identity will be kept secret. Above all remain Alert, Vigilant and Watchful

Important Telephone numbers of Dimapur PoliceSl.No Address Offi ce Mobile Nos1 SP Dimapur 225519 94360023992 Addl. SP Dimapur 227129 94360023983 SDPO, Dimapur 227191 94362611744 SDPO, Nuiland 227372 94360130135 Dy.SP (R) Dimapur 229195 94360023106 Dy.SP (Traffi c) 225588 94360062667 Dy.SP (Women Cell) 225211 98625750788 OC East PS 227607 94360029219 OC West PS 232181 943642862910 OC Traffi c Control 232106 943642631111 OC Diphupar PS 243194 943600995512 OC Medziphema PS 247227 943626058913 OC GRPS 230645 943601281114 OC Sub-Urban PS 232198 943607507615 City Police Control Room 100/228400

Superintendent of Police Dimapur

CPI-M expels former Tripura assembly speakerAGARTALA, NOVEMBER 1 (AGENCIES): Former Tripura assembly speaker Ji-tendra Sarkar was Saturday expelled by the ruling Com-munist Party of India-Marx-ist (CPI-M) for “anti-party activities”.”Sarkar, who was the speaker of the Tripura as-sembly for 10 years from 1993, was expelled by the party as he was making baseless allega-tion against the CPI-M open-ly,” a party statement said.

“Sarkar made some un-founded allegations before the media against the party with-out informing the party,” it said. Sarkar had Friday said the leadership of the CPI-M, which rules this state, was “autocratic” and “undemocratic”. “There is no inner party democracy in the CPI-M. If anybody raises any issue, he would be harassed be-cause the party has become very dictatorial in nature,” Sarkar had told reporters.

Sarkar, who was elected to the assembly five times since 1978 from the Teliamura constituency in west Tripura, along with a group of party workers, joined the newly formed Dalit Samajtantrik Dal, floated by another for-mer MLA and erstwhile CPI-M leader Nakul Das.

ITANAGAR, NOVEM-BER 1 (AGENCIES): An extortion bid by two local youths posing themselves in the name of “NSCN” was foiled by Itanagar police here on Friday last and arrested Tanu Lugu Tara while his accomplish, Nabam Hina managed to escape. Both are from Sagalee sub-division of Papum Pare district, Ar-unachal Pradesh.

A hand written state-ment demanding two lakh rupees under a printed let-terhead, “National Social-isum [sic] Council of Na-galand (KM), HQ Tokio, Nagaland, Estd. 1989” was served to the chief engineer of West Zone Power depart-ment, BP Singh on October 29. The demand notice was signed with fictitious names and designations as K. Wang-cha, Vigilance Secretary and K. Kambo of Commando Troop, Nagaland tribe. The chief engineer, who imme-diately informed the police, co-operated with the Papum Pare Superindentent of Po-lice, Hibu Tamang to make a strategy to arrest the intimi-tators. Repeated calls were made to Singh at his Vidhan Bhavan office browbeating him to pay the money by Oc-tober 30 but later deferred to October 31, sources said. The calls were made from a PCO which the police later

located at Banderdewa, bor-dering Assam.

Following police in-struction, the chief engineer cut papers the size of Rs 500 and 100 denominations and made bundles which were put in a package. A hundred rupee note signed by the SP was put in an envelop and left with the package at a book-store on the ground floor at Legi shopping complex as directed by the extortion-ers, while policemen in plain clothes led by SDPO Tamut Apang and Inspector M Bui lay in wait.

About noon, the duo came in a Pulsar motorcycle to col-lect the money. While Tara was arrested from the shop-ping complex, Hina managed to flee. The police praised B P Singh for being a great exam-ple to all and showing laud-able courage and sincerity to confront extortionists. Crime control would be much easier if civilians wholeheartedly co-operate with the police, says Tamang pleading, “Help us to help you.” Meanwhile, the escaped extortionist is at large, and whether he will graduate from a fake to a “genuine” extortionist is a grave public concern. Some years back, an organization called, Arunachal Socialist Council floated for a while, but it was apparently nipped in the bud.

NEW DELHI, NOVEM-BER 1 (AGENCIES): Barely a week before the serial blasts in Assam where the terror outfit HuJI has made deep inroads among illegal Ban-gladeshi migrants for build-ing up its cadres, the gov-ernment had come out with eye-opening figures showing how over 62,000 Bangladeshi nationals just ‘disappeared’ from the radar of state agen-cies during 2005-07.

In what is seen as a ma-jor security threat, the gov-ernment had disclosed that while 25,712 out of 5,00,234 Bangladeshi nationals did not return after expiry of their visa in 2007, over 24,000 re-mained missing in 2006 when 4.84 lakh had entered India through valid travel docu-ments. What is more worry-ing is that the figure of those who did not return showed a nearly 100% increase in 2006 as compared to 2005 when nearly an equal number (4.85 lakh) of people had come to India on proper visa. As many as 12,338 Bangladeshi nation-als had disappeared in 2005 against 24,497 in 2006.

Though all those who went missing may not be terrorists or criminals, the huge number of the Bangladeshi nationals who did not return after expiry of their visa has raised a major concern particularly at a time when security and intelligence agencies found this section to be potential recruits of terror

outfits — mainly HuJI which, has, of late, set up a huge net-work not only in Assam but also in other parts of the coun-try. Moreover if one looks at the number of deported Ban-gladeshis during the period as against lakhs of illegal immi-grants across the country, the gap will certainly make the situation worse. The statistics — released in Rajya Sabha on October 22 — show that only 40,743 Bangladeshi nationals were deported during 2005-07 against 62,547 who disap-peared after entering India us-ing valid documents.

The figure assumes sig-nificance particularly when the government has so far not disclosed any authentic figure of illegal Bangladeshi immi-grants who infiltrated through the porous international bor-der. The Border Security Force (BSF), however, recently put the number of such illegal im-migrants at 12 lakh — which is only a rough estimate — cov-ering a long period of 35 years from 1972 to 2007.

Incidentally, the num-ber of missing Bangladeshis (62,547) is much higher than the number of Pakistanis (22,097) who had come to In-dia using proper visa and who subsequently remained trace-less. While 7,404 Pakistanis did not return after expiry of their visas in 2007, the figure was 7,650 in 2006 and 7,043 in 2005. Sources in the home ministry said that though

‘Missing’ Bangla migrants set alarm bells ringingsome of them had been deport-ed after verification as they re-corded their presence with the concerned Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs), it was quite difficult to trace each person who disappeared after ar-rival. Without ruling out the pos-sibility of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI taking the legal route (using proper visa) to sneak in terrorists into

India both through the eastern (Bangladesh) and west-ern border (Pakistan), a senior home ministry official said: “It is suspected particularly when

the Pakistani espionage agency is increasingly finding it dif-ficult to infiltrate jihadis from the western border.” As against 419 infiltrators in western sector during April-September 2007, there have been only 243 infil-trators during the same period this year with the Army and the BSF establishing a strong “multi-tier counter infiltration grid”.The same is, however, not true for the eastern border which continues to report infil-tration in much bigger number in the absence of fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Bomb call causes panic in Tripura AGARTALA, NOVEMBER 1 (PTI): Panic gripped the autorickshaw union office at Akhaura Road in Agartala after an anonymous caller rang up and said that bombs were kept in the unclaimed bag lying in the office, which later proved to be a hoax, police sources said on Saturday. The anony-mous caller rang up the union office late Friday and said bombs were kept in an unclaimed bag ly-ing in the office. The office bearers immediately rang up the police, who rushed to the spot along with the bomb squad personnel, sources said.

The bomb squad personnel after checking the bag found no bombs inside it, sources said adding some substances looking like bombs were kept in-side it. However, no arrests have been made in this connection, they added.

Itanagar police foils extortion bid

E X P R E S S Rev iew6 THE MORUNG EXPRESSSUNday

2 November 2008

On July 14, after much advance publicity and fan-fare, the prosecutor of the International Crimi-nal Court applied for an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, on charges that included genocide, crimes

against humanity and war crimes. Important questions of fact arise from the application as presented by the prosecu-tor. But even more important is the light this case sheds on the politics of the "new humanitarian order."

The conflict in Darfur began as a civil war in 1987-89, before Bashir and his group came to power. It was marked by indiscriminate killing and mass slaughter on both sides. The language of genocide was first employed in that conflict. The Fur representative at the May 1989 reconciliation conference in El Fasher pointed to their adversaries and claimed that "the aim is a total holocaust and no less than the complete an-nihilation of the Fur people and all things Fur." In response the Arab representative traced the origin of the conflict to "the end of the '70s when...the Arabs were depicted as foreigners who should be evicted from this area of Dar Fur." The ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has uncritically taken on the point of view of one side in this conflict, a side that was speaking of a "holocaust" before Bashir came to power, and he attributes far too much responsibility for the killing to Bashir alone. He goes on to speak of "new settlers" in today's Darfur, suggesting that he has internalized this partisan perspective.

At the same time, the prosecutor speaks in ignorance of history: "AL BASHIR...promoted the idea of a polariza-tion between tribes aligned with him, whom he labeled 'Arabs' and...the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa...derogatory [sic] referred to as 'Zurgas' or 'Africans'." The racialization of identities in Darfur has its roots in the British colonial period. As early as the late 1920s, the British tried to or-ganize two confederations in Darfur: one Arab, the other black (Zurga). Racialized identities were incorporated into the census and provided the frame for government policy. It is not out of the blue that the two sides in the 1987-89 civil war described themselves as Arab and Zurga. If anything, the evidence shows that successive Sudanese governments--Bashir's included--looked down on all Dar-furis, non-Arab Zurga as well as Arab nomads.

Having falsely attributed to Bashir the racialization of the conflict, Moreno-Ocampo focuses on two consequences of the conflict in Darfur: ethnic cleansing through land-grabbing and atrocities in the camps. He attributes both to Bashir. He is again wrong. The land-grabbing has been a consequence of three different, if related, causes. The first is the colonial sys-tem, which reorganized Darfur as a series of tribal homelands, designating the largest for settled peasant tribes and none for fully nomadic tribes. The second is environmental degrada-tion: according to the United Nations Environment Program, the Sahara expanded by 100 kilometers in four decades; this process reached a critical point in the mid-1980s, pushing all tribes of North Darfur, Arab and non-Arab, farther south, onto more fertile Fur and Masalit lands. This in turn led to a conflict between tribes with homelands and those without them. The imperative of sheer survival explains in part the unprecedented brutality of the violence in every successive war since 1987-89. The third cause came last: the brutal coun-terinsurgency unleashed by the Bashir regime in 2003-04 in response to an insurgency backed up by peasant tribes.

It is not just the early history of the conflict that the pros-ecutor is poorly informed about. In his eagerness to build a case, Moreno-Ocampo glosses over recent history as well. He charges Bashir with following up the mass slaughter of 2003-04 with attrition by other means in the camps: "He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rape, hunger and fear." This claim flies in the face of evidence from UN sourc-es in Darfur, quoted by Julie Flint in the London Indepen-dent, that the death rate in the camps came down to around 200 a month from early 2005, less than in South Sudan or in the poor suburbs of Khartoum.

The point of the prosecutor's case is to connect all conse-quences in Darfur to a single cause: Bashir. Moreno-Ocampo told journalists in The Hague, "What happened in Darfur is a consequence of Bashir's will." The prosecution of Bashir comes across as politicized justice. As such, it will undermine the le-gitimacy of the ICC and almost certainly will not help solve the crisis in Darfur. It is perhaps understandable that a prosecutor in a rush would gloss over all evidence that might undermine his case. But we must not. A workable solution to the conflict requires that all its causes be understood in their full complexi-ty. Darfur was the site of mass deaths in 2003-04. World Health Organization sources--still the most reliable available informa-tion on mortality levels then--trace these deaths to two major causes: roughly 80 percent to drought-related diarrhea and 20 percent to direct violence. There is no doubt that the perpetra-tors of violence should be held accountable, but when and how are political decisions that cannot belong to the ICC prosecu-tor. More than the innocence or guilt of the president of Sudan, it is the relationship between law and politics--including the politicization of the ICC--that poses a wider issue, one of great-est concern to African governments and peoples.

The New Humanitarian OrderWhen World War II broke out, the international order

could be divided into two unequal parts: one privileged, the other subjugated; one a system of sovereign states in the West-ern Hemisphere, the other a colonial system in most of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Postwar decolonization recognized former colonies as states, thereby expanding state sovereignty as a global principle of relations between states. The end of the cold war has led to another basic shift, heralding an interna-tional humanitarian order that promises to hold state sover-eignty accountable to an international human rights standard. Many believe that we are in the throes of a systemic transition in international relations. The standard of responsibility is no longer international law; it has shifted, fatefully, from law to rights. As the Bush Administration made patently clear at the time of the invasion of Iraq, humanitarian intervention does not need to abide by the law. Indeed, its defining characteristic is that it is beyond the law. It is this feature that makes human-itarian intervention the twin of the "war on terror."

This new humanitarian order, officially adopted at the UN's 2005 World Summit, claims responsibility for the protection of vulnerable populations. That responsibil-ity is said to belong to "the international community," to be exercised in practice by the UN, and in particular by the Security Council, whose permanent members are the great powers. This new order is sanctioned in a language that departs markedly from the older language of law and citizenship. It describes as "human" the populations to be protected and as "humanitarian" the crisis they suffer from, the intervention that promises to rescue them and the agencies that seek to carry out intervention. Whereas the language of sovereignty is profoundly political, that of humanitarian intervention is profoundly apolitical, and sometimes even antipolitical. Looked at closely and criti-cally, what we are witnessing is not a global but a partial transition. The transition from the old system of sover-eignty to a new humanitarian order is confined to those states defined as "failed" or "rogue" states. The result is once again a bifurcated system, whereby state sovereign-ty obtains in large parts of the world but is suspended in more and more countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The Westphalian coin of state sovereignty is still the effective currency in the international system. It is worth looking at both sides of this coin: sovereignty and citizen-ship. If "sovereignty" remains the password to enter the pas-sageway of international relations, "citizenship" still confers membership in the sovereign national political (state) com-

The New Humanitarian Order

Thousands of people flee a refugee camp near Kibumba, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Goma in eastern Congo, Monday, October 27. Thousands of refugees and soldiers are fleeing fighting in eastern Congo in what appears to be a major retreat of government forces being attacked by rebels of renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda. (aP Photo)

munity. Sovereignty and citizenship are not opposites; they go together. The state, after all, embodies the key political right of citizens: the right of collective self-determination.

The international humanitarian order, in contrast, does not acknowledge citizenship. Instead, it turns citizens into wards. The language of humanitarian intervention has cut its ties with the language of citizen rights. To the extent the global humanitarian order claims to stand for rights, these are residual rights of the human and not the full range of rights of the citizen. If the rights of the citizen are pointedly political, the rights of the human pertain to sheer survival; they are summed up in one word: protection. The new lan-guage refers to its subjects not as bearers of rights--and thus active agents in their emancipation--but as passive benefi-ciaries of an external "responsibility to protect." Rather than rights-bearing citizens, beneficiaries of the humanitarian order are akin to recipients of charity. Humanitarianism does not claim to reinforce agency, only to sustain bare life. If anything, its tendency is to promote dependence. Hu-manitarianism heralds a system of trusteeship.

It takes no great intellectual effort to recognize that the responsibility to protect has always been the sovereign's ob-ligation. It is not that a new principle has been introduced; rather, its terms have been radically altered. To grasp this shift, we need to ask: who has the responsibility to protect whom, under what conditions and toward what end?

The era of the international humanitarian order is not entirely new. It draws on the history of modern Western colonialism. At the outset of colonial expansion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, leading Western powers--Britain, France, Russia--claimed to protect "vul-nerable groups." When it came to countries controlled by rival powers, such as the Ottoman Empire, Western pow-ers claimed to protect populations they considered vulner-able, mainly religious minorities like specific Christian denominations and Jews. In lands not yet colonized by any power, like South Asia and large parts of Africa, they highlighted local atrocities--such as female infanticide and suttee in India, and slavery in Africa--and pledged to protect victims from their rulers.

From this history was born the international regime of trusteeship exercised under the League of Nations. The League's trust territories were mainly in Africa and the Mid-dle East. They were created at the end of World War I, when colonies of defeated imperial powers (the Ottoman Empire, Germany and Italy) were handed over to the victorious powers, who pledged to administer them as guardians would adminis-ter wards, under the watchful eye of the League of Nations.

One of these trust territories was Rwanda, adminis-tered as a trust of Belgium until the 1959 Hutu Revolution. It was under the benevolent eye of the League of Nations that Belgium hardened Hutu and Tutsi into racialized identities, using the force of law to institutionalize an of-ficial system of discrimination between them. Thereby, Belgian colonialism laid the institutional groundwork for the genocide that followed half a century later. The West-ern powers that constituted the League of Nations could not hold Belgium accountable for the way it exercised an international trust, for one simple reason: to do so would have been to hold a mirror up to their own colonial re-cord. Belgian rule in Rwanda was but a harder version of the indirect rule practiced to one degree or another by all Western powers in Africa. This system did not sim-ply deny sovereignty to its colonies; it redesigned the ad-ministrative and political life of colonies by bringing each under a regime of group identity and rights. Belgian rule in Rwanda may have been an extreme version of colonial-ism, but it certainly was not exceptional.

Given the record of the League of Nations, it is worth ask-ing how the new international regime of trusteeship would differ from the old one. What are the likely implications of the absence of citizenship rights at the core of this new system? Why would a regime of trusteeship not degenerate yet again into one of lack of accountability and responsibility? On the face of it, these two systems--one defined by sovereignty and citizenship, the other by trusteeship and wardship--would seem to be contradictory rather than complementary. In practice, however, they are two parts of a bifurcated inter-national system. One may ask how this bifurcated order is reproduced without the contradiction being flagrantly obvi-ous, without it appearing like a contemporary version of the old colonial system of trusteeship. A part of the explanation lies in how power has managed to subvert the language of violence and war to serve its own claims.

Subverting the Language of GenocideWar has long ceased to be a direct confrontation be-

tween the armed forces of two states. As became clear during the confrontation between the Allied and the Axis powers in World War II, in America's Indochina War in the 1960s and '70s, its Gulf War in 1991 and then again in its 2003 invasion of Iraq, states do not just target the armed forces of adversary states; they target society itself: war-related industry and infrastructure, economy and work force, and sometimes, as in the aerial bombardment of cities, the civilian population in general. The trend is for political violence to become generalized and indis-criminate. Modern war is total war.

This development in the nature of modern war has tended to follow an earlier development of counterinsur-gency in colonial contexts. Faced with insurgent guerrillas who were simply armed civilians, colonial powers targeted the populations of occupied territories. When Mao Zedong wrote that guerrillas must be as fish in water, American counterinsurgency theorist Samuel Huntington, writing during the Vietnam War, responded that the object of coun-terinsurgency must be to drain the water and isolate the fish. But the practice is older than post-World War II coun-terinsurgency. It dates back to the earliest days of moderni-ty, to settler-colonial wars against American Indians in the decades and centuries that followed 1492. Settler America pioneered the practice of interning civilian populations in what Americans called "reservations" and the British called "reserves," a technology the Nazis would later develop into an extreme form called concentration camps. Often

thought of as a British innovation put into effect during the late-nineteenth-century Boer War in South Africa, the practice of concentrating and interning populations in co-lonial wars was in origin an American settler contribution to the development of modern war.

The regime identified with the international humanitar-ian order makes a sharp distinction between genocide and other kinds of mass violence. The tendency is to be permis-sive of insurgency (liberation war), counterinsurgency (sup-pression of civil war or of rebel/revolutionary movements) and inter-state war as integral to the exercise of national sovereignty. Increasingly, they are taken as an inevitable if regrettable part of defending or asserting national sover-eignty, domestically or internationally--but not genocide. What, then, is the distinguishing feature of genocide? It is clearly not extreme violence against civilians, for that is very much a feature of both counterinsurgency and interstate war in these times. Only when extreme violence targets for an-nihilation a civilian population that is marked off as differ-ent "on grounds of race, ethnicity or religion" is that violence termed genocide. It is this aspect of the legal definition that has allowed "genocide" to be instrumentalized by big pow-ers so as to target those newly independent states that they find unruly and want to discipline. More and more, universal condemnation is reserved for only one form of mass violence--genocide--as the ultimate crime, so much so that counterin-surgency and war appear to be normal developments. It is genocide that is violence run amok, amoral, evil. The former is normal violence, but the latter is bad violence. Thus the tendency to call for "humanitarian intervention" only where mass slaughter is named "genocide."

Given that the nature of twentieth-century "indirect rule" colonialism shaped the nature of administrative pow-er along "tribal" (or ethnic) lines, it is not surprising that the exercise of power and responses to it tend to take "trib-al" forms in newly independent states. From this point of view, there is little to distinguish between mass violence unleashed against civilians in Congo, northern Uganda, Mozambique, Angola, Darfur, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and so on. So which ones are to be named "genocide" and which ones are not? Most important, who decides?

There is nothing new in legal concepts being used to serve the expedience of great powers. What is new about the "war on terror" is that action against certain forms of violence is simultaneously being moralized and legally deregulated. Is it then surprising that these very develop-ments have led to violence run amok, as in Iraq after 2003 or, indeed, in Bashir's own little war on terror in Darfur in 2003-04? As the new humanitarian order does away with legal limits to pre-emptive war--thus, to the global war on terror--it should not be surprising that counterinsurgency defines itself as a local war on terror.

The year 2003 saw the unfolding of two counterinsurgen-cies. One was in Iraq, and it grew out of foreign invasion. The other was in Darfur, and it grew as a response to an internal insurgency. The former involved a liberation war against a foreign occupation; the latter, a civil war in an independent state. True, if you were an Iraqi or a Darfuri, there was little difference between the brutality of the violence unleashed in either instance. Yet much energy has been invested in how to define the brutality in each instance: whether as counterin-surgency or as genocide. We have the astonishing spectacle of the state that has perpetrated the violence in Iraq, the United States, branding an adversary state, Sudan, the one that has perpetrated genocidal violence in Darfur. Even more aston-ishing, we had a citizens' movement in America calling for a humanitarian intervention in Darfur while keeping mum about the violence in Iraq.

The International Criminal CourtThe emphasis on big powers as the protectors of rights in-

ternationally is increasingly being twinned with an empha-sis on big powers as enforcers of justice internationally. This much is clear from a critical look at the short history of the International Criminal Court. The ICC was set up by treaty in Rome in 1998 to try the world's most heinous crimes: mass murder and other systematic abuses. The relationship be-tween the ICC and successive US administrations is instruc-tive: it began with Washington criticizing the ICC and then turning it into a useful tool. The effort has been bipartisan: the first attempts to weaken the ICC and to create US exemptions from an emerging regime of international justice were made by leading Democrats during the Clinton Administration.

Washington's concerns were spelled out in detail by a subsequent Republican ambassador to the UN, John Bolton: "Our main concern should be for our country's top civilian and military leaders, those responsible for our defense and foreign policy." Bolton went on to ask "whether the United States was guilty of war crimes for its aerial bombing cam-paigns over Germany and Japan in World War II" and an-swered in the affirmative: "Indeed, if anything, a straight-forward reading of the language probably indicates that the court would find the United States guilty. A fortiori, these provisions seem to imply that the United States would have been guilty of a war crime for dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is intolerable and unaccept-able." He also aired the concerns of America's principal ally in the Middle East, Israel: "Thus, Israel justifiably feared in Rome that its preemptive strike in the Six-Day War almost certainly would have provoked a proceeding against top Is-raeli officials. Moreover, there is no doubt that Israel will be the target of a complaint concerning conditions and prac-tices by the Israeli military in the West Bank and Gaza."

When it came to signing the treaty, Washington balked. Once it was clear that it would not be able to keep the ICC from becoming a reality, the Bush Administration changed tactics and began signing bilateral agreements with coun-tries whereby both signatories would pledge not to hand over each other's nationals--even those accused of crimes against humanity--to the ICC. By mid-June 2003, the United States had signed such agreements with thirty-seven countries, starting with Sierra Leone, a site of massive atrocities.

The Bush Administration's next move was accommoda-tion, made possible by the kind of pragmatism practiced by the ICC's leadership. The fact of mutual accommodation between

the world's only superpower and an international institution struggling to find its feet on the ground is clear if we take into account the four countries where the ICC has launched its in-vestigations: Sudan, Uganda, Central African Republic and Congo. All are places where the United States has no major ob-jection to the course chartered by ICC investigations. Its name notwithstanding, the ICC is rapidly turning into a Western court to try African crimes against humanity. It has targeted governments that are US adversaries and ignored actions the United States doesn't oppose, like those of Uganda and Rwan-da in eastern Congo, effectively conferring impunity on them.

If the ICC is accountable, it is to the Security Council, not the General Assembly. It is this relationship that In-dia objected to when it--like the United States, China and Sudan--refused to sign the Rome Statute. India's primary objection was summed up by the Hindu, India's leading political daily, which argued that "granting powers to the Security Council to refer cases to the ICC, or to block them, was unacceptable, especially if its members were not all signatories to the treaty," for it "provided escape routes for those accused of serious crimes but with clout in the U.N. body." At the same time, "giving the Security Council power to refer cases from a non-signatory country to the ICC was against the Law of Treaties under which no country can be bound by the provisions of a treaty it has not signed."

The absence of formal political accountability has led to the informal politicization of the ICC. No one should be sur-prised that the United States used its position as the leading power in the Security Council to advance its bid to capture the ICC. This is how the Hindu summed up the US relation-ship to the court: "The wheeling-dealing by which the U.S. has managed to maintain its exceptionalism to the ICC while assisting 'to end the climate of impunity in Sudan' makes a complete mockery of the ideals that informed the setting up of a permanent international criminal court to try perpetra-tors of the gravest of crimes against humanity."

Law and Politics in Transitional SocietiesHuman rights fundamentalists argue for an interna-

tional legal standard regardless of the political context of the country in question. Their point of view is bolstered by the widespread and understandable popular outrage, not just in the West but throughout Africa, against the impu-nity with which a growing number of regimes have been resorting to slaughter to brutalize their populations into silence. The realization that the ICC has tended to focus only on African crimes, and mainly on crimes committed by adversaries of the United States, has introduced a note of sobriety into the African discussion, raising concerns about a politicized justice and wider questions about the relation-ship between law and politics.

In no country is the distinction between legal and politi-cal issues self-evident. In a democracy, the domain of the legal is defined through the political process. What would happen if we privileged the legal over the political, regard-less of context? The experience of a range of transitional societies--post-Soviet, postapartheid and postcolonial--suggests that such a fundamentalism would call into ques-tion their political existence. Several post-Soviet societies of Eastern Europe with a history of extensive informing, spying and compromising have decided either not to ful-ly open secret police and Communist Party files or to do so at a snail's pace. Societies torn apart by civil war, like post-Franco Spain, have chosen amnesia over truth, for the simple reason that they have prioritized the need to forge a future over agreeing on the past. The contrast is provided by Bosnia and Rwanda, where the administration of justice became an international responsibility and the decision to detach war crimes from the underlying political reality has turned justice into a regime for settling scores.

Those who face human rights as the language of an ex-ternally driven "humanitarian intervention" have to con-tend with a legal regime where the content of human rights law is defined outside a political process--whether demo-cratic or not--that includes them as formal participants. Particularly for those in Africa, the ICC heralds a regime of legal and political dependence, much as the postwar Bret-ton Woods institutions began to pioneer an international regime of economic dependence in the 1980s and '90s. The real danger of detaching the legal from the political regime and handing it over to human rights fundamentalists is that it will turn the pursuit of justice into revenge-seeking, thereby obstructing the search for reconciliation and a du-rable peace. Does that mean that the very notion of justice must be postponed as disruptive of peace? No.

Survivors' JusticeIf peace and justice are to be complementary rather than

conflicting objectives, we must distinguish victors' justice from survivors' justice: if one insists on distinguishing right from wrong, the other seeks to reconcile different rights. In a situation where there is no winner and thus no possibil-ity of victors' justice, survivors' justice may indeed be the only form of justice possible. If Nuremberg is the paradigm for victors' justice, South Africa's postapartheid transition is the paradigm for survivors' justice. The end of apartheid was driven by a key principle: forgive but do not forget. The first part of the compact was that the new power will forgive all past transgressions so long as they are publicly acknowl-edged as wrongs. There will be no prosecutions. The second was that there will be no forgetting and that henceforth rules of conduct must change, thereby ensuring a transition to a postapartheid order. It was South Africa's good fortune that its transition was in the main internally driven.

South Africa is not a solitary example but a prototype for conflicts raging across Africa about the shape of post-colonial political communities and the definition of mem-bership in them. The agreement that ended the South Sudan war combined impunity for all participants with political reform. The same was true of the settlement end-ing Mozambique's civil war. Had the ICC been involved in these conflicts in the way it is now in Darfur, it is doubtful there would be peace in either place.

Mahmood Mamdani

sunDAYTHE MORUNG EXPRESS26 october 2008

Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

INSPIRATIONAL STORIES, MESSAGES, POEMS & SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES7 F A I T H L E A F

Dr. Thamsing Lamkang

Problems and difficulties are not our enemies but integral part of human being, in shaping and molding the journey of life. I have encountered many leaders frustrated too easily in accomplishing their visions and goals, or some even stopped of dreaming for failing the first one. A man without dreams is like a broken-winged, bird-it but cannot fly. Because when you dream it adds wings to your life and life begin to fly. “Dreams are necessary to life as oxygen is for survival.” This younger generation especially in today’s context; to keep your dream alive is a must to keep you move. Because dreams make life colorful, fill us with enthusiasm, are a great source of bubbling energy and makes life meaningful and dutiful. So dreams are to life what vitamins are to health! They vital-ize, rejuvenate. So, the most pitiable person is one who has stopped dreaming.

Life doesn’t finish when we failed once, twice, thrice……. but positively it is just a beginning. Most people become discouraged very quickly. However good our objectives, as soon as it requires more efforts, they abandon them. This occurs in all areas of our life; there are people who give up their hard earned stud-ies, works, sports and hobbies…..yes we like the easy life and when we have to work too hard we ‘jump ship’. Only those who persist until the end obtain the things they desire. As the unknown poet wrote like this; “Those who wait, persevere. Those who persevere, attain”. For this reason it is good to wait, not lose hope and keep our dreams alive.

Even in our spiritual life journey, many things depend on our persistence and our practical applications. God doesn’t get tired of reminding us of the things we should do and how we should be persistent following His word. We will never get anywhere and other way because God doesn’t give prizes for those who rest spiritually. Don’t give up, don’t be negligent. Persist in everything that God has taught you throughout the years, as there is still so much to discover ahead of us.

Think about the small boy Joseph; when he was targeted and sold out to another coun-try by his own brothers yet, he continued to trust and obey the Lord, knowing that he has a purpose from God. God did lift him up and he became the ruler and saved his own family and the people of Israel.

We have also heard of the America President, Abraham Lincoln, who per-

sisted in his political career to fulfilled one of his most important dream that the Al-mighty God had put in his heart. Once in a city of America, he encountered count-less of black people were being auctioned for slave. During that time human life was exhibited in all its awful iniquity. Families were torn and scattered at different direc-tions without any hope of seeing again their loved ones. Hearts were broken, tears of thousand roles. There was a gentleman who witnessed the fate of the Negros; that time he was an ordinary young man. Noth-ing he can do about it but it becomes his dream to be accomplished someday!

He said “I call the Eternal God to wit-ness that, if even I get a chance to hit that things, I will hit it hard.” That day was the turning point in the life of Lincoln. He firm-ly carried his declaration of his dream, and was answered by God, proven by the fact that is after years. He broke the iron chain of slavery, wiped out the curse of selling men and women like animals. He proved an able God by setting free to Millions of black slaves. Because of his dream from God he persisted, though he failed many times in his business and political career. But he is not ashamed to open his failures, but took pride for his struggles in life. He failed, or defeated 12 times in 30 years. Many and oth-ers even mocked him for his persistence, but he keeps on-going, knowing that God is with him. He was only elected in 1860 as the Pres-ident of the United States of America, after failing 12 times, only to fulfill his dream. The following are the challenges he over-comes to make his dream a reality:

1. failed in business-bankruptcy in 18312. defeated for legislature in 18343. failed in business-bankruptcy in 18344. sweet heart-fiancé dies in 18355. nervous breakdown in 18366. defeated in election 18397. defeated in us congress 18438. defeated again for us congress 18469. defeated once again for us congress

in 184810. defeated for us senate in 185511. defeated for us Vice President in

185612. defeated again for us senate in 185813. elected President of the usa, only in

1860Abraham Lincoln responded when a

journalist asked him, if he is going to quit his political career for losing so many times. No, he said, I’ll wait for another election to come, and surely I will win. The statement

he often used whenever he lost an election was “You cannot fail unless you quit”.

Can we also persevere like Mr. Lin-coln, and tell the whole world that nothing is impossible in life through Jesus Christ. I started by saying that few people react this way, especially the youths, because most of them complaint about their problems no matter how big or small it is. You could call complaining is the world’s biggest sport. If you go out any day and talk to a number of normal people, most of them will complain about something or anything.

Complaining is dangerous. In the first place, you can’t go ahead. In the second place, you get discouraged too easily. In the third place, complaining leads to anger at yourself and others behind the scenes. In the fifth place, complaining makes you blame God for your situation. In the sixth place, complaining crowds out gratitude; and in the seventh place, complaining makes you miss most of the good opportunities. On the other hand, never forget that complaining is contagious. If one starts complaining, you’ll soon find yourself surrounded by complain-ers! We must learn to put up with unpleas-ant things. If we can’t learn this lesson, we’ll never get anywhere in life.

Can you remember your complaints of a year ago? They seem silly now, don’t they? Time teaches us to recognize that what seemed so terrible that wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Sometimes a problem even turns out to be a blessing! It underlines our sin. Trust God and don’t give up; start over. One must remember that, complaining is the first step to giving up our dreams!

In Numbers 11:1 “Now when the people began to complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.” As if it was God who brought prob-lems in their life. Instead of complaining to their problem, rather if they trust and ask the Lord’s help it could have been easy.

Struggles and problems are very much part of life. God never promised our life will be easy, but He promised us that He will be always with us in times of troubles. In Ephesians 3: 20 says, “God is powerful to do everything…according to his power that is at work within us.”

As a Christian we should always re-member that God’s power is the most im-mense strength that exists in the universe.

It is the same power which created the world and each one of us. Power without compare! However, even though we are children of the all-powerful God, and we know that He can win in any situation, and that He will give us a great future, we are often like beggars before God: we ask for just a little when He wants to give us ev-erything so big!

Sometimes we just don’t understand that however difficult a situation, a problem or a desire may be, God will provide much more abundantly than we ask or think, because God likes the impossible project, God will see it through. “If we believe that a problem is impossible, the problem is in us.” How many times do we make material and spiritual plans, and make them so small that God barely fits into them.

How does He do this? “By the Power that Acts in Us”! Very often times when we plan things, we think about what we are go-ing to do. Perhaps we imagine how we might talk to a particular person about it and then, right at the end, it occurs to us to ask God to give us power to carry it out, after we have tried absolutely everything else. It is much easier to begin by asking God to give us that power; begin by asking God to show us His will; and then everything else will fall into place in its time, much more abundantly than we ask. “With the help of God, every-thing is possible.” God is all powerful… ac-cording to His power that is at work within us. Are these just phrases and nothing else, or do they mean more to you and me? A su-pernatural power is within our reach. Let’s grab it by changing ourselves!

A middle age man once said, when I was young my prayer was like; ‘Lord give me the energy to change the whole world.’ When I approached a middle age and real-ized that half my life was gone before my dream comes true, or even before changing a single soul. So I changed my prayer to, ‘Lord gives me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me and I shall be satisfied.’

But when I reached old age, I realized how foolish I have been. So my prayer is again change “Lord, give me the grace to change myself!” If I had prayed this prayer the day I begin to dream and work, I would not have wasted my life. So in order to see our dream come true, one need to be change rather than talking to change oth-ers to achieve our dreams.

DREaM BIGNothing Is Imposible!

Keeping the End in ViewJames R. Payton Jr

How the strange yet familiar doctrine of theosis can invigorate the Christian life

Imagine Charles Wesley attending a Christmas morning service today and hearing that his great hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," would be sung. As the congregation started singing, he would be momentarily confused, because his original began, "Hark how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of kings," and was not sung to the Felix Mendelssohn tune we use today.

By verse three, Wesley might get his bearings. But when "Born to raise the sons of earth / Born to give them second birth" proved to be the last verse, he would be confused again.He'd likely exclaim, "But that's not the end. I went on to write this:

Adam's likeness, Lord, efface, Stamp thy image in its place; Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in thy love. Let us thee, though lost, regain, Thee, the life, the inner man; O, to all thyself impart, Formed in each believing heart."Then he might ask, "Why don't you sing that verse?"

a Good startAs evangelicals, we know how to answer the question, "Are you saved?": If

we have believed in Jesus Christ, we are saved—right there, right then.Sometimes, though, the way we talk about salvation makes it sound like

little more than a get-out-of-hell-free card. With our emphasis on what sinners like ourselves are saved from, do we know what we are saved for? Is salvation solely about us and our need to be forgiven and born again, or is there a deeper, God-ward purpose?

The leaders of the ancient church thought so, speaking regularly of salva-tion in a way that may sound strange to many evangelicals, but which Wes-ley alluded to in some of his hymns. In particular, they envisioned salvation as theosis, an ongoing process by which God's people become increasingly "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4), formed more and more in God's likeness. As the 2nd-century theologian Irenaeus urged in Against Heresies, "Through his transcendent love, our Lord Jesus Christ became what we are, that he might make us to be what he is." The great 4th-century defender of Jesus' divinity, Athanasius, put it even more forcefully: "[God] became man, that man might become god."

Though unfamiliar to most of us, this way of thinking strongly influenced John Wesley's own view of sanctification and was embraced by C. S. Lewis, who in Mere Christianity wrote, "God said that we were 'gods' and he is go-ing to make good his words." This continues to be the basic understanding of salvation within Eastern Christianity. Also called "divinization" or "deifica-tion," it plays off of Jesus' words in John 10:34 ("Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'?" as quoted by Lewis above) and several other key biblical passages.

Before considering some of those passages, however, let me provide a point of contact with our evangelical understanding, and highlight one difference. In evangelicalism's polished doctrinal teaching on salvation, we distinguish phases in the reception of salvation: conversion, justification, sanctification, and glorifi-cation. In the last step, we are completely conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) and made like him (1 John 3:2). We are resurrected as glorified human be-ings, fully in communion with God, though remaining distinct from him.

However, the way we typically speak about salvation emphasizes only the beginning of the process: conversion, justification, and to some degree, sanctification.

Eastern Orthodoxy emphasizes the final result, the glorification by which we are made entirely like Christ: holy, righteous, perfect in godliness, and enjoying the fullness of eternal life. And in this, I believe Orthodox believers have something that can help better balance how we preach and teach about salvation, just as we have something for them.from image to likeness

To make sense of deification, we must start with God's words at Creation: "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" (Gen. 1:26).

In Orthodox teaching, "image" and "likeness" are not the same: the first is gift, the second, goal. With these words, God distinguished what human be-ings were from what they were to become. Adam and Eve bore the image of God, but they were to grow into the divine likeness. They were to live in com-munion with God, walk in his ways, serve him, tend his creation, and love him and each other and the children they were to produce. If they did, they would grow in holiness, righteousness, and love—becoming ever more like God, who would bless them with the eternal life that belongs only to him.

From an Orthodox perspective, then, the serpent's temptation was espe-cially insidious because it offered an illicit shortcut to God's good intention. The serpent assured Adam and Eve that they would become "like God" by eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:5). The question is not whether Adam and Eve were to become like God, but how they would do that. By disobeying God's command, they fell into death, as God had warned. In his mercy, God prom-ised salvation through a deliverer, but for Eastern Orthodoxy, salvation is less about rescue (though it is about that) and more about return. Christ rescues us from our enemies and redeems us to God, so that we get back on the right track to becoming like him.

In the ancient Hellenistic world in which the church was born, diviniza-tion in some form or another was a common way of describing humanity's ultimate goal. The leaders of the ancient church in the East seized on this familiar concept but filled it with new content. Whereas the usual notion en-tailed being absorbed into God like a drop in an ocean—losing consciousness and individuality forever—Eastern church leaders insisted that in deification we are made like God yet remain distinct from him. The way they put it is that we experience his "energies" but do not share his "essence." This distinc-tion is crucial, because it clarifies that for the Orthodox, becoming like God is not the same as becoming identical with God. We can never become the same as our Creator (the Uncreated), though we can take on crucial aspects of his character and being.

The story of Jesus' transfiguration is a key text for Eastern Orthodoxy. All three synoptic Gospels tell the story. Significantly, in the verses immediately preceding it, Jesus tells the disciples that some of them will not die before they see the kingdom of God "coming in power"—one of the common ways the Gospels speak of the fullness of salvation in Christ. In a scene thoroughly focused on God's promised salvation, Jesus is transfigured with a blinding light. As the Last Adam, he lived up to God's original purpose for humanity and became like God, for "God is light" (1 John 1:5). What the three disciples saw, Orthodoxy says, was a manifestation of what will one day be true for all who are in Christ—a holy people characterized by pure light and love.

As one Orthodox leader put it: "We become by grace what God is by na-ture." The Wesleys, as noted earlier, appreciated the Greek patristic writers, and Charles Wesley's hymns overflow with vivid language pointing to this final glory:

Heavenly Adam, life divine,Change my nature into thine;Move and spread throughout my soul,Actuate and fill the whole;Be it I no longer nowLiving in the flesh, but thou.This is the reality with which the deification language of Orthodoxy is

dealing, and I believe there is much there that can help us fill out our own understanding of salvation.

Reordering SalvationWhile evangelicals can learn from the Orthodox, it is fair to note that

Orthodox believers can learn from us, too. The Eastern presentation of salva-tion can smudge the distinct steps of salvation. Justification and sanctifica-tion often get folded into the broader concept of theosis, and they become so blurred that Orthodox believers often don't know what to make of the terms. They would be well served by an explanation of how the steps of salvation as presented in apostolic teaching fit into the larger package of divinization.

For evangelicals, a new focus that begins with the ultimate goal of salvation could fill out our understanding and presentation of the gospel. Revivalist altar calls have given too many people the impression that anything beyond initial conversion is optional. The doctrine of theosis reminds us that in the altar call, the journey of salvation has but begun. We are indeed assured at that moment of our promised hope, but it also then becomes an ongoing call to renewed, abundant life—a return to the path God put us on to become like him.

Further, salvation viewed in terms of deification impels us to struggle against temptation and sin. After declaring that on the final day we shall see Christ and be like him, the apostle John says, "Everyone who has this hope in [Christ] puri-fies himself, just as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). Our destiny calls us to give ourselves fully and faithfully to God and his service, and to seek conformity to Christ at every point. It calls us to grow in godliness, striving to become more and more like our Savior.

Most important, the Orthodox understanding of theosis reminds us that sal-vation is less about what we get than about what God gets. It is about his purposes being accomplished in us. As the Reformed credo states: It is by his grace, for our good, to his glory.

Jim Wallis

In the final days of this election campaign, a new message has emerged. For the entire political year, the overriding theme has been change—with each candi-

date competing to be the real champion for a new direction. With 80 percent of Americans unhappy with our country’s current direction, it seemed that no other theme could break through.

A new message has, and it is this: “Be Afraid— Be Very Afraid.” Most of that fear is directed at Barack Obama, the leading candidate with just days to go before No-vember 4. Instead of being content to offer a competing policy vision to Obama’s, the Right has now focused on the man himself in an attempt to stir the fears of the elector-ate that “he” is not really like “them.” “Do we really know who Barack Obama is?” has been the refrain of partisan peddlers. A parallel and ugly national innuendo cam-paign stokes the fear. Is he a Muslim? An Arab? A pal of terrorists? Or maybe even a closet Socialist? Where did he grow up? Why such a funny middle name? Doesn’t his support come from those parts of the country (and those people) that deep down inside are anti-American? And, of course, what has quickly become a campaign clas-sic—guilt by association.

The fact that Barack Obama is the first black nominee of a major party for president gives all the fear a decidedly ra-cial undertone. YouTube has quickly be-

come populated with video after video of the dark underbelly of American fear and racism. The innuendos and rumors have brought to the surface latent fears and thinly veiled biases that many had hoped were gone from our country. The message of fear is the same: Obama may look okay on the surface, but we don’t know what might lie beneath.

Regardless of whether one favors Obama or McCain, this development should be of concern to all Americans, and especially people of faith. There is now a new spiritual dimension to this election, and it is decidedly evil. Christians believe that “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear…” (1 John 4:18.) There are, of course, good and decent mo-tivations to vote either way in this election. Strong people of faith will be marking different boxes on Election Day, but for people of faith there will be a spiritual de-cision to be made as well. Will we put our trust in the power of fear or hope?

Conservatism did this with the bright and hopeful theme of “Morning in Amer-ica” with the Ronald Reagan years. I dis-agreed with most all of Reagan’s agenda, but his appeal was to ask us all to choose hope, not fear. Similarly, the best of liber-

alism was seen in the power of John and Robert Kennedy’s appeal to build a “new-er world.” Both conservatives and liberals can appeal to the better instincts of the American people, or to their worst—and each side has done both over the years.

Fear has always been the dark side of American politics, and we are seeing its resurgence in the campaign’s final days. Demagoguery has come from both the right and the left in America, and the most dependable sign of it is the appeal to fear over hope. Facts don’t matter when fear takes over. Fear covers over the debate on a candidate’s tax plans, the wisdom of their foreign policies, their experience and judgment to handle the economic crisis. Fear attacks character and lies with false prophecies of what a candidate would do if they are elected.

Some of the worst fear-mongering has sadly come from leaders of the Religious Right who are worried about losing their control over the votes of the evangelical and Catholic communities, especially a new generation of believers. Their apocalyp-tic rhetoric has been among the worst and most irresponsible. When religious lead-ers sound so desperate and seek to stoke fear and hate, they have lost their theo-

logical perspective by putting too much of their hope in having political power. It is that loss of power and control which seems to be motivating the current campaign of desperation and fear now being waged by so many conservatives. Instead, scripture points to a better way:

For “Those who desire life and de-sire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:10-15, emphasis added)

With that reminder that Christ is our ultimate hope, let us pray that, on Novem-ber 4, the need for change will finally pre-vail over the appeals to fear. Pray that the voters will choose either Barack Obama or John McCain as the best agent of change, rather than submit to the tyranny of fear. It is always better to live (and to vote) in the light of hope than in the darkness of fear. It is always an act of faith to believe that, in the end, hope will prevail over fear. So pray, and vote.

Be Not Afraid

CMYK

CMYK

2 November 2008Sunday8 Dimapur The Morung ExpressNATIONAL

NEWS FILE15 dead, 38 injured in bus accident in MahaMUMBAI, NoveMBer 1 (AgeNcIes): At least 15 passengers were killed and 38 injured on Saturday when a bus plunged into a gorge in Maharashtra’s Raigad dis-trict, a police official said. The incident occurred around 11 a.m. when the government-run bus was negotiating a steep curve on the Ghonse ghat region of the Western Ghats in Mhasla sub-district, about 150 km from here. The injured were taken to various towns in the area for treatment, while 20 injured passengers were brought to Sion Hospital in Mumbai, the police official said. Since there were many among the injured whose condition was reported to be serious, the toll is likely to go up, the of-ficial said. The bus, belonging to the Maharasthra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), had left Thane, next to Mumbai, for Diveaghar on Saturday morning.

EC to change voting times in Naxal-infested constituenciesrAIpUr, NoveMBer 1 (AgeNcIes): With secu-rity concerns prime in the election process, the Elec-tion Commission(EC) has decided to change the voting times in Naxal-infested constituencies in Chhattisgarh. As per the EC decision, voting would now be done be-tween 7 am till 3 pm in constituencies worst affected by the Naxal menace so that there is sufficient time to take EVMs to strong rooms before evening. Gaurav Dwivedi, Joint Chief Electoral Officer, Chhattisgarh said “looking at the security aspects, voting time has been changed in some constituencies. The same voting time will also be applicable in those booths where election materials will be flown in by helicopters.” As per the earlier schedules, election was to be held across all the constituencies be-tween 8 am till 5 pm. Constituencies where this changed voting time will be applicable include Dantewada, Konta, Bijapur, Chitrakote, Narayanpur, Bhanupratap-pur, Antagarh, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Bastar, Jagdalpur and Kanker. According to Dwivedi the EC decision on change of voting time was taken on the basis of a request to this effect sent by the state election office to ensure safety to the EVMs as well as to the polling parties.

JKLF chief arrested for poll boycott callsrINAgAr, NoveMBer 1 (AgeNcIes): Yasin Malik, chairman of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, was arrested on Saturday under the Public Security Act, police said. He is part of the separatists who have called for a boycott of the polls scheduled in the state. On October 23, Malik had launched his poll boycott campaign from Hajin town in north Kashmir Hajin and asked people to stay away from the assembly polls, scheduled in the troubled state November 17 to December 24. Ghulam Nabi Sumbji, acting chairman of the hardline Geelani faction of the Hurriyat Conference, has also been booked for appeal-ing for a poll boycott. Speaking to reporters after his ar-rest, Malik said: “Jail is like second home to me. We’ve been carrying on a democratic poll boycott campaign in Srinagar and the Election Commission has also that voting in elections was as much a democratic right of the people as the right not to. I appeal to people that they should continue peaceful poll boycott and not give in to any provocation.”

Percentage of Indians residing illegally in US increasesWAshINgtoN, NoveMBer 1 (AgeNcIes): In-dia has registered 81 percent increase in the number of its citizens living illegally in the US in 2007, even as immigration from Mexico continues to dominate the unauthorised population growth. According to the De-partment of Homeland Security the latest statistics on illegals shows that in 2007 the estimated population of Indians living illegally in the United States was 220,000 compared to 120,000 in the year 2000, thus recording one of the highest percentage increase. An estimated 11.8 million unauthorised immigrants were living in Ameri-ca in January 2007 compared to 8.5 million in 2000. The unauthorised population increased by 3.3 million be-tween 2000 and 2007 while the annual average increase during this period was 470,000. Nearly 4.2 million (35 percent) of the total 11.8 million unauthorised resi-dents in 2007 had entered in 2000 or later. An estimated 7.0 million (59 percent) were from Mexico. California remained the leading state of residence for the illegal population in 2007 with 2.8 million, followed by Texas with 1.7 million and then Florida with nearly 1 million. The DHS statistics show that Californias share of the national total declined from 30 per cent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2007 but the greatest percentage increases of unauthorised resident population occurred in Georgia with 120 percent, in Arizona, which was at 62 percent and in Texas with 57 percent.

WAshINgtoN, No-veMBer 1 (ptI): Voicing concern over the stability of the “fledgling” government in Islamabad, Democratic Presidential nominee Ba-rack Obama has said Paki-stan needs to be convinced that its “biggest threat” is not India but militants with-in its own borders.

“Now you’ve got a fledg-ling democratic govern-ment (in Pakistan). We have to support their efforts to democratise. That means, by the way, not just provid-ing military aid, it means helping them to provide concrete solutions to the poverty and lack of educa-tion that exists in Pakistan. So I want to increase non-military aid to Pakistan,” he told CNN.

“But we also have to help make the case that the big-gest threat to Pakistan right now is not India which has been their historical enemy,

Biggest threat to Pak not India but militantsership post-Pervez Mushar-raf, Obama said: “Well, I am concerned about it.” “This was one of the problems with our previous strategy where there was a lot of resent-ment that built up as a con-sequence of our support of President Musharraf there who had squelched democ-racy,” he said in an interview to CNN’s Situation Room.

About Afghanistan, Obama said “we’re still go-ing to have expenditures” there “because we need to hunt down (Osama) bin Laden and al-Qaeda and put them finally out of business.” During the wide-ranging interview, he spoke both about foreign and domestic policy chal-lenges and priorities but gave the impression that his focus, if elected in the November 4 polls, would be in addressing the economic woes and the mess America finds itself in.

School children carry placards in support of U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama at a march in New Delhi, India, Saturday, November 1 organized by the All India Anti Terrorist Front. (AP Photos)

NeW DelhI, NoveM-Ber 1 (cNN-IBN): Indian troops, who are in Congo as part of the UN peacekeeping force, are caught between a weak government and rebel forces. Rwanda-backed rebel forces have surrounded 150 Indian peacekeepers and also half of the Uruguayan peacekeeping force attempt-ing to secure eastern Congo.

“We are very much con-cerned about the latest devel-opments there because we are (caught) in between (govern-ment and rebel forces) now. It is a very serious develop-ment,” said Defence Minister AK Antony hinting at grow-ing doubts over the future of India’s peacekeeping mis-sion in the Congo. He did not spell out what options India was considering and if with-drawal of the roughly 5,000 troops from Kivu in eastern Congo was one of them. If In-dia withdraws, Kivu’s capital Goma could easily fall, which would result in the entire mineral-rich Kivu passing into rebel hands. It could well

spell the end of the peace pro-cess put together with great difficulty by the UN. It is a fact which has been worrying visiting UN Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki Moon. “I hope we will be able to contain the situation and see how we can implement and keep the ceasefire and dialogue,” Ban ki Moon said.

But Indian Army sources dismiss the rebel threat to Goma. The Army described the rebels as a rag-tag bunch and say they can be eliminat-ed if the orders are given by the UN representative. At present no such orders have come and the troops are limited to moni-toring the ceasefire, which forces them to disperse their troops in a number of loca-tions rendering them vulner-able to rebel attack. Another problem is the UN force com-mander quit last week saying the mission was too complex and a battalion of Urugayan troops pulled out of Goma two days ago without any explana-tion leaving the Indians the sole defenders of the city.

150 Indian peacekeepers caught in crossfire in CongoMUMBAI, NoveMBer 1

(AgeNcIes): The officials of the Mumbai ATS on Sat-urday questioned retired Lt Colonel Shailesh Raikwar, principal of Bhonsala Mili-tary School in Nasik in con-nection with the Malegaon blast case.

According to reports, Raikwar was quizzed by the ATS team regarding a meeting held in the military school that was attended by retired major Ramesh Upad-hyay, who is also accused in the blast case. It is believed that Raikwar was aware of Upadhyay’s meetings at Bhonsala military school. Raikwar, who took charge of the military school last week, is under scanner for arranging accommodation for the blast accused. Besides Raikwar, a clerk Rajan Gaid-hani, was also taken into cus-tody by the ATS and taken to Mumbai for questioning, sources said. Raikwar has also reportedly admitted to have known key suspect - an-other serving army officer Lt Col Prasad Purohit, who was recently detained by ATS in

connection with the Male-goan blast.

As the Mumbai ATS is slowly making headways in the blast probe, the Army has asked the investigat-ing agency to give concrete evidence against the serving Lt Col Purohit. The senior Army officials have asked the investigating agencies to furnish concrete evidence to suggest his involvement in the blasts before taking any action against him. Lt Col Purohit, of the Army Educa-tion Corps, was reportedly in touch with another Male-gaon blasts accused, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay. Investigators claim they have decoded SMSes exchanged between the two. The ATS is believed to have earlier ques-tioned Purohit in the presence of a legal representative of the Army and a magistrate.

The involvement of Ar-mymen in the Malegaon blast has become a bone of contention for the Army. The issue was also discussed at the Army Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi. The Army top brass is report-

ATS quizzes Lt Colonel Shailesh Raikwar

edly of the opinion that the alleged involvement of Lt Col Purohit in terror acts was an aberration but one that did warrant caution. So far five persons--Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Shivnarayan

Singh Kalsangram, Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu, retired ma-jor Ramesh Shivji Upadhyay and Sameer Kulkarni-- have been arrested in the Malega-on blasts in which five peer-sons were killed.

MUMBAI, NoveMBer 1 (ptI): Three accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast today underwent polygraph tests at the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory. Pragya Singh Thakur, a sadhvi, for-mer Army official Ramesh Upadhyay and Sameer Kulkarni were brought to the laboratory and tests are being conducted, police sources said. “Some of these accused had the tests performed on them yesterday as well,” they said, adding that narco-anal-ysis was still to be performed on them.

Five persons, including the sadhvi, have been arrested for planting a motorcycle bomb in Malegaon which claimed

six lives. A magistrate’s court in Nasik had granted permis-sion to the ATS for conducting polygraph and narco-analysis tests on the three accused. A serving officer with the army and two other former army officials working at the Bhon-sala Military School in Nasik have been brought to the city by the Anti-Terrorism Squad for questioning. Shailesh Raikar and Rajan Gaidhani, both employees at the school, were brought to the city to-day where they will be ques-tioned. Investigators suspect that conspiracy meetings pri-or to the blast may have been held at the school, a claim de-nied by the school’s adminis-tration.

Sadhvi, two others undergo polygraph tests

NeW DelhI, NoveM-Ber 1 (AgeNcIes): April 30, 1992 was a significant date in Bangladesh’s troubled his-tory. Addressing a news con-ference at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka, a group of people wearing combat jack-ets over their salwar-kameez, announced the formation of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Is-lami or HuJI (Bangladesh), with its demand to make Ban-gladesh an Islamic state.

Established with help from Osama bin Laden, the group has travelled a long way from that day, including being an original signatory to bin Laden’s International Is-lamic Front of February 1998. Later, after the Taliban took hold in Afghanistan, HuJI’s best known slogan was “Aam-ra shobai hobo Taliban, Ban-gladesh hobe Afghanistan (We are all Taliban, we will make Bangladesh into an Af-ghanistan)”. Security agen-cies in India believe that the coastal area stretching from Chittagong, all the way to the Myanmar border, is the nerve centre of HuJI-B. It appar-ently comprises more than 15,000 active members, many of them refugees from Myan-mar (Rohingya), who are led by general secretary Shaukat Osman alias Sheikh Farid. Others are mostly youths from Bangladesh and India.

However, it’s the coming together of HuJI-B and ter-rorist outfits operating out of Pakistan like Lashkar-e-Taiba

(LeT) which has rattled se-curity agencies in India. This became much more obvious after HuJI’s operation com-mander Abdul Hannan ad-mitted after his arrest in Oc-tober 2005 that he had passed out of the Gouhardanga ma-drassa in Pakistan. This was further authenticated by the arrest of his brother Matiur Rehman, accused of conspir-ing to kill Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina, whose person-al diary revealed that he was in constant touch with Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in Dhaka.

“Based on reliable in-formation received in the past, we can say that the ISI has been actively impart-ing training to youths from Bangladesh in the Rangpur area of Bangladesh. These ISI men masquerade as HuJI members while training young men,” said a retired intelligence official. The of-ficial added that in the past 12 months, most of these youth have infiltrated into Assam. According to the of-ficial, these HuJI men have excellent relations with Ulfa as they have helped the out-fit in running its training camps along the Tripura-Bangladesh border.

HuJI was originally formed in Pakistan in the 80s, but it operates in India main-ly through its Bangladesh counterpart which has active sleeper cells all over India now. Bangladesh HuJI was also found to have links with

Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF) that had claimed re-sponsibility for the American Center attack in Kolkata in 2002. The arrest of accused Aftab Ansari led to more in-formation about HuJI’s links with LeT and Jaish-e-Mo-hammed (JeM). Earlier, in 2001, there were reports that Taliban squads were regular-ly visiting Bangladesh to train HuJI cadres. Being banned by Bangladesh in 2005, and termed by the US as a foreign terrorist organization, clearly has not affected HuJI’s func-tioning at all.

In fact, the original Paki-stan HuJI has emerged as one of the main suspects in the sensational bombing of the Mariott hotel in Islamabad re-cently. According to reports in the Pakistan media, authori-ties are trying to ascertain if the attack was sponsored by al-Qaida and executed jointly by HuJI and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). While the original HuJI, which was formed in Pakistan in the 80s, has been weakened in the Val-ley (its chief Bashir Ahmed Mir was killed in January in an encounter), it continues to foment trouble in other parts of the country with help from its Bangladesh arm or the Hu-JI-B. There are already intel-ligence reports that HuJI is trying to avenge the killing of its chief Bashir Ahmed Mir by executing bomb blasts all over the country with help from its Bangladeshi counterpart.

cheNNAI, NoveM-Ber 1 (cNN-IBN): Film-stars Rajinikant and Kamal Haasan will lead an 8 hour fast called by the film indus-try in Chennai on Saturday. The fast is meant to be a pro-test against alleged atrocities carried out by the Sir Lankan army against ethnic Tamils. Speculations are that this will turn out to be a glamor-ous issue. However, the film artist association have is-sued warnings with regard to what the stars would be speaking they have asked the stars to restrict their talk to Sri Lankan Tamils and not

beyond that. “You have the power and

you announced war but you haven’t been successful. If you do bad for the innocent poor people you’ll never live peacefully it will be good for you if you stop the war and declare peace. If even after 30 years, you are not able to win, you should understand you can never win,” says Rajani-kant “It’s very sad that Tamils are being killed the genocide should be stopped, this the third protest of the Tamil film industries after the one at Ra-maishwaram and second the human chain. We will contin-

ue to voice concern in more ways till the genocide stops,” says Kamal Hassan.

Sri Lankan Tamils - who buy overseas rights of Tamil films, are a huge money spin-ner for the film industry. The programme was organised to express the Association’s soli-darity with Tamils living in Sri Lanka and support them, Sarath Kumar told report-ers. Hoping that normalcy will return in Sri Lanka soon, Kumar said it is good that the Centre and state governments have already started taking steps to find an amicable so-lution on the matter.

TN film stars to protest against Sri Lankan Tamil issue

Tamil film actors, from left, Manorama, Napoleon, Sarath Kumar, Rajnikanth and Ajith Ku-mar, are seen along with others at a day-long fast to express their solidarity with the Tam-ils in Sri Lanka, in Chennai, November 1. The banner in background reads ‘South Indian Film Artists One Day protest fast to support Tamils in Sri Lanka.’ (AP Photo)

HuJI, LeT joining hands rattles security agencies

it is actually militants with-in their own borders. And if we can get them to refocus

on that, then that is going to be critical to our success not just in stabilising Pakistan

but also in finishing the job in Afghanistan.” Asked how worried he was about the sta-

bility of Pakistani govern-ment as it seemed al-Qaeda was going after the new lead-

tehrAN, NoveMBer 1 (AgeNcIes): Affirming its commitment to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, New Delhi on Saturday said it is working with Islamabad to resolve outstanding issues and in-sisted that the USD 7.4-bil-lion project can be finalised through cooperation of all the three countries.

Inaugurating the India-Iran Joint Commission Meet-ing here, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also expressed hope that Iran would implement the Liqui-fied Natural Gas (LNG) deal of 2005 for supply of five mil-lion mtpa of LNG. He said In-

dia also expected that 20 per cent stake for ONGC Videsh Ltd in Yadavaran gas field as part of the LNG agree-ment would be honoured by Iran. “We have reiterated to the Iranian government at all levels that India remains committed to the IPI project. We are working with Paki-stan to resolve outstanding issues pertaining to transit and transportation tariff,” the Minister said. “With the co-operation of all three sides, it should be possible to finalise the project,” he said.

The two-day Joint Com-mission meeting, co-chaired by Mukherjee and Iran’s Economic Minister Sham-

seddin Hossein, is discuss-ing new initiatives in vari-ous sectors including trade and investment, energy, mining, railways and bank-ing. Noting that India was looking for a more balanced trade profile, Mukherjee in-vited Iranian participation in India’s growth. He said the two countries have fina-lised negotiations on Double Taxation Avoidance Agree-ment (DTAA) and Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BI-PPA) and are agreeable on commencing discussions on a Preferential Trade Agree-ment (PTA) to strengthen bilateral trade.

India working with Pak on IPI gas pipelineActivists of the All India Anti-Terrorist

Front shout slogans against Pakistan and

the states' largest separatist group, the

United Liberation Front of Asom during

a protest in Amrit-sar, India, Saturday, November 1. Police

arrested three people and are investigating

whether local mili-tants received help from other terrorist

groups in carry-ing out coordinated attacks that killed at least 77 people in India's troubled

northeast, officials said Saturday.

(AP Photo)

pAtNA, NoveMBer 1 (AgeNcIes): The father of Rahul Raj, the youth shot dead by Mumbai Police after he fired indiscriminately in a city bus, on Saturday said he would file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against the Maharashtra government and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray.

Kundan Prasad Singh is unhappy with the Maha-rashtra government’s probe into his son’s killing and an-gry with Thackeray for hav-ing justified the action of the police in Mumbai. “I will file a PIL (public interest litiga-tion) soon for justice,” Singh said. Raj, 25, was shot dead by the police on Monday af-ter he attacked the conduc-tor of a bus and fired at a passenger with his revolver. Before being shot dead, Raj had said that he wanted to kill MNS chief Thackeray for inciting his party work-ers to attack youths from Bihar who were in Mumbai for a railway recruitment ex-amination. Singh said Ma-

harashtra’s delay in ordering a judicial probe into the inci-dent was frustrating.” I fail to understand their hesitation in ordering a judicial probe into the case. It shows that the so-called encounter was fake,” he added. Singh said his son was innocent and had nothing to do with politics. Rahul’s sisters, Puja and Priyanka, said that they had lost faith in the Maharashtra government.

“Our innocent brother was killed by Mumbai police, how can we expect justice from the Maharashtra gov-ernment? We want a judicial probe by a Supreme Court judge,” Puja said. Puja, who works in a bank, also ques-tioned why her brother’s post-mortem report had not been released five days on. Priyanka, who is pursuing a Masters in Computer Appli-cations, said Mumbai police had not even contacted their family. “The Mumbai police is yet to contact us in connec-tion with preparing a report in the case,” she said.

Slain youth’s father to sue Maharashtra govt

The Morung ExpressSunday

2 November 2008Dimapur 9INTERNATIONAL

NEWPORT NEWS, NOvEm-bER 1 (AFP): Democratic presi-dential candidate Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain enter the final weekend of their epic race for the White House, scram-bling across several states in a last dash for votes. Obama, aiming to become the first African-American to be elected US president in Tues-day's vote, was seeking to lock down western battlegrounds of Nevada and Colorado before returning to the bellwether state of Missouri.

Victory in the west would go a long way towards securing an elec-tion triumph for Obama, even if he loses one of the major toss-up states out east such as Florida, a pivotal state in recent US presidential elec-tions. Midwestern Missouri mean-while has an impressive track record of backing the White House winner in every election since 1904, with one exception in 1956. Obama was to be joined by his wife Michelle at the events in Pueblo, Colorado and Springfield, Missouri.

The would-be first couple were to head on to crucial Ohio Sunday for three events including a rally with rocker Bruce Springsteen in Cleveland. Obama's running mate Joseph Biden was stumping in In-diana and Ohio on Saturday.

McCain, meanwhile, was pre-paring to hit the trail in Virginia and Pennsylvania before heading to New York to make a cameo appearance in television comedy sketch show "Sat-urday Night Live". Despite gloomy polls that suggest Obama is heading for victory, the McCain campaign has defiantly said they remain in the fight. At a rally in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, a fired-up McCain got a welcome lift from California Gov-ernor -- and movie star -- Arnold Schwarzenegger.

McCain told supporters: "I know a winning campaign when I see one. We're a couple of points back. Arnold said it best. The Mac is back. We need a new direction and we have to fight for it." However Obama's massive campaign spend-

ing advantage has forced McCain onto the defense. McCain and run-ning mate Sarah Palin will each race through seven states on Monday, many of them normally reliably Re-publican. McCain has struggled to disassociate his campaign from the Republican administration of out-going President George W. Bush.

McCain's campaign chief Rick Davis late Friday also promised supporters that despite media re-ports to the contrary, McCain could still win the White House. "If your television is tuned to cable news as frequently as ours are here at cam-paign headquarters, you have seen the pundits say John McCain and his campaign are done," Davis said in an email to supporters. "If you've followed this race since the begin-ning, this is clearly a song you've heard before," he said.

One out of seven voters is still undecided ahead of Tuesday's elec-tion, Davis insisted. "That means, if 130 million voters turn out on Tues-day, 18.5 million of them have yet

to make up their mind. With that many votes on the table and the tre-mendous movement we've seen in this race, I believe we are in a very competitive campaign," he said, in-sisting: "We believe this race is win-nable."

In an interview on Friday, Obama said the other pressing pri-orities if he wins would be achieving energy independence and enacting universal health care for Ameri-cans reeling from the economic crisis. "And none of this can be ac-complished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system or the financial system," he told CNN in Iowa, where he beat Hillary Clinton in the year's first Democratic nominating clash. "So that's priority number one, making sure that the plumbing works in our capitalist system," Obama said.

He refused to detail his poten-tial choice of Treasury secretary -- but noted that his economic advisers include ex-Treasury secretary Larry Summers, former Federal Reserve

chief Paul Volcker and billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Obama also said he had admired McCain in 2000, when the Republican had decried "low road" politics after a vicious smear campaign in his con-test against Bush for the Republican nomination that year.

"But the high road didn't lead him to the White House then, so this time, he decided to take a dif-ferent route," the Democrat said. "But Iowa, at this moment, in this election, we have the chance to do more than just beat back this kind of politics -- we have the chance to end it once and for all," he said in Des Moines. "We have the chance to prove that the one thing more pow-erful than the politics of anything-goes -- the one thing the cynics don't count on -- is the will of the Ameri-can people. "That's how we'll steer ourselves out of this crisis -- with a new politics for a new time. That's how we'll build the future we know is possible -- as one people, as one nation."

Race to White House enters final days

Disease spreads among survivorsWAm, NOvEmbER 1 (AFP): A strong aftershock rattled southwestern Pakistan Sat-urday, as aid agencies warned that disease had begun to spread among tens of thousands of earthquake survivors waiting for relief supplies. The 5.0-magnitude quake struck just before 6am in the mountainous province of Baluchistan, where a powerful pre-dawn tremor on Wednesday killed up to 300 people and left 70,000 people homeless.

There were no immediate reports of further casualties or damage as a result of the latest aftershock, the second strongest of more than 250 tremors to have shaken the region since Wednesday's quak e. Aid has begun reaching devastated villages, but angry villag-ers in remote areas said they desperately needed shelter, with thousands of people whose mud-brick homes were flattened sleeping in the open in freezing temperatures.

The UN Children's Fund said Friday they and Pakistani government officials as-sessed the situation in the worst-hit districts and were "concerned about the urgent needs of children and women". "With winter closing in, the most urgent needs of the survivors are shelter, safe drinking water, food, warm clothing and emergency medical assistance," a UNICEF statement said. Clean water was a "priority," it said, adding that children were especially vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. The district health officer of the stricken hill town of Ziarat, Ayub Kakar, told AFP that children were already suffer-ing from exposure to the harsh conditions. "Due to the cold hundreds of children are being treated for pneumonia, abdominal diseases, diarrhoea and chest problems," he said. "We fear the death toll will rise. Such diseases, if not treated in time, are life-threatening," Ka-kar said. Children could be seen running after cars on the road adjoining the affected areas begging for food and drink, witnesses said. Residents in the quake-hit village of Khanozai, near Ziarat, blocked the main road in protest at the lack of relief goods despite govern-ment pledges to help them, an AFP reporter saw. "Our children are dying, help us," cried Mohammad Khan, the owner of an apple orchard. In another village, Ahmadoon, people said they were making tents from scavenged clothing. "No one from the government has so far inquired about our welfare," said Allah Noor, a teacher. "Our children could not sleep during the night because of the cold and continued tremors shaking the mountains. People do not go to their damaged houses even to take out food because they fear more tremors," Noor said.

QUETTA, NOvEmbER 1 (REUTERS): Relief efforts in a Pakistani valley hit by a powerful earthquake this week are turning to prepar-ing thousands of homeless for a freezing winter, officials said on Saturday, as after-shocks jolted survivors. The 6.4 magnitude quake struck Baluchistan, Pakistan's larg-est but most poor province

on Wednesday, destroying or damaging thousands of mud-walled homes and kill-ing at least 215 people.

The epicentre was in Zi-arat district, a picturesque valley framed by jagged mountains and one of the region's main tourist spots. Night-time temperatures are falling below freezing. Scores of aftershocks, some nearly as

strong as the original quake, have hit with a magnitude 5 shock rattling the region at dawn on Saturday. There were no reports of new dam-age. Population Minister Hu-mayun Aziz Kurd said about 75,000 people were homeless because their houses were destroyed or damaged.

Authorities aimed to get everyone under shelter by Sat-

Pak quake relief efforts focus on bitter winterurday night and into proper accommodation within a month to help them cope with the winter, he said. "We have enough food supplies and they have reached every corner of the quake-affected zone," Kurd told Reuters. "There's no major health problem that we're facing. Of course, people were injured in the quake, but our medical teams, the NGOs (non-governmental organi-sations) and the people have done a great job."

The quake struck just over three years after 73,000 people were killed when a 7.6 magnitude quake hit Paki-stan's northern mountains. Last year, the worst floods on record in Baluchistan killed hundreds. A spokeswoman for the U.N. Children's Fund said aid was getting through. "There is a lot of activity, the army has been very active in providing tents and food," said the spokeswoman, An-tonia Paradela. "The work now is coordinating with the authorities and aid agencies to make sure all the people affected get aid."

The majority of the homeless were children with many sleeping out in biting cold either because

their houses were destroyed or damaged, or because the aftershocks left families too frightened to sleep indoors. "That's an area of concern, to make sure that children who survived the earthquake are going to be OK in the after-math," she said. "What is needed most now is to plan for the winter, to make sure the tents have some sort of winterisation, extra layers, to make sure kids have warm clothing, to make sure there's no outbreak of disease be-cause the kids are vaccinat-ed." The quake is one more problem for a government struggling with a balance of payments crisis and a surge of militant violence.

Allies have promised help. Saudi Arabia is giv-ing $100 million while the United States and China had promised $1 million each for rehabilitation work. Japan and several other countries had also promised help while the World Health Organi-sation said it was sending two truckloads of essential medicines and supplies. The World Food Programme said it would provide 700 tonnes of dry food rations in initial relief supplies for an estimat-

ed 20,000 homeless.Baluchistan is Pakistan's

largest province but its most thinly populated. It has Paki-

stan's biggest reserves of nat-ural gas but there were no reports of damage to gas fa-cilities. In 1935, about 30,000

people were killed and the provincial capital, Quetta, was largely destroyed by a severe earthquake.

A Pakistani man prays outside a mosque destroyed by an earthquake in Ziarat, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Quetta, Pakistan on Saturday, November 1. The 6.4-magnitude quake hit an impoverished region near the Afghan border before dawn on Wednesday, destroying 3,000 flimsy mud-walled houses. Officials say the official death toll of 215 is likely to rise past 300. (AP Photo)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a rally at Wicker Memorial Park in Highland Ind., Friday, October 31. (AP Photo)

Saddam was stabbed six times after executionLONdON, NOvEmbER 1 (ANI): The body of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was stabbed six times af-ter he was executed, according to the head guard at his tomb north of Baghdad, who was one of the people that helped bury the corpse. The head of Saddam’s tribe cat-egorically denies the claim. The Iraqi Government simi-larly denies any mutilation took place after the dictator was hanged on December 30, 2006, for crimes against hu-manity, a newspaper reported.

Talal Misrab, 45, is the chief guard at Saddam’s tomb, housed in a large hall in al-Awja, a small village north of Baghdad, where the fallen dictator spent much of his childhood. He claimed: “There were six stab wounds on his body.” Misrab alleged that four of the wounds were on the former president’s front and two on his back. He also said there was an injury to his face. The guard alleged that 300 other people witnessed the injuries when the body was buried in the early hours of the morning, the day after Saddam was killed.

Another tribesman said he had been told by Sheikh Ali al-Neda, the former head of Saddam’s tribe, who has since also died, that the body had stab wounds. Mowaf-fak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s security advisor, denied the allega-tion. “I oversaw the whole process from A-Z and Saddam Hussein’s body was not, not stabbed or mutilated and he was not humiliated before execution,” he said. Sheikh Hasan al-Neda, who is now leader of Saddam’s tribe, also dismissed the suggestion that anyone had interfered with the corpse. “I swear by God his body was totally intact ex-cept for a bruise on his cheek,” al-Ned a said. “When we received the body in Baghdad, we were told that they [the Iraqi authorities] washed and wrapped it according to Islamic traditions, but we still washed him again here in Tikrit.” The circumstances of Saddam’s death are not in dispute, however. His execution triggered international outrage after leaked video footage revealed that he was taunted by guards who chanted Shia Muslim slogans as the noose was placed around his neck on the gallows.

Al-Qaeda propaganda chief killed in missile strike

Nepal urged to move quickly on Maoist former fighters

KATHmANdU, NOvEm-bER 1 (REUTERS): U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday urged Ne-pal’s political parties to sink differences over the rehabili-tation of former Maoist fight-ers, seen as key to peace in the Himalayan nation. More than 19,000 former Maoist rebels are housed in 28 camps moni-tored by the U.N. under a 2006 peace deal. After signing the landmark deal the Mao-ists emerged as the biggest political group in elections for a special assembly held in April, got the 239-year-old monarchy abolished and are now heading a coalition gov-ernment in the world’s young-est republic.“The most immediate chal-lenge ahead is to integrate and rehabilitate Maoist combat-ants,” Ban, on his first visit to Nepal as the U.N. chief, told reporters. The government formed a multi-party com-mittee this week to decide the future of the ex-guerrillas but major political parties are di-vided over how to address the issue. The Maoists say their

fighters should be integrated into the national army while some political parties oppose this and want them to join an industrial security force or po-lice.On a four-nation Asian tour, Ban urged the panel to begin the integration of the combat-ants as soon as possible asking political parties to narrow dif-ferences. “I also call on the gov-ernment to move quickly on the formal discharge of minors and disqualified combatants,” he said. Last year the U.N. es-timated that there were nearly 3,000 “Maoist army members less than 18 years of age” when the peace process began. Ban said Nepal must also clarify the fate of hundreds of people who disappeared dur-ing the conflict, compensate war victims and enable the re-turn of thousands of displaced people to their homes. Heal-ing the wounds of the conflict also “means undertaking an honest and inevitably painful acknowledgement of the truth of past human rights viola-tions, and to end impunity”, Ban said.

ISLAmAbAd, NOvEm-bER 1 (AFP): An Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative described by the United States as the terror network’s propaganda chief was killed in a missile strike in Pakistan, security officials said Saturday. Abu Jihad al-Masri was among several rebels killed when two missiles fired by a suspected US spy drone hit a truck in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Friday night, they said.

The United States has offered a one-million-dollar bounty for the death or cap-ture of al-Masri, who has ap-peared in an anti-Western video introduced by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Lad-en’s number two. “The strike was aimed at a vehicle carry-ing Abu Jihad and two others.

The target was successfully hit and all three people were killed,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

His death came in one of two separate missile attacks in Pakistan’s troubled tribal belt on Friday, the latest in a series of 18 strikes in the past three months that have raised tensions between Washington and Islamabad. The attacks also come just days before the US presidential election, in which the “war on terror” in Afghanistan and, increas-ingly, Pakistan has been a key foreign policy issue.

There was no immedi-ate confirmation from the Pakistani military or from US forces deployed in Afghani-stan about al-Masri’s death. The US State Department’s

Rewards for Justice website said that the balding al-Masri “is in charge of Al-Qaeda me-dia and propaganda. He may also be the chief of external op-erations for Al-Qaeda”.

It said that he was be-lieved to operate out of Iran, but Pakistani officials said that he was known to have moved to the Pakistani tribal belt in 2005 or 2006. It said he also went by the alias Moham-mad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim. In 2006, al-Masri appeared in a video introduced by his fel-low countryman Zawahiri, in which al-Masri said that his own Islamic group, Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya, had joined forc-es with Al-Qaeda.

The video was released by As Sahab, Al-Qaeda’s media arm. Later that year al-Masri issued a website statement

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses a press conference in Katmandu, Nepal, Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

A Pakistani tribesman examines the wreckage of a car was hit by a suspected US mis-sile in Mir Ali village near Miran Shah, the main town of Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region along Afghanistan border, Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

calling Pope Benedict XVI a “spiteful crusader” after the pontiff made remarks on Islam and violence, accord-

ing to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US organisation that monitors Islamist websites. Militant sources in Pakistan

said al-Masri was primarily involved in “ideology” and not so much with Al-Qaeda’s op-erational side.

(Left) Rafael Nadal of Spain receives treatment to his injured right thigh during his quarterfinal match at the Paris Tennis Masters tournament, (Right) Roger Federer of Switzerland looks on during an interruption during his match against Marin Cilic (AP Photo)

Sunday2 November 2008 10 Dimapur The Morung ExpressSPORTS

CWA to initiate month long wrestling coaching camp

Kuzhovesa SohoPhek | November 1

A month long wrestling coaching camp for both the Naga and National style in two different locations under the ini-tiatives of the Chakhesang Wrestling Association (CWA) is underway where the wrestlers would be camped at Phek from1-15 November and 16-30 November will be at Pfutsero The main objectives of the ongoing camp aimed to produced a professional wrestlers enabling them to compete even at the International arena in view of having a wide range of scope in the event. According to CWA Finance Secretary Kuve-o Vadeo, the month long camp would be conducted under the own expenditure from the Association exchequer. He was also disclosing to this correspondent that several well wish-ers and lovers of sports were tremendously donated both in cash and kinds towards the coaching. Meanwhile, the month long coaching camp Coaches will includes, Chisazo Dawhuo, wrestling coach, Nagaland, Hukhonieyi Soho, PET, Huvesu Puro, PET, all former champions of Nagaland Wrestling Asso-ciation (NWA) tournament and Vekriyi Chuzho, the current NWA champion.9 wrestlers from all CWA constituents Units would attend the month long camp. Vadeo further added that, all wrestlers who weighs more than 70 kgs would be partici-pate in the Naga Style adding that all the require categories for both the genders would be carried out provided the availabil-ity of the wrestlers. The consecutive camp would proceed from the two stations where, on the final day a competition of Naga style wrestling will be conducted where 4 best wrestlers will be awarded a handsome amount of cash along with certificates. Competition to all categories for both the genders in the na-tional style section will too conducted and selects 2 best wres-tlers in each category for the award. As per the CWA sources the grand final day is expected to be grace by Chief Minister Neiphi-u Rio, besides with huge number of spectators. Vadeo in humble petition made a fervent appeal to all the believers to pray for the successful outcome of the camp.

Maradona compares Argentina team to dirty Rolls RoyceBUEnoS AIRES, novEmBER 1 (REUtERS): Diego Maradona, expected to be confirmed as Argentina's new coach on Tuesday, has likened his future team to a grimy Rolls Royce. Maradona also said Sergio Batista and Jose Luis Brown, two of his team mates in the 1986 World Cup-winning side, had agreed to join former coach Carlos Bilardo on his backroom staff. Argentina boast one of the best squads in world football, led by Lionel Messi and Juan Roman Riquelme. But they have failed to perform this year, winning only one of their last eight games. The impending appointment of Maradona, one of the game's greatest players but also one of its most troubled, is an attempt to galvanise the team. "The Argentine national side is like a Rolls Royce covered in dirt, it needs to be cleaned," the 48-year-old told reporters after a meeting at the Football Association's training camp outside Buenos Aires. Maradona, who failed three doping tests in his career, said talks had gone as planned with Batista and Brown, a defender who scored in the 1986 World Cup final against West Germany. "It was a very positive meeting, I'm very happy. I saw they were just as enthusiastic as myself and this is what I wanted," he said. Maradona is set to take charge for the first time in the friendly in Scotland on November 19. Batista, who coached the under-23 team which won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in August, had at one stage been a candidate to lead the senior side and according to media reports was reluctant to work as an assistant. "I wanted to know what was going to happen to the youth teams," Batista said. "Diego is a good choice, he has a strong personality, he's full of enthusiasm and he's really look-ing forward to getting to work. "We will do the impossible for the Argentina team." Maradona's impending appointment is a remarkable personal achievement for a man who has suf-fered from drug addiction, alcohol problems and obesity since retiring, at one stage spending 10 days in intensive care.

Sydney controversy behind Gilchrist's sudden retirementSydnEy, novEmBER 1 (PtI): The controversial Syd-ney Test was unlucky for Australia in many ways but the one major blow it dealt to the team was that it resulted in wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist's decision to quit interna-tional cricket. Gilchrist, whose keeping was being questioned by experts during the series, disclosed in his autobiography 'True colours' that the Sydney Test controversy was actually the last nail in the coffin. "I certainly did not retire because my sportsmanship was questioned, and I didn't even decide to retire that week but on top of everything else that had gone on I feel the controversies around the Sydney Test were the straw that broke the camel's back," Gilchrist wrote. The former Aus-tralian Vice-captain said he was contemplating retirement from one-dayers since the World Cup in the Caribbean but was not thinking about retiring from Tests until the happen-ings had started to take a toll on his peace of mind. "They'd (sister's family) booked their tickets well in advance, think-ing it might be my last Test, but I certainly hadn't made the decision. I was beginning to resolve finally on pulling out of one-day cricket, but I wasn't quitting Tests. I hadn't even asked (wife) Mel to come to Adelaide (the venue of the fourth and the final Test against India). "... We lost the toss and fielded all day, the (Sachin) Tendulkar factory churning out another ton. My concentration wasn't good. Even in the first session I was asking myself:'Do I really want to just pull out of one-dayers? Should I keep doing both?"

Federer and Nadal pull out injured in Paris Masters

BERLIn, novEmBER 1 (REUtERS): Michael Bal-lack will remain captain of Germany after apologis-ing for his public criticism of coach Joachim Loew. "Joachim Loew and Michael Ballack were able to estab-lish a new basis of trust dur-ing their private meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday and Michael Ballack will there-fore remain team captain," the German FA (DFB) said in a statement on Friday.

The Chelsea midfield-er flew to Frankfurt at the coach's request to discuss comments made to a German newspaper about the way team mate Torsten Frings was dropped for the last two World Cup qualifiers. Bal-lack had already issued a public statement ahead of the meeting, saying he would apologise to Loew.

"The precondition (for re-maining captain) was he had apologised to Loew, allowing the conflict to be resolved," the DFB added. Ballack, who is sidelined after having surgery on both feet earlier this month, said in the DFB statement it "was not accept-able" for him to comment in public on Loew's decisions. "He is the national coach, he makes the decisions and we all have to accept that," said the midfielder.

"Following our discus-sion I do not have the slight-est doubt the national team will achieve its aims within a good atmosphere." Loew said it was important the talks

Apologetic Ballack to remain Germany captain

SAo PAULo, novEm-BER 1 (REUtERS): Bra-zilian comedians have tried to put a jinx on Lewis Ham-ilton's Formula One title bid ahead of the Briton's decisive duel with local hero Felipe Massa on Sunday. Hamilton, hoping to become the sport's youngest champion after failing in Brazil last year, was taken by surprise at an anti-drink driving campaign.

After answering ques-tions from the audience on Thursday night, the 23-year-old McLaren driver was pre-sented with a Vasco da Gama soccer shirt by popular tele-vision comedian Rafinha Bastos lurking in the crowd. Relegation-threatened Vas-co are a Rio de Janeiro club, never popular in Sao Paulo and with a reputation for being runners-up. They are currently 19th in the 20 team Brazilian championship. Shortly afterwards, rival television comedian Vesgo intervened.

"Hamilton, we are here today to say that we like you very much and we are cheer-ing for you," declared the co-presenter of the 'Panic on TV' show. "In the name of all Brazilians who love you, we would like to give you this gift." He then tossed a soft toy black cat, a symbol of bad luck in Brazil, on to the stage. Hamilton, who thanked him and moved to pick up the toy

Brazilian comedians try to jinx Hamilton title bid

McLaren-Mercedes Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, wipes some sweat off his forehead during the second timed practice session for the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Friday, October 31. (AP Photo)

Alonso condemns racist fansSAo PAULo, novEmBER 1 (REUtERS): Re-nault's Fernando Alonso condemned racist supporters on Friday after hate messages were posted on a Spanish website targeting Formula One title favourite Lewis Hamilton. "If it's true, obviously this is not possible (acceptable)," the Spaniard told reporters at the Brazil-ian Grand Prix. "In 2008 we cannot have these kind of people in our world. It's not only Formula One, not only sport, it's normal life as well."

McLaren's Hamilton, the sport's first black driver, is poised to become the youngest Formula One cham-pion at the age of 23 in Sunday's season-ending race. The Briton, now in his second season, became a target in Spain last year after falling out with double world champion Alonso when they were team mates. Ham-ilton was subjected to racial abuse from spectators at a test in Barcelona in February after which Formula One's governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) launched an anti-racism campaign.

The latest controversy erupted on Thursday after British media reports about racial abuse posted on the Spanish website www.pinchalaruedadehamilton.com (translated as "burst Hamilton's tyre"). The website, first set up in 2007 when Alonso and Hamilton were fighting for the title at McLaren, appeared to have been taken down on Friday.

The FIA issued a statement condemning the "abu-sive and hateful comments" and team bosses added their voices on Friday. "It's completely disgraceful," said Renault team boss Flavio Briatore. "It's not a prob-lem of Lewis, it's a problem of the world," said Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said Hamilton and the team would not be distracted. "I'm aware of the site's existence although I haven't looked at any of the mate-rial," said Dennis after free practice at Interlagos. "You just have to rise above it. If it is in any way, shape or form designed to disrupt the team or Lewis, it's not going to do it."

despite being urged not to, may have had the last laugh however since black cats are generally considered to bring good fortune in Britain.

The driver, who leads Ferrari's Massa by seven points, had earlier done his best to win over the local fans by talking about his admira-tion for Sao Paulo's favourite son, the late triple champion Ayrton Senna. "Every time I come here I feel a different emotion," he said, speaking on the 20th anniversary of

Senna's first championship victory. "I think it's because he meant so much to me in my life when I was younger and coming up through the ranks. I can feel his pres-ence.

"To be named in the same sentence as his is an honour," continued Hamil-ton. "I don't aim to be or be-lieve anyone can be another Ayrton Senna. He was one of a kind. But I aim to try to make him proud and be as good as he was one day." The

Briton also played down his rivalry with Massa and held himself up as an example of someone who could succeed in motor racing, despite com-ing from a poor background. "My relationship with Fe-lipe is great, he's a fantastic competitor and we will race as hard as we can to win but I don't have to win this week-end," he said. "I plan to race exactly the same as I always do. I grew up racing the way I do and that's what has got me to where I am today."

PARIS, novEmBER 1 (REUtERS): Hopes of a dream final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were dashed on Friday when the top two seeds pulled out injured from their quarter-final matches at the Paris Masters. Federer with-drew with a back injury a few hours before his match against American James Blake, while Nadal quit his showdown with world num-ber six Nikolay Davydenko after losing the first set 6-1.

Wimbledon champion Nadal had the trainer mas-saging his right thigh and knee at the change of ends when trailing 4-1 and threw in the towel two games later. The duo's exit left the tour-nament without any of its top four seeds after number three Novak Djokovic was beaten earlier in the week while fourth-ranked Andy Murray also perished on Fri-day, going down 7-6 6-3 to an inspired David Nalbandian.

Argentina's Nalbandian

kept his Masters Cup hopes alive when he ended Mur-ray's 14-match winning streak in the most spectacu-lar match of the tournament and will meet Davydenko in the last four on Saturday. Nalbandian, 14th in the ATP Race, will qualify for the season-ending tourna-ment if he retains his Paris title. He was, however, reluc-tant to say if he would take part in the season-ending tournament he won in 2005.

"It's not my goal. I'm not thinking about Shanghai because we have the Davis Cup right after, so that's why," he said. Nalbandian is scheduled to play the Nov. 21-23 Davis Cup final with Argentina against Spain in Mar del Plata. Federer was confident of defending his title in Shanghai despite his injury setback. "I've had a lot of back pain over all the years of playing tennis... (but) it's just the first time it's acute during a tournament and it makes me pull out. I'll check

it out for the next few days," the Swiss told reporters.

"The flight (to Shang-hai) is scheduled for Mon-day. I hope I can recover ... otherwise I'll postpone that. I'm confident that hopefully it's going to get better in the next few days." Nadal also struggled with aches and pains during his match and, unlike Federer, was unsure if he would be able to partic-ipate in the final event of the year. Asked if he was worried about Shanghai, the Span-iard said: "For sure. Hope-fully, it will be fine... (but) I don't know."

Nadal's retirement left the fans frustrated and they started booing when it was announced that Federer had handed Blake a walkover into the semi-finals. Blake will now meet local favou-rite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who saved 10 break points in the second set en route to beat-ing American Andy Rod-dick 5-7 6-4 7-6. Both play-ers need to reach the Paris

final to book a trip to China for the Masters Cup, which starts on Nov. 9.

Murray, who won the Madrid Masters and St Pe-tersburg Open this month, struggled with his first serve in the opening set and smashed his racket to the ground after being bro-ken in the fourth game. The Scot then converted his only break chance to draw level and picked up his game, try-ing to keep Nalbandian at bay with his slice. However, the Argentine, with a mix of cunning drop shots and powerful ground strokes, took the tiebreak 7-3.

Nalbandian then shift-ed up another gear, break-ing four times in the second set to wrap up the victory. "I thought the standard of points was excellent," said Murray. "I'm obviously dis-appointed to lose but I'm glad that I played against a guy as good as him and it took him playing a great match to beat me."

Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin (4) and Nuggets guard Allen Iverson (3) stand together during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Friday, October 31, in Los Angeles. The Nuggets won 113-103 in overtime. (AP Photo)

In this March 23, 2007 file picture, Germany's soccer team head coach Joachim Loew, right, talks to Michael Ballack, left, during a practice session in Prague, Czech Republic. Germany captain Ballack met with coach Loew on Thursday October 30, in an attempt to settle a dis-pute stemming from Ballack's criticism of the coach's selection criteria. (AP Photo)

took place openly. "Michael Ballack remains my captain but he as captain must also stick to our rules," Loew said in the DFB statement. "He knows he can discuss

anything with me internally but that all sporting ... deci-sions are ultimately made by our training staff and I have made that absolutely clear to Michael. "I am delighted

a fantastic player, who has played a major role in our past successes, will now con-tinue to help us reach our goal of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup."

CMYK

CMYK

The Morung Express SundayDimapur 112 November 2008Ent /Tab lo id

PRIME TIMEPRIME TIMEPRIME TIME06:00 - Hope And Faith; 06:30 - Friends; 09:00 - Koffee With Karan; 11:00 - Seinfeld; 13:00 - Friends; 15:30 - Life With Bonnie; 16:00 - According To Jim; 16:30 - My Name Is Earl;

17:30 - Stacked; 18:00 - How I Met Your Mother; 18:30 - Hope And Faith; 19:00 - Ghost Whisperer; 20:00 - Ugly Betty; 21:00 - Private Practice; 22:00 - Desperate Housewives; 23:00 - Blood Ties; 00:00 - The Moment Of Truth; 01:00 - Ghost Whisperer; 02:00 - Ugly Betty; 03:00 - Private Practice; 04:00 - Desperate Housewives; 05:00 - The Simpsons; 05:30 - Kenneth Copeland

06:00 - Animal Planet Safari; 07:00 - Teleshopping; 08:00 - Baby Planet; 09:00 - Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard; 10:00 - Lords Of The Animals; 10:30 - All New Planet’s Funniest Animals; 11:00 - Groomer Has It; 12:00 - Eye Of The Hunter; 13:00 - My Daddy The Crocodile Hunter; 14:00 - Animal Planet Safari; 15:00 - Planet Wild; 15:30 - Up Close And Dangerous; 16:00 - Wild Africa; 17:00 - Incredible

Journeys With Steve Leonard; 18:00 - Baby Planet; 19:00 - Groomer Has It; 20:00 - Eye Of The Hunter; 21:00 - Planet Wild; 21:30 - Up Close And Dangerous; 22:00 - Crocodile Hunter; 23:00 - Wild Africa; 00:00 - Baby Planet; 01:00 - Teleshopping; 02:00 - Petsburgh Usa; 03:00 - Monkey Business 8; 04:00 - Petsburgh Usa; 05:00 - Monkey Business

06:00 - Apaharan; 10:00 - Bhoot Unkle; 12:30 - Main Hoon Na; 15:45 - Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani; 20:00 - Evolution; 23:00 - The Magnificent Butcher; 01:45 - Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi; 04:45 - Bewafa Sanam

06:00 - Telebrands; 07:00 - Body Story Ii; 08:00 - Planet Earth; 09:00 - Revealed; 10:00 - India With Sanjeev Bhaskar; 11:00 - When We Left Earth: The Nasa Missions; 12:00 - Mega Builders 2; 13:00 - Wild Africa; 14:00 -

Planet Food; 15:00 - Fight Quest; 16:00 - Planet Earth; 17:00 - Man Vs. Wild; 18:00 - How Do They Do It?; 19:00 - Planet Earth; 20:00 - Untamed Earth; 21:00 - Discovery’s Biggest Shows; 23:00 - Futureweapons; 00:00 - Wild Discovery; 01:00 - Telebrands; 02:00 - Futureweapons; 03:00 - Man Vs. Wild; 04:00 - Living Dangerously; 05:00 - Futureweapons

06:00 - Seva Ganga; 06:30 - Vignan Shashwat Sukh Ka; 07:00 - Sangam; 07:30 - Raja Ki Ayegi; 08:00 - Kyunki Saas Bhi; 08:30 - Baa Bahoo Aur Baby; 09:00 - Krishna Kathaiyen; 10:00 - Jai Maa

Durga; 11:00 - Star Voice Of India; 13:30 - Aaja Mahi Ve; 15:30 - Bidaai; 16:00 - Plus Super Premiere; 20:00 - Saibaba; 21:00 - Prithviraj; 21:30 - Baa Bahoo Aur Baby; 22:00 - Plus Super Premiere; 01:00 - Bidaai; 01:30 - Kis Desh Mein; 02:00 - Grihasti; 02:30 - Kayamath; 03:00 - Hamari Devrani; 03:30 - Kahaani Ghar; 04:00 - Kyunki Saas Bhi; 04:30 - Raja Ki Ayegi; 05:00 - The New Adventures Of Winnie Pooh; 05:30 - Little Einsteins

04:40 - Wishful Thinking; 06:10 - The Mighty; 08:15 - Neverwas; 10:20 - A Prairie Home Companion; 12:25 - The Lost City; 15:05 - Kindergarten Cop; 17:15 - Wishful

Thinking; 19:05 - Bridge To Terabithia; 21:00 - Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man; 23:05 - The Guardian; 01:45 - A Prairie Home Companion; 03:30 - Children Of The Corn 666 - Isaach’s Return; 04:55 - Sky High

0:00 - Us Pga Tournament - Ginn Classic - Day 3; 2:00 - Stanford 20-20: Superstars V

England; 7:00 - Icl Hls - Hydrabad V Delhi; 8:00 - Wwe:vintage Collection; 9:00 - Icl Hls - Hydrabad V Delhi; 10:00 Stanford 20-20: Superstars V England H/L’s; 13:00 - Icl 20-20 - Preview: Chennai V Mumbai; 17:30 - Wwe Experience; 18:00 - Uefa Champions League Magazine Show 08; 18:30 - Icl 20-20 - Preview: Chandigarh V Lahore; 23:00 - Wwe:experience

05:00 - Babylon 5: The Lost Tales; 06:30 - No Escape; 08:45 - The General’s Daughter; 11:00 - The Neverending Story Ii The Next Chapter; 12:45 - Hollow Man Ii; 14:30 - Message In A

Bottle; 17:15 - Snakes On A Plane; 19:15 - The Replacement Killers; 21:00 - Stuart Little 2; 22:30 - Recount; 00:45 - Inside Man; 03:15 - Coneheads; 05:00 - Snakes On A Plane

06:00 - Gift Of Jesus; 06:30 - Bhagwat Katha; 07:00 - Hillsong; 07:25 - Exposure Ek Nazar; 07:30 - Enjoying Everyday Life; 07:55 - Exposure Jhalak; 08:00 - Ek Ke Baad Ek; 08:25 - Exposure Ek Nazar; 08:30 - Jai Jai Tridev; 09:00 - Namaste Cinema; 09:30 - Shabhash India - Childrens Special; 10:00 - Khana Khazana; 10:30 - Kahani Ab Tak; 11:00

- Movie; 13:00 - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009; 16:00 - Movie; 20:00 - Ek Se Badhkar Ek - Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka; 21:00 - Naaginn; 21:30 - Aladdin; 22:00 - Events; 23:55 - Exposure Ek Nazar; 00:00 - Asian Sky Shop; 00:55 - Exposure; 01:00 - Asian Sky Shop; 02:00 - Teen Bahuraaniyaan; 02:30 - Kasamh Se; 03:00 - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009; 04:00 - Vivaah; 04:30 - Urja; 05:00 - Parrivaar; 05:30 - Narseva Narayan Seva

05:30 - Paani Puri; 06:30 - Exotica; 07:00 - Body And Soul; 07:30 - Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai; 08:30 - Instant Khichdi; 09:00 - Yatra; 10:00 - Jai Ganga Mai; 11:00 - The Great Indian Laughter Challenge

Iv; 13:00 - Zara Nachke Dikha; 18:30 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 19:00 - Paani Puri; 20:00 - Movie; 23:30 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 00:00 - Siddhanth; 01:00 - Dill Mill Gayye; 01:30 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 02:00 - Anu Ki Ho Gayi; 02:30 - Dill Mill Gayye; 03:00 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 03:30 - The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Iv; 04:30 - Dill Mill Gayye; 05:00 - Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai; 05:30 - Mum Tum Aur Hum

06:00 - Mann Mein Hai Visshwas; 07:00 - Telebrands; 07:30 - Jai Hanuman; 08:00 - Teleshopping; 08:50box Office Muzic Hitz; 09:00 - Boogie Woogie; 10:00 - Comedy Circus; 11:00 - Indian Idol 4; 15:00 - Meri Jung - One Man Army; 19:00 - Cid; 20:00 - Chak De! India; 00:00 - Telebrands; 00:30 - Teleshopping; 01:00 - Comedy Circus;

02:00 - Cid; 03:00 - Aahat - 3; 04:00 - Boogie Woogie

6:00 - Csi: Crime Scene Investigation; 7:00 - 2007 Lg Action Sports Championships; 8:00 - So You Think

You Can Dance; 11:00 - Afterworld; 11:30 - Ebuzz; 12:00 - Csi: Crime Scene Investigation; 1:00 - Csi: Mii; 2:00 - Csi: Ny; 3:00 - Population 436; 5:00 - So You Think You Can Dance; 7:00 - The Amazing Race Asia; 8:00 - Men In Black Ii; 10:30 - Ebuzz; 11:00 - Buffy The Vampire Slayer; 1:00 - Csi: Crime Scene Investigation; 2:00 - Csi: Mii; 3:00 - Csi: Ny; 4:00 - Buffy The Vampire Slayer

05:50 - Shore Ditch; 07:30 - Infomercial; 08:00 - Eraser; 10:30 - The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy; 13:00 - The Europeans; 15:00 - Problem Child 2; 17:00 - The Hollywood Reporter; 17:30 - Raising Helen; 20:00 - Epk; 20:15 - I-Spy;

22:30 - Free Willy; 01:00 - The In-Laws; 02:30 - Jill Rips; 03:50 - Air Rage; 05:30 - Citizen Verdict

06:00 - A Matter Of Taste With Vir Sanghvi; 06:30 - Uttaranchal; 07:00 - Million Dollar Agents; 08:00 - Seven Wonders; 09:00 - Madhur Jaffrey’s Flavours Of

India; 09:30 - Dream Hotels; 10:00 - Beautifi cation With Ruby And Millie; 10:30 - Cover Shot; 11:00 - While You Were Out 3; 12:00 - Overhaulin’ 5; 13:00 - I Do, Let’s Eat!; 13:30 - Madhur Jaffrey’s Flavours Of India; 14:00 - Adventures Of The Ladies Tailor; 14:30 - Feast India; 15:00 - Nigella Feasts; 15:30 - British Biker Build Off; 16:00 - Europe’s RiChest People; 17:00 - Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations; 18:00 - La Ink; 19:00 - Finest Hotels In The World; 19:30 - Indian Rendezvous; 20:00 - Getaway 200 - 6; 20:30 - Hotel By The Bay; 21:00 - Food Paradise; 22:00 - American Chopper; 23:00 - Ballroom Bootcamp; 00:00 - Vegas Vegas; 01:00 - Food Paradise; 02:00 - Seven Wonders; 03:00 - Kylie Kwong: My China; 03:30 - I Do, Let’s Eat!; 04:00 - Cover Shot; 04:30 - Beautifi cation With Ruby And Millie; 05:00 - Amazing Vacation Homes; 05:30 - Superhomes 2

Muscleman-turned-ac-tor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger called on Barack

Obama to beef up his policies -- and his body -- at a high-voltage cam-paign rally for Republican John McCain on Friday. Schwarzeneg-ger, the Hollywood action hero who is now the Republican gov-ernor of California, delighted a crowd of several thousand at a Mc-Cain campaign event in Ohio by ridiculing both Obama's policies and his slender physique.

The Austrian-born former Mr Universe has hosted a bodybuild-ing tournament in Columbus for several years, and opened his ad-dress by inviting Obama to par-ticipate in the next event. "Every year in March I come here to or-ganize the Arnold Classic, which is all about building the body and pumping," Schwarzenegger said. "That's why I want to invite Sena-tor Obama because he needs to do something about those skinny legs. I'm going to make him do some squats.

"And then we're going to make him do some biceps curls to beef up those scrawny little arms. But if he could only do something about putting some meat on his ideas.

"Senator McCain on the other hand is built like a rock. His char-acter and his views are solid." Mc-Cain and Schwarzenegger rolled into the Nationwide Arena Hockey Stadium together on the Republi-can candidate's "Straight Talk Ex-press", the campaign bus that has ferried him on a two-day blitz of this battleground state.

While McCain received loud cheers, it was Schwarzenegger who provided some much-needed glamour and the biggest cheers with a searing attack on Obama's economic policies. He meanwhile painted former Vietnam War pris-oner and navy pilot McCain as a "real-life American hero." "John McCain's character has been test-ed as no other presidential candi-date in the history of this nation," Schwarzenegger said. "He has spent five and a half years as a pris-oner of war. He has been tested un-der torture, under temptation, un-der deprivation, under isolation.

"He has proven what kind of a man he is. We don't have to wonder if he's ready to lead. We don't have to wonder is he ready to be president of the United States. John McCain has served his country longer in a POW camp than his opponent has served in the United State Senate."

He has throngs of devoted fans and will soon be re-leasing an album,

but David Cook says his life now isn't too different than it was before winning Ameri-can Idol. "I think in one sense everything's changed but in another sense nothing has," says the reigning Idol champ. "There's all these different things around me that I didn't have a year ago. I was able to furnish a home and get a nice car and be able to treat my family to some of the things that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to do."

Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry are among the Hot-test Moms in Hol-

lywood. The actresses - who both gave birth earlier this year, Angelina to her fifth and sixth children with Brad Pitt in August, while Halle had her first child in March - join a host of star beauties in the list compiled by Fox News.com. 'Tomb Raider' star Angelina made eleventh place for "her amazing ability to balance be-ing an activist, movie star and mom", while Halle came sec-ond as she "just seems to get better with age".

Other entrants in the list, which was topped by blonde US TV presenter Kelly Ripa - who has three children with husband Mark Con-

suelos - included country singer Faith Hill in third place and new mother Jes-sica Alba, who was fourth. Demi Moore, who has three daughters with ex-husband Bruce Willis, was the oldest mother on the list, with Fox saying the 45-year-old star has "redefined the meaning of hot in your 40s".

Supermodels Cindy Crawford and Heidi Klum made sixth and seventh plac-es respectively, with the rest of the list made up by actress Isla Fisher, who has a daughter Olive with Sacha Baron Co-hen, Nicole Richie - who gave birth to daughter Harlow, her first child with Joel Madden, in January - and mother-of-two Gwen Stefani.

Ukrainian Olga Kurylenko, 28, plays a Russian-Bolivian agent

who falls for Bond in Quan-tum of Solace, which opens in cinemas across Britain on Fri-day night. But the Communist Party of St Petersburg is taking the action movie very serious-ly indeed, having accused her of helping "a man who worked for decades under the orders of Thatcher and Reagan to de-stroy the USSR."

In a message on the party's website, it said: "The Soviet Union educated you, cared for you and brought you up for free but no one suspected that you would commit this act of intellectual and moral betrayal." The party went on to appeal to Kurylenko to use her feminine wiles to get Bond - or Daniel Craig - to "tell what other plans are being written in the Pentagon and Hollywood to discredit Russia and drive a wedge between the Russian and Ukrainian people."

The party's leader, Sergei Malinkovich, said: "Everyone knows that the CIA and MI6 finance James Bond films as a special operation of psy-chological warfare against us. This Ukranian girl sleeps with Bond and that means that Ukraine is sleeping with the West." Kurylenko grew up in Berdyansk, a port on the Black Sea, but moved to Paris to model aged 16. While the Communist Party of St Petersburg may sound from its website attack like a party of the loony fringe, it is actually a major force in the city's politics.

Schwarzenegger mocks ‘skinny’ Obama

Jolie and Halle are hottest Hollywood moms

Olga Kurylenko accused of betrayal by communists

Cook on Life After American Idol

But, says the singer, 25, "I'm still a goober from the Midwest. Now I've just got a few more resources. I don't feel like the show changed me at all." Cook spoke with PEOPLE after re-cording a perfor-mance video with his band for Wal-mart's Soundchecks, which can be viewed online and in Wal-mart stores.

The singer, who will release his self-titled debut album Nov. 18, describes his music as "eclec-tic rock" with some

songs featuring lots of riffs and others that are "very piano driven and delicate." "I got to show some differ-ent aspects of who I am as a person," he says about the upcoming album.

Cook's next gig: per-forming on this week's Sat-urday Night Live hosted by Ben Affleck. "I grew up watching it like everybody else so to be apart of it in any capacity is obviously a huge honor," he says, before add-ing that he's "really nervous." "I'm going to make sure my shoelaces are tied so I don’t trip and fall on the floor!"

Our CorrespondentKohima | November 1

JEFFERY Y.MOZHUI and Chumbeni Jami today crowned the coveted title of Mr &Miss Tokhu Kohima 2008 respec-tively at the impressive contest held at the State Academy Hall, Kohima under the aegis of Kyong Naga Cultural Soci-ety. 25 years old Jeffery and 17 years Chumbeni pocketed Rs. 10,000 each. N. Chibenthung Kyong Khuvung and Renbemo Y. Kikon were declared as Ist and 2nd runners- up title in ‘Mr’ category while Zuchobeni Odyuo and Nyabeni Ngullie bagged the Ist and 2nd runners-up title in ‘Miss’ category of

the contest.SUB-TITLE WINNERS

Best Costume: Miss- Zuchobeni Odyuo, Mr- N. Chibent-hung Kyong KhuvungMiss Photogenic: T. Zubeno KikonBest Physic: Nzanthung OdyuoMiss Congeniality: Stella MozhuiMr Congeniality: N. Eyingo PattonAltogether, 19 contestants (comprising 9 male and 10 fe-male) vied for the coveted title.The event also featured various popular artistes and folk

troupes.

Jeffery & Chumbeni win Mr & Miss Tokhu Kohima

CMYK

CMYK

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NEW DELHI, NOVEM-BER 1 (REUTERS): Mi-chael Clarke survived three dropped chances to score his eighth test hundred to en-sure Australia all but denied India victory in the third test on Saturday. The Australian vice-captain top-scored with 112 before the visitors were 577 all out, conceding a meagre 36-run lead in reply to India's 613 for seven de-clared. Australian bowlers

then reduced India to 43 for two at close, 79 runs ahead. Brett Lee removed opener Virender Sehwag (16) and fellow paceman Stuart Clark outwitted nightwatchman Ishant Sharma (1).

Gautam Gambhir, who made 206 in the first innings, was 21 not out with Rahul Dravid on five at stumps. Clarke, dropped on 21, 90 and 94, steered his side to-wards safety with an innings of great application on a slow

pitch. Indian bowlers, made to toil for success, took the last three wickets to end the innings over an hour after tea. Occasional off spinner Sehwag took five for 104 to claim his maiden five-wicket test haul, while skipper Anil Kumble overcame a bad left hand injury to take three wickets.

Coach Gary Kirsten be-moaned India's poor effort on the field. "In test cricket,

you must put the ball in the right areas and create enough opportunities. Probably we didn't do that. "We missed out one or two opportunities in the morning. We didn't take those and they carried on and got themselves into a strong position from a bat-ting perspective." Australia, down 1-0 in the four-match series, rebounded superbly from their 320-run second test thrashing.

Clarke, who hit a match-

winning 151 on test debut in India in 2004, struck six fours and a six in his six-hour knock before tiredly holing out leg spinner Amit Mishra to long off. Clarke, 27, dug in to build on the solid foundation laid by fif-ties from the top four bats-men and added 73 runs for the fifth wicket with Shane Watson (36). He then shared a partnership of 106 runs for the seventh wicket with Cameron White (44). India dropped five catches to dent their victory hopes.

Clarke was first dropped on his overnight score by Sharma and then in succes-sive overs off Sehwag, Van-gipurappu Laxman spilling a running attempt at midwicket before Mishra grassed a sim-ple chance on the mid-wicket boundary. Sehwag bowled as many as 40 overs as the hosts, already without injured off spinner Harbhajan Singh missed leg spinner Kumble, forced off the field after lunch on the third day. Kumble needed 11 stitches to a deep cut he suffered on his left lit-tle finger while attempting a catch and eventually returned midway through the morning with his hand bandaged.

The 38-year-old, the third most prolific test wick-ettaker, took his first wickets of the series at his favourite ground, having missed the second test win in Mohali due to injury. The fourth and final test starts in Nagpur on Nov. 6.

Clarke rallies Aussie fi ght back

Australia's Michael Clarke, right, plays the ball on the off-side for his hundred runs as Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni takes his position on the fourth day of the third test cricket match between India and Australia in New Delhi, Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

Michael Clarke on Saturday survived three dropped chances to score

his eighth Test hundred to ensure Australia all but

denied India victory in the third Test.

Our CorrespondentKohima | November 1

MAJOR GENERAL Jai Prakash Nehra, IGAR (N) today graced the annual sports day of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School Kohima. Speaking on the occasion, Maj Gen Nehra complimented the students for an impressive march past and called upon them to make the best use of all available sports facilities in the schools.

He also emphasized on the fact that sports and games have an intricate re-lation with overall personal-ity development of a student towards a prosperous and se-cured career. He assured the management committee of all possible help from Assam Rifles in all its future endeav-ors with an aim to ensure all round development of stu-dents of the institution.

He also adviced the stu-dents to maintain discipline to excel and at the same time

Maj Gen Nehra at the sports day of Don Bosco Higher Sec-ondary School Kohima on Saturday.

Our CorrespondentKohima | November 1

WEREWOLVES SENIOR lifted the coveted champion title of 8th Open Basketball Championship 2008 which concluded here today in the Kohima Local Ground un-der the aegis of the Nagaland Basketball Association and Suncity Kohima. Werewolves Senior who defeated Faith-ballers 95-71 in the exciting finals match, walked away with a cash prize of Rs. 35,000 along with trophy and certifi-cates. The runners- up Faith-ballers pocketed a cash prize of Rs. 20,000.

Two semi finalists Air

Hoggs and Eastern Railways were also awarded with Rs. 5000 each. Nihal and Ramu both from Werewolves Seniors were awarded with Rs. 5000 and Rs. 3000 for winning the title of best player and highest scorer respectively. In three points shooting competition, Khrielie emerged as winner and fetched Rs. 1500 while the runners up Neitho-o Mere re-ceived Rs. 1000.

Earlier, speaking as the guest of honour, Neise Mechulho, Director, Land Resources Development ex-pressed his happiness over the sportsman spirit, vigor and excellent performance manifested by various teams,

adding that this will be up-held and ever cherished by upcoming players. He also called upon all participant teams, especially outside the state and Kohima to come and participate again in the years to come.

It may be recalled that the prize money for champion was sponsored by Neiphre-lie Mechulo, runners-up – Zeneituo Pienyu, first semi finalist- Cargo Tyres & Ser-vice Laser Wheel Alignment Available, 2nd semi finalist- Pelevituo Kenguruse, best player - Lt. Neiphrelie fam-ily, highest scorer- Viphre-o Suhu and man of the match by Gravity.

8 T H O P E N B A S K E T B A L L C H A M P I O N S H I P 2 0 0 8

Werewolves Senior emerges champion title

The winner Werewolves Senior with chief guest and others at the 8th Open Basketball Cham-pionship in Kohima on Saturday.

Major General Nehra graces DBHS sports day

asked them to obey and respect their parents and teachers. As-sam Rifles over the years has been closely associated with Don Bosco Higher Second-ary School Kohima. This year saw AR donating books to the newly constructed school li-brary and sponsoring an edu-cation tour “Runways 2008” for the students to Shillong.

AR intends to contin-

ue extending patronage to schools/colleges in future with an aim to help budding talents move ahead towards a secured and prosperous future. Established in 1971, the Don Bosco Higher Sec-ondary School house 1467 students at present with 40 teaching staff. Extension of the school building is in progress.

DIMAPUR, NOVEM-BER 1 (MEXN): The Church Sports Conference opening ceremony got un-derway on October 31 last with, Rev. Zhabu Terhuja, General Secretary of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), at the North East Zone Cultural Center NEZCC, Dimapur. The conference is being or-ganized by the Nagaland Sports Coalition NSC with NBCC Youth Department under the theme “Sports for Holistic Growth,” from October 31 to November 2.

As many as 200 partici-pants from the state of Na-galand, Manipur, Assam

and few from Arunachal Pradesh are attending the 3-day church sports pro-gram.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Rev. Irengtie Kauring, Secretary of Na-galand Sports Coalition, who made a formal intro-duction to all participants coming from different states and districts of Na-galand. Neivilieo, ABCC Youth Secretary invoked the opening prayer while Dr. Thamsing Lamkang, Convener of the Nagaland Sports Coalition, made a welcome address to all participants, especially the resource persons of the

conference, and delegates coming from outside Na-galand.

A special power feats demonstration was per-formed by the Nagaland Thang-Ta Association, with various types of Arts to entertain the partici-pants. Special number was presented by the Kingdom Stewards from Jalukie Town Baptist Church, fol-lowed by inspiring message from Rev. Zhabu, closing with a special prayer for the success of the conference. This was stated in a press note issued by Dr. Tham-sing Lamkang, Convener of NSC.

Church sports conference underway at NEZCC

Section of the Participants during Ch. Sports Conf. at NEZCC

MDFA Pre-quarter. (Result)

Moanungsang Memo-rial Sporting Club

Beat Exodus Club 3-1.Youngster Club beat Medemchanger 4-1

DSO Dimapur informs DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 1 (MExN): The District Sports Officer of Dimapur has informed all participants of the half marathon race under Dimapur district that the last date of sub-mission of forms is on or before November 5 next. In a release, Nizheto Awomi, DSO of Dimapur also informed the players to report at the DDSC Stadium before 6:15 am on November 7. The DSO further instructed that two pass port sized photo-graphs, physical fitness certificate should be produced from the doctor and no age limit should be submitted before the com-mencement of the competition.